What Ana Does

We've owned our Crate and Barrel kitchen table since the year Leah was born ... that's 13 years. It's a white pedestal table and we've moved it from New Jersey to Illinois and Illinois to France and back. We've had infants learn to eat at this table, big family dinners, I've created all kinds of crafts, colored a million pictures. And scrubbed it a million times. I even successfully removed hot pink nail polish from it. It's been all things to us and it will always have a special place in our hearts. But ... the time has come to replace it. It's stained and chipped and doesn't ever look clean anymore. It wobbles when the leaf is in. Wayfair Valerie table has long been a favorite. It's got this rustic, slightly modern with a little traditional in the legs. And the driftwood color is a gorgeous neutral. But I really like this Pier 1 table, as well . I like the idea of legs under the table, so it's easier to push in chairs and no

Here are a few of my favorite things this December! Bruce and His Bullymake Toy Bullymake - Bruce the puppy has been eating EVERYTHING in the house. We can't leave him for even a few minutes. He digs through garbage and jumps onto his hind legs and noses around on tables and the counters. He'll eat paper, cardboard, plastic bags, dish towels, it's NONSTOP. I went into the pet store to find more toys that will withstand his chewing, and keep him interested. The store guy suggested antlers (done) and this service called Bullymake . It's a subscription service that sends a box of indestructible toys and treats once a month. We even found a coupon code that gave us one month for free and a deal for the next three boxes. But they're generally the same price as a deer antler, so it seems worth it. SleepNumber Beds - After 10+ years we finally decided to ditch our old mattress. The mattress was bought on discount at an outlet and strapped to the top of our Subu

The fireplace area has always been a struggle for me in decorating this house. It's in our two-story family room and flanked by two sets of windows. First, some history: you might remember when I resurfaced the fireplace to cover the ugly bathroom tile they originally used. It wasn't a bad DIY, if you're looking for a project. And we thought about moving the TV over the fireplace , and I had it wired with an electrical outlet. But there's a snafu with the cable, so we'll be leaving it where it is, for now. ( Here's that post. ) I'm most stuck with how to deal with the space above the mantel. I've been in neighbor's homes and peeked at what they did and I've not found a solution that I liked. I've seen wood paneling and decorative molding that continues up the column of the fireplace. I've even seen some faux brick ideas. Nothing has caught my attention. So I've been putting art, or a large mirror but they look so unsubstantial

I've been waking up early for work and to get the puppy out before his bladder explodes. And you can't beat the view some mornings of a new sky and frost that won't last too much longer. Please excuse the dog urinating in the middle there. ;)

Now that I'm back to work after three years of being off, I'm able to finally SHOP unfettered and unimpeded. Sorry, but there's nothing worse than asking my husband for money to buy a new sweater. (Though, I appreciate how much pressure a single-income put on him.) So my requests for personal purchases were as few as I could manage. Now that I have a paycheck again, my first FOR ME purchase was ... pajamas! JCrew was having a HUGE deal on their PJ sets and I jumped in. I love a classic matching PJ set. The state of my current PJs are a little sad. Most of my flannel printed pants are long past retirement. And the t-shirts are usually those I won't wear in public anymore. It doesn't make for a very flattering look. So my donation pile will be growing again. So there ... that's what I bought with my first paycheck back at work!

A week in and I'm feeling pretty lucky I got this job doing what I want to do, and so close to home.  First Desk Selfie = DESKIE! 

It's kinda amazing what $150 can do to a space. For the time and effort, I'm happy with the results. So I painted the walls using leftover paint from the master bedroom ceiling angle. Then I used peel-and-stick wallpaper on the wall with the vanity. Last, I used vinyl floor tiles for the flooring. All knowing that in a few years, this bathroom will be gutted and updated -- once we don't have young teens. They are slobs! To finish it up, I just need to pick up a few bathroom rugs for the space this weekend. Here's the BEFORE picture again: And more of our After pictures ... The floor tiles were NOT PERFECT. If you look close, you can see where the patterns don't come together. I struggled with this at first, you can rotate the tiles to try to get a better match. But it was futile. And from afar, it looks awesome. So, I'm pretty happy. It didn't need to to be perfect. Here you get a view of the new light fixture that I didn't budget fo

This week is a big one. My first week of a new job. After three years of being home, experiencing all that it is to be a "housewife" -- not to mention moving my family to France and back. (No big deal.) And I'm finally back to work. My Office -- Hello! This also marks a pretty big success for me. When I left my job three years ago, I wanted to change my career path just a bit ... I had moved far away from being creative at all, and that was not making me happy. And I didn't think a career change was going to be possible or easy. And no one likes job hunting but it's especially hard if your resume says 12 years of one thing, but you want to be doing something else.  So, high-five ME! Along the way, I learned a lot about being home. It's not easy and not always fun. In fact, it's incredibly lonely. I identify as an introvert and I like my alone time -- but even I need to be around people sometimes. I was lonely ... a lot. And then there's the c

This bathroom makeover was only supposed to be $150. But, I had a small accident and now it's just a bit more. In Progress: Watch Out For Falling Lights! Peel and stick wallpaper isn't sunshine and roses to hang. It's sticky and doesn't like to be straight. I've done it twice before and I knew what I was getting myself into. So, this time I bought the smoother tool and an exact-o knife, so I was well prepared. Luckily, this pattern I chose DOES NOT NEED TO LINEUP PERFECTLY. It's glorious. You can't see the seams anywhere. It made life easier. What didn't make life easy, was the vanity light .. I was standing on the vanity, uninstalling the light and trying to figure out how I was going to run the wallpaper behind the light fixture when it CRASHED and SHATTERED to the top of the vanity ... were my bare feet were. GAH! I feel so lucky I didn't end up in the emergency room with glass coming out of my feet. Yikes. But, unluckily, it added

Now that the laundry room  and master bathroom have been made over and are looking lovely, they are no longer the ugliest rooms in the house. That honor now goes to ... the kid's bathroom! Take a bow! It's certainly on my "gut job" list, but, given the preteen slobs that currently use it, I don't think it's a wise investment. Maybe when Alice get to high school? But, I DO think I can throw $150 dollars in there in the meantime and upgrade the look at bit. We have family visiting at the end of December and using this bathroom, so I'd like it to look less like a catastrophe. Here's the current room -- I didn't even tidy it up. This is what it looks like in all it's glory. I think this filter is doing it A LOT of favors. It's pretty grubby. My issues are many (!) but, as I learned from the laundry room project , a new floor goes a very very long way. So that's what I'll start with. Given my tiny budget and DIY skills, I

Yes, there certainly was a lot of UP AND DOWN on the ladder to get this angled ceiling in the master bedroom painted, but it didn't take too long (a few interesting podcasts) and I'm very happy with the results. Much happier than the willow color I had picked out before. The transition into the ceiling is a little cleaner and airier. And it picked up the cream color of the curtains, but different enough than the white trim. Here's another Before pictures of that curly willow color. You can s ee more master bedroom BEFOREs and a full run-down of this minor project here . PS. The new color is "Pearly Cotton" from Magnolia Home. It's also worth noting that the whole idea of this Master Bedroom "touch up" was to calm the whole room down, and make it more tranquil. I pulled down art and family pictures to let that awesome blue wall just breath a little. The TV wall used to be jammed with three pieces of dark-wood furniture. It was a lot

I was tip-toeing through some old blog posts and discovered these early photos of our living room ... Living Room: Before Our house in New Jersey was much smaller, so we didn't have a lot of furniture when we moved in. I didn't want this "formal" living room to turn into a kids play room, this space was too valuable to me to make it into a toy dumping ground as I've seen other families do. I wanted a true Living room where I could chat with visitors and family, without the TV blaring in the background. A comfortable place to read books and the New York Times. Maybe nibble on some cookies and drink tea. Living Room: Before 2 First we found the sofas. The coffee table and the grayish wall color. It's my favorite room in the house (other than my bedroom). Follow the evolution here . And what we ended up with is pretty nice! Here's the rooms from the same angle today ... Complete with Halloween decorations this year. Spooky! I have been

It's not often in Illinois that we get snow in October. Usually Mother Nature has the good grace to wait for the leaves to turn and fall from the trees before dumping the white stuff all over the place. This year, it seems She was too excited to get to snow ... October 31, on Halloween, and we get a few inches! Not that anyone here was complaining.  They couldn't wait to get home from school and play in the snow.  Still all here the next morning! And look at that sky!  I think Bruce loves the snow more than anyone on the house. He spent the day playing and jumping and slipping in the backyard. So, I guess this week, at least, it's winter! Related posts: More Winter posts

As much as I miss summer days, I love Sundays in October. Normally, we stay home. Dave turns on football ALL DAY. And the girls and I putter around the house, watching a few snippets of the games, sorting, cleaning, playing. Lately, Dave and I have been doing our weekly food shop on Sunday mornings. Just the two of us. It's kind of a date. Then, we'll make something BIG for lunch to eat with the girls in a very casual way at the island. Maybe in the crockpot? Dave has been prepping food for lunch and dinners on weekends, as well, in an effort to eat more balanced meals. So he also spends much of Sunday in the kitchen, where he can watch the football games while cutting up veggies and making rice. Last weekend, Leah decided to film him to make a cooking show. As a self-proclaimed, proud HOMEBODY, Sundays in October are just about perfect to me. And they make saying goodbye to summer temperatures and looking down six months of cold, winter weather almost doable.

You know it's Halloween when a Target run includes some costume try-ons. They're so goofy! Related links: More Halloween posts 

I'm not saying the willow color on the walls of my master bedroom was a mistake, it just didn't go the way I thought I would. So this week, I'm fixing it. Let's rewind. In 2015, we had professional painters come and paint the two-story walls from awful beige to "polar bear" (by Behr) white ( see that post )! While here, I got a quote for the master bedroom and a year later they came back to change the original dirty, mint green to blue. Here's the post and a very dark picture of the walls . Yup, I love painting walls but I was working a lot and the room is huge, so I didn't think I could get it done in a weekend. I hired it out. Go me! The walls in the master have an angled part , so I used this dark beige-y brown color called "curly willow" to match with the duvet cover and wheat-color headboard. But when I saw it, I knew I went the wrong direction. So, for the past three years, I've been looking at it and kinda liking it. But

Alice's bedroom in our house is a work in progress. Mainly due to her growing up so much in the last eight years of living here. She was a preschooler when we moved in, to now being almost a preteen. And her bedroom has grown up along with her. When we first moved in, I painted Alice's walls yellow and pink. ( 2012 post here .) Two colors she helped me pick out, though it was mostly me. She had two dressers, a play table and there were toys everywhere. We even had bunk beds in here for a while. At 3-years-old through 6, she spent a lot of time in there. She still does. Then, we decided to "grow up" a little and paint her room a lovely lavender. A color she wanted nothing to do with -- but I insisted because the walls looked dirty and needed a more tranquil palette. ( Here's that 2016 post. ) We found her a pretty white daybed on Wayfair ( similar bed ) and I DIY'ed a little canopy to hang above it. Her play table changed into a normal-sized Ikea desk fo

I know what I said in 2013. I was committing to making a nice Sunday dinner for my family every week and getting everyone around the table with me. I wrote it all down here . But things change. And lately I love going out to dinner on a Sunday night as a family. I love that I don't have pressure to create a meal on a Sunday. And I get the family all together after we've been running around all weekend. We dish about the week ahead, what we need and anything else coming up.  And no dishes! Dinner at Our Favorite Taco Place But don't worry, we do get around the kitchen table a few days a week to eat together and talk about how our day. So that study about family traditions around the dinner table is still being observed. Related links: More Cooking posts All my Family Time posts

I'm not saying I'm in any way responsible for Brandi Carlile's growing fame, but I will say I called it years ago. See, in my 20s and early 30s I worked for AOL Music (I know, I'm a dinosaur) and we worked with artists and record labels and it was fun -- but not the party I'm sure you're imagining right now. Occasionally, along with the BIG NAMES we needed to keep the website viable, the record labels would send over emerging artists they wanted us to meet and get behind. Sometimes we did and sometimes we didn't. I remember the day Brandi Carlile came into our conference room. The label guys would all meet then the emerging artist would trail behind and introduce themselves. They usually had a box of CDs for us. I remember about a half-dozen artists we met this way. Brandi stood against the wall of our conference room with twins Phil and Tim who play guitar and introduced herself. I remember being mesmerized by her voice and the shy way she held hers

This week, I looked around my house and decided two things. For Example: The Changing Table/Desk We Bought When Leah Was Born 1) We have a lot of furniture that was bought for our previous house in New Jersey, making it a decade or older. And, because it was bought for a smaller house, it's never really fit in this new house. 2) Also, we probably have too much furniture and could absolutely get rid of some "traveling" furniture that's been moved around from room to room as it's never really found a home or a purpose here. For example, we still have the changing table/desk combo we bought for Leah's nursery. And the Crate & Barrel desk hutch that turned the corner of our previous master bedroom into an office. So, I've been busy identifying these pieces and putting them up on Facebook Marketplace and LetGo to find new homes. I also sent a few smaller things (e.g. a tiny file cabinet) out with a donation pickup. This leaves me with rearrangi

Funny story... Doors Are ON! As soon as the weather its warm enough, Dave will take the doors off his green Jeep Wrangler and find any excuse to drive it -- it's the best day for him. BUT for me, I'm a ball of nerves! I mean, as you drive around you see the road change at your feet, there's no side rearview mirrors and no protection AT ALL in the event of an accident. I will usually sit in the back seat (where I won't fall out), close my eyes and hope for the best. It's crazy that that's even legal! So, this August while we were in Hawaii, we saw a lot of Jeeps everywhere we went. And one day we say a white, four-door Jeep Wrangler with ALL the doors off ... except for the passenger side door. Sure enough, Dad was driving, kids were in the back and MOM (we assume) was sitting safely behind a car door. The only one left on. AND I HAVE NEVER FELT MORE SEEN! She is my people. Related links: The Hawaii Adventure Details

My brother got married this weekend and I have a lot of things to say about what a special weekend it was and spending time with my family and all that ... but I wanted to write about this one thing I've noticed about wedding receptions. Why isn't everybody dancing? It was the wise Lee Ann Womack who sang " and if you get a chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance ." I and my family can certainly attest to the dance part. Give us some music and a dance floor and we are there. But as I was boogying my booty off this weekend, I noticed a large group of able-bodied wedding guests (presumably close family and friends) sitting at their tables, chatting or looking around awkwardly. And I noticed it at previous weddings, as well. OK, some people have fragile bones and are older. Excused. And others have social anxiety, so I'll give them a pass, as well. And maybe some people don't like music, or dancing, but that's no excuse. It's FUN to be out

I'm an utter failure when it comes to getting birthday cards in the mail. Most family birthdays, I don't even buy a card. But sometimes, as I'm strolling by the card section of Target, I may pick up a few funny/inspirational/adorable cards for some upcoming birthdays and genuinely mean to send them. In most cases, I'll even fill them out and ask the girls to sign their names, too. Then, they sit on my counter, and my To Do List, for a few weeks, but they don't get anywhere. And then, I'm embarrassed to even send them so many weeks late. Currently Waiting to Be Sent - Weeks Late I'm not sure if it's a mental block or what. It's silly. I'm pretty good at a lot of things, but this is definitely an area I need to work on. So, if you're wondering why you never get a birthday card from me, here's your answer. Related links Other Birthday related posts 

I've been thinking a lot about Paris recently. Maybe because a year ago, we were heading back to our Paris apartment after a month back in the states and getting the girls back into school and what a wonderful experience that all was. And for the most part, I'm completely re-assimilated back into my USA life and feeling pretty good about things. ... EXCEPT ... EXCEPT ... I still (STILL) prep myself to say "bonjour" every time I walk in a store. And sometimes my brain starts to translate whatever I'm there to find in case I need help.  It's been 6 months, so I'm not sure when that instinct will go away. We were all so lucky to have that experience for 14 months. It's hard not to miss something so special. Onward! Related post: Catch up on the whole Paris experience