confession friday

looking through old blog posts, i realized that i'm only showing the good stuff.

not the real stuff... the dirty house, horrible parenting moments kinda stuff.

in the interest of keeping it real...

i have a confession. 

HAVE A CLEANING LADY.

yes, every other week my dear sweet agata comes and cleans up my mess.

when i was pregnant with cooper, i convinced my husband that because of my horrible morning sickness and dealing with a home business and a toddler... i needed some help. i promised that once the baby was 3 months old, i would give up agata. i didn't. that was 5+ years ago.

then when we put our old house on the market.... again i promised once we moved, i would give up agata {seeing as we'd have a higher mortgage]. that was nearly 5 months ago and {to be totally honest} i have no intention of letting her go. never ever. so there. blah!

even with agata my house generally looks like this...

the weird thing is... i clean up my house in order for agata to clean. my theory is... agata can't deep clean if she has to straiten up first. i think that's normal. my husband thinks i'm nuts. i know i'm crazy and i'm good with it.

i have so many more confessions to share. i'll be back next friday with another!
happy friday! xoxo - erin

original art – etsy

"string of pearls" watercolor illustration – silver ridge studio $250

personalized white hearts frame – sarah & bendrix $190

original tree ring paintings – focus line art $199 set of 3 (the bottom photo is my master bedroom [in the old house] that the artist uses on his etsy site)

"evolution" original illustration – jessica doyle $250

bird art on wood – dolan geiman $175

original three piece painting 24 x 54" - jmj studio $239

small framed oil on canvas painting - small world gallery $65

art is affordable.
and beautiful.

xoxo - erin

our weekend, a homegoods table, a love bed & my cute husband

our weekend

 on friday afternoon i got a phone call from reilly's school nurse asking me to pick up reilly. reilly got hit in the forehead with a metal door and probably needed stitches. 

if there is one thing you should know about me... it's that i can't handle blood. at all. so i instantly called dan and had him meet us at the hospital. good news... no stitches, just glue.

the next morning, reilly lost her front tooth... so she looks like she's been playing hockey!

reilly is sitting on one of the new chairs!! more photos soon :)

a little closer

saturday was a getting-things-done day filled with cleaning, laundry, Wii and grocery shopping (for the big chicago bears play-off game/max's second birthday party).

lucy did a lot of napping

max helped out with the laundry by playing in the laundry basket

saturday night the grandparents babysat and dan and i went to dinner and to see the social network... great movie!

sunday sucked.... the bears lost. boooo! on the brighter side sunday, the food was great. we had yummy panini sandwiches, tomato basil bisque and cake!!!

old photos... but it's cute, so i posted it again

a homegoods table

i keep seeing this table at homegoods.... i think i need to rescue the beauty. i love it so.

a love bed

via house tweaking

i love this bed and wall color. the paring of the mustard, white and gray... YES PLEASE!!! this is going in my inspiration folder for the master bedroom.

my cute husband

when my husband was in a hotel lobby in orlando, he emailed me this photo. i love that he's actually looking at interiors now! what a guy! (if you're reading this dan... i love you babe!)

have a great tuesday! i'm on deadline with shutterfly this week, so i've gotta start designing. this go around is birthday cards, birthday invitations, mother's day cards and father's day cards. ugh... it's going to be a long week!

later gators!

xoxo - erin

i want

this.

the zoe cabinet from urban home

two of these.

Boston functional library two arm wall light from Circa

and this.

metal accordion side table from Urban Outfitters

 oh! and a few of these too.

Cube Aeriums from Flora Grubb Garden

it was a long weekend that included a trip to the emergency room, a date night,
a birthday party and a horrible bears play-off loss.

more on all of that later... i need a nap!

xoxo - erin

brrrrrrrr and a soup recipe

 it's FREEZING cold outside.

january sucks so.... i'm making soup!

this is the yummiest soup ever.

warning... it's NOT good for the waistline!

Ingredients:
(this recipe makes a large crock pot of soup)

8 tbs unsalted butter
1 large yellow onions, diced
3 celery ribs, diced

3 carrots, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced (I used the frozen garlic cubes you can find at trader joe's)
6 tbs flour
8 cups chicken broth
4 cans (14.5 oz size) diced tomatoes
4 tbs tomato paste
3 tsp sugar (I added an extra teaspoon to cut the acidity of the tomatoes)
4 bay leaves
4 tsp dried basil
3/4 cup cream

3/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrots and garlic. Cook for 4 minutes or until soft. Stir in flour over low heat. Add broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, bay leaves and basil; bring to a boil. Turn heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the parmesan cheese. Remove bay leaves.

In a blender, carefully puree soup in batches then return to saucepan or large crock pot, stir in cream and season with salt and pepper. 

stay warm folks! And to those of you in warmer climates... 

picture me sticking my tongue out at you!

xoxo  - erin

two years ago today....

my world got (just a little bit) better.

i learned to love more.

i learned to give more.

i learned to have more patience.

i learned to be a mother of three.

two years ago today, max entered my life
and he's captured my heart!

 good golly... these baby photos are killing me... where did my newborn baby go?

 

 

now, we have this super cool toddler... we all scamper to be his favorite!

when it comes to max, i feel like my heart is outside of my body.

it's painful how much i love this kid. 

watching him grow and learn is both a joy and a heartbreak.

he is my LAST baby.

i realize that with each babyhood and childhood

phase that passes by... that's my last.

my last first tooth.

my last first hair cut.

my last first word.

my last "ma ma ma ma ma" heard over the monitor.

my last one year old.

sniff. sniff.

in honor of max's 2nd birthday, here are 2 things i love about max...

1. for the most part, i've always been his favorite. 

he's had his daddy moments, but he's always needed/wanted his mama.

 2. he's hilarious! really he is. he loves to dance and a max dance is one of a kind!! 

even when he doesn't know it, he funny and silly. max brightens my day!

max, my darling baby, because you are my last... you will always be my baby. whether you like it or not. your blond curls and big blue eyes are burned into my soul.  when you reach your little hand up and grab mine.... my heart melts. (uh-oh... hear come the tears) max, i love you to pieces and wish i could hold on to your babyhood a little longer... but i know you will grow AND i'm looking forward to the ride :)

i love you!!! xoxo - mommy

 

powder room artwork

i purchased some photographs for the downstairs powder room.

but before i get to that, i want to show you some stuff.
this is (kinda) what the room looks like now.
here's the new sink, faucet and pedestal dan installed last weekend

(wish i had a better photo, but the room is so tiny... therefore this photo is pointless)

we plan on painting the room in the

blue maybe blue-gray family. who knows.

something contemporary, not country (does that make sense?).
(don't you just love the home depot website... these photos are courtesy of their home inspiration tool)

Faded Ink by Martha Stewart

Myrtle Blossom by Martha Stewart

Slipstream by Martha Stewart

what color are you leaning towards? for me it's slipstream. i think. i could be talked into something else. probably. maybe.

i'm also planning on purchasing a new mirror from kiwi wood werks.

if you haven't already checked out their work, please go to their website.

(http://www.kiwiwoodwerks.blogspot.com/)

also check out cat's blog... she and her husband own kiwi wood werks.

her blog is great... a daily read for me!

anyway.

without further ado, here's the photos i purchased for the room.

picture them in a crisp white matted frame on a blue-ish wall.

aren't these guys adorable?

you can get your own baby animals here.

and some exciting news.... my new chairs arrive tomorrow. yippee!!

that's all i got.

xoxo - erin