i ordered my dining table from beach dwelling last night. i got it in white, 8 feet long. thanksgiving here we come :)

i am still painting away. yesterday, i picked up my son from preschool and when i got home i noticed my nostril hairs were pink. another good reason why you should wear a mask when you spray paint, lesson learned. i will take pictures of the things i have done. can't wait to show you!

oh, and one more thing, i am having trouble posting some comments, i will try to address all of them regardless in the next couple of days. thanks for blogging with me :)

i'm sorry about my random posts today, i really do think inhaling the paint (and the extra shot of espresso in my morning coffee) messed with my head a bit.

so i was wondering, what are you shopping for...you know, for your home...what are you looking for? where do you love to find your home accessories? share with me, i'd love to know.

i love cath kidston (photo above). she decorates as if we are all still kids, smart.

my kitchen is an ode to martha. i used her paint for everything and i think she would be pleased with herself. every time i paint, i want to thank that woman. the shades of color she has created are just perfection. i love paint. and i love martha. and i think the fumes are getting to me. back to work...

a perfect breezy day, just right for painting. so far, i have painted a side table pale pink and stained two rush-seat rockers. i have polka dots of walnut polyurethane all over my hands and face. my neighbor stopped by and thought i had some bad luck with spray tanning. i guess i need to polyurethane myself a little more evenly next time. okay, back to work. :)

over the weekend my daughter and i had to use this white poster board cut-out to make a mini replica of herself. her teacher is hanging her whole class out on the wall. we had so much fun. my daughter designed these "e" shoes. i don't get why at all, but i just love the way children think. so after all of the kindergarten homework, i've gotten behind with my projects around here. i am painting all of my porch furniture, so my garage looks like i am having a yard sale. i can't wait to get it all done so we can start enjoying the great fall weather on the porch.

i have a very good friend named jen. you may know her. we've been friends now for ten years - did you know that, jen? we knew each other before husbands, before babies, before wrinkles (mine, jen, not yours:). jen and i were talking today and we decided our friendship was an act of God. it had to be, we decided, because we are/were way too laid back, busy, or lazy to initiate, maintain or manage this wonderful friendship. i wanted to add to our realization from this afternoon, that it also has to be an act of God because nobody inspires me like jen does. she makes me do better and want better and then she tells me how talented I am.

well, inspiration, it is very important.

i really liked this sign i saw a few weeks ago at the interior marketplace, so i took its picture. i have realized this is really a great idea for someone like me who likes to shop. i take a few pictures of my favorite things (remember this?), i post them here, enjoy them and pay nothing. it's my new thing.

do you remember what you were doing five years ago today? i do. i remember how i felt too, and i don't ever want to forget it. i want that feeling and those images to be in my heart forever, so that i will be reminded...to love our country, to appreciate safety, and to pray for our leaders, especially in times i disagree with them. mostly, i want to remember so that i can teach my children that freedom should not be taken for granted.

that's the name of the new martha paint in my dining room. way on the cool side of the color wheel for me, the rest of my house is completely warm. but i think it works because, although i have now combined warm and cool colors, most of them are in the blue or green family. so now i just have to order my table from beach dwelling and i am ready to host thanksgiving. this color makes visions of turkey and cornucopias a bit difficult, so i have some creative thinking to do.

the painter has been here all week. she is a lovely lady and i enjoy her company. the laundry room is now a golden yellow, a little bright, but it is a small room and it is now very cheery. i can handle the yellow in such a small dose. the dining room is vintage minty green and, whoa, you can't miss it. it was tan, so a big change in there. today she is painting my master bath a baby blue and my bedroom will be first on the schedule for next week and will be changed from tan into a grey-green. so you wonder why i titled this husbands? because instead of describing my paint, i wanted to share pictures of it, but my husband keeps messing with my iphoto. he put our picture program on a back-up HD (or something like that) and hasn't explained to me how to access them. urgh! i like pictures.

and he wears "wadybug shoes." today is his birthday and a little part of my heart is breaking. i never thought i would be this kind of mother. ever since my children were born, i have celebrated their every move toward independence. but today he's four, and i want to scream - "freeze! don't get any bigger!" i love that he can get dressed and go potty by himself, but he still fits in my arms when he gets a "boo boo." i love that he plays soccer with his little friends, but he would rather be with his family than with anyone else. i love that he watches dora laughing, and he has no idea what mtv is. i love finding his little wadybug shoes by the door, knowing that too soon they will be replaced by huge stinky nikes. but, i bet i will love those huge stinky nikes too. happy birthday, little man.

actually, none of them do. these are all things i bought as gifts for people and i just can't part with them. i got the coaster set for a friend for her birthday, but i decided i really liked it in my breakfast nook, so i got her the soap and dish set. which i decided looked fantastic in my bathroom. i got the wrapped soap for my mom, but i don't think she would truly appreciate it as much as i do, she is way more practical. the dish towel was my most recent purchase, i think it is adorable, but i wonder if anyone will like the message as much as i do. it seems i have a reason to keep each of these things. i have to stop buying things for people that i like so much. oh yeah, and i got the umbrella on clearance at target, but we have been having so much rain lately...

my husband did something with my iphoto, so i can't post a picture today. it is too bad because things are really happening around here. last night i started painting my old pottery barn malabar chairs. i have been thinking about this project for a long time, and i admit i am a little nervous, but i'm diving in. i also bought four quarts of paint from martha stewart's sherwin williams collection yesterday. i have painted a strip in every room to be considered. i am changing my bedroom, my bathroom, the laundry room and my dining room. everything but the dining room is still builder beige, so i am excited to get some fun cheery colors on the walls. the dining room, well, this will be the third color since we have lived here (just over a year). it is my husband's idea this time, he wants it to be carolina blue. we are hokies, but even he knows better than to paint it orange or maroon. i am getting nervous that my whole house is turning blue. i just can't help it, what else is there? and now my husband seems to have caught the blue bug. nothing is safe here.