It all started with.... :)

This adorable old green chair.... I bought it at 

The Old Brick House Vintage Market that happens once a month

in downtown Mesa.

I walked in, saw it, and was immediately smitten:)

I mean come on! look at the color??

It HAD to be mine:)

Well after getting it home, I looked around and realized..

I really needed to balance out all this green.

I haven't been able to decide what exactly I wanted to do for curtains in 

the front room. I still had the oatmeal ones from the previous owner, and they

always gave me the worst case of the drabs:(

Then I remembered I had bought this Tatiana curtain panel at World Market

to show someone else for their house. Weeell, I hung it up and 

LOVED the way the blue worked so well with all my green!!
I might add a liner to them for thickness, but for now-
and for the price ($31.49 a panel!) they're working!!

Who knew I could love blue?? :)

I think it's just what all my green needed!!

I went over and raided Rio's pillow cover stash and brought

home the blue chevron and ikat prints:)

I KNOW what you're thinking....

how in the world do you see the TV over that crazy fern??

Haha!! Apparently not just my furniture is green, 

my thumb is too!! It's going to have to find a new home soon,

it spent the last few weeks on the floor while the

Olympics were on:)

I'm hoping to show you all the upstairs next week!

And after examining this pic, someone needs to clean 

some risers...!!
Man! I wish that someone was Little Bully....  :)

Spring Green.... :)

Spring is in the air!! At least here in AZ it is...

With temps hovering around gorgeous,

the springtime weather in Arizona is heaven! You can eat your dinners outside,

ride your bike for forever, and enjoy pretty flowers.

I could do this everyday for the rest of my life...

Or until June:(

Anyway.... let's just take a moment and enjoy the beauty that is

staring back at you...

How beeeautiful are these green ball jars!!

I have the best Tuesday followers ever:)

Thank you, thank you to Karen M who emailed me to 

let me know about these cuties!

These are the new Heritage Collection in Spring Green:)

I ordered them online from the Fresh Preserving Store, but

just like the blue ones, I'm sure they'll be in Target and WalMart

before long.

I use ball jars for drinking glasses. I also use them to store my rice, 

beans, pastas and such:) 

And especially for flowers:)

Look at the word on the bottom.....

Yep, PERFECTION:)

Project Beautify.... :)

So you all know how I have this thing for old houses right?

How I love them to pieces and dream of restoring each and every one?

For the rest of my life?

Well luckily...I'm not alone. Yep. My entire adorable family

shares this same wacky dream of mine.

So we decided to put all our crazy (to put it gently) heads together

and make it happen!!

So let me introduce you to the team at Project Beautify:)

Chase- Rio's bf who (God bless him) had no idea the craziness he was walking into

when he started dating Rio 6 years ago!! He's our realtor and sniffer of deals.

Rio- Where to start with this girl? She can do EVERYTHING. I'm not even kidding. She can use power tools, bake amazing cupcakes, and sew just about anything. She heads up our creative arts dept. and by that I mean logo, website, pr, and all things tech!

Ryne- I mean come on! Is he gorgeous or what?? He's our model. Just kidding. Ryne is just like his daddy. This boy can create, create, create! He's our master hood maker and can, well- pretty much make anything!!

Me- hmmm, what do I do? Well, I guess I'm the dreamer....I look at the houses and dream of what they could look like! I get to pick paint, tile, wood, counter tops, appliances etc.

Roger (the hubby)- He's the brains in it all. The guy knows what he's doin' I tell ya! 

He's our visionary- big picture guy, and truly the one that heads up this dream:) 

I just thought I'd show you how many stinkin times it took to get the right picture.... UGH!!

Ok, back to Project Beautify. 

So I know you all know this is my hood in my kitchen.

And you know that I love it....

Sooo, we here at Project Beautify are going to share that love!!

That's right!! Ryne made this hood and we are 

GIVING IT AWAY!! 

Just go follow us on Instagram at

project_beautify

and share this pic and tag us for a chance to win it!!

And to keep sharing this love,

for the week of February 11-18 you can purchase

one of Ryne's hand crafted wood hoods for 35% off!

Just enter the promo code Tuesdays35 at checkout!!

I'm hoping to post pics of some of our current homes we have going soon!

I can't WAIT to show you!!

Come and sit for a while.... :)

So I got me a new bench for my dining room:)

...and I'm in love.

 And I got me a new light...from FOUND of course:)

....and I'm in love.

I got me some green velvet curtains:)

....and yep! I'm in love with them too.

My son (yeah you read that right!) sewed me up some new pillows for my couch:)

...LOVE!!

New little green adorable striped rug from Target:)

....Love!!

Of course nothing steals my heart more than a short, blonde, snoring Frenchman....

Historic Home Tour.... :)

 So this last weekend was the Historic Home tour in Mesa.

My house was no where near ready, but Rio and Chase's house sure was!

Say hello to their adorable 1942 early ranch (that's what the historic peeps call it).

The two of them have worked their little tails off on this cutie...

and now they're going to sell it.

Let's just take a minute and admire the doxie photobomber  adorable striped chairs!!

Chase makes them! And you can have

them grace your front porch too! You can pick custom paint

colors to match your house. They are $295 for the set of 2 chairs and

a table- cute huh?? More info here:)

Just inside the front door..

Yeah, that girl of mine ain't afraid of color!!

Or animal heads:)

The original floors, windows and coved ceilings are beeeautiful!!

 The kitchen...

Huge walnut top, subway tile and floating shelves:)

The original arch between the front room and kitchen.

The hall bath:)

 And the almost completed laundry room. Just needs the

trim and crown:)

The master bath and bedroom are going to be finished in the next couple

of weeks! I'll be sure and post pics.

This house is a 3 bedroom 2 bath 1535 sq.ft.

$299k

 So hey, if you fancy moving downtown

into the best hood ever ....give Chase a shout.
 Or email him:)
Chase.Barrett@gmail.com

Red Pepper Pasta... :)

Mama's don't let yer babies grow up to be cowboys...

No. LET 'em be cowboys! Cowboys are hot.

I'm thinkin more like.... Mama's don't let yer babies grow up and

NOT KNOW HOW TO FEED THEMSELVES!!!

 

 

This here is my baby boy Ryne:)

And here's where he asked... what's for lunch?

And here's where I said...whatever you make!!

I always say...a girl LOVES a guy that can make

himself some food...can I get an Amen??

 

So here's yesterdays lesson-

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta.

This Pioneer Woman recipe is super fast and

easy and anybody (boys included) can cook it:)

 

 

Chop up a half of an onion and a jar of roasted red peppers.

Melt some butter and olive oil in a pan.

 

Throw in the onions and garlic for a bit, then add the peppers and sauté
 until the onions are translucent.

 



 

Puree that loveliness in a food processor or blender.

 

Add a little butter and return the puree back to the pan.

Here's where I forgot to mention the part about

the blade not being attached...

 



 

Add some absolutely-delicious-I-can't-live-without-it

heavy whipping cream..

 

And a bit of chicken broth to thin the sauce.

 



 

While that's all warming up- drop your pasta...like it's hot:)

 

 

Rio stopped by and I thought- hey! let me get a few adorable pics of you two!

And by adorable I mean both smiling perfectly at the camera...

yeah, never happens. Never ever.

 

 Back to the yumminess...

when the pasta is done just toss it together with the sauce and

add some parm shavings.

If I had some fresh chopped basil to sprinkle on top
that would have just been perfection...
 

 

 

 

Done and done!!

The Birthday Girls..... :)

That's my sweet mama and my baby girl Rio.

Rio was born on my mama's birthday:)

How cute is that!

 I decided to have a

little birthday lunch to celebrate these two crazy girls:)

 

I bought some hydrangeas and stuck them in jars wrapped in twine that I already had.

 



I covered my table with a simple white tablecloth, and topped it with this little

piece of green lace that I bought on one of the many trips to SAS with Rio.

I kinda bunched it up and let it lay all crinkly to give it a more relaxed look:)

 

My plates are two different patterns of Arte Italica. The wine glasses are Match.

All purchased when my sister had  (sniff sniff) this most fab store here in downtown Mesa.

Sister + store= WHOLESALE baby!!

The cute Eau Minerale glasses are from FOUND:)

 

 

My mom loves birds, so I just gathered a few that I had around the house

(like mama like daughter huh?)

and put them on the table with some wood ball thingies.

 

We feasted on roasted chicken, onion tart, green salad and

avocado and grapefruit salad.

Too bad I forgot to take a pic of the

fruit tart for dessert! It was so pretty:)

 



 

 

And here's where I yelled- WAIT!! I need a pic of all of us before

we dig in!!

Left to right- The birthday girl Rio, my sis Marlene, my niece Shea, Me,

my mama the birthday girl, my cousin Ruth, my sis Michele,

and my sis in law Allie:)

 

What a great time we had talking and laughing for.....

3 hours!!

 

I look at the faces in this pic and realize how completely blessed I am:)