A Little Bit of Red, White & Blue

Happy Weekend to you all & Happy Memorial Day to my U.S. friends! I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend as we celebrate and remember those who have served this country. We all have so much to be thankful for, including our freedom!

On Friday morning, instead of heading to the beach for the weekend we were driving home. Thanks to my lovely in-laws who booked a fabulous penthouse condo on the water, we enjoyed 3 days of relaxation, crashing waves and salty air. The timing couldn't have been more perfect, the weather was stunning the entire trip-not a cloud in the sky! Upon arriving home I started to feel achy and feverish. A combination of 3 sleepless nights at the condo (due to insanely cold A/C that we don't prefer but my in-laws do) and a somewhat uncomfortable mattress coupled with catching hubby's awful cold has wiped me out. I've spend the last two days in bed, reading magazines and watching movies. It's been pretty relaxed around here.

I hope the sun is shining where you all are! It's mostly clouds and drizzle here. Hurricane Beryl hit Jacksonville early this morning, I saw a few status updates and photos from friends via Facebook that live in the area and now we're experiencing heavy rain further south, but nothing too serious. Yay for rain! We needed it after many weeks without a single drop.

Here's a little bit of red, white and blue eye candy. Although it's not officially summer yet, the holiday is supposed to mark the start of the summer vacation season. Here's to all things summer!

      Nothing says long weekend like some summery backyard party drinks.

How about some fresh blueberries and strawberries wrapped in parchment paper cones?

Take a trip to the beach, or lay out by a pool. 

Show some red, white and blue love with a cute swimsuit.

What would summer be without watermelon! How cute is this watermelon punch in a hollowed out watermelon? Click {here} for the recipe, compliments of Martha Stewart.

Long weekends are the perfect opportunity to get your home ready for summer. Why not plant some flowers, spruce up your front porch or do a little spring cleaning? 


Speaking of sprucing things up, take a peek at this sweet yard sale treasure that I scooped up on Saturday morning for a steal. You can see it here via Facebook.

OR....Maybe you prefer a little solitude? If you're anything like me, I crave alone time on a regular basis. I love my friends & family but there is something so invigorating refreshing about being one with nature or a good book without distraction. It quiets the mind and refreshes the soul!


What were you up to this Memorial Day weekend?



*images: (1) , (2) , (3), (4) , (5) , (6) , (7)

Inspiration for your Week!

How is everyone doing? We're half way through the week and I hope you are making progress, realizing your dreams and conquering your fears!

As summer quickly approaches, and for some of you the kids get ready to finish school, it's easy to get distracted and lose focus of your goals. I have found myself distracted by necessary and unnecessary things lately and when I realized we've been home from our vacation for a whole month now and I've not seen the kind of progress in certain areas of my life that I had originally planned on for the middle of May, I decided to kick it into high gear!

Yesterday I watched a few Tony Robbins videos via his YouTube channel which actually helped a lot to re-train my mind to be laser-focused and start taking massive action by turning my shoulds into musts! I've followed Tony well before he began the Breakthrough series on Oprah's OWN Network. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a fabulous 6-episode series!


This morning a song from the 90's was playing in my headed that I couldn't help but google the words to so I could it share with all of you to get moving and take charge of your day. If nothing else, it's a great workout track!

My hope is that it is a reminder to you that you can do anything, nothing can stop you  if you keep on moving and putting one foot in front of the other. The key is to keep momentum going and take action daily. As Tony says, Progress = Happiness!

We sometimes get so overwhelmed with large goals that we don't even know where to begin. Break your goals down into bite-sized pieces. If you are trying to get in better shape, commit to walking/jogging for 30 minutes every single day before dinner or early in the morning. If you are a writer, make the decision to write just one page per day and see where it leads. Perhaps you've a student and you feel like graduation is so far away, just take it class by class, test by test focusing on each as if it is the most important and before you know it, you'll be holding your diploma!

If you fall off the wagon, get back on! Don't reprimand yourself for not having done better, for procrastinating or for not having had enough focus in the past. We can only live in the here and now. Love yourself and be proud every time you choose to take action. If you need some inspiration to get you going as I did, invest in yourself by watching these Tony Robbins videos:  New Year, New Life!  , Why Some People Take Massive Action & Others Don't , Create a New Story You'll be glad you did! :)

Did the song inspire you? What are you working towards right now? What helps you stay focused or motivated?

Have a blessed day ladies!

*images via: (1) , (2)

Life is Like a Camera

{via}

"Life is like a camera, just focus on what's important and capture the good times, develop from the negatives and if things don't work out, just take another shot." ~unknown

I just love this quote, it really makes me think about life. It's so easy to get distracted sometimes by minutia or an overwhelming amount of background noise, I need to focus more on only what is important and block out the rest.

This photo makes me realize that once again this year I've taken far too few photos. I need to change that. I really have no excuse now with my relatively new iPhone. It has actually come in really handy while shopping and while meeting with clients. I've been meaning to sign up for instagram so I can play around, I think I might do that this weekend.  

Do you have a cherished favorite photo in your home? Maybe it's from your wedding day, a fun trip or with a special friend. I'd love to hear about it! :)

A Weekend of Paradise....

Happy Weekend! If you follow our Facebook page, you probably saw me post the image above earlier this morning (and if you haven't joined our daily conversations there, I hope you will!) You see, I've been doing a little bit of daydreaming. While our nearest Florida beach is about an hour away from us, it's been a little too hot this week to sit outside let alone spend the day in the blazing sun, we're already into 90-degree weather! While many of you would rejoice over such warm weather during the springtime, this Canadian-born girl is happiest in 70-80 degrees with zero humidity. :)

While I enjoy being with friends and family, I do love my time of solitude. I was raised as a water baby from 6 months of age on my parents' lakefront property so I revel in beach time.

This represents my favorite way to spend a weekend....curled up with a good book by the beach, 75 degrees and the sun shining down on me while listening to the waves crash and watching children play in the sand over my shoulder. Let's not forget a table of decadent sweet treats, homemade lemonade, a bench filled with cozy pillows and a beautifully scented blooms. Oh and a whole lot of girly, cheery pops of color-a feast for the eyes!

So, what does your weekend of Paradise look like?




*image {via}

Tray Chic Chevron

This past weekend I worked on a little decor project, it really came out of my need to test out frog tape after a little exterior painting disaster 2 years ago involving regular painters tape and my shutters. Let's just say a whole lotta paint seeped underneath the tape and it didn't have the crisp look I was after. Every time I embark on a new painting project, hubby always has a look of concern and reminds me about those darn shutters! I promised him it was a one time deal and after seeing how my little painting project turned out with the frog tape recently, he's a believe in my painting and paint prep skills again. Hurray!

As far as our shutters go, we've been saving up so that we could pay cash to have our home painted. Thankfully we finally have a painter scheduled to come this week to paint not only the shutters but also the whole exterior of our house, so I'll finally be free from that bad painting memory. Might I add we're definitely due for one, our house is over 50 years old and I think the last time someone painted this house was probably 30+ years ago-eek! Anyway, back to this weekend's paint project...

If you've been a reader of this blog for a while, you might remember the prequel to this post titled Tray Chic where I took an espresso color serving tray that I received as a bridal shower gift and transformed it into something coffee-table worthy. I've been pretty smitten with everything "chevron" for a while and got an idea to take my pretty but plain tray to another level AND test out that frog tape in the process without committing to another painting mishap on the walls. I'm really thrilled with how it turned out.

Click on the Tray Chic post to see what I was starting with from Day 1. Here is the tray after I painted it the same color as the walls in our living room, which I'm calling my before pic.

BEFORE

Here is the tray after carefully measuring and taping each chevron out with my frog tape (I later added some tape to the inside edges so I'd have a clean line all the way around.

STEP 1

Here's the tray below after just one coat of satin white paint that I used from a tiny sample can from a previous touch up project in our house.

STEP 2

Finally, here is the after, 3 coats of paint later:

AFTER

Each application dried really quickly so I was able to remove the tape just 4 hours after the last coat. Here is how it currently looks in my living room.

I haven't posted a lot of photos from our home in the past but here's a larger view of  it in the living room space which is still a work in progress. Hubby bought and inherited 99% of the furniture we own well before we met, it's mixed with some vintage pieces from his grandparents (which I was opposed to at first but now actually like because of the potential) so I'm working with what we've got which is an over-sized, but super comfy red sofa. *winking* My plans for this room will include adding some new pillows, drapery panels, a new area rug and some new wall art along with painting the side tables and adding new hardware. :)

Want to know a little secret? I'm planning to add another splash of chevron love to our living room. Stay tuned, I'll be posting it once the project is completed.

Who else has a heart for chevron? What have you created lately? Link up below and show off your latest creations and transformations, I'd love to pop by and check them out!