Pretty in Pink and a Jill and Jill Bathroom

Many thanks to Kelly's Korner for hosting the real house tour; I am having an absolute blast!

Yesterday I showed you a purple room fit for a tween, and now we are moving into little sister's pink palace.  Side note: the actual Pink Palace Museum was my all-time favorite field trip.  If you are in Memphis, you should go there!

You can enter Annabelle's room through the Sister Space Landing or through the Jill and Jill Bathroom, where the pink and purple meet.  The pink and purple rooms have grown nicely with the girls, but I am beginning to wonder if the stripes are a wee bit juvenile.

Here was Annabelle's  room when we first decorated it and here it is today:

Her nightstand is messy, but she makes her bed everyday so I don't complain too much! Notice the under the bed "storage!"

 Her never-ever used chair that I re-painted years ago and had recovered in zoocat fabric.

Here is her dresser.  It is not Ikea, even though it looks like it.  Rather, it is actually some 

dated-but-good modular furniture from my in-laws. 

 I do want to do a hack and add some gold and acrylic handles to bring it up to date! 

I am not going to lie--this is what it looks like when it is "clean" :)

Other than a sweet roll-top desk that is WAY too messy for the internet, that's all folks!  Thanks for stopping by!

Sister Space!

Kelly's Korner (a blog that I have been reading for almost 8 years) is hosting a real house tour and I am playing along!  Today is all about kids' rooms.  The two doorways that you see lead to my kids' rooms and this is their Sister Space!  When you approach the top of the stairs, you have clearly entered their zone.

 A painting of two sweet sisters welcomes you at the top of the stairs!

 If you turn to the right you will see the girls sitting area.

The collage is made up of things that are special to each girl.  Each of them got a lovely at birth.  Naomi's was an elephant while Annabelle's was a hippo.  These have remained their "assigned" animals their whole lives--when I saw the ceramic animals heads, I knew they had to be ours.  There are fun quotes that mean something to each girl near her room,and then there  are Mickey Mouse heads that we each drew on a trip to the Disney Animation Studio.

Turning further to the right, you can see our book nook.  We love reading and move books down to the basement about once a year.  What is up here now are lots of mid-level chapter books that Naomi has already read, but wants to read again or that Annabelle hasn't gotten to yet.  

We finally wise up and started sending Naomi to the library for her voracious appetite for books; it was just getting too expensive!  You will notice that we still have a lot of picture books on our shelves too.  I know some people pride themselves on only reading chapter books after a certain age.  Our kids are both serious readers, but there is just still something about reading a good picture book together  at bedtime.  Some are actually quite challenging.  Some are downright funny to me at almost 40 and all of the ones still on our shelves have special meaning to us.    

You will notice we also have a little stand with some of our favorite literary characters hanging around.  To be fair, we are probably past using these and I could use the shelf space.  Somethings are just hard for the mom.....

Here is one more shot looking towards the stairs.  That is the guest room on the right, so most of the time the sisters rule the roost up here.  This area is the scene of lots of cartwheel practice and board games and I hope it stays that way a long, long time!

Fit for a Tween!

In conjunction with Kelly's Korner, I have been taking you on a tour of our home.  I love this blog hop for the inspiration, but also for so much more.....Like our changing waistlines and hairdos, the way our rooms look in the different eras of our lives explains who were in that moment.  When I look back at my childhood photos and glimpse our 1970's striped couch, it evokes such a strong memory of home.  Then there is the shocking photo from the Halloween I dressed as Tabitha the blue nosed witch; my parents' now-beige home was an exact match for my blue nose!     No room in my house represents this moment in our lives more than our sweet, tween daughter's room.

When we moved to our house, top priority was given to Naomi's room. Annabelle was still a baby, but  Naomi was aware of transitioning to a new house and moving from a crib to a bed shortly thereafter.  I wanted to be just right.  At only 2, she decided to have a purple butterfly room, and then she held fast to the vision the entire year it took to build our house.    8 years later, the purple butterfly room is still going strong ..... only now it has subtly transitioned to a room fit for a tween! Gone is the rocker and in is a reading chair.  My clean, decorator vision has been replaced by her well-curated collection of her own

Please come in.  Here is the door right off Sister Space (read more about that here):

The bed was my mother's when she was a child, and was an antique even then.  It has been every color of the rainbow.  I had it painted white and distressed it when we moved here. 

The bedding is Pottery Barn Teen Circa 2008.

The desk and nightstand were mine in law school-- I had them painted and distressed to match the bed and added the sweet "crystal" knobs.  Here is the tween part--these days that little butterfly dish holds eyeglass wipes, contact solution and an i-phone!  That piece of paper in the background is a nightly prayer she wrote out in Hebrew and English.  It melts my mommy heart! 

Panning around the room is Naomi's reading chair and a poster that the Elementary School made when they named her a distinguished reader.  It is hard to believe she is off to middle school!

Panning even further around, you can see her desk, which will also double as a vanity in the future. Now it is home to her monogrammed laptop (oh where is the time going??).   She earned the Missouri state honor certificate and made the dancing in the rain art herself ! 

She let me leave the old dress-up hook, 

but now it holds a Kate Spade knock-off and a real-deal Vera Bradley.  

Every ballerina needs a bar and mirror to check our her style!

 Here is one last view of the room from the closet.  Thanks for stopping by!

Mom-garitaville- (not-so-many scenes from a soiree)

After a month of having fun with my kiddos,  they have been off to camp for a few weeks.  I haven't exactly made the most of my empty-nest.  I planned to accomplish so, so much more.  I did have time to squeeze in a sweet little soiree.

I invited all my ladies out for "mom-garitas" on the patio.  It was meant to be a casual time to catch up with friends sans kids.  I actually thought maybe 5 people would come, but 22 RSVP'ed!  In one day's time I was able to throw together quite the little party.   It helps when you are a party supply hoarder--it looked like I had planned for weeks.  You will have to trust me because I have no pictures of the set-up.  Whump, whump.  I do have some blurry  pictures of some of my menu items.  They were so delicious and I thought I would share!

We started with these amazing kebabs:

The cute picks are from my Smarty Had a Party.  Thank goodness they are local to me and I could grab on a day's notice!  I simply cube a watermelon and some feta cheese and then skewered them.  I drizzled a vinaigrette that I  made with sriracha, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar and a little EVOO.  I topped it all off with a basil chiffonade  straight from my garden.

Speaking of my garden, I grabbed cucumbers to make these amazeballs Cucumber Margaritas from Tastes Lovey.  I also made Ina Garten's Pineapple Margs, which were sooo yummy.  The whole bar was set up in the most precious way (again, you'll have to trust me :))

We also had a Taco Cart (because it is Taco Tuesday somewhere).  In addition to the usual goodies, I made a huge vat of Shrimp and Avocado Ceviche (it uses cooked shrimp, so not really authentic ceviche).  The recipe can be found here.  Here it is as I was making it, just before adding the avocado:

Finally, I topped off the evening with trays of mini key lime pies:

Maybe one day I will remember to take a picture of all the cute stuff, but really the best part was just chilling with my friends!

Welcome to my House: Bedroom & Master Bath

I am so excited to link up with Kelly's Korner's real home tour.  I had a new house when she first did the home tour, but I never participated.  8 years later, I am doing some updates and redecorating and am sharing my home here. 

In a rare decorating request, Mr. 31-derful asked me to have it painted dark blue 2 years ago.  I took that to also mean "add an accent wall, get a blue chair, swap the art around and eventually add curtains to offset the blue."  Ha!  Be careful what you ask for! Our bedroom is on the main floor while our guest bedroom and kids' rooms are upstairs.  It is actually quite bright (hence dear husband wanted the dark color), but very hard to photograph.  Here is the view from an interior angle.  

The bed is from the Stanley Louis Louis Collection, and we are constantly buying cheap white linens wherever we can find them.  These were Tuesday Morning I think:

On my side of the bed sits a blue wingback chair with nailhead trim that I love, but rarely actually sit in!

My beloved West Elm frames were above the bed when the walls were beige but I moved them to the other wall because they were way too busy after I added the wallpaper.  Right now they are filled with some vintage wallpaper samples and chicken prints from Ikea:

Also on my the side are my night stand, some beloved wedding photos and whatever I am currently reading:

Over on Mr 31-derful's side, he has a larger version of the nightstand and his grandfather's valet.  Keeping it totally real, there is a sleep apnea machine over there too.  He is in great shape and is probably the thinnest man in America who needs this!

The nightstands are from Pier One and, though they were not a huge purchase, they were money well spent.  I still love them all these years later.  I added the blue pulls recently. Agate and I are having a moment!

Turning the other way, you can see our closets (we have no case pieces so our closets hold everything).  You can read way more about my closet organization here

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On the right is our ketubah, or Jewish wedding contract.  It is a meaningful piece of artwork from our wedding that basically reminds us of our wedding vows and promises to each other.  As two lawyers, we can tell you it isn't a binding "contract," but it is really important to us!

Moving into the master bath, we have everything his and hers.  A tub for me:

 A shower for him:

 His neat and tidy vanity:

Mine that is always a train-wreck (this is the keeping it real part):

And a potty for both that nobody needs to see!
Here is one last shot of the room from the hall:

Thanks for stopping by!!!!

How I spent my summer vacation

I am sure you are wondering why on June 23rd I am already writing a post called "how I spent my summer vacation."  In early May, I was at my wit's end between numerous school activities, volunteer commitments, and still trying to maintain our home.  We were frazzled, to put it very, very mildly. Neither I nor my kids could keep up that pace. Hoping to live in the moment more,  I purposefully made few firm plans from the day school let out  (5/20) until when they left for sleepaway camp (6/19).   We had dental appointments and I had a conference.  Other than that, in a totally uncharacteristic move for me, we had a "Yes Month!" 

image via

 Do you know the book Yes Day?   A boy's parents give him a magical day by saying yes to his requests?  In real life, we still had some discipline and rules, of course.  My idea was to say "Yes" to reasonable requests of my kids to show them that I valued our time together.  Obviously, I know they are more important than my daily chores, but I am not sure they are always getting that message from me.  I knew that these few weeks constituted the whole precious summer at home for my kids.  After sleepaway camp, our trips are timed in a way that, before we know it, they will be back in school.  So I tried just. giving. in.   

So what all is involved in Yes Month?  For us, it involved ALL (me too) of us climbing through the tunnels and monstrosity at City Museum:

Picnicking (including Izze soda, which is normally off-limits) at Shakespeare in the Park:

Strawberry Picking at Theiss Farms (followed by Jam Making):

Finding Dory and Angry Birds (and letting them get their own popcorn):

Their dance recitals, which were technically on the books, but we just cleared the weekend for them (including my parents coming up to visit for the occasion and my inlaws spending the whole weekend with us too):

  Baby had tennis lessons, which we never had time for with school activities:

We tried two new restaurants and went to three different pools on multiple occasions (including leaving to go swimming one night after I already had my Pj's on).  I gave in and bought the food-themed floats that are everywhere (we got the donut, pizza, and watermelon):

We had a lemonade stand.  You should know that I  normally loath lemonade stands because the kids always trash the house making the lemonade, never consider the fact that they have to pay for lemons or cups, and expect me to drag out the tables and chairs (which they then never bother to put away).  During Yes month, I even let them wheel the cart up to the elementary school and provide live music!  

We also took a Mommy and Me Yoga Class, had approximately one million playdates and sleepovers with too many friends to mention.  It was a big month, with big activities chosen entirely by my kids. 

Here's the rub.  It wasn't the big things that I think they are going to take away  I also said yes to baking cookies after the kitchen was closed for the day.   I let big girl make oodles of lip-balm (which is her super-messy new favorite craft--after getting essential oils at a soap factory, another yes month activity).  Baby played with her easy bake to her heart's content and I cleaned up the mess (even though she promised she would clean ,I knew by saying yes that I'd end up doing it).  I declared an open-craftroom day where even my good paints and ribbons were fair game.  

Though I love swimming, I don't always love getting in the pool due to my own insecurities. But I did it for yes month-- I even did a handstand in the country club pool!  Speaking of...I let them make what they called a "country club" in the yard--emphasis on the  "country!"  I allowed them to rig a hose to our swing set and affix a slip-n-slide at the bottom.  And you know what?  I went in the yard in my suit and went down that slide myself (you can take the girl out of Tennessee.....)!  

All the while, my mantra was that the time was fleeting and  that I could do the chores while they went to summer camp.  That  I would have my me-time come 6/19.    Our house got pretty messy, I am not going to lie.  That was hard for me.  I will spend at least a few days of "my" time just cleaning up the wake of  yes month.  Even though they are gone , there are still loads of laundry to do (in fact, a yes month produces a lot of  extra laundry)!    I did raise my voice once or twice about sibling rivalry or ingratitude, but overall, I think yes month worked!  I know I made some precious memories.  So now they are both off at sleepaway camp, making precious memories without me.

  But guess what? I miss yes month!