Posts from ‘November, 2009’

Here’s Little A trying to help build our new breakfast nook table.  He always wants to help with whatever we’re doing.  It’s so very cute.

In the past couple days I’ve managed to furnish our dining room and our breakfast nook with furniture from Target, Craigslist and Ikea.  I found this awesome rustic farm table (orig. from Pottery Barn) on Craigslist for $100 and I found some cool white scoopback chairs from Target on sale for $55 a pair.  I still need to order the tulip style chairs to go on the ends of the table.   We also found an Ikea buffet on CL and now we can finally display our fine china.  Someday it would be nice to not have lots of Ikea furniture and upgrade, but right now it’s very affordable and functional for our lifestyle.  It’s also great to buy it off CL so we don’t have to put it together!

For the breakfast nook, I found the greatest deal today on CL.  This lady was selling a round West Elm dining table and four matching chairs for only $60.  The problem was I could only fit the chairs in my SUV and a round table simply wouldn’t work in our space.  I still would have bought the whole set and put the round table in the garage so the hubby could use it in his “man cave,” but it didn’t fit in my car.  She was reluctant to separate the chairs at first but after offering her $40 for the chairs and convincing her she could definitely sell that table on CL for more, she agreed to sell them to me.  Wow, only $10 a chair for very nice quality West Elm dining chairs! 

So tonight we made our way out to Ikea to buy the perfect sized table for the nook.  We enjoyed their meatballs for dinner.  I swear Little A ate more meatballs than I did.  That kid can eat!

I figured out my design style is a mix that I like to call “Vintage Rustic Modern Country.”  When I told the hubby this he just rolled his eyes.  He thinks I’m crazy and is always laughing at my antics and CL addiction. 

I really like the simple lines of modern furniture but I also like rustic and retro/vintage elements with a little bit of country tossed in there too.  To complicate things further, I also like some antiques.  I hope I can find a way to make it all work together.  Maybe I should just say my style is eclectic and leave it at that?  Photos of the new dining area and breakfast nook will be forthcoming so stay tuned!

Hooray!  We finally got some measurable rain here in San Diego.  I really enjoyed our rainy day today.

“The storm marked the end of a streak of 164 consecutive days without measurable precipitation – tied for the fourth-longest rain-free spell in San Diego history.”  -www.signonsandiego.com

The hubby and I come from very different families, which is evident in the ways in which we celebrate Thanksgiving.  My family’s get-togethers are always very casual where we all just sit on the floor or the couch to eat because our group is so large.  The hubby’s family’s get-togethers are more traditional where everyone sits at the table together.  Since I never got to do this with my family, I very much enjoy Thanksgiving with the hubby’s family because it’s always really nice to all sit together and eat at the table, having nice conversation. 

The funniest difference is in what we do afterwards.  The hubby’s family all sits around the TV and watches the game.  My family?  Well, the older kids are usually playing the Wii or something similar, while the adults play poker tournament style (usually Texas Hold Em).  Little A thought he was pretty cool playing poker next to Grandpa Pat and counting the chips.  Notice the look of concentration on his face with his tongue slightly out.  I always know this means he’s either concentrating really hard or he’s getting mad.  His expressions always crack me up.

On our way to grab dinner we saw this and I just had to stop the car.  The lighting was so gorgeous on the water.  I love our new neighborhood!

Several months ago I made a few vision boards to represent the kind of home and place I wanted to live in–peaceful, relaxing, and a nice view.  I just looked at my vision board again and noticed there is a photo of a patio with a great view and a row of juniper trees and I had pasted the words “Home Sweet Home” over it.  Well, now our “Home Sweet Home” has a similar view with you guessed it–a row of juniper trees! 

I believe wholeheartedly in the power of vision boards and the law of attraction because it worked for me.  If you are wondering about what I’m talking about, it comes from the popular book called “The Secret,” and you can also google it and get a lot of information on how to make a vision board.  To quote another website, a “vision board is a simple yet powerful visualization tool that activates the universal law of attraction to begin manifesting your dreams into reality.”

I love our new place.  I am so happy here.  I am so thankful.  Now the hubby wishes he could work from home all the time.  Haha, I knew that was going to happen….

Today Little A’s cousins came over to play and check out our new house.  All three of them got to play on the redwood play structure for the first time and they had a good ol’ time.  Little A and Nautas both wanted to ride in the bucket swing and since it is so big they both fit in it back to back.  The bottom photo bugs me a little because Miles’ butt is right above their heads and it looks a little strange, but this was one of the only clear ones I got with them on the swings.  BTW, Miles is really loving his new backyard, and Mika too.

We were off to a slow start on this day because we were so exhausted from moving the day before, but once we got up and going we returned to our old house to collect some more things.  We had forgotten to bring sponges, trash bags, and trash cans with us and those are pretty important items to have. 

While I was in the backyard I started collecting all my little garden decorations to bring with us to the new house and I spotted this little silver argiope spider in the garden.  I just think these are the coolest and most beautiful spiders ever, not only because they are silver but also because their webs are so cool.  I’ve seen larger ones with webs that have their signature zigzag pattern in them.  This one was just a baby argiope so I think she still was learning how to make a zigzag pattern of cool sayings like Charlotte, or maybe she was still pondering what to say with her web?

On this day the movers came to help us move.  When they took apart our sectional I was amazed at the plethora of items found under there.  Besides a lot of dust, we found Legos, popcorn, hair ties, coasters, and two items I’d been missing a lot.  First, the back massage gadget that helps you reach those spots that hurt.  I got this from the Healthy Back Store and was wondering where it went.  Secondly, I was really missing Little A’s book “What’s the Matter Little Pookie?” by Sandra Boyntyn.   This book always cracks me up because although “Pookie” is a common pet name in this country, others of my descent know this word means the female private part in Tagalog.  In fact, my friend April gave us this book for Christmas one year as a practical joke. 

Oh yeah, and I’m very embarassed about the amount of dust under there but  it’s not like I could ever move the sectional and vacuum under there.  Moving day went pretty smoothly all things considered.  We’re pretty exhausted though and there’s still more stuff to pick up from the old house as well as a lot of cleaning.