Random musings continued and better than ever!!!!!

               

   ****I want to quickly say thank you and I am sorry*****

Thank you SO MUCH for your INCREDIBLE support and FRIENDSHIP (that's right friendship) that I was shown literally by the hundreds of emails and comments I received yesterday and today. I was BLOWN AWAY by the reaction of so many loyal followers and readers, to say I was touched to my core is an understatement. (and I bet she didn't know what hit her)!! I was indeed very rattled, shaken and incredibly hurt to have received such a harsh comment but I have brushed myself off, realized its their problem not mine and will continue doing what I am doing EXACTLY the same way, only better!!!!! ( canned lights and all)

And I am sorry for "wasting" an entire post on my rant. Wasting because that person is not worth my time and energy or yours, my respected and treasured readers and followers!  I realize it might not have sat right with some of you and I sincerely apologize if you did not agree with that decision. But part of my blog is it being  a truthful representation of who I am and frankly I just had to do it. It was important for me to address it in order to fully move on.  Now that I have, it is time to carry on and time to have some fun!!!!!!!!!!! Back the the post I had posted yesterday.......

Happy Saturday morning to you.... its another random post, a little bit of this and a little bit of that and a few questions answered. This week has been hectic but VERY productive. Though I am extremely disappointed I will not be moving before Thanksgiving, my parents are coming up and just knowing we are really close to moving and starting to slowly box things up here around here makes it exciting and palpable. Its in the air and right now, that is good enough for me. Of course I would prefer moving but the end is really in sight. We are tying up a lot of loose ends, the devil REALLY is in the details!  Oh and GREAT news, got the marble for the island! Yippee, they come Tues. to template the island and with luck I will have the island completed within a week or two and then at last the kitchen will finally be done, except for the lanterns, small potatoes! So here we go with the randomness.......
First a few questions.....
1. What color are the cabinets in the laundry room? They are painted Benjamin Moore OC-14 and this color was enhanced with a taupe colored enhancer, we matched it up to Starks Slate II and did a very subtle taupe glaze over it.
2. What marble is in the kitchen? Calcutta gold select honed 
3. What are the carpets names and manufacturers? The light tan with the blue dots is Helios, pattern Rosemoor in color Dega Hemp  the woven med. and light carpet I do not have the sample for anymore so have to get back to you on that....the light tan plaid carpet is Helios, pattern Highland Cloth and color Thistle  and finally the trellis beige and ivory in the guest is Glen Eden's Simple Irresistible. They are all wool carpets.
4. Several commented about the outlets being placed in the baseboards which creates a cleaner look and makes the walls clutter free. Someone asked if this is to code or purely done for aesthetic reasons? It is total aesthetics, as so many of your keen eyes observed, it does in fact create a very clean feeling to the room and an uninterrupted expanse of wall. Our builder does this often, and its in fact a great idea!
5. When are we moving in? Well.....this question has had many answers over the last year, and the most recent would have been before Thanksgiving but now I can almost safely say before Christmas. Not sure when and dont' want to say because I am tired of saying it only to eat my words once again but God willing sometime within the next 2-3 weeks, fingers crossed!
6. Did we use the same paint color in all the bedrooms? We did, we tweaked Linen White, used it as a base but took a little of the yellow out, and for my sons room (the one with the light tan carpet with blue dots) used a light camel color, a few asked for that color and I promise I will have it for next weeks post.

OK, these are kind of over the top and some might even say unnecessary (but fun and so appropriate for a Chanel fan) and you have to admit they are really cute and there is some serious artistry behind these Chanel confections......amazing baked goods always blow me away, mostly because it is so out of my realm of what I am capable of doing!

Family room is well underway and this is really exciting news for me, spent a good part of the day on Thursday, finalizing fabrics and getting furniture ordered, got two large sofas in the navy striaed velvet, with assorted pillows, two English armed club chairs in a "Ralph-y" herringbone tweed, two in a camel striae velvet with nail heads, one large square leather tufted ottoman, and a large slightly distressed French over sized cocktail table. Obviously we will still need much more with plenty of fill ins, but this is a great starting point and once this all arrives, we will be able to gauge how much more is needed and fill in from there. Below are a reminder of the fabrics and rug to give you an idea of the look we are going for and as luck would have it, my beloved dog pillows that I have owned for years, work beautifully with my palette!

This is the tufted leather ottoman, but we went with a more chestnut colored brown leather

My dog pillows! The colors are wacky here, some kind of setting on my phone!

I have always wanted to have a "slumber party" for a few of my closest friends, have them come over in their pj's, we would whip up a great dinner together, and of course something decadent for dessert, watch a really great girly chic flick (with plenty of buttery popcorn, milk duds, hot tamales and Swedish fish) and make it a great girls nights, just like when we were kids minus the gossip, well maybe a little could be fun!! How fun would that be??? I really want to do that perhaps for my next birthday! I am one of those people who doesn't have to be waited on hand and foot on my birthday, to me a gift is being able to give, and cook for my friends, just being in their company, laughing and having fun is gift enough for me. Then the next morning I would whip up an old fashioned country breakfast, no holds barred and hand out these little "favors" as a little reminder of our fun party.....cute, huh?

Speaking of food and friends,  a friend just came back from a short trip to Chicago, said she hadn't been there in years but that it was amazing, and was telling me how "food halls" are all the rage not only in Chicago but apparently are a future trend nationwide (I am very out of the loop on whats hip and big, contrary to her who knows everything on whats new and in) so she was telling me about the new Foodease market in the Water Tower Place which she was really impressed with and she just had to bring me back a little souvenir, feast your eyes on this, pistachio almond brickle with sea said....have you ever! How amazing does it look  you ask.... it is EVEN better tasting, not a morsel left! This my dear friends, is one of those things where  just one decadent bite warrants a trip to Lake Michigan....any takers on a bloggers conference at Foodease? :)

Moving right along onto non food related items! I am finalizing the lighting for hubby's bathroom Monday morning, all of these are in stock ( a first for me). The double sconces for above his tub, the lantern for when you walk into his bathroom, and the single sconces for his vanity.  So, you will see two sets, sets A. and B. I am leaning towards one of them, curious to what you like....and then ditto for the lanterns. These are all in polished nickel. All from Visual Comfort. Thoughts and you choices?

SET A.

SET B.

                                                                  LANTERN 1

                                                                 

                                                               LANTERN 2

Then I decided to go for something a little more girly and feminine for the hardware for my bathroom....why not, its the one space in the whole house that is entirely my own, so why not live it up and go all out feminine? So I ordered these pretty knobs...hopefully they are as pretty in person as they are in the picture. Also got this hardware from Anthropologie which I love but its much bigger in person than I realized so it doesn't work for my bathroom but am determined to use it somewhere, perhaps my closet? What do you think about these?

Moving right along...so you know the onyx floor you liked a lot yesterday? The reason that bathroom is not done is that they messed up on the border, it wasn't entirely their fault it was also the fact that I was having a hard time "realizing my vision" for lack of a better word but at last its in the works well kind of.  Don't ask it was a debacle. We are fixing it. This is the wallpaper we are using in that room, it will be great looking when its all said and done and here is the vanity chest we are making into a vanity cabinet, just so you get "the vibe" of what we are doing in there, its a very small bathroom but very cozy and elegant.

I know, I know we are back to food..sorry, this one I just wouldn't resist and where else but one of my random posts to throw this in!  I think I may need to start a new blog solely devoted to food....but had to show this one adorable picture. How cute his this! A cupcake burger. Genius. And easy!! Take a cupcake, slice it in two...fill it with icing and "the fixings" and top with other half or "the bun"....how great is this! Now this is my kind of BBQ!

The great thing, well one of the great things about blogging is the connections and friendships you make along the way. Frankly almost 10 months ago when I started, I didn't realize this was part of the deal and what a wonderful perk it is. Case in point.....I had a picture of a wonderful fig tart but couldnt' remember where I found it but loved it. Posted it on Thurs. post. Many of you commented. Kathysue from Good life of design wrote me that I may have seen it on a post she did and sure enough she was right and on top of that was kind enough to dig up the link to where she found the original recipe....I am so excited! I mean its ambitious for someone like me, a non baker but I am going to be attempting this for Christmas, and I pledge to you, pass or fail I will blog about it. I am thinking I may go for the mini's...so pretty!  Here is the link, and how gorgeous are these pictures...drool!  THANK YOU KATHYSUE!

Well, that's about it for my randomness today. I have lots of errands to get busy doing....its been so cold here lately. Today with an afternoon all to myself, at last, I need to start thinking about Thanksgiving. Its not going to be very glamorous, many things are packed, this house is somewhat out of order and physically I am here but mentally I am in my new house, but we will make the most of it and be thankful to be together as a family. 

I pledge to do something for someone needy every holiday, sometimes its a fairly big thing (relatively speaking) sometimes its a small gesture. I think a lot of us, at times myself included, think "whats my one contribution going to do", but the truth is if we ALL contribute something it all adds up, there are so many amazing organizations to support, which you choose is highly personal but I hope you too might consider helping out a needy person or family during the holidays, a time when so many families suffer and are not able to provide the simple basic needs that many of us often take for granted. I like sitting down to my dinner table at Thanksgiving knowing I helped to make a needy families' Thanksgiving perhaps a little more joyous. What might be a small gesture to me or you could be a life changing day for another family. If we can all sit down knowing we each helped one family, that is a pretty powerful and beautiful thing.  Thank you, wishing you a wonderful day.