I love the clean look above of a white, blue and marble kitchen....one day I will have one of my own. Until then I will enjoy others.

I love the look above and think it is darling for a craft/sewing room.

My sis is selling her house in AL and looking at b-e-a-u-t-i-f-l-u-l homes to move into near Birmingham. Good thing I am not the type to get jealous of my sibling's successes, cause I'd be very jealous. ;) Her and her husband are in the process of selling their home (pictured below) and because she lives in the best school district in her area they have had a number of showings. But no 'bites' yet.

So I put together an affordable before/after picture (BELOW) of how she could give her home more curb appeal. I just barely got photo-shop and am still teaching myself the ropes, but hopefully it is enough to help you catch my vision.

TIP: drive around your neighborhood, or even better your "dream" neighborhood and take ideas from homes you like and apply it to your home. You do not have to live in a half-million dollar home to have it look clean, sophisticated and appealing.

But in my absence I have found some cool stuff and here are just a few of them, the first is brilliant for those of you with fine hair. It is a sock bun tutorial from Say Yes to Hoboken.

So my dad gave us his old laptop, awesome right! Well, the only draw back is that it needs a new hard drive and since school has begun I have not had any time to spare to run and get one. So I have been seriously neglecting my blog. :( I miss blogging.

If you've been in my home you'll know that one of my pet-peeves is the 10, yes, TEN full length glass sliding closet doors in the bedrooms. I am thinking of putting up fabric closet doors in the kid rooms and after looking at some of these photos I am in love with the idea!

I am and always have been a firm believer that when it comes to swim wear less is not always more. Putting it all out there all the time is boring, irregardless of how fab you look. When I was at the pool with the kids, the classiest most attractive women were in tankinis or one pieces.

Now I am not, by any means bagging on the bikini, I just think it's fun to 'mix it up' from time to time. And here are some great ways to do it!

Shabby Apple brings a little 'old Hollywood' to their suits this year. Love it!

Hapari is a new site I found and love it, the one piece above has a cut out back that makes it feel and look much less 'mom' like.

Yes, even Vicki's Secret has some fab tankinis and one pieces although they make them look very va-va-voom in the pictures! ;) I often stand with my hands in the air, puckering my lips when I swim...doesn't everyone?

Steve and I really want a pergola in our backyard one day along with a fence and many other things. Here are some beautiful outdoor pergolas. And as I titled this, 'a girl can dream'...with an emphasis on "dream". ;)