yard work-the before

Now that it is summer and we spend time outside we realized- wow- this yard takes A LOT of work.

Having a husband who works with plants 24/7- he actually doesn't like to come home and landscape.

We decided to just rip everything out and start over... 30 + years of growth...


we started with making space for a new swing set...

then moved on to the front yard.


Oh and by WE I mean... my hard working husband did it all.


There was a flower bed here and we ripped it all out to make a mulch bed for the swing set.

 3rd birthday present for sweet Marra... yes- we now have a 3 year old!!

Continue to the front yard for more removal of shrubs etc... 

I am so happy that I can see my house again! Now to plan for what gets planted in place of all this!!

stay tuned for the after... although it might be a few years!

Painting Project

We have a beautiful four seasons room with 3 walls of sliding glass doors and windows. The down side is that this had been what was known in the family as the "conference room" where everyone went to smoke... for 25 years. So the room was yellow and smelled like stale cigarettes. 

Step 1 we ripped out the scratchy indoor/outdoor carpet. This left dried glue on the cement- requiring a sander to remove. 

Step 2 wash the yellow off the walls. I admittedly got lazy on this one- especially for the ceiling which I would pay for later when painting.

Step 3 paint... paint and keep painting. 

 Room before painting

 Here is mid painting. We decided on a southern style- painting the ceiling a shade of blue. Southerners do this to keep bugs away. see the blue compared to yellow on the ceiling... 

We painted the floors with Floor enamel and left the concrete. Perfect with kids and pets!

Here are the after photos. 

 Don't mind the lamp.. .the ceiling fan light has not been installed yet...

paint colors by Sherwin Williams

wall= pure white
ceiling= window pane

floor- concrete grey

life change

I had been trying to leave my previous job for a while... the travel was wearing me down and the job quite frankly was bull shit. Over the past couple years I realized that there was more to life then working for "the man" and especially when "the man" didn't even know all the hard work and hours you put into their company.

A colleague of mine got sick with Cancer and in less then a year after diagnosis- she passed away... I was her manager at that time so my dealings were always about HR and leave etc... rarely did I ever get to humanize the fact that she was sick- she was a mother and a friend who worked hard, got sick and in the end died...
I was pregnant with my second baby at the time and missed her services as I was in the hospital with the baby... I think about her every day, but not in a sad way. I was empowered to make a life decision.

With the support of my husband I knew that after baby #2 was born I would not return to my corporate job. I didn't know where I would go, but I could not go back to a place where life was second and work was first... could not!

I was blessed to be given the opportunity to come and join my husbands family business. we always said we would never work together... but now that we have a family the family biz seemed to make the most sense.

I am working full time doing marketing, social media, community outreach and what ever else someone needs me to do. We are also in the process of starting an online store!
I am loving this!

I have saved 60 minutes a day just by not having a commute. Working with your family has its own stresses, but nothing like the corporate pressure.

I get to work among flowers all day- take fresh air breaks when I feel like it! I have an office with a door and 3 windows. Today I went home to let the dog out (5 minutes away) and put some laundry in the wash!

For the record- I work full time- I did not leave my corporate gig to not work... this is still a job. Just a more relaxed one where the work is for yourself and if I show up with my kid to the office- no one is mad :)

milk maid status

I thought going into baby #2 that breastfeeding would be a piece of cake.. well... I was wrong.
The first month was awful- cringing, foot pounding, holding my breath every single time she would latch on.
She latched wrong from day one, but this little lady had a piranha suck so lets just say it was a miserable introduction to each other.

The one thing that stood true for both experiences, I was committed to making it work! I talked to people I got help and thank god I had support! I made it through.

We are almost 5 months in now and I am thankful!

MJ is 14 lbs and 25 1/4 inches. She is just so petite compared to Marra. It matches her little personality which is pure joy!

Breastfeeding a second child is also not as relaxing as the first time around.

I have learned that I need to make sure that Marra has everything she needs before I sit down to nurse.... of course that never goes as planned.

In the end, it is all worth it.

how does your garden grow

We have started some raised bed veggie gardens! I am so happy to have the yard to do this and also to be able to teach our girls to garden.

Marra was so excited to get the lettuce for our dinner last night! So excited that she was pulling all green leaves she saw calling it salad... so after I taught her that we don't eat Hostas- just whats in the veggie garden... we were set.

Last night we picked our lettuce and made a delicious salad. We then mulched around the beds to make a better walking path. (pics taken pre- mulch)

We are in the process of also making our own compost. It is a yucky process, but we are excited to see the progress.


Now I am just waiting on my cut flower garden to bloom!!

life in moments

life since we welcomed our sweet Magnolia Jane has been chaos to say the least. My house is not as clean as I would like and the projects are not getting done as quickly as preferred. The girls are growing way too fast and the months are flying by!

I have slowly learned to pause my brain and just soak in the moments that we have together. It is hard- I am an over doer, over planner and professional list maker! the lists grow and things eventually get checked off, but usually at the expense of less time with my kids.

I am realizing that life is just a bunch of little moments that make up each day and memory.

I want my girls to remember me as a fun and caring mother and not a drill sergeant.

This phase of life is hard work! Thankfully I am not alone is this journey and have a great support from my husband and family. Still hard!

This picture sits on my desk at work and when I look at it- time stands still. This is one of my happiest memories!

We will get through this rough patch- its a small phase is this life! I will enjoy these moments!

Tropical Feel outside the Tropics

Living in Ohio, we are far from the tropical paradise we day dream about. I tend to lean toward a coastal style in my home!

My palette tends to be in the neutrals, blues and grays. When I need a pop of color, I go with Navy or Green.

Working on my screen porch project I envision a cozy place to relax with a book or a cocktail. I was thinking of sticking with my old stand by- white and blue, but now I am wondering if I need to mix in some greens...

Here are some of the prints that are inspiring me:

Years ago I made these framed palm leaves for my 1/2 bath room. When we moved I never put them up again... These might find a home in the sun porch!

Palm and Banana leaves are on trend right now. Check out more inspiration from Laurel & Wolf . 

you can be inspired to go full print or just add pops of green like I plan to. Either way it is a classic yet bold way to decorate a space! 

*Salutations was not compensated in any way for this post referencing Laurel & Wolf

Shut up

Have you ever been on vacation to the south and swooned over the window treatments- including the shutters on the windows...

me too!!

I needed that in my life!

We needed new window treatments in our bedroom as we had cellular blinds (do you know what those are??) not cute!

We got quotes on traditional faux wood blinds and plantation shutters (so I can full fill my vacation dream)

We chose the Plantation Shutters- here is why:
- They are beautiful
- They make the room feel like we are on vacation
- They last much longer them blinds that get tangled in the wind and when your kid tries to make them go up and down all day
- they are safer with children- no strangulation risk


We LOVE them!! We put them in our Master and in the nursery. Due to budget, we have to wait to put them in the rest of the bedroom windows.

Terrible pictures, but you get the idea-

 Master bedroom (2 of the 4 windows)

Baby MJs room (1 of 2 windows)

I can not get enough of these and would recommend them to anyone else who enjoys a coastal/traditional feeling in their home.

Quick bathroom refresh

When we moved in we were so lucky that most bathrooms had been updated in the last few years. However, out Master Bath was not... I said I could live with it.... I was wrong.

It's the only bathtub in the house so with little ones, we use it a lot.

Here is what I was dealing with...

I am sure in the 90's when this was installed it was all the rage... however, not for us! We know that some day we will overhaul this whole Master Suite, so for now we chose the bandaid route and went with some very generic styles from our local Lowes.

Here are some of the working photos. Props to my hubs as he did all the work. I held down the house.. you know since we had a 3 week old at the time. Perfect time to do projects... not.

Here is the finished result (sorry for the dark pic)

New arrival

On December 29 at 11:37 p.m. We welcomed a baby girl! Magnolia Jane surprised us as we all (dr. included) were convinced that I would have a boy.... We are thrilled to have another girl especially big sister!

Labor and delivery was much smoother then last time... Labored at home for about 8 hours with mild contractions all day, went to 39 week dr. appointment (just like last time) and was almost 6 cm dilated so decided to take our time and then head to the hospital.

It was a busy day at our small town hospital and I made work for them as I decided to not get an epidural upon arrival. More work because they can't monitor me or baby the whole time so the nurse has to check in every 30 minutes... I walked I bounced I changed positions because baby was not dropping into place for exit...

At 8.5 cm the pain took a turn.... I broke down and got the epidural... I thought I could fight through it, nope.... So much respect for women who can go through with no epidural,but I would have never made it....no way

Epidural in (except for one spot on my left hip...ugh) and 1hour later and 5 pushes she was here!

8 lbs. 5 ounces and 20 1/4 inches she was here.... And she was nameless.

All the names on our lists were out... We could not agree. When she came out everyone commented on her "rosy" complexion... So I felt that we should name her Rose.

B had presented the name Magnolia and I was stuck on Rose....apparently my husband the greenhouse expert doesn't like Roses.....what?

After 24 plus hours we agreed that she would be Magnolia Jane (which is a real variety of the flowers)
We will call her Maggie or MJ.

B is now outnumbered by females and also the initials MB

We are truly blessed with a healthy family and are enjoying getting to know sweet Maggie.