This stuff is goooood.

Stay with me till the end for the Bomobob giveaway winner! :)

Speaking of Bob, I had to brag about my advertisers yet again, cause you know -- they RAWK.

My newest advertiser, Amanda at Imperfectly Beautiful, has the caaaaautest Etsy shop you ever did see. When I saw these on her blog, I had to have them. They were even packaged so sweetly when they arrived, I could just die:
Squeal! I did! I squealed! YES, they are Christmas decorations. YES, I am going there. It's only FOUR months away peeps. That's like, only a third of a year. Geez.

The blocks were much bigger than I thought they would be. I love all the details -- some of the paper even has sparkles (hard to see here):

Squeal! Sparkles!

I can't tell you how pleased I was when I opened this up. Amanda does a great job, you must go check her out here. She's working on an upcoming giveaway for you lovely folks too:And at Cara's giveaway post for The Sheet Boutique, I told you how I bought the EzzzySleep fleece sheets.

They came super fast and uh. my. gawd., they are they most amazing sheets we've ever had!:
I know the picture doesn't convey how comfy these are. They are so soft, I'm not even kidding. When I opened them up I was a little worried they would be too hot, but they are so comfortable, even though it is still fairly warm around here. I am SO thrilled with this purchase. Like sleeping in a fluffy cloud.

The winner of Bomobob's fantastic giveaway is (randomly picked) Erin from Home is Where the Heart is! Erin, e-mail me and I'll get you connected with Bob!

Come back tomorrow -- I have some fun little projects to share. :)

My Sunny Balcony

If you too, like me love to hang out in balconies and want to make it that perfect place to relax and rejuvenate, here are 4 highly creative individuals from My Sunny Balcony, who will transform your balconies into a beautiful retreat:-)
These individuals are Sriram Aravamudan, Shailesh Deshpande, Athreya Chidambi and Reena Chengappa. They are not only passionate about their work but also about the environment. This aspect is reflected in all the stages of their work.Whether it is getting eco-friendly garden options or to the organic manure that they use for their plants, everything is well thought out. Their knowledge about various species of plants and how well they grow in different environments is commendable.
You can choose from various themes like Zen, Traditional, European, Mexican etc. They will transform even a small space to a work of art:-)
They collaborate with various artists to enhance the theme of their gardens.
Here is one such artist painting a Bodhi tree for one of their clients.The earthern pots are custom-made for each client based on their requirements and theme.An old world charm incorporated in one of their many balcony transformations:-)
So if you are in Bangalore and have even a small balcony space, do contact them. They will come with their green thumbs & eco-friendly optimism and transform your space into one sunny balcony:-)

(Photos from My Sunny Balcony.com, Anita Bora)

Open letter to a new Momma

Today we celebrated the upcoming birth of a new baby boy. The mom-to-be is one of my last friends to have their first child, and there is something so incredibly special about that. Something so special you just don't get when you are pregnant with that first baby. You wonder why everyone has constant big goofy smiles, fluffing all over you and can't keep your hands off your belly. :)

And then you have that baby. And you know.

So Momma B., this is what I hope you remember over the next few weeks:

For at least the new two years, probably more, you will have very little control over your life. It starts with labor -- you can't plan it (I know, it killed me too!), you can't tell that little one how or when to come, and you can't control how the labor will go. All you can do is relax, let go, breathe, and realize you have to give it up to the people that know best...the nurses, your doctor, God.

After the baby is here, you will have zero control over your life because that itty bitty patootie will rule. your. world. You will feel exhaustion like you've never known. You will want to give your right arm for a few straight hours of sleep. You will have to plan to leave the house well ahead of time. And when you do leave the house, it will be 30 minutes later than you had planned.

Speaking of sleep, even the best sleepers (ours slept through at FIVE weeks) will drive you absolutely mad at times. They will sleep three hours at a time for a few nights...sleep for six one night...you will get on your knees thanking God...and then that next night they will will wake up every two. It is a bit maddening. There are also nights when they just don't want to sleep, thank you very much. They would rather just lay there staring at you, thank you again.

Because of this, there may be times you will look at your child at 3 a.m., begging him to PLEASE JUST GO TO SLEEP. You may not even like him much at those moments. YES -- I said it, there are times you just are not nuts about them for being itty bitty and helpless and ruling your world (at 3 a.m. nonetheless).

And then that moment passes, and in the middle of the night, you will look at your baby's sweet eyes in the dark, rub his tiny head and you may just cry because you are so incredibly blessed to have this child. To be rocking this child at 3 a.m. You will realize there is no place you would rather be, ever.

You will be overwhelmed at how people love your baby. Yes, you know your friends love you. But you will realize you didn't have a clue how much they love you until you see the way they love your child. You will realize how much you mean to the people around you, because of the way they love your baby. It will overwhelm you, the love you will feel in those first weeks.

A few weeks after that sweet bubby is born, you will start needing a little somethin'. Just a little -- a little something in return for all that feeding, loving, feeding, smooching. And then. THEN, your child will smile at you. YOUR CHILD. He will smile at you like you are the sun and the moon and the stars and it will be one of the best moments of your entire life.

You will spend the rest of your days trying to get your child to smile at you like that again.

One of the biggest changes I noticed after our son was born was the new "weight" of being a Mom. It's the best way I can explain it. It's like the weight of the world is on your shoulders, in a good way. You now have a life to look after, and that is a really big deal. Sometimes that weight is really noticeable. You will feel it all the time -- but mostly when you leave the baby with Daddy for an hour. Or with Grandma for an evening so you can go out with friends.

From the day that baby is born, you are ALWAYS, ALWAYS thinking about them, worrying about them, wondering about them. You may not realize it, but it's always there. That weight lessens as they get older, but it's only because you get used to it. You are now a Mommy, and that comes with so much wonderful responsibility.

Your life is about to change for the better. You will never be the same. You will come back and read this a few months from now and have a whole new appreciation for these words. And when someone you love has their first baby, you will try to express to them the crazy, indescribable love they are about to feel, and you won't be able to put it into words for them either.

You are about to meet the love of your life, and I am so happy for you.

Balcony love...

A place to relax, anytime of the day with a cup of hot chai. Do join me...maybe it's the lovely rainy weather outside:-)
Enjoy your balconies!

I can tile?

I pose that title as a question because the answer is questionable. The walls haven't come down yet, so I think I was successful. Maybe, YES, I can tile.

There are a few large projects in our home that I have avoided because of FEAR. Plain, good old, I-am-a-big-huge-sissy fear. One of them is the marble that surrounded our tub. It has bothered me for over a year now, since I added the molding to the walls around the tub here.

The marble is a creamy color and the walls are bright white. For normal people this would not be a big deal, but it made me twitch a bit, cause as you know, I'm not normal. I have been wanting to take off the marble surround and replace it with tile foreva.

So Saturday morning, I thought, what the heck, I'm going to go for it! What's the worst that could happen? Uh, believe me, the "worsts" were running through my head.

Sister helped me take off the marble -- I used razor and a pry bar, being careful not to dent the wall as I took off the marble:

This house was built very well, but we have found the one thing they skimped on -- all the tile in the house was glued down, instead of mortared. Makes an easier job for me, so I'm cool with it. Hubby was working downstairs and I didn't even mention this little project was going to happen -- he didn't know about it until he walked in and saw the mess. There was just a brief flash of complete panic on his lovely face, but God bless this man, it didn't last long. He has faith in me. :)

I didn't take pics of the installation part of this project, because I was working like a crazy mad woman to get it all done before my son woke up from his nap. You basically take the mortar and mix it like the directions say -- water and the mortar, mix it up -- that's it! Make sure to do this outside with a mask on.

The directions say to put the mortar on the surface and the back of the tile, but I did a couple with the backs covered and quickly found it didn't need it -- there was way too much and it was spilling through the tiles.

You know how on HGTV when they mortar, they just slap it on the walls and it goes on like butta? Yeah, it didn't work like that. I would swipe it on and it would pretty much just fall right off. It was fab. Next time I won't put quite as much water in as the instructions call for.

This is how it looked before the grout:

One thing I have learned about tiling is you can't judge it until you have grouted. Grouting just makes all the difference in the world:

To grout, you use the same mixer thing that attached to the drill and water or grout enhancer. I got the enhancer ($5) because it's supposed to help reduce the possibility of mold:

This part was much easier then the mortar:

My back was keeeeeeling me at this point, so I tried to sit for most of this part, but it didn't work out that way for long:

(See the Pepsi and popcorn? Sister was trying to give me energy food.) You'll notice I taped off the area around the tub with paper -- this was a life saver both during the mortar process and the grouting. It made for much easier clean up! The hardest part of this WHOLE process was wiping down the tile after grouting -- it felt like Groundhog's Day -- over and over and over. (And over.)

I still have some paint touch ups to do and some caulking, but for now, it is done:

I wouldn't have done it quite so tall, but some of the drywall tore of as we took off the marble, so I had to go a bit higher than expected:

I love how it ties the creamy of the marble tub, the white of the walls, and the green accent color all together! Yes, I am a happy crazy woman.

And yes, that's beadboard around the tub -- I just glued it right on the marble a while back. LOVE it! Here's the before before, from a couple years ago:

Here it is today. YAY!:

I'm going to do a little accent of this by our sinks to tie it all together, and I'll take pics of that process start to finish -- I won't be so sceered next time. Then, I want to rip out the shower surround and tile that whole thing, then the floors, then, then, then... Now, if I can just get those fixtures on the tub replaced, I'd be in heaven.

If you haven't seen my interview at houzz.com today, go here to check it out! Make sure to comment there for a chance to win the Ballard pear! (See previous post.) Your comments over there are making. my. year. by the way. I am so honored to inspire you. I can't thank you enough for your support.

Interview at Houzz!!

I am just thrilled, honored and humbled that houzz.com has decided to feature little 'ol me on their site. I did a brief interview with them and when I went over this morning to check it out -- there are pics of my house on their front page!!

Go here to check out the interview.

If you do, and you comment at houzz.com, you can win this beauty from Ballard Designs (the big one!):

Awwwww yeah, I told you this was awesome! Go over and check it out when you have a second!

Thanks again to houzz.com!!

A (cedar) chest redo.

I had to throw the "cedar" part in there -- you know what I'm sayin'? (Hang in there till the end for the winner of The Sheet Boutique giveaway!) Remember this lovely I found last week for $40?:
At first glance, it was perfectly lovely on it's own, but the lid had a yellowish paint on it, drip marks and a really awful stencil. I think the person that painted it put too much poly on top that yellowed the paint and made the stencil bleed all over the place.

All I needed to do was sand down the paint and the stencil a little and then paint over it. Easy project right? Ummm...NEVER say those words out loud peeps. Karma comes around every. time.

The person who had painted it before did not prepare it well before painting, so as I was sanding the paint started peeling right off:
I could just pick at it and peel off strips. Nuts. This meant one thing -- I had to strip the whole thing down. (Oooo I am going to get some interesting searches off of "chest" and "strip" in the same post.)

I haven't had to use paint stripper for years, I avoid it if I can. This time I used water-based stuff and I really liked it:

The instructions say you can even use this inside, but I wouldn't recommend that. It's super easy to use though -- just glob it on.

If their are only one or two coats of paint, it should only take one or two applications. If there are about eleventy billion, it will take a couple hours and a few more applications:

Gah. If you ever need to do this, use fine steel wool to get the paint out of the detailed areas.

Then, I put on a couple coats of primer and then about five coats of paint, because the wood was quite literally sucking it right up. This is when one of my little painting tricks comes in handy:

You can keep a brush or roller without cleaning it for quite a while if you just bag it up.

This was the result:

It still needed somethin. Think Sarah, think.

Oh yes, the poor (wo)man's custom cushion:

Yet again, I just wrapped the fabric around the foam and hot glued it. Serious folks. When I get an extra $100 for thicker foam, more fabric and a professional, I'll get it done for reals.

Here is Stink Eye Sister modeling it:

Oh yeah, did I mention she's baaaaaack??

It still needed something, so I held my breath, crossed my fingers and distressed it just a bit:

LURVE!!!

I had a hall table in this spot before, but had been contemplating moving it down more into our foyer anyway. I did some rearranging and really like how it looks now:
Now we have a "real" foyer set up and it's so warm and cozy! It's a little more in that spot than I'm used to there, but I love it. I thought about moving the art around but like how it works for now -- it may not stay for long: The chest is now the perfect spot to sit, and it will be great during parties -- everyone seems to congregate out in this room. I need to install some safety hinges and then it will hold all this too:
Well, not the cat. All the toys. Gotta love that. :)

The randomly picked winner of The Sheet Boutique pillow giveaway is Julianne Hendrickson!! Julianne, please e-mail me and I'll get you in touch with Cara!

Next up -- my tile project! I love it! And I am honored to be featured at a great site tomorrow -- stay tuned!

DIY weekend

This weekend resulted in a LOT of do-it-yourself projects I hadn't even planning on doing.

They involved a few hours of this:
A lot of this:

An insane, I-never-want-to-touch-sand-again-in-my-life amount of this:

Which resulted in a lot of this:
No, that's not me. But I feel like it could be right now.

So bear with me! I'll announce the winner of The Sheet Boutique pillow (contest is now closed) tomorrow, and will share the first of my projects.

For now, this:Will be joining me in bed with this:

And this:

YES, it is midnight. I cannot even tell you how much I don't care right now -- I want to do what makes me happy. Much pain Squeezies.

I'll holla at cha tomorrow!!