Berry Wedding Bliss

Today at work I was digging through a pile of June wedding proposals when I came across a bride's request to have their cake decorated with fresh strawberries, mint, and blueberries.  For some reason {maybe my yearning for summer and fresh blackberries} this struck me as so endearing and incredibly Americana.  It's the perfect detail for a small, intimate wedding.  I'm thinking of a ceremony on my parent's boat dock and reception on my parent's easement lawn.  There would canoe rides in the sunshine, cafe lights when the sun goes down, and firefly nets for the kiddos {never mind that I've never seen a lightning bug in Oregon}.  I'd do all red flowers - think ripe strawberry - in piles of lushness.  There would be picnic tables, family style, and piles of fresh rosemary bread, brie, garden tomatoes and golden lemonade which we'd all sip from grandma's mason jars.  Each guest would leave with a red, monogrammed tote {pre-filled with a heartfelt "thank you for coming" card, Bellegem waffle mix from Williams & Sonoma, a carton of fresh Oregon berries, and a bottle of pecan syrup} And sparklers.  Lots of sparklers.

Blog Breakdown...

Please bear with me as I work to find a new layout for The House of Thorn's.  My last template broke up with me - apparently I had too much to say and it couldn't handle it.  It started freaking out and now I'm in search of a lovely new layout. Any suggestions are appreciated!

xoxo
N

The Glamorous Life

Sorry I've been MIA lately.  Our family of three has been busier than I ever dreamed possible {at least busy and still sane}.  So, what's really been happening at the House of Thorns?  Well, get ready because I don't know if you can handle this much glamour from one family...

It started with our shutters.  In case you don't remember, when we bought our little place it was still rockin' its original 1930's shutters and was in need of a little updating to keep up with the neighborhood  {remember this?}.  Being the DIY-ers that we are, we {and I mean Chris} decided to build our own. 

{this pretty shot was taken in our lovely basement}

Once they were all cut and assembled, we put P to bed and started painting!

{Yes, I took this of myself because I had to prove I was really there and, if you look closely, you can see black paint on my fingers}

Above is our before with the shutters removed {and in the middle of painting the trim white}

And voila!  The new shutters are perfect!  But, why stop there?  We decided that our new shutters called for a yard makeover so we started digging and bought Chris a new lawnmower.

And because the previous owner obviously had an allergy to yard work of any kind, we had to plant new grass.  And this, of course called for a sprinkler system which turned into a month long irrigation installation {again DIY} and we lived with a huge mud pit while Chris chipped away at it.  I honestly was not sure that we would ever get it done but sure enough... TODAY we planted our seed!  I had Chris say a little grass blessing and then I strapped P on and off we went!  Seeding and fertilizing.  See... I told you we are super glam. 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that somewhere along the way our little car had a mid-life crisis.  So that was fun.  The Hub is incredibly smart so this was another DIY project that he took on...

Part of this project involved getting to the gas tank which is apparently under the backseat {does this not seem incredibly un-safe to anyone but me?!} so out the seat came!

P and I lent moral support which was much appreciated.  That is, until I decided that exposing my child to gas fumes is irresponsible parenting so we went inside.  {Did I mention that Chris did this all in the rain AND while wearing head to toe J Crew?  That's my husband.}

While the rain was coming down, our outside projects came to a standstill so we moved inside.  We have a gross side door that enters into the kitchen but also to the stairway that leads to our basement.  Eventually this will all be beadboard but until then, it needed a little freshening.  So, we called on my friend MS @ Home Depot {she has the BEST paint palette!} and went to work painting the stairway "Sharkey Grey" and the door and stairs plain old black.  Here's the before:

Here's the during...

Almost finished...

Done!

So, you're wondering what Paley the Incredible was up to while we were slaving away on house stuff?  She learned to crawl!!  

I have to admit that while the last two months we have been going non-stop, we've also made time to enjoy the NW spring.  

{Chris made a Paula Deen Mac-N-Cheese for Easter!}

{Auntie Sierra & Uncle Zach}

{P and Poppy Pat}

{Paley LOVES her GG days full of singing, dress up and tap dancing!}

{first time down a slide...}

{our little city girl does not love grass yet and much prefers the comfort of scratchy concrete}

So that's it in a nutshell.  I'm surprised you made it this far into this fabulous update. We are working hard and still knee deep in loving this house and I'll try to do better at keeping you posted.  Now, I'm off to edit my closet for summer... next project: garage sale???