Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello Winter!

The first snowfall is so crisp and clean.  It reminds of the beauty that is all around us. 

 

Oops....I forgot to bring in the furniture off the deck. 

Scandinavian Designed Kitchen

Now that I sold my builder grade home so quickly, I am thinking about what I want to do next. I know I want a place I can make my own, with design that feels like home to me.  Like everyone lately I do love white kitchens but this khaki and black kitchen is so appealing.  The lighting, the cabinet color and the black storage cabinets all go so perfectly.  Who wouldn't love to cook this kitchen and eat at that cute breakfast nook.  The ideas in my head for a new home are running ramped. 





    pictures via My Paradissi

Words of Wisdom

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Well, things have been happening around here, I had to make a very difficult decision.  I decided to sell my home, our home.  I love this house, we built it with the intention of raising our children here, hosting holidays for our grandchildren and retiring with the neighbors we adore, but things change.  Life changes in ways you can't ever imagine and I've learned adapting and being flexible is the best approach.   Now that I am a single parent the house has just become too much for me to take care financially and physically.

I have been struggling with this decision for quite a while but something just clicked in my head and I knew it was time.  My children are sad but old enough to understand.  They see the hours I spend working just to get by and realize that at this point in our lives the home just isn't worth all of the struggles. 

I feel like this huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders, like I am discovering a new sense of freedom.  I put the house up for sale and within two weeks I had a really great offer.  I just know it was meant to be, the timing is right for us.

Now it's decision time, do I buy a house I can redo and make my own or do I buy a move in ready house?  I really want to redo a house but I need to take my time and be smart.  That is what is so awesome right now, having options. 

Good Morning Sunday

I love baking on Sunday mornings, it's just nice to have fresh baked goods for the week.  This Fall we have been enjoying way too much pumpkin bread, but it's so good.   My boys also love chocolate chocolate chip muffins from Wegman's at $1.25 a piece, so I decided tried Nigella Lawson's super easy recipe.  These muffins are delicious and this way I can save little money too.  I added the chocolate chips on top but the melted into the muffin next time I will add them a little later into the cooking process.

Inspirational Spaces

Do you ever see a space and just feel so inspired, like something in you shifts?  Since we now have access to so many pictures of spaces at our fingertips, thanks Pinterest, design has become so important and readily available.  I see pictures of spaces that I want to live in, that I want to work in and that I want to recreate for myself.  This office is one of those spaces that really moved me.  I could imagine working here, it's just so creative in a  non-distracting way. 



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Thanksgiving Essentials

I'm hosting Thanksgiving again this year, you may remember last years table.  I am thinking about all the lovely things I could add to my table setting.  I probably wont change it too much this year, maybe just a bit.  This tablecloth from William Sonoma is beautiful, I have a Christmas tablecloth from them and is holds up very well.  The animal place card holders from Pottery Barn are perfect for any fall/winter table setting.  Plus their turkey's are just so darn cute and rustic.  The small plates, with welcoming messages from West Elm, would make great bread plates or salad plates and I think they go perfectly with my table from last year. 

Black Subway Tile

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I am kind of obsessed with subway tile back splashes, but who isn't right now.   I think I prefer a white tile back splash but I have been seeing a lot of black or blackish tiles lately and they are so sharp looking.  They make the kitchen pop.  I prefer the monochromatic look like in picture three, which I think is a more classic look.  I really like the black tile with black cabinets and white walls.  I can not stop thinking of how I want to buy an old fixer upper and make it just what I want.  There is just something so right about making a space your own.