B. B.

hip-hop, Paris Opera House, machetes in the jungle....

10:43 AM

This sums up the first half of my life and it makes no sense, no sense at all!

How does that apply to decorating? All the many places I've lived and visited have had an effect on how I design my life. I do know that I am always on the search for new ways to change the look and feel of my environment. I get bored easily. I am one of those people who changes the layout of my furniture every 6 months or so cause I get bored with how it looks. From the age of 15-28 I was constantly on the go, being visually stimulated as I traveled and lived all over the world. Below are a few of my adventures...

Visiting Paris and London and eating a meal at Le 58 Tour Eiffel when I was 15 (restaurant located on the first level of the Eiffel Tower)

Moving to a gorgeous 4 level home on the outskirts of Paris, in a town called Saint-Cloud.
I wrote a million letters to all my HS friends in Ca. so the address is burned into my memory.
Address: 10 Ave. de la Pommeraie, Saint-Cloud, France 92210

While living in France we traveled all over Europe. Amsterdam, Holland, Belgium, London, Greece, Sweden, ps my most magical memory was watching a live European rock concert in a castle in the middle of Luxembourg.

we are in these pictures, you can see our tiny faces and bodies in the bottom corner of the pictures. ;)

Spending 6 months in Jerusalem (during that time traveling to Egypt, Lebanon and the West Bank), hiking through the Jungle of the Philippines with a machete and living in small apartments that looked like an American garage.

For 3 years we spent our Summer vacations in the Cayman Islands scuba diving, snorkeling and sun bathing on gorgeous private beaches.

Last but not least. In 2002 I took my last "out of country adventure" with my newly wed husband, parents and siblings while I was 3 month pregnant with Max. We took a 2 week vacation through Europe driving from Germany to Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Venice Italy, Prague and Hungry. I heard it was amazing. I was nauseous and puking the whole time. ;)

From 2002-present my life has taken on a whole new kind of adventure. As my kids grow older they get to hear all my adventures about:

"scuba diving with a barracuda"

"getting lost in the Filipino jungles"

"swimming in an old fountain in the middle of Paris with my 2 high school friends at midnight"

"almost being taken to jail in Czech Republic because the corrupt police demanded we pay them $375"

"being chased down an alleyway in Greece by angry restaurant owners"

"*This one was kinda gross, but it is a hilarious story about desperately needing to "relive myself" while hiking to the top of Mount Sinai in Egypt and having nowhere to go except behind a small rock I barely fit behind off the trail. Let's just say I experienced a bit of stage fright. "

"having little Israeli children throw rocks at us as we walked from the BYU Jerusalem center to Lions Gate"

"the bathroom in our house in France that had an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower right next to the toilette"

"watching 80 year old women make lace on the bridge in Venice, Italy"

"eating fresh out of the oven homemade pita bread in the West Bank"
"acquiring a parasite while in the Philippines and not realizing it until 2 years after I returned. (ew) Gross story, but one that changed my life forever"

and soooo much more....

I look forward to the day I can take my husband and family to all the magical places I visited as a youth. I bring all the memories of these places I've visited into how I design my life.

baby

a Birthday shout-out to my cute nephew!

11:06 AM

curb appeal

Decorating for Valentines Day

12:06 PM

baby

Baby mocs - Freshly Picked

10:30 PM

About 6 years ago (holy cow has it really been that long?) I met a girl named Susan Petersen who moved into the neighborhood. From the moment I met her I could tell she was an entrepreneur at heart. She was very talented and incredibly inventive. We did a few boutique shows together when I was making and selling baby blankets and burp cloths.

She would often talk with me about sewing projects and want me to brain storm with her about ideas for new products. I always shyed away from the topic as I knew I was not nearly as skilled as she at sewing and creating patterns. In fact, I remember when she got her first serger machine and she was soooo excited...I acted very excited for her, but as I smiled all I kept thinking was, "what is a serger?" hahaha.....

She was also very generous and would share/trade her products with me. For Christmas one year she made my sister a purse and matching wallet and to this day I still use her Freshly Picked wallet for my "square money" (that's what Henry calls it). She also created a pattern for a darling bird shaped sachet to fill with my moms lavender. I remember spending an afternoon with her and Liz Stanley at Liz's home in the Aves. making them.

When I had Henry she gave me an awesome handmade baby wrap and a pair of her handmade Freshly Picked moccasins. Henry loved the moccasins and so did I. I love Robeez and had Max and Madeline wear those when they were babies, but I never needed to buy a pair for Henry, as he had his mocs. I think these were some of her first mocs and she has since tinkered with her design and medium, but we love this older version just as much as the new. I was so sad to pack them up that I actually did a post about it here on this blog almost 4 years ago.

Here is that post:

"GOODBYE BABY MOCCASINS"

the links on this 2010 post may be outdated as she has moved her business since then.

I am thrilled for her success, she has been on Shark Tank and is selling some of her goods at the fabulous children's store, Land of Nod.

If you have a wee one or know of someone that does, check out her baby mocs at FRESHLY PICKED. They are well worth the money. The quality is impeccable and sure to last through many little feet. My only question now is, when is she going to make a silvery pale pink color in my size?!

D.I.Y.

Life is reconciling our ideal w/ reality & making the best of it

9:25 AM

4 years ago when we moved into our "updated" (in the early 90's) 1940's brick rambler I loved it's simple charm with lots of mature trees, mountain views, large master suite and restored wood floors. But that is pretty much where the love ended. The rest I knew would be a lot of work, but together my husband and I, along with the help of our families could do it. I was also excited at the prospect of our weekends being filled with home improvement projects.

Well, you know that saying about how you can make god laugh? Tell him YOUR plans. Apparently the above was one giant joke. NONE of it would come to fruition. I've been married 11 years, but I found out about 3 years ago that my husband hates home improvement projects and when we first tried to do projects he was miserable and it always ended in a fight. To add insult to injury, both of our parents became incredibly busy with their own projects. My in-laws started and currently run a farmers market and my parents are vendors at a farmers market, both ventures take up 100% of their time from May-October.

So, 4 years ago when I walked into this house I didn't see:

~ almond color appliances - I saw stainless steel appliances

~ square kitchen tiles, really? why couldn't they be subway? - I saw an awesome backsplash

~ leaf print laminate countertops - I saw granite or honed marble countertops

~ stark white walls - I saw warm hughes with beautiful pieces of art

~ functional doorways and window - I saw decorative molding and trim

~ functional/minimal base boards - I saw tall substantial looking baseboards

~ old levelor 1" blinds - I saw plantation shudders

~ outdated faux oak ceiling fans (there were 8 of them!) - I saw bronzed or silver updated light fixtures

~ almond color kitchen sink with old faucet - I saw a deep stainless steel sink with updated faucet

~ weird single beams in our bedroom - I saw thick beams with large bronzed bolts

~ brass hardware on every door and cabinet- I saw oil rubbed bronze hinges and pulls on all the doors (oh and the doors needed to be replaced/updated as well)
~ unfinished 1,000 sq.ft. basement - I saw a lg. family room and another bathroom. Laundry/craft room and theater room.

The list could go on and on.....

For a while there I felt a little deceived, foolish and stuck. Stuck in a house that was far from what I envisioned and left with no resources (except my 2 hands) to get all the grand projects in my head finished (not to mention I had 3 younger kids, a demanding church calling, I still volunteer too much at my kids school and we had and have lots of extra curricula activities).

Without sounding too dramatic or ungrateful, I was pretty sad and bummed out about it. I was stuck in a late 80's looking, 'diamond in the rough house' all day every day with the constatnt visual reminder of how naive I was. It's still hard sometimes, but I decided one day that even though I can't do any of the big projects above, the ones that require expertise and a lot of $$, I CAN do small improvement projects that make a big difference.

I am NO expert and I'm NO perfectionist, I'm pretty good at looking at something and saying, "good enough". I think if a contractor ever saw what I did they'd be mortified. But I've done most of it on my own, with limited knowledge and no experience.

There are a hand full of projects (big ones) that we had help on and I will give props to those who helped us when we get to those projects. I am going to start blogging about these small home improvement triumphs. Triumphs achieved with my limited knowledge, expertise, time and funds.

In the words of Andy Dwyer from Parks & Rec:

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

I read that one on a can of lemonade.

I like to think it applies to life."

What would I do without these guys to help me laugh and "lighten-up" when I've reconciled reality with my ideals and seen how far I am from where I want to be?