Weekend Round-Up

Hellloooooo!!!!

Happy Tuesday or Monday or Tuesday?

Anyway it feels like Monday but thank goodness it is Tuesday. :) I hope that you had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed your three day weekend.

We had a great weekend!

We went to a town near Chicago to go to a graduation party for one of our friends daughters, got to visit for a while with friends we haven't seen in about a year and then drove home Sunday in this..

It RAINED like you wouldn't believe!!!

There were tornado warnings to the south of where we were and what was a four hour trip turned into about 6.

I knew we should have stopped at IKEA to wait it out! :)

Monday was GORGEOUS here!!

It was finally sunny and about 90 so we decided to plant, well all except hubby who took a shift on patrol to make sure all the vacationers were behaving.

So the kids and I cleaned up the yard and planted a few things in the garden as well as my window boxes.

My hydrangea will bloom soon.

This is how the back garden looks right now with everything up.

View of it from the deck.

Here is our deck and a view of the my garden.

I planted some tall grasses that will hopefully hide underneath the deck.

Window boxes are filled with white impatiens, potato vine, some spikey things and one other filler plant that I can't remember what it is called. :)

I also put out my chairs to hid some of the ucky that is going on in the front that I showed you here.

(thank you Anne and Laurie for your amazing suggestion,s by the way, for my front. One day I will make those happen)

Here is my deck, one my favorite place to hang out during the summer months and enjoy the gardens, the wildlife and listening to the boats on Lake Michigan on a calm Sunday morning.

The chaise is from Pottery Barn that I purchased a couple years ago. The table and chairs from Walmart and the plastic chairs and umbrella from Lowe's last year.

And that would be Baja wondering she can't come out and play. Luckily her head fits through the slats. :)

With all the rain that we have had everything is very green and looks pretty good right now.

The yard and garden are coming along, still need LOTS of work, but for now this will do. It is peaceful, it is green and it was made by us. :)

I hope that you have a wonderful week!

Until next time!

HUGS!!!

Summer Project

Happy rainy Thursday!

We are entering day three of rain and cloudy days but the weatherman promises that it will be beautiful for Memorial Day so I am so looking forward to some sun and warmer weather.

I am so excited for summer and we are almost done with school and end of the year activities!!

I just want to enjoy the days ahead with no schedules or running from one end of the city to the other.

I need the beach and our deck and life will be good. :)

Over the summer things are going to slow down a bit here at Emerald Cove.

My posts may be spread out a bit and my time at the computer will be limited. My kids are growing so fast and I want to spend time with them while I can, but don't worry I have a project in mind that will keep me occupied and will take my time on.

Right now my son's room is Disney's Cars.

Saying that he loves Cars is an understatement and now with the new movie coming out he is getting pretty excited.

However,

he also has a fascination with sharks.

Sharks?

That's my boy!

He will even watch Shark Week with me, actually both kids do, they love the water like their mama. :)

So, when I saw the shark sheets from Pottery Barn Kids I was so excited.

True story; He was paging through the catalog and saw them as well and said "Mommy can we get these for my room?" I was so proud! (wiping tear away)

So I ordered them the other day.

(apparently they are popular because they are on back order until the end of June)

So cute!!

Right now his room is chocolate brown and I would like to lighten it up a bit as well as paint his dresser and bed a blue to coordinate with the sheets.

I would have taken a picture but it is so dark here that they didn't turn out so well so I will show you one in a later post. :)

Here are the colors that I am leaning towards.

They are actually paints from The Land of Nod and are non toxic Mythcs Paints.

I will have to order some samples soon to compare to the sheets when I get those in.

This is my inspiration room from Potter Barn Kids.

I won't have the plank walls (sadly) and not sure about the other bedding yet but I am hoping that it will resemble this slightly.

Hopefully I can get out my handy little jig saw and paints and maybe make some of the accessories that are shown with the bedding.

So there is my summer project.

I am excited to tackle something again but also glad that I am going to take my time.

I will be posting things as I go, so hopefully you will bare with me. :)

I also hope to hope to finish my Bonus Room this summer but that may have to wait, it is only like 100 degrees up there in the summer and our little air conditioner broke so that may be my fall project. I did manage to get rid of a ton of things and after I cleaned the carpets like 8 times I think I won over the cat pee pee smell......maybe, Michigan humidity will test that out.

I am unplugging for the weekend to spend time with my family over the Memorial holiday. We have a party to attend Friday and Saturday and then we are just going to veg out!!

I hope that you have a safe and wonderful Memorial Day.

Also, don't forget to join ShellBelle's Tiki Hut for World Oceans Day on June 8!

- More than 97% of all our planet's water is contained in the ocean - SavetheSeas.org

So please join in and find out about our greatest resource and how you can help to save the seas!

*All images Pottery Barn Kids

A Whale of a Weekend

Happy Monday, I hope that you all had a great weekend.

We finished up Spring sports and I have to tell you that I am glad to be taking a bit of a break. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE watching the kids play and we had a lot of fun but it is so nice to just slow down.

School will be finishing up soon so we still have some concerts and recitals to attend but it will be a bit slower pace. :)

Last week I had some time here and there to try a small project that I have been wanting to do.

Here is my inspiration:

Beach Decor

I have been eye-balling these for a while now and ever since I tried the jig saw on my daughters starfish headboard I had been itching to try something else.

So...

I drew a whale on a scrap piece of wood that we had

cut it out,

and gave it a coat of yellow paint and sanded it down a bit.

I am really happy with it and again, no straight lines so it was fairly easy to cut out. :)

I am sure that he will find a place in my kitchen somewhere, I am slowly adding some things into the kitchen and incorporating more of the yellow with the grays in there.

And who knows, he may just need a friend. :)

Have a great week!!!

I also wanted to thank you for the wonderful comments about the chapel that my brother and future SIL are getting married in, I try to reply to all your wonderful comments but with everything going on lately I just haven't been able to get to the computer, please forgive me.

Going to the Chapel...

Tuesday we made the trip up north to help my future SIL with wedding details.

They are getting married in a small town, one that I have mentioned my love of a few times in my blog, Glen Lake.

The day was beautiful, sunny and about 63 degrees. It is about a 3 hour trip each way and riding in a car all day makes for sore buns!!

But so worth it. :)

We met with her caterer and visited the reception hall and the small chapel that they will be married in.

This chapel is a part of historic Glen Arbor, Michigan and sits in a historic part called Old Settlers Park.

Isn't is beautiful!!

And it overlooks Glen Lake..

We couldn't get inside the chapel but it was so beautiful, so simple and so perfect for them.

I adore the steeple bell.

source

This is what it looks like in the summer with all the beautiful hydrangeas, ferns, and annuals planted around.

Can you imagine walking up the pathway in your beautiful wedding gown?

The wedding is not very big, about 40 people or so, I am really excited and couldn't be happier for them.

I mentioned that we saw the reception hall and I will share that at a later time, you will love it!

I wanted to show you something else as well.

I love Lake Michigan and I love it even more the farther north you get.

Why you ask?

Let me show you....

the colors of the lake are so vivid and blue and the water is so clear!!

It really reminds me of the ocean at times.

The brown spots you see in the water are posts from an old dock that used to be there. This area has so much history.

The island that you see in the distance is the North Manitou Island.

If you are interested in learning more about it you can read here.

Oh and we did manage to find ourselves at a local winery up there and I managed to bring me a bottle or two home. :)

I will not be around much until Monday, we are finishing up sports for the kids this weekend as well as work and a wedding to go to so I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend and I will see you next week and hopefully I can catch up with everyone!

Hugs!!

Fun Faux Coral

I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend!

The weather has turned on us here and it has been raining and cold all weekend!

UGH!

Hopefully the sun will come back soon because I was so loving it!!

My friend Kindra from At Home With K sent me this post that Beth from The Stories of A to Z did on faux coral.

They are in the pet section at Walmart and are only $8.88 each which is far less than what I have seen in other places.

So, I ran to Walmart and picked up my little goodies!!!

I was so excited that I forgot to take before pics and after the first coat was applied I quick snapped a picture. :)

The faux coral were red, green and orange.

PREEETTYYYY!!!!!

I already had the paint, lots of white spray paint...LOTS!

(sorry about the picture, I painted in the basement and we do not have great lighting there)

After about 5 or 6 coats of white primer and white paint I placed them on my mantel.

However, I was not digging them there or the bright white so I took them back downstairs and gave them a couple coats of a creamier white that I had on hand and this time found them a new home in the kitchen under my cloche.

Much better!!!

The Keep Calm and Carry on sign I won over at Blessedmom's Simple Home a while ago. Marcia is so sweet and her blog is just beautifully filled with her photography, family and love.

I also wanted to wish my mom a very Happy Birthday today!!

I won't tell you how young she is but I will say that I am praying that I look this beautiful when I grow up. :)

Thank you for all that you have done and all that you continue to do for me.

I couldn't have accomplished what I have with out your guidance, support, friendship and love.

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Good Life

Hello my dears!!

Just thought I would share this with you......

I am feeling rather good this week due to the warmer weather and being able to spread my wings outside!!

So crank it up and ENJOY!!!!!!

(oh there is a slight swear word in it too, (BS)

HUGS!!!!!!

Sun Flare Party

I am joining Tracy at Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures Sunrise, Sunset or Sun Flare Photo Party today.

I shared these photos before but I thought that they would fit right in with her party. :)

This sunset over Lake Michigan was taken last summer,

I only lightened a bit in Picnik.

A bit of Sun flare down at the marina.

I just added a bit of color and edited it with Picnik.

One day I will get Photoshop and learn how to use all the yummy textures and actions.

Until next time...... enjoy your day!!!

Hugs!!

Friendship is the Key

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, it was FINALLY warm here this weekend and we were able to spend some time outside and not freeze our buns off! I actually worked in my garden, WOO HOO!

I will share what I did in a later post.

I also wanted to point out what a dork I am.

I told you that I was going on a day trip on Tuesday and as I was talking to my future SIL today she kindly pointed out to me that it is NEXT Tuesday, not this Tuesday.

WHOOPS!!!

Apparently I am making time fly a bit faster than it needs to.

So, thank you so much for all your well wished on my trip, I will save those for next Tues. :)

I wanted to share with you some beautiful gifts that I received in the mail recently. My dear friend Sandra from A Frugal French Girl, who I shared her beautiful poem with here, sent me these amazing treasures.

She has such a beautiful heart and soul.

A beautiful wooden box filled with seashells, a vintage hanky, blue lace trim, magnets, heart stickers, seasoning for dips, a small tray, driftwood and a small key framed in a shabby white frame.

Sandra was so cute, she wrote in her letter that I needed to paint the box and tray white! :)

Tucked away in the box was also this cutout key and on the back was written a message that has stuck with me......

These words are so true!

Since I have started blogging I have met some of the most kindest souls that lift me up through words, comments, gifts and even phone calls. I have never met any blogging friends, which is the hardest part of all this, but I have felt such a connection and such a kindredship (not sure if that is a word) that it I feel so blessed everyday when I open up my computer and see you.

I just received this beautiful package the other day from my dear friend Cricket at Gypsea Nurse. She has such an amazing soul and she is so inspiring through her words, photos and honesty.

All wrapped up were..

a jar of sand and shells, a large shell, an awesome T-Shirt, a luggage tag with my initial in a clam shell and a necklace that says simply..

The card that the necklace was attached to read this..

(the back of the t-shirt also reads this)

It is amazing how people come into your life and have such an impact in it. Thank you Sandra and Cricket, your words ring in my heart.

"The Key to Friendship is Kindness"

"Love This Life"

I also wanted to add this:

People are like stained-glass windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within. ~Elizabeth Kübler-Ross

My dear friend Marie from Sally Lee by the Sea emailed this to me, what she said and this quote made me cry.

I am so blessed to have such amazingly

sincere,

caring,

genuine

friends

in all of YOU!

Thank you

to all of you who spend a bit of time with me each week, comment, email and just show your support not only for me, but other bloggers and friends in blogland.