Happenings

Hello friends! Welcome back to this little blog of mine. I know it’s been ages since I’ve posted, but life has been more than a little crazy around here. Over the last five months my husband and I have endured some of the biggest stressors life can throw at you. To go into everything that’s happened since March would take around 10,000 words, so I’ll just give you the highlights.

The biggest thing that happened was the passing of my mother-in-law, Traci. She was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer four years ago (two weeks after our wedding), and over the years she endured a mastectomy, hundreds of chemotherapy treatments, radiation, and two brain surgeries to try to beat the cancer. This spring things took a turn for the worse, and at the end of April, after a few days in the hospital, she elected to go home on hospice. We spent a lot of time at her house during her last month, right up until she passed away on May 25.

Traci’s death was hard for everyone, but I’m so thankful we were able to spend a lot time with her at the end and that we were with her when she passed away. I miss her a lot, but I’m happy she’s not in pain anymore. Rest in Peace, Traci <3

Our Race for the Cure team, “Show Me the Cure for Ta-Ta’s!” two years ago today. Traci is in the center wearing the white hat.

At the same time we lost my mother-in-law, we were also dealing with the stress of selling our home, buying a new house, and moving to St. Joseph, MO, about an hour north of Kansas City and a 75 minute drive from our old home in Lee’s Summit. Moving is always stressful, especially when you’re moving out of town, and moving at the same time that we were dealing with the loss of a loved one put my stress levels at about 1000. And when I say we “at the same time,” I mean that literally: the movers packed up our house while we were at Traci’s funeral.

Needless to say, the past few months have been quite busy and stressful. We’re slowly settling in to our new and house and getting to know St. Joe, though I do miss Kansas City and our old house. We did have some good stress in all of the craziness though: Ben graduated from residency at the end of June, and he started his new job as a family physician at the beginning of August at a clinic here in town. We were also able to get away for a week and relax by the pool at a resort in Mexico last month, which was wonderful.

So, with all of the stress and business of the last several months I had to step back from blogging. Plus, I found out that blogging is a little like exercising: once you get out of the routine of doing it, it’s hard to get started again, even if you miss it (which I did). But now that life has settled down I plan to get back into my blogging routine and share more updates with you. Over the next couple weeks I plan to share some of my tips for getting your house sold quickly, our house hunting journey, and pics and plans for our new home.

Thanks so much to those of you who have stuck around during my hiatus, I really appreciate your understanding and support

Three Things I Want in My New Home

We’re starting to look online at houses for our big move to St. Joseph, MO this summer. I love our house now, and if it was an option I’d stay in it for a few more years, but since I can’t I guess I can move on to something bigger and better. Ben and I have had a lot of conversations about what we want in our next house, and although there are many items on our wish list, these are the three main things we’re looking for.

1. An Upgraded Master Suite

Murphy Brothers Contracting via Houzz

Munger Interiors via Houzz

I love our bedroom now, but our bathroom and closet could definitely use some more space. The shower is pretty tight, so in the next house we’d love to have a walk-in shower like the one above. It seems like home builders and remodelers have finally figured out that while a big jacuzzi tub looks amazing, most people don’t use it very often. The ginormous shower is where it’s at.

And of course every girl wants a bigger closet. I don’t need something as amazing as the photo above (although I wouldn’t say no!), but I do need more space and more organization.

2. A Private Backyard

Conklin Limestone via Houzz

Our current backyard is a great space for Finnley to run around in, but it’s not the best space for people. The neighbors’ house behind us mirrors ours, and the neighbors next to us have a sunroom on the upper deck that looks down over us, so we never have any privacy. I’d love a big deck to grill out and have dinners on, and another area with some lounge chairs where I can sit and relax on a nice day, all out of reach of the neighbors’ eyes.

3. A Finished Basement Rec Room

Kyle Hunt & Partners via Houzz

Obviously I can survive without a second family room, but I’d love to have a finished basement with a rec room. It’d be a great place to lounge and watch movies, or have friends over for a game night, etc. And Ben would love to have a bar, which would definitely make the basement a great spot for entertaining. Plus it would give him an area of the house where he gets to control how it’s decorated.  

We’d also like to start a family at some point while we’re in this house, so we’re considering the needs and wants of a family with small children while we’re house hunting as well. So the private backyard would give the kids a great place to play, the finished basement could house a playroom, etc.

Any advice for our wish list? Are/were any of the above items on your list for your next or current house?

Hello 2015!

I know I’m a little late with this post, as we’re already a whole week in to 2015, but such is life (especially mine). Things are getting back to normal around here after a stressful and busy December. After I declared “I’m back!”, life decided to laugh at my declaration and give us more crap. My mother-in-law had to have a tumor removed from her brain 3 days before Christmas. Thankfully the surgery went very well and she was able to come home the next day, in plenty of time for Christmas.

We spent Christmas day with my husband’s family and then made the long drive back to Illinois to see my family. We had about 24 hours at home before we both got hit with the stomach flu. Not the way you want to spend a weekend back with your family.

Anyway, since 2014 ended on a not so great note, it made me feel like the whole year was a big let-down. Looking back on it though, even though we did have some hard times, we had a really great year. And even though my blog and decorating business are not at the level I dream for them, I did get some amazing opportunities that I’m so thankful for.

Here are a few highlights by the numbers:

Appeared in one television segment for Better KC.

Attended one fantastic blogger conference and several blogger meetups

Decorated one apartment for my best friend.

Had one awesome summer staycation with my love

Celebrated one amazing book by attending the release party and reading it for my friends’ book club.

Attended two store openings: West Elm and Ikea

Took two vacations to West Palm Beach and Washington D.C.

Attended six fantastic concerts: the Sing-Off tour, Backstreet Boys, Ben Folds, Capitol Cities, Justin Timberlake, and Cage the Elephant.

Made it another twelve months with good health, good friends, wonderful family, a loving husband, and a beautiful home. Can’t ask for too much more!

Here’s to an even better 2015!

My Favorite Christmas Tradition

The holidays are just the best time of the year, don’t you think? They’re filled with so much gorgeous décor, fun activities, and traditions. I know every family has their own Christmas traditions, whether it’s baking cookies together or going ice skating at a special rink, or just getting together for gifts and games on Christmas.

When Ben and I first moved in together 7 years ago I thought it would be fun to start our own tradition by getting each other a special ornament. It was a way to build our ornament collection and to give each other a personal gift that reflects our interests. I’ve loved searching for the perfect ornament for Ben every Christmas season, but I think he wins for getting me the better ornament each year. Here are the ornaments we’ve exchanged.

2008

A snowman doctor for Ben to celebrate his first year in med school, and a first Christmas photo ornament from Ben to which we added a pic of our new little family (no Finnley yet).

2009

I laughed so much when I opened my ornament and saw that, without planning it, we had gotten each other these mini glass ornaments! We even got them from the same store!

2010

A Mizzou glass for Ben, and a really sweet and whimsical ornament for me.

2011

We got married in 2011, so without discussing it, we both happened to get each other wedding ornaments. I made a ornament filled with our wedding invitation, and Ben ordered a hand painted ornament from Etsy personalized with our wedding date.

The last two years we decided not to buy each other more ornaments since our tree was getting pretty full and still growing (I worked at a home store in 2012, so I collected a lot of ornaments from them that year, and last year we got a new tree that happened to come with tons of ornaments), but I’m so happy we decided to start this little tradition of ours. I love looking back on the ornaments we’ve given each other; they’re some of my favorite gifts (given and received).

Do you and your significant other exchange ornaments or another special gift every year? If you’re in need of some ideas, Coupons.com can help. They have great guides for anything you need: budget-friendly gifts, gifts for “enthusiasts” (fitness, tech, etc), and hostess gifts. Coupons.com also has an awesome giveaway open until Christmas. You could win one of three $100 Amazon gift cards or the grand prize, a $500 Amazon gift card! Who couldn’t use a little extra spending money?! Click here to enter The Good Stuff 2014 Holiday Sweepstakes.

**Thanks to Coupons.com to for sponsoring this post! All opinions expressed are my own**

I’m Back! (And Where I’ve Been)

Hello friends! It’s been way too long since my last post, I’ve missed you all!

There’s no one reason why I haven’t blogged in two months (whoa, long time), but rather a combination of several factors.  In October I went back to Illinois for a long weekend for my high school reunion, and a week later we left for a week-long trip to Washington D.C. Then when we got back I got hit we got with some bad news (the “c” word) about a family member that got me pretty down. That’s on top of the rollercoaster that another close family member has been going through with her health for the past several years (f*cking cancer). So between being busy/out of town and the rough stuff with my family, I just wasn’t in the mood to blog.

Then after I hadn’t posted in a few weeks it was hard to get started again. It’s kind of like exercise; once you get out of the habit, it’s not easy to get back in it.

But I do miss this little blog of mine so I’m coming back. I have a great Christmas themed post tomorrow, plus my kitchen transformation, a tour of my house all decked out for the holidays, and a desk makeover. Stay tuned!

And thanks for sticking around while I’ve been gone, it means a lot!

Better KC Segment

This morning was super exciting for me: I did my first TV appearance! I did a live segment showing how to make my fall wreath and autumn tablescape on Better Kansas City, a local talk show on KCTV5. I was really nervous going into it but once the segment started I felt ok. The host, Alexis, was so nice and friendly and the producers were awesome and really helpful in getting everything set up. Thanks so much to Better KC for having me on and thanks to anyone who was able to watch it!

You can watch my segment on Better Kansas City’s website here.

For the full tutorials, click here for the wreath and here for the table décor.

DIY Blog Tour

Happy Monday! If you’re an avid blog reader like I am you may have noticed other bloggers participating in a DIY Blog Tour. Well last week the sweet girls at My Only Sunshine posted their blog tour and tagged me to do my own this week, so it’s my turn to give you a little peak behind the scenes of Blue 11 Interiors!

1. What are you working on?

October is going to be a super busy month for me! I’m attending the KC Bloggers Workshop on the 4th, going to Go Blog Social’s pop-up conference in Chicago on the 11th, and spending a week in Washington D.C. with my hubby later that month! I’m also focusing on getting my decorating business going. I’m taking Kirsten Krason’s e-design business course so I hope to start offering that service very soon. I just started working with a friend from college on her new house which I am super excited about! I’ll be posting about our ideas for her house this week.

Before we sell our house in the spring, I’d like to tackle a few projects, like replacing the backsplash in the kitchen, so I’ll be sure to keep you posted on that!

2. How does your work differ from others in its genre?

Blue 11 Interiors is primarily a decorating and design blog, but I, like most people, don’t have a ton of money to spend on decorating, so I like to share budget-friendly finds and ideas. I also throw in a few lifestyle posts about what I’m up to and liking at the moment (books, movies, etc). I have a lot of local readers, and I adore Kansas City, so I like to highlight local places and events as well.

3. Why do you write/create what you do?

I became hooked on design blogs several years ago. I would read Apartment Therapy and see the home tours and DIY projects and just feel so amazed and inspired at others bloggers’ style and creativity and I wanted to be part of that world. I started Blue 11 Interiors around the same time I was transitioning out my job at a bank and into interior design school, which was also around the same time we bought our first house, so I had lots of inspiration/ideas/projects to share. Two and half years later, I love blogging even more and I’m still finding lots of fun stuff to post about.

4. How does your writing/creating process work?

I’d love to say I’m very organized and plan out my posts weeks in advance, but that isn’t true. For the most part I really just post whatever I’m working on or liking on that particular day. I do keep track of ideas that pop into my head by keeping a list of post ideas on my iPhone and by pinning ideas onto a secret board on Pinterest.

I have a nice office that I should work from but most days I blog from the couch while watching reruns of Gilmore Girls and How I Met Your Mother (although today I’m proud of myself for taking my laptop outside and working from the deck while listening to my Backstreet Boys Pandora station ).

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That’s it for the tour! I’m tagging Erin from Color Me Styled to participate in the tour next Monday.

I met Erin at Go Blog Social in April and she is as cool in person as she seems on her blog. She focuses on fashion but she does a few DIY projects as well, including this hanging geometric wall art project that I adore:

Thanks so much to Brittnee and Skylar from My Only Sunshine for tagging me in the tour! Make sure to check out their blog for all kinds of cute DIY projects. These girls have only been blogging for a couple months but they are seriously talented. And also make sure you pop over to Color Me Styled and look out for Erin’s blog tour post next Monday!

The Perfect Kansas City Saturday

This weekend I got together with some of my closest friends from college for a book club weekend. We’ve been doing a book club for a few years now, which serves two purposes: we get to read and discuss a new book, and (more importantly), it gives us a reason to get together.

Since my group of friends is spread out across Missouri we usually choose to meet somewhere in the middle, but this weekend we gathered in Kansas City. I hosted the group, and as the host I wanted to make my friends feel welcome and show off some of my favorite spots in KC.

A few of the girls met at my house Saturday morning for breakfast. I made these pumpkin muffins from Today’s Momma to go with our coffee. I also decorated the house with this Oh Joy! banner and some dollar section chalkboard coasters, both from Target.

We met up with the rest of the group for lunch at Chez Elle, the cutest and most delicious creperie ever. We each got our own savory crepe for lunch and then split three dessert crepes between the group. If you haven’t been there yet I highly recommend it, everything was amazing!

For the actual book club part of the day we headed to Amigoni Urban Winery to discuss The Mark of the Dragonfly. Amigoni is housed in a gorgeous old building that is perfect for spending an afternoon in whilst sipping wine. Wine + good friends + discussing a great book, it doesn’t get much better than that.

We finished up the night with dinner at Jerusalem Café followed by more wine and games back at my house. I had such an enjoyable weekend, I’m so thankful that I was able to get together with my friends for our book club.

Are you part of a book club, or another “club” that gives you and your friends a reason to get together?

Sunday Funday at Prairiefire

Hi friends! I hope you all had a lovely weekend and that you’re surviving the heat. We’ve been lucky to have had such a mild summer up until now so I guess I shouldn’t complain about this heat wave, but man it is miserable out!

Last weekend when it was still nice out Ben and I spent Sunday exploring the new Prairiefire district in Overland Park. They have a lot of cool things to see and do there: shopping, restaurants, a movie theater, and a museum.

The highlight of the area is definitely the museum. The building is absolutely gorgeous! I don’t think I’ve ever seen another building like this.

The Museum at Prairiefire is partnered with the American Museum of Natural History, which means they have the resources to bring in really cool exhibits and features. It’s free to walk through the main part of the museum, which is what we did last Sunday. The showstopper is the T-Rex! How cool is it that we have a T-Rex in Kansas City now!

I also like the pterodactyls hanging from the ceiling.

After the museum we stopped by a few of the shops and looked around.

We had fun playing with this giant marble tower at Fat Brain Toys.

I found Ben’s Christmas present at Threshing Bee. I loved all the cheeky cards and goods by That’s All.

After grabbing a drink and a snack at Paradise Diner (if you go, you have to try the Watermelon Juicer, it is amazing!), we headed to Pinstripes for a few rounds of bowling! It’s such a fun concept: a nice restaurant, bar, bowling, and bocce ball all in one place.

We finished the day with dinner at Cocobolos, the new Mexican restaurant by Kansas City restaurateur Michael Smith. I highly recommend it!

And just for fun, here are a few more pictures from the area. I love the sculptures and artwork sprinkled throughout.

I enjoyed getting out for the day and exploring a new area in Kansas City. Have you checked out Prairiefire yet?

 

*I’m linking up to Mingle Monday at Life of Meg*

Go Blog Social Meetup at Kate Spade

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of attending a fun blogger meetup at the Kate Spade store at the Country Club Plaza. If you surveyed women in their 20’s and 30’s, especially creative and/or fashionable women, I bet 95% of them would say they love Kate Spade, so it was only natural that Go Blog Social would team up with them to host an event for bloggers and other small business owners.

I’m with the 95% that loves Kate Spade, and even though a lot of their items are out of my price range right now I love visiting their stores. They do such an amazing job decorating and styling!

They had cute drinks and snacks, a couple giveaways, and a 20% shopping discount for the night. I think everyone’s favorite part was just getting to catch up with blogger friends and meeting new ones!

I borrowed the above photo from Kari from This, Too. Pictured from left to right are Alexandra Sprerrazza, Kari, Meg from Life of Meg, and me! It was so great to visit with these ladies!

I was on a budget but I couldn’t leave the store empty-handed, so I bought this darling pencil pouch that I plan to use as a clutch. It was $30 but with the Go Blog Social discount I only paid $24.

I mentioned earlier that they did a couple giveaways and guess what? I was one of the winners! I won a ticket to the Go Blog Social pop-up in Chicago! I had such a wonderful time at GBS in KC this April so I am thrilled to learn more and meet more awesome people in Chicago. Are any of my fellow blogger readers planning to go?