Peacock fabulousness

My cousin is getting married(!!!), and I'm thrilled. She's doing the peacock theme, and wanted her bridal shower to reflect that as well. No problem here – it's giving me 2 opportunities to embrace this ever-so-popular peacock trend.

I haven't battled the wedding invite yet, but I'm loving the shower invite:

In home news: We start the other built-ins tomorrow night!

Rush week

With my new job starting on Monday, reality of how few house projects (and how many TV series) were accomplished. So, I've decided to work my tail off the rest of the week and see what happens.

Projects include: finish picking up all the dead leaves in the landscape, the retaining wall top, the man cave ceiling and the built-ins on the other side of the stairs. Even thinking about it makes me want to take a nap, but it will be worth it.

Brent even kicked off the party with some built-in prepping:

It's going to look so good! I can't wait.

For the questions about cutting retaining wall stones, I will tackle that topic when I discuss the topper situation. So hopefully very soon. :)

After 9 weeks (and 2 days)

After a 2-month, TV-watching hiatus, I am happy to report I got a job! I am so excited to enter the world of magazine design. It's what I've always wanted to do, but didn't think possible without moving to a larger city.

I start on Monday, so this week will consist of finishing up as many projects as possible.

Flower power

The sun is finally out, and the flowers are blooming.

Just 2 months ago, the landscape was looking like this:

Well, hello spring:

My plan is to just add a little bit each year to the back. And this year, with the focus being on the front yard, I do mean "little." And then one day, it will hopefully become a fabulous English garden.

After seeing how strong the 2 asiatic lilies I added last year were coming in, I decided to add 2 more. I also thought a knockout rose bush and paw print stone would make great additions.


Since my dogs love running through the landscape, I have to leave paths for them. I also have to stick with thicker flowers so Macintosh and Chip will run around not over the flowers. (Last year, the zinnias I planted didn't last a single day).

The flowers that the dogs would destroy, go in the pots:

While I am trying a few new flowers, for the most part I am sticking with what worked.

In other news: I would love some jobs vibes tomorrow. The place I did the design test for, wants me to come in for a second interview. I really want this job, so it's getting tough to be nonchalant about this whole process.

Curb Appeal (day 5)

Holy geez, I need a nap. I've been inside for the past hour, and I don't think I'll be moving for the rest of the night. So sore.

My dad offered to help me today, so I took advantage.

What day 5 started with:

What it ended with:

The game plan had to change a bit because of the gaslight post we discovered last week, but I made it work. I'm loving how to looks with the topper. Now I just need to go back to the hardware store for the glue. Ugh.

Meet Pengy Wengy

Macintosh may play with many toys throughout the day, but there's only 1 toy he brings to bed at night - Pengy Wengy.


Does anyone else have a pet that does this? I've never seen anything like it.

(As for the name, well, that's because of our penguin toy surplus. Each one got a name, so we could keep track of them. You guys have seen my penguin tree, none of this should be surprising).

Wine-tasting party countdown

In 28 days, Brent and I will be hosting my mom's 60th birthday party, and what better way to do that than with a white wine-tasting party.

After the success of Brent's 30th birthday beer-tasting party, I've decided to keep the format fairly similar – just with wine. The biggest change is that this party is more genre specific – so chardonnay, pinot grigio, riesling/muscat and blends are the categories (versus white, red and blush). (This will also be the plan, when we bring back the beer-tasting party Octoberfest style).

I haven't really decided on a lot of the other details, but I think it would be awesome to do a cheese bar somewhere separate from the other appetizers.

The guest list includes 30 couples, the majority of which have not seen my house. And of the ones who have, most haven't seen it since the housewarming party in November 2009 – so things like the painted fireplace, houndstooth wall, bar, living room art, office and built-ins (to name a few) were nonexistent.

There's so much I would love to get done, but time is quickly running out – especially with Brent's jammed packed Corporate Challenge schedule and the upcoming wedding of our 2 good friends.

But, here are the musts:
- Get furniture for the man cave (this is scheduled to arrive in 2 weeks, and I pray that it fits)
- Do the built-in shelf on the other side of the man cave
- Finish painting the man cave ceiling
- Finish retaining wall in front
- Plant flowers and mulch the front and back yards

* The invitation is part of the wine-tasting party package I will soon be offering. Visit the Paper Obsessed tab for more detail.