Decisions Decisions

So the facebook and blog verdict is in, and the email request has been sent to our contractor.  I present our new bathroom vanities.  I will be picking up the light fixtures and faucets this weekend, and putting Josh's finely honed electrician skills to use.  Plumbing, we aren't taking our chances on and will leave up to the professionals-ha!

Other than trips to both Home Depot and Lowes, we will also be visiting some furniture stores.  I conceded hardwood floors downstairs for new bedroom furniture upstairs.  I will also be making a trip to JoAnn's and Calico Corners as I plan out curtains and a bed skirt for our bedroom. 

Humm, I just realized that my sewing machine is in storage with the rest of our household belongings.  Never fear, I have my trusty friend iron hem tape.  It won't be the first time I made curtains with it either-ha!  It will however be my first attempt at a pelmet box, but I plan to follow Jenny's tutorial from the Little Green Notebook.

As I searched for a picture of our bedding, I saw that I could buy a king bed skirt (our pattern is discontinued).  Now I have to decide if I want to make something on my own or jimmy rig a king skirt to fit our queen bed-why does life have to be this hard?

And yes, we have a dozen pillows for our bed. 

That's two more than are even displayed in these pictures. 

Yes, I know this is ridiculous-thanks.

Vanities oh Vanities

So life has been a whirl wind, what else is new...

With so much going on, I am having a hard time focusing, and selecting my bathroom vanities. 

I have picked the master bath paint, tile and light fixtures. Now just which vanity and then faucets-oh me.

So let me know what you think...

In the master bath, I have narrowed it down to two vanities, both have excellent reviews.  Of course I would like to maximize on storage space, the one I was leaning towards is only 31" and the other that I really like is 36".  Have I mentioned before that I am the most indecisive person on the face of the planet?  I would hate to give up drawers and five extra inches of storage, oh I know I'm loosing it.

This is the paint color as well as the lighting I selected-now which vanity...

So onto bigger and better things or smaller and just as good things since I am referring to our half bath. Below is the paint color as well as the vanities I've narrowed it down to.  All are similar size and price range, which some how makes the decision more difficult.  As noted, I'm totally at a loss-what to do, what to do?

Let me know which ones you like the best!  I would love to hear...

Thanks!!

Running Around

I feel like I have been running around like crazy this week.  I'm trying to keep everything moving full speed ahead with the house renovation.  I've got to keep on these folks to make sure things are happening.  It's so funny, the contractor that our homeowners association selected to head up the rebuild is horrid.  They have the worst communication EVER-the best is when we finally got our project manager (after waiting more than a week).  He comes out to do a walk through with us last Friday, and as we are wrapping up, says "Oh by the way you won't be able to reach me next week, I'll be on vacation."  Seriously, what kind of company assigns someone to head up a project the day before he leaves on vacation-ha! 

Anyway, the sub-contractors, who actually do the work have been great so far.  Every room in the house had been painted except for the living/dining room.  I love all the colors I picked out!  I'm nervous to see how my "Greyish" turns out in the living/dining rooms-hopefully I will know soon! 

All our HVAC ducts were replaced yesterday, and I met with the subcontractor doing our flooring.  I wasn't too impressed with him or his samples, so I'm hoping that works out.  I really wanted the same tile put back in the kitchen that we just did, so he said I could let him know the info on it and he would get it.  I figured while I was at it I would pick out different tile for the bathrooms, too.  I asked how much insurance was giving us per square foot for the tile in the bathroom.  I was not thrilled with his answer of $2, but figured I would work with it.  If I found tile I like that was more, we could just cover the difference (like we have on everything else so far-ha).  Well, I went to my fav tile store this morning, Mosaic Tile, and my fav sales associate really helped me out.  I was hoping to do a 3x6 travertine for the bathrooms, but that was a little pricey.  I explained to her what was going on, and she let me know that they just put a bunch of tile on clearance-jack-pot!  I got to pick out totally awesome (but not travertine) tiles for rock bottom prices-take that $2 a square foot!

All this with a numb mouth since I stopped by after my dentist apt this morning.  With all this running around town, I may need some alternative transportation-maybe I should take some tips from my brother.

This is him with his girlfriend, Betsy, last week in Thailand.

And he just picked up his new car truck, yesterday.  A Ford F250.  Can't wait to go for a ride baby bro!

Adventures with Lilly

So did anyone else want to poke their eyes out during the lilly "pre-sale" this morning?

I figure it's a good thing that the site kept freezing and not letting me check out.  Less $$$ out of my pocketbook = more $$$ for hardwood floors!!

I did take a peek at the men's side and wondered if I could get my hubby to sport this to a football game this fall...

I kind of love it

The Paint has been Picked

I spent waaaay too long laboring over paint choices for the house.  After all the design books and magazines I've read over the past few week you would have thought I would have been inspired and ready when it came time to pick the paint colors.  I was not, but I turned over my choices to our painter and his team this morning, and this is what we are going with.  As I walked out, I took a sigh and thought, It's just paint...

Living Room Dining Room will be Sherwin Williams Grayish

Kitchen will get a fresh coat of Celtic Gray by Bher

The downstairs bath's new color:  Open Seas by Sherwin Williams

Hallways, foyer and stairway will be Bungalow Beige by Sherwin Williams

They Laundry Room will get a fresh coat of white

The Master Bath will be transformed to Gorgeous White by Sherwin Williams

Master Bedroom will get a fresh coat of White Chocolate

Guest Bedroom/Office will stay Sage Green

Guest Bath will turn into Banana Cream

I thought I was doing a neutral color scheme, but this seems to have a little more splash once I have it all together-looking forward to seeing the progress!

Gator Game Day-Fashion Forward

I have been scouring the net for my Fall 2010 Saturday lookbook-here's what I've got so far.

Being sewn/shipped as we speak:

http://www.cindysmithdesigns.com/ 

Jessica London

Ananya from Etsy


In My Shopping Cart at Macys.com:

Of course my Macy's coupons are sitting in our hotel room, so this purchase will be delayed.

Looking to place orders in to:

http://www.hautefancouture.com/

can't figure out what fabric and color combo I want...

and possibly later in the season:

http://www.trucolorsapparel.com/

 I am thinking this number for Vandy or SEC Championship

 Chadwicks

Oh and then the accessories...

Gator Game Day - planning

I don't know where time went, but newsflash-football season starts in three weeks.  I usually spend the summer preparing my Gator Game Day fashions.  Alas, this summer I did not.  I've been on a super strict diet to hopefully decrease my waistline thus increasing my orange and blue clothing options.

Lots of weekend visitors, my girls cruise, the housing situation, and overall lack of willpower have lead me to gain back 15 of the 30 pounds I lost-ha!  I'm back on the plan now, but not in time to seriously drop any sizes before we fly down to Gainesville for the season kick-off-mirrrr.

So what's a fabulous Florida girl to do?  Get online, and order some dresses stat!  But first, I had to plan the season out, for example I can't walk down Cumberland Ave in Knoxville in an orange dress for the Tennessee Game, nor do I want to be sporting royal blue at the Gin Mill for the Kentucky Game (we'll be in NYC for a wedding).  Location also plays a role, for example it will be a lot warmer in FL for the FSU game come Thanksgiving weekend, but I'll be here in DC-so warmer clothes will be required.

Come in my Gator Game Day Dress chart:

**  I will be with lots of friends and not just with Josh in a hotel room, so I can do one of my favorite activities ever - Gator Game Day Fashion show for these games!!  Only girlfriends will provide accurate and true advice about which pair of earrings look best with my orange and blue frock.

Stay turned for a preview of 2010 game day attire.

Spotted

Tervis Tumblers on sale this week!

Thanks to my blog buddy Mint Juleps and Magnolias for the heads up on the sale!

Lacey and I were window shopping at a few boutiques in McLean this weekend.  Window shopping and not actually shopping because we hit the stores up at 9 am (prior to opening at 10) after breakfast and our visit to the DC super sale from the Little Green Notebook at 7 am.  Well 7:10 in our case, and by what was left 10 minutes after the sale began made me feel like most when Lilly P is featured on Ru La La - looking around for what could possibly be left seconds after the sale starts.  I walked away with two mirrors and sans the Chang Mai settee-oh the sorrow. 

Back to my point on Tervis Tumblers.  One of the shops had their windows filled with collegiate goodies (for all the schools round these parts: UVA, V Tech, Georgetown, George Mason, etc).  We were both saying how much we wanted Gator Tumblers before football season starts.  Side note-how is football season 3 weeks away?  This house flood really threw me off tailgate prepping.  I am putting in rush orders for my game day dresses.  Luckily Josh has already secured hotel rooms, tickets and airfare to most games, and I did remember to grab my orange and blue bonanno's before the packers came-ha!

Off topic once again-The folks at Tervis Tumblers are offering 20% off this week on collegiate orders when you use the code SCHOOL at checkout.  Order now, so your Bloody Marys and Bourbon Myers say cold and your hands stay sweat free!

Now, how many of each logo and size to order?!?!

Follow Fridays

I met some great blog buddies the last time I played along with Follow Friday's so I am joining Bethany at Maryland Pink and Green who is featuring another fav of mine and Trish at Pink Preppy Lilly Lover this week!

Here's how to play:

1. Find new blogs to follow and be sure to follow the hostesses Trish and Bethany of the blog hop.

2. Be sure to follow someone who follows you and let them know that you found them through Follow Friday. You all know how much we love comments! :)

3. Tell your other blogger friends about Follow Friday and encourage them to join!

For having movers-we sure moved a lot

Well, we are finally getting setteled into our hotel suite.  There have been a lot of changes over the past few weeks, but I think we are making the most of the situation the great pipe burst of 2010 has taken on us.

I do miss our big screen TV and the guide feature from Direct TV.  I like to know what's on all the channels, so I can make the best decision for optimal TV viewing.  Our hotel doesn't have a box or dvr-so I have to figure out when my shows are actually on.  Enter-www.tvguide.com.  I have selected my favorite channels and printed tonight's prime time schedule.  For my first night camping out in front of the TV in a long time it's going to be a good one.  I'll be flipping between Bravo and MTV.  It's a Real Housewives (NJ & DC) Bethenny Getting Married, Teen Mom and Jersey Shore kind of night-I am very excited. 

We will be in a two-bedroom suite at the Marriott for at least a month, and the movers (and us) finally got everything out of our house so the construction can begin.  For having movers, we sure moved a lot ourselves.  They don't store clothing in the warehouse, so there were countless trips up and down way too many stairs with all our closet and dresser contents.  Not to mention my husbands "brilliant" packing technique that involved industrial garbage bags.  (I was on my girls beach trip-or else this won't have been considered a packing option).  Needless to say, I'm glad he tired out on packing before he got to my side of the closet!  I'm also glad we have two bedrooms in our suite since one is currently serving as a temperature and climate controlled storage unit (you don't want to know how many HUGE black garbage bags are filling this room).

Hopefully we'll be back in our house before we are too far into football season.  In the mean time I will be browsing the TV Guide website or have my nose buried in a design magazine or book.  Decorating an entire house is slightly overwhelming!

Back from the Bahamas

I just had the best girls weekend with Lacey, Reema and Elisabeth!  Royal Caribbean and the Bahamas treated us just right.  After a little drama getting off the ground in DC (sat on the runway for a few hours) I was in total vacation mode.

We struck a sassy pose after checking in.

Then headed straight for the welcome buffet, we got a quick bite before it was all hands on deck for the muster drill.  Lacey and Reema's station was out in the 100 degree temps, while Elisabeth and I lounged inside, where I asked every RC crew member if they would bring us a drink as they walked by...they were not amused.  Luck for us-there was a bar a few feet away and after the muster drill was over-it was time for a Miami Vice, followed by a Mojito.

After exploring the Monarch of the Seas and watching the shore line disappear, we got ready for our first dinner on board.  On the way to the dining room we made quick stop for what turned out to be a very fun photo shoot.

There were a lot more hilarious poses, but at $20 a pop, we had to narrow it down to a few favorites.

Dinner was great, and we started a tradition of getting the after dinner shot each night, I also drank a few cups of coffee so I could fully enjoy the evenings activities.

We went to the piano bar, casino and late night dance party.  It was tons of fun, and we finally made it to bed around 3 am.

Bright and early we were up and ready to explore Paradise Island. 

We jumped on a boat from the cruise terminal and headed to Atlantis. 

It was a spectacular day. The combo of tropical paradise, pina coladas and the Atlantis water park was perfection.  I loved all the water rides, and wish we could have spent the whole weekend at the resort!

The aquarium was soo amazing-some of the water slides even went through a part of it!

After an exciting day in Nassau, we headed back to the boat to get ready for dinner.  We had another fun night, and visited every deck trying to find the party people.  There was a dance party on the pool deck, but our favorite dance floor from the previous night was closed for business-but we still managed to have an outstanding evening!

 The next morning, we took the tender to Coco Cay - RC's private island. 

Renting floats and a few Coco Loco's made for a perfect day in the sun!

We enjoyed our last night on the boat-everyone seemed to win in the casino, but me.  I guess my luck still hasn't turned around.

I couldn't have asked for a better trip with a better group of friends, now the countdown is on for football season-so we can all be together again!