My Friday Brain–Please Dear God, When is Spring?

Hello all!  Here’s some little bits to fill your brain with utter nonsense this Friday…you’re welcome in advance.

So fellow east coasters, I heard we might be in for another wallop of snow on Sunday night!!  Please click of the below link!  This has been making me chuckle for weeks now:
Steve Carell does not want to build a snowman!

And speaking of Disney’s Frozen, does Disney put crack in their songs somehow???  I cannot stop singing this song, my kids WILL NOT STOP singing this song and I just caught my husband singing it (I will deny ever telling you that)!!!!

You know you want to click right here:

Come on, it’s good for you, you’ll love it….BAM–stuck in your head all day! (again, you’re welcome)

In other breaking news, Sarah Jessica Parker’s new line of shoes and bags just debuted over at Nordstrom.

They sure are purty.  Want a couple for your closet?  Pin your favorites and you could win a $2,000 Nordstom shopping spree!! (again, you’re welcome).

I just picked up our Girl Scout cookies yesterday!  Don’t forget to find the perfect wine to enjoy with them.

Dreaming of summer vacations?  I am!  We hit our first National Park (with kiddies) last summer and started with a bang at Yosemite (amazing).  It now has us itching to do more of them, as even Kevin was a trooper on long hikes!  Why not bring your accommodations with you?  Check out this cabin:

Supposedly, it’s an RV??  Not really sure how this works, but can you just imagine pulling up and plopping you house done for week wherever you want?  Oh by the way, it $80,000!  (Again, you’re welcome!)

Well, that’s it for the Friday brain, folks!  I’m out!

Thanks for stopping by!  – kate

One Room Challenge Update–Has he trashed the room yet?

If you recall, I jumped into blogging with Linda’s One Room Challenge over at Calling It Home.  What an amazing start and I obviously need a constant ORC to keep me on schedule!!  HERE is the final reveal of Kevin’s room that I worked on.

Lucky us get to take a peak at everyone’s rooms now and see how it all worked in real life.  So here’s Kevie’s room then and now, how’s it’s holding up to a crazy 7-year old and if my other two children are talking to me yet for not doing their rooms…

Here’s the room when I finished the ORC back in November.

I wish I could say it’s that clean now!  But, actually Kevie loves his room so much that he tries really hard to keep it tidy.  I wish I could show you a finished bed skirt with the leftover fabric from the curtains, but that’s not done…  What I will show you is all of Kevin’s personal touches…

Can you find the artwork he’s added to his gallery wall?  One day, he asked me for the tape I used in his room and I then came up to find his awesome addition…
Yes, it’s some war picture that probably includes blood somewhere…awesome.  Would I love to take it down? Sure, but at least he used the washi tape nicely.

Then there’s the row of ginormous super heroes that Santa brought.  Kevie plays with them everyday and then without fail lines them up every night on top of his dresser.  I don’t think I would want these guys staring at me all night…  Please be sure to notice the phenomenal Star Wars poster affixed to the wall (I tried to get him to put it on the back of his door…didn’t work).

My favorite addition has been his new art studio he got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa.  He uses it all the time and then carefully puts every piece back in it’s spot (he definitely doesn’t take after me!).  Still loving my dipped leg table and chairs!

Kevin has also stepped it up in the pez dispenser collection on his shelf.  Hopefully it doesn’t get to epic proportions, even thought a pez art installation like THIS could be cool down the road.  The colorful robot puzzle was a Little Christmas gift.

Then there’s the Christmas decorations…that won’t go away.  Anna and Kevin worked on these and it looks great, but there comes a time when we need to move on…  Maybe if the snow ever melts, we’ll usher in a new season…

Our one casualty so far…  I joked in the comments HERE about who was crazier, someone spending over $1,200 for this cutie or someone paying $50 and putting it in a kid’s room.  Apparently, it’s the latter!  Look how sad he looks… 😦  Any advice on the best glue for lucite?

Bedding
After the reveal, I did get some requests for information on the bedding and meant to do a post…  So here’s some info:

After looking at different options and purchasing some at Garnet Hill and HomeGoods, I couldn’t nail down the right blue, so I ended up mixing and matching and improvising to get the above look.

The first purchase was the Nate Berkus throw pillow from Target.  I loved the pattern and the little metal discs hanging off the corners.
Then I searched high and low for a coverlet (he didn’t want anything bulky).  I tried this one from Garnet Hill but it was too purple in person (even though the orange threading and reverse was perfect).  I went back to his original quilt and was going to try to take the sailboats off, but in the end reversed it for plain white and it has the blue banding when it’s folded down.  Perfect!  And cost nothing!

Once I was going with the white quilt I knew I had to jazz up the rest, so I found the orange polka dot sheets on Overstock and the striped throw and orange pillow at Ikea!  The total for Kevie’s bedding came to….drumroll, please…$86!!  Not bad…  Actually, make that $94 with the foxes!

Thanks for revisiting Kevie’s room with me!  Oh, and the Anna and Michael…

Yup, they’re still pissed!

I’m off to check out what everyone else has been up to at Calling It Home.  I need inspiration for the next One Room Challenge coming up in April!

Thanks for stopping by!   – kate

I’m back and have I got a dessert table for you!

Okay, I really need to get a posting schedule that’s a little more consistent. 🙂

I hope you all had a great President’s Week!  For those of you that had work and school…sorry.  For those of you that went somewhere warm and tropical…screw you! JK  🙂  We headed skiing in Vermont.  The conditions were great, but the amount of laundry the sport produces for a family of five does not make for a smooth re-entry into normal life.

I was excited to get back a couple of days early to start preparing for my sister’s baby shower that was on Saturday.  My youngest sister and her wife are going to the be the coolest, hippest parents in all of Williamsburg, Brooklyn and my little niece is going to be the most spoiled, best dressed, little hipster about town.

We had quite the event team assembled (my mom, Louise’s mom, who came all the way from London, my sister and sister-in-law-to-be, my nieces and daughter). I would be remiss if I also didn’t mention the men who helped out.  We held the shower at our family restaurant, Davey’s Irish Pub & Restaurant, so my dad and brother ran around and made sure everything ran smoothly and Russ outdid himself in the kitchen! (Shameless plug: Stop by Davey’s Pub in Montvale, NJ and see why it was voted 2013’s Best Pub Grub and also placed in Best Irish Bar and Best Sports Bar in 201 Magazine.  Seriously, the place is awesome!)

Here are some pictures from the fun day!

First meet the honorees of the day and the Dream Team who pulled it all off.

Everything was homemade for the event.  The decorations, believe it of not, were all tissue paper…even the flowers!
But, wait to you see the dessert table!!  Keep scrolling…

Vodka Lemonade and Pink Lemonade Station

Gift table and a sneak peak at the dessert table…

The Gift Table with a Tassel Garland (I used this tutorial)

The Food Table
(We taped balloons to the ceiling and tied photos of the moms as kids to look at while waiting in line.)

Photo balloons with Martha Stewart Pom Poms and Paper Lanterns

The Dessert Table!!!
(more Martha pom poms and lanterns)
My sister and almost sister (can’t wait till she marries my brother in September!!) went a little overboard…but really is there such thing as overboard when it comes to dessert?  From left to right: chocolate lollipops, butter cookies (onesie-shaped), chocolate covered oreos, mini-cupcakes, chocolate and graham cracker dipped marshmallows, candies, pram cake and a giant red velvet cupcake!  Hungry yet?  Also, to the right were more bagged cookies, chocolates and chocolate dipped pretzel rods as favors to bring home.

Then came the “oooohh” and “aaaahh” part!

It was so much fun to shower them with love and
all that “stuff” that will take over their life in a couple of weeks!

I can’t wait to meet my niece!!

Another another cute note, here’s this year’s version of Kevie’s Valentine’s Day card from last year:

You can read more about this easy craft HERE.

Thanks for stopping by! – kate

Linking at:
Home Stories A to Z – Tutorials and Tips Party
The Dedicated House
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia: Tuesdays Treasures
The Everyday Home
So Much Better with Age
A Stroll Thru Life: Inspire Me Tuesday
Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

My Friday Brain–A Look Inside

Okay, so my ever since having three children my attention span has diminished over the years (yes, I’m blaming my children).  But especially on Fridays, I’m jumping from one thing to the next.  A lot of blogs I read have a Friday roundup of things they’ve seen on the web, so I thought I would try something similar…

Olympics kick-off tonight!!

We are beyond excited and will be catching up on DVR when we get back from a fun ski weekend with friends.  I’ll be practicing my freeskiing in the halfpipe (aka. embarassing my kids), making believe I’m in Sochi.

I love Google’s statement to Russia with their homepage today:

I can’t believe Valentine’s Day is next week.  I highlighted some of my festive ideas here, but I might have to start dropping hints around the house…  I might print both of these out and strategically place them where prying eyes might see:

Coordinates Paris Bangle                                                     kate spade valentine’s day bangle

I meant to get to Modell’s yesterday to return some ski pants…but it’s right next to HomeGoods.  Maybe the returns will happen next week…  Here are some pretties that caught my attention:

Some other things that caught my eye this week:
If you ordered Girl Scout cookies from your neighborhood GS recently here’s some (important) information on wines that pair well with each cookie.

16 Books To Read Before They Hit Theaters This Year  Excellent list!  I better get a move on some of these.  Any recommendations?

Kevin and I made this last night to bring skiing (in my mind, the perfect after-skiing-comfort-meal).

source

And I have all the ingredients to hopefully whip up some of this up before we leave.  My kids have been on a Clementine kick lately…

Say Yes

Kevin and I are in the 5th season of Breaking Bad right now (so no spoiling).  So crazy and brilliant at the same time!  We should wrap this up just in time for Mad Men to start again (finally!).  Saw this case and it made me chuckle…

cute phone case

I will leave you with an uplifting story from the slums of Paraguay.  A local musician and a poor garbage picker (that rifles through the dump to sell scraps to make a living) got together and made instruments out of garbage to teach the children of the slums music.  These children now make up the Landfill Harmonic Orchestra and you will not believe the beautiful music that can be made when people are given hope.

Happy Friday folks!  Thanks for stopping by!  – kate

Beach House Dreamin–Blue and White Style

Yup, another SNOW DAY!  Not that I really minded sleeping in a little after the Super Bowl.  Hope everyone had fun yesterday!  We went to our neighbors and had a blast chatting, snacking and watching commercials (we did watch the game too).  I was rooting for the Seahawks because I really didn’t have a preference and tend to root for the underdog…worked out for me and Seattle!

Before the game, we got to watch Anna be a sassy cowgirl as Miss Sweet Potato Queen 2014 and my sweet freckle-face Michael made a convincing evil Russian scientist.  They both did a great job and loved working with their friends at the high school theater camp this weekend.

Kevie and I worked on these chocolate-covered rice krispy footballs:

Okay, so this snow and that darn groundhog has me itching for warmer weather (who thought it was a good idea to leave such an important call up to a woodland creature!!!?)  So while I’ve forced my kids to go throw snowballs at each other, I’m in here with a cup of tea dreaming of my perfect beach house…which of course is decked out in my favorite combination of blue and white.

Knock, knock…

A Pretty Pastiche

Come on in! Welcome!  Do you like my pop of coral to go with my blue and white decor?  Let me give you a quick tour…

(source)

Here’s the dining room.  It’s one of my favorite rooms in the house, unfortunately we don’t spend that much time here.

Amanda Nisbet

Here’s where all of the action takes place.  I know it doesn’t look like that because it’s so perfect…my secret?  I have 20 sets of white slipcovers that the staff changes on a weekly basis.  And I installed these new baseboards around the whole house that come equipped with a high powered vacuum that immediately sucks up any sand that enters the house.  (That’s also why we don’t have any cats or small dogs…they would be stuck to the baseboards…oh and I would not put any babies down on the floor either…)

Austin Patterson Disston

Come upstairs, I’ll show you where you’ll be staying.  Here’s the kids’ room and bathroom.

Lynn Morgan Design

Design Manifest

And here’s your room and attached bath:

oomph

source

Okay, put your stuff down and let’s head outside since it’s such a nice day.

source

I think we’ll have dinner out here tonight.

Tory Burch in The Hamptons via Vogue

The kids can go swimming over here…

source

…while we catch up over here in the shade.  Chardonnay or Sauvignon blanc?

Mary McDonald

Thanks for stopping by and you are welcome at my beach house anytime.  Now it’s back to reality and I told my kids we would walk into town to go see Frozen (which is what I will be be once I get there).  Thankfully there is a Starbucks across the street.

Stay warm everyone and for more beach house inspiration follow my beach house folder on Pinterest.  And make sure to jump over to The Pink Pagoda for tons of beautiful blue and white inspiration.