Happy Friday! This is just a house I saw on my walk the other day that I thought was so charming. Look at the size of that magnolia tree!
We had one single perfect weekend of gloriously warm weather and it was exactly what we needed. I swear, we were different people just for those two days and it made me extra excited and hopeful for summer. Jack and I sat outside on the patio during our Starbucks date, we played badminton on the lawn as a family for hours, and Chris and I sat on the porch with a bottle of wine and mixing bowl used as a makeshift ice bucket and it was just perfect. I hope we do as good of a job of living it up when summer actually gets here. 🙂
I gave Chris a ridiculously long wish-list of trim and millwork that I wanted to add to our bedroom and he nailed it. Ha! Get it? Like with a nail gun? I crack me up. Anyway. I got kind of in a mindset of “While we’re at it, we might as well add…” and so we ended up finishing up our drywall work, then adding crown molding, extra tall baseboards with quarter round, the extra complicated craftsman-style door trim that I’ve come to know and love to both the closet and the doorway to the back hallway, and board and batten to the walls. It was a lot but it’s spectacular. I love it. This is a peek at the corner of the room with the closet in progress.
I’m getting so much better at donating things right away when we’re done with them, rather than letting them sit in the basement for awhile first. It’s so refreshing. We had a mirror on the wall in the living room that we decided to remove when the new sofas came in. I liked the mirror, and it was a decent piece, but I didn’t absolutely love it. I never did, actually, I just thought it was acceptable. So I decided to let it go and let someone who really needs it enjoy it. And I get to enjoy the extra space in my basement. It’s a win/win.
Jack had his first real soccer game in forever and it was so fun to watch. When I say forever, I mean like years. Everything has been so disjointed because of gathering limits over the last couple of years that our soccer club was never really able to squeeze in a real season for any length of time. They’ve been able to train indoors and outdoors pretty consistently, but I have to admit that I’ve really missed just sitting on the sidelines and watching kids’ sports. We used to spend almost every weekend in the US for Kenna’s soccer, and while it was hard to be away from home all the time, it was so fun to cheer on the team and get out to see new places. Very excited for this part of our return to normalcy! So here’s my tip for early spring soccer mom-ing (or grand-mom-ing): If you think it seems like a reasonably-warm day, you will be absolutely freezing by the time you’re done sitting on the sidelines for 2 hours after warm-ups and the actual game. Bundle up almost like it’s below freezing. It’s so easy to just be focussed on getting your kids to their games with all their gear, but the game can be long for spectators sitting in the spring wind and you could end up grumpy by the end. And that’s not helping anyone. Pack a backpack with a blanket to throw over your legs, just in case. Wear athletic clothes like sweatpants, or fleece-lined tights like mine, no jeans! I had a long-sleeve tee, a “better sweater” pullover, then the vest version of the same, then a windbreaker. And of course a hot tea. I was as comfy as could be on that windy, cloudy spring day and I had a great time.
I feel like things are really coming together lately around the house. I have to laugh at myself because I can remember feeling this way at different intervals over the years and thinking to myself “OK, now this place is starting to look like home, now we’re really getting somewhere.” and looking back, we had barely accomplished anything compared to where we are now. And I’m sure I’ll look back in a year or two and laugh at myself again, but I do really feel like we’re tying together a lot of little loose ends lately and I find myself looking around and thinking that maybe things aren’t all exactly perfect, but they just feel exactly right for right now, and for the next little while as well. It’s kind of a sense that I’m not so behind anymore, whereas I used to really feel like I was always catching up. There are definitely still lots of projects and issues to address and I’m sure there always will be in this old house, but I’m finding it pretty easy to focus on the positive lately. All these mini updates we’ve done over the past few weeks like finishing the trim in the bedroom, replacing the old light fixture with the new one I love so much, upgrading the curtain rods that were bugging me to much nicer ones, ordering a fresh new Ruggable cover for the living room, and the perfect little side table I’ve had my eye on forever, have just made me feel like I have so much less hanging over my head and we can just settle in and actually live in our home now and maybe enjoy the whole process of finishing and upgrading little things here and there without so much pressure.
NEWS AND FINDS
-Believe the Yeti mug hype! I resisted them for so long, but I got one for Chris for Christmas and now I find myself borrowing it all the time. Perfect for bringing tea to a soccer game. Having a nice hot tea at a soccer game really makes a difference. 🙂 I love the stainless steel finish as opposed to the bright colors, of course because it’s classic and you won’t get bored of it.
-I’m really loving the classic look of hurricanes lately. I feel like they were really popular in the early 2000s and there’s probably something really comforting about that to me. I saw some pop up in a recent Ralph Lauren campaign and then I came across these and I just can’t stop thinking about them. I also think this set of two is a great deal and something that you could easily keep and use as vases or as hurricanes basically forever.
-Lothantique is having a Mother’s Day sale running until Sunday! Read my post about how I’m using their products around our home here. 10% off your order to treat mom or yourself with the code MOM2022
–This classic sconce from Wayfair caught my eye. Love the lampshades!
-All the heart eyes for this bench! So beautifully-tailored. Such a great price for so much perfection.
-OK, I get what all the fuss is about with these tights. I’ve owned others from Lululemon before, but never these, which seem to be the go-to for so many people. Our gym finally just re-opened this week and I needed a couple of things for that, but was having such a hard time finding tights that were comfortable and didn’t cause all the usual problems that tights can cause. Got these in the dark olive color and they really are just perfect and so soft. I’m 5’3″, usually wear size 00/XS petite and got the size 0 in the 25″ inseam and they’re perfect full-length tights for me.
-Also ordered a couple of these workout tanks! Also, it looks like they just went on sale right after I ordered. Ha! What can ya do? I love that they’re just simple and light and normal looking, but still flattering. Nothing weird, nothing flashy, no loud branding. That’s harder to find than it should be. 🙂 I should note that they’re regular, non-petite sizing so they’re quite long on me, just below the hip. If you’re short, you can either do a little tie at the back or you can just cut them for a raw hem like I do.
–Find shopable links here to all the products you’ve seen recently in my blog posts and on Instagram!
MORE RECENT POSTS
- Elevating the Everyday With Lothantique
- An Organized Getaway: Favorite Packing Essentials
- My Top Wayfair Picks
- Some More Favorite Recent Finds I Wanted to Share
- Five Things on a Friday – 4/22/22
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