Eye Candy: Style Shopping

Another presumptuous post brought to you by the letter P.

So, keeping crossables crossed and praying nightly, if (WHEN!) we get this house, we will need furniture. As in, a LOT of furniture.

The husband and I decided to take advantage of the 14 year old and run off on our own.
When I say run, I mean it. We ran for the door; made our escape!

We actually checked out 3 different furniture stores. More than anything, we wanted to know what our style was.

The cool thing about the husband and I is that we do have very similar styles.
Unless it's the fact that he learned the life-altering lesson of "yes, dear" much sooner than most guys.
Hmm.

Anyway, here are a few things that caught our eye.

Beds...
I know I want a BIG bed. We have a large room. And we've never had a bed before (just mattresses with no headboard)... I am feeling the need to overcompensate.

Here are three that I liked (I swear I took more pictures...)
I am not 100% sure of the straight lines at the top of each headboard of the first two... We may have to go out again (do you hear that, 14 year old?).

Really like this one!!

Now if I could only remember which of the three stores is was at...

Couches...

This section was important... We have 3 living areas to fill. We will be taking our existing couches and putting them up in the loft. When I say "we", I of course mean the husband. My back couldn't handle it.

First up - chocolate brown corduroy. Love it! And it is soooo comfy. The couch has 2 recliners and the recliner, well - it has 1. This is at the top of my list.

This one may be brown corduroy as well; I can't remember. But I love the colors and it was comfy. 

This next one was loverly!

It is a soft blue-ish color.

Lighter than a Robin's Egg...

It was so comfortable.

Notice a theme?

What we are looking for here is the couches to put in the family room that will be designated as the husband and my cuddle place.

Where we relax; watch TV or movies,

ignoring the screaming and hollering from upstairs.

I want something we can sink into.

And have a hard time getting up from.

In a good way.

Who wants to leave cuddle time?

This one is a completely different look, but was equally as comfy.

This one was EXACTLY the shape I imagined.

The small sectional with a chaise...

Love the ottoman.

Kitchen and Dining Room Tables...

We need both a kitchen table and a formal dining room table.

I am weird about certain things.

Measurements is one of those things.

Placement is another.

In the house, we have a large island... behind that island is where the eat-in-kitchen table will go.

I feel that the table should be the same height and shape as the island.

If it doesn't match, it will irk me.

So, we are looking at square, counter-top-height tables...

in a color that will match our maple Pecan cabinets.

This baby will seat 6. I like it.

I couldn't find a formal dining room table I liked all that much. I know I want it to be chunky and sturdy. In a chocolate brown color. That has leaves (sp? leafs?)...  Narrowed it down a bit, didn't I?

Well, there you have it.
Do you have a favorite?
Suggestions?
Anything?

Gosh, I feel broke coming on...

I am lost and confused...

In two weeks, my loverly daughter will be joining the ranks of middle-schoolers everywhere:
She will be in the sixth grade.

(okay, this isn't a current pic. this was when Nic was a few months old and Isa was 8).

Every single day with her, there is a new request:

Mom, can I wear lipstick?
Mom, can I cut my hair short?
Mom, can I get darker nail polish?
Mom, can I pierce my nose?
Mom, can I wear make-up?
Mom, just a little?

Bombarded with all these questions... I feel hopeless.
Perhaps I should find an article or a book that could help answer these questions for me...
When is the right time to allow Isa to start doing/wearing all of this stuff?

I pulled out my extremely worn out copy of What to Expect When You are Expecting... Hoping to gain a bit of insight.  I am a bit peeved. I think someone ripped out the chapters that specifically addressed these questions/scenarios. I am seriously missing Years 2-18! What the heck?!

Grr.

To be honest...I can answer the above questions okay enough.  In fact, we already let her cut her beautiful long hair into a sensational bob-ish 'do. She's adorable.

The real question I need help with related to SHAVING!

She wants to start now...
All her friends are doing it, she says.
To which my response is "If all your friends are jumping off of a cl....."
MOM!

Hmmm.

I know they have a great razor/shaver on the market right now that would probably be easy for her to use. The Intuition...?!

If we lived in Alaska, we might not be having this conversation (your and I, or heck, her and I for that matter).

But we live in Arizona... which means we live in shorts and flip flops for 9 months out of the year.

Any thoughts?
Do I give in?
Do we let her start this lifelong commitment?
Is 6th grade the right time?
Mom? Want to weigh in here?

Second question...
What should I make for dinner tonight?

My Worst Nightmare

Okay... there could probably be other things far worse...

but this was still scary, none-the-less.

We took Alex to get his books for school yesterday.

We got his schedule...

1 - Freshman English

2 - Beginning TV Production

3 - PE

4 - Chemistry - Physical Science

5 - Lunch

6 - Algebra

7 - Spanish

He got all of the classes he I wanted.  That was fantastic.

We were able to get his school ID... and his picture looked fantastic.

Or it could have been worse... =)

What wasn't so fantastic was what happened next...

We stepped back into the bright sunlight and 110 degree heat...
I was trying to catch my bearings... Heck I was trying to see. 

I accidentally left my sunglasses at one of the open houses we visited last week...

$55 down the drain.

Grrr.

Sorry, back to my nightmare.

Bright, blind, hot... but not deaf...

Allleeexxxx!

[giggle giggle]

Hey, Alex! How are you?

[giggle giggle]

Important item to add to my back-to-school shopping list...

Girl Repellent.

I wonder if they sell the stuff at Target?

We've Prepared for this all Summer

Today we take this kid:

To get his books for high school.

If I remember correctly, from a mere 15 years ago, those books are darn heavy.

We don't want to appear weak.

We've done push-ups and pull-ups.

We've done strength training.

We are prepared.

Alright... you got me.

We are prepared... but that's because I am bringing reinforcements to help carry all of Alex's loot.

I wouldn't know what a dumbbell was even if it fell on my toe.

Well, I would... but you get the picture.

Oh - I hope Alex got the classes he wanted!!

Evidently, we are in Escrow.

So... we trucked ourselves back over to the neighborhood and handed over a check.
Signed a few million pieces of paper and now we are in Escrow.

Whatever that means.

My mom was dying to see the place.

At first, I was really worried she would think we were too far out
(it's abt 40 minutes from her house).

But when she saw the views and the HOUSE - she was sold.

As in crying.

Which makes me feel weird.

Oh, how I wish the financing were a done deal already.

Want to see some pics?

First, let me warn you...

I am a bad empty-house-picture-taker.

Go with me here:

Kitchen (duh).  :D

Eat-in portion of the kitchen.. 

The appliances have yet to be decided on, so we got to do that.

We chose a VERY NICE gas stove (5 burner!) and

an equally yummy microwave and dishwasher.

The counter tops are yucky... we will upgrade

Someday...

This is on the other side of the kitchen, the small-ish family room.

I think they tiled too much of the kitchen

which in turn made the familyroom small-ish.

Eventually, I think we will tile out the family room.

We have some extra boxes, but are on the lookout for more.

Actually, in a year or two, anything that is carpet will

actually turn to wood floors or tile.

Can't stand carpet.

Three car tandem garage!

Large laundry room.

It's plumbed for a sink,

but they didn't add a sink.

Weird.

The husband is thinking of moving the plumbing

into the garage for a work sink.

I would like to either add a freezer in the laundry room

or make it a mud room - a place to put coats,

backpacks, and shoes.

We will see.

This here's our office.

It's a smidgen smaller than our current office

but we have WAY too much stuff.

So we will be paring down...

and I want the husband to remove the closet

and put bookcases.

And no, I don't normally keep Isa in the closet.

Full guest bath.

View from the front entry way.

Loft/REAL Family room!

View from said Loft.

The San Tan Mountains.

Loverly! 

(p.s. - no, i don't think we have ghosts. i think my camera

has a small scratch on the outer lens

which keeps putting orbs in my pics.

but a ghost would be cool, no?)

Our backyard...

and the new community Aquatic Center.

All that dirt?

It will eventually be phase 3 of the subdivision.

But even the two story houses won't block this view.

Man, the landscaper is gonna be our best friend,

right?

We need some trees!

Where the magic happens.

But not when she's in the room.

Mom was helping take pictures!

She's excited.

Master Bath.

Master closet.

Well, one half of it.
It's as big as the kids' bedrooms.

View from the closet WINDOW!

Love it!

One of the kids' bedrooms.

View from Nic's bedroom.

This is the Superstition Mountains.

What a sight!

Such beauty!

Upstairs, hall linen closet.

Kids bathroom...

Nic's room.

Looking downstairs from the loft...

I see the husband!

The outside of the house!

It still needs the tiles on the roof...

and it needs to be painted.

And then, of course, landscaping!

View from our driveway!

I imagine MANY nights, sitting outside with some sweet tea,

watching the kids play outside.

/sigh

I am in love with this house.

Please keep your fingers crossed

that the financing goes okay.

That's the really scary part for me.

80 and other things...

We celebrated my grandpa's 80th birthday tonight.

80.

Doesn't look a day over 79, I tell ya!

Also... the other things.

It's in regard to the house.

We decided on, instead of building, looking for a Spec home.

We found one.

It's further out that we ever thought of going, but the price on the house is $70K LESS.

We are going to put an offer on it tomorrow and hand over a check to cover the earnest funds.

This is sooo scary!

I am afraid something is going to go wrong with the financing.

Such a worry wart, I am!

Please continue to cross your fingers!!

Out of Control

I am going to duct tape their thumbs together.

Maybe even to each other.

The Secret

From what I heard about The Secret, we are supposed to stay positive and wish things into existence.

Do I have that right?

We are still really early in this process, but I want to stay positive.

For this bad boy:

Three Thousand

Seven Hundred

and

Sixty Nine

Square Feet

of

pure

lusciousness.

We know that there will be hoops we have to jump through; that things could go wrong.

We are doing this quicker than we first anticipated.

For now, we will bask in positiveness.

And hey, if it doesn't happen right now, they have PLENTY of lots left!

We will get into this neighborhood!

=)

File This Under: Someday

Presumptuous? Maybe.

Fun? Definitely.

Isabel and I stayed up last night perusing the internet looking for inspiration for her future bedroom.

She likes purple...
I like the idea of stripes (thanks to two of my favorite bloggers; her & her).

I asked Isa for an accent color, she choose Aqua.

We live 1 minute away from IKEA.

SCORE!

This is what we came up with for Isabel's Room...

I thought we could play around with the stripes a little, using the two pale purples... maybe using a gloss for the palest of the two. I also thought 12" stripes would look good. I think it's going to be a lot of hard work. And I swear, if she starts taping Edward or Jacob posters over that hard work, we may just build her a shack in the back to live in! =) 
Well, I guess ONE Edward poster would be okay...

It's funny... we picked out  the colors last night... But when I got up this morning to make the mood board, I went to IKEA to get the pictures of the bed... I came across the artwork. The colors were perfect, plus the canvas has additional colors so that everything isn't so matchy-matchy.

Isabel will need shelves; can't wait to see what we can come up with!

I wonder if Alex will let me do a mood board for his room?

I wonder if Disney has pre-made mood boards for the three year old?

Oh, if there are any typos in this here post,
it's because I am typing with my fingers crossed.

____________________________________________________________________

So I remember later on:

Paint: Benjamin Moore   Cool Aqua (2056-40), Lily Lavender (2071-60) and Misty Lilac (2071-70)

Artwork and Furniture: IKEA (as if I could forget)

Got Dirt?

Moon Baby

This little love of mine is one of the sweetest guys I know.

Nic was born exactly 6 months to the day he was conceived.

Which means he was born 3 months early.

And he weighed a mere 3 pounds.

He is now 3 years old and one the 3 brightest lights in my life.

Last night, on the way home from dinner out, Nic was looking out the van window.

My Nickelbutt is a TALKER.

Won't stop.

He was, as usual, asking me questions about his surroundings.

What's that, mom?

is one I get a lot.

Last night was no different.

He spotted the clouds in the sky... they played among a sunset of dark purples and oranges.

He then saw one of his favorite things...

the moon.

It was just a sliver of a moon, last night - but he was enamored.

He started talking about the Moon Baby.

I want to play with the Moon Baby, mom. I want to walk on the clouds.

Nic, you would probably float... interjects his sister.

I want to float on the clouds mom. And I want to hold Moon Baby.
I love Moon Baby... I want to hug it!

Nic has always loved the moon. Even as a baby. We were impressed when our preemie started pointing at the moon. Our chests were puffed out in pride when he started talking about the moon. Guess how we feel now that he uses his imagination regarding the moon?! 

I remember sitting in the NICU with him day in and day out for 7 long weeks... We didn't know what his life was going to be like.

I still don't know what his life is going to be like; but instead of fearing the worst, I can only imagine the greatest. He is a funny, active, SMART, and delightful little boy. One who wants nothing more than to play with the moon. Maybe we should have named him Neil or Buzz?

Buh-Bye Little Pony

Warning. Large pictures of people who look less-than-perfect. =)

Just keepin' it real.

Isabel and I decided it was time for a change.

We have been ponytail lovers for a long time.

Before we have to start buying stock in Scunci, we thought we'd rid ourselves of the not-so-flattering, sleeked-back, pony. 

 Here is Isabel's before:

During:

(look at how curly it became as soon as some weight was cut off)

And after:

Our hairstylist, AJ, flat ironed it... but we know that Isa can wear it curly or straight. I think this cut allows her to play with her hair more.

She is entering middle school, after all.

I don't think the picture does her cut or her cuteness any justice... but it will have to do for now.

Next up?

Me.

Yes, I do know how to smile. But it's hard to try and figure out where the camera is pointing, what button to push, and to also keep my eyes OPEN during self-portraits.

In this picture, can you even tell I am swagging a pony?

I am.

Here is a during... had to get some color, too.

And an after:

Isabel got about 9" cut off of her hair. She loves her new, shorter 'do.

I got about 5" cut off about a month ago... and probably another 5 or 6" this time around.

You should have seen the pile of hair on the floor.

Waiting to be swept.

Never to be locked up in an elastic hair thingy, ever again.

Now I just need to find out where the heck I've put my blow dryer and curling iron.

Or my ASU ball cap!

heheh.