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Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.....

Remember this door?

 

Well it has a new wreath on it...let me refresh your memory....

 

this was my friends door all decorated for fall...well now it is sporting a new summer wreath.....Not only is it sporting a new wreath but my friend just redid her kitchen and it is gorgeous...I mean drop dead gorgeous...{reason for the title}......would you like to take a peek inside..thought you would...first we start off down from the driveway into the walkway...her house is a cape cod with two dormers but you can't see them because the tree is in the way of this shot..I'll have to do another post on the outside.

Coming down the walkway to the front door you look to the left at a tranquil waterfall.

 

When you are sitting here you get to look out at the waterfall....

 

    {sorry about the glare off the windows and tables}  click to enlarge photos

 

this is the built -in Island with Carrera Marble tops you can see where it is in relation to the breakfast nook.  It's made out of a exquisite mahogany wood,  as is the built in refrigerator.

 

the kitchen is done in two-tone, I love the contrast of the dark floors with the island and frig and the cream colored cabinets....across from the frig is the Viking Stove...

 

Nice and handy is the pot spigot to fill up big pots for boiling lobster...ha!  Yes..I'm in dreamland, that I am...  Also another thing handy in this kitchen is the butcher block built-in next to the stove.  In the photo above you can also see the mesh cabinet fronts that her beautiful china peeks out from.   A better view of the mesh doors are of the pantry seen below..

 

Sitting right across from the pantry is this little seating area to watch "The Game" on the big screen TV..

 

You can see in the top corner the breakfast nook.  Before we step into the dining room I want to show you the glass cabinets that flank the other side of the frig.  Can you see the gilded gold glasses inside? What..you say you would like a glass of wine?  Yep...they have a wine frig to the left of this cabinet.  Let me go find the wine opener.

 

 

which glass would you like...Ok  Now lets go check out the bar if you don't want wine I'm sure I could find some spirits for you..

 

Now before we leave the kitchen I have to show you my favorite part of this redo..

This house is a three story and the kitchen is on the second story so you feel like you are in a tree-house. 

 

The view above the sink....

 

now....for my favorite part..the apron front sink....I'm so in love with it..I want to kiss and hug it...I really, really do...

Love the white subway tile and the bridge faucet, here is a closer peek of the sink...

it's a double and it is very deep...again they used Carrera Marble on the counters..

 

Now moving toward the left we go into the dining room...

 

you can see beyond the stunning dining room table in that rich dark wood surrounded with leather chairs done in up with upholstery tacks.  But let's take a closer look at that sparkly chandelier, shall we?

 

Right next to the dining room table to warm you up on chilly night is this baby..

 

{sorry so blurry}   isn't this venetian glass mirrow exquistite? 

Next to the fireplace there is bank of shelves...

 

 

the pretty sea fans and white coral look pretty against the blue backdrop on the shelves.  The paint in the dining room is by Dunn Edwards but I'll have to check on and see what color it is.  

we enjoyed our third of July celebration

Yep..you read the title right....every year our neighboring city does a celebration on the THIRD of July....this year was the biggest and crowdiest {Is that a word?}in all the years we have been going since our eldest was about a year old.   This year they had a ton of food vendors and even one place sold deep fried oreos....but we did not get any maybe next year...as tradition we always go here first....

 

to see the Colonel....we always bring a bucket of the Colonel Sanders Chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy..

 

Then we head down to the City's' Regional Park, where we eat our Picnic Dinner and head over ot the craft booths.  The girls decided on supporting the High School Soccer team which had face painting...it was the most popular booth by far..you could get your face painted with a Patriotic Flower or a red, white and blue bedazzled design that ran about $1-$3 bucks and you were all decorated in Patriotic style....

 

 

 

One of the more interesting sights was this young girl who had to be about 9 riding this very tall unicycle...

 

now I didn't get a picture of her going up  and down the hills...wish I would of.  Later on she had a smaller unicycle and she was able to go up and down and ride it all by herself.  Dad was riding the one in the picture above and brother had his own too ..it was like the Circus family on Unicycles.  I was wondering where Mom was?   My Dad one time brought home a unicycle for us kids when we were little.  It was really, really hard to ride, we never did master it but it was fun trying.  

 

Wouldn't this be fun to ride in a parade....

 

I think this Patriotic Dude shoud be the driver....don't ya think?

 

We had Firecrackers...the cold and yummy kind and the beautiful to look at kind..

 

 

Hope your    THIRD or FOURTH  of JULY was spectacular......

Porch 4th Decorations...

As I stroll around town taking my children to their sporting/dancing/drama events I sometimes take the long route....this leads to questions like, "Mom, why is it taking so long to get there?"..or "How come your slowing down and you have your camera out?"...I want to say, just sit down and shut UP!   But I say..."oh I decided to go this way today instead for a change of scenery..it's the scenic route, don't you like it?"  which leads to the "uh..no!"   Oh well one of these days they'll remember the times I taught them about all the great architecture of Southern California...yes..I know they will...

Here is one cute house I spotted all dressed up for the upcoming Fourth of July Celebrations..

 

Let's be nosy neighbors and take a closer look....

 

You know I have a soft spot for cute porches and Craftsman Bungalows...I wish I was lucky enough to live in one and I think the owners of them are very lucky...but here is what I have done to my porch/garden to gussied it up in 4th of July fashion..

 

I bring out my blue ticking pillow with the red buttons I made..yep I made it myself.  I take out my flag pillow with Uncle Sam who is now freshly shaven..(lost his beard) and put that out on my country bench.

 

Every year at this time the real estate agents put in small American flags on the sidewalk with their calling cards and so I have slowly collected them and reuse them in my planters to decorate.  Do they do that in your neck of the woods?

 

Here I begged offered to take this piece of picket fence of my neighbor's hands for her and I reused it here as a backdrop for part of my garden.  I added these cute red and blue buckets I got from JoAnn's or Michael's a few years ago.  I added one of my favorite trailing plant to them Calibrachoa which comes in such a variety of colors...I have them in white and red as seen above as well as yellow and lavender.  Remember this guy...

 

such a soft shade of purple...he was nice and healthy but he was too pretty......the aphids got him....I got some ladybugs to cure him and they ate them all.  I don't know if you know about aphids but they leave their white shredded skin on the plant so he needs a good washing, I hear a mild soapy water does the trick....any other advice from you plant people out there ..suggestions welcome.   Anyways...back to to the reason for my post...they come in all colors as you can see I love how they drape but they do need lots of water!!  

 

Now...we move to the left of my front garden where the wrought iron crib bed is and we have a dated, very countryish sign that I hung up....I have had this sign for so long but even though it's so "out of style" I still like it.....and the sentiment still rings true...so what does your porch or garden or yard look like this time of the year I would love to visit it so please leave a comment.....hope you enjoyed this patriotic tour.

As we say Goodbye to an incredibly talented individual..

Mr. Incredible turns......

Do you care to make a gander with all those candles on that cake?.......  

 

Go on take a guess....I'll give you a hint the whole top is covered in wax.....

 

So here is the Lemon Cake {from a box} with cream cheese frosting with fresh from the farmers market berries that the girls and I made for our Daddy-O , it's a four layer one....it almost toppled over....to much cake for this family of four but we shared it with half the neighborhood.      The girls decided this birthday to change the traditional Happy Birthday Song to sing, "for he is a jolly good fellow"......which we all know Mr. Incredible is....we love you Daddy-0.....

The Color of Summer......

To you, what color says summer?.....I have one particular color that shouts out Summertime....it is one that evokes lazy days floating in the ocean on the North Shore of Kaua'i, it is the cloudless sky on a summer day, it is the old vintage beach glass that has been rolled over by the waves over and over again.....

 

 

 

 

The color of Penny's beautiful basket.....so soft and calming.

 

 

 

 

the petite aqua fan to cool hot bodies on a summer day...............

 

 

 

Gossip.....

Making big news these days are the Joel's on their announcement of a marital split.   Regardless of that....it's none of my business what the Joel's do with their marriage BUT....what is mybusiness is the beautiful home they have in the Hamptons.   You all know how much I love Beach Cottage style.  Here is a few teasers for you andif you have almost 20 million it is yours!! So go out and start renting your Uhaul......

 

I love the hardwood floors with the white slipcovered sofas and that sofa table looks very familiar......Hmmmm, where have I seen that before?  I love a brick fireplace and nooks and crannies for all the books and tshkotskes, and the high white painted beams.  Let's step into the dinning room...

 

I adore the plank walls, the wrought iron Chandeliers, that farmhouse table with the ladder back chairs and that big oak China hutch.  I wish I could get in closer with the kitchen.....want to head out to the lanai?

I love this kind of EAST Coast deck with the weathered wood, those teak steward chairs and a plain white umbrella.  Simple but very serene and beautiful.  If you would like to see more go here.

Summer Fun.....Here we come!!

We are ready to do this......

        {crayola has come out with some more VIBRANT chalk colors}

and this...

 

Oh...and for sure this...

 

definitely weekly trips here....

 

I'll be checking in here for the daily craft of the day to help the summer pass along..

 

signing up for the Neighborhood Library program...it's the best one out there and doing a lot of this...

 

so the girls are getting this Summer Fun Survival Beach Bucket

 

you may ask...what is inside these after it's only been 20 minutes into summer vacation and you hear, "MOM....I'm bored"....

1.) goggles for visiting the neighbor's swimming pool

2.) Vibrant colored chalk by Crayola

3.) a big long roll of paper

4.) water color paint

5.) a notebook

6.)  water GUNS!!!!!  yes, in my household I let my kids play with WATER GUNS!!

7.) Slippers{that's what we call them in Hawai'i not thongs or flip flops.}

8.) a light up ball

9.) a fancy glitter summer cup....because I'm tired of a million cups on my counter

10.) sand castle beach bucket.....

...summer here we come, ready or not!!

Aloha! It's the Fifth Grade Picnic

They have been friends since Second Grade.  Even though they have been in and out of different classrooms they seek each other out on the playground.  Half of them will go to the same middle school and the other half to another middle school.  So it's bittersweet for me because I remember when I went to middle school my friends changed....

 

 Of course it was a Luau themed picnic...they had a hula hoop contest and a Limbo contest and swam in the park pool. 

  Madison got voted most Athletic by her 5th grade class....

 

As we close another chapter we begin to think about opening another book.....

Better Porches and Gardens......

I've been busy lately....like so many of you.   My eldest daughter made the Softball All Star team and that has kept me running her to practice every night with games the whole weekend long which hasn't left me much time to go antiquing/yard saling or driving around the neighborhoods..stalking cute houses as I would like to do.  But a few weeks back my husband and I went to an Estate Sale and we found the neighborhood where the estate sale very nice and with well taken care of gardens, speaking of gardens it's behind one of my favorite nurseries....so before I hit the nursery to get more plants for my garden I snapped a few photos of my favorite houses and gardens in this new "hood".   I hope you enjoy. 

 

This is probably the oldest home in the neighborhood, it was very different from the rest of the homes we saw there.  It's looks to me like a Spanish Style with it's terracotta tile roof and the balcony above the porch.

 

this cute ranch was for sale, most likely between 600,000 and 750,000.....What can I say California price for real estate, what I would not give for Alabama prices over here.

 

I like the criss cross windows, don't you?  I think that is a classic for a ranch style house. 

 what caught my eye while driving around was that little wrought iron wheel wagon with the galvanized bucket on it. 

 

I liked this little yard with it's picket fence and brick pillars.  Look how healthy those day Lillie's are?  I love day Lillie's..they seem so happy don' t they?  Come little a closer I know you are nosy like me.......lets go through the arbor of blue Manda-villa Vine...they look like bluebells to me....ringing a happy tune.

 

 I loved the colors of this house the cranberry red door with sunflower yellow and isn't the lantern so very cute hanging there?  Here is a house that had one of my favorite porches in this neighborhood..

 

Ahhh...you are so very nosy....come a little closer and you will see why I find this porch so charming...are you ready?

 

Nice welcoming rockers say, "sit here" or the sweet little bird bath nestled in the day Lillie's.  Again the small white picket fence that say Cottage Cozy.....got to love the bricks...love, love bricks on porches.   Look at the french doors leading out to another sitting area while you watch your neighbors stroll around the block with their dogs.  I can see some stones peeking out from under the inpatients...can you see why this one was a favorite?   I wish I had a big porch like this to welcome guest to my Home but I think I do a pretty good job with what I have.....