I'm back...again.

Yes it's true. I'm back. The last few months have been a bit rough. More layoffs at work (thankfully I have made the cut the last two rounds of layoffs), Nichole's cancer fight  (from my previous post) - sadly, she lost her battle. She is missed terribly by many, many people.  A lot of vicious storms in East Tennessee - lots of trees down in the resort, lots of damage in the National Park - again, luck on my side - Robin's Nest escaped with only minor damage. We had little to no rain here in Central Florida early in the year and I must say, I have NEVER had so many allergy issues. My eyes water almost non-stop. I gave up on wearing eye make-up in December here in Florida. There have been some changes at Robin's Nest as well. The HOA is in full effect and frankly, it's going REALLY well! Some projects at the Paisley Cottage as well (when aren't there projects here? Really...). Mr. Paisley's grandmother passed away. My grandfather passed away. Sweet little Georgia Grace turned 2 as well. Two and a half! Can you believe it? She has quite the personality. She's also super smart (I know - who doesn't say that?) Here are some photos from the last uh...year and a half.  I know you can't really see her face, but i'm sort of iffy on plastering her all over the internet.  Trust me...she's super adorable ;-)

 Tebowing....Go Gators!

 Learning to kick the ball

  Stayin' Alive
(this was just before Christmas - I had just bought new cell phones and I couldn't figure out why the heck my pictures were blurry! Yeah...you know that protective film they put over the screen...and apparently the camera lens...Duh...)

  It's my 2nd birthday!

  I love to hunt for the Easter Eggs!

I love the beach! And I have super awesome curly hair! July 2013

Are you not dying?! *LOVE*

 

Baby time!

One of my friends at work is having a baby in a couple of weeks so I had a little shower for her at the office yesterday.

I took the day off of work. She was annoyed LOL. We don't work at the same location, but she was going to be at my location for a meeting and we normally go out to lunch together on those days.

Now you know I made a fancy list to pull this off for a weekday afternoon when I'm working full time and don't get home until nearly 7. I ran my errands on my lunch breaks. I had nights mapped out to hard boil the eggs, to cut the fruit, to make the frosting ahead of time. 

Yeah...so of course none of that actually happened. I did it all Thursday night and Friday morning. I was up until 3am, then couldn't sleep. Back up at 7:45 because I forgot I still had to walk the dogs and do the usual morning iguana ritual...not to mention get myself showered and dressed, pack everything up in the truck AND stop at the Dollar Tree to get balloons (yeah, totally should have done THAT Thursday after work...apparently EVERYONE was buying balloons at 10:30 in the morning on Friday and the cashier running the register and doing balloons was like 70. The guy in front of me wanted 6 misc. birthday balloons...and told her to pick them out. No lie...I was #4 in line and I was there for 30 min to buy 3 balloons and a Diet Coke because I was dyin' at that point.) I ended up forgetting the ice. Oh well...room temperature bottled water it is ladies!

I made fancy chicken salad on croissants, egg salad on croissants, lettuce cups with the leftover chicken and egg salads. Rainbow fruit kabobs with a cinnamon Greek yogurt dip, salad and vanilla cupcakes with pink icing.

Here are a couple of photos 

The balloons are tied to pink sippy cups filled with Kisses

Pardon my lopsided swirls...your first time with a pastry bag and being in a hurry are not the best combo for making fancy swirls.

 Egg salad - made with eggs fresh from the neighbor's chickens! Yum yum yum!

Chicken salad - ok I cheated on this one a little bit. I bought pre-cooked, sliced roasted chicken (sort of like Perdue Shortcuts) and chopped it up into smaller pieces before adding red grapes, slivered almonds and gala apple with a little Duke's mayo, S&P.

 

Nothing fancy here - typical American salad, lettuce, carrots, cabbage and tomatoes.

Different take on the paint chip strip napkin rings. I picked up some square paint chips and cut along the dividing lines and tucked in a napkin and the pink plasticware.

Fruit kabobs - red grapes, blueberries, green grapes, cantaloupe, and strawberries. They're on wood skewers stuck into a foam craft ring (wrapped in tissue paper and tulle ribbon) with a bowl in the middle to hold the Greek yogurt dip.

 She was surprised!

Here are a couple of the recipes.

Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes by Glorious Treats
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting by Glorious Treats
Cinnamon Honey Yogurt Dip

Where oh where has the time gone. Why didn't school ever go by this quickly? Good heavens!

First up - I've been talking about it forever, and now it's 99% complete! My home office is done and it is Ahhhhhmazing if I do say so myself.

Kudos to Mr. Paisley for his hand in the layout design, and my mom for helping us paint just because she likes to paint. 

I'd  also like to thank The Container Store for having awesome products like the Elfa shelving system, Ikea - the store where everything has to be assembled - including the cardboard storage boxes, and BJ's Wholesale Club where I always score the most awesome crap on clearance. 

Now remember, the Paisley Cottage was built in the mid 40's. My office is one of the two bedrooms that are original to the house. It's VERY small and it's VERY limited on arrangement due to no solid walls! One wall has the door in the corner - which opens up against the double bi-fold doors of the closet. The wall opposite the closet has a large window - not centered on the wall. The wall opposite the door also has a large window...that isn't centered on the wall. So basically, I have 3 odd corners to work with and not a lot of floor space. Hence the awesome Elfa shelving system. If you can't go out...go up!

Sooo without taking any longer - here are a couple of AWESOME photos of my office "Before" - borderline Hoarder's worthy. Yep - I know. Ok, actually this is my living room - AFTER Mr. Paisley surprised me by completely emptying my office to paint. Thus, there are no before pictures. You just can't teach an old dog new tricks. Imagine my delight when I walked into this after being at work all day. Be thankful that these two bad cell phone photos are the only ones I have. The one on the left is taken from the doorway into the kitchen. The one on the right is from the doorway into the office...

My new office / crafting space!

Upcoming posts will have more detail...and better photos. For now, note that my office is a whopping 9.5' x 10.5' with no uninterrupted walls. The closet below is in the corner - behind the door (you can see a bit of the door frame and a hinge the left).

 

This is my craft desk space to the right of the closet - it goes all the way to the other wall...where it doesn't wrap around the corner because...there's a big ol' window.

 This is the bookshelf and misc. storage corner - to the right of the "big ol' window" next to my craft desk - this shelf does wrap the corner...right up to the what? Trim...of big ol' window #2.

Which leads to this photo where I should have cropped the glaring ceiling light out. This is the computer wall...this desk goes as far as it makes sense without being in the way of the doorway. You can't see it in this shot, but the top shelf goes right up to the door frame. The lower shelves and desktop are roughly a foot off the door frame. Don't want any hip bruises or head lacerations from just walking into the room now... ;-) I am also thrilled to have finally framed and hung up my awesome original artwork from Caribbean Soul. A friend of my mom's got them for me from his friend at CS knowing i'm a huge fan of CS and Jimmy Buffett. These are the two smaller pieces from t-shirt designs. I have two others that are poster size and actually on interfacing type material. Sadly - no wall space for them with this layout.

It was quite the challenge, but well worth it. We're still deciding what to put on the floor. Plus side is there's not much to move to rip up the carpet! Everything is on the walls with the exception of my two awesome vintage furniture pieces, the chairs and a few things i'm still working on.

It's true what they say - when everything has a home, it's easier to keep it neat and tidy. I'm also getting more exercise. Up and down my little step stool to reach my storage boxes to PUT THINGS AWAY...like where they actually go and not in a place that is convenient right at that moment. 

We will be adding a few more Elfa pieces soon - they have pull out shelves and baskets and I've got rails that go nearly to the baseboards. I had planned to put both of my printers on shelves so they were off the desktop, however, my laser is just a wee bit too big, so for now it's on the desk, but when I pick up the additional pieces it will get relocated to a pull out shelf below. 

It's been awhile - yet my first post is asking for money.

I have plenty to catch up on here, but this is more important. Back in high school I met a sweet, bubbly girl named Nicole. Today she's a happily married mom to three beautiful daughters...only now she's fighting for her life. She was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and has been doing everything possible to fight it so she can get back to being the awesome mommy that her girls need. She's going to Germany for a promising treatment that isn't available in the US. A fundraiser is being held to help pay for the expenses and treatment. When she's here, we can help her with getting the kids to and from school, doing laundry, housekeeping and cooking because she's so physically drained from the treatments that she can't and because she needs to spend her time with the girls and her husband. Obviously, the whole crew isn't going to Germany with her - but we can help pay to save her life!

You can read her story here, as well as make a donation. Even if it's only $1 - it adds up!

Help Nicole! 

If you happen to be in Central Florida - there's also a local event coming up!

If nothing else, you can keep her family in your thoughts and prayers - it's free and appreciated :-)

Family Room Updates

A few changes around the Paisley Cottages as of late -

Mr. Paisley and I ran into a deal too good to pass up on a larger flat panel TV, so we bought it...of course it was larger than our entertainment center would accommodate and the entertainment center is solid oak and one piece...so no taking off the hutch. 

So after a week of watching Craig's List for a 2x4 Expedit from Ikea we just went to Ikea and bought one. No sooner was it assembled than the same one appeared on CL for 1/2 the price. 

Damn that Murphy and his stupid laws!

So for 3 weeks the TV sat on top of the new Expedit...and then one day I came home from work and it was on the wall. Yep. Mr. Paisley couldn't take it.  Within 2 months he also picked up a blu-ray player, a digital sound bar and a wireless subwoofer. 

So i've been working on redecorating that part of the room since it's drastically different. 

I also picked up a floor lamp at Target to put some light in the dark corner behind the sectional since there is no room for a table. This was a little more difficult than I thought it would be because I needed one where the light pole was off center so the base could go under the sofa...lucky me, I found a plain, basic on that was just what I needed on sale no less, at Target. I think it was $54. SOLD. Who knew a lampshade would fit in a flat box not more than 4" high? 

I'm still pondering an end table and a coffee table.  I'll know them when I see them.  

 I gave up on keeping the curtains hanging the way I want them - Mr. Paisley always pushes them all the way open even though they are never CLOSED.

 Clearly, we like shelves. They're over the windows at Robin's Nest and they're over the windows at the Paisley Cottage...best place to show off my doodads I guess.

 Work in progress...or rather work in slow motion. I need to find something to put under the cloche on the shelf above the TV and clearly, Mr. Paisley hasn't dropped the cables in the wall. And stuff has just sort of landed on the Expedit...def not what it will end up looking like. Obviously it's Fall - the Fall scent Febreeze is out on display...oy vey.

 I still haven't rehung the "stick art" so that it's above the back of the chair...

My decorating style is "buy what I like" and "find a place for it later". Very little of what I buy is planned ahead of time. The chair I picked up on clearance from Beall's Dept Store for less than $30 including the cushion. It was originally somewhere around $100. The little table I shipped home from Italy. The stick art was collected at 2 different Marshall's stores from the clearance shelves. The 3 glass bird top cloches were on clearance at Ross. Two were $3.99 and one was $6.99.  I got them a year or so ago - but I just saw them last week at Pier 1. They are out of stock online - but you may find them in store. The one I was in had plenty of them and they were $40something. Here's a link to them Pier 1 Bird Cloche

The 2 leaf canvas pieces over the TV were ordered online (on sale of course - for next to nothing) awhile back and I didn't have a place to put them so they were in the "future use" bin. The stacked pumpkins under the giant cloche came from Coldwater Creek a few years ago after season. The cloche (which is acrylic) came from TJ Maxx and it was on clearance for $9.99.  That black box on the middle shelf of the Expedit - that's a Discgear. One of the best purchases i've made recently. ALL of our DVDs fit in it with a little room to spare. If you want to ditch all those cases and save a TON of space, I highly recommend it. You can print labels and organize your discs (and print out a list for ref) from the Discgear website which is awesome when you want to add something. There's a little tray at the bottom that slides out and holds the list. You can also lock the lid so if it gets knocked off the shelf or whatever you don't have CDs flying everywhere. Keeps the kiddos out of it too.

 

 

Robin's Nest

I took some updated photos at Robin's Nest at the end of September. Here they are - there are a lot of new primitive items that my Aunt Alyce blessed me with on the 2 somewhat unexpected side trips to Ohio.

Her last home was filled with primitive and country decor. Her new house is more French Glam. She likes to change it up when she moves.

This is a really crooked photo of the upstairs bedroom - the gorgeous braided rug under the bed came from Aunt Alyce

 A less crooked shot at the foot of the bed - a couple of trips ago we replaced the glass door to the upper deck and it hasn't been stained yet, but the glass is CLEAN which is a lot more than I can say about the old door

 The bathroom upstairs

 

 The vanity outside the upstairs bathroom

 The old yellow bamboo dresser after the make-over

 The shelf over the door is a little short compared to the ones downstairs - however it was one that was in a closet at the Paisley Cottage (it was in the house when I bought it)

 The upstairs deck - it looks really tiny - it's small, but larger than it looks in the picture. It is also brand new - Mr. Paisley ripped off the old one in order to fix the leak in the roof of the screened porch below it.

 Finally hung up the stuff over the headboard...

 New artwork on the wall of the staircase and the candle holder at the top of the stairs is an Aunt Alyce piece as well as the three panels on the side wall

 Fall mantle - the Canada Goose came from Alyce - I LOVE it - I just need to add an off center hook for it

 The framed print came from Alyce - as did the glass milk bottles that don't really show up (in front of the red milk can)

 Nothing new here...but it needs an update

 The glittery goose...errr swan? on the far left was from Alyce and I added the thread spindles below the birdhouse print

 LOVE this red console table - yep it came from Alyce. It fits that space perfectly and leaves more room beside the bed with that bench there. The plate holder and battery candle were also from Alyce (the plate came from Marshall's)

 The 5000 pound teak bench was a gift from my in-laws. It is super cool.

 This is a hot mess in the downstairs bedroom. The framed basket print is from Alyce - the shutters are a pending project and the picture in the chair is just there because I didn't put it away.

 The screened porch - clearly, this needed the flash.

 Also from Alyce - there was a wooden pocket star here that now has a new home in the hallway.

 While I love this old bench that I grabbed from my Florida neighbor's trash pile, it doesn't quite take the place of the one in the Paisley Pumpkin banner that was stolen. However...there IS a real bench on my front porch in Florida that will make it's way to Robin's Nest on our next trip. It's a project in progress - you'll see the project here before you see it on the deck at the Nest. Stay tuned ;-)

 Gotta decorate for fall in the mountains!

 Voila! Robin's Nest - almost done with the fresh stain - the dogwoods were starting to turn pinky red at the end of September. Come spring when it's warm enough to stain again, the dormers will get cleaned and stained and we will be good to go!