You Had Me At Hello: Ideas for a Front Porch Refresh

Fixer Upper-Chicken House

It all started with this door.  After seeing this beautiful new front porch on a recent episode of Fixer Upper, my front door would suddenly JUST.NOT.DO.  Hours of market research (otherwise known as surfing pinterest) led to these inspiration pics on my pinterest board for porches:

Southern Living

I love the yellow flowers and boots contrasted with the door.  

The beautiful brick pavers are also a big plus!

Bloglovin

This color is Green Trance by Sherwin Williams.  This was the first color I chose.  

It's beautiful, but it turned out a lot lighter than I was expecting 

and ended up more pale/shabby chic than I was wanting. 

Thistlewood Farms

I love the black door, the oversized house numbers, the monogram and wreath.  

After the super light color, I considered black, but decided against it.  

If I had a white house, though, it would definitely be my choice.

My Sweet Savannah

Here's another awesome black door.  It looks very classic paired with the cedar shingles.  

The artwork caught my eye, as well as the boxwood planter and vinyl house numbers.

On Bliss Street

And because you always have to have another project waiting in the wings, 

I have a church pew in my garage that needs some repairs and TLC.  

Not sure if I want to paint it, but I definitely want it on my front porch.

So, what did I finally choose to paint our front door?  

Here's a peek:

Come back next week for the full reveal!

And, I couldn't end this post without mentioning Merle Haggard.  I have been a fan of his as long as I can remember.  I'm listening to his music as I type this and singing along with every word.  He was a treasure and will be missed.  As a friend of mine wrote on facebook:

"All the Federales say we could have had him any day. 

We only let him slip away..." 

RIP Lefty.

Country Living

Set the World on Fire: A Birthday Roadtrip

North Texas Bluebonnets

This weekend, my daughter and I went on a road trip.  It was her birthday, #13.  The boys both had commitments and trying to plan a weekend for all 4 of us would have postponed the celebration for several weeks.  The disappointment in her eyes at the thought of having to wait that long was enough for me, so, we packed our bags, she and I, and headed to the big city.

Loaded up and rolling down the road, we had several hours of time to talk about her plans.  At first, that meant just what stores she planned to visit and what she wanted to see.  But eventually, the plans stretched out a little further in the future.  What classes did she want to take next year?  What did she really love and was there something else she wanted to do?  What would she do if she could just do EXACTLY what she wanted and not what she felt like she was expected to do?  These questions are perfect for a newly-minted teenager trying to find her place in the world and for a forty-something mom doing the exact same thing.

We spent our time exploring fancy neighborhoods, fun chain stores and the makeup counter at a big department store.  We rounded out our shopalooza with the icing on the proverbial preppy birthday cake: the Lilly Pulitzer & Vineyard Vines stores.  We ate exactly what we wanted to and stayed up late in the hotel watching Clueless and Pitch Perfect.  And the best part of all?  We didn't set an alarm to get up in the morning.  As if...

I spend a lot of time with my kids.  Most of it is spent driving them from one place to another or cheering them on for whatever they're performing or competing in.  Archery?  A more quiet sort of cheering.  Tennis?  Politely clapping.  Dance?  Smiling and waving from the wings after the drama of the dressing room.  This weekend, though, had nothing to do with anything she was DOING.  She was just being.  Just herself.  We celebrated the person she is and the person she is becoming.  Away from the busy-ness of our routine, I was reminded of what a precious gift her dad and I were given in this beautiful child.  I want to hold on to that, to remember that in the weeks and months ahead.  She is a unique and sweet soul and we have been entrusted with her care for such a short time. My prayer is that we are able to help her find her own way in this world.  The world doesn't need more people following a trend, following the herd.  It needs more people standing up and standing out.  It needs her being who she really is and it needs you being you and me being me.  I want to give her the tools to be that confident and sure of herself.  And in helping her, I hope I can renew that same confidence for myself.  Let's do this.

Lent: Fasting from the Table of the World

“The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie.

It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for

heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. 

It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we

drink in every night.” 

― John Piper, A Hunger for God

Each Lenten season for the past several years now, I have taken a Facebook fast.  I sign off and change my profile picture to one that has a quote about Lent and come up with some sort of cover photo that reflects the Lenten season.  I don't do that to signal how wonderful and pious I am.  It's just a way to let people know, if they're looking for me, that I'm not going to be on there for forty days. With the utter buy-in we all now have of social media, I actually did have to get on several times because it's become one of the main ways we communicate with one another.

What I find each year that I participate in this fast, is how much I miss seeing my friends' news:  the pregnancy updates, the precious photos of our children, vacation pics and funny asides about our day.  They bring a smile throughout the day and help me keep in touch with loved ones I don't get to see every day.  This is the brilliance of Facebook:  extending our community.

What I don't miss is the noise--the "prime-time dribble of triviality".

Our family doesn't cut ourselves off from the world, but through the dual miracles of DVRs and Netflix, we're able to avoid commercials and a lot of the perfectly awful shows on television.  And yet, we'll go right ahead and turn on the tiny computers in our hands and see some of the same things we deliberately chose to avoid.  It comes at you with lightning speed and eats away at your resolve.  "Well, if all these people are watching it, it can't be that bad."  "Her daughter is wearing those clothes, so, maybe I need to loosen up."  "His son is going, so, I should probably let mine."

Standing strong for our beliefs in this culture is hard, but we aren't making it easy on each other, are we?  Each song with questionable lyrics that we promote because the music sounds great and the singer is handsome and "classy", each episode we watch celebrating characters with all the morals of an alley cat, each joke we share that we would never tell in public--these are all adding our vote, our thumbs-up to this toxic culture around us.  

I need friends and a community around me that help me make the right choices and do the right things.  

There is strength in numbers, friends, and we need to use the beauty of our extended communities to build each other up and cheer each other on.

Us.  We.  Me and You.  

That's who can change our culture and help us build strong families.  That's who can be a light in our world.  One choice at a time.  

Choose life.

Pinterest Projects I Actually Completed: Simple Vintage Valentine's Decorating

Vintage typewriters, blue glass Ball jars, daisies and old-fashioned Valentine's Day postcards--just the right ingredients for a simple and sweet vignette.

I've had this pin on my Valentine's Day pinterest board since last year and I decided that I needed to get moving or it was going to be another year before I completed this one!

nobiggie.net

I dug out the old typewriter I bought at a garage sale years ago and cleaned it up.  All three of our kids have loved typing on it and it actually worked at one time.  One of the little darlings got a little ambitious with the White-Out and applied it to the keys as well as their paper.  I still have some scraping to go, but I wanted to put this together to show you.

Nobiggie.net has this adorable download of the lyrics to "Love, Love Me Do" in the shape of a heart.  It's an easy printable and you just roll it into your typewriter's feed.  I only wish my Royal was that luscious turquoise of her Smith Corona!

I added two vintage blue Ball jars to my metal serving basket and filled them with $5 worth of grocery store daisies.  Roses are pricey this time of year and I loved the contrast of the simple white daisies and the blue glass.

To even out the tablescape, I made a little piece of art.  I found these super cute vintage postcards at our local Barnes and Noble:

I took a couple of pieces of scrapbook paper I had on hand and layered them to create a double-mat effect for the postcard.  I've had this frame forever and I display all kinds of holiday art and printables.

This is a sweet little picture and may end up getting moved to another part of the house.  I have an idea for a wood block art piece that's not quite as precious, but I haven't worked out the details.  I need to go scavenging in our warehouse for some "stuff" to make it.  There are plenty of unchecked entries on my current to do list, so, this may be all the decorating I do for this particular holiday.  ;-)

This was a fun and easy little tablescape to put together.  Hope you enjoyed it!  I would love to hear how (or if!) you decorate for Valentine's Day!

Sunday Supper: Ree's Spanish Baked Salmon

I am always looking for fast, delicious dinners to serve my family.  Crock pot cooking is my go-to, but this past Saturday I received a revelation.

Sheet pan dinners.  What in the world?  Why had I never heard of this?  I DVR Pioneer Woman's show on the Food Network every Saturday morning and she was doing 5 ingredient (well, not really...) recipes.  They're five ingredient plus every condiment known to man, but whatever.  One of the segments was sheet pan dinners.  Roast some veggies, throw in a protein and BAM!  Dinner's ready.  (I may be mixing my metaphors television food hosts...)

The sheet pan dinner that caught my eye was the Spanish Baked Salmon.  There were other options as well and I think the Sheetpan Sausage Supper (say that one 3 times fast) is another one we'll try, although I'm a little iffy about the parsnips.  I don't think I've ever had parsnips.  I wasn't even sure they were a real thing.  Anyway, back to this deliciousness:

Pioneer Woman's Spanish Baked Salmon

Onions, bell peppers, olives and bread cubes tossed in olive oil and baked.  Then you add salmon fillets and bake a bit more.  The whole thing's ready in 30 minutes and if you line your cookie sheet with foil, clean up's a breeze (and not this).

I added kale to my veggie list because I had some.  And I love kale.  I also used black olives instead of green.  Because I had some.  And I didn't want to go buy green ones.  To go with my rebel veggies, I served buttery orzo, which ratcheted the whole dinner up another level.   

This recipe is going on heavy rotation.  Let me know if you try it and how you like it!

30 Minute Dinner--wait!  That's Rachael, not Ree!

Be Brave Saturday: Breaking Free

I saw this beautiful iron work today at the college campus in our town.  The gates and bars are wonderfully wrought and bring a certain beauty to a very utilitarian structure.  As I looked at them, I began to think about the gates and bars we keep on our own hearts and minds.  We put them up, piece by piece.  Curl them around our fears and bend them around our shortcomings.  We mold them into a piece of art that with enough time can come to resemble a certain severe beauty.

There is beauty in structure and beauty in order.  But the carefully curated protection we give ourselves can turn out to be just gates and bars.  We fool ourselves into thinking they have always been there, have always been a part of who we are.  Ask any young child if he is a singer and he'll say "Yes!"  and proceed to sing you his favorite song.  Ask any child if she is an artist and she'll show you her latest masterpiece with pride.  When do we stop believing these things about ourselves?  When do we start putting up the barriers to our hearts and living in narrow confines of who we can be and what we can do?

Today, and everyday, think twice when you tell your heart "You can't do that."  Open those beautiful gates and soar.  Today and everyday.

2016 Word of the Year: Adventure

Words of the year are a new thing for our family.  Although I can look back at certain years and see that there certainly seemed to be a theme for it, we've never officially sat down together as a family and voted on a specific word to apply the upcoming year.  We've done resolutions and goals, but never a theme or word for the new year.

2015 was our "Joy" year, although we didn't call it that.  I drew some chalkboard art on our kitchen wall and each month we wrote down a daily joy.  I photographed them each month and it's been fun to reflect back on those months and days and the things that brought happiness to us--big things and small things.

This New Year's, we found ourselves traveling together on a long road trip from seeing my parents over the holidays.  I wanted to do something different for 2016 with the chalkboard wall.  I didn't know quite what I wanted to do, but I did know I wanted to incorporate a word of the year and see where that took us.  Each family member submitted a word and we voted on them--4 points for our favorite and down to 1 point for our least favorite.  The words we came up with were:  fun, adventure, patience and diligence.  Thankfully, my word, adventure won, because if patience had won, it would have been a hard year for me, indeed!

I drew the little saying on my framed chalkboard, which hangs in our breakfast area.  For the kitchen chalkboard wall, I plan to draw something else "adventure-related" and have everyone write up a short 2016 bucket list of adventures and some big goals we each want to achieve this year.  With those written lists reminding us each day, I hope 2016 is the year we reach out and reach up to make those things happen.

What brave thing will you do TODAY?