Farm Chicks.....are ya going????

I am heading to Farm Chicks for my annual flea-tiquing fill!

How about you???  Will you be there too?  Let me know,

I would love to say "heeyyyyy"!

Oh, and the weekend was spent doing lots of fun projects in our new home.  

I promise new posts coming soon with the results.....if I can find my camera

battery charges {yep, they are still MIA after the move, ugh!}.

Grateful....

The story of America's quest for freedom is inscribed on her history in the blood of her patriots.  ~Randy Vader

Happy Memorial Day weekend to you!


Thank you to our nation's military, those who are
currently serving and those who have
paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect
our freedom and liberty.
God Bless.

complete distracted randomness....

If I was to be completely honest with you...

I would tell you that this has been a week of 'spinning my wheels'...

you know.... the kind of week where you have every intention

of being productive but life and circumstances tend

to get in the way.  

By productive, I am speaking of unpacking more boxes, shuttling

more 'stuff' to Goodwill, general organizing our home to 

optimize family functionality {I know you know what I am talking about}.

I did manage to arrange a few vignettes here and there - and even hung

some pictures!  I realized I have a problem hanging just one 

picture, can't do it, they must have picture friends around them!

{yep, those are original Janet Hill paintings!}

A good distraction was getting out for an afternoon of

shopping in a fun Portland neighborhood with a friend. 

The one thing I missed the most during all of our transitioning {for lack of a better word},

was cooking for my family.  I bought a new cookbook while out shopping and can't 

wait to try some of the recipes this weekend.  I am a cookbook 

collector, betcha didn't know that, huh?  Some get used

more than others and some just sit on the shelf looking pretty.

{I anticipate this one getting lots of use!}

Our puppies spent our transition time at my parents home and since

coming home they have been needy!  How do I say no to this face when she

wants to go for ANOTHER walk?

{Zoe the mini-goldendoodle}

I endured a unpleasant distraction today - went to traffic court

to fight a ticket I got during my first week back in Portland.  Seems

a street that I had used a cut-through for the years I lived here

underwent some traffic sign 

changes made since I left five years ago.  Oops!  

The court reduced the fine, I promptly left and went

directly to the salon for a needed pedi.  I saw no

reason to spend my morning in traffic court and then

home unpacking boxes!  

Since being back in Portland, I have been enjoying easy

access to all my favorite microbrew beers.....

and I am not admitting that this has anything to do 

with my distraction 'problem'....nope, not going to admit that....

****  All the pictures in this post were taken with my iPhone, with 

the Camera Genius app, cause I can't find either of my camera's battery

chargers and both are dead.  I'm thinking I may just stick with

the iPhone.  What do you think????

Progress.......

Good afternoon.....

I have been working hard since Friday, the day our moving truck showed up

at our new cottage with all 3, 403,567,499 boxes of our STUFF.

I always secretly wonder what these moving company workers think when

they pack up and move someone like me...

I am certain I am their favorite kind of customer, with my 500 pillows, vintage clock collection, 

ironstone collection, oodles of paintings and pictures, lots of chippy birdcages, architectural pieces that 

to regular folk have no real purpose in a home......I am most certain

they spend the unloading day thinking to themselves, "why does this lady have 

so much crap?".......

Oh well, boy has it been fun unwrapping all my "crap" treasures.  Sort of

like Christmas!  

The two pictures above are of our "great room" - basically kitchen/family room/dining room.  I 

am really happy how it is coming together.  I had all the furniture in our former

cottage - but much of it is being used differently in this home.  The European pine

cabinet between the sliding doors was used to store linens in our upstairs hallway

in our cottage.  It is a piece I love so I was happy that I could use it in our main living space.

The big multi-colored pillow on the couch is from Anthropologie and really inspired

the color palette.  Although I knew I wanted to feature my blue and white collections, this

pillow makes the blue and white look more fresh{in my opinion}.  The striped pillow

is from Pottery Barn.

Many of you asked - yes, the lantern hanging over the dining table is from

Ballard Design.  I love it!  It is big and scrumptious!

My camera is giving me fits so I just could not post more pictures as 

they were SO blurry.   More to come.....

We're In!

It was a long day...

but it was such a good day...

WE ARE IN!

I am happy to report that I rallied and have the kitchen unpacked

and put away {not saying it will be rearranged}.  I needed

to do that.  After 6 weeks of a nomadic lifestyle I am eager

to cook a meal for my family.  We have eaten too many meals

in restaurants and 'on the go'.  

After the kitchen was unpacked I sat down and watched Nie Nie

on 20/20 last night.  I loved her before, but I love her even more now.

She is SO brave!  I could feel how difficult it was 

for her to tell her story in such a public way.  She is the epitome

of someone who has taken a very tragic event and shown us all

how to live better and fuller lives while appreciating

what REALLY matters.

I took the{awful} picture above while my movers were huffing and puffing

up the 16 steps up to our home.  The head mover asked why I was talking pictures

of the boxes......and I told him I am a blogger who has written about our family's move.

I am certain he thought I should put the camera down and start 

helping out a bit - ha, ha, ha!

** oh, see my new BIG lantern chandie?  I think it is my favorite

thing in the whole house!

And finally, the Anthro goodies go to Lisa from Life is
Crazy Beautiful!  Please email me with your addy
and I will send you some Anthro-love!

a giveaway{period}

Hello...

I have missed you...

and feel like I have SO much to tell you...

and SHOW you...

but first, I feel like I owe ya......

for sticking around.....

while I have been away tending to my mommy/wife duties....{important stuff that gets in the way of blogging, darn it!}......

WE MOVE INTO OUR NEW HOME ON FRIDAY, AS IN THIS FRIDAY THE 13TH!!  Who says it's an unlucky day?  We will feel like the luckiest people on the planet when that moving truck shows up with all our stuff, especially our OWN beds....ahhhhhh!

In celebration of our move {and for sticking with me} I thought I would host a little giveaway.  Sound good?

Well, because we have been apartment dwellers for the last three weeks and I haven't felt much like "home-makin'"  I have spent most of waking hours {after driving my girlies to school} in one of two places - the gym or the mall.  I am not kidding!  I have been a crazy shopping fool {shhhh, don't tell hubby}.  My local Anthropologie knows me by name and calls me on my cell if I have not made my daily visit - just to check and see if I am ok......

Sooooo, when I was visiting with my new friends the sales associates at Anthropologie I thought I might pick something up for YOU.

I giving away a $25 Anthro gift card and a cute dishtowel!  A little something for one lucky Forever*Cottage reader who has had the stamina to hang around while my posts have been random, sporadic and sparse!  {coincidently, it is also my 275th post - wow!}

Please leave me a nice comment by midnight on Thursday, May 12th for a chance to win.  I will post the name of the winner on Friday!

renovating is messy.....

ok, i am going to level with ya - this post was drafted A WEEK AGO -
I am still learning how to load pictures and post on my new Mac and frankly, I
have just been too busy to post.  but don't you worry...i have plenty posts coming...
and so much to share with all of you.

Happy belated Easter to all of you!

Our family headed to central Oregon and visited my 

parents - a treat as I can't remember the last

time we spent Easter with extended family.

I have not posted family pictures much on this blog but

thought it appropriate to offer proof that we

have survived the BIG move intact and {relatively} happy.

This family picture was actually taken in Phoenix, Arizona while we were there
on spring break {mid move} on the occasion of me and my
husband's 20th wedding anniversary. yes, you got that right,
i was a child bride.

Today begins week two three of living in temporary housing, which

for us is a small two bedroom apartment with a kitchen that allows for just

one person to stand in and a washing machine that fits just four items

per wash cycle.  Not exactly ideal living conditions but

a lesson, nonetheless, on just how fortunate we are

to be looking forward to moving into a beautifully renovated

home.

Speaking of which....

Our painters were busy at work all last week.  The kitchen cabinets and built-in's 

are all sporting a fresh coat of Benjamin Moore's "White Dove".  I know

there are a ton of blog posts on DIY kitchen cabinet painting but I really

think the best and most durable method is having the cabinets 

professionally sprayed.  I realize this is more costly and not

always in the budget.  For us, our kitchen had very nice {relatively new}

custom cabinetry that just happened to be natural maple.

We felt the cost would be too great for a less than professional job

on such quality cabinets.  I may have thought otherwise if the 

cabinets were of the stock variety or perhaps older.

For the main color walls - in the kitchen, great room and hallways, I chose 

Benjamin Moore "Halo", a beautiful subtle gray/white/blue.

For the master bedroom, I chose Benjamin Moore "Storm" - a dark

blue/slate/gray that looks oh-so crisp with white trim.

Of course, I am getting excited to actually move in and unpack all my

treasures!  However, there is still work to be done....this  last week we

are having a gas cooktop installed {my preference for cooking} and the new

carpet will be installed on the staircase and upstairs hallway and bedrooms.

All messy tasks!

Back soon - "pinky promise" as my friend Kasey would say!