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July 28, 2016

Summer Finds Under $25 + 40% off


Hey There!  One thing I love about this blog is sharing fun finds with you all.  I recently discovered SheIn and their cute and very budget friendly clothing and accessory shop.  And when I mean budget friendly, I'm talking most everything under $20!  And that's not all...they are offering 40% right now, which makes everything ridiculous cheap.

We still have a beach trip planned for August and I've been searching for a couple of cute inexpensive tops and a new cover up.  And this shop is exactly what I was looking for.  Lots of fun off the shoulder tops that are so popular right now and several dresses that would make a perfect cover up.  Below are a few pieces I have saved in my shopping cart...now I just need to narrow it down a bit ;)



Enjoy your day!

July 27, 2016

Before Pictures of Our New Home


Welcome to our new to us home!  Today I thought I would take you on a little before tour.  We built our last two homes, so moving into one that is older was little different for us, but just as exciting and maybe a little more so!  You can read our full story here about why we picked this one.  And if you don't have time to read that long post, it was basically for the location :)




To give you a quick start, it's a 4 bedroom 3 & 1/2 bath home.  The first few pictures are of the entry, dining and formal living (which will be a study and piano room for us.)  Nice size rooms that have lots of natural light!  The floors look a little more orangey in these pictures, but are actually a darker brown wood color.  We plan to keep those.  Lots of great molding in these rooms.  So really just paint in these rooms for now, which we already did before we moved in.  We went with Palomino Gray which I absolutely love!  It is a light gray, with the overall feel of white.  It really freshened up the house.  You can get a peek at the color in this post here.  The light in the study/piano room will need to be changed soon for both function and style.  It puts off very little light and when the kids practice piano after dark it is not ideal for reading music.  We had planation shutters in our last home and we would like to eventually change the blinds out for those, but not right away.



Moving on to the family room and kitchen.  I was happy to find this layout in the kitchen.  Several homes we looked at that were built in this same neighborhood did not have an island, but instead either a "U" shaped raised bar or a closed off kitchen.  The first thing everyone says when they come in is, "you have dark cabinets."  They know how much I love a white kitchen.  So here's where we are with the kitchen.  When we had the painters come to paint the entire house (walls and ceilings,) I also picked out paint for the kitchen cabinets and they were supposed to paint those too.  But we had them hold off on those for now.  At first glance the cabinets look like they are a dark stain, but they are actually painted that dark color and if you look close, not the best paint job.  So, we are torn between sanding them really good and repainting, or replacing the fronts, or holding on both those ideas and replacing them completing.  I can't decide if we should just do a whole remodel in here since the granite is a greenish-black color.  I know backsplash is easy and we can do that, but when you throw in new countertops, it makes me want to start with new cabinets too.  So we are still deciding and the kitchen still looks exactly like this except with freshly painted walls.  I would love to hear your thoughts on what you would do in here :)




I love the family room!  Nice built-ins and a great size.  We removed the TV bracket from above the fireplace and rewired the cable to the adjacent wall.  I'm not a huge fan of the TV above the fireplace if you have another option.  I realize some times it's the only solution and some folks really like it and that's great too.  But I like to decorate above my fireplace, so the TV had to go.  But in here we just painted.  The tile around the fireplace is something we would like to change soon, since that's an easy update with a big impact. The stairs are in the back of the house, which is a little different too, but I like the change.  I have already planned for our Christmas tree to sit right near those stairs against that big wall :)  The windows are great in here as well.  They are floor to ceiling providing us with great natural light and a nice view of the backyard.  I removed the blinds for now and plan to do bamboo shades in here.


Here is our lovely master bath :)  It will one day need to be updated, but it's functional.  The positives in here are the great size and the his and her closets.  I never thought how great this would be, but I love, love having my own closet! 

And for some reason , I could not find a before picture of our master bedroom.  It on the first floor off the living area and of course opens up to this bathroom.  If you scroll back up to that last family room picture, it's through that door to the left of the fireplace.  It also has the great floor to ceiling windows like in the living room.  And the only update it needed was to be painted.



Moving upstairs to the kid zone.  The two pictures above show this space, which is a good size playroom with a closet and some built-ins.  Lots of space for friends to play and hangout.



The next two photos above are of the guest bedroom and bath.  Another bathroom that will one day get an update, but for now we have only painted.




And finally, the kids' rooms and bathroom.  Same story as with all the bathrooms, a future remodel.  The carpet on the stairs and throughout the upstairs is a Berber and fairly new, so that will stay for now.  And then there are little details, like the ceiling fans and some of the lighting that will need to be changed as well. 

So that is our before tour.  Lots of projects to come with this house, but it has a good start.  It already looks so different with the new paint and our furniture and décor moved it, but this gives you a good look at what we started with.  The best part of this move is that we have met several of our neighbors and I can see lots of fun memories to come in both this house and this neighborhood!


July 21, 2016

#NSALE | Home

1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | 5. | 6.

Hi there!  Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale is now open to the public today and their home section has some really great deals too.  Everything above is from their Home Department.  I'm really loving that herringbone rug and the pom-pom trim bedding.  Sometimes I forget about their Home décor section, but it's definitely worth taking a peek.




You can also shop my Nordstrom Sale picks for Women, Men and Kids.

Have a beautiful day!




July 20, 2016

#NSALE | Men


And next up are my picks for men in the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.  They have a great mix of casual and dressy work wear in the men's sale.  All of these prices are good through August 8th and then they return to regular prices.  Hope you find a few things for yourself and for your family.  And it's never to early to start thinking about Christmas.  Here are  a few of my favorites



Happy Summer and good luck shopping this great sale!

July 18, 2016

#NSALE | Kids


Hi there!  Have you been shopping the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale?  I finished getting a few things for myself yesterday and then moved on to picking out a few back to school and Christmas pieces for my kiddos.  I always get my kids PJs for Christmas, so I picked out these for Preston and got this cute sleep shirt for Lyla.  I tried to find booties for my daughter last year and had such a hard time, so I also got her these.  Both PJs and the booties are Tucker and Tate brand which I love. 

Here are some more of my favorites for girls...




In addition to the PJs, I also got my son this light weight jacket and these tennis shoes for school.  I had not bought him a swimsuit yet this season and he loves the O'Neill brand, so I got him this one

A look at a few more boy faves below...



I'm slowing working my way through the sale (so glad it runs for a couple of weeks) and hope to share "Mens" and "Home" yet with you.  I really want to get my Christmas shopping done early this year and this sale is sure helping me get started.

Have a great day!



July 15, 2016

#NSALE | Women


Happy Friday Everyone!  After working all day yesterday and then running Lyla to practice until 7:30p, I didn't get to check out any Nordstrom's Anniversary Early Access items until around 9pm last night.  But I had already saved a few of my favorites from the catalogue I got a few weeks earlier in the mail :)  In case you 're not familiar with the sale, cardholders both credit and debit (I have the debit card) can shop their sale early from July 14th - July 21st before it starts on July 22.  It's their biggest sale and pieces are mega marked down.  So it's a chance to get some really great deals!

This floral and ruffle tank is probably one of my favorite finds for the sale this year.  It's $37 and also comes in pink.  I think it will look so cute with jeans, shorts or tucked in a skirt.   So I ordered it this morning along with the block sandals in taupe which are $67! 

When I shop their sale I usually look for budget friendly items, but I will occasionally splurge on a piece if it's something name brand that I've been wanting, like a new pair of UGG boots.  Last year during the sale my splurge was a pair of Hunter BootsKendra Scott jewelry is always part of the sale and makes great Christmas gifts.  I bought 3 of these monogram cosmetic bags as Christmas gifts.  I also found a couple of cute dresses like this one and this one that are under $30!

There are a few other items I'm planning to purchase, including lingerie and workout pieces (and maybe those dress :)  Here's a look a some more of my favorites on my wishlist...




Happy Shopping!!


July 12, 2016

Lately

July is one of my most favorite months.  It's a month were our schedules are the least busy and I love having days with nothing to do.  I'm really taking the time to just enjoy this slower time.  We still have lots to do putting our house together, but for some reason I don't feel rushed to get it all done (which is usually not my personality).  Can you believe that we have not hung one thing on the wall yet?  The house will eventually come together, but we decided we didn't want to sacrifice all of our summer and free time with house projects.

So instead, the past couple of weeks we've gone on a few little out of town trips, and then our family came to stay with us for a few nights.  I have really not stressed about getting everything perfect.  Instead we are soaking up these carefree summer days, as they will be over before we know it.

I've shared most of these on Instagram, but here's a little bit of what we've been up to...


I hope you all are enjoying your summer too!

P.S.  The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale is almost here and I can't wait to get in on a few good deals.  Early access for cardholders starts July 14th.  I'll be back to share some of my favorites later on this week.