It is Finally Here!

 My antique bookcase is finally here.  I bought it last September and it took this long to get it shipped here.  It was worth it though.   I absolutely love it.  It is so unique that even my daughter who like modern furniture asked to inherit it.  It arrived Thursday morning and I've been working like crazy to get the office, living room and this room all sorted out and styled.  I know that probably doesn't sound like a big job but it was.  I have a ton of dishes I had to stash away plus all the books in the office.  (I only need a new chandelier to finish this room.  I'm looking.)

 I was going to paint the inside first thing but once it got in, it matched the doors from France perfectly so I decided to live with it for awhile.

 And...oh man, it barely fit.  It literally goes from ceiling to floor.  I think it was made for my space.  I wish I knew more about it.  The women I bought it from said it was from a general store but didn't know where or how old it was.  It was made without nails.  The whole thing is doweled together.  The shelves are all adjustable.  the back isn't original.  I actually don't think it had a back because the bottom cabinet is not backed.  It weighs a ton too.  Good thing it is on a concrete floor otherwise it might cause the floor to sag especially since it is full of dishes inside and out.

 I decided to display my black and and white dishes.  I didn't know I had so many.  They were here there and everywhere.  I didn't spend too much time on them because I'm going to change them for Halloween and then fall and then Christmas.  Can't wait.

 And just so you can appreciate the changes, this is what it used to look like before we did the addition.  I think it is much improved.

 And this is what it looked like for far too long since we had to get everything out of the living room and dining room to add the wood floors.  I'm so glad I don't have to live with this mess any more.  We are finally back to order around here...ahhhh.  It feels so good.

Sebastian Darcy Post #2

 Sebastian on day 2 in the hospital.  How quickly they change.

 Candice asked me to embroider a "onesie" with Sebastian's name ...cute idea.

 I shot all these trying to not get in Candice's way.  Mark was holding a gold reflector.  What a difference it makes in warming the tones and filling in the shadows.  If you don't have one, you need one along with an assistant to hold it in place.  :)

 Look at his feet.  They are what he inherited from my family...long skinny feet and toes.

 I think he has our hands as well.

 Candice in action.  She is such a good photographer.  I've learned so much from her classes but it is amazing how much better her pictures turn out.  The touch of a real pro.

Sorry I was so busy taking pictures of the baby, that I didn't get any pictures of her beautiful room that we decorated the last time I was there.  Maybe she will post pictures one of these days.  We bought a side table and two lamps while I was there this trip.

A New Grandson

Sebastian Darcy S. was born this morning at 11:29 am.
He weighed in at 7 pounds 7 ounces and wad 20 inches long.
We had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am. so it has been a long day.
Everything went so well.  Mother and baby are doing great.
Candice did wonderfully well.
Grant and Cole were able to come and visit and were fascinating by the little guy.
Cole is so excited that he will finally get to be a big brother.

Grant staring in amazement.  They just kept saying, "he's so cute."

Cole couldn't be prouder.

 

Here's the proud dad.  He is so absolutely great with all his boys.  What a good dad.

Some phone pictures.  After Sebastian was all cleaned up.

Soon after the birth.  He was wide awake and looking so "all knowing."

Candice and baby.  Unfortunately, I took pictures with Candice's camera so that is all I have.  I will have to try and get the ones I used with Candice's camera.  It was a very full day and I am feeling Oh SO Tired but very blessed.  What a miracle the birthing process is.  I loved being there.  Thanks for inviting me Candice and Mark.  (I was supposed to be Candice's birthing coach until the epidural but she did great on her own.)

Update on the Texas Furniture

The Fourth of July was full of all kinds of fun starting with the Provo Parade. It has become a Borup tradition to take turns staking out and saving the Parade spot. This is my brother Dave, his wife Leslie and his grand kbaby, Zachary. They came early for the balloon launch but missed out since it was too windy to launch the balloons. I was able to watch at least 17 balloons when they launched on Friday.
Steph and Creed.
The Borup clan. Don't they all look patriotic?
And the only picture I actually took of the parade was the Yogi Bear balloon. I promise you going to the parade with the Cory Borup family is a very entertaining experience. An experienced not to be missed...so we don't.

We had a great time at Sundance Friday night. We ate at the grill with Eli and Brenna and our friends Heidi and Blaine, and then went to the Blue Bird Cafe Concert. Such a great evening. The weather was beautiful, the concert was entertaining (even though we are not into country music), and the setting unbelievable. We love going to Sundance. (All these pictures were taken with my phone otherwise, there would be no pictures. I love having a camera built into my phone.)


And now for the promised update on the furniture in case you were dying of suspense. My shipper left for parts unknown. The last I heard, he was hitch hiking to Arizona. But, I did get a text telling me where my furniture was being stored after making a ton of phone calls to anyone I could think of who could possibly know him or where my furniture might possibly be. A new shipper and the sheriff picked up almost all my things. Unfortunately, the warehouse was broken into and a few of my things are missing.

Fortunately, the big pieces where still there and are supposed to be shipped this week. Woo Hoo. It's almost been a year. I'm not holding my breath though and I'm still waiting to find out how much this shipper will charge to deliver my much awaited booty. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be reasonable. (I'm already out my deposit from the first shipper.)

This week we changed out all the plugs and light switches (which we couldn't do at the same time because even though we picked the plugs out from the same bin at Lowes, we ended up with 3 different kinds. Of course, we didn't discover that until we were in the middle of the project.), put up curtain rods, hung linen curtains in the living room and new office, purchased a rug for the office, purchased a new computer to replace the dinasaur we were using, purchased a new couch (that was supposed to be delivered tomorrow but that called and said that a chair was sent instead of the couch. I tell you a have Murphy's cloud hanging over my head so now I just am excited when something goes smoothly.

Lastly, I'm hoping my Harry Potter premiere on Thursday night goes well. I've been working hard to get 329 people in the IMAX theatre at Thanksgiving Point. I do these premieres for people we work with at Alpine Home Care and Hospice. Wish me luck! The way things are going in my life, I'm going to need it.

Life In the Fast Lane

Welcome back to my out of control life. I don't even know where to begin. I went on a great cruise to Alaska with my parents, brothers and sisters, and their spouses the 5th of June. It was so much fun to be together, then we were home one day before we headed to San Antonio for Coles baptism. Then it was back to work plus lots of fun at Lagoon Saturday for our company employee day. I'm working like a crazy person trying to sell all my tickets to our Harry Potter Movie Premiere. I'm sad that it is the last one. It is a great marketing tool.

During all of this we had Steph, Larry, and family living with us while they were remodeling their new house and we have been torn up putting in new hardwood floors in our old living room and dining room plus trying to paint those rooms and finish painting trim and doors in the part we were remodeling last year. It is been crazy and of course, not a smooth journey...You know...things like the wood that was ordered and sitting in the way for 3 weeks to acclaimate before install was actually 4 inch instead of 5 so you have to start the process all over again and then the new floor finish is shiny while the old was satin. Stuff like that.

The fumes were so powerful that Steph and Larry moved to their house in the middle of their remodel just to escape ours. The floor does look beautiful though. However, the rooms are still empty because my husband left for Canada to a professional conference so wasn't here to help me move things back. Life is out of control and stressful.

My lastest news is my shipper who was supposed to be delivering my furniture from Round Top has disappeared. I'm sure I will never see my deposit money again. At this point I would be happy to just recover my furniture. I'm afraid the police/sheriff will have to be involved. I still have my fingers crossed that I can recover my treasures. I have made lots of phone calls to people who ship and run the shows down there and am hoping to hear something positive by the end of the day.

So, I am trying to not be overwhelmed with life and it's stresses and count my many blessings...like a husband who is now safely home from Canada.

I will soon be off to Texas again for the birth of grandson #7. Woo Hoo! I'm counting my blessings. Can't wait to hopefully be there for the delivery and hold that sweet thing in my arms.

Thanks for letting me vent. I feel better now.

Spring Mantle Display

One of the requests from Candice was to work on a mantle display for Spring. We bought some moss, eggs, seed pods, and candles, but almost everything else Candice already had. She did buy the "trophy" cup at Marburger along with the decoration on the left side of the mantle. We also bought some little birds that we glittered with Martha Stewart glitter. I was trying to think of something cool to do in the glass apothecary jars. I was just going to hang the birds on fishing line inside the jar and then thought of adding a branch. We found a great one in the brush pile in the backyard. The birds were easy to paint with glue and cover with glitter. We used 3 different colors of glitter.
Candice's mantle ledge is very small. It's probably about 5 inches deep so the arrangement is a little more aligned/flat than I would like. At some point we will probably redo that whole crown but it will do for now. (I don't think you can tell by the picture but the rock sticks out farther than the mantle does so it just doesn't look right.)

I love to add varying heights to my arrangements in this case books helped to do that. The different mosses and seed pods add texture and interest. Beige potpourri with little blue stones in it are in the other jar.

You can read Candice's take on things here.
We have a great time together working on projects. I love spending time with my children working on things for their homes. Steph and Larry just bought a home so I'm sure we will be working on projects together soon. Although I will have to stretch myself to do retro style. (I've seen the outside of her house but have yet to get inside and start the possibilities rolling in my head.) In the meantime, I'm working on possibilities for my husband's home office. There is a lot to be done before the furniture arrives.

Candice had a great book club party at her house right after I left. I would have loved to have been there but we had fun planning it together and it looked magical. I wish she would have had the time to take more pictures. It's hard to be the decorator, hostess, cook, and photographer. Check it out. I think you will be inspired. (If only the weather would warm up a little here so I could do something like that here. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will be good Friday night for my adult flashlight easter egg hunt.)

The Most Recent Project At Candice's House

This is the kid's home work computer area (along with the kitchen table). Candice wanted to come up with something interesting to use and create interest above the desk. We bought this desk at Round Top 6 months ago. (We love that place in case you haven't noticed.)

We looked for wooden crates to create a grid but never found what we were looking for or if we did, it was too expensive. So, Candice found some locker baskets at Marburger that were flat enough to create a shelf. (Some locker baskets have very slanted sides. Candice has a collection of "S" letters and we found another great one at the Bar "W" field that we added to this wall.

I laid out the arrangement on the floor and took a picture with my phone to remember how everything was supposed to go. I'm a wing it kind of girl and didn't want to bother with putting it on newspaper tracing the outlines of each object and then putting the paper on the wall as a pattern. Mark and I hung everything after getting Candice's approval.

We filled the locker baskets with: 1) rolls of tickets with 3 printers blocks with each of the kids first initials. (There is even an "S" in there for the latest Stingham due in July.) The "5" stands for the # of people they will have in their family soon. 2) has a red polka dot tea pot being used as a pencil holder. 3) has a clock face, a gumball machine, and a carnival type mask. 4) has some Hardy Boy vintage books with Grant's pinewood derby car on top. Simple but fun and it will be easy to change the whole look by changing what is in the locker baskets.
The other project was to decorate the mantel for Spring. No easter rabbits were used so it could stay up longer. I'll post pictures soon.