Tour Our Home Continued

Here are a few more pictures from inside our home. I'm leaving for Las Vegas today and will post about that when I get back. It's 37 today in Chicago so I'm looking forward to the nicer weather - even if it is just 65 in Vegas.

What's In Your Pantry?

Here is my pantry. It's another one of my favorite things about how the house was designed. It's so difficult when you are looking at a blueprint and a kitchen layout to think, "Yeah, there's enough cabinet space." or "No, we need more." Thank goodness for this pantry because my cabinets I use basically to store all my dishes, glassware and bakeware. The pantry stores all our food. Behold...

I know you must be thinking that we are alcoholics by the look of our third shelf up (everyone notices this) - but this is a result of having a party over the summer and also of having a bottle of every type of wine but no place to store it. Alas, the wine rack was left out of this kitchen design. The one problem with this is that the shelves are just a tiny bit too low to fit my kitchenaid mixmaster underneath and I am way too afraid to put it up on top (that thing weighs at least 1 ton if not 2!) But, I aggravates me because it has caused a few stubbed toes, and if you've ever kicked a mixmaster, you know you are lucky not to have a broken toe. Anyway - that's where I store my kitchen goodies and loot!

Have a great day!

Natalie

This Is Great Lotion!

I have to share a funny story from this morning...I have been traveling for my job quite a bit recently and I cannot stop myself from swiping the little bottles of shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and body lotion. Yes, yes, yes. I know I will get some at the next hotel, but I. just. can't. resist. Anyway - they are all usually in the same bottle shape and they all look the same. So, I grabbed this morning what I thought was lotion and proceeded to rub it on my face (anyone else have a problem with their whitening toothpaste drying out the skin around their mouth?) and it wasn't soaking in. I'm talking about 5 minutes later. I picked up the bottle - ah ha! the bottle said "CONDITIONER" - Duh! I guess it could have been worse - I could have had the lotion bottle in the shower as conditioner. Oh - it's one of those days.

Tour My Kitchen!

Here is a look at my kitchen. I have to say, it's one of my favorite things in our whole house. I am not one of those people who have a great big kitchen with fancy appliances and never uses it. I love to cook and spend time here. We have been in our house only a year and a half and I have continued to decorate.

Everything was designed by us - the cabinets are have a dull rub on them which means they don't have a shiny wood finish. The are also glazed. The countertops are Hanstone - which is kind of like Cambria, if you are familar with that. The light cabinets have a dark top and the dark cabinets have a light top. The wall were painted with Benjamin Moore's Shelburne Buff and then plastered in small areas and then glazed. You can see that I darkened the corners to give it an aged look.

I bought most of the kitchen accessories at Hobby Lobby. And, how could you possibly have a kitchen without a rooster. But, I think three's enough - a lamp, one on the shelf above the cooktop and one on the planter on the black cabinets. And, I didn't catch them all, but I have quite a few Southern Living accessories around. Maybe I'll post that next!

Our little Cricky

Here is my sweet girl. You guessed it, she's the one that this blog is named after. We've had her for about 5 years now and she was a SHELTER dog. Well, she wasn't ever actually at a shelter, but she belonged to a family that didn't have time for her. And she is the best. dog. ever! She loves to get up on your lap and snuggle and especially loves belly rubs. She is a big fan of honey nut cheerios, which is the only people treat that she gets. She also watches tv - no joke. Especially if there is something like Animal Planet - unfortunately, she defends her house against these tv animals - And she despises Flower and the Meerkat Manor family.

As we've seen countless times in our area papers, in these tough economic times, many people are forced to give up their pets. If you are considering adding a furry friend to you family, please go to a area shelter. Cricket (aka Cricky) thanks you with a lick and a wag and so will her other shelter friends.

My Poor Little Urns - Transformed!

Well, I've fixed my urns -atleast for a month until I get the Christmas greens. A couple of days ago, one of my urns was knocked off the paver pedestal by the wind. All my mums were either broken off or dumped out - so here's what I did.

And here are some more pictures of what our house looks like this fall.

This might seem like a weird picture for fall and, you're right, it is. But, the reason that I am posting it is because my geraniums, that I planted in MAY/JUNE are doing great...an it's November. Just another weird result of the crazy 70 degree weather we've had.

Happy first day of summer - i mean NOVEMBER!

ok - so I know i was just complaining about it snowing the other day, but we've had 3 straight days of 70 degree weather in Illinois and it's NOVEMBER!  That's what's so funny about Chicago weather - it's either sweltering or it's 20 below zero - nothing happy in the middle.  Temps in the 70's does not make me want to fix a turkey or whip up a pumpkin pie.  It makes me wonder, "Which way is the pool?"

Anywho - it's election day.  Did you get out and vote?  I was actually going to go this morning and try to beat the crowds at 6 am - but the bed wouldn't let me go, I swear.  So, I went after work.  It really is a toss up - Obama?  McCain?  All is know is that whoever gets in there has four years to show us their stuff.  If they can't make good things happen, they're out.  Period.  I have to admit that I believe John McCain to be in ill health and the thought of that taking puppet Palin running the country makes me shiver.  But, I don't know if Obama is too big of a change for this country...I guess we'll see.