My living room corner is having a moment

Oh man, i fully realize this is a million of practically the same exact photo.

Usually i get really exasperated by people who post a million photos of the same thing.

Like, here's my decorated tray. here's my decorated tray zoomed in. here's my decorated tray zoomed in but focused on one specific item with everything else blurry. here's my tray, on my ottoman, but still. the tray. here it is. but maybe with an overall room, instead of one item, it warrants a million photos. maybe.

You may have noticed the blue wall is no longer. When we removed part of the wall for the kitchen reno, it obviously affected this wall, and since there was spackling and repairing on both this and the half moon table wall, we repainted. Did i want to repaint all 4 walls so there was no more tan living here, sure, sure. but my pro wouldn't do that. So this is second best.

 

I'm not 100% sure about the artwork situation, if it needs one more piece or not. If you are just looking at the wall then i say yes, but when you take in the opening to the kitchen, i say no.

This is reading as boring. It's not in person. Grr.

Corner moment!

With or without? (I feel like i'm ordering cheesesteaks in the city.) I see the merits of both sides of this argument, but i like without.  Without speaks to less clutter, doesn't stop your eye the way another art piece does, allows the corner to be a whole moment. Zooms right past wall into kitchen.

 Less zooming, more wall focusing. More visual clutter.

The wall is not that orangey. Grr again.

Gone are the baby blue accent wall days. Hello neutrals, i'm relieved to see you. Also, yeah green thumb!

Paint Color-Rawlings, Finneran Hailey matched to Benjamin Moore
Artwork-Minted via Domestically Speaking. Thanks MaryAnn!
Stripe pillow cover-Ikea
Blue ottoman-Amazon
Rug-RugsUSA
Arc Lamp-Home Depot
Gorgeous cats-Rescues.

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Currently...October

Have mercy, how on earth is it October? And don't you feel like we're all asking this question so often now? Like, how is the summer already over? How is it October? How is it the holidays are so close? By the way, no one talk to me about the holidays yet...although I've seen a few posts about them in link parties and will not so much as glance in their Santa direction. How is it that people are posting about the holidays already? While we're asking random questions, how is it that i will be 35 in a few weeks? Holy smokes, 35.  The next box. In the checking of boxes, the next box is 35 and older. How is it that I will soon be checking that next box?  Time is totally flying faster than ever before.

Speaking of flying, I will be turning 35 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Surely that takes the sting out, a bit.  Also, i want to buy myself something fancy, but what?

puertavallarta.net

This is most likely the one excursion we are going to, the Marieta Islands, which is a hidden beach made from bomb testing in the 1900s. You can only gain entry from either jumping in from the top (not recommended) or swimming into it from a "short tunnel carved from sea by the ocean side and into the crater." That sounds a little scary, i'm not a good swimmer, but when else do you get to see something like this???

Currently.....
Smelling:  Mulled Cider candle from Walmart. Their brand of candles were recommended to me, and they are so fragrant.
Loving:  My cats. I can't get enough of them, especially when i am going on vacation. I just try to soak up as much time with them as possible.
Planning:  Um, vacation? Right now the planning is focused just on clothing to bring. Luckily, this seems to be simpler than our last two trips and i am determined to get everything in the smaller carry-on suitcase.
Baking:  The weeks leading up to a vacation are freeing, don't you think? It's the only time i don't look at the food circulars, because instead of buying more food I'm looking to use what i have on hand in case something happens to the fridge or power or something.
Celebrating:  I mean, did somebody say 35 or what?!?!

 Any tips on PV? We are staying in the Bay of Banderas, about 20 minutes from downtown, so i was told to put Sayulito on my must see list.What else?!?!

Participating in Currently @ Dearest Love, Random Wednesday @ Because Shanna Said So

you're killing me, basement

Friends and countrymen, the basement reno is almost done.  I know i've been telling you this for years, literally yeeeears, don't think i don't know that.  But.  We have made progress on those incidentals that have a way of bringing the whole thing to a hault.  Or in our case, prolong something from progressing.  I guess that's actually what bring it to a hault means, but that implies there was actual work being done.  We sort of go in spurts where we focus on the basement, and then refinish a tv cabinet, and then go on vacation, and then build a patio. And then we're like, so what are we doing about that thing in the basement?

So.  There were two situations with the basement looming over our heads.  What do we do with the pole, and what do we do with all the electronic equipment for all the theatre stuff.

Starting with the pole, we wanted to make it have a purpose.  It has to be there, it may as well DO something.  So we're making it a table, for that little retro chair and for people who may be congregating in the bar area.

And since my darling knows i'm a visual person, he printed out templates from work so we can get a general idea of what the table would like like.  We like the look of the bottom boxed out, but for the top we may just paint it. 

Just enough space to rest a beer on, i don't want the table to take center stage.  Here i think it looks too big, but the picture below doesn't leave much room for your beverage.  However, if we don't drywall the top of the pole, it will mean the table will be plenty big.

The height is a little higher that the chair so that people standing can still use it.

This feels unobtrusive, right?

The many sizes he brought home, each adding an inch to the table top.  S keeps calling it a guitar pick shape, but to me it's a ouja board piece. 

Some a little less unobtrusive. Lordy. I think he was just trying to annoy me.

Some apparently, quite comfortable. 

And then finally we have the component bench!  This looks simple (at least to me) but it took him ages to draw up and was full of mathematical thought. I am telling you, this, for some reason, was a lot more complicated than it looks right here.   It looks like a pretty simple box....right?  I had hoped we could rig something from Ikea and be done with it.

But my darling is a man's man, and a man's man's theatre room has surround sound and wi fi tv and remote controls i can't even begin to understand. He put a lot of thought into making it perfectly line up with the electrical and computer input things...yeah.  I love how the sub woofer (that big speaker on the left) is partially sunken behind the face so that it looks just like the right hand side.

We realized the receiver gets too hot when it's in use, so he installed a fan on the right  The man just thinks of everything.  We'll install a flip down door that covers the whole front except that very bottom, and he (of course) has a fancy pants remote that works through the door. We'll also add pillows and cushions up top for seating.

Listen, just as long as i don't have to see this mess, i'm golden.

I need some input with the wall behind the bench, if you would indulge me.  So when the theatre screen is down, it won't be a problem.  When it is up in the ceiling (like in the photos) and we're using it as a bench, it's a big empty wall with an off center and high, typical basement window.  How do i decorate this?  Any sort of artwork would have to go really high so that people sitting on the bench aren't uncomfortable.  Should i just do something to balance out the window?  Do nothing at all?  Maybe just look into pillows for now?  Help!

 

 

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A sunflower bridal shower

How is it that my baby brother is getting married in just a few weeks?!  Super happy for him and his soon to be bride.  We hosted a sunflower themed bridal shower for her a couple weekends ago, and i think it came together really well.  The wedding is being held in a barn, as they all seem to be these days, so we wanted to go with that rustic, ball jar, low key sort of feeling.  I also did something rather bold for me, and me as a blogger; i reached out to the owner of Wild Herb Soap Co. and asked if we could partner on the favors.  And i was truly shocked when she said yes. So in full disclosure this is not a sponsored post, but rather a partner post about her Etsy store.  And of course, i wanted to share the details of the shower with you all.

Does this invitation (also from Etsy) say casual and rustic or what.  We had the image printed on top of the cake, too, but it didn't come out that great. Perhaps stores who offer such services should then package the cake without material to smudge the icing of the image one carefully selected. Just saying. 

 

This was the display when guests entered, to drop off their recipe cards and to lay out the fabulous favors.  We used clip art of a giant realistic sunflower, printed with the words "Thank you for showering Julie with love" and then the soaps-the delicious smelling soaps-displayed in the box next to it.  Also a good saying would be "From Julie's shower to yours" but that one just gives me visual images i'd rather not have.  So "showering" with love also makes sense with soap, and doesn't give anyone mental images of Great Aunts they'd rather unsee.

I wish this was scratch and sniff.

From the moment we opened the box, they smelled  Hea.Ven. Ly. Heavenly.  They are bundled together with raffia, and come in flavors like Citrus Explosion and Green Tea and Aloe.  Individually, they smell and look amazing, but together is like Wow.  And the shape/size is absolutely perfect for a favor.  They are packaged with 3 handmade slices, 1.5 ounces total, nut oil free and soy free.  There was a slightly smaller option, but i would absolutely recommend the size we got as any smaller would be too small.  We opted out of customized tags, but you can go that route, too. I love the scalloped edges on some of them, and the color variation.

The recipe cards had the same image as the bigger invitation, and the wood box was perfectly sized for guests to deposit them for the bride. We also encouraged guests to share a recipe for a happy marriage or a date night idea, and they were placed in two Ball jars.



The gift table early on, with more Ball jars, and more sunflowers.

To add some extra wedding-ness, i stuck these cake tooth picks in some of the desserts and hung the lanterns from the dining room chandelier. 

White paper lanterns mean instant festive feeling.

We were lucky to have great weather, and of course everyone had a nice time and loved their soaps.  Who wouldn't.  Seriously, i can't recommend Carol and her handmade soaps from Wild Herb Soap Co. enough.  She was super to work with, going above and beyond (like when i had a question but was leaving for vacation, so i asked her to email my mom instead) to make sure the customer was satisfied and up to date.

Please visit Carol's Etsy shop www.wildherb.etsy.com  or go directly to www.wildherbsoap.com if you'd like to order or find out more info.

Now let me ask you about some wedding etiquette-My cousin got married 9 months ago, when she learned that she was pregnant.  So she and her husband were married, in front of immediate family, by a rabbi, before she had the baby, who is now 7 months old.  She had a baby shower, as one should, for their first child.

Well, now i'm invited to her wedding.  But she's married. For almost a YEAR she's married, but, you know, i'll give her that and attend the wedding and buy a wedding gift (even though she chose to get married before her daughter was born, did i say that yet?).  But then-i get a bridal shower invite.  And here is where i draw the line and get all capital letters on you.  YOU ARE MARRIED! YOU DON'T GET A SHOWER!  I'm sorry you got pregnant and then had a shot gun wedding, but that is what HAPPENED and you have been MARRIED for almost a YEAR.  You don't get to go BACKWARDS and pretend you're NOT MARRIED and get MORE gifts and then MORE gifts!  Or is that just me?  I joked to my mom that i'm not married-nor am i engaged-but apparently there are no rules.  So with these no rules, even though i'm not engaged and not married, i'm gonna have me a "we've been together for 17 years SHOWER" and everyone can BUY ME PRESENTS.  How's that for ya?!

Am i being crazy to think this is just a ploy for gifts?  What would you do?  I'm not going and i'm not sending a gift.  This just bothers me to my very core. Tell me your thoughts on it. 

All opinions are 100% my own, i received a percentage off the favors in exchange for blogging about the store.

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Will i love Paris in the springtime?

Friends, my annual vacation is coming up and we are not far off from leaving on a jet plane for France.  More specifically, to Paris for a week and then renting a car and exploring Normandy and down to Mont Saint-Michel for another week. I hope to sample random wines (and ciders, Normandy is known for hard ciders) and cheese, and lose ourselves both walking along the Paris streets and driving on the coast. 

As much as i try and refrain from shopping before vacation-who am i kidding-in my head i'm refraining, but the rest of me is flicking through the (clearance) racks looking for the perfect clothes to bring (and that the boyfriend won't notice as new).  For Alaska, there were new boots.  For Hawaii or Aruba, how can one not get sun dress happy?  And for France, it's stripes and neutrals.

 

 Everything was on sale or clearance, and have a lot of mix and match potential.  Any Tom's fans out there?  I got these for this trip-do you think they will be comfy enough for all day sightseeing? Also, there will be pants.  There were just none newly purchased to show you.  But rest assured there will be pants.

I'm trying to get a little dressier with my every day clothes, especially for this trip, so i'm jumping on the blazer bandwagon and pairing them with a more casual shirt.  Blazer to me always meant interview, or stuffy, or constricting.  Happily this one is in sweatshirt material.  Hello little polka dot lining, could you be any cuter?

Also, this.  France made of cheese and bread. 

Now please excuse me while i re-watch Amelie and Midnight in Paris in hopes of absorbing the language by osmosis!

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