Spotswood House

Things have been hectic around here as we prepare to move and downsize. I couldn’t bear parting with our full size bedroom suite so we spent the weekend moving it from our Alexandria house to Spotswood. That meant we had to pull out the bedroom set at Spotswood, eesh! I’m going to try and sell the Spotswood bedroom set on Facebbok or Craigslist. I already sold the king box springs and made a profit, cha ching!!!

We close on our new condo this Thursday…feels so quick! In the meantime, we have been shopping for hardwood floors to put in the new condo (currently it has pergo and I just CAN’T). I think we have settled on these.

Ok, let me provide some context. When we moved into our Alexandria house the floors needed to be refinished. I guess there was some miscommunication between me and the hardwood refinisher because I ended up with light colored floors, not what I wanted. But, I dealt with it. So, what you see installed above are the light colored floors in Alexandria and the two planks in the middle are the new floors we are going to install in our condo. I love the warmer shade. It is really hard to find a warm shade without an orange finish but I think these are going to be perfect! I can’t wait to get them installed…I mean help Adam install 🙂

Anytime we have a long weekend, Adam and I try to pop over to another city close by and do some exploring. Now, we have been to Richmond in the past and had a great time. I have recently started collecting oil portraits; not an easy feat. I mainly find things anywhere but the DC area. I have had my eye on a female portrait in Richmond for months!!!! I asked the seller if she would ship the item and I don’t blame her, she wasn’t interested. So, I kept my eye on the picture vowing to pick it up some time in the future. And it was waiting for me all this time like fate. I finally picked it up this weekend. Meet “Cassandra”.

So, what do you think? Pretty quirky, huh?! Hey, for $8 I could not be happier!

I’ll end with this; Bali. So, next year is a milestone birthday for me and I think we are going to take the plunge and go to Asia. We’re looking at Singapore, Bangkok, and Bali. Anyone been? Any suggestions? I’m having so much fun looking at Airbnb’s in Bali. These places are amazing, no?! Planning this trip is going to bring me so much joy! It definitely will help take my mind off all of the remodeling and house moving. Cheers until next time.

e recently took a quick getaway to Buffalo New York. Why of all place Buffalo, you might ask?! Most people are going to tropical destinations during the summer months but we are not most people. Niagara Falls has been on our to-do list for ever and we finally made it happen.

We thought we were slick and booked a late night flight on a Thursday with a very early flight back home on a Monday morning. Well, things did not go to plan and we were delayed into Buffalo. We ended up arriving at 2:40 am on Friday morning. On top of that, the rental car companies were closed. So, we had to get a cab, then we took a Lyft the next morning to get our rental…UGHHHH!!! But, they ended up upgrading our rental and gave us a Volvo V60 Cross Country. OMG, I loved it!!!! So, it’s not an SUV, more like a station wagon but it was so lovely. I don’t need a new car right now but I was totally digging this. The interior had two-tone leather, so perfecto.

The highlight of Buffalo for most people is Niagara Falls but not for me. It was all about the chicken wing. So, yes, Buffalo wings were invented in Buffalo and I could not wait to try the original, Anchor Bar.

Story has it, in 1964 Dominic Bellissimo was tending bar at the now famous Anchor Bar Restaurant in Buffalo, NY. Late that evening, a group of Dominic’s friends arrived at the bar with ravenous appetites. Dominic asked his mother, Teressa, to prepare something for his friends to eat. They looked like chicken wings, a part of the chicken that usually went into the stock pot for soup. Teressa had deep fried the wings and flavored them with a secret sauce. The wings were an instant hit and it didn’t take long for people to flock to the bar to experience this new taste sensation. From that evening on, Buffalo Wings became a regular part of the menu at the Anchor Bar. The phenomenon created in 1964 by Teressa Bellissimo has spread across the globe.

Curious to know the verdict??? Adam really did not like the wings. I though they were fine. Anytime you go to a place famously known for something, you run the risk of being disappointed. The main issue with the wings was the sauce; it was just too vinegary. But, we absolutely loved Duff’s wings, another popular Buffalo spot. I don’t like jumbo wings, I like smaller crispier wings and these hit the mark. And, they were so saucy…so good! It’s really hard to find a good chicken wing and there is nothing more disappointing when you have just an okay one. We highly recommend you try Duff’s Wings, so good!!!

Ok fine, we’ll switch topics and cover our trip to Niagara Falls. It was AMAZING!!! We saw if from both the US and Canadian side. I thought it might be a little bit cooler, considering Buffalo gets extremely cold in the winter but its pretty much hot anywhere in the US right now. And, I did not dress for the heat, LOL.

Ok, I included this photo because the little yellow people below are crazy! They put on rain ponchos and pay to go to the bottom of the falls only to get absolutely drenched.

Doesn’t the photo below remind you of the first Superman movie with Christopher Reeve? I told Adam to jump over the railing and reenact the scene so we could see if Superman would come rescue him.

Look at the photo below and above. Notice the little boat? Who in their right mind thought that was a good idea? Actually, I talked to one of my friends from New York and she said we should’ve done it because you don’t get wet, it’s only mist and the boast takes you behind the falls…DARN! Guess we missed out on that one.

The pictures above are from the US side. Here are the photos from the Canadian side.

Haha! My hair is wrecked from the humidity. Let me tell you a quick story about Adam’s picture taking skills. He’ll tell me to smile and two minutes later he takes the photo so 9 times out of 10 my eyes are squinting or completely closed due to the direct sunlight I’m looking into. 

There were so many cute little gardens near the falls in Canada.

We also hit up a Botanical Garden in Canada. They had a butterfly conservatory, so fun.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was touring the Darwin D. Martin Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW) House. I absolutely love architecture and this is the third FLW house we have toured. The story behind this house really hit home for me and highlights what is so great about our country; the ability for anybody to attain the American Dream. So, here is the story behind the house.

Darwin D. Wright suffered tragedy early in his life with the death of his mother at 6 years old. He and his siblings were separated and he longed for the rest of his life to reunite him and his siblings. In the meantime, Martin began selling soap in New York City. Practically penniless, Martin came by himself to Buffalo to work for the Larkin Company as the first, and at that time the only, hired office-worker.  Martin worked ferociously, putting in 361 workdays a year. His efforts enabled the company to expand and rival Sears. One of Martin’s assignments was to find an architect to design a new administrative building for the expanding company. His brother, William Martin, who was living in Chicago, recommended a young architect named Frank Lloyd Wright. By this time, Martin was a millionaire. He formed a friendship with FLW and gave FLW cart blanche to design a home for Martin. This is one of FLW’s favorite masterpieces. He considered it the “opus” of his career. The foresight he had is pretty amazing; he designed an open concept house 90 years before his time.

Another cool thing we did in Buffalo was visit the Teddy Roosevelt Inaugural site. In 1901, Buffalo hosted the Pan-American Exposition. President William McKinley was the guest of honor. A crazed attendee shot him and he ended up in the hospital. Teddy Roosevelt, Vice President, was on vacation with his family at the time and rushed to Buffalo to see the President. It looked like the President’s condition was improving so Teddy rejoined his family on vacation in the Adirondacks. Well, the President took a turn for the worse and Teddy rushed back to Buffalo. McKinley died and Roosevelt was inaugurated as President in his friend, Ansley Wilcox’s (attorney and political insider) home. This is his home. Look at that original green fireplace surround, the desk was Teddy Roosevelt’s, and that molding on the ceiling in the keeping room is everything!!!

 

President Lindsey Taylor. I can handle that! Look at the first husband 🙂

Apparently, Buffalo is very poplar with the 30 something crowd. I’m guessing because the cost of living is low and housing is cheap. Lots and lots of tattoos…hey, I don’t mind tattoos but when you are tattooing your entire body, have you thought about what that will look like in 50 years?? Here’s some cool street art we found.

Weekend getaway done. Now back to real life. We close on our condo on September 9th. We have kitchen cabinets picked out, backsplash bought, guest bath tiles picked out, and wood floors chosen. Then, we get to install everything. So, we’ll be busy, busy, busy the next few months. Oh, and we have to pack our house to move…arrrggghhhh. I guess I need to focus on our next trip to keep me positive and pushing forward. London here we come.

 

 

This week we sign our paperwork to close on our house in Alexandria. In the meantime, we have been searching for a place to buy. We found a condo we really liked a couple weeks ago but we weren’t in a position to make an offer without doing a bridge loan (that was not an option) since things weren’t finalized with our house. But, we added the complex to our list and kept our eyes peeled for something to post. The only thing that has come up since we started looking is a 2 bed/2 bath condo which…..wait for it….is a fixer upper. Seriously????!!!!! Is this our life now?

So, yeah…I guess we are going to be in a renovation status for the foreseeable future. The good news, we got a good price. We ended up doing a 15-year mortgage and we’re lowering our mortgage rate from what we were paying at our Alexandria house. Anither plus, we can make the condo exactly what we want it to be. I cannot wait for low maintenance living! Here’s what is on our remodel list; replace pergo floors with wood floors throughout, redo the guest bathroom, redo the master bathroom, redo the kitchen, and paint every single room. LOLOLOL!

We’ll have a little over a month to work on our condo remodeling list before we have to move out of our house. I’m thinking we’ll knock the floors out first and paint simultaneously, then on to the kitchen. We can move in and then tackle the master bathroom. We’ll finish with the guest bathroom. That’s the plan but you know what they say about plans…

Here’s a shot of the exterior of the condo. I’ll share some interior photos next time.

As you can imagine remodeling is on hold at Spotswood House while we focus on Alexandria. But here is the kicker; we are going to finish Spotswood and sell it. We have decided to find a lot in another town and build a house. I know, we are absolutely CRAZY!

So things are going to remain crazy around here for awhile. Luckily, we have a vacation coming up soon. We’re finally going to Niagara Falls. We’re going to fly into Buffalo and go to Anchor Bar, where chicken wings were invented. That is what I am most looking forward to, ha! Of course we’ll go see the falls both on the US side and Canada. Another bonus, Buffalo has some Frank Lloyd Wright houses we can tour, yippee. Bye for now.

For 4th of July we had a totally fun trip planned to visit my relatives in West Virginia, go to Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s MOST FAMOUS house, and then spend a couple days in Pittsburgh. Sounds fun, huh? Instead, we spent 4 days straight cleaning our house getting it ready to list, UGH!!!! Selling a house is the most un-fun thing ever! But good news, our house listed on Tuesday evening and we were under contract Wednesday evening for $25K over list along with some other lovely perks.

I’ll share with you some of our professional photographs.

First, we’ll start with the two guest bedrooms and bathroom.

Next, we’ll move on to the living and dining room. The real estate agent and team came in like little elves and “decluttered/depersonalized” our house for pictures. One of my favorite features of the house is the vaulted ceiling in the living room.

Now for the money maker, the kitchen. I don’t think I can ever go back to having a divided sink. I love having an undermount trough style sink.

This is one of my favorite areas in the whole house, the mudroom. It is just so functional!

 

I heard recently people are getting away from using the term “master” suite. Ok, well here are photos from the owners retreat. I am not wild about how the comforter photographed because there is too much blue. I usually have a bright yellow duvet on the bed but it is summer now and the duvet is hibernating.

We added the wood ceiling ourselves.

I will be most sad to leave the walk in closet. We wont find this feature in a condo.

Ignore, the clutter on the floor. Don’t worry, this shot wasn’t used in the listing but I wanted to give you a sense of the size of the closet.

Here is the on suite bathroom. I love having a shower with no tub.

Last but certainly not least, the deck.

So, we are lucky that it is a sellers market right now but we have to buy in this market too. As I mentioned, we have decided to downsize and move to a condo or townhouse. Unfortunately, we have chosen to move close to where Amazon’s second Headquarters will be located so pretty much everything is going over list. That is so frustrating but we’ll survive…first world problems, I know.

I’m going off on a tangent for a minute. While Adam and I were getting our passport photos (the photographer told me not to smile so I will basically look like a serial killer when I get my new passport) I noticed a new potato chip flavor, Ruffles extra crunchy buffalo wing flavor. Buying one of those bags was the worst mistake ever. We are so addicted and can kill a bag easily in one sitting. I am convinced they sprinkle crack on top. Stay away at all costs!!

I am so relieved our house is under contract but we are in limbo until the buyers finalize the sale of their house. In the beginning of August we will be able to look at homes to purchase. One of the highlights of the contract we signed is the buyers of our house are giving us a 60 day rent back of our house for $1. So we basically have 90 days to find a house with two months free rent on our own house while we search for our “new” home. That is so awesome!

Talk to you soon. Can’t wait to share more homes with you that we are considering buying.

How-dee! My posts are getting so much more infrequent and for that I do apologize but homegirl  has to work (stressful week) and prep the house to get it on the market (stressful and a money drain). AND…Adam and I just sent our passports off to get renewed so no booking trips until the new passports arrive. Now that is stressful! And wouldn’t you know I found a trip I really, really want to book!!! Anyone been to Peru? Um hello, they had me at Rainbow Mountain (and Machu Picchu). How could you not want to go here?

SO, I will continue dreaming about our next vacation until the good ol’ passports arrive.

What does one do to relieve stress? Eeek, don’t answer that. If you’re Lindsey, you head straight for the winery!! Yesterday was puuuurfect! I mean, AMAZING…weather-wise. We went to our favorite winery (outside of Charlottesville) and sat outside and it was nice and breezy. I’m sorry but if we still lived in Florida we would not be sitting outside anywhere! I definitely don’t miss the Florida heat. Here’s some pics from our excursion.

Ok, ok…back to the home remodel stuff. Since we have the teeniest, tiniest bathroom we have to bring out all of the tricks. So, we hung a shower curtain right below the ceiling. It makes the room look taller. Ohhh, are those 10 foot ceilings??? Nope!

We finally have furniture in the living room and dining room at SpotswoodHouse!!!! It’s a miracle. I’m hesitant to share these photos because it looks a bit like a blank canvas but I haven’t added all my knick knacks yet. Stay tuned for a more put together look later on.

That brown framed window in the photo above is driving me nuts! I’m going to have to paint it white, I’m convinced!

We added some closet doors to the “master” bedroom. They are painted a nice, crisp white now so ignore the dirty beigy color.

Full disclosure, I avoid Walmart like the plague but when we are out in the country and it’s the only option…well, my opinion changes. I was actually excited to go to Walmart because I wanted to see the new home decor line Drew Barrymore created for Walmart. So, no Drew Barrymore, WTH?! However, I did find something else to satisfy my craving. I have been on the search for a gold, round mirror for eva. Who’d of thought my quest would end at Walmart?! I bought this Better Homes and Gardens mirror for only $50. Here’s a before and after in our guest bedroom.

I haven’t bought anything at Ikea in a while. I just haven’t been inspired by their offerings lately. But, Adam wanted some picture frames (and I do like Ikea’s options for that) so we made a stop. This had to be the most frustrating trip ever. The one thing I really wanted was out of stock, waaahhhhh. It was the coolest mid-century poster (see below). Doesn’t it remind you of Palm Springs, CA? Not that I have been but it is on my bucket list.

Before I go, I must share with you my go-to pasta recipe. I was looking for simple, minimal ingredient recipes when I came across the holy grail, aglio e olio. I use Ina Garten’s recipe which you can find here: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/spaghetti-aglio-e-olio-recipe-2043225

This stuff is da bomb! It will not help you lose weight, I promise you that! But, it is D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S. Here ya go. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

 

 

 

Hola! I have been on a blog sabbatical but I am back refreshed and renewed. This past month has been bonkers…I was at an annual conference for an entire week, we are trying to fix up both of our houses in anticipation of selling, and we just got back from a lovely holiday in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI). This vacation was amazing! You must book a trip ASAP! It will not disappoint! Exclamation insanity!!!!

I tend to go a bit overboard on researching our trips before we go and TCI was no different. I wanted 5-star accommodations without the 5-star price. I think I have mentioned this in a previous post but we have had lots of luck with booking through JetBlue Vacations. We did the same for TCI. I wanted to be oceanfront and the reviews had to be five stars. We ended up selecting the Tuscany, a boutique resort with only 30 units, all oceanfront. This place did not disappoint, spectacular in every way. Each unit is a 3-bedroom condo but they will lock rooms depending on the room reservation. We chose a one-bedroom so the other two rooms and bathroom we locked – sounds weird but it totally makes sense when you are there. Most of the reviews said the resort was private, quiet, and peaceful, all completely accurate. We had the pool to ourselves most of the trip. Also, you never had to worry about waking up early and saving chairs at the pool or beach, which is a total drag and annoyance.

A couple years ago we went to Aruba with friends of ours, Fred and Lia, and they  joined us in TCI. It was nice having another couple to hangout with. We hung at the pool, beach, went to dinner, did a snorkeling trip, and shopped. They are super chill and down for almost anything.

Here are some pictures of the resort.

Beach pictures…STUNNING 

Photos from our snorkeling trip, definitely a highlight!

You didn’t think I was going to leave you without food and drink pics did you?? Unfortunately, we missed lobster season (Aug – Mar) but it gives us an excuse to go back!!! We ate lots of conch in TCI and they are the only place in the world with a conch farm. We ate cracked conch, conch salad, conch fritters…

 

One of the main reasons we booked the Tuscany resort is because they give you bikes to use during your stay. We rode all over the place!

 

Every Thursday night, TCI has a local Fish Fry. The entire island comes out for dancing, eating, and shopping. The highlight was the Junkanoo parade. Celebrated since the 16th century, Junkanoo is a festival of song, dance and community. Junkanoo is thought to date back to the time when slaves were allowed time off at Christmas and New Year’s to celebrate with their families. They would wear colorful clothing using strips of cloth and fringed paper, paint their faces or wear elaborate masks, and would create simple songs and dances to mark festivities. Today these traditions continue but the costumes are more elaborate and the music and dance performances are impressive.

Adam and I tried parasailing for the first time. That was pretty cool.

I’m already ready to go back to TCI. It exceeded all expectations! Time to start planning our next trip 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello friends, it’s been a minute since we last conversed. Life was happening! We went to Charlottesville to celebrate our birthday. Then we had Easter. Adam’s parent’s came to visit and helped us finish the never-ending bathroom remodel. Then, this weekend we stayed home and got our house in “stage worthy” condition. Why would we do that you might ask? Stop the presses, we are selling our house in Alexandria. Yep, we have had our fill of the suburbs. We are ready to get rid of the yard and do low maintenance condo living. We aren’t moving into Washington DC, we’ll still stay in Virginia, but we are moving closer in to a lovely area called Shirlington. I can’t wait.

We haven’t put our house on the market yet because it is filled with furniture for the Spotswood House. Our goal is to list at the end of August and then wait for the multiple offers to pour in…haha, I wish (hope). So why did we get our house in “show-ready” form this weekend? Glad you asked. We met with a realtor and she has clients who want to live in our neighborhood so we agreed to show the house. Since everything is show ready, you get a double dose of houses. I’ll show you the 99.9% finished bathroom at Spotswood and then give you a tour of parts of my Alexandria house. Buckle up, time for a house extravaganza.

We got the bathroom vanity done at Spotswood House, finally. The original cabinet we got was too big. That gave Adam an excuse to build a vanity and it really turned out great. Everything fits perfectly in the bathroom now.

Now, all we have left for the bathroom is to get accessories. We need a shower curtain rod, toilet paper holder, towel rack, and glass shelf.

That’s the only update I have for Spotswood House. Now, let’s turn our attention to Alexandria.

First, we’ll start with exterior pictures of the house. The grass is looking great, green and lush. The downside, it has to be mowed all-the-time! That Japanese Maple is hogging the shot.

Here’s our backyard. I hope you can get a true appreciation of the pain and suffering that goes into mowing this wildebeest. We have two sheds (courtesy of Adam), a pergola, a fire pit, and a janky deck. Please excuse the dirty outdoor rug under the patio furniture…hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Let’s move indoors. I will show you one of our guest rooms, the guest bathroom, the kitchen, and my favorite room in the whole house, the bar/mudroom.

Here’s the guest room. I love it! Green and orange are my favorite colors.

I also love my kitchen. It doesn’t have the greatest layout and it’s on the small side but it is super cute. The counter tops are marble, which is notoriously hard to keep clean so we had a thin, protective clear coating put on them and they are so low maintenance now. The backsplash is different colored marble subway tile, very pretty.

Now, on to the guest bathroom. This is a pretty small bathroom but it is gorgeous. More marble…I know. The kitchen and this bathroom were already remodeled when we bought the house. The only thing we changed was the wall color.

And now to my favorite room in the house, the bar/mudroom/pantry. We completely reconfigured this small space. Where the bar sits used to be an open doorway into a nursery. We converted that room into our master closet. This room leads to the backyard and we use it as our main entrance into our house.

There you have it, a mini tour of the Alexandria house. Let me know what ya think.

I know you’re completely shocked to hear our bathroom still isn’t finished. This is where I try to go into zen mode. Let’s just focus on the positive and what we have accomplished. Speaking of, do you make checklists and get soooo much satisfaction when you cross things off your list as completed? Ahhhh, that is my favorite thing to do. Here’s a checklist update; we got most of the tile grouted, we painted the walls, hung the mirror, installed the toilet, and hung the bathroom light fixture. BUT, we did run into a problem. I mentioned before this is the teeniest, tiniest bathroom. The cabinet we bought is just too big so Adam volunteered to make a cabinet, as if he has tons of spare time.

Ok, time to talk paint. I had a coupon for Sherwin Williams, 40% off. I have never seen their paint discounted that much so we decided to buy their paint. Personally, I am a Benjamin Moore fan, but I digress. The one gallon of paint was $70 before the coupon…whoa, when did paint go up so much in price?? Ok, I am probably being a little dramatic. Here’s what we ended up with, Silvermist. It is a really pretty green/blue/gray.

The painting was the easy part. Grouting, whew that was a WORKOUT! Here’s Adam early in the process. Don’t let that smile fool ya, stuff got real, real quick.

Almost finished product.

Another angle. Ok, so the lighting is pretty terrible in these shots. The mirror looks super crooked in the picture but I think that is just the angle.

What we have left to do is; one more coat of paint (maybe), caulk, add light switch covers, finish grouting, build bathroom cabinet, install sink and counter top, install shower handle and tub faucet. We’ll be done in no time, LOLOLOLOL.

We’re headed back to Spotswood this weekend for more remodeling FUN. Before I go, let me give you an update on my second-hand hunting. I have shared a lot of the things I have bought but I haven’t really shared the things I have missed out on.

This gorgeous dresser was FREE. I’m pretty bummed I was too late in messaging them. Someone else already claimed it.

I missed out on this wall poster…too late. The sad thing is I watched this item for a while and it probably could’ve been mine. Green is my favorite color (isn’t that from a Counting Crows song?) and this wall art is so unique and massive.

Finally, I was too late messaging to get this vintage Scandinavian map. I have a thing for vintage maps…

Until next time…

I am so irritated at Home Improvement shows right now. ERREBODY knows they are fake; meaning they don’t show all the ugly behind the scenes stuff happening with a remodel and they LOVE to make it look like you can demo and rebuild a bathroom in under a day. FAKE, FAKE, FAKE!!!! We are currently tiling the walls in our bathroom and for some crazy reason, Fixer Upper maybe, I thought we could get it done in a weekend. Ha! Jokes on me. It took us so loooooonnnnngggg to tile the bathroom walls and it still isn’t done. In fact, we might not even finish this weekend. But it does look so good so far 🙂

Rant done. Time to share pictures.

I am really happy with the way the tile is looking right now. It is all coming together exactly how I pictured it and that is a great feeling. We still have one section of the tub surround to do and then we need to tile around where the toilet and sink will go.

The one thing I haven’t given much thought to so far is the color to paint the walls. Maybe a faint green?

Switching gears, I bought a couple more vintage Hawaiian items. Also, I have enlisted my mom to keep an eye out for things when she goes to thrift stores or garage sales.

I got this hula girl on Ebay.

Here’s my hang ten wood sculpture I found on Etsy.

The crazy thing about my new Hawaiian collection obsession is that I have never been to Hawaii. Adam lived in Hawaii for a few years and says he loved it but every time I mention going back to visit he waivers. Well, I have made an executive decision and we are going to go to Hawaii next year. This will definitely give me something to look forward to!

In my last post, I was sharing light fixture ideas for the bathroom remodel at Spotswood House. Here’s a recap.

I just so happened to check Marketplace the other day and I found this.

So, of course I bought the light for only $25. I am so excited about this purchase. It was meant to be, serendipity.

I bought a couple more Hawaiian themed items on Etsy. I literally could NOT help myself.

Part of the thrill of Etsy is it will tell you when the item you are looking at is in other people’s cart and this hang ten wood carving was in three people’s cart but guess who got it, me!

This little french bikini mama is actually a prize or charm you would find inside a King Cake. It is made of porcelain and hand painted. I can just imagine someone biting into that and breaking a tooth…surprise you have a massive dental bill now.

So, 1980 isn’t mid-century modern but it has special meaning to me because that is the year I was born. Only one year away from 40 years old, eek!!!

I had to make a quick work trip to Chicago this week. To say it was cold is an understatement.  Here’s a shot of Lake Michigan on my descent into Chicago. It looks like clouds but that is ice on Lake Michigan.

I snapped a shot of the downtown skyline headed back home.

This is a quick post today but just had to share my excitement over our new bathroom light. I am starting to get a little jealous because some of things I have bought are better than what I have at my Alexandria house. I will have to start rectifying that soon….