Serious Sparkle - Friday's Fancies

Serious Sparkle by valfox

How fun it is to participate in Friday's Fancies again! There's still no HSI in the area where I live, (I haven't missed it as much as I thought I would actually) so I borrowed the net at my mom's house to work on this. I absolutely love the embellishment of the blazer and the understated gleam of the accessories. I matched the suede pumps to the color of the red sapphires in the cuff, but I can think of several other colors that would go as well. I might just have to wear something like this to the Christmas Eve service at my church this year! Linking up to Long Distance Loving!

Thanksgiving Portraits

We had a very low key Thanksgiving this year. It was the first time that we've ever celebrated the day with just immediate family rather than the whole set of local relatives + visiting ones. We missed everyone else, but still had a very enjoyable holiday with our loved ones. I have so many things to be thankful to God for this year...moving into a house rent-free, Ryan getting more hours at work, Sean's legs straightening out, my sister moving back to town... so many things!

Costume Party

We celebrated my niece's 2nd birthday with a costume party last month. My family didn't end up dressing as pirates, but instead went with more "home-made" costumes. My Grecian inspired dress was a five dollar find at Goodwill, (halter top dress that I wore backwards and twisted the collar in place with silver twisty ties) Ryan used his old tae-kwon-do garb, and Sean already had his train conductor stuff. We had a lot of fun and hope to make a costume party a tradition for one of the kiddo's birthday parties each year! I thought my sister and her husband were very cute as pilgrims and my mom made a lovely gypsy lady! The three little girlies were Snow White, Minnie Mouse and Rapunzel...and not one of them smiled for their picture!

Fall is in the Air

Thunderstorms, falling leaves, soft light, fragrant coffee, cool breezes...my favorite time of year has arrived! Spending time outside is suddenly pleasant after months of intense heat, and plans for soccer matches with family, paintball with friends and cookouts with both are being made. Our weekends have been chock-full of fun lately and since Ryan's hours have been increased at work for the rest of the year we are enjoying a little more leeway with our budget. We also didn't have as big a fee as we expected from the apartment we moved out of! I am thankful for all God's blessings. Oh and we're planning a Fall Fest costume party in November and I can't wait to start shopping for costumes! Perhaps we'll be a family of pirates. ^_^

Moved? CHECK!

We moved into the A-Frame on August 25th and we have been so very happy there. Sean loves having his own room and we've loved not having to tip-toe around when he's asleep! (His crib was in our main living space in our old apartment.) I've had so much fun decorating, organizing, and making the house feel like a home. We do miss having internet, but we are spending more time together as a family and it just feels like a fresh new start for us! I can borrow my mom's internet from time to time to update here, read blogs, pay bills, etc., so it's not like I'm quitting the interwebs cold turkey! ;) Eventually I think it might be fun to go back to doing a few outfit posts here and there too!

Progress at the A-Frame

We have been busy bees over here lately! I've been at the new place almost every day working on getting everything move-in-ready. My mom has been a huge help, and other friends and family have pitched in as well. Check out these before and after pics from the kitchen and bathroom of the A-Frame. We'll be moving in later this month and the days have just been flying by! I hope we can get everything done in time!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Both spaces are still works in progress of course. We are lacking some sort of window covering in the kitchen (not to mention all of our stuff moved in as well), and still need to put decorative accents, towels, etc. in the bathroom. I knew I wanted a beachy, light feel to the house so I painted the cabinets in both rooms white, put some creamy taupe on the walls (Sandstorm by Valspar in the kitchen and Arabian Sands by Behr in the bathroom), and spray-painted the hardware silver. Both rooms got new faucets, and in the bathroom we had a new light and sink/counter installed. I put in the new towel ring and TP holder, and my mom and I hung a 25 dollar mirror from Ross. Due to the positioning of the previous light we couldn't get the new one perfectly centered, but it's still a vast improvement to the outdated fixture that was up there before (not pictured). I'm still wanting to put bead board in the bathroom, but that project may not get done before we move. Oh and the light oval on the left of the picture is just a reflection of the flash in the mirror.

Other progress in the rest of the house has been painting all the ceilings white, (my mom and I did it all by ourselves!) pulling out the old carpet in the bedroom, painting all the trim white too, painting all walls with the sandstorm color, staining the bathroom pantry dark walnut, getting the plumbing fixed in the bathroom and kitchen, and filling the loft with stuff that's been stored in our current walk in closet. The last big project before moving in is putting in the new flooring. (All renovations have been funded by my mom by the way, she has been so generous and such a blessing to us while we're strapped for cash).

We've been having fun picking out a few new things here and there to go with the coastal theme. My birthday was back in June, and with some of my birthday money I bought some new lamps and storage baskets from Lowe's and Ross.

I also found some new pillows at Target (similar to the one below), on clearance for only six bucks each. Mine have less white and more navy in the scalloped pattern.

My mom bought a rug almost identical to this one for our new living room. (Which incidentally is going to be a living room/master bedroom combo since we're giving Sean the only bedroom.)

Speaking of rugs, when I have a few extra pennies to rub together I'm probably going to order this lovely one from Crate & Barrel (20 dollars for the 2'x3'). I would put it in the kitchen in front of the sink.

I've also recently become a coffee drinker (decaf is all I can handle though) so my mom bought Ryan and I these stackable coffee mugs from World Market. We were out of town in Austin last week and I made it a point to find our way to that store for them. I wish we had one in my town. I loved almost everything there.

I haven't bought this porcelain fish yet (Target for 20 dollars), but if it goes on sale I'm going to snatch it up!

Oh and I painted this for Sean! I painted over a set of four wall art panels I was tired of and got some inexpensive (just the cost of the acrylic paints) nautical art for Sean's new room. And yes, I realize a 3rd grader could have painted this. My mom and sis are the artistic ones in the family, but I had fun anyway!

I'm off to bed now, we have a busy weekend ahead of us! 

-Valerie

Summer Wedding

Summer Wedding Guest by valfox

Hello all! I'm just popping in to share a pretty dress that would be perfect to wear to a summer wedding! The look I put together is inspired by the TJMaxx dress I wore to my cousin's wedding last month. I can't get enough of nautical colors like navy and white together! The wedding was SO much fun. I mean seriously F.U.N. We all ended up dancing to old rock/pop classics and even doing the Macarena and the Cupid Shuffle. My mom can dance like nobody's business! Oh and my cousin and his bride make the most adorable couple ever! It is a blessing to see how much they love God and each other! They also cracked everyone up with the most amazing surprise first dance medley I've ever seen. I just wish it was on youtube so I could share the awesomeness!
(Linking up to Long Distance Loving!)

Mustang Island

A couple of days at the beach courtesy of Ryan's family? Just what the doctor ordered! It was heavenly!