String Lighting Loveliness

I love, love, love string lights! Last year we had some round Christmas lights up over the patio but they were strung kind of wonky and then somehow half of them stopped working (still blaming the tree trimmers for that). But there is a silver lining to that story now! I've loved the bigger globe string lights for a long time. Starting with this picture I spotted a long time ago, before pinterest was around, to be exact.

Picture from here

Then I started seeing similar pictures all over pinterest, but could never quite think of a way to get them strung properly for our particular set up. The house is just too far away to be quite right, the fence is a different height, on and on. We thought about a pergola, but that would be way too much work and too expensive. Long story short, I finally spotted this picture from Southern Living and had that "ah-ha" moment.

Picture from here

Luckily, Joe was totally on board with the idea and was the brains behind the execution of the project. We wanted a semi-permanent set up, but also loved the idea of being able to take it with us to our next place. We basically cemented our bamboo poles into our buckets using the beams in the garage to keep everything straight while the cement dried. Then Joe used eyelet hooks and "s" hooks to hang the lights. I keep forgetting to take pictures during the day, so here's some slightly blurry evening shots :)

Update

Well its sure been awhile, hasn't it? I've been busy working, helping with my grandma at the hospital and now at the rehab place. Also squeezed in a quick trip to Seattle and a couple trips to the thrift store. Here's some recent pictures.

Flowers and coffee at the hospital.

Jenn and I at Palamino in Bellevue.

Snow day! Everything is so pretty covered in snow. Anyways, work the next five but I'll try to check back in a little earlier this time! (just for you El) :)

It's Finished!

I'm sure by now everyone is sick of posts about my "frame wall". Well this will probably be the last you will hear of it for awhile, because I'm done! Yay! Project finished and crossed off the list, and tons of stuff on the wall and out of the project/storage closet :) Anyways, the proof is in the pudding as they say, so here's some pictures. The wall is actually a light green color, doesn't look quite right, but this is about as close as it gets on camera.

If you're curious, the gecko is from our honeymoon in Hawaii, the K is for our last name, the 2 postcards are of Spokane and Seattle (dated 1908 & 1909). The next two are from magazines, for our love of nature, the outdoors and exploring the great northwest! My lovely cat Malcolm as a kitten, our anniversary and last a picture from our recent trip to the Oregon coast!


My gigantic "frame" of fridge pics moved across the hall.


Very last addition, quick little project I whipped up to fill an empty space. It fills it perfectly! Plus that hoop has been needing to be used and off my desk!

Kitchen Pictures... Finally

I realize that it has taken me so long to post these pictures that most of you have probably already seen my kitchen in person. Oops. Well, here they are. To have both good lighting and have everything clean just wasn't happening, so finally just settled for some night shots. Anyways, I'm really happy with how the color turned out and I think Joe likes it too! We may try to make some sort of backsplash behind the stove but otherwise we're pretty much done with any changes in here.









Kitchen tour complete!

New Finds!

Have been doing lots of thrift store shopping, antiquing and well, just general shopping recently. I need to take a little break from it. Which shouldn't be too hard since I go back to work tomorrow, for five "12s" which equals no time to go shopping. And probably not much posting either, we'll see, just finished painting our kitchen today (YAY!) so maybe some pics of that soon. Absolutely love the new color, it's brighter and more cheerful than dark hunter green. With all that said, here are some pictures of my new finds! (Be warned, there's a bunch...)

Little end table from the Antique Mall in Edmonds, and my newish book on top, a birthday present from my mother in law. (Can you find the cute kitty in this one?)

Little two tray server I found at Value Village. This is after it got a nice bath. Trying to decide if I want to paint it or not... (also shows the old kitchen color)

Another Value Village find that is already mid-makeover, this is now a definite before. :)

New scale from the Antique Mall, I love it! My friend Jenn spotted it, she has such a good eye! Also, the white pitcher is a birthday present from her. (Thanks again!)

This is the whole corner, finally filling out a little. The little retro highchair I found at Northwest Christian Thriftstore for twenty bucks! I love the color and it is the perfect spot for my "stereo system". (and no, I'm not trying to send any messages by buying a highchair). The red cookbook stand on the bottom shelf is also new, found at the Seattle Value Village for a few bucks, super heavy, which is awesome, we use it all the time now.

This is also a before picture. A GIANT embroidery hoop. The after will have to wait until later...

And lastly, just a pretty sunset picture. Taken out at Fishtrap area off of I-90.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Happy Monday!

I'm so happy spring is finally here! The lilacs are almost out, the cherry tree has a few flowers and the hawthorne is about ready to color the front yard magenta. We've got half of our veggie garden in and just filled the new window boxes out front. Moved the bird bath out front today and planning to fill the hummingbird feeder tomorrow! Hope everyone else had a happy Monday!

November 18th - First Snow

October 11 - Mushrooms in our front yard, I came home from work for lunch that day and snapped this. The VA Cafeteria is closed on Holidays and Weekends. Does anyone pay attention to Columbus Day? I never remember...

October 12 - Mal's food bowl that I fill up before leaving for work. It reminds me of eating off of my Grandma's blue china, you don't get to see the picture until you eat your food!

October 13 - The Finished Sidewalk! No more worrying about twisted ankles, possible broken legs or concussions.

October 14 - The best Cherry Apple Cider from Hanson's at Greenbluff, love this stuff!

October 15 - Tiff and I made apple butter, it's a 24hr process - here's the after photo - all finished, canned and "gift wrapped".

October 16 - African Daisy in the flower box out front, the frost is starting to take most of the flowers.
October 17 - Kitty rolling on the kitchen floor. Despite his mischievousness, he is probably one of the best things that has happened to us so far in 2010.

October 18 - Amy came over to learn how to make pie crust, we made 2 apple pies and a pecan pie. Lattice crusts are difficult, I always cheat and just overlap the pieces.

October 19 - New Plants for out front, I don't remember all their names. I should start a little folder to write all that stuff down. The gal who helped us pick them out is the owner of Judy's on Northwest Blvd - she is super helpful! Yay for sales and clearance plants at the end of the season!

October 20 - Malcom watching House MD with us

October 21 - Country Living Magazine, I love getting things besides bills in the mail!

October 6th - We have steps out front again!!

October 7th - My prize for finishing my exercise chart... whatever gets you motivated I say, it worked when I was two and it still works now.

 October 8th - early birthday presents!

 October 9th - I admit to cheating on this one, Joe took the picture with Jenn's camera, I just couldn't get the coloring even close with mine.

 October 10th - Close up of a scrapbook page, nice to ignore the housework and just have a lazy Sunday!

Quick Updates...

Believe it or not it was actually snowing here this morning, it didn't stick, but it was actually snowing. And its still October. We've officially moved into our place and had a few people over. And getting really close to being done unpacking. Miss Phoebe has joined us now that the smell of the refinished floor is almost gone. Rachel came over yesterday and we made a pumpkin pie out of real pumpkin, super super yummy! Here's a couple pictures.


Front of the house


Backyard w/ my bro doing yardwork


First picture up on the fridge


Rachel w/ our pumpkin pie


Box of chocolates for my birthday!


A hole-in-the-wall Korean place we found in town.

House Hunt Update

So for anyone wondering, (haha...) we're in the process (turns out it is a very long and signing intensive process) of buying a house. We're pretty excited about it and should be able to move in mid-October. I can't wait to have my own space again and look forward to a good nights sleep when my mattress comes over from Seattle!
In other news... we bought a fridge today. I feel like a real adult now :)

New Room

A few pictures of our new room... what can be fit into 80 square feet!


Miss Phoebe


Our bed/bird cage


Computer Desk


Closet full of stuff


All my favorite stuff - baking supplies, laptop, perfume, etc.