A very (un)welcome Spring!

Right now I have a love-hate relationship with Spring and home ownership. I love the flowers in bloom and the mild temperatures but I hate the pollen and the running nose that I can't seem to escape. I love love love our house but hate feeling like no matter how much back breaking "clean-up" I do in the yard there's still more. That's probably the anal perfectionist in me however, there's nothing prettier than a well manicured yard. The house looks great and the yard looks great too but I'd love to do an overhaul and have someone come through, suck up all the old pine straw and lay more. Maybe I'll budget for that over the new couple of months. The oxymoron in all of this is that I'm really just talking about the natural areas. Who knew that a natural area required so much pruning and maintenance? I am learning a lot about gardening though and absolutely love it (with the exception on the pollen creeping into my eyes and nose). I made it my mission this weekend to clean up the flower beds and plant some flowers in our empty flower pots. Once I got started I noticed some real yucky looking "plants" which I ended up identifying as weeds using google images and some random weed sites. They were everywhere. They had yellow buds on them so I thought they might be flowers but they were ugly and I was secretly hoping they were weeds so that I could justify getting rid of them. Well, they were and now they're gone! The only thing really left are the azaleas, a dogwood tree and roses. Not a bad mix of plants! Someone spent some good money on making the landscaping at our house beautiful and it has been a very nice Springtime surprise for us! The azaleas cover the whole backyard and there are a few in the front with some roses and the lovely dogwood tree. A very quintessentially southern yard! That's one of the biggest things that I love about our neighborhood is all of the old, mature trees and mature landscaping. It's just so pretty right now spotting all the colors in the yards. I love it, but as I'm sitting here tying I'm sniffling and can't seem to muscle through this yucky pollen season! Here's to May! Spring temperatures, spring flowers and NO pollen!!

Closet rehab

I wish I could have a closet rehab! I go through phases of different things I'd like to spend money on. It pretty much switches daily between the cute pair of shoes I just saw at the store, to the dining room table I saw on an episode of House Hunters, to the pretty flowers I saw driving down the street. Lately it's been a little of everything (like I said, it changes daily and probably hourly) but right now as I sit here thinking that my grey cable knit sweater and black pants are dull I realize I want a wardrobe makeover. I'm not sure if it's that I really am into new clothes right now or if it's more of the fact that I'm looking forward to SPRING and cheery, warm weather clothing! I always get a little antsy towards the end of seasons and start looking forward to the change. But, back to clothes...I always think other people look cute and always see cute things in the store but just can't bring myself to ever spend money on clothes when I have perfectly find clothing to wear hanging in my closet. Shoes have been my weakness...I've been on a kick (ha, no pun intended) lately. Here's two pair that I've bought recently...in addition to a new pair of work shoes that I desperately needed. To my defense, I got one pair for a birthday gift and the other pair, well...they were on sale and go with everything and are "the new black", so I just had to have them :-)

Ahh...the weekend!

This picture pretty much captures what I'm planning to do every weekend until the next cold spell comes along. We've had this hammock since a wedding shower so long ago and have just never had a place to hang it! But, in our new house there is an absolutely perfect place and I think this is just what my weekends have been missing!

Speaking of the weekend, TGIF! Hmm...what happened to TGIF on ABC back in the day? I can't seem to find anything worth watching on a Friday night anymore and would love to watch some episodes of Full House, Step by Step and Family Matters!

Just a glimpse

I feel like I have become obsessed with ideas. But, to my defense I don't think it's just me. I'm just one of those people who once they get an idea in their heads I'm bound and determined to make it happen and soon and if for some reason I can't (ie...things out of my control) then I'll daydream about it until it all becomes a reality. Well, ever since we got the house and the options are practically limitless I find myself daydreaming about home ideas. I love how it all fell together without us really buying anything when we moved in, but I just always have these ideas of making the space more comfortable and homey...is that a word? Well, anyways, you get what I'm saying and I realize that, to quote a friend, "Rome wasn't built in a day" but it's so fun to look at ideas and imagine them in your own house. Here are some things that I love....

I love the use of vintage windows in home decor. I don't think I'll be as creative as this person was but I am planning to hunt down some cool windows at the antique store this weekend and hang them in the guest bedroom. I think that they'll give it a really cool, coastal, vintage feel and I actually got Jon to agree with me on this brilliant idea. I think it's funny how I used to hate the "shabby chic" look but I think I've discovered that it kinda personifies who I am. I've really been diggin' it lately and think it's time to bring some more "shabby chic" touches into our home.

The other rooms are ideas for our fireside living area and the sunroom. I LOOOVE the daybed idea for a sunroom. I just think it makes it so cozy and functional, especially if you're trying to incorporate an extra sleeping space for guests somewhere. I also LOVE the green chairs from the other sunroom setup and the drapes too! The purple chairs by the fireplace are NOT on the like list but I do love the way the chairs are set up in front of the fireplace. It's just so inviting. It makes you want to curl up next to the fireplace and read a book. Well, at least I think so. I think that set-up will definitely make it into the house when the resources allow.

Okay, I can't resist, I must share...I got sidetracked on Pottery Barn the other day and happened across this lovely baby girl room....I'll just tell Jon I was looking for my niece in the bun now....and of course, I'll add the disclaimer for those with wondering minds....I have NO reason to be looking at this but like I said...couldn't resist....and isn't it beautiful?

Settle For A Slowdown

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve not blogged in over a month! I guess that kinda speaks for itself, well…either I haven’t had time or I’ve gotten bored talking about myself. Well, I think it’s really a little bit of both, but to give you a glimpse into what’s been happening since January 7, 2011 here it goes: first we moved, technically that was before the 7th but you know how that goes, there’s always stuff to do and definitely better things to do than sit in front of a computer and blog, then we came down with the flu, that took about a week of doing nothing but sleeping and sitting on the sofa watching Jersey Shore repeats, after that the blizzard ice storm came to Atlanta, that actually trapped us inside the house for a few days so one would think that I had time to blog but we didn’t have internet service yet and I wasn’t about to finger tap a blog entry on my phone, so, forgive me, let’s see….after we moved, got over the flu, got internet service back and survived the winter ice blast we hosted a game night at the house and had our housewarming party, I think we thoroughly warmed our house and have quite the well-stocked bar as a result, once things started to settle down Jon and I were off to Florida, followed by Mexico on a week-long excursion/cruise from Atlanta-Orlando-Miami-Key West-Cozumel-Miami-Orlando and finally we’re HOME! Okay…the end of my ramble session. Let’s get back to proper use of commas and periods. Life’s been busy and I really like staying that way. However, I was so happy to be home this week and purposefully avoided making too many plans for this weekend. I do plan on having a mini birthday celebration with some friends on Saturday night, but am making no social plans other than that. I can’t wait to just relax and play around town with my hubby. I think that’s something we struggle with sometimes. We never leave enough time for us to truly hang out together (after work during the week doesn’t count) and do whatever strikes us at the time. It seems that since both of us are social and like to be around other people we sometimes forget that we A. don’t have to have plans and B. don’t have to surround ourselves with other people every time we have a free moment on the weekends. And, for that reason… we are having a date night/ movie night tonight! As for tomorrow night, we’ll be social. But, tonight and tomorrow during the day, I plan on hanging out with the hubby and the pups. I think we’ll venture out on a walk to the dog park in the morning and am interested in going to my first antique mall tomorrow afternoon. Hmm…you think I can convince Jon to go? We’ll see. Am I getting old? All I talked about this blog was needing to slow down and it ended with going to antique malls. Ugh….it must be the late twenties kickin’ in….