EASTER

Without writing an entirely new "overwhelmed" post, {because I could :)}, I thought I would catch up on the recent "events" in our life....sans kitchen.

Due to unseasonal weather {for maybe the third year in a row} the azaleas all bloomed much earlier than normal.  But when azaleas bloom in the south, especially in our area, they are spectacular.  When we moved into our "pink trailer on the sandy hill" {what Stephen called our ranch style house before we painted and sodded and landscaped :)} we dreamed of what "could be" when we looked at our tiny, newly planted Formosa and George Tabor azaleas.  Now, the bushes are bigger than the kids and the perfect backdrop for those beautifully posed Southern portraits with smiling kids and pretty smocked outfits.

HA!

I don't know how other people do it.  Mine never want to look at the camera, or smile, or sit still long enough for the super quick auto focus.  But I did get a few, and I will cherish them :)

most of them looked like this:

The Easter season was a quick and fun one, with no sitting in the mall "Easter Bunny"'s lap pictures but thanks to preschool parties and a wonderfully thoughtful friend/mommy we had some egg hunts and Easter Egg dying.

poor kids, mean mommies made them look directly at the sun

smile jacob!:

Our actual Easter was spent back in our own home, when our kitchen was at the "waiting on cabinets" stage.  It was such a wonderful Easter.  Relaxed, laid back, honey-baked ham and paper plates kind of day.  

Despite moving in and out of my parents house due to the renovation, the Easter Bunny found us at home and the kids were happy.

{one day poor Jacob will have his own Easter basket ;)}

{someone woke up and ransacked his basket a little early...}

Somebody else thankfully found us on Easter, too

{La and Pop}

OVERWHELMED

It's what I am right now.  Overwhelmed with EVERYTHING!  We moved back into our house Sunday night, still without a kitchen, but we are so happy to be home.  My house and brain look a little like this

I've had a few moments where I just sit on the sofa and spend way too long looking around {or eyes glazed over} just overwhelmed with all there is to do...organize, clean, unpack, put away....

The realistic part of me says "I know it's Easter and Easter is not about eggs and bunnies and crafts and cooking.  It's about His love for us and His son who saved us and our salvation.  Your kids will live if they don't go sit in the Easter Bunny's lap.  The kids will be not be worse off if they don't dye any eggs or bake Easter treats in your {non-existent} kitchen."

However, the ME part of me says "What about rice krispie M&M treats in the shape of bunnies? Outdoor Easter Egggggstravaganza??? Why can you not walk into your bedroom?  Doesn't all of this stuff need to be put away right. now.??? Your desk and your "office" aka current pantry/kitchen is a disaster....do something about it! And let's not get started on your car..."

Also, if you have been following the blog for the past few years, you will know how much I've dreamed of one day owning a few of these

{barred rocks and silkies to be specific...along with several other breeds}

Several of my friends have them in their backyard and I've realized through them that my "dream" is something I really don't have to wait for.  Our city allows hens within the city limit and after Stephen saw a friend's chicken coop and set up a couple months ago he actually jumped in on the excitement of having some. {not to mention that when my family of five eats eggs, we eat almost a dozen.  And they're not even in their teens...or pre teens...or tweens....}

So, what better time to get some baby chicks than EASTER???  I mean I can hardly contain myself over the thought of the kids waking up Sunday morning to eight little chicks.

So perfect.

And SO not going to happen.  All the things I should have been doing to get ready for said chickens over the past couple weeks I have not been doing, to say the least.  So, in my ever-evolving resolution to learn how to say NO, this morning I told myself and Stephen the chicks-for-Easter thing is just not going to happen. As with so many other things right now, it will be put off until the kitchen is done.  And I am 100% ok with that!  It actually feels really good just to say "no" and the "ME" part of me is getting really comfortable with the laid back, under-achieving side of having three small children and a job and a house under construction.  Don't get me wrong...I really miss cooking and crafting {and heaven knows the last time I actually SEWED anything!}...but for this Easter season we are just going to sit back, smile, and pull out the paper plates and Honey Baked Ham.

And give all thanks to the Father who doesn't require anything else out of us!  He takes us, dust and all.

{and I've got plenty of that!!!}

FIXIN' MY KITCHEN : THE MATERIALS

To say I have had fun with this kitchen is quite the understatement.  It was such a joy to design our most lived in living space in every aspect...from the wall placement {interior} to the type of cabinet knob.

When I design for other people, I fully respect their aesthetic {unless they don't have one and just need me to tell them what to do...I get those too!}, just guide them in the direction and whole picture aspect where their taste can be displayed but in a "taste"-ful way. ;)  So when it comes to designing for myself, I really feel like I could go in a million directions.  I love so many different styles...rustic glam, mid century modern mixed with high traditional, the commonly loved "white and blue and light gray" coastal look, classic preppy patterns and styles, the simplicity of the "new" traditionalists....all these things.  I have found my style doesn't really fit exactly in one of those molds, grabbing a little inspiration from each of these categories, so my challenge is making sure it all blends together, stays within budget, and doesn't look too busy or hap-hazard.

So, while I tried my best not to make this room a huge pot of over-designed stew, I did make sure a few of my favorite "things" were included :) things like this:

marble + mixed metals + warmth + open shelving + crisp white + soothing grays

{not shown: plenty of natural light and living things...plants, fresh flowers, KIDS!}

And after a nerve racking visit to my marble source last week, I found our slabs

The problem came in picking out a slab that would work for my island...as it requires almost an entire slab.  There were many decent looking slabs but each had some sort of massive dark marking on one corner or irregularities that would have completely unbalanced the island.  There were ten available slabs on the list and we could only find nine.  Several of them would have worked for the perimeter counter tops, but by the time we ruled out the ninth and final slab, the pit in my stomach was visioning plywood counter tops in my kitchen for months and months on end, until another shipment of marble was placed and arrived.  Thankfully the "missing" tenth available slab was found right as we were leaving {and right before I broke down} and it was PERFECT.  The marble I love and have used on every job where marble was desired is Alabama White.  

On the counters in this kitchen and Master Bathroom I did back in 2010

On the backsplashes of this kitchen, my first "official" job on my own in 2007

And on the bathroom and kitchen counters in this fun cabana job I worked on this past fall:

Alabama White reminds me the most of Calacatta Gold marble...with a slightly off white background and longer, more gradual veining.  'Cept not with the same price tag ;)  I love it.  

I will do a more detailed post describing the different items we are using in our kitchen soon.  Time to take Bennett to school and pick up the ceramic tile for my laundry room floor - budget budget budget!!

Have a great Monday!

HOUSTON

This past weekend Stephen and I took an overdue "outing" to visit my little sister, Rachel, and my brother in law Hollis.  Hollis moved to Houston soon after college and, after long-distance-planning a wedding, Rachel moved out there about a year and a half ago.  They have a precious little duplex in an amazing part of town, a sweet group of friends, more places to be/eat/things to do than anyone I know, and blessed jobs.

Some life-long friends of ours moved to Baton Rouge almost a year ago so we were able to split up our travel time on the way out there and spend the night with them.  Quick but wonderful visit.

The drive was not bad at all and as much as I had planned on listening to all of C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity book on tape {fabulous by the way!!!} on the way over and back, Stephen and I found ourselves much too busy having uninterrupted conversation to bother much with anything else!

This was a fun little snack on the ride over: peanut butter yogurt covered pretzels with craisins and pistachios.  Yum!

When we arrived in Houston on Friday we met at Goode Company BBQ for lunch.  Admittedly I am NOT a big BBQ guru but from my experience of un-inspired BBQ reactions, this BBQ is in a league of its own.  Sliced beef with peppery sauce served on jalapeno bread.  Uh-mazing.

We ran around "town" {ha...Houston is HUGE} a bit, visiting Rachel's work {Marie Flanigan Interiors}, a frame shop, and a monster western store so Stephen could deck himself out for the rodeo.  He had every intention of purchasing a dinner-plate sized belt buckle but, seeing as it was a joke, he wasn't comfortable shelling out $350 for it {!!!!}.

{posing for a pic with a cow and a real "cowboy" to show the babies}
{omg Stephen I just noticed this but look at his belt buckle!!! ha!!}

The Houston rodeo is quite the event...with a carnival up front, a Christmas-Jubilee {for you locals} type shopping venue in a separate building complete with 4H events and live animals, and food tent after food tent.  I did not buy any animals but I did impulsively purchase this amazing cow hide rug

The company is from Brazil has been setting up shop at the rodeo for the past 40 years but does not sell to the public year round.  Their quality and prices were unreal and I tried, to no avail, to get them to let me open an account with them {they just don't do it}. I am beyond thrilled that I a}do not have a kitchen but b}have an extra rug for a room that is the least decorated in my house and never used.  PERFECT! :)

After our impulse shopping we went to our seats for the rodeo.  I did NOT know how they got bulls and horses to buck and I was NOT excited about it when I found out.  Basically they tighten a strap over a particular area on these male animals which makes them super mad...until the 8 or so seconds are up and  men on horses ride over and remove the strap so the rider and the animal get some relief.  Stephen thought I was a sissy, I am OK with being a sissy ;)

The rodeo was educational and really fun.  But, the piece de resistance was Mr. Tim McGraw.  I'm serious that guy can sing and move and climb and jump better than one might expect at his age, even for much younger.  Stephen and I went to his concert in college and he was just as good now as he was then.  We had a BLAST and the Houston radio stations played Tim McGraw songs back to back our entire ride home.  A+++

{our cute "cowboys" ;) }

 

Saturday Stephen and Hollis did boy stuff while Rachel and I ventured into IKEA territory.  I thought it was going to be overwhelming but I was impressed at how easy it was to maneuver.  We racked up on kitchen type stuffand then headed over to another huge experience...High Fashion Home.  I peruse the website every now and then for work, but have never purchased anything from them since much of what they have is available at different vendors.  {Seriously guys and I kid you not...one of the pictures in a previous post about which I said there was no saving it and I would just scrap it all and start over was from a vignette from their store! oops! ha.}  BUT the website can be a source though for many items in one place and they do carry some great lines.  Also, if I lived in Houston I can see how this store would be a HUGE help...tons of fabrics, clothes, accessories, not to mention furniture/lamps/tables galore.  We ran to a few more of Rachel's favorite interior stores/sources and then rested before dinner.

Saturday night was dinner at Max's Wine Dive which was DIVINE.  We each had different things and each was delicious.

I could not partake in everything, however, since I gave up fried food for Lent...serious sacrifice apparently {chips and salsa?? NO.  Tacos?? NO.  Fried oysters?? NO.}

{i die}

If we weren't leaving the next morning and if we didn't have a seven hour drive and if the time wasn't changing I could have visited and sipped vino there the entire night.  But alas all those things mentioned had to happen so we left by ten thirty or so. {which I must say is still at least an hour past this old lady's bedtime!!}

It was an awesome visit and made me miss my sister and Hollis {and Stephen} even more...now that I can visualize exactly where they are and what they are doing I feel like it should be down the street {and Stephen and I should have seven hour long uninterrupted stretches frequently.  He is my absolute best friend and I miss "hanging out"!!}.  Thanks for having us guys and we want to come back, soon!