i have some very talented friends {part 1}....

tina and jerry...

they used to live next door to us.  they moved in a couple of weeks after we did way back in 2000,  newly married and fresh off of their honeymoon.  they were the most fantastic neighbors and we became fast friends. tina has an incredible eye for decor and her house was an inspiring mix of modern design and vivid color. lots of black furniture with bright reds, cobalt blues, bright oranges and charcoal grey adorning the walls and accessory decor.   jerry loved working in the yard and landscaped with the same modern twist.  lots of hardscape with just the right mix of greenery.  and he turned the pond that we shared in the yard into more than just a retention pond by cleaning up the edges, rimming them with rocks and adding a fountain.

this gave all of the neighbors who bordered the pond a beautiful view out of our windows.

  

 they had two little girls while they lived here.  i've been taking their photos since eden, the oldest, was about a year old.   london, the youngest, is the picture of her mama and eden, her daddy....

they moved about two years ago and we miss them terribly.  although they only moved about 15 minutes away, time and life gets in the way and we don't see each other as much as we should. we are working hard on changing that.  

anyway,

tina invited me over to see the changes she has made in the decor of her home. she has changed her decor style drastically from hard modern to shabby, frenchy, vintage distressed.  and it looks fantastic. 

i want to take you on a little tour of her new home. 

daughter eden has a beautiful room done in pinks, golds and greys....

the bed linens are from target, urban outfitters, joann fabrics and t.j.maxx.   the angel wings are from hobby lobby.

 she made the lampshade above by tearing strips of fabric and tying them to the lampshade frame (which she picked up at the goodwill and tore off the old fabric from, a girl after my own thrifty heart) after painting the lamp white white.

most of the other wall decor is from hobby lobby as well.

 this is the playroom, located in the bonus room of the house over the garage, so it's long and narrow and split into two rooms.  perfect for two little diva girls....

i love the tulle draped from the corners of the ceiling to the chandelier. 

 daughter london has the blue room and if you notice, this is the same chandelier that i have in my laundry room.  tina fell in love with it and because it's no longer available from lowe's where i originally got it, she scoured craigslist until she found not one, but two of them....she painted hers too!!

she also added ribbon flowers to the candlelight bottoms

and although it's hard to see in this picture, she also added tiny ribbon flowers to the letters on the wall above her window.

bed linens for this room are from target, joann fabrics and t.j. maxx as well.

 tina is so creative that she found a design on pinterest and drew it freehand to london's wall.   the little feathers holding up the strands of pearls have lights behind them and the branches are bejeweled with stick-on gems.  

 these feather angel wings were found online.  they are gorgeous....

 the girls bathroom is beautiful too.  she is currently working on finding a sideboard like this one

that we redid a couple of years ago, to use as a sink base.  she keeps telling me that mine would be perfect for her girl's bathroom....i'm not ready to part with it just yet though, because it is actually the perfect size to use in our master bathroom as a sink base!  :)

 most of the linens here are from the rachel ashwell collection at target too.  she glammed everything up with some ribbon and feathers...

 even her laundry room has that frenchy glam look.  

 just look at the light that those chandeliers throw around the room....

 the furniture in her bedroom is a throwback to the modern look in her old house.  she wanted to purchase new furniture for her bedroom but i talked her out of it.  i knew i would be able to give her the look she wanted just by painting the orange wood and turn it into the new style of decor she wanted.  we worked on it for an entire day a couple of weeks ago and by the time we finished,  it was late at night so the pictures don't do it justice.  this is a before picture of her dresser and mirror.  i will share the finished pictures of her room in an upcoming post and i assure you that the furniture looks drastically different.  i just need to get back over there and get some pictures during the day....

i love having creative friends.  

we play off of each other and share ideas.  we inspire and push each other to get things done....and we look at our changes with big smiles on our faces....
we miss you guys bunches....

the ugly bench......

started out as a roadkill roadside rescue last fall.  i got a little anxious to get started then and didn't get a picture until i started hacking away at it with a saws-all.

note the lovely 1970's fabric at the front of the seat.  and the thick, chunky, dark brown style.  

i hacked and hacked......

and then i primed.....

and primed again.....

and then it sat.......all winter long because it was too big to bring into the house and it was too cold in the garage to finish it.

but then lisa saw it......

and wanted it for her patio....

so i painted it.

and gave it someplace to place cushions on...

and painted it some more.  

but man, that thing was bright.....

so i toned it down with a little black stain that i got at home depot on their "oops paint" table for 

$.50.  fitty cent, as they say.

and it toned it down just enough for the beautiful cushions and pillows lisa sewed for it....

not bad for a piece of crap, right?

stay tuned for a photo shoot reveal in the next post.

i am volunteering for austen's 8th grade breakfast at school this morning....it should be a fun time....

but...

i head out to cedar pointe amusement park tomorrow for austen's last day of school class trip.  

now that's my kind of chaperone duty~!!!

another furniture redo (challenge)...

this one will be a challenge.  my friend lisa wanted a storage cabinet for her kitchen...sort of a free-standing pantry.  she found one that she liked at ikea.

but it was $350.00.  i told her that we could do better...way better.

so she found this cabinet on craigslist.  for $35.00.   just imagine two doors attached and two shelves on the bottom. it was the right width, not the right height.  before i started sanding it, the finish looked like this (the middle part).  it is pressed board and a fake finish.  you know the kind.  the piece of furniture that comes in 6 long flat boxes and has to be put together with an allen wrench...

the owners used it as a tv cabinet so the back has a big hole cut out of it. 

 i plan to use beadboard for the back and add another shelf to the top.

we are adding feet to the bottom.  her dad is going to build an "L" shaped brace for each corner of the bottom to attach the feet to so this will raise it up and to add some interest.

stay tuned for updates.....  :)

what i love about the internet......

there are good things and bad things about the internet.....i focus on the good things....the amazing blogs that cover any and all topics that interest you, photography, food, decorating, sewing, crafts, 

the plethora of information at your fingertips, the way you can connect with family and friends through social media websites, email and skype... the fact that the internet is the biggest black hole of shopping on earth, that it is the most complete cookbook available  and the mind boggling and almost incomprehensible amount of images that are there for everyone to see and access....

one of my favorite new ways to catalog these images is 

PINTEREST

have you heard about this site?  it is a virtual bulletin board that you can create and "pin" images taken from the internet in any subject that piques your "interest" to individual "boards".

how many of us have overfilled binders full of pictures, ripped out pages from magazines, paint chips, etc, when we are decorating our houses....or we are looking for that perfect setting for a photo shoot that you see online.  or simply an idea or recipe that strikes your fancy, so you "add to favorites" bar but then, if you are like me, you have hundreds of favorites and can't find anything???

what i love about this site is the ability to place these images into visual files that you can access and add to at any time. 

 i have a friend who is having me do a photo shoot for her two daughters birthdays later this summer and she wants to have a tea party theme for the party....i put together a "tea party" board to give her ideas for decor, food and set-up.

sometimes i just want to look at pretty things, so i have a board called pretty pretty.  i had no idea that there were so many beautiful and fantastic images on the internet.... i also have one for home decorating ideas and one for diy projects, food and just plain crazy fun stuff... 

 once you are set up with pinterest, you can "pin" any image you want from anywhere on the internet...onto your "boards".

my pinterest boards are here

cindy's pinterest boards

one of my favorite boards is "the word".  it is full of inspirational quotes and sayings and lots of really funny ones....

check it out...you are going to love it...but be forewarned....it can be addicting..

washington dc part two......

after getting less sleep than i anticipated the first night in our hotel, we headed out on the second day of our trip to arlington national cemetery for a walking tour.  luckily, we had beautiful weather for the second day in a row....

we were lucky enough to be there at a time when we could catch the changing of the guard.  it was a very moving ceremony and the kids were quiet and respectful. 

 i swear not one of them made a peep.  not an easy feat when you are 13 and 14 years old....i was one proud mama chaperone....

did you know that whatever direction that you look in arlington cemetery the headstones will always be lined up in a row....it was very interesting...

as was this information that i got in an email just yesterday.

1. How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the 
tomb of the Unknowns and why? 

21 steps. It alludes to the twenty-one gun salute, which is the
highest honor given any military or foreign dignitary. 

2. How long does he hesitate after his about face to begin his
return walk and why? 

21 seconds for the same reason as answer number 1 
3. Why are his gloves wet? 

His gloves are moistened to prevent his losing his grip on the
rifle. 

4. Does he carry his rifle on the same shoulder all the time and if not, why not? 
He carries the rifle on the shoulder away from the tomb.
After his march across the path, he executes an about face
and moves the rifle to the outside shoulder. 

5. How often are the guards changed? 
Guards are changed every thirty minutes,
twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year. 

6. What are the physical traits of the guard limited to? 

For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, he must be

between 5' 10" and 6' 2" tall and his waist size cannot exceed 30. Other

requirements of the Guard: They must commit 2 years of life to guard the

tomb, live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot drink any alcohol on

or off duty for the rest of their lives. They cannot swear in public for the

rest of their lives and cannot disgrace the uniform {fighting} or the tomb in

any way. After two years, the guard is given a wreath pin that is worn on

their lapel signifying they served as guard of the tomb. There are only

400 presently worn. The guard must obey these rules for the rest of their

lives or give up the wreath pin.

The shoes are specially made with very thick soles to keep the heat

and cold from their feet. There are metal heel plates that extend to the

top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt.

There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform. Guards dress for duty

in front of a full-length mirror.

The first six months of duty a guard cannot talk to anyone, nor

watch TV. All off duty time is spent studying the 175 notable people laid

to rest in Arlington National Cemetery . A guard must memorize who they are

and where they are interred. Among the notables are: President Taft, Joe

E. Lewis {the boxer} and Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, {the most

decorated soldier of WWII} of Hollywood fame.

Every guard spends five hours a day getting his uniforms ready for

guard duty. 

In 2003 as Hurricane Isabelle was approaching Washington , DC , our

US Senate/House took 2 days off with anticipation of the storm. On the ABC

evening news, it was reported that because of the dangers from the

hurricane, the military members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb of

the Unknown Soldier were given permission to suspend the assignment. They

respectfully declined the offer, "No way, Sir!" Soaked to the skin,

marching in the pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that guarding

the Tomb was not just an assignment, it was the highest honor that can be

afforded to a serviceperson. The tomb has been patrolled continuously,

24/7, since 1930. 

God Bless and keep them. 

the grounds were beautiful and peaceful and historic....and they had a view of the district that included the state capital building, the washington monument and even the pentagon.  

it's easy to feel an overwhelming sense of patriotism, and we all did...

so much history.....the plaques and sculptures are fabulous like this at the tomb of john kennedy.

from there we went to george washington's estate, mt. vernon...

they were doing some renovations on the house.  i wasn't allowed to take pictures of the inside of the house but i didn't get that message until after i had taken this picture

of an armoire who's color i adored....naturally...

the estate looks out onto the patomac river with an absolutely wonderful view.

 we had to spend about 3 hours at the estate which thankfully had acres and acres for the kids to run around on.  and they needed to run around to expend some of their energy.

kathy was my hotel roommate for the trip.  we each had a different group of kids so we didn't get to spend a ton of time together but when we did, we had a lot of fun...thanks kathy, you were great and you didn't snore....  :)

i even managed to have one of the other chaperones get a picture of me with my kids....

our final day was spent back in dc at the national cathedral and the state capital building.

the national cathedral was gorgeous.  it was very reminiscent of cathedrals in europe in design.  it took about 80 years to complete this one.

here are some images of the amazing interior...

as is always the case, the photos don't do this treasure justice.....

 a rock from the moon (yes, really, the moon!) was incorporated into this stained glass window depicting the heavens..

it's the black rock in the middle of the red circle

and the beautiful exterior

but the most surprising feature of the church???

the gift shop. inside the church.  where they sold 

these...

and this

i was especially surprised to see the pop machine and voiced that to the boys.  one of them told me

"it's okay, it's holy coke"!!!!  

we all got a laugh out of that one.  i guess i shouldn't be surprised, they have to make a buck too, right?

we wrapped up our trip at the state capital building.  we saw a little movie before going into the rotunda for the tour which i promptly fell asleep at while watching it.  i found out afterward that just about all of the chaperones and some of the kids fell asleep too!!  i guess we hadn't caught up on our sleep as much as i thought we did....

i'm not sure why this guy was in the capital building because i was too tired to hear what they told us but it was hilarious when the kids thought that what he was holding was the remote....and they couldn't believe how big it was..lol...

 my favorite shot of the capital building???

this one....

 how's that for a sign of the times!!  it's a little blurry because i was trying to get the shot before he looked up and saw me taking a picture of him texting and so he wouldn't grab the camera out of my hands and smash it on the ground....

you can see the reflection of a couple of kids who couldn't believe it either,  lol...

a few more highlights were the trip to the memorials....the raising of the flag at iwo jima, 

the lincoln memorial,

the korean war memorial

 the vietnam war memorial

 which totally made me start crying when i read this and saw many other notes just like it there....

 and the statues which really bring home the fact that the average age of an american soldier in vietnam was 19 years old...

all in all i would utterly and completely do it all again....every minute of sleep that i lost was totally worth it.  and the memory of taking the trip with my boy is one that he and i will have forever!!!

they enjoyed it as much as i did, ya think???

bus #6, the greatest kids on the trip!!!

thank you for sharing this little bit of history with me.....have a great weekend...