Spring Break... :)

Twelve years ago we met a girl that would change our lives:)

She came to us a foreign exchange student and left as our daughter.

We all seriously adore this girl.

We've continued to keep in touch, and

this week she came for a visit and brought along her 

sweet little family.

I love this pic of my brother giving her a big ole hug

when he saw her last night:)

We've been so blessed to see this girl graduate high school, college,

become a doctor, get married and have the most

adorable little baby girl.

So I know I said I was going to post about the details of my bedroom,

but that all fell apart with this sweetness in the house:)

I get to spend my spring break with my family

planning meals...

 Cooking 'em up...

 And chowing down to the sounds of lots and

lots of laughing:)

Me sooo happy!

Oh! and guess who turns the big 8 today??

Yep, this sweet lil adorable frenchman was born on March 25. 

This guy too.... changed my life:)

As promised.... :)

Ok. So here's what happened.

I took all these pics of the upstairs and loaded them on

my computer. Because I'm a clean freak (emphasis on the freak)

I always delete them from my camera after loading them.

Weeell then I deleted them somehow from my 

computer:( I seriously have no idea how that happened, I mean

I've got mad computer skills.....no I don't. I have no computer skills.

Well thank the good Lord above that Trevor Smith just happened

to have taken these pics for me!! He came to shoot the kitchen for 

Denovo, and I asked if he'd shoot the upstairs.

Whew!!

So here we go.

These are the beautiful old doors that we salvaged from the

downstairs when we did the kitchen reno. They're tall 

and skinny and absolutely adorable:)

When you walk past those doors, the closet is on the

left, and the master bath to the right.

The entire upstairs is painted Benjamin Moore Hush. The trim
and cabinetry is....you guessed it! Swiss Coffee:)
I still need something above the toilet, and curtains
or a roman shade on the window.

The hanging light is from FOUND and I found the sconces
at Pottery Barn and they were a perfect match!
The rug is from Home Goods.

I searched high and low for the perfect mirror and couldn't find one,
so we just went with a very inexpensive plain one and trimmed it out.

The marble in here is my new favorite!! It's called Divinity or Frosted White. It's got more
 tannish goldish streaks in it, where

carrerra marble goes more grey.

I really wanted wall mount faucets. The hubby came up
with this design and Chrissy at Custom Stone Works worked her magic:) 

Speaking of magic.... this is where it all happens.
And by magic I mean BLACKOUT curtains!!
Yep. I found these lovelies at Pottery Barn.
Seriously, you close them and... presto! morning never appears:)
I may or may not have woken up to my hubby eating lunch
on more that one occasion:)

Ok and now is probably the time to address the...gasp! ceiling fan.
I live in ARIZONA. And I'd rather die a thousand deaths then go a summer
without one. Oh wait, I do die a thousand deaths every summer....

Ugh. The TV. Or as my mom referred to it my entire childhood- the beast.
One of these days ima gonna have the hubby recess that thing
into the wall so I can cover it with a picture of....anything.
Anything is better than that black square of ugly.

So that's what I got so far.
I'll take more pics and talk the details
next week!! 

As promised..... kinda:)

So let us take a trip upstairs:) 

The upstairs of this house had been an apartment since

the 70's. The entrance was at the bottom of the stairs

onto the front porch.

We removed the door and added an old

salvaged window that matched

the others in the house.

When we removed the disgusto carpet on the stairs,

we found these beautiful old green painted steps underneath!!

Yeah, you can just imagine my face!

Like I've said before, I swear I used to live here in another life:)

So at the top of the stairs, we made a little library out of what was

once a teeny tiny bedroom. We removed the wall where the

staircase railing is now to open it up and add some much needed

light into this little space:)

This is where my green recliners ended up. I almost sold them! I couldn't

figure out where to put them at first and I was in one of my- 

just get rid of it! times in my life. So happy the hubby talked some sense into me:)

He's always the voice of reason when I'm having a fit of crazy.

Speaking of crazy.... I clearly have a design book problem. 

I can't help it! I LOVE to look at pretty pictures!!

Then there's my old green book problem....

Oh my goodness, just look at my 17 year old self in that frame! 

Tan, 110 pounds, and a perm....

And hubby's 'stache!! We just celebrated 27 years on March 6th:) 

Oh the memories.....

Ok, back to what we're really talking about here.

This is the other side of the tiny room, and this is where you 

can find my hubby on most nights. 

 This shelf of books are totally him:)

So because I know inquiring minds will want to know...

The curtains and table are from World Market. I don't think 

they carry the table anymore:(

The green recliners are from La Z Boy.

The floor lamp is from Target.

The table lamp is from Home Goods.

The hubby made the wood shelves out of the wall we 

took down when we opened up the staircase:)

Next week- the Master Bedroom and Bath.

I promise:)

                                               

Running and waffles.... :)

Soo...Saturday morning I was startled awake by my son yelling

"They're already running!!"

I bolted out of bed.

You see, the Phoenix Marathon runs right down the middle of our street!!

It's the coolest thing EVER!! I  ran out of the house sans make up,

coffee and a bra. Apparently I found it more important to support

complete strangers than my boobs.
Seriously. I couldn't believe myself.
I was just so excited!!

After a cup of coffee, and hiding for a half hour behind this most awesomest sign

that Rio made... I ran home and fixed the problemo:)

I live in the best hood ever. Really I do!! A lot of the neighbors 

came out, rang cow bells and cheered on those crazy runners!!

My friend who has no idea how to play the trumpet... played it anyway!!

Seriously hilarious:)

By the time the runners got to our street, we were about mile 22.

It was the most inspiring sight to see:)

We cheered and rang our cow bells for over 3 hours.

I lost my voice, and had blisters to prove it,

but man! was it a fun time in the neighborhood!!

Check out this guy. Serious focus. Serious muscles.

Bet he don't eat waffles....

 Nice segue eh? 

This Saturday we here at Project Beautify are going to have our

first open house! The sweet gals at Waffle Love are going to

be serving up some scrumptiousness from their

adorable waffle truck!!

So come check out Rio's adorable 1942 early ranch style house!!

Yep, it's on the market and ready for it's happy new owners!!

Waffles and a house tour??

YES PLEASE!!

Saturday March 8th

11am-3pm

226 North Robson

in historic downtown Mesa:)

** the first 50 people get a treat!!