A Little Sun and Garage Cleaning

Sunday we accomplished a lot!

I've spent over 2 weeks hunting down curtains for every room other than Hannah's room. I now only have the breakfast nook left to find. Hannah and I started our day at Target looking at curtains. I bought 3 different colors, and the one I liked most (you'll have to wait till the reveal to see what colors I'm doing) was a shade off from my dish towel. So later in the day we returned the panels. Since I knew what color I wanted this time, I brought my dish towel to use as a swatch for matching purposes. I chose the shade that was the closest. When I brought them home I asked Sergio his opinion, and he vetoed it as too bold. So the curtain hunting continues.

Inbetween trips to Target, I decided Hannah needed a break from all the house craze and some good ol' fashion summer time fun: swimming and icecream.

She decided half way through her icecream bar she wanted to trade me for my drumstick.

Sergio worked at 7am, and came home at about 4pm. Since he was home "early", I took advantage of the man power and we shifted our attention to the garage. I really wish I had before pictures because it was scary! You know the scene from Home Alone when he is in the basement and the furnace scares him? That was me in our garage. We had made some progress several weeks back, with unpacking all the boxes. I posted the boxes and packing paper free on craigslist. Luckily that was all taken away several weeks ago. With Sergio working everyday the garage just sat neglected after that. Of course it only seemed to become even more of a disaster. Not to mention the creepy spiders that I imagined lurking around in dark places.

We began by putting everything on the driveway so we could lay down carpets we have. We have 2 AstroTurf carpets that we had from our yard in Virginia. Since we do not need them here because of our lovely patios, we decided to use them in the garage. We also had a carpet remnant we bought in Mississippi for Hannah's room when she started to crawl which we now placed in front of our washer and dryer.

Your tour guide.

We divided the garage into zones.

On the left wall is our trash cans, Sergio's work bench (our old baker's rack), and storage bins. The pile on the floor in front of the bins is garage sale and recycle boxes. Once we have our garage sale I can park my car in the garage.

On the right is the man garage, since we don't have a man cave. We were going to sale the furniture from our FROG in Virginia. Since our garage is completely drywalled we decided to keep it and set up an area. It already proved useful while we were working yesterday. Hannah loves running around in the space. We figured we could back the car into the driveway and she would have a whole area to ride her cars safely, since we live on a busy corner.

The mess in the corner is a broken gazebo. A Virginian storm swept it across our yard. We brought it out west hoping to order new parts and use it here. However we don't have a need for it, so instead we will be hauling it to the dump. Once it is gone, the crib and large baby items will be nicely stacked in the corner.

In the back of our garage is the laundry area. I have some future plans to add shelves and artwork to give the space some function and personality.

For now the garage is a huge improvement and I don't need to be scared anymore while doing laundry.

Sneak Peek

Just wanted to share some sneak peeks of my current projects.

You'll have to wait till to see what they are.

Memorial Day Weekend

The days are flying by and summer is upon us. Sergio is very busy at work. He worked over the weekend again but we managed to squeeze in a date night and some family time.

Friday, as I was walking out the door to make some returns Serg called. My mom offered to watch Hannah while we did my returns and had some time alone. After making returns we grabbed some Mexican takeout and had dinner on the beach.

Throughout the weekend we had barbecues at my Mom's house. My brother, Josh, drove down for the weekend. My brother, Chris, and sister-in-law, Ayra, came down Sunday night. I just love being back home near my family again.

We started Sunday bright and early at the beach. For the longest time Sergio has wanted to surf. I promised him he could get a surf board if we moved to San Diego. As an early Father's Day gift Hannah and I gave him a board. Well it went more like this...Sergio calls to tell me he's stopping to buy something on his way home. Not paying attention I say okay. Less than an hour later he walks in with a surfboard. Oops, should have paid better attention. I tell him, "We were going to surprise you for Father's Day with a surf board."

Sergio asks, "Oh...you were? Did you know what to buy"?

"No, but that's your Father's Day gift now."

I don't know anything about surfing, but I know the water can be dangerous so I made Sergio take a lesson. It was my one condition that was not negotiable. So Sunday morning Sergio had his lesson while Hannah and I played in the sand.

Monday we went kayaking at a lagoon. I don't have any photos since we didn't bring a camera for fear of water damage. None the less it was fun to finally have all 3 of us kayaking. Sergio and I kayaked in Florida, and have been looking forward to Hannah being old enough so we could go again.

Hannah's Big Girl Room

Tour the first room done. The tricky part to this room was combining Hannah's nursery and playroom. When I bought items for her playroom in Virginia I made sure to match them to her room for this very reason. The hard part was using the space wisely. Luckily she has a large room, and good size closet.

Upon entering Hannah's room...

I bought this frog white board from Target for only a dollar. When we travel by plane I make grab bags from the $1 sections or stores to keep Hannah busy. Last summer I bought the board as one of the grab bag items. When she gets older she can write her own messages, except "Keep Out", on her door.

A bed fit for a princess (or queen). We never planned on giving Hannah a queen bed. Her crib converts from a crib to a toddler bed, than to a full. Our plan was once she and future baby #2 had out grown the toddler bed we'd use the full size headboard for our guest bed. If we have another girl they will share a room with matching twins. If we have a boy they will share in this house. Once we move he'd no longer need a crib and will have a twin in a room of his own. Since our home is only 2 bedrooms we no longer have a guest room so it's more cost effective for now to just give it to Hannah. We'll have to get a twin if we have another baby while we live here to make room for a crib. I do have one small detail left to do. The 3 flowers on the canvas above her bed are purple. I need to paint them hot pink to match the room.

As for the decor if we have a boy while we live here...well I'll have to work my decorating magic.

Here's a close up of Hannah's bedding patterns. I found the collection at Home Goods. The ballerina outfit was made by my mom. Hannah wore the tutu for her baby announcement picture. I've always hung the tutu with her curtains. Below are some new and old. When we first went shopping for her nursery Daddy picked out the "Cowgirl" sign. It used to be on her night stand with the 3 bears and her lamp. Now their new home is on her bookshelf. Her new doll house, a birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa, is displayed on her night stand instead. The bottom of her nightstand has a shelf for her Bible, favorite bedtime book, and a piggy bank Uncle Josh bought her.

The bulk of her playroom is now in her closet. Organized and easy to hide away.

She no longer has a changing pad so I combined frames from her nursery and playroom to display on her dresser. The piggy bank was mine when I was a child. My parents bought Hannah the Snow White music box on her 1st trip to Disneyland. The perfect souvenir since we dressed her as Snow White that day.

I do need to put a picture in the frame on the left and remove the price tag...make that the second last detail I need to do.

When I bought a chair cushion for her nursery rocking chair, it came in a set of two. I was able to use them both to add seating to her toy box. We scored the toy box a year ago from Salvation Army. Love a deal.

The hardest part of unpacking her room was repacking her crib bedding. The dust ruffle I made and the pink pinstriped sheets I so lovingly picked out to match her bumper. Her crib blanket remains at the foot of her bed. Maybe some day we will have another little girl we can use the set for.

From VA to CA and Everything Inbetween

Has it really been 3 weeks since the movers packed our home in Virginia? How time has flown by. (*Actually now 4 weeks because it's taken me a week just to publish this post.)

We drove across the country in four days. First we drove for 3 days straight with hail storms and sunshine.

We also had some fun stops along the way like the Grand Ole Opry.

Sergio toured the Gibson factory while Hannah and I took a carriage ride in downtown Memphis.

We randomly stopped at the Route 66 museum in Elk, Oklahoma.

What is a tot to do on the road?

After day 3 we stopped in Santa Fe, NM to spend time with some of Sergio's family for 3 days. We had a wonderful time. Hannah adores her Auntie Emily and her pink room. She also got her first big scrape from falling off a bike. She did cry, but only because she wanted to get back on the bike. Daddy doctored her up while she sat on the bike.

From Santa Fe, we drove a straight shot to Hemet, Ca to my parent's home.

Our first sunset over the Mojave Desert back in our golden state.

Then we went to Carlsbad the next day to sign our lease. The landlord was still remodeling it, so it was another week before we could move in.

In the interim we celebrated Easter with my family, Sergio started work, and I started planning Hannah's birthday. The Matrix got new brakes, tires, and an oil change. We also attended my niece's birthday party. I loved watching my niece play with Hannah. Hannah adores older girls.

Our belongings arrived on the 2nd. Unpacking is coming along. We're at the point where we need some new furniture and organizational items, before I can finish unpacking. Better to leave things in a box where a 2 year old can't get to them, than just have them piled in a corner.

Saturday was Hannah's 2nd birthday party. The theme was shoes because the kid loves shoes. The colors were hot pink, aqua, and white.

We still need to take her 2 year old pictures. She was very shy at the party so it was hard to get a birthday picture of her in her birthday dress and hat. Instead we are going to do a photo shoot of her at the beach. I'd love to get her on the shore with balloons in hand, but not sure if we can make that happen. We'll see.

Then we had a wonderful Mother's Day. The day started with breakfast in bed. In the afternoon we went to Cardiff Beach and walked around Encinitas. Then ended the day with a barbecue at my parents' house.