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Thursday, July 29, 2010

Home tour #2: Family room and Kitchen

Here is a shot of our family rooom while standing facing the fireplace. Love that there is fireplace and love the built in entertainment center. We initially had a dilema as our TV is a 1/2 inch too wide to fit in the space for a tv. We shopped around for a new TV, however the only new flat screen tv we could find that was a perfect fit in the space is $1,100 and we don't want to spend that much right now. So we decided to look on Craigs list and we found this TV for $20!! It is smaller than we are used to, but works fine for now.                         
                                                 More of the family room.


We love the eat in kitchen with desk. 


Here is my cheerful and "fruity" kitchen. I'm typically not a fan of any kind of wall paper, however this is not bad and really seems to go well with all of our things. Plus, I recently heard on HGTV that wall paper is making a big come back!! So for now, wall paper it is.

another shot of the kitchen

love this cheerful bouquet of sunflowers!

A shot of the family room looking in from the arched entry way. The kitchen and family room have a beautfiul tile floor with a carpet insert in the family room. We love the shutters and designer window coverings!


A close up shot of the mantle. The cross was my Mom's. So there you have it folks, the family room and kitchen. Next stop on the tour is my craft room and I hope to post those pics tomorrow. Thanks for continuing on the tour of the new house!!                                   


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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

I'm blogging again!

Sorry folks for the long break from the blog. The good news, is that we are officially moved in and are settling in nicely to our new home! The move itself went off without a hitch thanks to help from our friends. We split the move into 2 days. Kevin rented a Uhaul on Friday morning the 9th and had 3 guys (plus Kyle) to help him load the truck and bring over approx 3/4 of the boxes and furniture. Thank you to Steve W. from our church growth group, Kevin's co-worker James P and our long time friend Derek A who lives about a 1/2 hour from us. They all worked tirelessly all morning to help us and we treated them to a Subway sandwich lunch around 1.  That afternoon Kevin and Kyle went back to the house for more boxes and we were able to sleep in the new house that night. The next morning Kevin met the other 3 guys who helped us over at the old house. A special shout out goes to our new friend Dan S. who is the fiancee of my friend Sandy (a friend I met through the first church we visited when we moved to this area a year ago), Gaylen T from our church growth group and Gaylen's step-son Preston. Along with Kyle, they were able to get the rest of our belongings over here to the new house in record time and once again we treated the crew to Subway.

Literally since the first day we stepped in and put the first piece of furniture in place, this house has felt like "home" which has been so wonderful! This house meets all our needs perfectly and the perfect size for our family of 3. Not too big and not too small..just right! I've been taking my time unpacking and putting away, decorating as I go. We've been enjoying using the club house facilities across the street from the house and all of us have been working out practically daily at the gym. Kevin loved the fact that he was able to pull his golf bag across the street last weekend and play 18 holes without driving anywhere! Living on a golf course is truly a dream come true for my avid golfer hubby!! Additionally Kevin and Kyle have discovered "ping pong" and have been over almost daily to play several rounds of ping pong with each other. I've played too, but I can't hold a candle to the guys...they are REALLY good and usually leave me in the dust!

Over the next few days I'm going to be sharing some pics of the house! I'm breaking it up over a few days since there is so much I want to share. Today I will be sharing the LIVING ROOM, DINING ROOM and HALL area outside our bedroom. Hope you enjoy the tour!

Here is a shot of the living room. To get a better view of all the pics, you can click on each one for a bigger picture. We love how light and bright this room is and the upgraded laminate flooring is to die for! We are planning on putting an area rug down under this furniture at some point.
Here is another shot of the living room. Love the window treatments that came with the home...this was once one of the model homes for our development which is why this home has so many wonderful designer touches including the fabulous built in shelving you see to the left of the couch. This has proven to be the perfect place to display many of my mother's beautiful things I have inherited.

My Mom LOVED anything that was of Santa Fe style and lucky for me that some of the pieces that are indicative of Santa Fe syle cross over to Italian/Tuscan style which is what we love. For example, the Mary and Child carving on the top shelf, the St. Francis figurine, the crosses/finials and the virgin Mary figurine on the bottom shelf are all things that represent Italy and Tuscany. Here is a closer look at some of these beautiful pieces:

The plate was my Grandma Dorothy's and was given to my Mom a few years before her death. Grandma had a note that Dad and I recently found taped to the back of the plate that had said that the plate should be handed down to me after my Mom. It is such a beautiful plate and I love having it displayed!


I love these finials, the cross and St. Francis figurine.

                                          I love this Virgin Mary/Madonna figurine. It is beautiful.

Standing in front of the built in shelving looking towards the front door.

Right inside the front door is an antique piece of furniture that my Dad re finished/stained for us years ago along with some more of the wonderful treasures that were left behind my my Mom. I LOVE this painting that my Mom painted of a California mission. I plan on framing it, but for now it looks fine hanging as is on the wall. Additionally I love the angel and the shallow bowl that is the companion to the plate that was left to me by my Grandma Dorothy.
A shot of the dining room.


                                                           A closer look at our dining room table.
Here is the built in hutch with mirror in the dining room. I love all the added storage this built in offers!!

                                                                       Here is our hutch...
Another shot of the hutch and the arched entry way into the family room.

Here is the hallway outside of the Master Bedroom. This storage comes in handy and serves as the perfect spot for Kevin's golfing collectibles. Since we live on a golf course, the decor is totally appropriate!
Right outside our bedroom, I put this little shelf and hung these vintage golf clubs that Kevin has had for years now. This is the perfect spot for them!

Stay tuned until tomorrow, when I share the FAMILY ROOM and KITCHEN area with you. I hope you enjoyed day one of the home tour!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Excuse me while I unpack...

Hello my faithful blog readers: We moved into our new home last weekend! I'm super busy unpacking and getting us settled. I'll be back in a week with a family update and you know I'll be excited to share lots of pics of the new house all decorated!! I also have a review of The Twilight Series to share as well as recipes and much much more planned for this month. So check back in about a week...talk to you then!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Happy Fourth of July!!

In the midst of all the packing for our move this upcoming weekend, we decided to sneak away to spend the 4th with family. We were invited to attend a party at a family friend's home. We were especially excited to attend as my Dad's band was the entertainment. The drive up was gruelling on Saturday due to bumper to bumper holiday traffic. What is normally a 5 hour trip took us 7 hours. We arrived in time for dinner, which was a yummy BBQ with all the trimmings. Polly made her killer brownies for desert as an early birthday treat for Kevin. (His birthday is today, July 6th) Polly has officially been named "The brownie Queen" by our family. We have never tasted such delicious brownies! I'm excited to now have the "secret recipe" to these tasty treats! The above pic was taken at my Dad's house the next morning (July 4th). The guys were getting ready to head to the party to set up all the band equipment and Polly and I were preparing to go shoppping and to grab a latte down town. The party started at 2:00, so it was nice to spend some quality girl time with Polly that morning.  On the way to the party which is about 45 minutes away from Dad and Polly's; we picked up Kyle's Godparents (my second cousin Susan and her husband Gary) who came along with us to the party.

                                                   Kyle with Susan and Gary at the party.

                                                                     Gary, Kyle and Kevin.
Polly, me and Susan.

Dad and Polly (are they cute together or what!?)
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More pics from July 4th 2010.

Our family friend's estate. I only got a few pics of this amazing property which boasts the main house (above) a guest house, tennis courts, partial golf course, pool with pool house (bar, billard room and gym). The entire estate was beyond beautiful and best of all had a feeling of warmth and family. Loved it!!!
                                                              More of the estate.
                                                              The pool and pool house.
                                                            My Dad's band..Route 66.

My Dad's trailer that carries around the band equipment.

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More pics from July 4th 2010.

                                                                   Kyle on the drums.


the band warms up
                                                            more of Kyle on the drums.
My Dad on guitar and vocals.

more of the band.
Kyle on the tamborine.
Polly dancing to the music with a family friend.

The party was a lot of fun and we enjoyed seeing old friend's and spending time with family. Sadly, we had to leave very early the next morning (7 a.m.) in order to beat dealing with the holiday traffic on the way back. Kevin decided not to take Tuesday off so he could save his time off for our move. The drive home was much better and only took us about 4 hours and 45 minutes.
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