remember the goal of getting your pillowcase filled to the top? i am glad my children aren't quite there yet. it seems they double their visits each year. last year we went to three houses, so i am guessing we will be at about six tonight. but maybe i will be surprised. we have lots planned for the evening, and i am excited despite this yucky cold i have. i will take lots of pictures, i hope you do the same!

my mom is coming for a visit. i am picking her up at the airport tonight! i have been cleaning my house all day, and yesterday i went grocery shopping and got all of her favorite foods. she doesn't come very often, so i really want to spoil her. i am going to introduce her to some of you. i am just fascinated by all of your blogs these days. you are such talented, inspiring people. thank you for sharing your lives, i love reading about you.
:) have a nice weekend!

my table came yesterday! it is as pretty as i'd imagined and it fits in the room even better than i'd imagined. i am a happy customer. so now, it is chair pickin' time. i have been putting all of my chairs around the table in different ways trying to figure out which look the best. i just can't figure out what to do. i had seen a farmhouse redo on debbie travis' show one time where she painted all kinds of different chairs the same color of turquoise. i am thinking that is what i will do. all of my chairs could use a little freshen up anyway.

i ordered these scrap kits and they came last week. i was thinking i would have a few crafty friends over for wine and we could create the books together, or maybe i will just give them away as christmas gifts, either way it was for a good cause and they were a great price. i am really pleased with the quality of the product. i think you should get one (or four) :)

in other news (haha), i got my very first ever sewing machine. i am going to learn how to sew and it is scaring me to death. is sewing math? because it feels like math.

my daughter loves fruit. she especially loves pears. but she will not eat this one. she says it looks like a bird and that she will not eat a bird. makes perfect sense to me, we have decided to use it as art.

recently, i have gotten some questions about paint colors. this room is painted with french general's fantastic plume bleu. but be aware, i have learned this year the importance of lighting! maybe because this house has so many windows in some rooms and very few in others, but i have seen colors change from room to room that i would never have believed had i not witnessed it with my own eyes. the great thing about french general is they sell sample paint cards and adorable sample paint pots. when you know what you want, they will ups the gallons of paint from their store in california right to your door.

i put my sweet dog's leash on him for a moment while i propped the screen doors open to sweep. i was afraid he would run out after the bunnies. with nowhere to go, he decided to get more comfortable. i can't believe how big he looks on this bed! we have had rain, rain, rain. the rug lady came today to measure for my stair runner. i think it will look super and add some softness to the hardwood steps. something about the chill in the air makes me want rugs everywhere, then come spring, out they go. do you do that?

yesterday, my husband and i went on a home tour and stopped here for a refreshment. we found out that several days earlier, george clooney had dined in this very place. now i know, not very exciting if you live in la or nyc, but in north carolina, this is pretty unusual. we heard he is scouting out this small town to perhaps use it for a movie called leatherheads that is set back in the 1950's. i hope he picks it, then maybe we'll both become regulars here.

this teapot is from england. it was a gift from my great aunt mary. it is the gifts of treasures like these that have dictated my style. i think? for as a long as i can remember, my grandmother has given me countless gifts like these. depression glass, dolls, family heirlooms, fabulous antique-y things. i adore it all. and i can't separate it. do i love it because they are things that belonged to her, that remind of her, because they are things that have meaning and make me feel loved when i see them? or is it my style? i guess it doesn't matter. but i was just wondering.

i am creating a "workshop" in our guest room. i have lots of stuff to make things, trouble is, i don't know what to make. i do some board books here and there (you can see the "e" one and the "father's day" one on the shelf), but i can't sew, so paper projects seem to be my crafting limit. i started to do my scrap wall and it is so fun, but no room for error - yikes! do you make suff? what stuff do you make?

did you see the moon last night? i got it here for you if you missed it. the chill in the air, a full moon...ahhhh....
happy weekend :)

my home has a big wrap around porch that makes it more a farmhouse style than cottage. i love farms and have always been drawn to things that remind me of them. baskets of eggs, milking stools, long dining tables, glass milk jugs, calico aprons and warm quilts. i went to school in rural virginia and driving around school was such a treat, rolling fields, big red barns, cows. so i was thrilled to go to the farm with my son this week. we went on a hayride, we watched the farmers milk the cows, we saw the chickens sitting on their eggs, we fed the goats. and i was reminded what farms really are - a lot of stinky hard work. there were bugs and manure piles everywhere, the farmers were sweating and swatting at gnats. the chickens were wild and noisy, the pigs, well you can just imagine the pigs. on our way out, i saw an old lady on the farmhouse porch rocking in a chair sipping on some lemonade overlooking all the activities of the farm. it made me wonder about all the work she had done in her life. and i'm kind of jealous of her experience. God bless her.

i was just snapping some pictures and noticed these flowers popping out of one of my bushes. it is a vine of some sort. i didn't plant it. it wasn't there last year. it was a surprise, a little present for me. i am so grateful.

green pumpkin update: there were no green pumpkins. only orange. but he got to pet baby cows, so he forgot all about it. for now...

i wake up early now that my daughter is in kindergarten. i love the angle of the sun so early in the morning. i watch it rise. i am glad i beat it waking up. i win. i feel like i get to choose my plans for the day this way instead of letting my day happen before me, with me trying to keep up. i am going to the pumpkin farm today. my son does not want an orange pumpkin. he wants a green one. last year his pumpkin was green, dark, like a cucumber. i had never seen one like it and his was the only green one in the patch. could it happen again? wish us luck. :)

the electrician didn't show up last week, so my husband hung our foyer light on sunday. i didn't know he was capable of such things. the light had been in the attic for over a year. it was the foyer light in our previous home. i am glad to have it back with us.

i think they are going to be white, but i am unsure the exact "white" of the table. have you ever seen a brand's paint pallette - there are so many whites! i think i will do a white fabric seat this time, maybe a matalese?

b. moore's silver sage in outdoor light.

this is painted with benjamin moore's silver sage. looks more blue indoors in low light.

this is painted with american accents spray paint from home depot. the color is fossil.

my dining room is my focus these days. i am patiently awaiting the table from beach dwelling to decide on the color to paint the chairs. they are still in my garage. i will post some pictures today of the other things i painted. i am also trying to figure out how to use these wooden swags. i want to drop them a few inches from the crown molding, i think. i bought this one from lowes this weekend and painted it my trim color. the napkin in the basket is from anthropologie. i got ten, i knew they would be needed for my thanksgiving feast. okay, off to take some pictures...