The Monster Mash

What a crazy week this has been. Mike and I (mostly Mike) have been staying up until the wee hours in the morning every night working on getting the website ready for you to purchase items on it and we are running out of steam. Yesterday we didn't even leave the house all day- I was going crazy watching Mike work on the computer so the kids and I did a few art projects and had a lot of fun. First we started out painting portraits of each other which was a hoot! Here are mine, I know, I know- I am no artist-but my kids think I am and I kind of eat that up! Isn't it so weird that they couldn't be more different, Preston with his huge eyes, dark hair and dark skin and Bella with her blue eyes and blonde hair and pale skin- they definitely got the best of both of us with all of the attitude.
Then I decided to make these fun bags for the kids who were my "monsters" yesterday. Preston's I made as a messenger style and Bella's I made as a smaller purse. They are out of colored denim and the monster face is a really soft fluffy fabric. They have been playing with them all day. My intention was a library bag to carry their books to the library but Preston really wants to use his as a trick or treat bag at Halloween- which I thought was a really good idea.
Jamie will be back to blogging soon- her camera had a melt down so she has to get it fixed and then will show you some cute things she has been working on! See you soon, we hope!

Happy Birthday Mom

Today our Mom celebrates her birthday- We love you and hope you have a fabulous day of relaxing! (This is my favorite picture of Mom, celebrating proudly, on her 5th birthday-1955)

Smashing Indeed

Hope you are having a great weekend. We did have big plans to be outside today, but when I took a step outside, we decided to stay in and play. Preston and I had a blast watching ballroom dancing on PBS this morning, trying to imitate the dancers. It was a blast. We both got to laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. Bella was cheering us on, trying not to get stepped on by our wild turns that usually ended with Preston on the floor. Mike is doing some chores for me around the house and getting a kick out of watching us dance. I just took this picture of Bella cheering for us(like the shirt?)...I would show you the pics of me and Preston but to be honest we are still in our P.J.s and my hair is on top of my head in a bam-bam style up-do. We hopefully will get dressed sometime today, but probably not...Just a lazy day at the Updegraff house!

Room for a dog, kids and Aunt Jamie

I figured I would try my hand at this blogging thing, I can't let Wendy have all the fun!.. I am so excited I got my very first sewing machine last night - Wendy taught me how to sew in the store over the past few weeks and now I can think of a million projects that just need to be done. I decided to locate my new machine in my dog's room (yes, Radar has his own room - hey, I don't have kids yet, what do you expect????)
Anyways, I also set up a little desk area in the closet which I am already so inspired by. Radar also shares his room with Preston and Bella when they come over to visit - Preston gets the top bunk naturally... Radar just adores the dog portraits in his room, he got them at POPIN of course. The Twelve Timbers sign over Preston's bed is also a POPIN buy it states the obvious "a dog's best friend is his human" The walls have a racing stripe around them in honor of Radar's former career.... overall it is just a fun room and all four of us love it!

Unique style

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days, we have been really busy working to get the store on line. We are setting our goal date for August 1st. So if you are in the store and we are frantically measuring everything, that's why.
I moved into my house (my first real house- Mike and I have lived in apartments for the first 6 years because we moved every year for jobs and school) about 2 years ago. Until 2 weeks ago I had decorated every room in my house except my own bedroom. I guess I figured that no one ever sees that but me so I won't put any effort into it. But nothing gets you moving like having all of your family and friends over who you know are going to want to tour your house to get the decorating bug into gear. I am very lucky to have a husband who could care less about how I decorate- which is a good thing because I do not have a grown up style. Maybe it's because I am around kid's stuff all day or maybe it's because the bright colors inspire me to be creative- whatever it is, I decorate to make me feel good not to match the latest Pottery Barn catalog. Here is an item I love...My own eiffel tower. It is 6 feet tall and I get to wake up to it every morning (better than any view I had from my hotel rooms in Paris). It is supposed to be a garden ornament but it was a much cheaper option for a large piece of art. It is light weight and the kids love it to! I figure it was better than a mural because I can take it with me if we ever move again- or if Bella has a Paris birthday party it would be great as a decoration. Yes, I plan to put lights on it at Christmas time (kitch is my middle name). Jamie gave me a great big shelf she wasn't using anymore and I found these un-decorated letters from Joanns. I got some scrap fabric and decoupodged the BIG letters. The large pencil I did get from Pottery Barn- but it was all dented up because they used it as a display and I got it for $25- I thought it went well with my desk area! My other great piece is my chandelier- if any of you shop at Anthropologie, you might recognize it. I feel in love with it there but there was no way I could pay $1400 for it. One day I was working at POPIN and looked through some lighting catalogs we had in the back and saw the very same chandelier- for $450!!! I about fell out! So that is my huge splurge but it is such a joy to look at! I saved money every where else in my room because I made all of my own bedding (sewed vintage hankies to a white sheet, then to another sheet to make a duvet) Made my curtains out of old bed sheets that had a pretty ruffle on them. Found a chair on the side of the road that someone had thrown out- spray painted it light pink and recovered the cushion with some scrap House Inc. fabric. Here is my desk chair that I got at a scratch and dent place, gave it a coat of white spray paint, then wove bright pink ribbon through the back slats the sewed the ends. Both of these projects costed me about $15 (8 for the desk chair, 5 for the spray paint and 2 for the ribbon). My bedroom is pretty big so I have my "craft studio" in here too. Maybe one day it won't be such a disaster and I will show to pics of that too!

Happy Birthday America

I love 4th of July. I am a big fan of all things nostalgic,so to me, the 4th means family, food and fireworks. That's exactly what we had yesterday and it was great! The weather was really good, 100% humidity
and 95 degrees is always better than rain on the 4th. I hope everyone got to see the space shuttle launch, it was a pretty special moment to be able to share that with the kids on this holiday. We started watching it on TV and then we all raced outside to see if we could see it in the air. We caught a small glimpse before it went behind the only cloud in the sky. We hung our flag in the front yard and got ready for the big party. We had lots of friends and family over, a little over 20 people and ate and ate. Mike was the grill master and everyone brought a side dish. Bella and Preston loved the old fashioned drinks in a glass bottle
( and still have the orange mustaches to prove it). I made ice cream cones for everyone to have while we watched the fireworks but I think the biggest hit was Mom's fruit salsa. She cuts up fresh strawberries, kiwi, rasberries and apples and mixes it with brown sugar and strawberry preserves and serves it with cinimon sugar tortilla chips, yes I am drooling while writing. Jamie made spinish puffs and these fresh apple pie squares that I couldn't stop snacking on. Needless to say I had to get up this morning and walk 4 miles just to ease the guilt of last night. Our neighbors, Pam and Alan brought over some oohs and ahhs fireworks- this picture of one of them we did in the back yard ( and Alan still has the burnt thumb to prove it). I also have to give a big high 5 to my volleyball team- Dad, Beth and Preston- we would have won if the other team weren't 3 guys, two of them over 6'5. My knees are fine today, just green from the grass stains! Over all it was a great 4th at the Updegraff household. I'm sure we will do it again next year and hopefully for years to come. I hope everyone had a great holiday.

Adult Friendly kitchen

Thought I would look around my house to see what part POPIN has played in my decorating rooms other than my kids rooms...lo and behold, the most used room in my house was decorated by my kids through POPIN. Here is a picture of my breakfast/lunch/dinner (when my dining room table is too messy for me to clear off) area. Preston and Bella had to have these placemats, that's Bella's boosty yea and splat mat below. The light fixture is a Maura Daniels from POPIN and the arch way was painted by Judy Campbell, our muralist. Yes, I only have 2 kids and there are 4 placemats...Mike and I love them- makes for quick clean up and we talk about the pictures with the kids over meals. I needed some color in this area anyway, maybe Preston and Bella have the decorating gene Jamie has. The bench cushions were my very first sewing project ever (thanks Mom for teaching my to sew, I definitely have the sewing bug now). Of couse if you lift those benches that Mike made under the cushions you would find a mess of kitchen aid appliances, old "adult" placemats, and crockpots we got 9 years ago for Wedding presents that have yet to be crocked in...so we'll just keep those lids closed! Not sure if you can see in the picture but the apples are fake but still have teeth prints in every one- it took Bella every single apple to realize they were fakes.
Today we are cleaning and shopping for my 4th of July cook out- I'm sure I'll see some of you fighting over the last pack of hotdogs at Publix today- may the force be with you!