A Funny Thing Happened...

Sometimes, when Mike works overnight, dangerous things can happen. It all started innocently enough. My lack of spouse accounted for me sitting up til all hours, listening for strange sounds that only existed in my head (ah, the life of a firefighters wife) and watching chick flicks to pass the time. And that's when it happened - while absentmindedly flipping through channels, I came upon one of my all time favorite movie house movies. Spanglish.

It is not easy to find interior shots of the house in this movie. You'll just have to watch it for yourself! There are actually two houses: the Clasky family home and the Malibu vacation home they rent for the summer. I, however, am exclusively obsessed with the family home. The home itself can't be easily put into words. It's beautiful, of course. Just the right amounts of classic and well-loved. The house is full of knick-knacks, accessories, pillows, you name it. Some of you might think it just looks cluttered, but I love it. It is very apparent that a family lives here. And yet, it's classy and elegant all the same. They have a freakin' foosball table in the middle of the family room and yet somehow, inexplicably, it's still beautiful.

My favorite room in the house is the master bedroom. It's a blur of florals and stripes and colors and yet it all comes together. I want to hibernate in this room all winter. That being said, even at 1:00 A.M., while listening for signs of a break-in that would never happen, I realized that the closest I was gonna get to a room like this was re-creating it as best I could in my own, much smaller, bedroom. And so, after several days of Spanglish-induced shopping, I've come to one absolute conclusion: I CANNOT STOP BUYING PILLOWS AND BLANKETS.

And now, my bed looks like this:


I think I've officially reached the maximum allowable pillow count on our bed. I'm up to 10(!). Or is it 12? Something like that. Mike's actually been a good sport about all of this. I suspect it's because the bed, if nothing else, has become infinitely more comfortable. And after all, pillows are cheaper than shoes and handbags.

On Saturday, I attended a lovely wedding shower (hi Jen!) with my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. When the shower ended, my sister-in-law, Kristen, my mother-in-law, Loretta and I decided we weren't quite ready to go home yet. So where did we go? Well, T.J. Maxx of course! Ah, the old standby. The place where I feel almost as at-home as at home. T.J. Maxx is always hit or miss, but when you hit, you HIT. It was one of those days! Kristen, Loretta and I ended up spending an hour "enabling the hell out of each other" and while we all walked away with some very cute things, Loretta was definitely the grand-prize winner of the day. Loretta went home with THIS:


FOR SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLARS! Can you believe that!?! We later found out that the chair, from the Compositions line by Schnadig Furniture usually retails for around $1,000.00!!! It's from the same maker that does all of the Ralph Lauren Home furniture. Unbelievable! We literally did NOT believe the price tag. We kept asking the T.J. Maxx employees, "Well, what's wrong with it? Something has to be wrong." But no, it was pretty much perfect. And you should have seen Kristen man up to carry the chair into Loretta's house while wearing two-inch heels. Like I said, it was one of those days.

I ended up getting a cute little table to go behind the chaise lounge in my bedroom. The chaise currently serves as further evidence of my blanket/pillow buying madness. I've wanted it to serve as a good place to read, but that wasn't happening until i got some good light in there somewhere. And the reading lamp I needed wasn't happening until I found a tall, narrow table to fit behind the chaise. So now, I have my reading spot. I also snagged that tray on the blanket, it's really beautiful in person, with a mother-of-pearl type inlay. (Shout out to Jen again - see your shower favor there???)


Now, I need some artwork to hang above the chaise. This one section of wall looks particularly sad and empty. For some reason, I don't like the idea of buying art at chain stores. I'll be stalking etsy for something, I think.


Jeez, it's embarrassing when you forget the remove all the "daily life" crap from your pics before posting...


I'll leave you with this pic of Finn and Cullen at public skating on Saturday. Here's Finn giving his little bro a ride around the rink. In the interest of full disclosure, this picture was taken seconds before they wiped out. Not to worry, there were no serious injuries sustained. Although Cullen did tell me his eyes hurt. Whatever that means. Seeing as he was wearing a helmet with a full cage on it. I think he just picked a random body part and struck out this time. Ah, well.

Pics of the World's Smallest Bathroom to come! Some day.

Some Spanglish pics found at Hooked on Houses.