: the fridge :

Often times when people first come to our new place they ask the same question "what is your favorite thing about your new house" the answer for me could be many things, but I tend to stick to this answer "the fridge"
People then look at me like I have three heads and think I don't realize that I just said "the fridge" -- but I do realize it and although it's not the prettiest item in our home {all dinged up from the previous owner} it's SUCH an amazing fridge!

This is what the inside looks like, tons of space for all of our Costco sized items, multiple condiments, fruits&veggies, eggs & milk...just look at this sucker!
Huge fruit&veggie drawers that fully open - ahhh! That just tickles me pink {pathetic I know!}Super handy extra deep door --- before y'all preach that we're not supposed to keep the milk on the door, I know, I know...it's just we go through milk so frequently that it's not an issue keeping it there and it's much more accessible for the boys :)
My extra fruit&veggie containers, since I live with three boys I find that if items are not out in the open right as they open the cupboard or fridge they don't eat them...this solves that issue real quick - Mr. L came home to see these the other day and it put a smile on his face "wow - did you get new containers!!?? That's great" --- ahh, love that man! And look at this scookum bottom drawer! Pulls out fully and fits SO much extra stuff that is too tall, too awkward etc. I love this feature! A woman's fridge is like a man's car is to him. Every woman needs a good fridge that can stand the test of a family constantly messing with it!

Happy Tuesday Lovelies -- I would love to hear what your favorite feature is in your home!

{XoXo}

: Tangerine Tango :: Inspiration :

I've seen it around on a few blogs and more recently my friend Lyla {an incredible interior designer} loaded some inspirational interior photos with the color of the year "Tangerine Tango".

I actually had no idea there was such a thing as a color of the year..but I LOVED looking at her inspiration photos and thus was inspired myself to throw together a little inspiration board all about my favorite "Tangerine Tango" items!

Tangerine Tango 2012 by shawnalad featuring a hooded cardigan

Just enough time wasted on such things makes the "witching hour" in my house much more manageable especially since tonight is "choose your favorite left-over" for dinner - ha ha!

{XoXo}

: We Week Ended :

This weekend was FULL -- full of lots of work {as in cleaning, cleaning, organizing & cleaning} and lots of fun...here a photo collage of what we did for most of the weekend.

: Picture explanation starting from the top left :

1. skillet pancake my boys made on my new cast iron skillet {got that beauty for Christmas}
2. table set for our date-in-home on friday night along with the movie "The Beaver"
   
3. boys helping prepare breaky with daddy
4. robson street on Sunday night
5. new candle burning to try and rid the house of the garlic smell; we had friends over on Saturday night and all cooked together...our house {and us} smelled like garlic after - oy!
6. dessert from date night downtown @ milestones - SO good!
7. darth :: what I woke up to on Sunday morning
   
8. super cute orange chair from milestones downtown
9. my new coach purse from seester - love it!
   
10. mr.L & I on our date night downtown {thanks M&D for taking the kids swimming!}
11. the lander rover founders show on Saturday afternoon
12. cloverdale agriplex where we spent Saturday afternoon
13. italian kitchen for date night on Sunday night-- pretty much the best food I have ever had. no joke.
    

Happy 2nd day of the week ;)
Happy Monday!

{XoXo}

: Talk :: Sunday ::

{via}

Okay Okay, I know there is A LOT of "talk" going on on this blog the last few days...but I have t write this down cause if I don't, it will be lost in the deep black vault.

So this morning I woke up and one of the first thoughts from my mind was this song that Jacob learned from school you've probably heard it before. Goes like this "There are seven days in a week; Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday" -- have you ever noticed that Sunday is the first day of the week?

I have never learned or known Sunday to be the first day of the week. It's always Monday. Which means that Sunday is the last.

I woke up this morning thinking; today is a new day, a new week even. I know some of you already consider Sunday as the first day of the week because you do your "weekend round-up" on Sunday.

I pondered this thought that Sunday could actually be the first day of the week instead of the last.

• We start off our day on Sunday's by going to church and being in His presence with other believers & our family
• We enjoy family time
• We take time to rest
• We organize our garbage {Monday is garbage day & for some reason it feels good to start with no garbage (physically&spiritually)}
  
• We visit with friends
• We cook together and take time to actually enjoy it
  
• We prepare emotionally/physically/spiritually for the 5 {or 6} work days ahead

What a great way to START the week, instead of END it!

So, I may be the only one on this great green earth who has thought that Sunday was the last day of the week and not the first, but oh I love the thought of it being the first day...makes my week feel all that more manageable!
{XoXo}

: Talk :: Foundation Friday :

*{Foundation Friday is going to pop up on here every once in a while, may be more often or less often but really it just comes down to when I feel led to write something based on the foundation I know and love}*

If you're a facebook friend of mine you know that I posted a photo via a challenge my friend Amanda had posted.

"Here's how it works: Take a pic of how you look RIGHT NOW and post it. Tag me or comment that you have done it. Some of you may be too afraid to do it but COME ON! I did!"{this was us -- at that moment...It was supposed to be just me but that's what made it so real, once the boys saw the web cam on, they were in there like white on rice!}

This was {at least what I took from it} meant to show all of us that really we're all the same, some of us may have a better hand at house-keeping, organization, laundry, sports, playing an instrument, saving...blah blah blah...the list goes on. But we're all the same, we all have mountains of laundry and if not laundry be it dishes, we ALL lack in some part of our lives. Not one of us is perfect - nor do I think any of us claim to be.

However, if we {mostly as women} feel deficient in one particular area that someone else has great success in we tend to get down on our selves and place our friend on a pedestal thinking "she can do it all" -- "she never yells at her kids" -- "her husband brought her flowers so he must REALLY love her".

When you actually say these stupid assumptions out loud you realize how pathetic and un-true they are.

This assumption goes along with blogs and bloggers {as well as other social media outlets *ahem* facebook!!!}. As a blogger, I desire to share my heart, my life, my passions and things that bring me joy.

I don't need you looking at my blog or my life thinking "wow - how great is she" cause really I'm not that great! I strive to do all through Christ who gives me the strength and let me tell you most of the time it's Him working through me.

One of my friends took a poll on facebook the other day and asked "why do you blog?" I wrote this in response:

"I {heart} blogs; reason being for ideas/others thoughts+outlook as well as encouragement..sometimes it's nice to know your not alone on this road of life :)
I blog as an outlet - for my memories too - my everyday things that make up my life. The good, bad and ugly. It's an outlet for me and I highly recommend it - its cheaper than therapy ;) "

I aspire to be the best that I can be, not the best that I can be cause I have friends who do this or that better than me. No, just the best I can be -- and trust me, my life has bumps and ditches that sometimes during the course of my day, week, month, year can run into or crash into and that my friends is a fact of life for ALL of us!

I strive to build my house on the rock -- I don't need to throw my beliefs around at you or how great my God is {cause He really is} but I do feel it on my heart to let you know that before me He goes and where I lack I try to trust Him to pick me up.

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” - Matthew 7:24-27

I hope you get what I'm sharing and the heart that it's coming from.

* * *

We're at home with a snow day for the littlest one, but since our school is walking distance for Jacob, he's at school :)

We've got workers in the basement that I'm over-seeing today to hopefully be finished up with the project down there this weekend - YES!

{XoXo}

: Project :: Chalk Board :

Morning All! It's a lovely Thursday {lovely because I'm home all day with my littlest} trying to get things accomplished as we have a pretty full weekend ahead!

I thought I would share a project that I finished last week. If you remember in our last house we had a chalkboard window just as you entered the house --- I loved that window and used the chalk board often..one of the things about moving from that house that made me sad was not having that lovely little chalk board.

But alas, I have fixed that!
-INSERT-
{Old framed art from garage sale}
{Some chalk board sticky paper from our local $ store - and it was truly just $1}

{Apply chalk board paper to glass - trim the edges + find the perfect spot to mount the chalk board}{Mr. L was a little sketched out about having to screw something into our wood cupboards, but I hated that big blank pantry wall always staring back at me - so I said "justdoit" and that he did}

{Add the best invention since sliced bread - liquid chalk - that I got in my stocking (thanks Marm!)}{Paint the edges of the frame with craft paint and you've got yourself a large chalk board for the grand total of $5 (including the chalk paper/paint/brush/liquid chalk) --- Not bad for an old framed piece of art!?!? I love the chalk paper too vs. the chalk paint - it seem sturdier and I know I won't have to touch it up any time soon!}
Here's how it look in the kitchen -- I love it and can't wait to use it more often!
ps. I was out last night with a girlfriend {Hi S.B.!} shopping HomeSense and saw that our kitchen table pendant is on sale for $88! I paid nearly double that --- so if any of you are looking for some great {cheap} pendants stop by HomeSense ;)

I'm off to finish laundry, vacuum and make hay while I only have one little guy at my heels ;)

Have a wonderful Thursday!
{XoXo}

: What I LOVE Wednesday :

It's another snowy day around here -- some places almost record breaking. When we woke up this morning it was -8 not including the windchill....So for this balmy West Coast city this weather is quite the shock!

I'm enjoying it, wasn't enjoying it when I was driving to school & church and was sliding all over the place this morning, but I am embracing the slower pace; so that I am enjoying!

Today's list of what I LOVE is all compiled of stuff I received as gifts for Christmas. Most of these things I didn't ask for but were truly gifts --- Just goes to show my family really knows me :)
{click on photos to find the source}

* * *
Panasonic Ear buds :: These are so super great --- I've used them since boxing day for every work out and I LOVE them, they cut out any background noise so I can't hear anything that is going on in the house when I'm working out. And that in itself is a God-send! Secondly they actually stay in my ears! Go figure ;)
L'Occitane Hand Cream :: This stuff is fab-u-lous!!! Especially with this bout of dry cold weather, it's worth it's weight in gold!
LuLu Lemon Gift Card :: I got not one but two gift cards for LuLu and I cannot wait to pick me out some cute little things to wear - oh how I LOVE LuLu!
Erin Condren Planner :: I don't know how other Mama's are able to keep track without a planner! I depend on mine and this one is absolutely the Queen of them all!
Sid Dickens Original :: This is my 3rd Sid Dickens wall plaque and I LOVE it, kinda like that I'm building up on the first two that I have!
Bulletin Board :: This bulletin board is huge like 3 feet by 2.5 feet huge and works perfectly in our front office, now just to get the guts to poke something into it ;) {and I don't have a link for it as Mr. L got it from HomeSense}

Clear Umbrella :: Saw this last year and have loved it ever since! So glad I have one of my own, since we live in the balmy West Coast I have plenty of reasons to have to pull this baby out more than I would probably like ;) Hope y'all are having a great "hump day" -- One of my goals this year is to keep up on scrapbooking our lives -- so that's what I'll be doing this afternoon, wish me luck ;)

{XoXo}

: Weekend Recap :

We had a great weekend around these parts...we had our first dusting of snow for 2012 and it was sure welcomed from around here! I LOVE snow, I love that it makes you slow down, that life seems quieter and simpler - all in all, I have no complaints about snow!
So on Saturday after the big dump of snow on Friday night, the boys woke up SO excited to head out in the snow and Mr. L happily obliged by building them their first "Frosty" in this house.Pretty cute little {ahem, not so little at 5ft 9 inches} Frosty -- the poor little guy now has a mean lean going on from the sun beating down on him for most of the day on Sunday...but as of right now he's still standing; leaning ;) Saturday afternoon we headed into the city to celebrate our niece's 4th birthday -- it was a beautiful afternoon for a drive into the city {as pictured in the first photo}. We enjoyed some great food and had a fun time celebrating the little princess. It's always great to catch up with Michael's family as we don't see them as much as we'd like.Sunday we went to church and had a great time of worship, I love that we have a church that feels like family to us. We've been through our fair share of hardship as a church but I truly feel blessed to call it my home. I look around during the service and I see faces of love and comfort; the faces of family - SO blessed!

Sunday after church we all came home for a rest -- once the boys got up we bundled them up and sent them outside to play while Mr. L {and I} installed the new faucet we purchased from Lowes on the way into the city on Saturday...isn't she lovely!?!?


Here is the old faucet, worked like a charm just wasn't as esthetically pleasing ;) She wasn't cheap but since we're installing a new sink in the suite and it needed a faucet we decided to put our faucet downstairs and install a new one for us...just shy of $200 it's the only change {other than paint} that we'll be doing in our kitchen for a couple years, so it was worth it! Did you see the cute little succulent on my window sill? I bought it from Ikea for $3 and transplanted it into one of my old glass candle jars from Ikea {you know the ones that you buy with the candle wax already poured into} -- they are great little glasses and clean up like a charm -makes for a cute little holder for my succulent, and since you can kill succulents by over watering it's a great way to ensure the soil stays dry! On Monday the streets were less than ideal for driving so Mr. L stayed home and we declared it a "snow day" at our house. The boys had new paint projects to work on, fresh snow to play in and lots of Christmas puzzles to complete.
Mr. L and I worked. He on advertisements and me on cupboard organizing and finishing up a few projects I had on the go...twas a great way to spend our snow day!But alas, we're back at it today, the snow is still here but a little someone needed to go back to school and the littler one needed to be registered for Kindergarten! Oy Vey!
So off I go to attack another corner of our home and to finish up the new load of laundry piled high on my mud room floor!

Hope you all have a lovely of loveliest Tuesdays!

{XoXo}