The Nursery Diaries

The baby's bassinet isn't technically in the nursery, but I'm

still counting it. The structure of the bassinet was given to me

by my aunt, and my mom used vintage fabric of my Nanny's

(it's a gauzy, sheer white) to make the skirt and tied it up

with silk ribbons. I am in love with it.

 



The crib bedding is a mixture of Serena & Lily, Pottery Barn

Kids (lambie sheets), and Mrs. Kathie's sewing talents (she

made the skirt and the curtains). Bonne Nuit pillow compliments

of the fairy godmother :)

 



The lamb mobile is from Pottery Barn Kids. I don't do "themes"

per se, but my own nursery had a subtle lamb theme, so I found

some ways to incorporate them into this one.

 

The rocker was given to us by a family friend. It's from PBK

and was on my registry, and when she gave it to me she said,

this is not something you need, it's a bit frivoulous ... but I love it.

Haha ... me too :)

 



The family christening gown made with lace imported from

Italy. The gown also comes with a sweet little bonnet and

blanket.

 



This little corner piece was found at an antique store and

painted white. Lots of sweet jellycats, my Beatrix Potter

books from childhood and my sterling baby cups and spoon.

 

When my mom was a little girl, her grandparents gave her a

nursery rhyme book. The above were three of the pages we

took from the book and had framed. The Noah's ark sitting

on top of the shelf was in Paul's nursery.

 



Color makes me wig out a little bit, so it has taken some time

to adjust to all of the primary blues and reds and greens of this

bookshelf, but it's growing on me :)



The changing table was the original dining room buffet in

the Gary House (built late 1800s and later restored by

my grandparents) ... the matching mahogany round table

and chairs is in my sunroom. The photographs are of my

dad (1960s) and pop-pop (1930s) playing football in

high school.

 

This sweet scripture canvas was given to me by my cousin,

Laurel. She is such a gifted artist!

 



 

 The newborn gowns, feltman brothers rompers and little

froggie robe make me swoon.

 



 

This dresser was in my dad's room growing up, and was then

mine. It has been painted white many times over the years :)

The oil landscape was painted by my grandfather's

sister and the blues match the color of the walls

perfectly (Benjamin Moore's wales gray).

~

New Home ... A Glimpse

Our new home is beginning to shape! The above gallery

wall is in our sunroom. Photographs of our parents, grandparents,

great-grandparents and a few other relatives. This wall makes me

so, so happy. Some of the pictures are candid and some are

portraits. Love them all.

 



 

The Floridian fireplace ... I'm guessing this will get used

about once a year ;)

 



The living room.

 



The entry and my ever expanding shell collection.

 



 A few plates hanging in the kitchen from Aunt Nell.

 



Dining room ... still a work in progress.

 



Little things make me happy :) I framed this napkin and put

it by my desk in the kitchen so that I can see it every

day. My grandmother and I went to Angelina when we were in

Paris for my 16th birthday. The best hot chocolate of my life.

 



 

 The master bedroom.

 

Our dresser.

~

The end for now!

Thanks, Nance

I have noticed a trend with Nancy Meyers produced

and/or directed movies … I usually love the story lines, but I

really (really) love the sets.

Cottage from The Holiday shown above.

my favorite kitchen ... from the set of Something's Gotta Give

...and my all-time favorite house from Father of the Bride,
my dream home has not changed since I saw that movie in 1990
at the age of seven. When I think of "the" house ... this is the
one that I always picture.
~
Looking forward to the set design for It's Complicated!!

Stretched Tendon Here, Allergic Reaction There

A health update on me, so that I can remember when I am old and my body is falling apart, what it was like to be young … with my body falling apart. Here’s the skinny: I have achilles tendonitis in my left heel and am up to using the neti pot four times a day due to the wild (and terrible, horrible, no good, very bad) world of pollen, and am almost to the point of shooting up with needles full of anti-pollen steroids – almost. Until then, will continue with the nasal irrigation device (it sounds extremely complicated, no one would guess it looks just like the genie lamp on Aladdin) and overdosing on zyrtec.

But my house is clean. And when I say clean, I mean clean. So the fact that my run has sort of become a hobble-hop-limp means nothing. Nor does the smallish fact that I want to pack up and move to Antarctica (place of no pollen). My house is clean. Scrubbed down, washed, dusted – perfection. Channeling June Cleaver here.

In less than 24 hours I will be on an airplane headed south, headed home. And home at Easter means family, friends, lemon cake and my grandmother's potato salad, which I adore.

The Naked House, Etc.

So I realize I've been MIA from the world o' blog ... but sometimes life gets in the way of even the best laid plans.

I can say the following: it's January - and I've taken zilch sick days so far. Zero. I usually begin the new year with some sort of lagging illness due to the wildness of the holiday season ... and planes. This year I eliminated small amounts of wildness and all airplanes and voila ... no sick days.

Still trying to get used to my naked house. All Christmas trimmings came down last week and our little home looks barren. Taking down holiday decor is for the birds. On a more positive note, I did reaquaint myself with sleep and exercise post-holiday, and my sanity [and favorite pair of jeans] are thanking me. And since we're on the subjects of health and new starts (insert large soap box of the moment) ... Oprah is currently on my very last nerve. I'm sorry, but if you have a personal trainer and chef and everything else in the world, I can't listen one more second to your sob story of how you gained 40 pounds ... again. End of soap box - promise.

Happy Weekend to all ~

A Holiday Party

Tonight was our progressive dinner - so fun!!

Furniture, South Dakota & Mom

Weekend with mom included the following: shopping, shopping and more shopping. Not necessarily buying and more buying … as I am very particular about home furnishings (our market of choice) … but we finally came away with two Pottery Barn treasures … a ladder-like shelving piece for the living room and a new nightstand for moi … so all’s well that ends well. In between all of the shopping in dingy antique shops and furniture places – we laughed and ate and mom bleached everything in sight (because that’s what they do best) …

Paul arrived back in town last night with many a tale from his trip to the barren flatlands of South Dakota…our dinner club should get excited – Thursday night special, coming right up.

And then today, I took my mom to the airport on my lunch break and dropped her off on the curb … but after checking her baggage, she decided wasn’t ready to leave us just yet … so she changed her ticket for another flight tomorrow, chased down her luggage, I circled the airport a few 20 times …. and returned from my lunch break with my mom still in town.

Suh-weet.

Smashing Pumpkins

Loving both cold and rain today, and Paul is hating it. Opposites attract.

News flash of the week is that between the hours of 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. yesterday, someone had the nerve to walk up our driveway, pick up our perfect pumpkin so aptly displayed among the fall décor on our front steps, and smash it. Smashing pumpkins. And it’s not even the week of Halloween.

Not cool.

Anniversary, Birthdays, Football Pics

Happy 2 Year Anniversary to our home sweet home ~ today :)

Celebrating the birthdays of friends with Muddy's last weekend ~

the whole crew plus Tony ;)

Our tailgate in the bottom of the parking garage, more affectionately

known as 'tailgate dungeon'

By the 3rd quarter, it was clear as to who was winning this game ...

Best dining view in Tennessee :)

Mom, me, Aunt P

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Enjoying Blunch / Brunch / Lunch

Aunt P & Uncle B

Dad :)

Neither Here Nor There ...

.....We ate at this really great Mexican restaurant tonight off of Germantown Pkwy. The man who owns the restaurant buys fresh ingredients every single day. This place is awesome, awesome – check it out!
.....Although I am very excited about this new season … I am sad to say good-bye to summer clothes … namely … sundresses. Fall + sundress [would] = perfect season.
.....It has been decided in the Bruce home that mold will not kill and couch will not go. Service people with ‘mold remediation’ title will assist. Best news of the week ;)
.....Looking forward to dinner with our small group on Friday night and cupcakes … God bless Muddy’s. I’ve said it again, and I’ll keep saying it …..

Good night :)

Part II (Of Ceiling Caving In...)

It seems that our white couch was sitting on an air conditioning vent in the living room. This was not a problem before July 2008 … when the air conditioning was fixed for the second time in the last year (remember joys of 1940s home ownership?) … but this time there was a large difference, namely, it felt like we had air conditioning.

Good grief.

So this is where the new problem occurs. New air conditioning (i.e. one that is actually working properly) + vent located under couch = moisture = bowing up hardwood floors = mold underneath the couch.

When we call the neighborhood Stanley Steamer this morning to see if they could kindly come to our house and remove mold from the inner panel of our one-year-old white couch, sales rep responds: “We do not remove mold, as it’s hazardous.” Hazard for who I ask? Your steam machine or MY lungs?

Now … before I scare all of you from ever wanting to spend the night in our home again – heck – set foot in our house again … we’re working on this issue. Either couch gets cleaned or couch goes to curb. The End. :)

Ceiling Hasn't Caved ... Yet

Ah, the 1940s house. So much charm, so many issues. The top three of the weekend included our plaster cracking on the ceiling of our master bedroom. Do you think we’ll wake up one morning to our roof caving in? In conservative, but realistic Bruce terms, probably. But that’s okay because the dishwasher is being fixed for the second time this summer today. And good thing Paul was already planning on being home with Sears man who will fix dishwasher, because yesterday when we moved the couch to make room for cool new Pottery Barn rug … we noticed our hardwood floors bowing up which means … moisture. Moisture and hardwood and under-the-house issues are not good. Tonight’s round table discussion will include talk of which limb we will hawk off next in order to pay for above said expenses.

I’m pretty sure after moisture + hardwood were found yesterday Paul Bruce uttered the following, “This is the last bungalow we buy.”

Reason # 700 why he loves me :)

But enough about household issues that everyone faces at some point or another or all in one swell swoop of a weekend …

Bethany and I went to Collierville on Saturday to shop for fall and drink pumpkin lattes. The sad part is that by the time we got ready for our afternoon treat, we were too warm from walking this way and that, and so we both had ice water, and I had some pumpkin bread, because I couldn’t stand the thought of passing up pumpkin. I don’t pass on pumpkin.

While we were seated in the big window at the Starbucks, a man came and crossed the street and he had on a leash the largest dog either of us had ever seen in our lives. I’m talking … huge. This is quite a statement because before we saw the Saturday dog, I swore the largest dog I had ever seen was the large wooly mammoth like creature who takes a walk with his owner on Poplar Avenue every day around 5ish (and I pass them every day on my way home from work and almost hit the car in front of me because I’m seriously trying to figure the scene out … like … is this the Ice Age? Seriously.) Anyway, large dog on leash made us howl laughing and we even took pictures with our cell phones. Because sometimes ... there aren’t words.

The Non-Type A

In no particular order, here are some things I should be doing right now … packing for tomorrow’s business trip to Indianapolis … folding laundry on guest room bed … working on a spreadsheet for a meeting I have tomorrow (early), but can’t get motivated just yet … figuring out what in the absolute heck has happened to our dishwasher for the second time this summer (call to Sears man is both imminent and critical) …

But none of the above feels the least bit thrilling (to use a highly exaggerated word at this late hour). So instead … I’m writing, reading and … trying to figure out how long the lantana in my front flower bed is going to bloom via various gardening sites.

My priorities are ... so not in line.

The Reality Of Cottage Living

It’s true that the large majority of my youth was spent in a constant state of dream world. This is both a good thing (thank you, Martha Stewart) and a bad thing. The plus side of being a so-called dreamer is that life always seems full of possibilities … the downside is that even dreamers need a bit of a reality check at times (sad but true) …

One dreamer notion I held tightly to that did come to fruition was the idea of cottage living. I convinced myself at a very early age that all I needed in life (house speaking) was a 1,000 sq/ft cottage or bungalow – and I would be set. When we found our historic little home almost two years ago it fit the mold in my mind’s eye and it was love at first sight. [It was a rather simple process actually, we looked at many different homes, and when we walked into the one we now own, I looked at Paul and said, “This is it.” I may be many things, but finicky is not one of them. I tend to know what I like.]

And then we moved in.

Don’t get me wrong … I was (am!) still head over heels in love with our home (post-renovation, during the renovation I could have taken a sledge hammer both to myself and house) … I just realized that the cottage living idea was great for us (all two of us), but add in a dog a few years down the road, a couple of kids … and that place was going to be a zoo … a very small zoo. Could give an entirely new meaning to Maya Angelou’s I know why the caged bird sings. Especially if you cross out sings and insert screams.

But I digress.

So until that next stage of life … here’s to our home, and to my notion that living in a teensy little house really is wonderful … for all two of us … :)

Strawberry Cupcakes & Blue Hydrangeas

They say that June is the most popular “all things wedding related”

month of the year …

Bethany and I left for Nashville on Friday loaded down with cupcakes and hydrangeas (yes, the flower stealing bandit struck again … it seems that Bethany has a gold mine of hydrangeas in her front yard! And yours truly came armed with scissors…). We met Jill, Brandt & Britt downtown for some dessert and ended up in bed around 2 a.m. On Saturday we were up and off to throw the bridal shower. By the time we got home on Saturday night, I was on the verge of using toothpicks to keep my eyes open. We had the most fun though … we’re really good at that ;)

Yesterday we did yard work and cleaned and cooked … as dinner club is tonight … and it’s doubling as an engagement par-tay as two d-club members have set a date! Good thing I already have the hydrangea centerpiece for the table ;)

Another One Bites The Dust

What the heck. I leave town for three days and my potted lantana dies? I watered that puppy up a plenty before leaving because although husband has many gifts and talents, watering plants may not be (okay - is not) one of them. And in three days - three - lantana bit the dust. You'd think I was trying to grow flowers in the sand of the Sahara.

Forget the flowers ... it's the weekend again. I say "again" because every time I turn around it's another weekend. I live for the weekends. Tomorrow I am going to get my hair cut and highlights brightened up. They need something - the roots are making me cringe. And let's not forget about the great hair catastrophe of '08 that happened over two months ago - oh - don't worry ... bangs have decided to grow back at pace of the slowest snail and still look ... ummm ... awful. Therefore, still perfecting the comb over ...

Paul and I ate at the neighborhood Mexican restaurant tonight. We even had our favorite waiter. The man knows small amounts of English and Paul practices every Spanish word and phrase he knows over the course of dinner while interacting with this dude. And ... dude loves us (or maybe is just amused by us?!?). His face brightens up every time he sees us coming in and Paul yells across the restaurant, "Hola Amigo!"

Tomorrow is the first official day of summer ... enjoy it.

Running On Empty

We spent Friday night with friends at the Sara Groves / Matthew West concert held at Hope. And Saturday managed to surprise Zach two weeks before his birthday ... and today we went to the Bruce's for Father's Day festivities ...

In between all of the fun, however, I decided it was time to spring clean (okay - or maybe more accurately - summer clean). As in dump out all of the closets and drawers and move furniture from one end of the room to another in order to sweep dust up (wood floors = dusty = pain in the rear). I was scrubbing base boards at midnight and deciding it was high time to throw away 100 stashed magazines at 1 a.m.

So at almost 7 o'clock on this Sunday, my house is clean ... and I'm exhausted. Utterly. Exhausted.

The Never Ending New Roof

The neighbors ... are getting a new roof ... and I'm getting a nervous twitch with each bang of the hammer - or what the heck ever they use to bang, bang, bang over and again. They began early Saturday morning (emphasis on early), and I thought it would be a one day job. Now granted ... I know nothing about new roofs, but boy is this getting old.

Currently watching American Idol ... who's getting the boot tomorrow night? My opinion is Jason Castro ... the kid makes me laugh, but forgetting the lyrics this late in the game? Sad.

And last but not least ... congratulations to my brother on his acceptance to graduate school at University of Florida. Mark - you've earned it and we're so proud of you :)

Pollen Blues

Due to life on the run, our home has suffered the last few weeks. Upon our return from Florida on Sunday afternoon I decided to end this streak of neglect and proceeded to begin the spring cleaning. I cleaned Sunday afternoon, Monday night and mopped floors on my lunch break on Tuesday ... tonight after work ... we decided to tackle the yard.

The pollen season in Memphis is at its peak ... not exactly my time to be out and about in the ... shall we say ... elements. I decided to brave it all anyway and for over an hour while Paul mowed and hedged, I raked, pulled weeds and sneezed. The aftermath is always far worse, and tonight was no exception. Upon my return indoors, all heck broke loose. My eyes began to swell, my skin was itching all over, tears were streaming down my face (and for once - it had nothing to do with emotion), I was coughing, ETC. And to this I say - never again. Sorry to everyone who drives down our road, looks to the right and sees the shabby yard that is ours. Sorry to those who want to see beautiful spring flowers overflowing from our porch and empty flower beds. Sorry, sorry, sorry. The Martha Stewart gardener extraordinaire in me cannot live up to the challenge ... or maybe it's more like survive the challenge ...

Who Needs An Alarm Clock?

I probably should recap the birthday break-in. Yes, the police caught the two guys. No, they were not arrested. There was no actual evidence even though we all knew it was them. Since the incident, all has been well with the house ... with my peace of mind? That's another story. This morning, for example, I was asleep in my hotel room when the door next to mine slammed shut and woke me out of a dead sleep. My first instinct was that I was home, and that someone had just broken down a door. So my second instinct was to scream. And then I realized the obvious ... I was alone, in a dark hotel room ... screaming.

I made the decision at that point to start the day. Six something and still dark ... nerves are shot ... good morning, sunshine :)