I have loved Death Cab for Cutie for over 10 years now.  I can’t believe that it’s been that long.  I was only 18 when I first went to see them (yes, I remember the exact date, March 19th, 2001) at a small bar by the name of Cat in Denver.  It was a $7 cover charge, and I remember wondering if it was worth that much money to see a band that I had never heard of.  I’m so happy that I decided it was.

Death Cab for Cutie released their 7th full-length album, Codes and Keys last month.  I have been pleasantly surprised by it because they started to lose me a little on their last album – Narrow Stairs. I didn’t dislike it, just didn’t feel the same connection that I had with earlier albums like, The Photo Album. I am so happy to be reunited with these 4 guys.  They are amazing and wonderful and electric.  I love em and I definitely think that you should take a listen:)

What are you listening to these days?

Love,

Stephanie May*

I finally figured it out…and it’s such a relief.  In the back of my head, I’ve rolled around ideas about what to do in my bathroom – and I finally know.  I already knew I wanted to go all neutral and delicious white, and thanks to Chicago, I know exactly what I’m going to do without making it boring.  There is just something about a completely white bathroom that appeals to me.  It’s sterile but comfortable at the same time, and it’s what I desperately desire.

{Source}

{Source}

{Source}

{Source, Source}

{Source}

Three things to take notice of: Hex tile floor, subway tile walls and metal leg sinks.  It’s decided…this is what I’m doing.  I have no idea when, but it will happen sometime, and I can’t wait!  The last photo looks just like the floor in the pizza restaurant we went to in Chicago.  I am head over heels….yay for bathroom design ideas!  Oh and for some reason it reminds me of The Godfather…not really sure why.  Maybe it was the pizza/Italian thing?

Love love love

Stormie Dae

Hi friends:)  Miss me?  I usually blog on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and I fell way way short this week.  No blog on Sunday, and as you know – today is Wednesday.  I don’t really have an excuse for you…just that I found other things to occupy my time this week….wanna see?

Ever since I was given my iPhone, I have fallen in LOVE with Instagr.am.  I’ve been using it for a little over a month now, and have shared 68 photos (and counting!) already.  That’s kind of a lot.  Today I am going to show you what my week has held…through some of these photos:

My breakfast yesterday.  Yes, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  That is why I honored it with a Hostess cupcake.

My parents went out of town on Friday, so we acquired their dog, Sandy for the week.  My kids have been loving having a pet around, but I am not loving the endless amounts of dog hair.

Tristan and I had a date night working on the car.  Strange to say, but I actually enjoyed the time with him.  He’s always hot, but especially hot while working with tools.

We had a garage sale on Saturday.  We got rid of a bunch of stuff, and sat under a tree for most of the day.  It was hard work, but also relaxing.

I took my parents and Stormie to the airport and then picked Stormie up from the airport just 2 days later.  I brought her some Starbucks because I am a really good sister and knew that she would need an iced Caramel Macchiato on the way home.

Library day!  Our library has an awesome kid’s area, and my kiddos love it there.  We did however find out that we have not returned Hokey Pokey Elmo in a matter of months, and if we can’t locate it, we will have to pay $4.99.  Has anyone seen it?

Homemade salsa.  It was gone by the next day.  Boo.

Late night swim with Tristan and the kids.  It was a beautiful night.

Sea salt mocha at Two Rivers Coffee.  It was my first time there, and I will be back!

Tristan and ice cream.  2 of my favs:)

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my week:)  You can follow me on Instagr.am if you wanna…user name – StephanieKelley

Love,

Stephanie May*

I only spent about 3-4 hours total in Chicago on the way to and from the airport, and the rest of my weekend was spent in Hobart, IN with my family.  Chicago was lovely…wish I could have spent more time there, but seeing the whole family was well worth not being there as long as I would like.  I had to go back to work today, but the rest of the fam will be there until Wednesday so they will be spending some time in the city.  Things I did get to do and see there:

So so delicious.

Lots of traffic.

Hanging out in the hotel…my sweet Grandma was amazed at my digital camera(she is still a 35-mm gal) and took this pic of me

It was a really fast, really fun trip…and now I’m trying to keep myself awake since I’ve wanted to fall asleep since 4pm today.  Time to snooze soon….

Love!

Stormie Dae

This week has felt so insanely busy…but really good actually.  I feel like I’m losing steam with the whole shoe project.  Not the actual wearing different ones each day part, just the photographing and also getting full-body pictures.  I haven’t been in the mood lately to actually get ready each day for photos, so I haven’t been.  This whole process has been good for me though…in general, I feel better each day having at least put a little thought into what I’m wearing and how I’m doing my hair – even when I don’t get around to doing my make-up.  It’s nice to spend time on those things sometimes:)

Day 36 – Friday: Work and hanging out with friends, a little basketball thrown in…it’s okay to play “Horse” in sandals – strappy roman sandals

Day 37 – Saturday: Garage sales and family birthday celebrations – pointy-toed zipper flats(that turned my feet black)

Day 38 – Sunday: Summer music festival work day and hanging around the house – barefoot

Day 39 – Monday: Work, dinner with a friend and house cleaning and decorating night – Adidas graffiti shoes

Day 40 – Tuesday: Work and dinner with a lovely out-of-town guest – green “peter pan” flats

Day 41 – Wednesday: Work and fundraiser dinner – black platform heels

Day 42 – Thursday: Work and packing for Chicago – teal low-top converse

38 pairs of shoes worn so far…no idea how many are left.  I started out with 53 but I’ve bought a few pairs since then…can’t help myself.  At this point, it’s looking like I still have 3 weeks to go….we are two-thirds done people!  And then I will decide which shoes I want to get rid of…because I can’t possibly keep them all and I’m realizing that there are some I will most likely never wear again anyway, so someone else deserves to have them.

I am leaving today to head to Chicago for the weekend…family reunion time baby!  Do you have family reunions?  What is the best place you’ve ever had one?

Love!

Stormie Dae

I’ve told you about my love for Project Runway before, and Season 8 in particular was a great representation of what the show should display.  I’ve also mentioned how much I loved Valerie Mayen’s work on Season 8.  She is seriously the CUTEST designer ever!  She has uber-darling personal style, and creates really unique clothing that I would lovelovelove to wear.  The dresses below are from her Etsy shop – YellowCake.  I want them all!

I LOVEEEE all of these looks!  The styling of the model is so pretty.  YellowCake makes all of these pieces in XS-XL, so you can find a good fit – I really like that!  I think I need to start saving to buy one of these.  Which one is your favorite?

Love,

Stephanie May*

I took a stroll through my yard last night when I got home from work(only got 2 mosquito bites taking these photos..good day) and this is what I found:

I am SO thankful for pre-winter planted flowers, wild flowers, and a woman who kept up on her garden before I moved in!  Even though I have had little to no time to spend in the yard, and even with all the weeds – there are still beautiful flowers everywhere and they make me happy.  It’s looking like my vegetable garden will have to wait for next year but until then, I will try my hardest to mow the lawn regularly and finally get out there to weed my garden…it will happen.

Kiss kiss,

Stormie Dae

My kids and I had a paint party in the front yard today.  It is seriously GORGEOUS weather right now – 76 degrees and breezy.  Perfect!  We sat under a tree and pulled an old table top out to set our supplies on.  I love painting pictures on the kids because it is simple, cheap, and doesn’t make too  much of a mess.  And they love it, so it’s fun for us all:)  I use acrylic paint because I always have it on hand, but you could also use regular face paint.  I always make sure to have lots of colors – you never know what they will ask for.

Gavin wanted a machine gun on his “gun”, and the batman logo.  Guini wanted a yellow flower and a rainbow, and Gemma picked a pink flower and a rainbow.  As you can see in the photos, they are far from perfect.  My lines are crooked, and the paint got splotchy in some areas.  We all had fun though, and enjoyed being outside and relaxing.  I brought the books out to get ideas from, but I ended up just doing my own versions, or using my iPhone to get the Batman logo to look somewhat right:)  The kids enjoyed reading the books while waiting for their “tattoos”, so it worked out well.

What summertime activities have you been doing?

Love,

Stephanie May*

P.S.  My kids would love to hear what you think about their tattoos in the comments!

Today was rainy and gorgeous and I finally did something new in my living room!  I used a new wire book shelf, new art pieces and other odds and ends to decorate a wall…all courtesy of thrift stores and recent garage sales.  I might finally be ready to start a house tour soon!  I can’t promise I will be able to show the entire house all at once(I can actually pretty much guarantee it won’t happen), but I think as I finish rooms, I will show them to you.  The new wall makes  me happy to look at and I can’t wait to show you!

To go with my pretty wall, here are some Etsy pretties I found today and am swooning over:

{Source}

{Source}

{Source}

{Source}

Awwwww….oh-so-pretty.

Love love!

Stormie Dae

Stormie Dae and I are really blessed with a great Dad – Happy Father’s Day!  We love him lots and lots:)  Also, Happy Father’s Day to my dad-in-law Larry!  Oh, and happy father’s day to….well, all the dads that I know – I think you are all swell!

There is another dad in particular that I am really impressed by:

Tristan is an incredible Dad.  He amazes me every day with patience, kind words, and love that he showers on our kids.  He is hilarious with them, and feels no shame in running around the house hiding in cupboards for Hide-n-seek.  I hope that they grow up to be just like him, because he’s pretty cool.  We love him big time.

Today, I got up early and cooked a big breakfast – french toast, hash browns, and bacon.  Tristan opened his dads-day gifts afterwards – he got some cute things from the kids and some clothes and a gift card.  I cleaned around the house, and we took him out for mexican food for lunch.  Now he is clothes shopping with his gift card – can’t wait to see what he gets!  He is definitely a hot dad:)

I got some new things yesterday at garage sales, so I will show you as soon as I take photos.

Happy Father’s Day!

Love,

Stephanie May*