Spring break in South Florida - the ultimate staycation!

Originally we had no plans to leave south Florida for spring break, but the weekend before, H mentioned going up to Sarasota, St. Petersburg, or Georgia. Yeah Georgia was a little random there, but initially he thought the drive was just going to be 8 hours. He enticed me after showing me a few gorgeous rustic cabins we could rent in the mountains. Turns out it's more of a 10 hour drive and we just don't like making those kind of drives anymore. Especially not sleep deprived with the kids.

In the end we just decided to stay in good ole Florida, there is still much we haven't experienced here. I'm so glad H took the week off with us. We all had a great time and we stayed busy. Even though it's not always easy getting all 4 kids out and about, we are used to it and being stuck indoors would just mean all of us getting under each other's skin at some point or another!

Monday we went to Lauderdale by the sea which is about 20 minutes from us. We had Dandee donuts for breakfast and then headed to the beach. Lauderdale by the sea has 2.5 miles of beautiful beaches and a pier. Most hotels, restaurants and shops are just a few minutes walk from Anglin's square which is a charming oceanfront gathering.

Tuesday we drove about 40 minutes north to Jupiter Island. We went to Busch wildlife sanctuary, and then blowing rocks preserve. For dinner we had Guanabanas which is a really great restaurant with intracoastal views. Jupiter island was probably may favorite little day trip. Busch Sanctuary is a refuge & nature center for Florida wildlife with kid friendly trails through woods & wetlands. They have pretty much everything you'd see at a zoo without an admission price. It was great. Afterwards we went to Blowing rocks preserve. The preserve was named for it's rocky Anastasia limestone shoreline-the largest on the U.S Atlantic coast. It's really neat to see, but you definitely need to be careful when you are by the rocks. There are parts that are hidden under the sand and Serena and I got poked a few times when we were taking pictures. 

Wednesday we worked on a few things around the house, laundry, cleaning etc, but by the afternoon Mariam said she wanted to go fishing. We went to a nearby park about 15 minutes away called Tradewinds Park. We go there every so often since they have horses and $3 pony rides that the girls enjoy. We didn't catch anything but it really melts my heart seeing the girls gather around their daddy as he shows them how to cast a line. 

Thursday we headed to Miami to go to the Miami Seaquarium. They often have tickets on Groupon so do take advantage of that if you can. The shows were really cute and we were all excited for Mariam that she asked to participate in the flipper dolphin show. She really enjoyed it! Afterwards we had dinner at Maroosh restuarant in Coral Gables. It was really good and probably the best Mediterranean restaurant I've been too in South Florida yet. 

By Friday we were pretty exhausted so we stayed home and worked on some thing, did a little grocery shopping and had an impromptu dinner at our house of chicken wings, fries and pizza with a few of our neighbors. 

Saturday I took Layla & Mariam to the Palm Beach Opera where they got to see their first opera, Le Nozze Di Figaro. It was a sweet experience to share with them for sure!

The whole week the weather was really gorgeous. Definitely a nice break with the family! Tomorrow the kids are back at school but it's a short week. They are also off for Good Friday.

Weekend wrap up + Projects lately

I don't know about you all, but this daylight savings time change is kicking my butt. I'm already tired thanks to Ava not sleeping through the night, but it's like I've got a new layer of tiredness over my tiredness....if that makes sense. Through it all today I feel content. I feel content in my domestic life and my work life at the moment. I can never tell how a day is going to end up when I think about it the night before. It's hit or miss. Some days I'm happy as a clam and everything is working in my favor, and some days the kids are driving me nuts, I've barely eaten. Playing chauffeur driving all over town for the kids is exhausting, I'm frustrated as hell, and it can't be 5:00 pm soon enough, so H will walk through the door and I'll see another adult who understands how hard these kids can be with me sometimes. He doesn't get everything that I do--all the small moving parts that keep this ship moving, but he understands the personalities of our children. 

Onto what I meant to talk about though. Last week was a week if you know what I mean. A week! So when H asked if I wanted to go out Friday night after the daddy/daughter dance at Layla's school, with a few of his friends, you know he didn't have to ask me twice! We went to a few different bars/lounges in Fort Lauderdale and got home way past our bedtime, but we had a blast. Saturday was spent doing little things around the house, keeping the kids occupied, and doing some work for the business. Sunday there was a birthday party, drinks with neighbors and a Costco trip.

Something I didn't accomplish much of this weekend was my house projects. We still haven't put Serena's new doors up, but at least all the painting is done. We need to buy a trim and the hinges this weekend.

I also haven't finished the base of the dining room table I've been working on. 

I also need to put up the new wall decor for my foyer gallery wall. I have this sign and also found an adorable heart shaped faux greenery piece that will go on the other side. 

Something I did accomplish was completing the shelf decor for the breakfast nook. The mini plant was bought at Target on Friday, the cups are old from TJ Maxx, and the picture was taken by me when Serena was 9 years old. 

Have a great Tuesday!

DIY Cushioned Bench!

I actually did this project back in April of last year and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. Every month, I'm like "This is the month I'm going to write about it", and it just doesn't happen. 

Well better late then never!

It took me a couple months scouring Offer Up and Craigslist to find the right kind of bench at the right price to turn into a new bench for my foyer. I love that I found one with character. This bench is actually a 65 year old organ bench and I bought it for $25. 

So while putting together this post, I realized I no longer have all the step by step pictures. My husband attempted to fix my computer a month ago and somehow deleted sooo many pictures. I'm going to do my best to explain it and provide some steps. It's a super easy and quick project. What took the longest was just stapling the fabric on the wood because the staple gun wasn't the greatest. Ok let's get started. Here is what you'll need:

* Heavy duty foam slab (I found mine at Joann's Fabrics and I went with a thinner one. You can get one depending on how thick you want the cushion.

* Upholstery fabric of your choice. Make sure you go in with the measurements of your bench and add on at least 8-10 inches on the length and width because it has to go over the foam and bench.

* Staple Gun

* Paint of your choice. I went with a basic white indoor latex paint.

Steps:

Paint the portion of bench under seat and the legs, or you can do it after you take the seat off. It took 2 coats to fully cover the brown.

Because this is the type of bench with a storage and the seat goes up, I needed to take the top off completely. I suppose you don't have too, but it really makes it so much easier and you don't have to cut the fabric to fit around any back brackets.

Lay the seat flat on ground and position foam on top. Cut an excess off.

Lay fabric over foam and seat. Tightly pull one side of corners and staple underneath. Now that you have it in place, it will be easier getting the rest of the fabric nice and taut on the backside. Staple as many times as you feel you need too to make it secure. 

Put seat back on rest of bench, secure in place. That was a given, but I thought I'd point it out anyways, just so you can make sure you weren't missing any steps. Haha!

I hope that was a little helpful. I hate that I lost so many photos, but luckily the next project I plan on sharing I have all the pictures for that one.

Have a great Wednesday. Halfway through the week!

All about the bangs + my latest look

I always keep my hair long, but lately I'd say it's the longest it's ever been. I'm sort of just growing it as long as I can stand it. My hair grows fast, but not all my strands grow at the same pace. I have a lot of shorter hairs that haven't caught up to the longest strands and that definitely contributes to my ends not looking that full sometimes. Ideally I'd like to keep growing my hair until the shorter hairs catch up to the length of the longer hairs and then do a bigger cut and it should look fuller at the bottom. What also happens is that I have wavy hair but like only half of it is wavy. If I wear my hair straight inevitably some of the hairs will start curling at the nape and some won't. It's a little more time consuming, but my hair looks best when I curl/wave it. When I wear it straight it won't stay for very long.

So last year I wanted a change, but didn't want to cut any length minus a micro trim I did at home. I had been thinking about blunt bangs for awhile and waited till fall. I'd say I've had bangs since October now. It was only supposed to be for a month, but I've kept them longer because it really helps cut down on the time I spend on my hair and helps conceal my tired face from not sleeping--thanks to Ava. It's starting to get hot so I'm now for sure letting them grow out. Sweaty bangs matted to my forehead sounds not so fun.

I had my bangs cut at a salon, but I've been trimming them at home every 2 weeks. Here's a picture from when I had them first cut. She gave me a bit of a wispy look which I liked.

Once I started trimming them myself. H prefers them coming more up to my eye then shorter.

If you're thinking about getting bangs, I recommend it. With the right cut and style I think it looks good on just about everyone. Here are some pros and cons:

Pros

 Cuts down on the amount of time you spend on your hair. If you just fix your bangs, it automatically makes the rest of your hair look good. Throw it in a ponytail, or bun and you're good!

Makes you look younger.

You don't have to worry much about how your eyebrows look.

They look super chic no matter how you style them.

Cons

They make your forehead really oily....or is it just me.

They don't really stay styled for very long. 

Wind and rain are not your bang's best friend.

Inspo Pics if you are on the fence

Have a great Monday!

Save the thoughts....fight for change

I was looking forward to Valentine's Day just like most mom's eager to bring a little smile and sweet surprise to their little one's face. I left little boxes of chocolate on their dressers, and took them to school since it was a Wednesday. The day was like any other day. Mariam and Layla were picked up like usual. We rifled through their cards and sweets they got from school. At 3:00 pm, I loaded the little one's in the car and drove to Serena's high school. About 5 minutes away, I turn the radio on and that's where I first heard about the shooting. It didn't seem right. It didn't seem real.

 How can another school shooting have happened?! How could it have happened in Parkland 30 minutes away from us in Boca?!

No that can't be right.....They didn't know the number of casualties at the time, but later we learned the shooting claimed 17 victims. Today during mass we learned the parents of one of the victims attends our church. My heart is broken for all the people involved in this senseless violence. As a parent I can't even begin to process what the parents of the children that passed feel. It's unthinkable. I've had trouble falling asleep for the past 4 nights because every night before bed, I get so sad and angry that this has happened again. No matter where you stand on gun control, something is very very wrong in our country. I refuse to live in a world where sending our kids to school could mean we might never see them alive again. I for one am sick of the thoughts and prayers and everyone just arguing their side on the matter, and nothing gets done!

Nothing!

I encourage everyone to get involved however you can. This affects all of us. There are several organizations that you can join:

 Moms demand action

Every town for gun safety

The coalition to stop gun violence

You can also contact your representatives and Facebook them. Here's another great link on more ways to get involved:

http://www.30guncontrolactionsyoucantakenow.com/take-action/

Please don't look the other way. Enough is enough. Not one more.

Valentine's Day learning with Education.com

Tomorrow is almost Valentine's Day! I don't know about you but I love Valentine's Day. Every year I try to do a little something special for the girl's and H on love day. This week is crazy though and the girl's scheduled activities are still on for tomorrow. I will have a sweet little surprise for them when they wake up though, and also make heart shaped pancakes. Tonight we'll be baking heart shaped chocolate chip cookies for the teachers and some friends. Should be fun!

Of course even with our busy schedules, homework still needs to be done and learning is an every day thing. My 6 year old is currently doing addition and subtraction in her class and this fun little Valentine's Day addition worksheet is great practice! Add more love to your learning as you practice addition with this worksheet from Education.com! If you love addition, check out these fun addition resources too.

Valentine's Day worksheets

Charming breakfast nooks including ours

I've been wanting to update all week but I feel like all of us spent the week just trying to recover from another Disney World trip. Even though we had a blast, we weren't feeling great during the trip and coming straight back to the usual chaos of weekly activities, took a lot out of us! 

I've been wanting to share another home update which is still an ongoing work in progress, because I'm super picky and like a million things come up with the family, but little by little right? I've currently got about 10 different projects I'm working on, but for now here is the state of our breakfast nook. 

It's no secret that I love a white, light and bright home with pops of blue. Our breakfast nook is small so I wanted to find a round pedastal table to go in the space. I found one on offer up last year that I've had sitting in the garage for 8 months now. In October I finally found some chairs that I loved and when I saw it in person, I ended up loving the table. It was perfect for our family size. H was out of town but I was able to bring that bad boy home by myself from 2 cities over. The best thing is I actually don't need to repaint this table. The chairs do need to be reupholsterd because they are sagging a bit and I'd like to change the fabric with one that has more color, but it's not urgent. As for the first dining room table--that's still sitting in my garage, I'm hoping to start painting it next week and then sell it. 

Crystal Pendant{Home Depot}

The french provincial mirror came with a matching dresser that I found from a thrift shop for $50. The whole set! If you know me, you know that I love finding used furniture and making it beautiful again. You don't have to spend a ton of money to have a beautiful and put together home. Just takes a little bit of patience and work. The mirror did not look like this when I got it, I had to paint it. 

A recent addition to the left hand wall are two shabby chic shelves I found at Joann's fabric store. They were 50% off when I bought them last October. A few places you wouldn't think of that have cute decor are: Michael's and Joann's. 

This is the only picture I could find from fall where you can see the shelves. Currently there is nothing on them except for one picture. 

I love charming breakfast nooks. They are cozy and an inviting place to start your day. I've always liked farmhouse style, french country and shabby chic decorating so here are a few gorgeous ideas.

Have a great Monday!