Well hello everyone – it’s been asked a few times and then came up again as a suggestion in the anniversary post that I share a typical day in the life with you.  Personally, I see my life as very hum drum, kind of boring if you ask me, but it’s the best kind of boring.  Here’s a peek at my typical weekday as it often goes from sun up until sundown.  

7 a.m.   Time to wake up since we need to get both kids to school by 8 a.m. – I can always tell by the light in our bedroom what time it is, my mister has an alarm clock but I don’t.  Each day always begin with strong coffee, one of my absolute morning essentials, Peet’s French Roast with fat free half and half – gotta have it.

The kids get breakfast first, sometimes it’s my mister’s “famous eggs” – he really does make the best scrambled eggs in the world – we love them with sourdough toast. But today it’s a simple bowl of cereal before it’s time to get dressed, brush teeth, and make lunches.  These are my munchkins – my reason for living – my babies who are growing up just too fast for me, they are six and eight now, when did that happen?

8:00 a.m.   Dad drops the kids off at school and I head to “the office”.  Here is where I work every morning.  I replaced the old table with some new file cabinets and a top by IKEA but three things are clear 1. the top doesn’t reach all the way across – oops.  2. I need a new fabric or woven shade and 3. I rotate chairs through here like I change my yoga pants because I just haven’t found the perfect one yet.  Someday soon I’ll pull it all together, bring in more color, and find the perfect desk top and chair but for now, I’m fine with the imperfection and whiteness of it all.   

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Hello everyone, I’m in between projects today with a few different things going on so here’s a list of random thoughts and miscellaneous updates.  But first if anyone is seeing a old gray header on the site up above from 2009, please just hit Control + F5 to refresh your screen.

1.  I’m a pinning fool on Pinterest lately, and have a lot of new boards over there. I’m going to help my friend construct some built-in benches for a corner breakfast nook, so dining spaces are on my mind.  Speaking of Pinterest (and general *pinch me* topics) I was asked by Better Homes & Gardens to contribute to their boards and since it’s my favorite magazine I wholeheartedly agreed so you can find all those pins here and here – I hope you’ll follow along!

2.  Lover of all things paint that I am, don’t miss my latest article for My Colortopia on Three Steps to Choosing the Right Paint Color. 

3.  My friend Danielle just launched a new website today called The Everygirl, I’m very excited for her.  The site is all about female entrepreneurs, businesswomen, and bloggers with a focus on all sorts of things from budget-friendly fashion to interior design features.  I’ll be guest posting there next week!

4.  I’m in a furniture refinishing frenzy right now, just finished up a dresser last week and now I’m working on some end tables and a pedestal table too.  All of these pieces are for friends – I’ll be sharing those makeovers in the next week or so. 

Here’s a sneak peek of the after! 

Kidding.  Of course those are the befores…

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There’s been an ongoing debate in our home for over a year about painting some dark wood cabinets in our casa.  We have dark wood cabinets in our master bathroom and dining room, dark wood countertops in our kitchen and dark wood treads on our staircase too – all of them I love and would never paint.

I love dark wood, especially juxtaposed next to crisp or warm whites – the contrast is divine.  The debate in our home has to do with the dark wood built-ins in our windowless family room, which feels like a cave much of the day. I am so drawn to the look of white built-ins in a living or family room space, especially flanking a fireplace.

See how nice they look?

Bella Mancini Design

Globe and Mail

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I don’t shop for nice clothing very often and I usually don’t shop for clothing at Anthropologie because of the prices for those threads and also because most of their clothing doesn’t fit me very well. I have curves so I’m more of Ann Taylor Loft gal.

But last week I found myself pulled by in by the tractor beam that exists within 50 feet of any Anthropologie store, it sucks you in uncontrollably and you must, arms flailing, surrender to the vortex of inspiration.  Once inside, you must channel your Jedi mind powers of self control to pull yourself out of an Anthropologie store without spending a dime.  Unfortunately, last Thursday, I had no such self control. 

So now I have to tell you about my new Anthropologie sweater. I have a hard time spending $48 dollars on a sweater, let alone One Hundred and Forty Eight Dollars on a sweater because I don’t think I’ve ever spent that amount of money on any non-coat or dress piece of clothing in my life, but Oh Em Gee I am in love.  I have justified this purchase by the fact that I wear it everyday and will continue to wear it everyday between hand washings through April which means I really am only paying two dollars a day which is less than a Starbucks!  I’m saving money! I’m saving money!

Which reminds me of when my mom would go shopping with her limited budget and buy something cute for herself, and she would come home and tell my dad that she “saved money” because she bought it on sale and he would say “no you didn’t, you spent money” and she would say “no, I saved money” and he would wink and say “no you spent money” and they would go back and forth, back and forth until she walked out of the room with her cute new thing.  But that analogy really doesn’t apply here because I didn’t buy my sweater on sale so I don’t really know why I brought that up. 

Anyway. 

I was in Anthropologie and spied this Cavendish sweater and loved it at first sight.  This sweater designed by Rosie Nierra is grey blue and oat with subtle golden metallic threads.  What?  Grey blue and oat with subtle golden metallic threads?  Seriously?  It’s like Rosie knit my house into a sweater. It’s like she read my blog and knit my house into a sweater.

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