A Few Favorites of 2018 - Podcasts, Phones and Projects

Hello friends! With only a few days left in 2018, today I thought I would share a few of my favorite things I learned and found this year. Some are free, and some cost quite a lot, but they have all had an impact on my life lately, including what camera I used to take this picture of the morning light at our kitchen windows one morning just before Christmas.

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Preparing for Christmas at the Cabin

This will be our third year spending Christmas day at our family's cabin in the Adirondacks and it has become our family's very favorite tradition. This is pretty much how we all feel when we run away to the mountains after such a hectic holiday season! :)

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Christmastime Fun in Snowy Vermont

I always wanted to visit Vermont during the holiday season and this year we finally made it happen. We've made a couple of trips to the Vermont Country Store, which although a major tourist destination, still manages to maintain its old time charm. But never at Christmas. We took a beautiful drive from our family's cabin in Upstate NY over the nearby Vermont border and the snowy trees were gorgeous. It was snowing on and off during our drive and felt like being in a real life snow globe.

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Holiday Housewalk 2018

Hello and welcome to this year's Holiday Housewalk hosted once again by the talented Jennifer Rizzo. For me, Christmas is all about traditions and I love that this housewalk has become a part of my holiday blogging tradition. For as long as I have been reading blogs, Jennifer Rizzo has been hosting this amazing line-up of Christmas homes. I am honored to be included once again. You can start this year's tour by clicking on the button below. The tour continues all week so be sure you visit ALL of the homes for tons of holiday inspiration.

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Happy Thanksgiving

It's hard to believe it is already Thanksgiving week. And yet the weather has been so winter-like, in some ways it feels more like Christmas around here. We got hit hard with a November snowstorm this past Thursday that paralyzed our area like I have never seen. We are normally used to dealing with storms here in the Northeast, but I think the early storm mixed with lots of ice and also the timing led to a nightmare commute for many of our family and friends. It took Billy over 4 hours to get to work and he was one of the lucky ones. It took some of his co-workers close to 7 hours to drive what normally takes less than an hour. I prefer November to look more like this shot of our kitchen.

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Target Dollar Spot Advent Calendar

Hello friends! I have been busy decking our halls for the holidays. In fact, as I write this, we are awaiting our very first snowstorm of the season. So it's been quite easy to get into the Christmas spirit early this year. Before I begin sharing our decor this year, I wanted to share a super easy project I recently completed with items purchased at the Dollar Spot in Target.

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Our Fall Bedroom

Hello and Happy Weekend! We are expecting lots of rain and wind from a nor'easter here in NJ this weekend which meant huge lines at the grocery store today. Billy's new job has him working alternate weekends and this is his weekend to work. Last weekend, we got to see the last of the foliage in the Adirondacks and Vermont for this year and I will share more of that in my next post. This weekend, my big plans include a bit lot of deep cleaning in our house (ugh!) - in preparation both for the upcoming holidays and also a couple of photo shoots with professional photographers that will be happening soon (yikes!).

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Fall This & That - A Season of Change

Happy Weekend, friends! There have been lots of changes happening around here and today I thought I would pop on share some updates to our home - and beyond. I have been on the hunt for the perfect farmhouse table for our family for a while now. I think the table that we eat at - do homework at - play at -  is such an import element to any home. I am thrilled to finally have a table that seems to suit our taste for the long haul. Nothing trendy, just classic design.

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A Comfy Bedroom Refresh with a New Mattress

For most of us, this time of year is all about getting cozy and spending more time at home. I recently decided that our master bedroom was in need of a bit of a makeover before the true nesting season of fall and winter begins.

We kept things simple and classic and focused on creating the most comfortable bed that we possibly could. Our old mattress was over 10 years old and we were both dealing with some aches and pains in the morning. We had been testing out mattresses everywhere we went and began looking into online options. I think more and more of us turn to online shopping these days for both the convenience and the affordable quality. Still, it can be a bit daunting to make such a large and important purchase online.

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Fall Kitchen Decor

The cooler temperatures recently got me excited to add some fall touches to our kitchen. With the new paint color on the island, it changes the whole feel of the space and I was happy to add some oranges and rusts to the mix along with the copper pots.

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Fall Family Room

Happy Fall! Today marks the first official day of Autumn and I couldn't be happier about it. It is my favorite season and I can't wait to go on some leaf peeping adventures. This year, I added some fall touches to our family room first. Come on in and have a look around. With the stone fireplace and comfy plaid chairs, it never takes much for this room to feel like fall. Oh, and please don't mind the dog hair or dust if you spot any in these pictures. This is what our home really looks like. ;)

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Some Fall Inspiration

Have you already begun decorating for fall? We have been enjoying a crisp and cool weekend in the mountains, including a fire in the fireplace, and I am (finally) ready to get started when I get home. But I like to look back at some of my old pictures of both foliage and decor for inspiration first.

Nature is always my inspiration for all things so I can't imagine my fall decor not including at least a touch of orange, like this tree by the creek just down the road from our family's cabin in the mountains.

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Our Latest Ikea Hack - Living Room Bookshelves

Hello friends! I hope you had a wonderful long weekend. Today, I am sharing our latest project to kick off the unofficial start of fall. I think many of us tend to gravitate towards all things home this time of year - and nothing makes me happier than a new project! My husband has some time off between jobs and I have been enjoying having his help around here full time.

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Our First Trip to Maine Won't be our Last

I distinctly remember a paper that I had to write about where I might see myself living in 10 years for my very first creative writing class in college. I chose the Maine coast, even though I had never actually been there. Fast forward 25 years and I finally visited Maine. Not sure why it took me this long to get there. Pulling up to the Nubble Lighthouse, in the photos above and below, was a surreal experience - like a photograph coming to reality right before my eyes.

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Painted Kitchen Island

I'm excited to share a little project we have been working on the past few weeks. We decided to give our kitchen island a new life with a coat of paint and some new trim.

Years ago when I first started blogging, Farrow & Ball sent me a paint deck that I have browsed through time and time again. Their paint is pricy, but there is something about their colors that keeps bringing me back to them. Since then, they also opened a retail store in our area and I have been looking for just the right project to try out their paint. I lamented about the color for weeks earlier this summer and finally narrowed it down to Card Room Green and Oval Room Blue. I knew I wanted something that was blue-green and could work in all seasons with my decor.

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Summer Family Room

Today, I thought I would share of few pictures of our summer family room. You know, just in time for the end of summer. I always come back to an outdoors/mountains theme in here because that is what reflects what we enjoy doing during the summer. Our DIY wooden flag always feels right over the mantel at this time of year.

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Thank You and an "Old School" Blog Post of This And That

Hello friends and thank you so much for the comments and e-mails from my most recent posts. I have to say that there have been times when I have felt like this blogging thing had run its course for me. It is hard to keep up with all of those polished and shiny images seemingly everywhere on social media and easy to think my home (and life!) isn't quite up to sharing. But then you all reach out to me in a way that makes me remember that it is all about the community. Not about perfect homes or people. But about real people who share the love of home and family (and dogs too!). Thank you for that. I needed the reminder.

I'm not really sure why it took me by surprise as the stress of Billy's retirement was mounting for weeks (months, really), but his actual retirement day and the days since hit us hard. We were humbled by the kindness of many of his co-workers and the time they took to let him know that he mattered to them.

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Our Split-Level Summer Kitchen

The small-ish kitchen in our split level home was very ordinary when we moved in, but I am so glad I made the decision to add the triple windows over the farmhouse sink when we DIY-ed this kitchen 10 years ago. I have had so much fun styling these windows through the seasons and years! I think the summertime is my favorite time at the sink.

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A New Chapter

At 7 am this morning, my husband will walk out of police headquarters for the final time as a police officer. 25 years over just like that. Where did the time go? It was a good run. Most importantly, he is in one piece, something to be extremely thankful for in the climate of law enforcement today. Career wise, he served both our community and his co-workers with a dignity and kindness that has become increasingly rare these days. And he (almost) always did so with a smile on his face.

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Summer Blues (and Whites!)

Hello! Anybody still there?? I seem to have found a bit of my blogging joy again. I must admit that I was worried that it would never return. But, much like my home decor, life is full of seasons and I have found it best to just go with it. So here I am. How is your summer going? I thought today I would share some pictures of our summer decor before summer is completely over. I added lots of touches of blue and white, a perennial favorite for sure.

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DIY Window Seat/Reading Nook in our Country Cottage Style Master Bedroom

When it come to summer decor, I often crave the addition of more color in our home. I recently switched our bedding back to our patchwork quilt and decided to give our entire room a quick makeover, including adding a light to our DIY window seat/reading nook. I like to play around with switching up my decor but I will always come back to this country cottage look. For me, it just speaks home in a way that no other style does.

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DIY Pergola - Adding Shade to a Deck

For at least 5 years, Billy and I have discussed ways to add shade to our back deck. We added the small back deck, just large enough for a grill and a table for our family, many years ago because we enjoy eating outdoors in the summer. We have a covered patio, but we need to go down a level to get to it which isn't ideal when serving a meal. We knew that we would make better use of a deck on the same level as our kitchen. Problem is, we get direct sunlight on this deck right at dinner time. So the deck was seldom used. We added a cheap canopy one year with shower curtains hung from it to block the sun. It wasn't pretty but it got the job of blocking the sun done. Then we started researching pre-made pergolas, but none seemed sturdy enough or were the exact size we needed. Billy kept saying we should just build one but other projects seemed to take priority.

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Some Spring...Finally

Hello! It has been so difficult to get myself motivated to add any spring touches to our home this month because it has still felt completely like winter. And looked like winter too. But one sunny day last week - following a pretty large snowstorm, I took these pictures to share with you all. Just try not to be too distracted by the snow outside the windows. The good news is it is almost completely melted now. And I can hear the birds chirping as I type this so there is hope for spring in NJ yet.

I added some white touches to the copper pots that hang on our DIY pot rack to lighten things up for spring. I have been having fun styling that pot rack with the seasons.

I picked up the white metal basket at HomeGoods recently that now sits on the center of our island - I think it is perfect for spring, especially with some spring flowers added.

Over the sink, I added a small wreath and a farmer's market dish towel, both from recent finds from HomeGoods. Speaking of HomeGoods, we are finally getting a HomeSense near our house and it is right next door to my other favorite, Trader Joe's. I-Can't-Wait!!

I picked up the "I love you a bushel and a peck" sign at TJ Maxx and now we all walk around the house singing it. Have you seen the State Farm commercial that uses that song - with the young couple fixing up a house while their toddler crawls around the mess? Totally our lives when our boys were younger! Love that commercial!!

Keeper (AKA Sprout-yup, she still has the sprout of fur on top of her head) decided to make a rare appearance for the spring photos. I think she was getting tired of Dax getting all of the attention! She's suddenly had a resurgence of energy lately and we are enjoying it.

It's hard to believe that Easter is already this Sunday. We will be enjoying brunch at my brother's house and then relaxing for the rest of the day. I am looking forward to spending some family time together over our spring break from school next week. We lost one day of break because of all of the snow days this year, but fortunately they have turned that into a virtual day so the kids can work from home (or wherever they may be traveling to for spring break) on their laptops. Aaah, the wonders of modern technology. I hope you have a wonderful Easter!

And finally, it seems to have become somewhat of a tradition for me to end the post with a smile from Dax (along with one from my oldest son too). Happy Spring!

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Late Winter Reading (& A Few Changes to Cozy Up Our Cozy Family Room)

Hello! Today I am finally sharing some pictures of our updated family room. Winter has definitely overstayed its welcome here in NJ and we are expecting even more snow this week despite the official start of Spring on the calendar. I have been trying to combat that by embracing the cozy and making use of this quieter season to read and slow down.

We did a complete a couple of small projects in the family room recently. The walls were in desperate need of an update so we painted them, using Behr paint in the color Sculpted Clay. It's a beautiful fresh and neutral color and makes the space feel cleaner and brighter.

We also added the new sectional that I talked about in this post. The seat is the perfect depth for nap taking, tv binging and reading. Speaking of television, I finally watched The Handmaid's Tale this winter and it was definitely worthy of all the hype. I am currently in the middle of an older TV series - Everwood - and enjoying it.

I have a stack of fiction waiting for me on my bedside table, but it seems I kept reaching for non-fiction this winter. I guess you could I say I am digging deeper for more meaning this season. Just a few months into 2018, we have witnessed close friends deal with death too soon and devastating illness. Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan, a sort of manual for maintaining meaningful relationships in our lives, was thought-provoking and funny. I can totally relate to her struggles and pure joy at raising teenagers. Have you seen this video of hers? Which lead me back to Glitter and Glue,  one of her previous works that I somehow missed. The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs was a more difficult read because of the subject matter - death and living. 38 years old and a mother of 2 young boys, Nina writes about the end of her life in such a relatable and profound way. It's a reminder to enjoy the everyday like no other. That this it - this is the great adventure. Can't we all use that? That book will certainly stay with me for a long time and I highly recommend it.

So now I hope you tell me more about how you are doing this season? I would love to hear what about what you are reading and watching. :)

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