I’ve been obsessed with Pinterest for awhile now – pinning magic left and right! But very rarely do I ever do any of the crafts I find, or cook any of the recipes that look so very tempting.

So I’m going to try to Pin It – And Do It. My own Pinterest Challenge, if you will.

Since we are in paint-mode in the kitchen, I’m looking forward to hanging some things on the walls when all is said and done. I think Birdie #2 originally found this pin, and I decided this week was the week to tackle it for our new (new-to-us) kitchen.

Easiest. Craft. Ever.

I cut out the type and made a stencil using our lovely Eva. Then I borrowed a piece of burlap from Birdie #2’s stash, and used a little fabric paint…

And then voila! Frame-able artwork in a matter of minutes.

Framed and just waiting for those kitchen walls to dry.

Ahem. Yes. Back to painting.

So tell me, are you in on the Pinterest Challenge with me? What does your next pin creation look like?

is a mere 5 days away! I’m so excited. I can never get enough of the Olympics – I’ll watch anything that is on, so the countdown has been on for quite awhile over here.

I saw this commercial a few months ago and loved it. And then J. sent it to me last week again and it made me teary-eyed all over again. For all the Moms. And Team USA. 😉

Hermione (Emma) Granger and Super Addie accompanied Daddy to Comic-Con again this year. They came back with all sorts of goodies that I need to get photos and videos of, especially the cat ears. Oh yes. The cat ears are just too good to try to explain…you must see them to believe them. Soon. I promise.

So, when last we met up for our Crafty Tuesday…we were in the middle of our kitchen redo saga. We had found tile and it was being prepped and laid.

Right.

Those of you lucky enough to be within yelling distance, or any of my FaceBook friends, already know how this all turns out. But for those of you who haven’t been around these parts while we vacationed, this is the rest of the story.  It was about mid-Wednesday (remember we are leaving on Saturday morning!!) when my contractor delicately told me that…well…the tile I so lovingly picked out and hauled and paid for? Yeah, it wasn’t going to work. Apparently our house is old. Not a big surprise. And the entire kitchen floor slopes about 2 inches from one side to the other. Uh, big surprise. Oh, and also? There are some little dips and valleys that tile just wasn’t going to be happy on.

So…back to the drawing board, since we didn’t have $15K to put a new sub-floor in, and the floating the tile option wasn’t going to work with the many other issues our kitchen has going for it.

J. came through again. After taking me to lunch and another visit to Lowe’s we found this stuff called “Resilient Vinyl Floor Planks.” And honestly…the look of it is not that much different from my first love, the tile. It installed much easier, was cheaper, and is much more resilient and easier to care for in a kitchen than hardwood. Although I couldn’t do the herringbone layout – it still worked out ok.

And so now, we have this:

And this:

I put the laundry room photo up there first, since it is against the cream cabinets it will give you a better idea of how the floor will look once the kitchen cabinets are painted! Right now there is a lot of wood going on, but I really like the floor and it is very close to the other dark wood we have throughout the house. I think it is a good compromise and it was HALF the cost. So win-win for all.

Next on the agenda is doing all of the baseboards (this week!), repainting trim and ceiling, and starting the cabinet painting. The snowball effect has begun.

They haven’t been been able to get enough of each other since Addie reappeared. I’m sure Tiger was confused and asking, “Where is that curly-haired girl who carts me all over the house? I’ve had to WALK everywhere for the past two weeks!”

I am always so anxious to travel and go on vacation, but I think in reality, I’m really just a homebody. I love coming home and after being away for a few weeks…I realized that these little things are the things I missed the most.

I missed twilight in our courtyard. The lovely shadows, smells and sounds after a busy day.

I missed having a delicious dinner and a glass of wine out on the patio with my honey.

I missed just hanging out and enjoying the nice weather.

I missed my coffee maker…

…And my homemade salted caramel ice cream.

Mmmm…and my coffee and ice cream together. Yes.

It was a yummy day…and a delicious homecoming.

My baby sister is having a birthday today! We always used to tell her the 4th of July fireworks were for her birthday – and she should make a wish. Tonight while I was watching our fireworks I made several birthday wishes for her….

I wish you a birthday day filled with your sweet family.

I wish you a year filled with success.

And I wish you a lifetime filled with happiness and love.

I’m grateful to have such a beautiful sister to share this world with. You know what they say, ” A sister is someone who knows everything about you, and loves you anyway.”

I love you Meesh. Have a very happy day and year!

-Bean

Our lovely JB is having a birthday today! Pop over and say happy day to her maybe? I have this crazy cute pic of her and Ad that I cannot attach here – we are on our travels and I am traveling light (only iPad)…grrrr!

But imagine if you will my sweet lady kissing Addie’s cheek and Addie’s face full of the love we ALL feel for JB.  It is adorable. Just have to take me word for it.

This is your year, baby! Happiest of birthdays to you!

All our love,

j, c, e, & a

To Dads everywhere today:

Hoping you are well-cared for and pampered…

and wishing you lots of love and (hammock) relaxation.

To my amazing husband – thank you for being the absolute best dad in the world to the girls, and for sharing this rollercoaster of parenting with me every day. All the while making it look so darn easy and fun.

And to my Dad – thank you for modeling what kind of guy I needed to marry so that I’d have a father for my girls who was as great as you.

All of our love to both of you!
Care, Em & Ad

I can’t decide what is making me happier today.

It could be the fact that I just washed my ugly, out-dated, most hated kitchen linoleum for the very last time. (Good news, the tile we picked was on clearance. Bad news, the tile was clearanced because it is being discontinued. We just went on a bit of a wild goose chase to hunt down enough tile so they can start on MONDAY! )

Perhaps it is that I got a little coffee break this afternoon. (I really wanted/needed a little coffee this afternoon but I was hoarding my very last Nespresso coffee pod for tomorrow morning. When we got home from the tile hunt, there was a magical  Nespresso shipment on my doorstep.)

Maybe what makes me most happy is that we only have one more crazy weekend – a ballet recital this time – to get through. Then everything –  ballet, dance, choir, piano – it all will have fallen off of our calendar.

Happy Friday, indeed.