HGTV Dream Home

Have any of you out there entered to win this years HGTV Dream Home?  I have to admit that a couple of years ago I did submit and entry everyday to win the Dream Home in Asheville, NC.  But, I didn't so instead I am working on creating my own Dream Home here on Main Street:)

Anyways, it is a beautiful home so if you have not had a chance to check it out, I would highly recommend you do.  When you do - check out these Houndstooth chairs in the Great Room.  I am obsessed!!!!!

Some More Holiday Decorating

Welcome to day 2 of my Christmas Decorating posts.  Today I am linking up with the Hooked on Holiday Houses party over at Hooded on Houses.

So we don't necessarily live in the biggest of houses which means when it comes to decorating Christmas we don't have a lot of options as to where to put everything.  I guess that is the reason why The Husband likes to say that it looks like Christmas threw-up in our front room:)

But I think that is usually the case.  I mean if you put your tree in the same room your stockings are hanging, then that will probably be the most Christmassy of all the rooms right?  Actually, I love this room and it is great that we spend so much time in it as a family because then I get to look around at all my lovely decoration.

Some detail shots of the Front Room:

We did decorate in some other areas too.  The buffet has a nice clean feel to it with a bowl of my favorite snowflake ornaments.  The only new items we bought this year were the Advent Calendar (which I love because I no longer have to answer the question "How many more days until Christmas?") and we bought some garland for our staircase which I hung some more snowflake ornaments from.

Next year we are going to focus on the outside of The House.  Before we moved we used to be those obnoxious neighbors that covered our house in lights - very Clark Groswold of us - but I don't really feel like that would fit the look of The Main Street House.  I am thinking lots of garland, wreaths, and hurricane lanterns would be more like it.  I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens next year.

A Walking Tour

Well, the sun is shining today (even if it is cold as all get-out) so I thought I would take you on a walking tour of South Main Street.  The street is still buzzing with people getting ready for the festival and I am happy to say that the forecast is not calling for sunny skies this weekend!  So excited!

For our house, we don't do a whole lot of decorating.  Swags of garland and bows just really aren't my thing (although I think they look beautiful on people's homes) however The Husband did hang the snowflakes in our windows last weekend but we have been waiting until this weekend to turn them on. 

I also put out some winter themed pillows on the porch and am currently washing some blankets to put out there too for anyone who decides to stop by and watch the parade with us on Saturday.

And no festival would be complete without these guys!  I am just happy they put then in my neighbors backyard and not ours:)

Getting into the Spirit

Let me start this post by letting you know that I think that Thanksgiving gets the shaft when it comes to retailers.  I am just as annoyed as most of you that Target puts their Christmas decoration up the day after Halloween.  I get it, Thanksgiving isn't really a retailers ideal holiday but can't you at least give us a week of November before you start putting the pressure on us to start buying Christmas presents.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way I want to let you all know that It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas here on Main Street and our House is brimming with The Christmas Spirit.

This week business owners and private owners have been breaking out the boxes of Christmas decorations and we are right there with them.  Wreaths have been hung in the windows with care in hope that local residents will soon be there:)

Why?  Because this weekend is the annual Christmas in The Historic District Festival.  Starting Friday evening Main Street will be closed down and filled with all sort of fun stuff like food vendors, craft tents, horse drawn carriage rides, and bouncy slides.  There will be a Christmas Tree lighting Friday night M.C.ed by Abe Lincoln (don't ask me why, I think it has something to do with the towns history with the Underground Railroad) followed by a parade Saturday at noon and three full days worth of eating any sort of festival food you can get your hands on.

All right outside our front door!!!

The festival is great exposure for local business so it is no wonder they are working so hard to stand out from the crowd!

They have even started closing down the side streets to start putting up the vendor tents.  So Exciting!!

Under Attack

Yes, the latest Halloween thriller "Attack of the Killer Lady Bugs" is being filmed at my house this year.

Over the past couple of days I have noticed a couple of intruders here and there but when I got home from getting The Girl's from school it seemed like they had taken over my kitchen.

To top it all off The Youngest is terrified of lady bugs.  She was in complete hysterics until I got rid of them all (of course I had to take pictures first).

History Restored

So, I came across this article on Yahoo yesterday and thought it was awesome.  The article featured homes across the country that have been converted from old barns.  You can read the entire article HERE.

All of the homes were amazing but this one in Connecticut was my favorite.

First of all, how awesome is that barn!?  I also loved that they totally preserved the integrity of the barn and kept it very much like the original.  The other fun part is that this home is currently for sale so I got to take a peek inside by checking out their Real Estate Listing HERE.  How much do you love the huge window in the living room???

Brown

So if you happen to be one of the people who stopped by when I did my house tour (or if you are even more lucky and you have actually been to Main Street House in person) then you will know that our house is very Brown.  It seems to be that our neutral color of choice in Chocolate.  Most of the wood in our house is very dark and we are also the proud owners of the biggest and brownest couch ever.  Seen here:

Now, normally the browness of our house doesn't bother me at all, I mean I basically picked it all out so I better like it right??  However, what I have found is that now that the house is decorated for fall there is even more brown than ever.  Fine for now but I have a feeling it may get quite depressing once all of the leaves are off the trees and everything outside in brown too.

So I was so happy to see and so inspired by the Pillow Addict feature run over at Classic, Casual, Home.  I struggle with accessories and I struggle even more to put things together that look nice but aren't actually matchy-matchy.  The tips given by Abby over at Delightful Design were even more helpful.

So I headed over to my favorite site - Etsy - and did a search for "Pillows".  Here is a fun little board of my favorites that I think would do just the trick to add a bit of color to that big brown couch of mine.  What do you think?

 Blue and Natural Chevron Pillow Cover  Citrine Trellis Pillow Cover

 Decorative Throw Pillow  Orange Lumbar Pillow Cover

The Latest Addition

So, although I don't have any updates for the inside of the house, we did make one very significant addition to the outside of the house.

A Playground!!!!!

We had a playground similar to this at the old house and the plan, for a while, was to take it apart and move it over to This House.  Well, we put it off and then we put it off a little more and when it finally came down to moving it -we said NO WAY!!!  There is a school right behind us and we spent the summer playing at that playground until The Youngest came up to me one day and asked if we could move back to the old house (insert the sound of my heart breaking).  When I asked her why she answered that it was because the playground was there.

Well, we knew something had to be done - enter The Grandparents.  In a great act of generousity, The Grandparents we in on a group birthday gift for The Youngest and got her this wonderful playground.  In addition to that The Papaw spent two full days putting it together.  For any of you out there who have a wooden playground and paid for the assembly, you can be sure that you got your money's worth!!!  Thankfully The Papaw is a handy guy and likes to do stuff like this because it was A LOT of work.  He had some help and The Youngest got out there with her Handy Manny tools to make sure all the screws were tight but he did most of it himself.

Let me tell you, it is great!  The Girls love it and play on it every evening.  It got some major use at the Birthday Party too.  There were kids climbing all over it!

So, it the eyes of a 6-year old and a 4-year old, everything is now right with the world.

Blame it on the Rain

I hate to say it but I think the troops here at Main Street House may be ready for Fall. Ahh, it makes me sad to even say that because I love everything about summer but even I am ready for some cooler weather.

We are having a bit of a rainy day here and this morning I may even dare to say that the humidity was pretty low. Makes me look forward to those cool crisp days of Autumn. We still have one more vacation in our future but even on that we are headed North is search for cooler temperatures.

Here are the different ways the rest of the family is planning for Fall.

The Oldest keeps asking when she gets to go back to school and is so excited to go shopping for her school supplies. I love the age when school is still fun!

The Youngest checked out three books about Halloween from the Library and keeps asking if it is time for trick-or-treat.

Now that the season is back on The Husband is getting excited about the start of Football season and is planning trips to go watch our favorite team.

I have successfully managed to kill all of our potted plants so I am looking forward to cooler weather so I am blame it on the frost and not the lack of water they have received:)

I know it will be warm and sunny tomorrow so for the next month or so there will still be a lot of trips to the pool in our futures but just for today we can pretend that it is only 50 degrees outside and enjoy a rainy day inside.

Friday Finds: vtech

I'm baaaaack.......I know you have missed me so, but our Internet was on the fritz and I am not yet patient enough to blog from my phone:)

Okay, so for today's Friday Finds I am going to share with you one of the coolest things ever, but first you need a bit of a back story (don't worry it is short).

So way back a whole nine months ago when we decided to make The Move we knew that we needed to cut some corners (can you say two house payments) so the first two things we did was to cancel our cable and our home phone. Quick note on the cable part - do you know how many channels you can get with an antenna? Tons!!!

Okay, so back to the phone part. Both The Husband and I have Cell Phones and the only persons who called us on our house phone were telemarketers so cancelling our home phone was not that big of a deal. We did need to teach The Girls my cell phone number but that was no biggie.

So then we made the move to The House, we did decide to get cable but never saw any real reason to set up a home phone line. The only problem was that I never heard my cell phone ring - so whenever somebody called they usually got my voicemail.

Enter the coolest birthday present ever!!!!! These phones are made to sync up with a cell phone's bluetooth. All I had to do was set it up to sync with my phone and now anytime I walk into our house, if anybody calls my cellphone all of our "house phones" will ring. I also added all of my contacts to the phone so I can call out from that phone without having to look up any phone number (because, really, who memorizes phone number these days).

So, if you are a cell phone only house, I would highly recommend looking into these. I had no idea how cool they were until I actually started using them!

Friday Finds: Out of Doors

So, like most weekends, I am assuming that a trip to Lowe's will happen either today or tomorrow. And I don't want to jinx it but Spring may finally be here!!!! If that is the case then I am hoping we spend a lot of time in the garden center because I have a plan.

Lots and lots of container plants and hanging ferns on the porch.

Clockwise from the top: inpatients, geraniums, hanging fern, Gerber daises

Colorful and blooming perennials everywhere!

Clockwise from top: Day lily, hosta, Shasta Daisy, Phlox, Hydrangea, Clematis

Yummy veggies in the garden

Clockwise from top: Heirloom Tomato, Bell Pepper, Zucchini, Cherry Tomato, Basil, Strawberries

Our current mailbox is UGLY and hung so high that I have to stand on my tip toes to look inside. Our Lowes has it in black and brushed nickle which is what I hope to get - but the only picture I could find had it in black and bronze.

PostMaster Venetian Metal Mailbox

And because I know The Husband will want to get in on the action, one of these too:

Black & Decker 14" Electric String Trimmer & Edger

Okay, so its not from Lowe's but I will probably use a left over gift card for this too:

Lattice Rubber Doormat 36 x 24

Giveaway over at I Go By Kate

I stumbled across this blog via my friend Elizabeth over at Yellow Finch Designs (her beautiful necklace is listed at #5) and I can tell you now that I will be visiting daily.

Please head over to I Go By Kate to read all of her great posts, and to learn more about this fabulous giveaway!

1.A charming custom burlap decorative state pillow from Local Honey.
2.A set of handmade fabric magnets from Marnie of The Nan That Can.
3.A Louise on the Road handmade coloring book from Louise Designs.
4.A variety bundle of handcrafted bangles from Tumbleweeds Odd Shop.
5.A gold plated pendant and a yellow sakura charm necklace from Yellow Finch Designs.
6.One of Sarah of A Lost Feather's fine art prints entitled "The Star Gazer" (6x10")

I'm Leaving....

....on a Jet Plane.

Okay, so maybe not a Jet Plane but I am packing up my SUV and taking the girls to visit their Grandma and Grandpa this weekend. We will be leaving The Husband at home as he has a lacrosse game on Friday Night (is lacrosse season over yet?).

Anyways, what this means is that when I walk out the door, I will be sure to leave a nice long honey-do list for him.

What is on this list? Well, I am glad you asked.

• MOW



• Refinish Craigslist Table



• Hang Pictures



• Fix Curtain Rods



• Fix Gutter



• Touch-up nail holes (I may try to do this before I leave)



• Clean the Screens and wash the windows



• Replace the outlet in the 1/2 bath



• Spray Paint White Wicker Furniture



• Download all files from the old computer



• Prime The Master Bedroom (can you believe we haven't painted this yet?!)

Poor guy, he thinks he is going to have this free time this weekend - NOT!

I Agree

So, today I am going to take the lazy bloggers way out and direct you over to some other blogs I follow.

I came across two posts yesterday that I felt I could really identify with and I would like to share them with you. So, if you have a moment I would like to direct you over to:

Gina at The Shabby Chic Cottage

and

April at Funky, Vintage, Lovely

Couldn't have said it better myself ladies!!!!

Rain, Rain, GO AWAY!!

Okay, so I am all about April Showers Bring May Flowers but I am not really sure how much more of this I can take. What we have been a bit lucky with is that after four days of rain we do get a few hours of sunshine so The Girls and I can get outside to play, but definitely not enough sun to dry things out.

The thing that has suffered the most is all of this wetness - our lawn. Wait, I guess it hasn't really suffered because it is quite green and lush right now but it is sooooo...... long. Between our busy schedules and all of this rain, I don't think the grass has been cut in two weeks.

We are supposed to have some Sun this weekend so The Husband has a big day of yard work planned but cutting this grass is going to be a huge job.

Look at this: Let me zoom in so you can get the full effect of it all.

A shot of the back yard:

Zoomin' in again:

On more just in case you were not fully convinced of how long our grass really is.

Happy Earth Day!!

First I would like to apologize for not posting yesterday but we were out enjoying the sunshine - something that we have not seen a whole lot of around here.

So, here's what I want to know....how do you celebrate Earth Day? I don't do much special for the actual day but I do try to treat every day as Earth Day. Leading to my second question...what do you do in your day-to-day life to stay eco-friendly?

Me, I have to say that I follow the standard generic procedure staying eco-friendly.

1) We recycle & compost
2) We use eco-friendly cleaning products and soaps
3) We keep the heat at 68 in the winter and air at 72 in the summer, and the window open as much as possible
4) Every one in our house takes showers and we try to conserve as much water as possible
5) We use CFL light bulbs throughout the house
6) We use recycled paper products, including paper towels and toilet paper (although The Husband would rather not use recycled tp)
7) Since moving into this house I have tried to use as much second hand and upcycled materials as possible

And here comes the confession of things I do that I KNOW are not good for the environment

1) I drive a large SUV and I drive A LOT. I average at least one gas fill-up a week
2) I do not use eco-friendly beauty products, shampoos, etc. I have tried and just haven't found ones that work.
3) I don't buy organic as much as I should. I do buy organic milk but everything else is dependent on price. It is hard enough as it is to keep my grocery budget in check?
4) We do not unplug all of our electronics when we leave for vacation - out of pure laziness.

Whew - thanks for letting me get that off my chest:)

A Collection?

A few months ago I read the book The Happiness Project. It was a great book and filled with some very insightful observations. I could go on and one about all of the things I learned from this book but instead I decide to focus this post on one very small section. In this book Gretchen Rubin makes a reference to having some sort of collection. I am sorry to say that I don't really remember the exact significance of it but I do remember that she decided to collect bluebirds. Something about the thrill of finding that exact piece to fit your collection as well as then having it in your home to remind you of that feeling. So, I was sitting on the couch with The Husband discussing this part of the book with him when I asked him what he thought he would collect, should he decide to start up a collection. Then I asked out loud "I wonder what I would collect". The Husband then gave me a very quizzical look and said "Don't you collect pitcher?".

Well, I guess I do:)

Friday Finds

Here are some things that I have been admiring lately.

Industrial Wall Shelf

Urban Outfitters

Rope Bridge Picture

Ikea

Vintage Map of Ohio

Ebay

This is a special note to all of you blog fairies out there - please know that I appreciate all of the generosity you have shown me, but please know that these are just items I am admiring I will not be upset if you decide to pass on making any purchases:)