Welcome to my Summer Home Tour Exterior Reveal! I joined The White Buffalo Styling Co. and a group of bloggers sharing our homes for Blogger Stylin' Home Tours. I love seeing how everyone lightens up and refreshes their homes in the Summer. I personally want to declutter and simplify everything. We have been busy updating the exterior of our home and adding some much needed curb appeal. We have lived in our 1950's Connecticut Cape for close to a year and a half now and I have been itching to get this done, but it somehow became the last thing we did. We partnered with Lowes on this project. I l ... Read More
Kids Space with Addison Wonderland
Brittany from Addison Wonderland is known for her bold use of color and pattern. In a world of neutrals, whites and grays it is a fun welcome change. I asked Brittany to share one of her kids rooms for my article in Everything Home Magazine for my column on Kids Spaces that I write for. She shared her daughters play room. Her daughters are pretty lucky girls to get to use their imagination in this space. Brittany has one rule when it comes to kid spaces and that is to have fun! She also says that there are literally no rules when it comes to playrooms and kid's bedrooms. It is what she ... Read More
Family Room with Wallpaper and Chalkboard Wall
We recently updated our upstairs family room with new wallpaper, lighting, rug and a barn track door. If you have been following my blog you know that our home is a 1200 square foot Cape in Connecticut. The previous home owners used this space as a master bedroom. When I was deciding how we would use the home I knew I couldn't take a large room like this for our master bedroom. Now living in the home for over a year, I am completely happy with the decision to turn it into our family room, this room gets used a lot! It also doubles as a guest room, the sofa pulls out into a sleeper. Before I ... Read More
Favorite Healthy Dinner
We all have that go-to dinner that we make once a week or several times a month. It is just easy and we know everyone likes it so we make it over and over and over. I really don't love cooking. I do it because I love to eat and love to eat healthy. But if my husband and I are both home, he cooks, he likes it more and is maybe just a little bit better at it than I am. Our favorite healthy dinner involves salmon, some veggies and fruit. I just cooked our salmon a new way and it is a game changer for us! I was inspired to try a new way of cooking our salmon from watching a friend cook ... Read More
Summer Beach Tips and Sandcastles
We live less than a mile to the beach, one of the reasons why we chose to live where we live and in a smaller Cape style home. We recently got the nicest beach kit from Beachmate and we have been dying to use it. The weather has been so weird, really rainy it seems and colder than normal. Finally we had a nice night and decided to go test out our new beach kit. It was a little too cold to swim and it was after dinner, but I know my five year old would have swam if we let her. It was a great night to play in the sand and have ice-cream cones. Now that we are beach bums, we have ... Read More
Healthy Book Club Party with Lettuce Wraps and Cupcakes
My oldest daughter, Ella is eight years old and has been on a kick of wanting to cook healthy things "all on her own." She has been even more inspired while we have been reading our new favorite book series Disney Star Darlings. Because one of the characters in the book series is Tessa, she loves to cook and create new recipes. When my daughter read about her in the she said that she wanted to make a dinner all her own. Since she has conquered French Toast, a smoothie and can make a mean peanut butter sandwich for her lunch, naturally dinner was next. Both of her Aunts were in town this past ... Read More
Butcher Block Counter Tops Review
I get a lot of questions on my butcher block countertops. The main thing I get asked is if I like them and how they are holding up. When we remodeled our kitchen in March of 2015 (you can read more of that HERE) I knew I really wanted to do butcher block countertops. For a couple of reasons, I love the warmth they add to a kitchen, the price and how quickly you can get them verses having a template made and not having countertops for a week or two. We actually had our kitchen cabinets refaced as we lived in the home so cutting the down the time that we could have a functioning kitchen was ... Read More
Finns Birth Story
I don't know why I have been dragging my feet on writing about Finn's birth. It seems so fresh still. It was a long labor, emotional, hard and yet on April 24th it was one of the third happiest days of our lives. We got what we had been praying for, a little baby, straight from Heaven. With my first baby I didn't really have a a birth plan or my mind made up on the birth. I knew that I wanted to maybe try to have her natural. But I wasn't really prepared. After my water broke I went to the hospital and the contractions started to get uncomfortable. My mom was there, both of my ... Read More
Living Room Spring Update and Deann Art
Spring is my favorite season. I love when I can clip fresh blooms from the yard and easily brighten my home, especially my living room. When Spring rolls around I find myself wanting to declutter and change things up in my home. I am constantly moving things around. I recently got a gorgeous new piece of art from the lovely Deann Designs, who has been featured in Country Living amongst many other venues. Getting something new always spurs on a little re-decorating. Updating your home with the seasons doesn't have to cost a lot of money, simple changes can go a long way. Deann Designs ... Read More
Homemade Bread and my Mom
"They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad an sincere hearts." Acts 2:46 My mom has been on a mission to accomplish that exact scripture. She found a homemade bread recipe that she loved and made a goal to bake one loaf of bread a day and give it to someone. That alone shows how thoughtful, empathetic, loving and Christ-like she is. She says "nothing is better than getting a loaf of warm homemade bread." I couldn't agree with her more. Think of the last time someone made you homemade bread? I can remember one of my best friends, Rachel baking a fresh loaf of french ... Read More
