kitchen kitchen, who is in the kitchen {a guest post}

When Helena asked if I wanted to participate in her "In The Kitchen" series I did a special little clean up and added some flowers just for her. If you want to sneak a peaky of how my kitchen exists today then go here.

Now the kitchen has been on my radar to spruce up. Since I took the pictures for Helena's blog I have taken off a cabinet door next to the one that was already missing a door in the above photo. I then backed the shelving with mirror.

Next on the list of things to do: purchase a kitchen island, install a backsplash, add some new lighting, pick out a new rug and paint the cabinets..I would love to share the process for any insight that you all may have. Also it is always a motivator to finish things when you put things out there. Have any of you all installed your own backsplash? if so I'd love any tips.

On deck..an affordable option for a kitchen island. the below cabinet can be found here and is actually not slotted for an island but I think it could work for my space. I will let you know.

I seriously love Helena and think you might want to check her out over here. You can also see the other fine ladies that she has featured in her kitchen series, right here.

Hopefully you all had a great weekend!

P.S. - Helena also posted my favorite turkey meatball recipe. I love that it is a recipe that both my husband and kids like.

many facets {new hardware..almost}

I really love things that are faceted and so when I came across the above new hardware that Jessica designed I was immediately drawn to them. I especially have my eye on F-02. Oh and Jessica blogs over here if you want to stay in the know with her ventures.

lamps, bracelet

summer vacation has officially commenced

{swimming today at Nana & Baca's house..which may have included some red shoulders after it was all said and done}

Pls. excuse the blog silence. It has been the last week of school for us which for some reason has added a few extra activities here and there...some may have been extra-curricular I admit. Anyway summer vacation has officially started today and we couldn't be any happier to not have such a rigid schedule.

Summertime for us here in the desert means that sometimes even the pool gets too warm. When that happens then it is time to hit the road to avoid being trapped in air-conditioned buildings at all times. Last year I swore I was going to leave for most of the summer so we will see where we end up summer 2011.

Do you all have any fun summer plans?

P.S. - This is HUGE that I have hit the season in life that I finally feel comfortable enough to take the kids to the pool all by myself...even if at times there were more kicks than giggles if you know what I mean

I want to go to Austin

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If you are like me then you have a great love of travel and an appreciation of really cool hotels. I've had my eye on the Hotel Saint Cecilia in Austin for a couple of years and was really excited to see the above photographs taken by the duo lioninoil. To see more of lioninoil's work go here. I like how they describe themselves as having experience in graphic design, architecture, photography and web design..what a great combo.

Bloggers know how to make stuff.

First of I am dying to get my hands on the below lamp. I want to get a plane ticket just to visit these girl's booth so I can purchase that lamp crafted by Bri. No seriously though why do some of my favorite bloggers live in the Atlanta southernish Nashville area? Realistically I am probably going to have to go thrifting so that I can find a $3.00 lamp to take a paint pen to. Seriously I love the below lamp..it looks more than legit.

Secondly, Naomi has skills I love her blog and she too makes and crafts beautiful things. You may want to pay her a visit to see her amazing IKEA hack amongst other things because she does more than just hacks;-). Go here to explore all of her awesome projects.

Lastly, LinsB is not short of inspiring one to drive straight down to the craft store to make a little somethin. If you read my IN YOUR SHOES feature then you would know that I went to the mineral store on a hunt for some pretty rocks that I could turn into hardware like she did. Go here to see how LinsB made her new hardware.

Oh wait one more..did you happen to see my sugar momma's latest DIY kitchen island that she made from an old dresser ?(there has got to be at least two of you out there that read my blog who doesn't read her blog that this could benefit;-) In blog terms sugar momma has nothing to do with money but refers to a genius resource of DIY design knowledge who shares it freely. Seriously Jenny has been so good to us. I was thinking about going to a boneyard to get a piece of marble but Jenny points out that finding a piece of furniture with marble on Craigers could be a little more cost savvy.

What are you loving out there in the DIY world? I know there is way more stuff out there but the above goodness just happens to be on the brain.

from kites to malachites {IN HER SHOES feature}

Do you read Camila's blog? If not what are you waiting for...

She is a huge DIYer and is very resourceful. Actually I am quite fond of her. Well head on over to check out her fun series called IN HER SHOES today to see more about the day when we flew some kites (there may even be a big chunk of malachite invovled..yum). No really it was fun to try and document a day in the life. In fact next time my husband asked, "What did you do today", I will direct him to this post.

Hey and make sure to pay tribute to the weekend my friends.

P.S. - Flying kites is a work out when the wind isn't quite as steady and strong as needed. Brothers are really good about getting kites to stay in the air.

The kids had perma smiles for the whole 10 minutes that the kite stayed up in the air.

having a hot pink moment {pomegranate frozen yogurt}

The above ikat fabric was one being offered on Ebay and I thought that it would make a nice tablecloth or napkins for summer. Hot pink was stuck in my brain for a few days after observing that fabric. I'd say that some pomegranate frozen yogurt would at least look pretty this summer. Want to make some? Below recipe and above picture from here.

POMEGRANATE FROZEN YOGURT RECIPE

Ingredients

• 2 cups freshly-squeezed pomegranate juice
• 1+ 1/2 cup plain, whole milk yogurt
• 2/3 cup Grenadine (pomegranate syrup)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp lemon juice

Method

1. Stir pomegranate juice and sugar over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves. Add lemon juice and let cool to room temperature.
2. In a bowl, combine yogurt, pomegranate juice and pomegranate syrup and whisk until completely combined.
3. Chill the mixture thoroughly (3 hours in the freezer works for me), then freeze it in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. If you don’t have one, here’s how you make ice cream without a machine.

out in the country...

If I were to help decorate a space in the country (like say my in-laws), I could probably find some elements from the above space that would inspire.

Above space designed by Jimmy Stanton as seen in Atlanta Homes Magazine.

Also if you are in the market for cowhide rugs with a hint of metallic then you may want to go here.

kids lunches

I am on the hunt for a lunch box like this for my girls to take to full day school next year. Any clues??

Anyway the above is inspiring me to try really hard to think outside of the box and come up with some creative, healthy and fun lunches for my kids.

Any tips would greatly appreciated. For the details on the above lunch go here.

{hats}

If you are like me then you LOVE hats and they are a must have item. It is one of my "fake it til you make it" items when I do not have the desire or time to get ready and that seems to happen more and more as summer approaches.

I was so glad that Liz compiled a list of places to purchase some great and affordable summer hats. To see those lists go here & here.

When I was in Target last I noticed quite a few hats that would fit the bill. Are there any hats that you love that may be on your list for summer?