Almost Ready...

Sorry I have not been blogging much lately...with the kitchen and Claudia's birthday party coming up and with a house full of people with strep throat (except me) I have not had the energy lately. But I promise the kitchen is almost ready to be photographed!!! I have to say there were several times during this process that I was nervous about how it would turn out, or if the choices I was making would be the right ones. When we started this project I thought I had every decision made already (after all I had been staring at my ugly kitchen for two years now), but with out budget and timeline I was forced to compromise some decisions and looking back I'm really glad that everything worked out the way that it did. So even though the final product is not necessarily what I originally envisioned...it is pretty close and I definitely love it. I have to say a huge thank you to my amazing husband for making my kitchen dreams come true!!!! It never ceases to amazing me how he always finds a way to make my vision happen...and in our price range!!!! He's just awesome. I will probably post the kitchen after Claudia's party, but until then here is a photo of one of my "inspiration" pictures. This is not really how my kitchen turned out but I still love this one...love the tile...love the table..chairs. Love everything about it.

image via Pinterest

Perfect Summer Day

Today was one of those summer days that was perfect from start to finish...

It started at a petting zoo that the girls loved. Then we visited a farmer's market and bought some beautiful flowers and fresh fruit and vegetables. I LOVE supporting our local farmers! Then Shaun made hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill and we had sweet corn and delicious zucchini from my mother's garden. We finished by spending the evening at a local farm picking strawberries. It was such a beautiful evening, the weather was perfection and we had the whole farm to ourselves. The girls loved it and when we came home we had strawberries and whipped cream out on the deck. I wish every day could be like this one! Here are some pictures of my favorite summer day so far!

 The fields smelled so good my mouth was watering the whole time!

Wildflowers

 When I would take walks in my old neighborhood I would see beautiful Black Eyed Susans in other people's yards and LOVED them but I knew that they needed a lot of sunlight and my old front yard did not get much sun. I knew when we moved to our new house that they would be perfect around our fence in the back so we bought a bunch of plants off of craigslist and they have been getting bigger and better every year. Imagine my disappointment when NONE of them came back this year....I have no idea what happened and I was planning on using them in centerpieces at Claudia's party!

Here they are when they were just babies...

One of my other favorites are purple coneflowers...








Am I jealous that my neighbor has beautiful purple coneflowers and the only ones I had in Maddie's garden did not return? Sure. Yup.

Any suggestions for my two favorite wildflowers???

Ruby and Sapphire

I have always loved jewelry...those of you who know me are well aware. I remember my very first pair of earrings (sapphire studs)...I actually vividly remember the entire experience of getting my ears pierced (including the lovely old couple watching and getting a kick out of my screaming and crying...I was not so amused.) My mother told me that I was lucky to be born in the month of April because my birthstone was diamond. At five years old I didn't quite get it and thought diamonds were boring...I wished I had something colorful like a ruby or a sapphire. (Silly five year old Jacki) As much as I love diamonds, and believe me I do...I would still love to have a really nice piece of sapphire and ruby jewelry because they are my daughters' birthstones. Probably not going to happen anytime soon but hey, a girl can dream right...

Claudia

I bought this adorable headband from Pinkpaisleybowtique, a sweet little etsy shop. I used it to take pictures for Claudia's first birthday invitation.

I can NOT believe my little peanut is almost a year old!!!

Kitchen Update

Well, if you thought I was indecisive about a backsplash for the kitchen you should have seen me the past week about a countertop. I really wanted something light and neutral for the counters. I didn't want anything too loud that would make a huge statement. I fell in love with marble, but decided it would be way too difficult with little ones. Then, I fell in love with quartz but it would have taken too long to get in. That left me with granite. I love granite for its durability, but most of the slabs were a bit too loud for the look I was going for. I thought I had finally made up my mind with kashmir white. Then I started looking at pictures online of kasmir white granite with white cabinets and it looked too gray and I got really nervous and freaked out. My mother suggested black and at first I was like NO WAY. Then I started seeing pictures of "honed" black granite which I thought looked really good. So, long story short...I decided on honed absolute black granite. I'm really hoping I can still acheive the "warmth" I was going for in the kitchen with a black countertop. I think the dullness of the honed granite will help. Also, on the empty wall of the kitchen where Shaun added the built in cabinets, we got a butcher block counter which I love and saved us $600 (instead of granite) and adds to the "hutch" look I was going for and I am hoping will also add some warmth! Phew...that was alot of rambling about countertops. I hope it will all make sense to you when I show you the finished product. (It is being installed on the 18th...ahhh I can't wait that long)

 (kashmir white granite with white cabinets. image via Coastal Countertops and Tile)

(honed black granite with white cabinets image via Advanced Kitchens)

Miss Maddie

My Maddie....I can't believe how big she is getting! We celebrated at Matt and Lindsey's wedding shower on Saturday and Maddie got to keep some balloons from the party. When I saw that they matched her outfit and the lighting was perfect when we came home...I stole her away for a quick photo shoot. Here are a couple I love.

Little helpers

Hey everyone...just popping in to say hi. We are still knee deep in kitchen projects. The cabinets are all painted, just waiting to dry and get hung. I am trying to figure out a counter top. Unfortunately, the ones that I love are all marble, but after doing some spill tests on samples of marble we decided against it for our kitchen. I love the durability of granite, but I am not in love with the spottiness. Any advice/suggestions? Anyway, here are some pictures of daddy's little helper!

Even little Claudia wanted to get in on the action...I've never seen two little girls get so excited over power tools in my life! Here's hoping they still want to help us when they get a little older