Desiree's Daydreams: January 2015

Hey it's still January, I can say it! You guys! My babies are asleep!

Wait no, forget I said anything. I don't want to jinx myself. But woohoo I get to write!

Let's talk Christmas! How was yours? Ours was awesome and wonderful; it was just us in the house and it was peaceful and fun and just what we needed.

Andrea's two front teeth poked through two days before Christmas.

How's that for timing?

Sofia was much more aware of Christmas this year and it was so much fun

to watch her open presents and be so enthusiastic.

"Oh wow this is AWESOME!"

"This is so COOL!"

She got ALL the dress-up dresses this year and she wears them

all multiple times a day.

She loves her big and poufy Rapunzel dress the most, but they

all see heavy rotation.

Of course, Andrea was more interested in the paper and boxes

than the actual presents but it's all good.

After Christmas, we headed out of town because they had to do some work on the house and we didn't want to have to dodge workers with two small kids in the house. Yeah, they had to do work on our brand new house. Let me tell you something, this new house thing is is a trip. HGTV lied to me; I thought when you go into a brand new house it's all "Wow! It's so beautiful and perfect! Everything is in its place and in perfect working order, let's sit in our brand new kitchen and marvel at our good fortune!" In real life? Doors don't close all the way, walls have to be ripped out because they were done wrong the first time, it takes four tries to get the shower built right, lights take forever to get installed, cracks appear overnight, and it's an endless stream of workers fixing something.

So instead of dealing with all that, we drove a few hours south to Kiawah Island, South Carolina and we had ourselves a birthday/New Year cele-cation. You know, celebration and vacation? It's a new word, I just made it up, go with it.

It was chilly, but we bundled up and had a little beach time.

Sofia got a fishing pole and was eager to see if she could catch anything.

She didn't have any luck that day, but we have plans to get back out there

and catch us some fish.

New Year's Eve was Drew's birthday and we had Carolina barbeque for

his birthday lunch. Sofia loved the burnt ends, which is major because

these days she is the pickiest eater on the planet and it drives me

absolutely insane.

Andrea on the other hand, eats like a grownup and that day she did WORK

on a catfish po' boy. My sweet baby can EAT and she claps her hands

every time I strap her into her highchair.

"It's yogurt time y'all!"

We stayed at the Andell Inn and ERMAHGERD. That hotel is the most beautiful hotel I've ever stayed in and I wanted to take a picture of every single thing and bring it all into my home. Oh wait, I *did* take pictures of every single thing so I can bring it all into my home.

I need this rope bench swing thing on my front porch

and that light may look a little garish in the daylight but it was

AWESOME at night. I really just wanted to sit on the rope bench swing and just

stare at the light like a human moth.

At $5200 a pop, I won't *quite* be able to have those chandeliers but

good LORD they were gorgeous.

This dumpy, squishy, soft and divine leather sofa was absolute perfection

and the small people in my home would destroy it in 2.5 seconds.

I want a console table for our entry and Drew is going to build one for me.

He doesn't know that yet.

This giant mirror is VELVET. And TUFTED.

And I DIED when I saw it.

Then I came back from the dead and went into the women's restroom

where I DIED again when I saw these mirrors.

I NEED these mirrors in my bathroom.

Oh sure, go ahead and tie some branches together and make a completely

bad-ass egg chair.

Then, why don't you put it right next to some completely kick-ass

modern wingback chairs and because I haven't had enough heart attacks,

stick a Sputnik floor lamp right in between them.

Oh, sorry for tripping you, that was just my tongue on the floor.

I'm gonna need this giant head-scratcher chandelier in my entry

please and thank you.

I've actually seen these mirrors on Pinterest as a DIY somewhere.

Sometime. Maybe I'll do it myself and I'll become a Pinterest sensation.

Is that a thing?

I don't even know. I'm high off reliving these design moments.

I'm not playing you guys, I live and breathe design and this hotel was

a freakin' dream come true.

Plus also, can someone please cut down a GIANT DAMN TREE and

make it into a table for me?

After our wonderful and relaxing cele-cation, we came home to our

beautiful perfect house. HA! They are STILL doing work!

I'm pretty sure these houses have guest bedrooms not for guests

but for the workers who never ever leave because the

work is never ever done.

If I ever get to blog again, I'm going to tell you about our shower.

The shit is EPIC.

That picture is of the carpet runner that I would like to eventually have installed on our stairs. The dog is killing the wood with her nails and I live in fear of the kids slipping on the stairs and falling to their deaths so a runner is in order. Except! Runners are STOOPID expensive and frankly, we ain't got it. So until the bank account gets a leeeetle fatter, we have to wait on a stair runner, but I still had them come out and measure and give me a price, just so I have a number in my head when I'm vomiting over the expense.

PS, the one I chose is the bottom left, not the beige one.

I wanted something fun but muted and this one sang to me, and

with a new sofa and new rug, the runner will be perfect.

Of course, that's not going to be for a while because

we have other stuff we have to pay for first,

but I have a vision and it's awesome.

For the time being, I'm limited in my house decorating because we took a massive hit when we sold the house in Reading. If we had had a crystal ball and we'd known we were only going to be in Pennsylvania for two years, we wouldn't have done anything to the house, because redoing the kitchen, laundry room and front yard cost a pretty penny and we didn't recoup those expenses. So, we have to let the savings account rest from the beating it took before we start again with the decorating and the spending.

That doesn't mean I can't do *any* decorating; I've actually gotten some things accomplished since I last wrote and it's enough to keep my creative needs satisfied. If the kids stay on this current sleeping streak, I may actually get to write about it!

Currently, my creative outlet is being channeled towards Andrea's first birthday. YES Y'ALL. My baby is going to be A YEAR OLD in less than two weeks. I don't even know how that happened and I'm in shock. I know everybody says it, but I truly feel like I had her yesterday and I still vividly remember her newborn diapers.