{on my list} The Wave

My goodness gracious sakes alive if I don't make it through 2012 without hiking the wave then heaven help me. Up north through Navajo country there exists some of the most beautiful and unique country. The particular hike that I would like to do is limited to only 20 hikers a day.

If you are planning a trip to Arizona may I first suggest that going out of your way to visit the less traveled northern rim of The Grand Canyon is well worth the extra time. Then you could really up the stock of your trip and venture into southern Utah which even hosts more areas that were better than the last.

Also I have always been partial to the old school Native American craft...probably due to the fact that I have pretty much lived my whole life in this region. They produced some of the most beautiful jewelry, rugs and blankets. I am loving the old black and white photos of Native Americans.

Here is a site to get familiar with some of the scenic parts of the Navajo Nation.

Happy Friday friends! We will actually be traveling through some of the above mentioned country tomorrow. What are you up to?

{sources here, here and that mercedes photo is credited to photographer Dan Martensen}

{A local fabric source and the perfect color blue}

Today I had my mind set on finding a particular blue fabric...

Fabric hunting can be exhausting. Hopefully one of the below will work out because my Favey Crockett thing do lately has not been to move from my sofa. We've never watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang so many times. Seriously though I've felt not at the top of my game and pretty weak. Things are looking up though.

Merry Tuesday!

Also I just wanted to give one of my readers a tip on a fabric source. She had emailed wondering where she could get to the trade fabrics here in the Phoenix area. I thought that many others who already didn't know this would appreciate knowing about Boca Bargoons. They get some really great high end fabrics and anyone is invited. Some of their sales are fantastic. I recently picked up my La Florentina for $18/yard...and that is a great price.

{painting brick and a stunning home in Brooklyn Heights}

I've been thinking...there are quite a few homes that come through on the MLS that have outdated brick and in my opinion are not so attractive. I was having the conversation with a family member about buying one of these said brick homes and white washing the brick or just painting over it completely. I know that for me and this Arizona sun that if it were my home I would choose white but with that being said I can not get the above image out of my head..that dark brick is just stunning.

Just in case you wanted to see the interior of the above Brooklyn Heights Greek Revival Home look below because I felt like gifting them to the blog world. All photos via CWB Architects.

Let's play a game

Can you guess the age of these interiors?

If you guessed about 15 years old then you are the winner.

Even though these are a little more traditional than I prefer I really appreciate that they still look very fresh and classic. All I would need to do is bring in a few edgier pieces and mix the place up with some different accessories every few years and then these interiors could last a lifetime.

{All images Martha Stewart}

{scenes from the weekend}

I am feeling really soft inside right at the moment. You know how there are moments where one might be missing the boat a little bit and then something happens to come along and bring a little perspective. Sometimes it doesn't have to be anything life shattering thank goodness. Anyway the other night it was late and my husband wasn't home so I let one of my little boys who was very restless come lay in my bed for a while. At first it was because I didn't want him to wake the other boys. I soon discovered that his wakefulness was such a gift to me. In the beginning Wells quietly laid there in bed and I felt really good about that because I was so tired. A few moments later a little hand tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Momma do you want to play rock, paper scissors?" It was the most random time for a four year old to want to play a game and believe me I was fully prepared to tell him no but something inside of me could not resist. It was dark so with a little help of my cell phone light we pressed forward with the best game of rock, paper, scissors ever. No doubt the glisten in buddy boy's eye and the most infectious laugh helped to up the stock of the game when we played that night. I then thought about how there may be many moments I might be missing like this because of being consumed and distracted with other things.

Here is to being focused on playing a good game of rock paper scissors this week;-)

I thought it was a pretty scene when the girls went into the guest room where camp Easter was set up (that is the room where all of the Easter baskets were assembled and set up). The room sort of looked like an Easter egg in all its lilac glory. I feel kind of bad because Maren wanted to use the above pink and purple "fancy" Easter basket this year but I told her she needed to use the one I had already set out. That is when she started rolling around the bed saying, "PLEEEEAAAASE" over and over and over and over again.

How was your Easter weekend?

P.S. - I think candy helps kids to sit still and not wiggle about at such an unnatural frequency.

Chintz and The Greenbrier

My Mom is really not going to be a fan of this post. She chintzed herself out after the 90's..

Well I have recently been attracted to floral sofas. In fact I told my friend to go online and look at some campaign furniture at a local consignment store that she told me about. She came back and said "Did you see the floral loveseats?" They were gone because I had already journeyed over to see them so apparently I am not the only one who can appreciate a good piece of chintz...but only in small doses. I am loving that Carlton Varney wallpaper in some of the hotels suites on the bottom row of images.

Ever since I read an article about The Greenbrier Hotel in Travel & Leisure I have associate all of this florally/ chintzy trend to that hotel.

Dreamy Beach House in Australia

If I had a beach house in Australia I would want it to look like the above.

Well Done Sara Davidson. To see more go here.

My new favorite tool

This is how we roll...

paint.

I picked up the camera to take some pictures of one of my new favorite tools when painting so that I could share it with you. When I went to download the photos I got much more than I thought (refer above). My son apparently found the camera. The pictures made me smile though because they reminded me that I have a hard time learning my lesson when painting...I am a lazy painter...hence I hardly ever put on proper clothing and never never tape. For that I always put myself at such high risk of ruining a completely good outfit...it has been known to happen. When I went to pick up the girls with my paint encrusted hands their teacher said, "You painted in those clothes?" Yep I sure did. She just shook her head.

Well now that we have disclosed that I am a lazy painter how about I share some of my lazy paint tips that have been really helping me get the job done without taping. My new favorite tool comes in the form of precision tip Q-tips and I have a feeling I will be using these little things quite a bit in my future. Just imagine all of the possibilities with this things..or just imagine John Cusack in Better Off Dead..please say you know what I am talking about or else I'm going to feel really old? When it came down to it today the little red shur line tool could only get me so far in the corners. That is when I recruited the little white precision tip...worked like a charm.

Next up trim and baseboards...those dirty suckers.