Friday Flickr Fun

You are probably wondering...where did I find a zillion hours to scour flickr and find all these great images??

Well, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

Check out Spell with Flickr

It's probably the coolest thing I've ever done!

I had lots of fun:








Now if I can just think of some great decor ideas with these cool photos...any ideas?

Happy Friday, all!

Beautiful Baskets

Today I got home to a surprise on my front porch: my baskets from Signature Homestlyes arrived!

When I opened them up, two of them were perfect size for the open shelves I have at the end of my bar. Here is the before:

As you can see, the baskets I had before were just a little big for the space. However, I really like them and can't wait to find another place in my house for them.
(kitty toy mess added in for effect)

And here is the after:

Ahh...these fit much better! I also like the color a bit better in the space.
And you can't even see the kitty toys!

Now I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of the baskets I ordered--I think they are too pretty to be put away in the pantry!

Take Two Tuesday

Two Things for Tuesday:

1. I got complimented on my appearance today! (!!). This is a very rare happening, so that is why it is so exciting. Anyway....totally made my day!



2. One Nation, Under BlackBerry

I heard a great story on NPR on the way home from the gym tonight. Sure, they are letting President Obama keep his crackberry...but is this really the best move for our president?

Is this a good opportunity for him to be an electronics role model for the country?

"So perhaps he can set one more example for us to follow ... and lead us out of BlackBerry temptation. He can usher in not just a new era of responsibility but a new era of responsible BlackBerrying."

I think so.

Here is the full story at NPR.com

Brightening your day

Right now, this is what it is like outside:

photos compliments of http://labs.ideeinc.com/multicolr/

Brrr!!!

And here is what I'm dreaming about...

Ahhh...isn't that better?

Have a great day!

John and Kate plus 8....

John and Kate plus 8....

More like plus 8,000 square feet in their new house!!


photo compliments of http://kissnation.961kiss.com/freakshow/blog/2008/11/19/jon_and_kate_plus_8s_new_house
Click for the slideshow of inside!

Tonight on the new episode of JK+8 they showed the kids the new house. I'm not lying, I was freaking out the whole time. It is HUGE!! How is Kate going to keep this house clean?

Anyway, I love it! How exciting!

*update:this baby is worth $1.6 mill!*

A moment of inspiration

Tonight, I found the paint colors!

Here they are:

Choice #1: Latte on top, Hopsack on bottom

Choice #2: Sands of Time on top, Portobello on bottom.

The look pretty much the same in the photos, but trust me...they are very, very different.
Let me know what you think!

Decorating Ledges

Decorating ledges: A Challenge

My house has little ledges built in. These things are so hard to decorate!

I had a moment of inspiration at Christmas, when I wrapped boxes and propped them up on top of the ledges.

But, since taking down my Christmas decor, the blank empty ledges stared at me waiting to be filled with something.

So, this is what I came up with:

One trip to Hobby Lobby on a snowy day yielded a candlestick, vase, basket, and assorted fininals--all for 60% off. (sidenote: I refuse to buy anything at Hobby Lobby that is not marked down, because chances are if it is not marked down this week, it will be next week!).

I love the way it looks, but I still feel like it needs something else.

Although these items are substantial on eye level, they seem to get smaller and smaller the higher they are put up. Optical illusion? Who knows?

So...I am searching for ideas.

My good friend google has not been much help lately.

This is what turned up when I searched for "ledge decoration":

Ah, here is a lovely blank ledge waiting to be decorated. I guess I'm not the only one with decor-block when it comes to these babies.

This one is nice, but it is holiday themed (although taking note of use of glitter trees).

And this one...just not really my style.

So...any ideas?? Anyone else deal with this decorating challenge?

Flight 232 remembered

Fact #1: I am a huge newspaper nerd.
Fact #2: I must read the entire Sunday edition of the newspaper while drinking my coffee.

To support these facts, I am decided to share with you a particularly moving story today in the Iowa Life section of the DesMoines Register.

John Carlson wrote a very nice article about how the pilot of the Flight 232 Crash would love to talk to the pilot of the recent Hudson River Crash. You can read the article here.

For many people, I'm sure the Flight 232 crash on July 19th, 1989 is no big deal. But, for me...it is a pretty big deal. I remember it all so well, which is a big deal since I was only 7 at the time.

What happened was a Douglas DC-10 was en route from Denver to Chicago when both of the engines failed and they had to crash land in Sioux City, Iowa--just miles from my home. It was headed for the Sioux City Gateway airport, but it missed the runway and had to cartwheel to a crash landing in a corn field.


The images from that day are crystal clear in my memory-watching the news on TV of the burning plane flying right over people's houses, my mom hearing the news and rushing to get ready for work to go in on a day she was off, seeing all the small town's ambulances and fire trucks lined up and ready to rescue people at the airport.

Later, my dad took my brother and I to see the wreckage at the field. It was mind boggling-there were pieces of airplane everywhere. I just stared, my fingers in the chain link fence. Little did I know, this would be a memory to stay with me my whole life.

I know you are probably thinking-I should be talking about the recent "Miracle on the Hudson", and believe me, that has been in my thoughts as well. My gosh, I truly do believe it is a Miracle...how can a plance crash-land on water and the most serious injury is a broken leg? Unbelievable. Thank you, Lord for watching over your people.

But in Flight 232, not everyone survived. 110 of the 285 passengers survived the flight. My mom is a nurse and the pilot of the flight was on her floor after the crash. He asked her how many people had survived the crash, and she told him, and then he asked,
"What happened to the rest of the passengers?"

The pilot of Flight 232 is a hero in my mind-it is a miracle anyone survived the crash.

Here are some images of that day:

Please click on any of the pictures to learn more about Flight 232.






Thanks for letting me share...a home decor post will resume shortly!

Party Pretties

On Monday I hosted a little soiree for some gals. One of my new goals is to take better documentation of parties I host so I know what I did and what to do next time. So, here's to the first one!

Christmas is over, so I thought I would do a Valentine's theme. Here are some of the details:

I bought some of these adorable pink and red M&M's at the grocery store. They are my absolute favorite and I love them ever since using them at my wedding!

See them in the martini glass? Our little cousin loves them too!




You may be wondering--Where did I get that fabulous red table runner?

Surprise! It is our Christmas one, flipped over!



I also got these cute baby pink carnations at the grocery store also. So cute! And just $5 a bunch.
Since I was low on vases, I used some extra wine glasses I had in the cupboard.



And of course, I used my 4th grade elementary school scissor skills to make these babies which I used for coffee labels and around the house:



Luckily I have TONS of pink paper left over from my wedding that I found in the closet!

Let me know what you think!