:: Airports...how I love thee ::

:: I love airports, especially when I'm the one leaving on a plane. My first ever plane ride was to Oahu Hawaii -- at least that's the first plane ride I remember going on. I went on a plane ride with my family when I was 6 or 7 months old and apparently I was "perfect" - my parents laid me in this little hammock that was attached to the wall and I slept in there the whole way. Mr. L's first flight was to Hawaii too, he was just 3 years old ::

:: Anyways, back to flying. Some people don't like flying; I'm not one of these people. Even when I was boarding the plane to go and visit my parents when my Dad had his seizure out of town, it didn't matter, I still loved flying ::

:: When I was away with YWAM I took 18 flights within 10 months, I LOVED it! ::

:: What is so great about flying? I don't really know, maybe picking out the outfit, people watching, little bags of pretzels...Truly, I don't know what I love about it because it's really all quite a hassle since the security measures have been raised so high due to 9|11 --- but I still really love it and I can't wait for our boys to go on the plane with us to Hawaii ::

:: I guess it will be the first official plane ride that Cole has taken as I was just a few weeks pregnant with Cole the last time we flew with them; JJ was almost 10 months old, so this will probably be the actual first flight that they remember going on --- That's so fun that we all get to have our first flights to the same place, who knew?!? ::

:: Anyways, in dreaming of what I'll wear on the flight to Hawaii...I came up with this :::: A few of you asked the details of our trip, so here you go! We'll be going sometime this Fall {sorry don't want to be too specific on here} and we'll be going for 17 days - which really interprets to 15 days as a day on either end gets eaten up by the traveling. Yes, it's a long time to be on an island with two small children, however when we were thinking about going on this trip we couldn't imagine just going for just one week and if we went for any more than one week we'd for sure have to take the kids. So yes, we're all going together, for the whole time, by ourselves. No, T, we don't have any coupons but we have been planning financially for this trip {by the time we go on the trip} for 5 months...So we have been making installments into our "holiday" bank account to ensure we don't have to go into debt to enjoy our holiday and we don't have to return to a massive credit card bill ::

:: The total cost of our vacation will be around $5000 - Start to finish. We got a kickin' deal on our flights, all four of us are flying for just over $2000, from our city directly to Oahu. We also booked a condo {privately} through VRBO and we're staying here -- my parents advised that we stay there as we will be right beside the Waikiki Hilton and get to use their ocean fed lagoon. This will be great for the boys and we won't always have to put up with the surf. We also have a full kitchen in our condo and so I will for sure be bringing a suitcase full of snacks and dried items {like ice tea, pirates booty, fruit snacks etc. as most of those things are cheaper here than on the Island} plus we can use this suitcase that will be empty upon our return to fill with Kona Coffee and chocolate covered mac nuts ;) ::

:: This trip is what I asked for, for my 30th birthday -- It may not be a gift to many going away on an island with your two kids under 4, but truly Paul and I have the same intentions for going away, especially to a tropical destination...get up, eat, pack to the beach, stay at the beach, have dinner, bed, repeat the following day. We have very low expectations, as long as the weather is good, we'll be happy campers! We will probably rent a car mid way through our trip to give us a change of pace and go to our favorite beach and as a treat we may also visit the aquarium. Cars are cheap to rent and easy to come by - we're talking like $15 a day, so if we rent one over a weekend we'll get the most use out of it ::

:: I know that this will be a lot of work, but it's also the chance of a lifetime. The boys are truly good travelers and they will never be just 3 & 4 again. We will for sure do this trip again, but it will never be the same...so we go, happy to share one of our most favorite places in the world with our boys ::

So until then, I plan, save and mentally pack for a trip of a lifetime! And try and pick out what I'll wear on the flight to Hawaii..oh how I love flying! ::

:: Old House - New Look ::

:: Oh my goodness, it's been a long time since I've done and OHNL edition on my blog! Not that I don't have changes that are blog worthy, I've just been plain 'ol lazy! ::

:: So here goes...a brief re-cap on how I revamped our Master Suite on a very minimal budget! ::

:: First it starts with the paint. I had purchased the RL "Slate" paint back when it was on a super deal in the winter at Home Depot. I originally purchased it for our bedroom, but ended up being inspired to do our powder room in it too ::

:: I had based the paint colours on some Restoration Hardware bedding I Had picked up back in November as a gift to myself for my birthday. Ever since then, it's been in our linen closet just waiting to be used! ::

:: So I had the feature wall colour as the slate gray, then I was looking for a creamy beige for the walls. So when I had stopped in at our local paint store to look at their mis-tints and I found two pails of white paint and they were further reduced to 1/2 the price, I couldn't resist the two of them for $4! ::


:: But when it got down to testing the paint, it turned out to be a bit too pink-white, not cream-white, or beige-white. So I rummaged {literally at 11 pm} through our shed and found a full pail of Bar-Harbour Beige which was the original colour we painted our suite when we first got married. That pail of paint is 8 years old! But heck, what could I loose...I paid $4 for the two pails of paint so if I wrecked it, I didn't loose much! ::

:: So here is what I did: I washed out a huge bucket Mr. L found at the side of the house and dumped both the pails of white paint into it. Then I started adding a little bit of the Bar-Harbour Beige to it, and testing a swatch of it each time ::

:: Here are the colours...the colour the paint originally was is on the far right, I ended up going with the colour on the far left - this is not the best way to tint your paint, but like I said I was on a budget {which was really no budget aka: spend as little as possible} so it worked for me ::


:: Here are the before pictures of our room, sorry they are so dark and the colour so crappy, I decided to do this job late in the evening last week ::

:: Our room is not big at all, frankly it's quite small for a Master Suite...it's 12x14 and has an open hotel style en suite as well ::

:: This is what you see from the entrance to our suite {the pictures on the wall on the left are on the wall just outside out door, to the right are the stairs to the main level} ::



:: Turn to the right when you enter our suite and you'll see Mr. L's bedside table ::



:: Look slightly to the left when you enter the suite and you'll see our dresser w/ Mr. L's stuff on top and to the opposite side of the bed you'll find my side table along with my jewelry box and misc. items ::

:: Our bed is a queen and we purchased our bedroom set from Costco, yup, you guessed it 8 years ago {August 23 - I have a stupid memory for these things} ::

:: Our drapes are hand-me-downs from my Marm...they are shantung silk drapes, she had them specifically made for her living room, 6 years {or so} ago. Her seamstress spilled something on them and decided to wash them. She washed the beautiful finish off of them and it changed the colour slightly, so I gladly took the hand-me-down! We actually use them at night too, even though we have blinds -- our room faces East, so in the morning the sun light is quite bright, so the lovely drapes keep out the extra light, it's a wonderful thing! ::

:: If you are standing at the end of the bed your view will be right into our en suite. See, I had to kneel on the bed to get the shot of the en suite. The door to the right of the sink is our walk in closet and on the opposing side is the shower stall and toilet {which has a sliding door on it}. Then if you're still standing at the end of the bed and look to the left you'll see this little table with mirror. This is my little area, as we don't have much room in our en suite to get ready at the same time, I made this little area for me...it's directly behind our bedroom door but it works just fine for me {see the dresser in the mirror?} ::


:: So there is a little tour of the Master Suite, so you kind get a good layout of the room ::

:: In addition to the bedding being inspiration, I had all of these items put away in hopes to use them in our room. A few months ago I had spied all of these things in our crawl space and made mental note of what I wanted it to look like ::

{Starting top left to right}
:: Love birds - these were from my Grandma & Grandpa as a gift when we got engaged, I never really had a place for them and they weren't really my style, but I loved them because of the meaning...My Grandpa bought them for my Grandma when they went to Capilano Suspension Bridge for one of the their anniversaries, sweet eh?!? ::
:: Then there is the fabric of one of the new pillow cases against the new wall colour as a test ::
:: A plastic mirror from my neighbour {same one I got the newspapers for our powder room art}::
:: An old Italian frame from a garage sale {years ago @ my grandparents place} with a beautiful horse photo in it ;) ::
:: Then I have a piece of black coral that my Papa brought back from Hawaii years ago - this is an item that if my house were burning down, I would bring with me...I cherish it ::
:: A picture handed down from friends ::
:: My make-up table, which I've had forever..really, it was my change table when I was a baby :: :: Another shot of the birds ::
:: And finally a picture of misc. other things that I had gathered to make work for our suite ::

:: I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...Here's the new improved Master Suite ::

:: See the drapes? Yup, those are the same drapes, don't look the same hey? No, that's because they are not the same colour. I went to our local Dollar store and purchased two boxes of black Tintex dye...proceeded to dye the original {already ruined} curtains in my washing machine. And then proceeded to see that they were the perfect colour but 4" too short now. Humph. So I took out the ample hem and tacked up the bottom inch and brand new gray silk drapes that now pool perfectly on the floor. One may think I planned all this! Ha Ha Ha! Total cost of that project was less than $3 - May have a few gray hairs from sweating over the fact that I shrunk the living day lights out of them, but all turned out just fine! ::

:: Mr. L has always loved cars, as do I. I don't really fancy the model cars and hot wheels {you should see our garage!} and yet I don't want to change that part of my husband. However trying to keep two small boys from getting the model cars who make it their mission in life to get Daddy's toys and dusting around all the memoirs on the dresser make it less than wonderful for me! ::

:: So I decided that I would use some black cubes that I've had in storage for three years and make a collage above the dresser, for his trinkets and things. I painted the front and exterior of the boxes the RL "Slate" and left the interior black, as we still have some hits of black in the room. See the things he holds dear are those two red cars, when he was little he went to Port Townsend WA and his parents {or grands} bought him those model cars. I framed his Papa's sun glasses from when he was a fighter pilot in the war in Brittan back a couple Father's days ago and they had yet to make it to the wall. These things are the things he holds dear, and so I wanted to display them for his pleasure and this area is just the perfect little spot ::

:: On his dresser he has his watch box and another car his Sister bought for him from Mexico and another red tractor {that one of the boys had while I took this photo} that he got from his parents when he was little ::

:: I was delighted when he teared up when I showed him this area devoted to his stuff...It meant a lot to him that he has his own place in the world of "us" ::



:: There is the neighbours old plastic gold mirror, with a new coat of RL "Slate" paint - flanked by the love birds on mirrored pillar candle holders I received as a gift from my SIL for my birthday three years ago ::



:: Details of our new bedding, ahhh, I love it! ::

:: Looking from the end of the bed to his side ::

:: Looking from the end of the bed to my side ::

:: View into the en suite - the collage of our vows, our kids foot prints and a photo from our wedding day is on the wall to the right just as you enter our en suite and closet {you can see it in the en suite mirror, just to give you perspective}. I painted the back of our en suite wall "Slate" too ::

:: Last, but definitely not least, is my little personalized area for me to get ready at. I had seen an idea of painted wall paper through Jones Design Co. {her blog, shop and ideas are to die for...just go and see for yourself} and I thought this would be the perfect piece of furniture to test out my skills on...heck if she could paint wall paper on a whole room, I could do it on one little piece of furniture! I stripped the wallpaper off the top of the table, primed it and painted it the RL "Slate" colour, then traced the pattern onto the table top and painted the cream wall colour in the pattern. It's far from perfect, but I LOVE it! ::

:: Edited to add ::
See that little silver cup? That is the cup that was gifted to me when I was born {don't know who it's from}; it's got my full maiden name {obviously} along with my birth date and a little clock with the time I was born along with my weight. There will be more on this later, but I'm a huge fan of using "special" items, that would normally be in a china cabinet or behind glass because they are "special". I love being able to see it and enjoy it each day!

:: I still want to make a chair cover for the Ikea dining chair that I use, but for now, it will have to do! I took the corner shelf that used to be on my side of the bed and put it above this corner to hang a little light from, so that I could free up some space on the table top. I also painted the formerly black {originally gold} mirror of my Grandma's RL "Slate" to keep it all coordinated ::

:: The little tray is from Dollar Tree {one of my all time favorite stores!} it was a dollar...and best of all, it's not going to tarnish ;) The jar my brushes are in is from a jar candle I won at a shower a couple months ago, I kept the glass once the candle was all gone as I loved the shape of the jar...and I'm glad I did! ::

:: So here is a break down of what I spent ::
:: Paint $13.00 Ralph Lauren "Slate" ::
:: Cream Wall Paint $4.00 ::
:: Restoration Hardware Bedding $150.00 ::
:: Tray for table $1.00 ::

:: Total Cost: $168.00 ::

:: Of course that's not including the time that I put into the room, but truly everything else was stuff I had in storage and had to just re-vamp a little ::

:: Also, this didn't happen over night, it took me a week worth of working on...but I did do it all by myself, every spot of it, as I did most of it while Mr. L was at work or working on his own projects. And boy oh boy, you should see our closet! Looks like we had a war in there! Well, hopefully I get that cleaned up tonight and we'll return back to normal around here! ::

:: I had so much fun seeing my vision come together on a budget...it's exactly what I wanted - Hope you enjoyed seeing it come to life! ::

:: Next on to the boys room! ::

:: Weekend Re-Cap ::

:: First off we had a the best offer sent out way on Friday night, my parents asked if they could take the boys for the evening for SLEEPOVER!!!! Ahhh, you don't know how much of a gift this is to us! We don't have kids that sleep in, let alone sleep all the way through the night. Our boys love to cuddle and be with us in bed...this is great, but can get very squishy and we are the ones who don't get the best sleep. So with that offer on the table we set aside plans to work on our projects we were working on and take the night to enjoy a movie and time on the town ::

:: We headed out to Inception -- um, yeah, I had seen people leaving the word "inception" in their status' on facebook. To say the least I was entertained, but neither of us were too taken with the movie. It felt like levels of a realistic video game to me. But after that we headed to one of our favorite restaurants and ended up being seated right close to a famous singer from Vancouver, that was fun..I spoke to his waitress and she said that she'd never been handed a black AMEX before, she said it was made of metal...oh the life of the rich and famous! ::

:: We both slept better knowing that we wouldn't be woken up by a rogue foot or elbow {insert scene from date night here!} and that we got to wake up when we woke up not when our kids were up! It was heavenly! Here's a shot of Paul just before we ate breakfast, we enjoyed eggs, watched the news, perused blogs + the new Ikea look book and drank coffee without worrying about it spilling...oh, it was glorious! ::



:: The dream didn't last long though, before we knew it the boys were back and into everything, we did the gardening, lawn mowing and trimming then Paul went into the Motor Home to finish up his project and headed into the garage to start mine ::

:: Here's a sneak peek at what I was working on {more on that later} ::

:: We enjoyed some time on the bikes, as well as church and visiting with Paul's parents..it's been incredibly hot here so we've kinda just been in survival mode trying to stay cool ::

:: Here's a picture of Cole on his new balance bike, he's such a big boy now! And so full of beans, but we love him to bits! ::

:: Hopefully I'll be back to post the finishing touches on my project and maybe even Paul's project! Happy August Y'all ::