Weekly Cravings!

I am totally craving this GORGEOUS green Currey and Company Goddess Chandelier for my dining room! Unfortunately this oh so gorgeous piece runs $2631.00! I wonder if I could find something similar much more in my budget...

Renovation Madness

Phew....We are finally moved into the new house!! Halleluah! I thought it would never happen. The last two weeks have passed in such a blur I don't even know what day it is anymore!

 Here are some pics of the new house!

 The previous owners were major LSU fans...we plan on painting the purple asap!

 I love the covered patio area! I plan on putting some nice comfy outdoor seating here!

 That bench below is going to get replaced with a lovely hammock!

The moment we walked into that door the demolition began!

 Left: listing photo, Right: Justin & Corey ripping the built-in out as soon as we walk in the door!

 Left: listing photo, Right: The kitchen after the built-in has been ripped out!

We thought we could just paint the kitchen...but unfortunately it was latex paint over wallpaper! You have to use an oil base to paint over wallpaper!  Oh and it gets WORST!  I started stripping the painted wallpaper only to find out that there was a layer of mud and more wallpaper under the top layer of paint and wallpaper!  Seriously!?!?  After spending a whole day stripping wallpaper, my husband and I decide to just remove the drywall and start from scratch!  (Now, normally I would be mad that I wasted a whole day removing wallpaper, but I still had another days worth to do!)

Now my poor husband is stuck floating drywall and mudding...something he HATES to do!

The kitchen before we got our hands on it...

...and the kitchen in its current state!

(Please help me decide...should I keep the cabinets natural or paint white? I'm so torn!)

The living room, which we thought would take 2 days, took a whole week to paint! We painted the walls, trim, fireplace, and ceiling! And let me tell you it takes a lot of time to edge around all those beams! But we finally got it done! 

I had a lot of opposition in my decision to paint the living room off white.  I am glad I stuck with my decision! I chose Creamy White Behr paint and I love it! It is exactly the warm white I was going for! (FYI, you would be amazed how difficult it is to pick out the RIGHT white!)

Here I am loosing my mind amongst all the whites and creams!

 

There is still SO MUCH to do, but at least we aren't running back and forth between houses anymore! 

Thankful Words

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I hope you have a lovely thanksgiving day full of family or friends.
What will you spend your Thanksgiving doing? Any family traditions?

I will be heading to the demolition zone at the new house until noon, and then off to my sister's for a wonderful Thanksgiving meal!  Our usual tradition demands watching parades in the morning, cooking, snacking on summer sausage, cheese, and crackers. Unfortunately with all the renovations going on I won't be able to watch the parades in the morning... :( 

My husband's family always plays football on Thanksgiving day! This is where I usually put my high heel spike boots and cream furry hat and coat in order to get out of playing! Sorry, but football is not my really my thing!  
Guess which one is me...!

The day after Thanksgiving we usually go shopping and put up the Christmas tree! I have a feeling that will be happening a little later this year! To much going painting, gutting, and mudding going on!!

I hope your Thanksgiving day is full of reasons to give thanks! I will leave you with these words of wisdom!

  "When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place."

C.S. Lewis  

 

"Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move forward the life that God intended for you with grace, strength, courage, and confidence."

Og Mandino 

 

"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts... And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Colossians 3:15-17 

 

From the Andes

Sorry I've been off the radar! I have been in demolition mode for days and hope to see daylight soon! I will show pics and give details as soon as I am able!  In the meantime, enjoy these beautiful photos of a Fashion Gone Rogue Exclusive.  I love these South American native fabrics and patterns! Maybe I'm addicted because I was born in Chile...either way I think they are fabulous!

Hope your week is going well!

Fashion Flash: Vogue Germany

Thank goodness for the weekend!  It has been a long exhausting week of packing, working, prepping for a garage sale, and cleaning for my sis & her husband moving down! I'm feeling just a little brain dead today!  So I decided to share a simple post of beautiful photos from Vogue Germany's Dec 2011 editorial of Karlie Kloss.  I love these photos with their dreamy eastern vintage look!  

Enjoy!

Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Oh, and did I mention I'm finally getting my new house tomorrow!! (The sellers couldn't be out till then so we did a leaseback option...but it sucks owning a house and not being able to get into it yet!!)

Thankful Thursday

With Thanksgiving in a week I've been thinking about what I have to be thankful for. There is so much I take for granted.
I'm thankful that my husband is trying to be so helpful in this move by cleaning and doing whatever else he can! (I haven't asked him to do much packing...cause, frankly, I don't know what would end up in what box!) But he is helping out in so many other ways! It's so funny cause every time I tape up a box he is right there waiting to take it to the garage as soon as I finish labeling it! And if he didn't see me label it all I have to do is leave it in the door way and it is gone shortly! 

I could be sitting alone with no family on Thanksgiving day, but instead I get to spend Thanksgiving with my husband, two sisters, brother-in-law, along with others!
I'm thankful that I have a wonderful older sis who knows HOW to cook a turkey so that I don't have to! (Sorry, but raw turkeys gross me out! I still can't bring myself to cook one!)
I'm thankful that my younger sis and her husband are moving to Texas just in time to have Thanksgiving with us!

Now the only thing I'm sad about at the moment is that I wont get to decorate my table like one of these fabulous Thanksgiving tables!

via countryliving

I love this idea of using a leaf for a name tag!

 via countryliving

via hgtv.com

The pumpkins hanging on the branches is such a cute and easy idea!

 via thecottagechick.com

Love this leaf cutout idea! I wonder how hard it would be to try!

How do you plan on decorating your table? Do you go all out or just keep it simple?

Decision Making Thoughts

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto you."    Matthew 6:33

Why is it so hard for me to put this into practice? It isn't that I intentionally ignore it, but I allow myself to get caught up with everything going on in my life. I get stressed out and overwhelmed by all the decisions I have to make that I forget to continually pray about it and ask for God's help.

You think that would be the first thing I would always do since when I do make the effort He always guides me, and gives me a peace towards the right decision! It is amazing how I can feel so lost as to what to do one moment, and so at peace the next. God has an interesting way of working things out, and getting you to trust Him!

 I am going to have to say goodbye for a little while...

For example, my husband informed me he wanted to join the Army Reserves back in September.  I was caught off guard and annoyed that he was bringing it up again. (He has wanted to join since before we met.)  I was really frustrated and tired of people asking me how I felt when he had barely given me any serious info on it. I was angry that he could just leave me behind to do this. I was angry that he was telling other people he was serious about this when we had barely talked about it.  We had a long talk about how serious he was about joining, and that I needed him to be upfront with me and not keep information from me if he seriously wanted me to consider it. After that I prayed long and hard about it. I prayed that if it was God's will that He give me a peace and help me through this, and that if it wasn't his will that Justin quickly forget about this and move on.  A couple of days later Justin called me at work to give me some more info, and I just knew.  I knew he would be joining. I knew he needed to do this, and I knew he needed my support...and oddly enough...

I was totally at peace about it. 

So much so that it was nothing short of a miracle! My attitude toward the whole thing had done a 180 in a matter of days!  I can't even explain the peace I felt...it wasn't natural!

I've been called to stand by my man and support him in his calling.

Another example.  We didn't think we would be able to buy a house yet due to the fact my husband had moved to sales in his company and was now making commission (you have to have 2 years history for them to use commission). So now he was going to be leaving me for 6 months to go to basic training and we rent in a not-so-great neighborhood. (We have been vandalized, broken into by a someone on meth, and Justin had to shoot the intruder!) Live there by myself for 6 months?  

I don't think so! 

Lenders told us they wouldn't be able to approve us enough for a decent neighborhood. Long story short, we found a wonderful lender who everyone was telling me not to trust, and that we wouldn't get the loan, but the whole time I had an odd peace and instinct telling me to trust him. We found a house in a good neighborhood! The seller agreed to pretty much everything we asked! And now my sister, Jenn, from Contemporary Harbor, is moving down here and will be staying with us till they sell their house! So I won't be alone while Justin is gone!  It's amazing how things work out!

 This is what Jenn & I will be doing at the new house come spring! Can't wait for my sis to get here so we can hang out! It will be like old times! (Probably both the good and bad!) Love ya Jenn!

I'm so glad things don't always work out the way I plan or 'think' I want them to! Otherwise I would miss all these wonderful blessings God gives! I may not be rich, with all the nicest clothes, driving fabulous cars, but I have a husband who is wonderful to me, a roof over my head, food on my table, a family who loves me,  and a God who somehow works out every little detail for me!  

Trust me I am blessed!

I hope you have a blessed week!

A Beatuiful Beginning...to a Beautiful Week

What a beautiful beginning to what is going to be a beautiful week! 

We closed on our very 1st home today!

I've been waiting for this moment for 5 years! I can finally decorate to my hearts content!

We are two very happy homeowners!

Now we are taking a step back to enjoy the feeling before we dive in next week with the remodeling! We have to determine which remodel projects we want at the top of our list! (And trust me...there will be a lot of projects!) Thank goodness my husband is so handy with tools! I plan on putting him to good work!

Even though we closed today, we don't actually get the house till the end of the week, so the anticipation is killing me! Until then I better finish packing! (Something I've been doing ALL week!)

Hope your weekend was a lovely one, and that today is a beautiful beginning to a beautiful week for you!

It's Friday! But can I really say Hello Happy?

Phew! What a week!  I apologize for not posting much this week.  It has been a little crazy with my 1st home buying process! We are closing a week early...this Monday! So much to do...

This photo pretty much sums up how I feel at the moment!

So my plans for the weekend? Here they go!

Friday night: 

Packing. Ugh...I think I am going to go crazy if I see any more brown boxes! Why can't moving boxes be bright beautiful motivational colors!? 

Saturday afternoon:

Final Walk through! Hallelujah!  Would you like to see my inspiration boards for a few of my rooms?! They are still a work in progress!

1. Living room Inspiration: I love white living rooms with a mixture of old and new elements!

 Originally I had thought about going more tropical in my living room but I think the natural wooden beams in the new home call for the first look!

2. West Indies Dining Room: I am either going to follow a palm or pineapple motif theme about the room and in my dishes but I haven't decided which yet. I am leaning towards pineapple.

3. Southeast Asian/Indonesian Influenced Master Bedroom: My husband made me the most gorgeous bamboo bed to go with this theme. Most Indonesian influenced rooms tend to have spice oranges and red accents, but I love the calming feel of the greens and blues. Makes me think of the palm trees and beautiful ocean.

And here is the bed my wonderful husband made me! Isn't it beautiful?!

And Sunday it is back to packing and prepping for the big close on Monday!

You can view all my Inspiration Boards @ Olioboard!

Beautifully Feminine

I feel like so many of the fashion trends right now are messy and chaotic. I'm tired of all the loud prints, mix-matched colors and so on.  Don't get me wrong, I do love color...I just feel overwhelmed with the styles at the moment and want to take a moment to step back and enjoy the more feminine styles.  I love these photos and the soft, feminine fashion they portray!

What is it that makes girls want to dress up whether young or old? It is in our blood! No matter what age, we love beautiful flowing gowns, and feeling like a princess. I love being a girl!