Valentines

Perhaps a little late, but I still wanted to post a bit about Valentines. I love, love, love Valentine's Day. The decorations and the complete "love thing". This year I enjoyed a few great things  at Pottery Barn. 

From Red Room to Blue Room

A couple of weeks ago we started the process to make a simple remodeling project to my craft room. I needed a change. David wasn't to crazy about my choice of blue, but I wanted to give it a fresh look. Now it reminds me of the ocean....love it...I have an old curio in the room with all my birds....yes I said birds...I started collecting them years ago and every time we travel we came back with a new one...I painted the curio yellow and wow...what an amazing change, it looks so pretty. I started  painting a Saturday morning and my sweet husband did all the detail work, edges, corners, doors...all the fun stuff that takes so much time and an eye for perfection like he has. When we finished with everything I spend a week organizing. Every night after work I was dedicating an hour or so going through boxes and containers. I labeled all the containers so when Krystel, Cristine, grandma Schmidt or anyone that wants to work in my room, are spending time crafting they can find things easily. Happy with my results and super happy with my new room.

Hollyhocks beauty.

One of my favorite time in our yard during summer is when the Hollyhocks are blooming. We still have so many that they are getting ready to bloom and in so many colors. Almost every night this past week we ate dinner in our patio...glorious after a long work day. 

Easter Sunday

This Easter I  decided to make a few fun treats. Every thing turned out so great. The cupcakes are a recipe from Paula Dean...yum...We had a wonderful late lunch with everyone....Happy Easter!

A beautiful room.

This past two months we dedicated ourselves to re decorating Cristine's old bedroom at our home. We decided to keep it as a cozy guest room. David and i picked the colors and then ordered every thing online. Finally we found a wall for Ashley's pictures http://ashleybealphotography.blogspot.com, I really wanted to find a special spot in our home and in here they look perfect,  the colors are also perfect. We are still looking for a chair to add to the room, we have looked around and have an idea of what we want. For sure we'll come across the perfect one sometime soon. The turquoise pillow was a gift to Cristine from grandma Schmidt many years ago. This was made for her in her favorite color and it seems like the perfect detail to add to the room....

Starting to look like Christmas.

This week David finished his painting that will go on our Christmas cards and of course it is just beautiful.  Most of my shopping is done Online and I ordered ornaments very early this year to make sure I could have a few that I really like. The glass ornaments are from Pottery Barn, that this year as always their Christmas displays are so well done...yes I will love a Pottery Barn house...The small ornaments are the new "Sugar Coated" ornaments from Martha Stewart...awww...they are just adorable and perfect for a small metal tree that I found in one of my craft expeditions. Our big tree s our traditional snowman tree, which includes a collection of ornaments through the years.

Home

Our wood floors are done...all finished...This is a project that was pending for a couple of years and we finally picked the wood and got this going. Found some new rugs as well as David was never really too happy with my choice of the old red rug...I ordered some fabric that I'm hoping I can use to make some new pillow covers in a yellow tone. I need to dust off my old sewing machine and see if I can get this accomplish as sewing is definitive my less favorite thing to do. I will give it my best....

Last days of summer

Not quite ready for the summer to end...even when the fall weather is so inviting to do so many outdoors things and my favorite time of the year. Our summer came and went and with Cristine's wedding seems that it really was a fast summer. We'll have wonderful memories of this summer, great family times and the most fun wedding memories....

Our beautiful backyard.

Well, it paid off to be married to a gardener...David enjoys working in the yard, doesn't matter how busy his days are at the end of the day he is always outside making sure every thing is looking to his perfection. We really enjoy our little paradise...We only planted 3 tomato plants, but I have a small variety of herbs growing, they smell so good, specially the Basil. We'll I should say:  David planted only 3 tomato plants...i have a few talents, but gardening is not one of them....Perhaps is a bit strange to prefer winter, but I do..love the cold and the snow, can't stand the heat..but I do enjoy these beautiful flowers...

Love month.

Love the month of February. We had a couple of busy weeks starting the wedding plans.  Cristine and Leif chose the Joseph Smith Memorial for their reception. I like the feeling of a downtown wedding celebration and they like the look and history of the building. The date is July 14th and I feel is not enough time to do every thing that needs to be done. And there is so much to do!

Sweets

Our kitchen table is cover

 with sweet treats from neighbors and friends.

 Really love how people can make

 creative and yummy treats of all kind ,

 and there is me.... buying my treats,

then I just place in a pretty container

and when people ask me if I made the treats

 I just smile.... 

Thanksgivings...heartfelt moments.

We all love the Holidays

 mostly because it give us the opportunity

 to gather as a family and be together with wonderful friends.

 A couple days before, I found a great recipe for  "candy jams"  and gave it to Krystel since it is her favorite Thanksgivings dish.
Over the weekend we had Angie with us.

 My bff that is now living in Chile with her new love

 and was here for a visit.

 How fun it is to spend all night talking and catching up.

She brought the girls beautiful sweaters from "La Ligua".

 A place in Chile that has marvelous artisans

 and where handmade things are a must..

So grateful for life and love ones.

Happy Father's Day..

So blessed with David's gardening skills .

 Love how he creates a little secluded paradise for us in our backyard.

Last Saturday we had dinner outside next to our waterfall and it was just perfect.

Flowers are just now starting to grow ,

 we also planted a small herb garden and a few tomato plants...nothing big,

mostly for color and taste..

This year we bought new patio lights, a great find at Target, they look amazing at night...

I took these pics with our Nikon at 6 am,

 my favorite light of the day for pictures...

just enjoying beauty...