What goals?

Sooooooo, at the beginning of the year I posted the goals I had for our house this year.  Yeah, about that . . . . . . most aren't done yet and I think my focus has shifted on quite a few so I figured I would go back over them and try to update the list.  Since I had kids my mind is like a sieve and this might help me stay focused?  Although the January post doesn't seem to have helped.  Oh well.

We did finish our front porch during the Spring One Room Challenge.  Yay for follow through!

The living room got painted, although we are at a stand still now.  The curtains I had wanted don't seem to be in production anymore, and I am scared of making the coffee table into an ottoman.  It was a $50 Craig's List find from almost 10 years ago, but the fact that the hubs is against it makes me scared to screw it up.  The odds of hearing "I told you so" is a huge disincentive to motivation.  Although at this point we are going to have to do something because the kids have stickered all over the top of it and since I thought I would be doing something with it I never took them off and now they may be permanently adhered.

Some of the projects have been put on hold for awhile because of a shift in priorities.  We decided a little earlier in the year to go ahead and replace our nasty carpet with new hard surface flooring.  We opted to go with an inexpensive laminate for now so we can get it done.  I rationalized it because it is around the same cost as replacing the old carpet with new carpet so if we have to replace it in a few years it won't hurt quite so bad.

But because of the new flooring the fence and shed projects definitely won't be happening this year.  Bummer, because both of those would add a ton of functionality but that's life.

We do still plan on the cosmetic changes in our kitchen and hall bathroom.  I am thinking one of them may become the fall One Room Challenge.  We have the paint already for the bathroom vanity and have hung some new art in there, so all that would need doing would be the actual painting, adding some hardware, and changing out the lighting.  It would be lipstick on the pig but it would make that pig look a lot more attractive!

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And the kitchen is killing me.  Every Thursday I think to myself, "this will be the weekend I start tearing upper cabinets down!"  But then practicality and time win out and nothing happens.  That is seriously my most thought about room though.  Can.  Not.  Wait.

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And then there's that fence, and the shed, and patio and pergola out back, and our closet, and real redos of both the bathrooms, and finishing touches for the bedrooms, and replacing the doors and hardware, and the windows, and a pool, and the list goes on and on.  Sometimes I find it hard to remember it's about the journey, not the destination.

Vibrant personality

When we found out we were having a little girl almost 4 years ago I was so excited to plan a sweet and delicate space.  Our boy is ALL boy, he has always loved trucks, and trains, and construction equipment, so I was ready for a change from all of that.  I wanted her space to be a little English fairy tale style girly, with pastels and florals, ruffles and faded tones.  That is the direction I went in with her nursery, we all know the nursery is for mom anyway.  I loved the space but as she grew I realized that delicate and subdued was not quite jiving with her personality!  She is dainty but the biggest indicator of her true nature was summed up by the award her ballet teacher bestowed on her, "biggest personality!"

When she moved to her big bed we were using that French style caned twin bed but quickly realized that on nights when one of us went in to lay with her that it did not cut it.  She is a windmill when she sleeps and went on a sleep strike for about a 2 week period not too long after we moved her.  We had found with our son that once we found the right size bed for him he became a perfect sleeper so we decided to try her with a full bed.  Even if it didn't work at least there would be more room for her and one of us when we needed to sleep in there!

Because that was an opportunity to get all new bedding and accessories I decided to take her sassy attitude more into consideration and went much brighter with her pallet.  We painted her headboard a bright watermelon pink, and found some bright and multicolored bedding.  This room suits her so much better and makes me happy just to walk into.  As I was taking pictures she came in wanting to help me so some of the closeups were captured by her, she's 3.  I love seeing the angles that she finds compelling.

Can't wait for fall!

So we took our final summer vacation last week to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, and it was, of course, beautiful.  We had a great time at the beach, and pool because our little boy just mastered swimming and thinks he's a fish.  And took the kids to play putt putt one night which went over far better with our 5 year old than our 3 year old.  Although, on paper, she was the far better player.  She made every hole in 2 strokes, mainly because after her first one she would grab the ball and put it right at the hole to hit it in.  Oh well, she had fun that way.

Now though, school has started back, and I am into fall prep.  Never mind that it is still hitting in the high 90's here with heat indexes over 100.  I am noticing breezier weather and starting to feel like it's hurricane season.  Hate the storms and the damage, but love me some tropical storm like weather.

On that note I started pulling some images that I want to let guide me this fall.  We have some projects that are waiting in the wings for the time and money to align but in the meantime I just need to do some prettying!  Although with the aforementioned 5 and 3 year old's the rooms don't stay quite as pristinely pretty for very long!

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And I am ready to start adding some fall touches around the house.

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And the weather will be cool enough soon for outdoor parties!  I feel an oyster roast in our future!

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Oh, I can't wait for fall!