Sabrina Soto from HGTV

Sabrina Soto, from HGTV's Get It Sold and Real Estate Intervention, sat down today to do a couple of blogger interviews!  I was beyond thrilled to be asked to participate and talk to her a little bit about trends.  Here's a little clip:



Short and sweet. Thank you for the opportunity!


if the clip doesn't work - try this link.

Grateful Sunday

Today I am grateful for:

• a good night sleep and lazy Sundays
• Craigslist and my husband's access to a truck
• Polly Pockets and the time that both girls spend together playing
• messy toy rooms and all the fun my kiddos have in there
• that it is still summer
• the music that fills our home - whether it is piano students, little voices singing, Taylor Swift, kids practicing the piano, classical music while I'm cooking dinner - I love it all

Have you thought of what you are grateful for?

A Little Inspiration for Your Friday

Heather Chadduck

I just picked up a cute glass cabinet from Craigslist (for only $35!!) and I think I'd like to make it work in my family room.  I'm not sure, though.  I might use it in our master bathroom, or the living room.  I have to move it around and play with it a bit - something my husband is totally looking forward to doing.

from in the fun lane

Because Tom is such a visual person, I pulled together a couple of photos that I find inspiring.

I'm sorry - I can' t remember

Enjoy!

bhg

Good Girl Gone Glad
Have a great Friday!

A Good Mail Day

My new calendar just came!  I love this day.  I've been using the Busy Body Book for 3 years now and I don't think I could ever switch or adapt.

It's cute, it fits in my purse if I need it, I lay it on my kitchen desk and am not embarrassed.

Oh, I love a big, empty, blank calendar!  I love filling all the important dates - I love picturing the year about to come. I also can never throw away the old calendar.  They become journals to me.

It has several columns for every day.  I usually divide it into KIDS, APPOINTMENTS, TO DO, PIANO LESSONS, and MEALS.  But I'm a doodler, so there is plenty of space for notes and doodles on the other side.  There are months-at-a-glance at the beginning, but I just take it a week at a time.

There are pages of tear out to-do lists in the back!  I love these!!

There is a huge pocket on the back cover - I usually stuff coupons in there. or sweet cards from my family.

This is last years calendar - I clip my game plan and my chores to the front.

Guess I have to clean out the fridge and clean the kitchen today - my schedule says so!

Cuke-inis

Our garden is awesome - we've enjoyed it all summer.  There's lots of good, some bad, and some "what in the world" moments.
Take a look at this:

Beautiful harvest - right?  But what is this?

I did plant zucchini seeds - regular green zucchini seeds.  Our gardening expert friend took one look and said, "um, Laurel, those are not zucchini."

So - do you know what they are?  I've cut them open, and they look like a huge zucchini but after I peel them,they are the color of a cucumber.  Our cucumbers are taking over the garden, so we've assumed there has been some sort of cross pollination going on and we have a new vegetable - the Cuke-ini.

So . . . I peeled it, grated it, and made Cuke-ini bread:

and it was delicious!

Grateful Sunday

source

Today, I am grateful for:

• a fun date night with my husband last night - dinner and a movie.  I think the last movie we saw together in the theater (with only us) was The Bourne Identity.  I left thinking that movies in the theaters are overrated - I'm grateful my husband thinks the same thing.
• I've got a good, happy, working, loving marriage.
• Sunday naps
• I teach piano lessons, and just started this week again.  I'm really excited for the line up this year - good students, great families, and a nice schedule!

What are you grateful for?

A Gift for Dylan

One of our special friends had a birthday, so it was time for a gift.

I used this tutorial.  I was able to use scraps that I had - LOVE that.

I embroidered a "d" on the front car, before I appliqued it on.

Only problem - M. picked out the cars to go in it.  I think it would have worked better if she had chosen a flatter car, maybe a race car.  But she didn't, and that's OK.

Eleven Years

Happy Anniversary to the most un-photogenic couple!

Seriously, Tom is my better half.  Anyone who knows Tom will agree - whatever he does, he does it perfectly.  Lucky for me, this includes being a husband.

Garden Plate

This is part of what we had for dinner the other night - all straight out of our garden.  Delicious!  Even the kiddos ate it up.

Oh, how I have loved gardening this summer.

Grateful Sunday

Today, I am grateful for:

I killed my last year's half marathon PR - I beat it by 13 minutes!!

We had a fun day in Breckenridge this week - so grateful I decided to bite the bullet and just go.

Tom has been called as a Seminary Teacher - which starts tomorrow morning.  I'm grateful for the discussions around our home because of this calling.

Ruffle Church Bag

Lots of new things for my new 8 year old.  One of the newest things is a new set of scriptures.  I. needed a new bag. 

I had this idea in my head and it turned out.  I never just make up my own, I almost always just find something inspiring and copy it.

So, this bag has lots of ruffles - teal and red ruffles.

It's fully lined, with pockets in the lining.  Perfect for her scripture markers. 

I also added a couple of bigger pockets - for I'm not sure what she's going to stuff in there.  It could be a notebook, paper, chapstick, . . I don't know.  She always has something.

The bottom looks like this - I'm spacing right now on what that is called.

I. wanted to wear this bag with the strap across her chest.  I just made sure the strap was long enough

.

It's darling - I don't mind carrying it.  It's definitely not like any other bag I've seen around church!  She's stylin'!  Best part - she absolutely loves it!

Luke's Window Treatment

It started out with a picture and some fabric:

Then, after receiving some measurements, I did what I could to sew the picture:

I sewed the polka dot to the denim, then sewed the brown strips directly on top.  Next, I sewed lining to the back.  I finished it off by top stitching all the way around.

Isn't that polka dot the cutest fabric?

Then, the treatment was put up over the window:

And, I was so proud:

Little Luke just got a baby brother and a big boy bed.  I got to sew the window treatment for this room.  I didn't design it, just sewed it.  I thought it turned out so cute.

I wasn't there when they hung this, but I believe it is just stapled to a piece of wood that is connected to the wall with L-brackets.  Totally works - pretty inspiring!