luxe chandelier

Our good friends, Haley & Chase, were in town this weekend. They were stopping in to see us on their way to begin their new chapter in Austin, Texas from California.

I posted a status on Facebook that we were getting ready for their arrival. A friend commented saying, “With all the entertaining you’ve been doing, perhaps you should make a sign for your house, The Bed & Breakfast”.

While on the road, Haley saw the status & commented, “I expect to see the sign tonight. Make it happen.*waves wand*”

It was up for me to decide if her wand was working or not.

So I immediately told Tyler that we had to do this! I was up for the challenge to make it happen. Tyler looked through the garage and found two scraps of wood so we spray painted them.

The hardest part was thinking of a name when being rushed! Tyler suggested “The East Wing” and “The West Wing” right above both of the guest bedrooms. Um, very creative?! Ha!

I was looking around at words for inspiration and then my eyes wandered over to the dandelions that we have in our kitchen. There it was!

The Field of Dandelions

I was feeling rushed when painting it since Haley & Chase were minutes away from arriving. After I was done, I didn’t like my handwriting and wish I had done it in cursive. (I heart cursive!) I think I might re-paint it again later. For now it’ll grow on me.

I miss shopping for school especially dorm furniture. That doesn’t stop me from strolling down the aisles at the store and just seeing what they have to offer this year. Sometimes I get jealous when I see something new and wish they had invented it before when I was in college!

I went through my photos and found some of the places I’ve lived in during college. I don’t have any of my 1st year since I lost all my photos when my computer went bonkers on me back then.

2nd year: In the dorms.

3rd year: On campus apartment living with 3 boys and Tyler.

3rd year: Apparently I thought it was cool having jeans up on the wall!

4th year: Off campus apartment with Tyler and another roommate. This was my crazy red obsession phase.

Married life (present): Obviously a big improvement from a dorm room to an adult room.

We’re still not done with our bedroom but this is what we have so far. I love how much natural light we have in our bedroom. I’m thinking about adding different kind of frames on the wall to the left. Our bedroom is pretty much the last thing on our minds right now anyways compared to other rooms in the house. But it has been interesting to see how colorful we have gone to white/sea blue in the past few years.

Since last week we have decided to recently let 2 friends of ours move in with us for a while so we can help them save money and they’re helping us save money so basically a win/win situation. Also because of that, we have recently been able to pay off one of our credit cards. We have been enjoying their company and playing games almost every night. I love having a full house… this explains why I want 5+ kids someday!

Our neighborhood has two areas: Parkside and the County Club. We live in Parkside. Most of the homes in Parkside have smaller lot sizes as compared to the County Club so there is not very much open space between the houses, and consequently, not much privacy. The homes are separated by cement block walls to help increase the privacy but unfortunately they are not very attractive to look at.

The house next door went into foreclosure and is up for sale so I’m loving the privacy we have since the owners moved out, but the same ugly wall exists. Anyone want to move in next door? I promise we would be the best neighbors you could ask for!

One day while doing the dishes and staring at the cement block wall outside my kitchen window I thought about how nice it would be to have a hanging planter box full of beautiful flowers to look at.

Tyler told me how he thought he could build one to hang on the wall, but I was reluctant to to go with his plan since he can be like Tim Allen from Home Improvement sometimes! I asked my Dad what he thought and he said he would help us when we got around to it.

On Saturday while I was working on a website, I heard the doorbell and went to answer the door. There I saw my dad standing with a planting box from Home Depot. Aww, what a nice dad! He didn’t have to do that but of course that’s him. He’s always thinking of me and other people. Can we say Happy Daughter’s Day? Just kidding.

So as Dad & Tyler were busy working on securing it to the concrete wall, Mom and I made a quick trip to Home Depot to buy some flowers. There were not a lot of options because Home Depot sucks when it comes to flowers & it’s summer in Arizona.

Isn’t the view so much better now? It’s amazing how a good kitchen view really puts you in a good mood especially in the mornings!

I’m counting this as a new milestone in my life – planting flowers! Later on, I want to try & plant some herbs but that won’t happen until the weather cools down.

I recognize that planting flowers comes with the responsibility of watering them (especially if you don’t want them to die!) but the thought of having to go outside in the backyard and turn the hose on then walk all the way to the side of the house to water the flowers twice a day was not pleasant. I was determined to make it work without having to do that and I found the perfect solution…

…water the flowers from the window! Call me lazy but I love this. It’s actually fun!! I came home from work today and immediately watered the flowers then made some yummy banana bread.