Finding Yard Beauty

This morning, Mi Miguel was greeted by this little critter. Knowing that I love nature, he had to show me this snail slithering along his truck bed cover. Mi Miguel had to point out the amber shell thinking that would make me love it even more. Not only did I love it even more but I couldn't help but notice the detailed artistry in the design of the almost tortoise style shell.

I've never really been this close to a snail before. His shell is quite stunning if you really look at it close enough. An essence of the tiger eye stone even comes to mind.

 

After Mi Miguel and his hitchhiker snail left for work, walking back up to the house, I noticed all the bright colors in our yard this morning. Several days of rain brought out the red beauty in our hens and chickens. These are hens and chickens aren't they?

The lemon tree I bought for Mi Miguel's Father's Day gift, has lots of new blooms. We've gotten one lemon from it already. The scent from it was incredible but far from edible. A new one has started forming, can you see it?

 All the rain has made the flowers and foliage so vibrant and full. Love, love, love this shade of hibiscus pink.

We've received a few indoor plants from new friends that we've made. So far both of them are thriving. Here's the African Violet our neighbor gave us back in July. I can't believe I've kept it alive. They seem to be a temperamental houseplant in the Midwest. It's even had a few blooms on it under my watch. There's one blooming just now.

Mi Miguel's mom got us this petunia for Christmas. The rain has really made it bloom and overflow the container.

The frosted fern our dear new friends Steve and Karen got for us at Christmastime is also thriving under my care. 

Still walking through our yard, assessing the landscape plans, I had forgotten about the two heavy antique flamingos that were left behind when we bought the house. I still haven't decided if I should try to restore them or get rid of them. In truth, they would make great little concrete sentries standing among the ferns, bushes and flowering plants. I know, I know, Florida doesn't need another resident with flamingos in their garden.

 

 After observing all the beauty in my own front yard, my favorite is still this snail. He's asymmetrical with his shell slightly askew, proving that we don't have to be perfect to be beautiful. There's a lesson here. If life is getting you down try standing at a different angle so you can see things from a different perspective.

As far as the progress on our fixer upper, I did manage to pull the screens off of the windows and power wash the entire back of the house. Those new shades make the windows look so much nicer. Now to get busy choosing that paint color.

Florida, Warmth And Water: A New Pet, You Beta Believe It

Florida, Warmth And Water: A New Pet, You Beta Believe It:   We finally got ourselves a pet. I really wanted a King Charles Cavalier, but had to settle for something much easier to potty train. We ...

A New Pet, You Betta Believe It

 We finally got ourselves a pet. I really wanted a King Charles Cavalier, but had to settle for something much easier to potty train. We couldn't decide between this one

this one. There is a difference in the tail but both are dragon bettas. I carried both of them around the pet store for quite a while. Mi Miguel finally said, "Come on, let's pick one and go."

If you notice in the photos both of them have beautiful colors of glass behind them.  

The above photo was taken this morning with the diffused sun behind him, coming through our new window shade. 

If you haven't guessed yet, we got them both. Why wouldn't we? Two bettas are just as easy to care for as one. The beta in the above photo is mine.

This one is Mi Miguel's They'll never do fancy tricks or go for walks. You'll probably never see us posting photos ever again of our bettas.

It is however, a start on having a pet (like a King Charles Cavalier)that will do fancy tricks and adore us when we walk through the door. Don't you want that unconditional adoration Mi Miguel?

There really isn't much in the way of photography with a fish. I did manage to get a bit of a profile picture of Mi Miguel's fish. I guess our next step is to come with names.

I mentioned blinds behind the fish bowls. Yes, we got our living room blinds up. They look fantastic! So much better than that bright green fabric.

All the colored glass is back on the trendy sofa table that Mi Miguel made.

And now these sweet little betas give our living room some movement while encompassing that coastal living feel.

Since living in Florida, Mi Miguel and I both have met some pretty fascinating people. Staring in February, I'll be featuring a new fascinating person each month. 

One thing that I've learned since moving to Florida, you rarely run across a true Floridian. Most folks have migrated here from the north or from another country altogether. That's why, for the first fascinating person I've chosen a person that is a native of the sunshine state. Next month we'll find out what makes her so fascinating. 

If you haven't checked my Facebook Group, Florida Restaurants A-Z you may want to take a peek. We share the restaurants that we visit alphabetically in our region of Florida. 

Throwing Some Shade

A few months back we went to Lowes to see what the options are for window shades. Every window in our house is a different size. Just to do the two windows in the second guest bedroom, the price would be about $700.00. Special ordered blinds doesn't include installation. At that price for two windows, I'd like to see them come with installation. Walking away from the shades project until we could research our options, I made good use of our bold solid color sheets. Here we are in the photo above, throwing some green sheet shade from our living room window.

After today our windows should look like this. Mi Miguel is great with installing window shades and coverings. My strength is picking out what would look nice. My weakness is trying to install anything that goes on a window. Except for maybe sheets, I can drape a sheet on a window like no other. 

Right now, I'm just in love with the fact that we only had to pay $500.00 for six window shades. We didn't have to order them and they are the exact same ones we were going to order a few months ago. Maybe not all Lowes can trim shades down to size in-store. Or, maybe there are some other shade fitting requirements that we didn't meet at the other Lowes. It all worked out for the good. We ended up with reasonably priced shades and we have a new best friend that works at our new favorite Lowes. 

Our next big dilemma, what color should we paint our house? If you live in Florida we'd love your feedback on this one. We are down to these three colors. But we're not sure how this color works here in Florida. I rarely see any shade of white on a house in this beautiful Sunshine State. Do people just like going for coastal colors or is the color white not a good thing for some reason?

 

 We're trying to avoid pulling out the peach color in the stone. The Mannequin Cream (far right) has a touch of orange or yellow that we didn't notice until we put it next to the stone. Aged Beige (center) looks a little grey compared to the other shades. And finally, the Hazelnut Cream (far left). 

Mi Miguel and I are finding that we both like the Hazelnut Cream. There doesn't seem to be any yellow, orange, grey or other colors pulling from this shade of white. I painted another strip along the stone to see if it made a difference.

Our main reason for choosing a true cream or some shade of true white is so we can paint our entry door and shutters a different color every three years or so. This is my dream entryway. I love that bold yellow with the cream and shades of green all around it. The next order of business is to find this orange/yellow shade on a swatch and paint a patch next to the stone and Hazelnut and see what happens. It will either look amazing or really clash.  

This evening, I'll power wash the house while Mi Miguel is busy with the shades. If the weather holds up we'll have some version of a white colored house in no time. Goodbye Whatever Shade Peach. Hello Hazelnut Cream. 

The Color Amber

I've become so drawn to the color amber since moving to the Sunshine State. I keep finding new ways to incorporate it into our living room and dining room. If you've read my last post, you know that I chose amber light fixtures for that warm and cozy illumination. Now I'm in search of some of that amber sea glass shown in the above photo. Mi Miguel is probably wondering what in the world we'll be doing with it. But all I know is that I really need some of that amber sea glass. 

I plucked a few vases from what's left of our stash from our previous home. Amber adds such a warmth to a room that you won't get from other colors. Only a few more things to add to the row of vases and that project will be complete.

The goal is to keep our home from being too feminine or whimsical. No pinks, purples or heaven forbid a gaudy Fuchsia in our relaxing home. Amber shades convey fun and warmth without being boring.  

Barbie Dream House colors, Fairyland themes nor Victorian fru-fru will do for our grown up home. Sorry Peter Pan but we all really do have to grow up sometime. Light and airy and lots of free comfortable space has become my thing. The goal is to avoid being beige boring too though. Too much beige and white and it starts to look sterile like the above photo. 

The tile in the living room and dining room has an occasional amber stroke through it. I'm not sure if you can see it, but it's there. Mi Miguel sees it. After staring at it while installing it for days on end, I'm sure we both see all kinds of colors that may or may not be there.

When we painted the walls, I was pretty sure a shade of turquoise would be just the thing. But after doing the abstract painting on one of the walls, I'm wondering if the rest of the walls should be toned down with a warmer color rather than the cooler turquoise. Come summertime we may not want so much warmth, we may want this cooler color on the walls. However, I'm seeing some kind of glaze being washed over it. Maybe a soft mostly white shade of sea glass green.

The 2016 color is rose quartz. Right now, I'm so in love with the color amber that,"Hey Pantone, amber should be the 2017 color of the year.

Decisions, decisions, so many paint decisions. While we're doing the finishing touches on the LR/DR, we're gearing up to start power washing the exterior of the house. By looking at the stone you can see the house needs power washed. I'm so excited about the color we've chosen for the exterior walls. It does beautiful things to the stone. With the current peach color the stone has such an orange appearance. Can you see how the stone is blended with the paint? With the color we've chosen believe it or not...amber tones show in that gorgeous stone. 

The new color will be a neutral color so that we can get creative with the entry door and shutters. The seawall will be reconstructed in sixty to ninety days. In the meantime we'll have no problem finding others things to do while we wait. There's always something that can be painted or organized while we wait. It would be fun instead, to run away from it all this weekend.

Maybe go to St. Augustine to see the oldest continuously populated city in Florida.

Or, we could go to Miami to see the incredibly gorgeous art deco district. Maybe it's best to skip this one until we've finished our house. I can see myself getting inspired by the architecture, the cars, the decor and colors from this era. I wonder if art deco comes in amber. Hm. 

If you're following my Facebook page Florida Restaurants A-Z, we'll be going to our K restaurant this evening.
 
    

Lighting Like Manna From Heaven

 A funny thing happened Saturday morning on the way to The Jay Starkey Park. A flea market caught my eye, which caused a knee jerk response from Mi Miguel. The next thing you know, we're strolling through the booths in our hiking boots and cargo shorts.

We've been looking for lighting for the living room, dining room and over the counter in the kitchen. This flea market was so much nicer than the one we had been to a few months ago. It's not as big as the Wagon Wheel but the merchandise is more of what you would expect to see at a flea market. As we neared the end of the booths and shops, I saw lights strewn about in boxes outside one of the shops on each side of the entrance. The big boxes didn't intimidate me, I'm not afraid to rummage, I'll dig if I have to, and so I did. Until, Mi Miguel poked me on the shoulder, pointed and said, "Look in the doorway." My eyes rode down his arm, then along his hand to the tip of his his index finger. It was like manna from heaven. This is what I saw...                                        

 more lights than you could ever imagine. We all use the word, amazing so often without any real reference to it's meaning. I can honestly say, this lighting store is absolutely amazing!
  

There are more lights than you could ever take in with just a glance. There are so many lights that it made me dizzy. It was so overwhelming that my blood sugar levels dropped which forced us to have to leave just half way into looking at the lights. I tried to fight it off but Mi Miguel knew I was about to go down. Not taking no for an answer, he made me go with him to get a sugary drink from a snack booth.

While waiting in line at the snack counter, we spotted my dear cousin Brian's throne. Standing there in front of it, sipping our drinks we realized we needed to get a picture of it for him. Before Mi Miguel could swipe his phone screen, a little five year old, sitting with her grandpa at one of the booths announced, "Just so you know, that's my chair." We smiled at her and she kindly gave us permission to proceed with the photo. Half way into the Fanta orange soda I found myself back in business. We returned to the light store with a mission of not leaving until we found all the light fixtures that we needed.

We searched for three hours and found four lights all for under $100.00. It's my new favorite store. That's the owners in the picture above. They are incredibly helpful and all about customer service. Each piece is carefully checked to make sure that it works and to point out any flaws.  

If you're ever in Northern Florida, add the Gunn Highway Flea Market to your list of things to do while visiting the Sunshine State. Make sure you stop in the Leppert Lighting store, you'll feel as though you've died and gone to heaven. I know I did. 

 We never found the park, all we could see were construction signs announcing new homes being built and their price range. The acreage was laden with concrete piping to be  installed. In truth a subdivision is being built. But in reality what's happening is that the residents of this county are losing such a beautiful view. We got frustrated with our GPS trying to find an entrance to a park that seemingly no longer existed and ditched the trail hiking idea. We did see this moss laden tree along the road.

It's cool to look at but sad that the moss eventually suffocated the once thriving tree.

Colorful turkeys reside in Florida, who knew? The Midwestern turkeys are always brown or some variation of it. I'm not sure if you can see the multi-colored feathers in this photo above, but now I know why kindergarten teachers have students make each finger a different color when we making hand print turkeys. 

On our way out of the park...I mean new home construction zone, we saw two black, grumpy looking birds. I'm not sure of their species. Maybe our friend, Steve knows. "Steve..."

Here's a few more shots of the birds. And as you can see in the photo below, they got frightened and flew away.

Their wings are huge. When I said black earlier, it's a deep rich black, lacking the sheen of a crow. 

They flew to safety in the tree and waited for us to leave and then returned to their watering hole.

We made it home, gobbled down food (turkey pun) and decided to head out to Lowe's to look for concrete stain. We found everything we needed. But, they wouldn't accept the driver's license veteran status as our proof of being prior military. So, we abandoned our goods at the checkout and proceeded to Home Depot. We bought our stain, concrete patch, cleaner and other supplies for our bathroom floor staining project. Home Depot kindly gave us our veteran's discount. I've always been a Lowe's customer, but I'm liking Home Depot more and more. 

The next morning, yesterday...Sunday, Mi Miguel went to the electric box, found the dining room switch and shut 'er down. Within an hour he had our flea market chandelier illuminating the planks with a cool design. I love it when light cascades something artsy on the ceiling and/or walls like this.  We chose this particular light because I convinced Mi Miguel that it had a Restoration Hardware Store look about it. I know that my description of this chandelier showed him that it had a gaslight feel to it too. He nodded in agreement, but I'm pretty sure he liked it simply because it meant one light down, only three more to go.   

The moment this one caught my eye, I knew it would look great in the living room. It has a jellyfish look to it. Can you see it? Mi Miguel couldn't either.

Maybe you can see it now. Doesn't it have the feel and look of a jellyfish underwater? Mi Miguel tried to see it too. He even squinted and got closer but he still couldn't see it or feel it. 

 

I've been looking for anything glass that has fish scales on it. I need it in order to create a certain ambiance that I'm going for in the living room and dining room. Mi Miguel came climbing at me through all the light fixtures to show me this beauty. I asked if there were another. He said, "Yes." 

I dove in this time, with a little persistence I gently collected a second one out from underneath several pendant lights of all colors shapes and sizes. As you can see Mi Miguel got both of them installed as well. While he did this, I finished the second coat of paint in the bathroom and I put a first coat of paint on our foyer closet. 

After experiencing Leppert Lighting, I now know what it's like to trip the light fantastic! I highly recommend that should you ever get the chance, you should trip it too.

With all of our concrete staining supplies sitting in our bathroom, we need to figure out how the heck you stain a concrete floor. It was too much to process after all the lighting chores. I should mention that we started organizing the garage yesterday and clearing out more clutter that's now sitting on the curb. 

We're tired, our minds are muddled with comprehending what technique to do with the bathroom floor. I made us each a nice cup of hot chamomile tea. Mi Miguel provided us with a mindless movie so we could kick up our feet, relax and enjoy marmalade toast and chamomile tea. We then went to bed thinking of nothing at all.