D.C.

In September the ERLC hosted the Presidential Inauguration for Dr. Moore. As his Chief of Staff, Daniel was very involved in the process. The Inauguration was in Washington D.C. and since Daniel coordinated the event, I wanted to go along and see the fruits of his labor! (I'm one proud wife--because the event was beautiful and flawless and Daniel did such a wonderful job!) Daniel had to go a few days before the event to get things ready and also for trustee meetings. I went early with him and did a little sightseeing! I walked ever so much, and my little glass feet were aching--but it was neat to see so much national history! I hadn't been to D.C. since I was a little girl and didn't remember a lot of it.

The Wizard of Oz is my favorite!!!

That's right--Washington D.C. has a bikeshare program…and by the end of my jam-packed sightseeing day I took advantage of it! I rode a bike back to my metro stop and dropped it off at a station there. It was a life (and foot) saver! I had basically walked the entire National Mall and over to Union Station and the surrounding area. I realize for some city dwellers this would be a piece of cake…but I'm a sissy and I love driving my car places and not having blisters on my poor feet! But seriously-- it was so much fun to see D.C.!

I owe a HUGE thanks to my Mom! This was the first time I left Emma alone--(yes she was 15 months)--and it was exactly how you'd imagine a first time mom leaving her baby for the first time. I called/texted/Skyped/Facetimed my mom constantly! But Emma was in wonderful hands with Nana and Papi and Aunt Jennifer looking after her! She had a great time!

Sporting Nana's glasses

Lunch with Nana, Papi, and Aunt Jennifer

Playing in the water in Nana and Papi's Backyward!

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of the amazing Inauguration--there was a professional photographer there, so they certainly didn't need my awesome iPhone camera skills! Ha! My first trip away from Emma was so wonderful, but I was ever so glad to be reunited with my girl!

{MSP}

Blog Vacation

Obviously I've taken a pretty long and leisurely vacation from the blog. I could make a thousand excuses but I'll just chalk it up to being a toddler mom. Oh, and settling into Nashville.

Between July and now I've painted the kitchen a lovely red! It's called "Red Delicious" by Glidden! It turned out pretty well. (I'm definitely not a professional painter!) I also put up some pictures above the cabinets to draw the eye upwards and use some of that blank space. I got the idea off of a blog I found via Pinterest. Here's their link. I found some frames at various thrift stores and spray painted them black and then filled the frames with black and white pictures of places around the world that our family has been!

This is what the color of the kitchen was before.

This is when I painted the kitchen red.

These are the pictures I put above the cabinets. The pictures include Notre Dame, Cotopaxi, Macchu Picchu, Daniel's family's house, My family's house, the Great Wall of China, Wrigley Field (of course!), the Basilica in Quito, and the post office in Madrid.

I was having some issues with the light fixtures in our kitchen and dining room--issues as in I didn't care for their configurations. So…one time when Daniel's Grandaddy was in town (yes, I asked Daniel's 85 year old grandfather--who happens to be one of the best handymen around to do hardware tasks around my house) I asked him to switch up the light fixtures for me. I spray painted the chandelier in the kitchen black and added the cutest little chandelier shades (you can see the update in the photos above)! Then we moved the ceiling fan from the dining room into the kitchen…I'm a firm believer that kitchens in the South need a ceiling fan! And then we left the dining room bare until I found an old chandelier at a local thrift store and upcycled it! I spray painted it a brushed nickel and found lots of glass shades that were all the same! Daddy put it up for me when he was in town.

This is what the chandelier looked like when I found it.

This is what the chandelier looks like now! (Except that it's in the dining room and not on my kitchen counter!)

So, I've taken a break from the blog, but not from doing some projects around the house! I think we're going to paint the dining room navy above the chair rail and a creamy white below the chair rail. Daniel read that it's better for resale value if it's a neutral color, but we do plan to live here for awhile--I could always repaint when the time comes to move--or maybe in the next decade another color lover like me will come along to buy our house!

Coming up soon I'll do some more blogs about what we've done since July! Look for some blogs about our trip to Washington D.C., NYC, the Pumpkin Patch, Ecuador, and Emma's Outdoor Tea Party that was a photo shoot for our Christmas cards! Thanks for reading!

{MSP}