What to do??

It's summer time, or well, it's pretty darn close. Anything over 70 degrees counts as summer in my book. You know what that means? Cotton dresses, swimming pools, tan lines and - yep, you guessed it - MOVING! Ugh!

Moving is the one thing about this summer I'm not looking forward to. There's boxes and cleaning and lifting, oh my! It's all very overwhelming and kind of, sort of exciting all at the same time.

I've found a very cute condo not too far from where I live now. I love this neighborhood and I'm glad I'll get to still shop at the same grocery store and eat at the same restaurants. I know this part of town and it knows me. I like it that way. What I don't know yet is how I'm going to decorate this new home?!? I need paint and furniture and drapes, oh my!

Where do I begin?

dining room 

Ok, so this is what we see when you walk in the door. Small - yes, green - yes, bad light fixture - yes. But, this is where my round pedestal table and swanky new chairs are going to work their magic and make this look suitable enough for Martha and Oprah to come over for dinner.

living room

And here's where my new white slipcovered couch that I just bought is going to go. (FYI - it looks nothing like that white couch) It's really cute and looks like it came from Pottery Barn. Hopefully, when I get these walls a nice shade of crisp blue/grey and throw in a some fantastic lamps and a shabby chic coffee table it will be blog worthy. Stay tuned.

kitchen

And the kitchen... the heart of a home. Well lets just say I hope a "heart" doesn't haven't to be big to be good. I think the word that comes to mind is "cozy" - and that's fine by me. It's got all I need and enough counter space for my mixer!

deck

Again, let's remember... this isn't my furniture or my weight bench. I can assure you, all of that will be long gone once I set up shop. But, it does make me wonder what in the world I'm going to do out here. It's a great deck with a nice view. I haven't really got a plan yet, but I'm working on it. That outdoor kitchen, hydrangea bush and hammock may still have to wait until I build that dream house. 

And so, there you have it - the tour before the tour. Hopefully the next pictures I put up will be after some painting, delivery of the new furniture and the hanging of the drapes. Maybe I can find some friends to come and help... you know, the way they do the hanging of the greens at church? I think this would be a great group project! 

Matchmaker, matchmaker...

No, I'm not about to turn this blog into a dating site or diary of my love life. Well at least not that love life... but I will open it up to one of the love's of my life. CRAIGSLIST!

"Find me a find..." comes to mind whenever I log on and start searching. I'm not often looking for anything in particular... just looking. It's how I found Cody's dog crate, sold my washer and dryer and even found that round mirror I have big plans for but have not yet found the time to get started. 

But, finally I've got a purpose in my search and I can't wait to find it.

I want and need this table. It's from Coastal Living Magazine and it wants to leave those pretty little pages and come live with me. 

And, it would like for 4 of these chairs to come live with it. However, my pocketbook doesn't really agree. That table sells for $1,729 and those chairs... wait for it... $549 each. That's right - per chair, not for a set of 4. 

No, I haven't lost my mind. Even if I rolled like that I'm not sure I could "roll" like that. Particularly for a round wooden table and 4 wooden chairs. For that kind of money I'm going to need some gold or silver or it at least needs to come with dinner prepared every night. 

In comes Craigslist and why I love it so. I'm not scared to throw a little paint on something or break out the staple gun and reupholster a chair seat. So, here's what I'm on the prowl for. I have found a number of tables that might make it. Here's one and I sort of even like the color. 

Those chairs aren't even terrible, but not my favorite. My plan is to find the table I want first and even if it comes with chairs I don't like just throw them back on Craigslist and sale them for the cost of the paint its going to take to work on my little project.

And these chairs would do it. They're not the Coastal Living chairs but they still look pretty good to me. But, that table is not what I'm looking for. And so the search continues...

There's also no way that I'll be buying two dining room suits from Craigslist. Who needs 2 tables and 8 chairs in their house? Not to mention, I've still got my current dining room table and chairs. Maybe I should put those on Craigslist and get them sold first...

In keeping with the farming theme...

Spring has sprung and thank God for it! I was about to start believing the term "seasonal depression" really does exist. This past weekend my friend Kathryn and I had the most classic Raleigh, spring-time, weekend sort of day. It was Sunday so we started with church at Edenton Street United Methodist. We went to the early service and made it out before the "church crowd" so we ventured off to find brunch.

3 words for you - Farmer's Market Restaurant. 

Oh my goodness... I can't really put into words how good this country cooking is. Think your grandma's food meets the Cracker Barrel's decor. We ended up ordering lunch instead of breakfast only because the kitchen was so backed up the waitress hinted that lunch was coming out faster. She was right... plus you get banana pudding with your baked chicken. I don't think that would have come with bacon and eggs. We did our best to pull ourselves away from the table so we could head out on our tour of the farmer's market. 

We found the market imports building. I hadn't been there in a long time and certainly not since I've been old enough to appreciate really large planters and outdoor decorations like trellises. I found so many things I was ready to buy... unfortunately I don't have a few acres to display them all.

Afterwards we found the rows and rows of vegetables and plants. There were so many gorgeous colors and smells. We stared at the hydrangea and azaleas and found the perfect apple mint for our summertime mojitos. 

Unfortunately, I was so mesmerized I must have thrown my blackberry back in my bag and missed all of the great photo ops. Kathryn said we had to stop and get a homemade lemonade before we left. She was right... this is one of my new most favorite reasons for going to the Farmer's Market. 

And then we were off to our next stop - The NC State Fair Grounds/Flea Market... There were even more flowers and food. Along with dishes, furniture, jewelry, socks and a lot of unknown items that I never knew I needed. I was a little disappointed to find that my favorite furniture dealer was no longer there. However, what we did find was a DEAL on flowers. We found these huge azaleas on sale for just $10! Again, if I had the backyard I wish I had my car would have been full and I may have gone back for more. These plants are gorgeous! 

All in all, Sunday was a good day... some good food, good window shopping and good friends. I'm so happy springtime is here and I can't for more weekends just like this. 

You Been Farming Long?

I love this picture. My grandmother has had a copy of this hanging in her kitchen since before I was born. Those little boys are probably all grown up and are doctors or lawyers or mechanics... probably not farmers.

I grew up on a farm and am thankful for those who do that day in and day out. My father isn't a farmer but he does a very good job faking it. He has a garden...which isn't just your typical 3-4 rows of cucumbers and tomatoes. I think he's up to 30+ rows and does most of the work from his tractor, or so I thought. I was back at home for the Easter holiday and ended up getting put to work. I'm not a farmer. But I won't ever complain about paying $2 for a tomato. Planting those are hard work!

Each one has to be planted by hand after you've stretched the black ground cover. Multiply that by 52... You're talking back pain and a farmer's tan in no time!

You can't see them but there's vegetables in those rows. We planted potatoes, beets, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, zucchini, onions, and so much more. But, we're not done. In a few weeks it will be time for peas and corn. The work never ends. 

After I came home I decided to be crafty and make my dad a little gift for his farm garden. These are going on stakes and will mark all of our hard work... I never grew up wanting to be a farmer but it can be fun to pretend every once in a while.