Blank Slate

One of the best things about moving into a new house is the opportunity to start fresh with your decorating scheme. You can try a new color, furniture piece, or a completely different design aesthetic. Naturally budget is the big limiter here, along with agreement between spouses. We're putting most of our cash into buying the house, leaving just a teeny bit for changes to the interior. I'm finding that I think about it all the time, devouring books, blogs & magazines for ideas and when Aaron comes home from work, I innundate him with non-stop talking about what I want to do to each of the rooms in our new house. I'm pretty sure he's sick of it all. But not enough to give in to all my choices. I'll keep working on it.

Here are the before pictures of our new home:

The front entry (the open front door is on the right in this picture) and the "formal" living and dining room, which are to your left as you walk in

The kitchen & family room, which are really one big room and are all painted the same green color right now. The kitchen picture is a much better representation of color.

My middle son's room, which will be the only one getting a new paint job before we move in. 'Cause at our house "Boys Rule!" not girls.

We'll save pictures of the other rooms for later.

Moving update: we are still waiting on various paperwork today and I really hope we can have keys by Friday so we can quickly get carpet installed and move in on Saturday. But there's a chance that might not happen. Please keep your fingers crossed for us! And if you're local, let me know if you (or your husband) are available to help us move during the week. Because we might

be left with no other option.

I love frozen yogurt

I've been reading the blog, Barefoot in the Kitchen, for many months now because I love to follow local bloggers (with the secret hope that I will be friends with them someday). Stephanie has been heralding the opening of her family's yogurt shop and I can't wait for the grand opening. This is made sweeter by the fact that I'll be getting free yogurt! I've always been strictly an ice cream girl, but recently enjoyed Golden Spoon and am keeping myself open to this new, lower-calorie experience. I can eat twice as much yogurt, right? Hope to see you at the opening!

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Blog it Forward

Today marks the beginning of the blogger mash-up, Blog It Forward, created and hosted by the lovely Victoria, from sfgirlbybay. The theme is "What Inspires You" and the idea is to feature 10 posts per day, with links forward and backwards to other participants. I am looking forward to reading as many of the 300 entries as I can in the next 6 weeks. I have an idea that I will find many more blogs to add to my reader. Click the banner to the left to see the schedule and list of all those participating. I was a little disappointed to see that my turn falls on the last day, but maybe reading all the other entries will make mine all the more fabulous!

Check out the 10 starting posts here:

Creature Comforts * Design for Mankind * Heart Fish
Hula Seventy * Ink on my Fingers * Oh, Hello Friend
Paper Pony * Poppytalk * sfgirlbybay * Smile and Wave

Free Eye Candy

Pixelgirl Presents offers hundreds of free images for your desktop or iPhone. Most are illustrations, but there are photos too. Take some time to browse through and download a few that appeal to you. Here are a few of my favorites.

The Getaway

My husband is the greatest. For Christmas, he surprised me with a plane ticket to visit my friend, Jane, in Utah - FOR SIX DAYS! I know, he's awesome. Not only did he buy the ticket, he cleared the dates with Jane, took some time off work for himself, and arranged a day of babysitting with both my mother and mother-in-law. Yes, he's incredible.

And what did I do during this fabulous six days? I read three books. I watched hours and hours of tv. I took naps. I ate delcious, decadent food. I shopped. I lunched with some cool people at a cool place. And spent lots of down time with a pregnancy-induced sickie. It was the greatest getaway ever!

I was around kids, but they weren't my own and I didn't have to bug them to do stuff, discipline them, or worry about their bedtime. I helped make meals, but I wasn't responsible for planning menus or feeding an entire family. I made Jane oatmeal cookies when she felt like some, but didn't have to rebuff her tireless nagging to drive to the store late Sunday night to get milk to go with them.

In the end, my husband and I both agreed that six days was too long. But five days seems just about right and he admitted how hard it was to be with the kids every day. He said he loves and appreciates me for staying home with them and trying my best to make our house a home. (And this is coming from someone who was already arguably one of the most hands-on & helpful Dads I've ever seen.) My sweet hubby said he wants me to send him on a trip like that every year. And since it's a little easier to get away, now that our boys are a bit bigger, I think I'll take him up on it.

And the best part? He didn't even give me grief about all the things I bought! Probably because I am the greatest bargain shopper ever and two thirds of the things I bought were under $4. Somehow this was the only picture I took of my trip.

Thanks to all the people who helped babysit: our mothers and our sisters, and several friends of mine. I owe you guys!