Cottage Chic

Wow, third post for the week!!

Some of you have asked for some more pics of my house, so here goes!

Dining room looking into sun room.

This is my living room here (and yes 3 kids live here)! Toys have been removed and stuffed under all the sofa's and armoirs in order to have a lovely picture:)


I even asked the kiddo's to look like they are reading so that you can enjoy the picture.............

This day is the day mothers rejoice!

I knew when i woke up this morning, it was going to be special! That little twitter in my stomach, that nervous twitch in my smile.


Yes, it's the first day of school!


REJOICE!






Now, i can sit and have my coffee in peace.

Peace. quite.

can you see what i see?

My friend and neighbor Jackie called me earlier today to tell me she was going to have a yard sale the end of the week and would i like to come see what she had.

WELL, OF COURSE!

Jackie has great taste, she actually worked for me on Sundays when i first opened the shop, so she knows how i decorate and how i love to find one of a kind pieces for the shop.

This lovely french mirror was the first thing that caught my eye, so i slowly moved over to it and casually said "how much?"

Jackie said, "go ahead, just take it."

uuughhh, "o.k."

I tried not to act like it was THAT GREAT, since really, who wants a piece that is chippy, had layers of paint, and has lovely scroll work under the paint!

So, here is my find for the week, and it sits in my dining room on another frenchy, chippy, layered painted dresser.

It's a Party!

Thank you Sara, for busily preparing this for me! I am so excited that we are going to be celebrating our One year anniversary, and can't wait for you to join us! So far we have Revamp Boutique, Le Papiers, Eliwill, and Matilda Jane coming thru-out the two days, setting up and showing off their lovely wares as well. What fun!
Also, if you want me to actually send you an invite via email, just pop me your email address in the comments section!
Can't wait to see you!

What's to come....

First thing first,

This is my last post about my upcoming trip to COUNTRY LIVING FAIR in Columbus, Ohio.
Only because, the element of surprise doesn't want to fade. Don't worry though, because I will be posting tons of pics while at the show!

It's going to be one fabulous weekend for those of you that can make it. Tons of awesome vendors, some with actual shops, some with so much creativity, and alot of so cool finds all in one place!
The big treat for me, is that I get to meet again some great ladies! Dinner with friends like The Farm Chicks, The creative gals behind Mcmaster & Storm, Etsy girl behind A Bushel and a Peck (who is going to be in shop at the fair with me), Lisa from Urban Farmhouse, and Beth from Chic Junque.

On another note, Sara is currently designing an invite for the shops ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY! It's going to be October 3rd 3-8p, and Sat October 4th 10-5.
Lots of fun, lots of discounts, drawings and some fun etsy girls are going to have trunk shows.

Life with five kids....

This is Brenna with Cole

The babes, Cassidy and Cole

Sorry Brenna, had to get you in a pic of "mother of five" eats on the go!






Lola and I had a flight out Friday morning to Utah, to visit one of my very best friends Brenna who just had her twins. Now, heading to Utah made me a little Leary, since everyone knows that I love my skinny vanilla latte every morning and a good glass of red vino in the eve, but alas...........plenty of starbucks around and I even ordered a glass of red at dinner when we went out. Brenna assured me that just because they were Mormon, and lived in Utah, that they were still part of the norm:)
Her twins marked babies 4 &5, and let me tell you, there are only a handful of people that I know, that could handle this.

I met Brenna 7 years ago in Colorado when we had our first boys in Gymboree class. "Oh, Gymboree class" you say? Yes, I did mention that in the previous post, didn't I? That's a class that you do with your first born, maybe second born, but not third, forth or fifth!! LOL!!!.
Brenna lives about 30 minutes from Park City, and it's beautiful where she is, reminds me of Colorado.

Meet the little guy.....

This is my little guy Fin. He is almost 3 1/2, the youngest of my three kids and the last.
Ever since Fin was born, I have done very little to record his life.
My friend and i were discussing yesterday how our third child really is just the bounce off child.
Our first, goes to music classes, gymboree classes, we start playgroups, and we cater to their every need.

Our second child MIGHT get a class here or there, but get shuffled to the older child's classes nonetheless.



Then comes the third, if you even get to three.
We always knew we wanted three, but with the first two so close in age (16 mo.) we knew we had to space.
"Space" you say?
only 2 1/2 years later little Fin was born.
NO music classes, NO Gymboree classes, No this or No that.
Little Fin gets shuffled to all of the older kids sports, dance, and what not. His favorite show is SpongeBob, just like the 7 year old.
But in all of that, he is by far the sweetest child. I also think he's darn cute. Beach blond like his dad was when he was that age.
So here is Fin, the third child.

ending the weekend with some shop shots....

What a difference a camera makes right? If you don't believe it, check out previous post.

Just wanted to end the weekend with some fun shop shots. Check out the awesome French bird cage. Daisy and Dazzle (the finches) have made home in it for now.

The little handmade gift card holders/business card holders are back in stock. Perfect to throw a Lola B's gift certificate in or stash some of your business cards in also.

This last photo shows the hallway into the back. Check out the lovely old mantel against the wall....................
if you can check out this blog, my little shop was featured!
Revamp Boutique

A surprise visit....

Why is it when you most need the camera, that it's not available?
So sorry for the awful photo, it's with the camera phone:(
Etsy girls were in the house today, it was so exciting.
Alyssa, the one in the middle, has the Etsy shop Revamp Boutique.
The one on the right is Vana, and her shop is Le Papier Designs.

It's so fun to see "word of mouth" customers come in, because that is really how my shop operates. No budget for advertising! Thanks girls for popping in!

Now look at these AWESOME skeleton keys! My good friend Tracy, who also is customer #1, brought me these keys! Just gave them to me, out of the blue!

yippeee.......

One of my favorite rooms.....really!

Why is it, that the room that we wait to do, should actually be the first to do.

This is my bedroom that i just finished. I am a bedding fanatic (amongst other things), and have gone thru countless sets. Does the bedding look familiar? Yes, you got it, it's from Anthro.

Yup, the pillows also.

See the door next to the bed? That goes to the closet that i showed you a while back. Yup, that closet that i told you would only take a month to do, and of course it'll be another two months.

I did finish painting the closet, but that's about it.

And of course, my repertoire of vintage sheet music comes out to play on my walls. Hubby says i go a little overboard, but hey, it's better than the "U2" poster that i can envision him putting up if it were up to him

lovely find....

I had a lovely Saturday at the Flea market with one of my best friends who was visiting from Colorado. My friend Jeanne, who also happens to be going with me to Ohio next month (I can't believe I just said "next month"!!) for the Country Living Fair.
Anyways, Jeanne grew up about an hour from St. Charles, and was here with her kids visiting. So I told her, you can't not come and not hit the flea market.
We had a fabulous day, with a lot of finds. My favorite was this mirror..........omg.................So fabulous!! It's hard to tell in the picture, but it's almost 5 feet tall. I have it sitting on a desk right now at the shop and will be bringing it with me to Ohio.....

Do you see that adorable bird frame? Yup, that's one of Jeanne's. All of her handmade lovelies that i carry here at the shop will be at the show in Ohio as well......

Can't wait!

Artful Blogging....

Have you seen the new issue of 'Artful Blogging'?
Well..........................my little header of my blog made page 40.
Sara of Sadieolive did a Q&A for the magazine, and they chose a handful of cool designs.
I'm lucky to have made the cut, and am grateful every step of the way.