Decor issues! :(

After moving into this new house, I've decided to totally redecorate. Or actually, I really should just say decorate since I really didn't do much with our house in Jacksonville (oops). But now we finally bought a bedroom set (so I feel like our bedroom needs some decor), a bed & bookcase for the boys' room, and moved our old master bed set up to the guest room (so it finally feels like we have an "official" guest bedroom now). But my problem is that I like SO many different styles
that I feel like everything looks mismatched! Yikes!

So in my efforts to streamline, I'm going to try to narrow down my "likes" and "dislikes" to try and figure out what my decor style is. This may prove to be tougher than what I thought. Oh yeah, and write down all of my ideas for these rooms! Sounds like a full on project to me.

My favorite styles, by store:
Pottery Barn
Anthropologie
West Elm
Ikea

Yep, that pretty much is what I like to a T. The problem lies with that fact that while PB and West Elm are somewhat similar, Anthro seems like it is on a completely different style page! And then there is Ikea. Mostly modern with a twist of neutral? PB especially is very neutral (with a few colors/patterns thrown in) while Anthro is pretty much the opposite - bright and funky! Soooo. How in the world do I incorporate these three correctly without making it look like a teenager decorated my house!?

I suppose I'm going for a bit of neutral adult-like sophistication (hah!) with some bright/eclectic choices thrown in. Hmm. I don't mind mismatching wood/metal/white/glass simply because that's what I have! Too matchy-matchy is overrated ;)

That being said, I really like:
Dark walnut wood
White wood
Turquoise, navy, & green (all shades!)
Orange and dark red accent colors
Metal mixed with glass & wood
Burlap & bold patterns
Neutral walls
Neutral bedding and sofas
Bright accents (pillows, vases, photo frames)
Jute rugs
White subway tile (which I am so lucky to have in this kitchen!)
Rustic mixed with modern
Mirrors
Typography & map decor
Beach decor (starfish, turtles, whales, anchors)

Ok, on paper (or typed, I suppose I should say!) those all sound pretty cohesive. But for some reason I am having a hard time tying them all together in my house. I think I need an interior decorator! Haha! Why didn't any of my friends decide to go to college for this?! ;)

Searching for fabric to recover my old pillows for the couch...solid or patterned?

My Favorites: June Edition

Changed up the blog a little last night! While I should have been sleeping no doubt, since my kiddos insist on running me hard from sun up to sun down (no lie, we are go go go from 5 am til 6:30 pm, naps don't exist over here).

Today was sort of a bust, but ended up being fun anyways! We went to Downtown @ the Gardens intending to go to the Mommy & Me event...but it was raining. Of course it was raining, it's summertime in South Florida! lol. So we made a quick detour into A Latte Fun and met up with some friends there. Logan loves the kitchen section (I want to buy a kitchen for him so badly but Daniel says no!) and the trampolines. I love those things too so I really can't blame him! :)

Some new (to me) things that I'm currently obsessed with!
1) black bean & corn salsa - complete with a little diced mango and cilantro lime vinaigrette! YUM!
2) the Latin section at the Publix Bakery. The arepas and cheese pastries are hard to resist...
3) Morrocan Argan Oil by Organix. There are truly no words for this product except how in the world has it taken me 26 years to discover this?! It makes my hair feel amazingly soft for only $6.99.
4) coral + turquoise combo. It literally screams 'summer' to me.
5) smoothies. There's a piña colada smoothie recipe that I have been making that is better than Tropical Smoothie!
6) Phish Food ice cream. Our cousins brought that over and left it in our freezer...and let's just say it didn't last long around here.
7) window shopping on GroopDealz! They have cute little boutique finds, similar to Etsy but in a deal-a-day fashion on GroopDealz.com.

summer rainstorms

Bouncing

Logan spotted a Winnie the Pooh picture in one of his books and proclaimed "Pooh!," so I asked if he liked to eat honey like Pooh Bear.

He replied, "No! I Tigger!"

Yes, yes. You are definitely more like Tigger. Tiggers like to bounce!
And bouncing is what he did this morning at the library story time. And at home, bopping his beloved Publix balloon around. And also while he was SUPPOSED to be eating lunch at Chick-fil-a. Whew! There's a lot of bouncing going on around here.

Fwoons

I love awesome days! And today was definitely an awesome day. No tantrums, no boredom, no whining..couldn't ask for more.

We ventured out to Playmobil Funpark again today for the second time since we've lived here. It was just as good the second time around! The only difference was that this time Logan decided to participate in the singing/dancing time at 11 am. And ohhhh boy did he participate!! I think we may have a little attention hog on our hands. He ran up to the stage, front and center, and insisted on doing the Chicken Dance with all of the older kids. Wish I had gotten it on video! It was seriously hysterical. Afterwards he did the limbo a few times, despite the fact that he never ever had to bend under the pole to pass through. Hahaha. The benefits of being short, I suppose.

He was so excited to go to Publix today and get a cookie and a "fwoon" (balloon). He just kept repeating "a fwoon, Mama, a fwoon! It's bouncing!" over and over again at the checkout. I seriously love this age!

1, 2, 3

The little man did great last night in his new bed! Slept in there all night until his normal wake up time when he banged on the door demanding to be let out. Haha.

Started Blake on baby food the other day! We decided to skip the whole rice cereal bit and just go straight to regular purees. We tried sweet potato for his first food (coincidentally, also Logan's first baby food!) and he loved it. I didn't really have any doubt in my mind though that he wouldn't like it. He is such a good milk drinker that I figured he would be just as eager to have something else to fill his tummy too!

This afternoon I was counting to ten with Logan, just for fun. We count pretty often every day since he still wasn't counting by himself (or doing his ABCs either, so we recite those a lot too!). I've been getting a little worried that he hadn't started reciting them yet since I know a lot of kids his age have long passed that milestone; any time he watches TV now I make sure it's an educational Barney, Elmo, or LeapFrog episode about counting or ABCs. Well, maybe all my efforts have finally paid off since as I started to recite 1, 2, 3...I realized that instead of repeating what I said like he usually does, he was actually saying the numbers ahead of me! Go Logan! :)

My BIG kid :)

My little man is growing up!! Tonight is his first night in a big kid bed. Last time I was in Titusville I spotted a set of bunk beds on sale at Home Furniture in Mims - way discounted since they are going out of business. My crazy self thought it would be awesome to put both boys in the same room when they are older, so of course I had to buy the bed! And I do have to say, it does look great in Logan's room :) he was SO excited to see it and go to sleep in it tonight! He's been in there about 30 minutes and hasn't moved an inch. Not sure if he's asleep yet or not, but at least he's down for the count!

Our bedtime routine still has the boys going down for the night between 6:30-7pm, which is totally awesome for me and Daniel. Gives us the whole evening to catch up on chores and relaxing! I'm so thankful that Blake has adapted so well to our nightly schedule and now has become just like Logan - he is so ready to be laid down in bed by 6:45 pm. We're still working on the sleeping through the night thing but he does better every night. Can't believe that little munchkin will be six months old soon!! Love those boys!

And God let us be a generation that seeks, that seeks Your face

I can feel you all around me
Thickening the air I'm breathing
Holding on to what I'm feeling
Savoring this heart that's healing

- All Around Me, David Crowder Band
One of my favorite songs right now!

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:4

All about Logan :)

Logan's social life has taken a bit of a hit lately and I've found it really hard not to take it personally! He has entered the dreaded "lack of social graces" stage, and I must say it is not quite so becoming on him. He wants so badly to play with the other kids but he hasn't figured out how to do it. He's a little pushy, a little grabby, and likes to excitedly hug and roll over other kids. I know this is just a stage and that soon he'll learn what is and isn't appropriate play behavior, but for now it sure makes me feel like an awful mom!

My weekly "Logan-isms":
*Logan always points to the mole on my neck. At first he said it was a bubble, then it changed to a bump, and now he's figured out that it's a mole!
*Daniel took Logan to the park while I was sick and he skinned his elbow on the concrete. At CVS picking out band aids, Daniel pointed out the Cars ones thinking that's what he would want. But nope, Logan pointed to the SpongeBob band aids. Now anytime he sees SpongeBob he gets all excited and says "Bob!"
*He is constantly requesting to "ide" under the blanket. He really took that whole building a fort idea to heart! :)
*He loves to bring me things and tell me "it ors, Mama" (it's yours, Mama).
*Logan loves the beach and is always asking to go play in the sand and water. Wish we lived closer so I could take him every day!
*Logan found a shoestring that has now been dubbed his "nake" (snake). And this snake loves to eat! Logan takes it around the house and makes it nibble on various things while he tells us what the "nake is eating."
*I've been working on the "taking turns" concept with him and I think he's finally gotten it! He was offering me bites of his watermelon at dinner, telling me "or turn, Mama" (your turn, Mama). Hurray! :)

And last but not least, my favorite Logan-ism of all:
*We call him our little weatherman! He is SO interested in the weather and gives a running commentary through out the day.
"it's raining!"
"it stopped raining!"
"it dark!"
"side up!" (outside up, his way of saying it's light outside)
"thunder!"
"ightning!" (lightning)
So cute.

Anniversary fun!

Well, the kids napping simultaneously lasted all of 15 minutes. So I guess I will type this blog post one handed on my iPhone Blogger app, lol!

One thing that amazes me about Wellington is their obsession with lawn maintenance. Literally everywhere I go the lawn is immaculate. And by immaculate, I basically mean so lush and perfect that it makes me want to plop down right then and there in the front yard and have a picnic. And the grass is so green! I chalk it up to the fact that I live in a subtropical paradise (or something like that). The heat here is absolutely ridiculous. Now I know why south FL has so many indoor kids activities available.

Our anniversary weekend was great! My parents were visiting for a conference that my dad was attending, so on Friday night Daniel took off with Spence to go to the UFC fights at the Ft Lauderdale arena and I went to dinner at On The Border with Shayna. I used to love that place in Tallahassee (even had my 21st bday dinner there and the food this time did not disappoint. Yummy margaritas and carnitas tacos. The boys met up with us later and we hit up World of Beer.

We spent our anniversary celebration in Miami this year! First overnight trip for just the two of us in a long, long time. Maybe since Logan was born?! Yikes. Need to get out more, haha! Anyways, we had an amazing time. We used our hotel points to get a room at the InterContinental hotel on the water in Miami and got bumped up to a bay view room on the 26th floor. So fun! It was crazy busy since that was the night of the Miami Heat vs Boston Celtics game at the arena next door.

We walked around South Beach for a couple of hours and grabbed an early dinner at Joe's Stone Crab. Lobster roll with mojitos and key lime pie & chocolate mousse for dessert! Delish. Our mini vacation was cut a little short in the morning since Logan came down with a fever while my parents were watching the kids, but that's ok since we still got the opportunity to get a full night of uninterrupted sleep! :)

The "Beach" word

Logan came up to us on Saturday and requested that we go to the beach. To see the water, sand, and shells. Very cute. Except for one thing...

The way Logan pronounces the word beach is a tiny bit awkward. Let's just say....it sounds like the five letter word for an unpleasant woman or female dog. Whoops.

This situation becomes even more awkward when walking through Target looking for beach umbrellas before our beach trip. Yes, lots of the five letter word for an unpleasant woman being excitedly shouted at the top of his toddler lungs from our shopping cart.

Hahahaha.