I’m Back!!

My dear friends, it’s been so long. I have been neglectful over here on 511. I’ve been busy with life and work and Mommy.

And also, I had kind of reached a decorating plateau. I literally have no more wall space to cover. I have not a throw-pillow-less-chair. Because decorating was such a huge and integral part of my winter (Home goods was my Home) I kind of did everything that I had to do and was able to do for the time being.

BUT…

I have been squirreling away some stories over here. I have had the honor and pleasure of starting on a big project, my best friends’ new home that I mentioned months ago is coming to life! They made settlement and have been making major changes, like putting on a new roof, staining the floors, and OMG they are painting everything top to bottom. This means that I got to spend an hour with my buddy J and he and I went through every single room in the house holding up swatches, taping electrical tape in strategic spots on the ceiling and arm wrestling over the color taupe. But their home deserves a post of it’s own (or many posts, I should say). so I will get to that. It is so exciting!

When it comes to my house, I have made a few little updates, and am actually planning a new paint job for my very first room of my very first post, thanks to the incredible Paul the Painter extraordinaire. But here’s a tiny little update that made my heart swell a few big sizes.

When I got married, we danced to The Rolling Stones “Sweethearts Together” and walked up the aisle to The Beatles. This week, my mom got me the perfect addition to my gallery wall:

It’s a good reminder. A really good reminder.

And this wall that was once a source of great question and confusion for me has really come to life; it is now a tapestry of our favorite words, photos, songs, lyrics, images…it is us, on one, big, long “White Dove” hallway wall.

All you need is love. Love is all you need.

511 Meets 39 (aka the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship)

Our besties bought a house! It is a 3 minute drive away and an 18 minute walk. It is amazing.
And they, so generously, asked me to help them with paint colors.
This is like asking me to help them to name their child. It is meaningful and something that I happen to love dearly.
I also know a pretty good deal about paint colors.

So, it’s Saturday night and I was supposed to go to sleep an hour ago, but instead I am designing the paint scheme for their new home (whether they like it or not!) and sending them emails with approximately 25 photos each of cool grays, warm grays, neutral taupes, blue grays…
They are going to be sorry they asked me for advice.
And I will love ever stinkin’ minute of this.

Friends. Family. Foxy.

“The most important thing in life is your family. There are days you love them, and others you don’t, but in the end they’re the people you always come home to. Sometimes it’s the family you’re born into and sometimes it’s the one you make for yourself.”

If you followed me on Mommy Ever After then you know that I have a major thing for Sex and the City. And this quote has never applied more than during this phase in my life; when my friends have stepped in and played with and watched and bathed and, at times, virtually raised my children.

Tonight we had a Sunday night dinner, sharing chinese food family style, sitting around my dining room table and choking with laughter. We played games with my daughter where she’d put a jelly bean in one of our mouths and we’d have to guess the flavor. We reminisced about elementary school and the people who had crazy handwriting or who moved away. I even shed a few tears. This is my tribe. These are my people. This is the family I have created for myself and my children. I feel overwhelmingly blessed.

One of my friends, (you might remember J from her many appearances over on MEA),
brought us all valentines, including a very special piece of home decor that she found that is her nickname for me.

 

How cool is this? And I could put it somewhere fun like up in the playroom, but as I’ve said before, I want my living room, which is arguably the most formal space in my home, to be a place in which we live. 

So now my sophisticated windowsill has a fun and Foxy accent. And I love it to bits. Just like I love the girl who gave it to me. 

And speaking of friends, remember my dear girlfriend whose beautiful new home I’m helping to decorate? She was here. She did the jelly bean taste test. She made fun of my husband so badly that I almost spit out my drink. And she just sent me this photo of her housewarming gift. Pretty darn perfect, no? Again, just like my friend.

And even when the feelings of the blechs started to creep in tonight, as they sometimes do, I had my friends around me, to remind me of how blessed I am (this girl was here too, of course) and they renewed my strength and my faith and my happiness.

I love you, my friends who have become my family. I love you more than you will ever know.