My Life These Days

I could write about all the things we've been up to lately (music festivals, football games, fall weather), but this picture pretty much sums it up for the past week.

First I came down with a respiratory infection/sinus infection/God knows what else. Then the kiddo came down with an ear infection/cough. And now Drew is fighting some combo of the two (four?). And none of us havr completely gotten over any of the germs that have infested our lives. 

Until we have a clean bill of health, I'll be holed up with Lysol and Kleenex. Stay healthy, y'all!

Work post, please ignore

La fin. Je n'habite pas a Lexington. Je suis très désolée.

Late tomorrow morning, I will be signing the final paper work on my beloved house in Lexington.  My house where I celebrated many engagements, babies, birthdays, and home comings.  It's so bittersweet. I thought I'd spend the rest of my days as a Lexingtonian.  I never wanted to move "home" to a city I never really considered my home.

Moving to Louisville was something I never would have chosen.  I begged my mother at the age of 16 to find a job in Lexington so I could finally live in the same city where my high school and friends were.  When that didn't work, I begged her to let me stay in Frankfort (a town I wanted to leave since the age of 7, because it didn't have a mall) and live with my dad.  But alas, come August of 1997, I was a Louisville resident.

I never thought that in moving to Louisville (and spending all my weekends in Lexington), I would meet a couple of girls that would turn out to be some of my best friends.  Certainly not replacing my Lexington friends, but adding to my group of what has become some of the closest people in my life.  As mad as my 16 year old self was at my mother, I'm so glad that she forced me into a city that I swore I never would go back to.

Never say never, I guess.  In the past few years, as life really started moving forward, I've noticed a big part of me has been missing.  My family, more specifically Will.  I simply cannot be away from my little brother any longer and be able to provide the kind of support he will need later in life.  I need to be in his daily life, and I need him in mine.

Location is not what determines where your home is, it's the people in your close proximity that make it so.  My place is with them, and it looks like majority rules with Louisville.

I hate leaving my girls in Lexington.  I honestly don't know how I'm going to get by not being able to walk around the corner to Courtney's.  I don't know how I'm going to deal without patio drinks with Kate on a weekly basis.  Or any of the other things that are so impromptu and unplanned with my friends that I cherish so much.  Adjustments will be made.  Drives down I-64 will be frequent.  Phone calls will be longer.

I know now is the time to make the move, with Will transitioning into his adulthood, work bringing me to Louisville more frequently, and me not having started a family.  It needed to happen now, I just never expected it to happen so quick.

So without further ado, farewell, my dear Lexington, my wonderful house and neighborhood.   And farewell, Charming in Chevy Chase.  Hello, St. Matthews and may I formally introduce St. Matthew's Style (still under construction)!  Keep your guest rooms clean, I'll be back soon!

Moving on...

So, most of you know.  I put my house in Lexington on the market a few weeks ago.  I expected it to move quick, but had no idea that it would sell in 38 hours!  Since then, I've been in panic mode trying to pack and get ready to head back home to LOUISVILLE!!!  Who knew that after 15 years in Lexington, I would finally move home to Louisville.  I swore I'd never leave Lexington and would never be back in Louisville  but as most things I've said in the past turn out to be false, so was that.  I cannot begin to even explain how hard it is to leave Lexington.  It's where I bought my first house, where I bought my dream house, where I made and kept some of the best friends of my life, and where I spent the more formative years of my life.  I don't know what I'm going to do without easy access to the Mousetrap's Pimento Cheese, Great Bagel, and most importantly some of my best friends in the entire world.  I hate to leave all these things that have become staples in my daily life, but I can't escape the fact that I miss my family.  I need my family.  My family needs me.  And this guy...I miss this guy terribly.

Also, I've accepted the position of Chair of the Concrete Ball committee for 2014.  Even being co-chair this year has me in Louisville for at least a day or two a week.  I can't imagine trying to do the whole thing from Lexington, it would be too much driving.  Oh, what's the Concrete Ball, you ask?  Well, here, let me send you the link!  It's an absolute blast, you should totally come!

So, without further ado, some pics of my new abode in St. Matthews.  Super cute, just needs a little bit of paint and my own touch!

Front of house, obvs!  Look mom, no landscaping for you!

Dining room, with super cute painted stripes! I think I'm going to keep these.

Family room in back of house.  Paneling will be painted with light beige.  What is with me buying houses with painted wood paneling???

Formal living room.  Might paint this room a warmer color.  We'll see.  I also need furniture for this room.  Oh, the possibilities!

Till next time, take care!

The Return of Mad Men!

So, a few weeks ago was the premiere of the sixth (is that right?) of Mad Men.  I fell in love with the show just a short year ago, and have been trying to throw a theme party since then.  The premiere seemed like the perfect time to finally put it into fruition.  I tried to keep it low key since it was on a Sunday and there was only a handful of people coming.  Here's what I came up with.

Table set up.  Who took this picture with the terrible lighting???  Certainly wasn't me...

Green glassware I found at a Peddler's Mall!  Those places have some hardcore retro stuff for cheap!  Printables in frames brought to you by the AMC website on how to plan a Mad Men party.  The crockpot contains Swedish meatballs.  Gross, if you ask me, but last time I made them, people raved about them.

Milk glass candle sticks and platters courtesy of the Peddler's Mall.  Silver trays are heirlooms.  The tomatoes are stuffed with tuna salad, the back tray has pigs in a blanket, middle tray pimento cheese and Ritz crackers, front silver tray is a relish tray.  It was kind of perfect, since I actually have a relish tray circa 1950 or so.

Bourbon and vodka, decanted in my heirloom crystal.  Ice bucket and wine chiller are my usual party fare, made by MacKenzie-Childs.

Vintage ashtray, actually belongs to my roommate.  Silver drink coasters are actually from the 80's, but I thought they fit.  Vintage lighter was a find from an antique store in Midway.  I couldn't get it to work, unfortunately.  Pall Malls from the Fayette Cigar store.  Cost way too much for crappy cigarettes that I gave to my roommate, but it just fits all too well.  FYI, that's my sweet little grandma at my college graduation, she was awesome!

More vintage smoking accessories.  We actually got this lighter to work, I was so excited!  Especially since the whole set cost me about $8 from the Peddler's Mall.

My awesome glassware set that I found at Room Service, a second hand store that carries a decent amount of antiques.  I use these all the time and absolutely love them!

Printable masks from AMC's website.

Pony tail, a la Sally Draper.  

We had a bunch of fun eating, drinking Old Fashioned's and champagne, and catching up.  The season premiere was a little strange, but the episodes since have explained it.  I can't wait to catch up on the last week's episode!  

That's all for now, folks!  More to com soon!

Spring, Easter, and Sunshine!

Y'all, I'm not even gonna lie.  I have been so busy that I have not had time to work on this post for about two weeks.  My deepest apologies...  I'll be brief, but here's a recap of my Easter decor.  It didn't stay up for long.  I'll explain that more in detail in days to come.

Decorative eggs and runner from Home Goods.  Salt and pepper shakers, dollar bin at Target.  

Place mats are Pomegranate, that I got on sale years ago and have used over and over.  Great investment!  Napkin is actually a dish towel from Homegoods.  I heart that place!

Banner was a free printable from TomKat Studios.  Pink candles and fake hydrangeas from Garden Ridge.

Not too bad looking for fake flowers!  My landscape architect mother would be horrified that I had silk plants everywhere.  But lucky she can barely check her email, so she'll never see this.

Enjoying the sun, some mimosas, and friends.

Happy puppy is happy.

Well, honestly, that's all I have time for today!  I've got much more to share soon, I just have to find time to write it all down!  Big things are coming!

Much love!

Bedroom Redecoration

Among the billion other projects I've been undertaking at my house this winter, my bedroom was one that I've wanted to tackle for awhile.  It's taken me a solid six months to even decide what I wanted to do.  All I knew is that I wanted a change, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money.  Well, lo and behold, Macy's heard my prayer.  I was a mere day or two away from breaking down and ordering a ridiculously overpriced bedding ensemble from Jonathon Adler (seen here) when I was randomly wandering around Macy's home section.  I was waiting for Courts to pick out a wedding gift when I decided I might as well give the bedding department a try.  I have NEVER found anything I liked at Macy's bedding department, so I wasn't really expecting much.  Tucked away on a shelf was the bedding set pictured below.  I was absolutely ecstatic when I saw the pattern, colors, and that it was an entire set in a bag.  I, however, was not happy that the only one they had was a twin size.  I asked at the register if there were anymore in the back or if they could find one at a different Macy's and was in luck!  Not only did they find one in a king size, but the entire set of bedding plus the set of throw pillows were 80% off!!!  I won't go into details about how long this whole process took (due to a completely deaf clerk at a different Macy's), but it was worth the hour I spent in Macy's. 

The set came with a duvet, bed skirt, Euro shams, and king size shams.  The pillows came as a set and included the orange neck roll, orange throw pillow, and rectangular navy scalloped pillow.  I added the two yellow pillows and throw to tie in the wall color.

The sheets I got from Garnett Hill.  I had originally ordered a set of monogrammed sheets from Pottery Barn (seen here), but did not turn out correct.  Needless to say, the sheet thread and the monogram thread listed as Honeycomb are NOT the same color.  However, Pottery Barn was very nice about refunding the sheets, despite the monogram.  Which they should have been, since their colors don't match.

These are some of the only decorative accents in my bedroom since most of my surface space is covered by a gigantic TV on my long dresser.  I think that I got almost all of this stuff at Target, if not all of it.  Please ignore the awful pine furniture.  I have wanted to replace my bedroom furniture since what seems like the beginning of time, but that stuff is not cheap, people!  I finally broke down and bought a new bed sometime last year, but other than that, this is the same furniture I've had since college.  Before that it belonged to my little brother.  Yeah, that stuff is O-L-D, OLD!  Anyway, for the most part my bedroom is as finished as it's going to be for awhile.

The office, oh, the office.  My special little project that could.  I started redecorating the office last summer.  It started with painting a bookshelf and picking out a paint color for the walls.  Then it just stopped.  Flat out stopped until Christmas when I found the perfect rug on sale at the Pottery Barn outlet.  Slowly but surely, I'm making headway on that project.  All that's left is painting, putting furniture together (yay, Ikea!), and a few accessories.  More on that in the (hopefully) near future.

As for the rest of life in general, things are good.  Hopefully, within a few weeks, I will be back to a calmer schedule.  Cheers until next time!