Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Monday, February 1, 2010

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.

Monday, January 25, 2010

A Month Late. A Buck Short.

Okay, yes, it is officially a month after Christmas. But I couldn't very well let these pics go to waste, now could I? Or, maybe I could have, as once again half of my pics are from my crappy cell phone camera...


Annnd, of course, any excuse to show off the rink...



On a COMPLETELY UNRELATED NOTE (as in, NO this is NOT some kind of "hint." NO, I am NOT pregnant again). I found this old scan while going through my computer looking for the Christmas pics. Is this not the most freakish sonogram you've ever seen?


This is Mr. Cullen, in utero, acting as if he was fully expecting us. I think he's saying, "Here I am! Over here! See you in July!" I usually cannot make heads or tails of these things, but Cullen was doing his damnedest to make it all plain as day for his sometimes-a-little-slow Mom. Okay, enough about that. Just had to share that one.

Tomorrow I'll post some pics of our quick fix of the World's Smallest Bathroom.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Happy Birthday Cullen!

Ahh, my little guy - three years old. Time is beginning to fly. Too fast. And I don't like it.

Happy Birthday Cullen Eric!


We love you more than you'll ever know!!!

Monday, September 15, 2008

More Than Just a Good Cause

I know, I know, times are REALLY tough for everyone right now. But, I have to ask, soooo...


If anyone is at all interested in donating to a WONDERFUL CAUSE or, if you'd like to join us on our 5K Walk, please contact me via gmail.


This website gives all kinds of info relative to our fundraising efforts:


www.granaraskerry.org


(notice Mr. Finn making a cameo on the home page - up on his Dad's shoulders)


Not only will you endear yourself to me, personally, forever, but you'll also be helping one of the coolest ladies around, Kathy Granara Skerry. Even a dollar makes a difference!

Thanks!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Slow Going

Well, things haven't exactly been moving right along as of late. We spent most of last weekend cleaning out the cellar. Very fun in a 111 year-old house full of 111 year-old dirt. Luckily, my cleaning-machine mother-in-law was there to give us the kick in the butt we always seem to need on "clean-up days." The cellar had to be emptied so that the formal living room/dining room and foyer could be emptied. Those rooms had to be emptied so we can finally, FINALLY get the floors done! Til then, this is what these rooms look like:


Almost pretty.
And, to top off our dirt-filled weekend, my grandfather passed away on Sunday night after a very long, very brave battle with cancer. This grandfather was instrumental in allowing for me and Mike to have the opportunity to purchase the Big Yellow House. While I know he was very happy for us and knew how much we appreciated his help, I really regret not having been able to show him the "finished product" before he left us. Rest in peace, finally.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Inspiration - It Really CAN Come from Anywhere

Meet my grandmother...

Well, my grandmother as she looked 40-something years ago. She would probably kill me if she knew I posted a picture of her in her bathing suit on the Internet. But sadly, she passed away a couple years ago and anyway, she was HOT!

This picture has been sitting on my desk at work since the day after she passed away. I look at it constantly (for many different reasons). One thing I've recently noticed about this pic are the colors...they're beautiful! The black and white bathing suit, together with the coral blanket make for a really nice color combination.

I've been trying to come up with a good spot in my house to try using these colors. So, for inspiration I did some googling...




and then I realized, I really like coral. It brightens EVERYTHING. Now, this room could benefit from a little coral, eh?


Not that it's not beautiful - it is. But it just seems less "happy" than the other pics. I think I'll start with small doses and see how it goes...

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Happy Birthday, Cullen!

My "baby" Cullen is two years old today! Happy Birthday! We love you, Cullen Eric!

*I believe this is the pic he uses in his match.com profile. I've heard swimmies are a real turn-on with the pre-school set.


Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Wow! Time Flies...

I can't believe it's been TWO WEEKS since my last post! I literally thought it had been maybe 5 or 6 days. Clearly I'm sleep deprived and a little nutty. Well, I've been trying to put together a nice, long, informative post on the attic renovation. That was where we started when we bought the house and I thought I'd try to catch you up in chronological order. The upside is we have MANY photographs of the attic transformation. The downside is we have MANY photographs of the attic transformation - which makes it difficult for me to clearly and easily tell the "attic story." I do, after all, have a tendency to be a bit long winded. Anyway, I hope to finish up that post in the next couple of days.

Going through a major home renovation with two small children definitely makes things interesting. For example, it's not entirely uncommon for drill bits to show up in the silverware drawer. The kids LOVE touching Daddy's tools. They also LOVE hiding them in crazy places. I always chuckle when I find any of these hidden tools, but the one I found this morning really made me laugh...


Hmm, why is this metal thing stuck next to my mattress? What is this metal thing stuck next to my mattress?


Ahhh, the old putty-knife-in-the-bed-frame. They haven't used this one in a while :)

On a side note, here's me and my handsome husband going to a Fire Department function. He got the Medal of Merit for his work at a car accident - probably why he's so smiley.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Murphy's Law

Okay, so this is the 3-day forecast...


Can you guess which day we are having 70+ people over for my son's birthday BBQ? Note the little "Picnic & Grilling Index" score. It's a 1. Nice touch.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Happy Birthday Finn Michael!

My "baby" is three years old today. Happy Birthday, Finn. We love you.