Marines Bound

Hello everyone!

I've been out of commission for a while because we've been adjusting to the fact that our oldest son, Cody, is now Marines bound! We dropped him off for boot camp last Monday and won't see him again until after the new year. 

Here he is standing beside the van that took him to where he would load the bus to Parris Island, SC.

I treasure this picture now!

He arrived Tuesday night at Parris Island and gave me his "scripted" phone call of having arrived safely.  We were not allowed to have a conversation.  So, it was bittersweet.

Now, he is surrounded by images of this.

I know he is in his "element" though.  He has been preparing for this for awhile now.  I just hope that it is ending up being what he thought it would be.  I guess I'll find out once I receive the first letter from him.  We are not allowed to speak on the phone or send emails.  We can only communicate through old fashioned letter writing.  Remember that??  

We are looking forward to family day and his graduation so we can see images of this.

And to help us feel a bit connected to him when we're not getting letters or seeing him, we have THIS to look at now...........on my refrigerator!

That is his schedule.  It tells us what he will be doing each day.  

We've got A LOT of days to cross off before we will see him again!

If any of you have a child that went into boot camp, I would love to hear about your own experience.   

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~ 



Touches of Fall Outside

Hello everyone!

The weather here has been so nice lately.  I decided to go outside and snap a few pics to share with you of my Fall decor on my porch.  However, I must warn you, if you're looking for a lot of "cute" scarecrows, jack-o-lanterns, ghosts and witches, you will not find them here.  Nor will you find anything very creative that will inspire you to go and craft something of your own.  Nope......sorry.  Not here this year.  

Instead, I am embracing a "less is more" approach.  I have just a few pumpkins scattered about and some pansies on my front porch.  We will carve the pumpkins on Halloween night though.  We still have a lot of summer greenery around, so there isn't much Fall color happening in my front yard either.
 

So, if I haven't sent you running yet, here is the view of my house from across the street.  

You can hardly see the house through all of the leaves still on the trees.  In November, it will be almost bare though.

It was very sunny this day and hard to get pictures without the sun glaring.  Notice our crepe myrtles have already been pruned.  I know it is early, but we never did it at all last year and paid the price this year with very few blooms.  

Here are the pansies on my front porch.

We usually have mild winters so they may still be around in a few months!

As you can see, my ferns are still doing well.

Our Fall color doesn't really peak until later in the month.  Also, it is still warm during the day. So, I can sit out here and enjoy the mild temps for a while longer.

Huh?  How did that get out here?  Ok, I lied.  Maybe there is ONE cute jack-o-lantern on the porch! 

 

Well................

I hope that I didn't disappoint you.  I know there are many in blog land that are going all out with their Fall decor.  I'm just wanting less this year.  Maybe when the trees start turning pretty colors, I'll feel like doing more.  LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Grey and White Fabrics

Hello everyone!  

Or maybe, I should say "Happy Hump Day".  

This week has been difficult because my youngest son has been sick with a fever and sore throat.  My husband is out of town, so I'm on my own this week.  He finally went back to school today though.  He is feeling better, but is still not completely well.  

On the bright side though, the weather here has been beautiful!  We haven't had to use our air conditioning in several days.  

Around the house, I've added some more grey and white to my decor.  

First, I ordered these wall baskets from Decor Steals.  They are made of chicken wire with a cute checked liner.

I knew I could find a place for them as soon as I saw them.  I decided to hang them in my kitchen above the grey table that holds baking staples.

Here's a close-up.

I also found this grey and white french striped ticking pillow cover from an Etsy shop in France.

It matches the beige ones I have in the dining room.  

And, in my bedroom, I decided to change up the bedding with just grey and white.

I liked how it looked in conjunction with the burlap already in the room.  I added some white ruffled European shams and a grey velvet pillow to the bed.

I haven't really done any Fall decor inside yet, but did manage to buy some pumpkins and pansies for my front porch.  I will share those in another post.

Hope you are having a good "hump" day and enjoying some pretty weather where you live.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Linking to:  Grey-Dey-Thursdey

Farmhouse Style in the Kitchen

Hello everyone!

Hope that October is starting out well for you.  

I wanted to share some farmhouse style I added to my kitchen.  

I found this bull head at Decor Steals several weeks ago and just fell in love with it.  

I hung it on my windows near the table in the kitchen.

It's a simple black and white color combination that goes well in here.

I changed up my centerpiece to be less summery too.  I moved a crate in here and filled it with faux herb plants.

It adds just enough warmth and interest without being too fussy.

On the adjacent wall, I hung my wire wall pockets and draped printed and striped pillow covers out of them. I like the subtle pattern they add.

Outside, we've been busy pruning and cleaning the leaves out of our yard.  It feels good to be getting everything ready for the cooler months.  I know my husband is glad that "lawn season" is winding down.

We literally spent all day pruning everything back, blowing leaves, edging, mowing, etc.  I even have a blister on my toe to prove it!  It looks so much better now. 

What have you been up to this week?

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Changes in the Foyer

Happy Friday everyone!

We are having glorious weather here in GA today.  Hope that your weather is just as nice.  Is sure does help when it's the weekend too!

I last showed you how I moved my clock out of the foyer and into the family room.  Of course, that left an empty spot in the foyer.  So, I moved things around and came up with this.

I placed my old column in place of the clock.  

I love it in here and have another one in my sitting room.  I found a matching set of these MANY years ago at an antique shop.  

And I moved my old hay rake to the spot that my column was.  

I liked it in my family room, but once things started moving around, this ended up being the best spot for it.

I used to have an electric sconce hanging here too.  It is now in the dining room.

Not sure why I never thought to use it in here before.  It looks like it belongs in here.

I've had the wall next to the staircase the same way for years.  Time for another slight change there as well.

I hung a vintage style mirror in place of the large basket with flowers.  The basket of flowers is now on the floor beside the chest.

And finally, I got creative one day with a wicker tray and painted some white roman numerals on it to give it a french look.  It is now hanging on the wall beside the bench.

I love the look of painted numbers on wicker.

So, that's about it for now.  I'm hoping to find some pretty pansies and cabbages to plant in my planters on the front porch this weekend.  My petunia's are looking very sad right now.  I hope that they will last a while though.  It seems that some squirrels have decided to jump in my planters and eat my flowers!!!  They make a huge mess too.  

Thanks for stopping by!  

Have a great weekend.

~ Kelly ~

Natural Decor

Hello everyone!

I decided to change up some things around my house using decor from nature.  I found these curly looking sticks called Coco sticks and placed them in a large frosted vase behind my sofa.

I love the texture it adds to the room.  

It sits beside a basket and cloche.

As you can see, today is very overcast.  It was hard to get decent pictures.  It was even chilly outside!

Oh........and I moved my clock out of the foyer and into the family room.  I know it's crazy how often I move things around.  I am pretty sure, this is not going to move for awhile though.  LOL!

In my kitchen, I added a faux succulent under a cloche.  I have been wanting some succulents since I've been seeing them everywhere.  

I may have to get some more now!

On the family front, today was a VERY big day for my 19 yr old son.  He got sworn into the Marines!  I now have to accept the fact that he will be gone to boot camp during all of the upcoming holidays.  Boo Hoo!  He ships off to SC in just 20 more days and won't return until January.  Lord help me!

This room is going to feel mighty quiet without him.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

On Newsstands Now

Hello everyone!

As I was perusing the magazine aisle, I spotted this one that comes out every year.  

I know it usually features some bloggers homes, so I quickly opened it up and thumbed through it.  And yes, it did feature some lovely homes from some well known bloggers.  Here are just a few.......

Dreamy Whites

Nesting Place

Flea Market Trixie

And this one did not seem to be linked to a blog, but I really liked it!

There are some other bloggers homes featured as well as some Etsy shops.  Go check it out!

Hope you have fun weekend plans.  We may be getting some rain, so I'm not sure if we'll be doing anything too exciting.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~