Refresh

We have an antique side table passed down from Bobby's parents.  Its a little sad looking, a bit beat up and its been through a few "oops I forgot the coaster".  Its a lovely little table so I wanted to try and put some life back into it.  I tried a little DIY project to help return the shine and remove some of the scratches.  I think it worked pretty well!  It may take a few go arounds to keep it nice and shiny, but I can see it coming backing to life.

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1/2 cup olive oil

1/8 cup of white vinegar

Mayonnaise on the water marks (left for a few hours)

Tomorrow I am bound and determined to finish another DIY project I started months ago!  Re-doing an old coffee table for the back porch.  I'm never very good at these types of projects and I usually start them and never finish, but I really want to freshen up our porch so we can actually enjoy the space come fall and winter.  

Other than that my 3 day weekend is consisting of the following

+Relaxation

+Laundry, Laundry and more laundry

+Cleaning

+Finishing touches to my presentation for an upcoming conference

+Possibly taking a trip to Ikea to look for a new bed (!)

+A visit to the Fruit and Spice Park on Monday

That should keep me nice and busy--

Happy holiday weekend to everyone!

King the Artist

I picked up some new art at my visit to Monkey Jungle this past weekend.

A finger painting by a 42 year old gorilla, King.  One of his favorite activities (so they say!)

His fingerprint

I think this will make a good addition to one of my walls :)

Life Lately (from Bobby's phone)

A few snapshots of our life lately.

(don't mind the awesome quality!)

 Bobby in his element, at work in Miami

 Date Night

 An oldie from our visit to the Keys in June

 Saturday pizza date

Found some silly putty in the dollar section at Target! A little advice: Don't try to make an imprint from your remote control.  We're still trying to get it off

:)

Monkey Jungle

Saturday I met up with a new friend at another one of the "Old Florida Attractions", Monkey Jungle in Miami.

Established in the 1930's, it is home to over 400 primates, many of which run free in the only real tropical rainforest in North America. You wander through most of the park "caged in" while the Java Monkeys run above and around you, waiting for you to feed them raisins and sunflower seeds.  Its pretty amazing to be so close to them!

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Orangutan Mae and I are the same age :)

Old School

The other night Bobby and I were chatting about this and that and somehow the Appalachian Mountains came up.  Embarrassingly enough I couldn't really remember which states they even went through.  Bobby grabbed his phone to look it up and I shouted "WAIT!"  I made a quick dash to the living room and grabbed our world atlas.  We flopped down on the bed and slowly flipped through the pages and found what we were looking for.  We studied the map, looking at all the thousands of towns and cities, the winding roads and highways and the jetting mountains that dart across the United States.  

I relished in these peaceful moments with my husband, exploring the map with our pointer fingers and laughing at some of the ridiculous city names.  

Its not that I'm anti-technology, but I worry that children today will not know these simple moments of turning real pages, of taking more than five seconds to discover an answer, and to smell that dusty, sweet smell of old books.

  Our atlas was published in 1970 so there are some countries that no longer exist and we spent awhile trying to find the differences.

(We did get the phone out a few times to compare the African countries, just to see what has changed!) 

Going through the different countries, it made me remember that we are only a small blip on this blue and green planet.  I laid there wondering who lived in this tiny mountain town or along that part of the Nile.  Its nice to step out of my little sheltered life once in a while and imagine what the rest of the world is doing on a Tuesday evening.

Sally

Sally is our resident gator.  She lives in the pond behind the museum.  We always know its her by looking at her tail which has a few scutes missing.  The other day she joined us for a potluck lunch.  There's nothing quite like eating your lunch while an alligator snaps at you and sticks her claws through the chain link fence, just feet from where you are sitting!

:)

oh, hello.

Home

It always takes awhile for a new place to feel like home.  We've been at our current place for almost a year now and I finally feel like I have things the way I like them.  I'm still looking for a few new (or old) treasures to fill a wall in the living room and bedroom, but overall I think its coming together.  After deciding that we would stay here for one more year before either buying a house or potentially moving out of Florida, it has made me want to finish up some of my lingering decor dilemmas.

Somedays I just can't pinpoint my style.  I like so many different things and while I enjoy the eclectic look, I still want it to feel cohesive.  Any new purchase I try to think about how it will fit with the rest of my home and if it is something I truly love.  If it is, I will find a way to make it meld with everything else!  I wish I was a decorating guru and had the time to scour the thrift stores for bargains, but I think overall I do pretty well with limited time and budget!

I found a few new things this weekend to help add some finishing touches to our living room.  Our place is quite small so I'm also trying to de-clutter to keep things simple while still making it feel homey and like us.

A new vase to sit on top of Bobby's parent's old wooden crates:

Two new baskets for our cubby bookcase turned entry table.  I've been looking for something to break up the dark wood and all my knick knacks.  I have a soft spot for all things "industrial" and thought these were a good balance!

Something soft and white to contrast our new leather chair

I'm also looking at finding or making a tablecloth for our table.  Our table is still in great condition, but I'm not sure it fits my style anymore.  A tablecloth may just be the perfect cheap solution!

Here are some fabric swatches I am eyeing

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 Waverly Carino/ Azure

 Waverly Carino/ Buttercup

Bohemian Swirl Pumice 

Tommy Bahama Fantasy Foliage Shoreline

What do you think?

Lazy Saturday

I slept in embarrassingly late this morning.  Its been a bit of a lazy day but it fit perfectly with the weather.  Remnants of a tropical storm in the Atlantic moved over South Florida late yesterday and we've seen nothing but rain and clouds. 

 I went out last night (the first time in a very long time) with some co-workers.  We went to an Irish Pub and I had a nice time laughing and hanging out, while tapping me toes to the live Irish folk band.

They even had New Belgium- made me feel at home!

With the new season just around the corner, Bobby and I spent the afternoon catching up on Breaking Bad.  In between episodes, we listened to records.  Bobby visited a new record store the other day and picked up a few, including two just for me: Bing Crosby's Greatest Hits and the Beach Boys Christmas Album!