Great Trip!

Michael and I had a great extended weekend in Ft Lauderdale. We choose the destination because  it was beachy and you could fly direct there from Richmond via Jet Blue!

View from our balcony

View from my  pool lounge chair

We stayed at the Hilton Ft Lauderdale Beach Resort. It was nice and we liked it because each room had a kitchen. We picked up some beer, wine, waters, breakfast bars etc on our way from the airport which helped cut down on our dining out costs.

Dinner at Saia!

We did manage to have some great dinners there....we dined at Saia at the B Ocean Ft Lauderdale Hotel. And Last night, we ate at Johnny V's on the Las Olas strip....another delicious meal.

Thanks again to my mom, Kate & Anne Hunter for watching Camille and Clyde. I know they had fun and it was great knowing they were in the best hands. It was wonderful to get away but I missed those two...we had a tearful reunion today at the airport!

We have a busy rest of the week....a real estate closing, my first meeting for this year's Jazz Festival at Maymont, and gearing up for a trip to the beach! Woohoo! Summer is in full effect.

Happy Weekend!

Look what we pulled from our garden!

So excited and can't wait to see how everything tastes. I have to say the squash is a funky color so not too sure!

Check out those tomato plants. They are now leaning over so I have to figure that out.

Tomorrow, Michael and I are off on a 3 night vacation alone! We haven't done something like this since our honeymoon almost 7 years ago. I can't wait to lay by this pool for the next few days.

Thanks to Gammy,  Kate & Anne Hunter for helping to make this possible! And to all the buglars out there...our home will be fully occupied!

And the winner is....

Thank you to everyone who entered to win the cute wet bag from Nowshowingmaternity.com. The winner is Kimberly! I will send you an email soon to get your address.

Thanks to Anne Marie for sponsoring this giveaway. Be sure to check out her site here.

Menu Planner

Here goes....

Sunday - Father's Day Dinner: Filets on the Grills, Nancy's Onion Pie (recipe below), Asparagus

Monday - Leftovers

Tuesday - Chicken Fajitas

Wednesday - Homemade Pizza with Boboli Crust

Thursday - Oven  Chicken Risotto

Friday - Summer Corn & White Bean  Soup (from the  freezer), Grilled Cheese

Nancy's Onion Pie

1 cup Ritz Crackers finely crushed
1/4 cup Butter &  2 tbsp butter
2 Eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 tsp salt, dash of  pepper
1/4 cup grated sharp cheese
Paprika
2 cups Vidalia (or other sweet onion) thinly sliced

Mix cracker crumbs with 1/4 c. butter. Press into 8-inch pie plate. Saute onions in 2 tbsp of butter until translucent but not brown. Spoon into crust. Beat eggs with milk, salt, pepper. Pour this mixture over onions. Sprinkle with cheese  and  a little paprika. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Giveaway Reminder!

Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway from nowshowingmaternity.com. Click here to enter.

Front Door

I have been thinking about painting my front door for a while. I talked about it here last September. I have been searching Pinterest for some inspiration.



Source apartmenttherapy.com



Source thehandmadehome.net



 

Source younghouselove.com


I am leaning towards the green! Hope you all have a great weekend! Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. We are out to dinner tonight at the Boathouse at Rockett's Landing! Very excited.

Oh my those tomatoes!

So my tomato plants are now my height. Now, I am not too tall but I had no clue that tomato plants could get to be 5'6"! As a recap...here is what they looked like in April.

And now....

I think I will stop fertilizing! We have a bunch of tomatoes on them just waiting for them to turn red. We also have one squash. Does anyone know when squash are ready to pick? I am also not sure about Camille's carrots and how I will know when those are ready.

We also have a bunch of cilantro and used it last weekend to make this great guacamole. And I never did  a weekend recap post...so here goes. I had a great weekend that involved helping first time home buyers find their dream home. So excited for them. We also spent a fair amount of time outside and I did get a project or two completed. Yea!

Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway sponsored by nowshowingmaternity.com! It is completely free to enter and you could win a great prize. Click here to enter.

Giveaway from Now Showing Maternity

My friend, Anne Marie, founder of Now Showing Maternity has agreed to give one of my readers this cute Itzy Ritzy Wet Happened Bag in the Whale Watching Blue print. This bag is perfect for diapers, swimwear & travel. Wet bags grow with you from baby, toddler, teen to adult as the best way to store wet items! The bag is 100% cotton designer fabric exterior with zipper closure and a BPA-Free PVC-Free lining that is thick and soft unlike any other bag! It is machine washable and at 11" x 14" it holds 4-6 diapers or a couple swimsuits.  These bags are great for toiletries as well.

To enter....
1. If you aren't already, become a follower of my blog. Click "Follow" on the left hand side of the screen. (Note...you will not receive any spam or mail from me by following.)
2. Leave a comment on this post and check out Anne Marie's site at nowshowingmaternity.com.
3. If you tweet or facebook about this giveaway, you will get an extra entry. Leave a comment here telling me that is what you did.

The giveaway will end next Monday, June 20, 2011 at midnight. Winner will  be selected using random.org and announced on Tuesday, June 21, 2011. Item will only be shipped within the United States.  

Anne Marie, has tons of cute maternity items such as designer jeans and dresses at nowshowingmaternity.com. But she also has items for children as well as supplies to decorate your nursery and  a Diaper Dude bag or two. 

Thanks to Anne Marie for sponsoring this giveaway. Check out her website here.

Menu Planner

Sunday - Summer Corn & White Bean Soup, Bread

Monday - Whole Chicken cooked in the crock pot, Uncle Ben's Whole Grain White Rice Garden Vegetable, Green Beans

Tuesday - Chicken, Avocado & Provolone Wraps, Corn on the Cob

Wednesday - Mark Bittman's Meatloaf, Roasted Potatoes, Broccoli

Thursday - Angela's Awesome Enchilada's

Pricing Your Home

I ran across this great article today on pricing your home. I know it can be hard as a seller to stomach falling home prices especially if you bought your home within the last few years. But unfortunately we can't change the current housing market and in most cases you will get a fantastic deal on your purchase. Bottom line is price your home right to start for a quick sale. Click here to read the article from Inman News.

Happy Friday! I have a full list of things to complete this weekend...check back Monday to see how many I accomplish.

Diversity Thrift

I have been making the thrift store rounds and recently made the trip to Diversity Thrift. I started in the glassware section and quickly realized that I needed a cart.

There is so much to take in and I am sure I missed some great items. Here are some of the treasures I did spot.



Candle Holder (the glass part is wrapped in bubble wrap here)



Framed Fish Drawing for $10



New Monogrammed Decorative Flag for $2.50. If your last name starts with O, X, U or I. :)



Lamp with Polka Dot Shade

$3 White Platter

Signs for $1 each

Cute Outdoor Table for $65

Set of Chairs

Here is what I did come home with.....all for $24.



$8 Candle holder that is missing the glass votives. I plan to hang outside near our patio and hopefully find votives at the Dollar Tree



I loved this basket purse and it was a steal at $1.25. I have already removed the monogram and Camille's Mimi is currently napping in there.

Dora & Ariel plates at $1 total, Doilies for crafts less than a $1, I love these glass dishes $6 for all 3, Square baking dish for $1

  

Place mats for $.50 each. I may frame them or try to wash and use as place mats.

Butterfly Tray for $3, Vase for $2 and Glass Tray Dish for $1.

I will definitely be back. In fact, maybe today or tomorrow because there is something I didn't get that keeps coming back to mind.

Dressing Table Complete!

I think it has been close to a year since  I picked  up this table at a friend's yard sale. I blogged about it first here last September. I went back and forth on what color to paint it and  this spring decided on Youthful Coral from Home Depot. 

So a few weekend ago, Michael agreed to help me with the project. Since this table was  for our bedroom, I wasn't sure he would be happy about Youthful Coral as the color selection so I never really disclosed that detail. I really wanted a color in the orange/red/pink family in our bedroom to break up all the brown and blue and it took me a  while to decide. (Side note...in the swatch above Youthful Coral looks very pink but in the swatch from the store it looked more orange.) Anyway, we loaded up the whole family and headed to Home Depot. On the way, the color choice came up and as suspected Michael wasn't thrilled. So not to bore you with anymore details, we ended up with Quiet Moment as the color.

When I first purchased the table, the top was off and it had a musty smell. So I washed it really well, sprayed with Lysol and put baking soda in the drawers. And it sat like that for months in my  house.

 

So when the project was resurrected from the abandoned  project list a few  weeks ago,  we first needed to fill the wholes in the top with wood filler. We used JB Weld Company KwikWood Epoxy Putty.

After the wood filler dried, we sanded really well to make smooth.

Then we primed using Kilz Original spray paint. One can was exactly the right amount.

After the primer, Michael screwed the top to the base of the  table. Then we painted two coats of the Quiet Moment. I wanted some fun knobs since I didn't get the Youthful Coral. So I went with the Caricature Knob from Anthropologie which was a little bit of a splurge for me but I only need two.

I am pleased with the end result. As a recap here is the before...

I am still working on the stool. I got this stool for FREE from a family friend's house. It is the perfect size and I would like to recover in this  fabric that I already have from Garden Ridge.

I got one quote for $200 to cover the top and make a skirt. I just couldn't rationalize that. I would really like to be  able to do it myself but it may be more than my skill set will allow. I have done a little research online so hopefully I will figure something out. If you have suggestions, I would love them!