What Ana Does

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

Weekend warrior was in full effect this Sunday ... We got the ladder and the Sawzall out and took the low hanging branches off this very-overgrown tree near our deck.  Love this Comic Book Filter I even got a branch that was just touching our house. Score! And we piled up the logs for future fireplace fires. Ok Fall, I'm almost ready for you. Related links: More backyard posts

Wow! I'm so excited about how this home office project turned out ... as I sit at the desk typing this very blog post. It's just so much more functional and my style. (Plus, the wood shelves still smell like lumber and I love that!) Here's the before picture of the traditional bookcase I just couldn't get used to ( project overview here ). Despite so many voices telling me to leave it, I just couldn't be satisfied with this not-my-style bookcase. Well, two weeks and $200 later, here's the office ... After: Much More Usable Space, Air and Style Quick reminder of the BEFORE picture of the same wall ... Before: Lots Chaos, Not A Lot of Usable Desk Space WOWZA! My goal was to liberate more of that granite desktop to be useful ... spread out papers and electronics, etc. When I work, I need SPACE! At the same time, I needed book storage, a place for the girls to plugin their school-issued laptops, and my file bin for all the papers that need to b

The office is really coming together! Once the wall was clear and open, I was trying hard to picture how I wanted to assemble the book shelves. Because I need bookshelves here, but I don't want to weight down the space like it was before. I narrowed down to two options (based on all the pretty pictures I've looked at on Pinterest, Instagram and HGTV) ... Option 1) three shelves going almost wall to wall, or 2) two sets of three shelves and a piece of art in the middle. Here's the thing about making these big design decisions: you need to take time to research and find something that feels right. There's a gut feeling about these things. BUT the important thing is to not let it stagnate and go stale. Trust your gut. If there's a happy feeling inside, that's the right decision. So I mocked up the two options and posted it on Instagram Stories and took a quick poll. And this option won by 5:1. Next step is sourcing the brackets, which is the only item I