Hi my long lost friends in blogland! You guys, that old adage when it rains it pours could not be more true!
I hit the pause button here in April when my brother had open heart surgery, with a week in the ICU and now recuperation at my house. As a result my mom and I had to cancel a huge and much anticipated trip to Ireland together this month to visit our beloved family (many of whom I haven’t seen in eleven years). Then Murphy’s Law kicked into full force and the night I sent Hannah on a plane back to college after Easter, she ended up Ubering to the hospital with what turned out to be a horrible stomach bug (nothing like your baby being in the ER 6 states away for a sleepless night), and in the midst of all that while my attention was elsewhere, my blog got hacked! Something I will never understand – why are there people who spend their time hacking websites? Thank goodness Hannah is perfectly fine, my brother is doing great, my blog got fixed, and we have May flowers and sunshine to look forward to!!
Thank you to my sweet readers who have checked in to say UMMMM HELLO Lisa we are waiting on your kitchen reveal!!! I love you all so much for following along with my eternally inconsistent progress reports while real life keeps rudely eclipsing my home improvement projects! I am so fired up to tell you the kitchen is DONE and I am just waiting for a sunshiney day to take some pictures – it’s a dream come true to walk into it each morning and I can’t wait to share all the details with you!
Without further ado, a few lovely notable mentions as of late!
Affiliate links are included in this post for your convenience. Read more about affiliate links here.
A WEE FEATURE IN PRINT
My kind partners from last spring’s One Room Challenge, Raymour & Flanigan, included a snippet of our family room in their catalog this winter, which was fun to see in print!
My Bloggers Heart Habitat friend Diane from @therathproject is also featured here!
I’ll be working with Raymour & Flanigan once again this month for our next big project, the rebuild of our rotting deck – you can see a bit about this project on my Instagram highlights!
A LITTLE CAPE COD ADVENTURE
One of the highlights of April was having our 10 year old nephew come stay with us for his school vacation. Some of our family lives on the Cape but for a special treat we stayed at the Sea Crest Hotel in Falmouth that has an inside pool, and the beach right outside our door. It was wonderful to have four generations of our family together, and there is something so beautiful about the Cape in the off season, even on a windy, cloudy day!
We rented bikes and rode along the Shining Sea Bike Path, named after America The Beautiful, which was actually written by Falmouth, Massachusetts native Katharine Lee Bates. The bike path is 10 miles long and meanders through the woods, along the ocean and across cranberry bogs (and conveniently passes by the adorable West Falmouth Market for a little snack along the way!)
PRETTY LIGHTING FOUND ALONG THE WAY
We also traipsed through Falmouth Center where there are all sorts of cute bookstores, shops and pitstops for ice cream (even if it was only in the 50s when we were there!) Of course I had to drag my little sidekick with me through a pretty home store, Setting The Space, that has all sorts of local artwork, furnishings and seriously gorgeous lighting.
This one above looks very much like the swanky Aerin Cristol tiered pendant and is a showstopper in person!
I believe this one is Currey & Co.’s Rogue chandelier – simple and sophisticated.
I can’t quite place this beauty, if you know what it is let me know and I’ll update the post. It reminds me of the home of Carolyn at @sweetchaoshome – she is definitely one to follow if you don’t already!
STAIR MAKEOVER MUSINGS
The other item I checked out while we were here are the samples of Dash & Albert rugs. I’ve been thinking of using one of these high quality, durable indoor/outdoor rugs on my stairs this time around and wanted to see them in person first.
As much as I like the look of the wide stripe, I’m weary of going with this even though it’s scrubbable and can take a beating because I imagine all the white will get rather dingy over time. I also LOVE the graphic diamond pattern as a stair runner – the middle rug is the navy and white and the top one is the navy and ivory. But then again I have this thing with herringbone……
I’m leaning toward this navy and ivory herringbone – but OY VEY I’m exhausted by all the renovation decisions as of late!!! What do you think? Do you have a fave? All, one or none?
If you’re thinking of doing a DIY stair runner in the near future check out this roundup post for tons of sources, plus tips and tricks for installing a stair runner yourself!
SUMMER STYLE
Did you know that TJMaxx has an online shop now? (I’m waiting patiently for HomeSense to sell online too!!!) Mark and I have a fun work trip coming up in June (to the Bahamas!! pretty much all I’ve thought about these last few weeks of craziness!) I bought this super affordable maxi dress for one of the events and am pleasantly surprised at how pretty it is in real life!
I think strappy sandals and a straw clutch will keep it from feeling too dressy at the resort we’ll be at. This is the bag to have for summer date nights, I love mine and wear it with both dresses and casual outfits like white jeans and a cute top!
I have lots of room updates to share with you besides the kitchen – our renovation and new floors have spurred all sorts of mini-makeovers from the foyer to the dining room to the living room, not to mention our outdoor spaces! Many updates, projects and tutorials coming to you this late spring and summer my friends! Thanks for sticking around when posts are sparse around here. I hope your real life hasn’t been quite as messy as this one 🙂 and that all is well in your world!!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend lovelies!
xo
Monica says
please add me to your mailing list
Denise says
Have been wondering what was happening to you – no wonder you’ve been MIA! Glad the dust is settling and you’ll be ready to share all the gorgeous pics of the long awaited kitchen!
Susan says
Oh Lisa, I am so glad all is well. I have had Internet down for over 4 months. I can now receive a partial signal some days. I am so glad I could download this. I am so happy you are back!!!!!!.
Debbie - MountainMama says
Wow, Lisa, OMG lots going on in your world….glad everyone is on the mend and you’re back! I was wondering about your kitchen, I thought perhaps you bounced me off your email list ha ha!! Looking forward to the big reveal!