French Creole Architecture

So my cousin is going to school to be a landscape architect. This means I can take advantage of all the things he's learning while getting cheap (free!) labor to re-do my front patio. But my condo complex is very unique, each unit looks different and some people have really gone out of their way to put their personality in it (like the people two units down from me with about a million chochkis). I wanted to stay true to my unit's french quarter look, so I had to do a little research.

My condo looks like a double gallery house common to french creole architecture which can be seen in New Orleans. Besides I have french doors (two sets leading to the upstairs balcony and one downstairs off the kitchen), a wide balcony, wrought iron, and thin wooden columns which are the trademarks of this style (google told me so).

So they don't say much about patios for these double gallery houses (I think technically I'm supposed to have a porch where I have a patio) so I guess I'm on my own when it comes to making a plan for the exterior. But here are some double gallery houses. I will show mine once the patio is done. I cannot bear to show the before pictures without something to show as an after shot.

So I think I need to get some hanging ferns to really get the french quarter vibe going and then on June 6th and 7th my cousin will be here to do the manual labor part of things and my double gallery house will be looking better than it has in a long time. Stay tuned for the results.

Dog Days

First use for my new mixer: Healthy Dog Biscuits. And I think Eddie approved.

He's giving me the evil eye because he thinks I'm coming to take his treat from him.

Yesterday was kind of sunny, got a little tan laying out by the pool. Today it was raining when I woke up, it was raining while I made my lunch, and now that the day is almost over, no more rain. Memorial day is not a retail holiday, so I'll be working tomorrow ("if the store is open so is the corporate office" as they like to tell us). Guess one afternoon of sun will have to do to start my summer tanning.

PS Added a new signature. You like??

Whew!

Ok so I have been a busy girl. Last Monday was my birthday!! The girls got me the funniest cake. It says I Heart Boys that Sparkle, which comes from Twilight, of course. I'm pretty sure the cake place was probably pretty amused about this one.

Then the next day I drove to Dallas because we had work meetings there for the next three days. And in Dallas I got my birthday gift from my mom, something I have been wanting for a long long time.

A KitchenAid mixer!! And this is the professional one, 6 quart bowl, three different mixing attachments, watch out Martha and Rachel Ray! I cannot wait to make tons of yummy goodies with this bad boy.

And it looks so great in my kitchen too! I had to put up the coffee maker to make room, but since I don't drink the stuff anyways who cares. I think the first thing I'm going to make are "healthy" dog biscuits for Eddie, he's been getting a little chunky lately. Then I guess I can move on to people food! I'll let you know how it goes.

Adios!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom!!

I burned this song onto a CD for her. Get the Kleenex ready, it's a tearjerker!

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Chalkboard paint

So above is the "message board" I got for my very first apartment when I was a sophomore in college. My roommate and I hung our keys on the little hooks and wrote messages to each other on that board for two years. Our college boyfriends (she married hers, I parted ways with mine) and best friends left us little sweet notes on that board too. Then once I struck out on my own Eddie's leash took over the second hook and I started writing messages to myself on the board. "Drop off dry cleaning", "water plants", and in an effort to call out myself as the procastinator I am "Clean Your House it is DIRTY!!" My friends also leave me messages when they stop by, usually making fun of the messages I have left myself. So I was horribly dismayed to discover that the dry erase-ness of my board after 6 years is not erasing like it used to. I am very attached to my message board and could not bear to part ways with it. In comes my aha moment and the chance to use chalkboard paint which I have been curious about since it started getting popular.

Good as new. Now full disclosure here I don't own any chalk so I haven't tested out my ability to write on it yet, but I'm sure all will be fine. Also the magnetic-ness is still there (the white dots are magnets) so I can still use that part of it too. Some of the paint peeled off in the upper corner when I took the tape off (it is possible that I did not do as good of a sanding job as I thought) so I have some touch ups to do, but overall I am very pleased. The only problem I see from this is my new addiction to chalkboard paint. I'm now trying to think of other walls in my house that I could paint with chalkboard paint. Not having kids and having very little artistic ability not withstanding I'm considering the wall at the top of my staircase. I could write inspirational messages to myself ("relax you're home now and the bra can come off" hmmm maybe not) and maybe convince an artistic friend to draw something cool. Well still thinking about that one, I guess we'll see where the feeling takes me.

Adios

Licensed

So after three years living in Arkansas, I decided it was time to get an Arkansas license plate. But what to do with my Texas plates. I can't just throw them away that would be wrong on so many levels. Besides, I always wanted to have a Texas room in my house and it seems a bit less hokey now that I don't actually live in that state. Also, whatever I create can go in the Western room that my future unborn (don't think I'm weird, you know you've planned out your future childrens' rooms too) son will have. So in search of ideas I hit the web, the results were so so...

This one seemed awesome, but a little bit bigger of a project than I had originally planned. And I want to put the focus on my love affair with Texas, so the rest of the states just cannot be included. Next...

I must say, this puts a whole new meaning to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Not sure my guests would appreciate this sort of license plate "art". Next...

So cool, and probably what my future son would prefer in his room. But I think I would need way more license plates than two to create this one. Next...

Not really something I'm considering, but hello how cool is this? But the real winner is...

So the reason this one is perfect is pretty obvious. And I'm clearly going to need more license plates than the two I currently have. So I'm going to have to sweet talk my parents into giving me theirs, that will get me up to 6. And then I'm going to have to sweet talk my carpenter uncle into creating me the wood part of this since sawing and wood are not my speciality. But I'm pretty excited about the possiblities. And this will look perfect in my Texas guest room, I'll just have to make sure I don't get too themey with it but I can handle it.

Adios amigos off to get ready cause "I just got paid, it's Friday night..." Guess that song and I know we're meant to be friends.

Let out your inner teen girl

Ok confession time...I love Taylor Swift. I could only love her more if I was a teenage girl because all of her songs are so perfect for teenage (and lets be honest here adult) relationships. And the best part is she totally gets that. My latest Taylor love, her new video. How could you not love those glasses and the t-shirt with everyone's signature on it? I mean who didn't have one of those from camp? So here's a bit of Taylor for you on this rainy cinco de mayo. Let your inner teen girl out as you belt out the song and remember that boy that you loved that was with that yucky girl you knew he was way too good for.

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My happy place

It's been a long week. And since over half the office is going to be in New York next week and I'm not one of the half that's going I'm feeling a bit cranky. I know, I know having three assistant buyers and one part time designer running the whole jewelry team is actually going to be fun because you know what they say about "when the cat's away..." but its New York for pete's sake. So I'm going to my happy place, won't you join me?

We can run around on the front lawn, just don't mess up the sprinkler heads Dad doesn't like it when I run over them while trying to back out the driveway.

Come on in and cool down. All that running the Texas heat can make a person hot!

We can make sandwiches. Could I offer you a chilled beverage?

Fancy a game of pool?

Or maybe a card game? Chess? Checkers?

Step out onto the porch and pull up a rocker.

We can take a jet ski ride or go out on the boat later.

The view from the water is pretty good. I have to say, Dad builds a fine house.

Back to porch to soak in the view. Good thing they haven't built a boat house on this dock yet, it would block everything.

Time to turn in for the night. You'll have no problem sleeping here where there aren't any city lights to interrupt the dark.

Hope you enjoyed your time at 460 Island Road. Come back often, I do even if it is only in my imagination.