Leigh vs. Laundry

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

A Little House Tour :: My New Creative Space

Over the weekend, I gave my home office

(which is a corner in the living room)

a little makeover.

I found this awesome refinished desk

at an antique store in Atlanta.

I feel like my creative space looks

like a place where Jane Austin might have

written at once upon a time.

Minus the computer, of course.

You know me though,

it's the little details that make me happy.

Like this lovely framed picture

of Roger and I from our honeymoon in Hawaii.

We took a private boat tour of the coastline

and smooched beneath a waterfall

where the locals used to baptise royal babies.

So romantic and dreamy.

I just love to ornate drawer pulls on my new desk.

Don't tell anybody but that rug under there

was in a "take" pile on the curb of a fancy house in Atlanta

after their garage sale was over.

A beautiful free rug?

I'll take it!

Oh and this pretty pitcher was

a flea market steal.

It makes the perfect pen holder.

I just love displaying this metal

that Roger's late Grandma won years ago

for 1st place in a Horseshoe tossing Olympics.

I also found this lovely print

at the same antique store as I found the desk.

I just want to crawl into the painting

and read a book on that bench!

My new space is the perfect place

for me to finish my novel.

Thanks for allowing me to share it with you!

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The Happiness Project :: Week 32

I rarely talk about my man on my blog

because he's super super private

BUT...he caught a big ol' fish over the weekend!

This is a big deal for many reasons.

First of all, I come from a fishing family

and Roger and my dad have been going fishing together a lot lately.

It's been like a magical elixir of contentment for The Mister.

He loves spending time on the pond and is a happier man for it.

So, he was so sooo excited to hook

this big honkin' fish.

It was pretty exciting for all of us

and we celebrated with him.

Koen was so curious and cute,

peaking inside to check out the fish's mouth.

It was a huge event for our little family.

Want to join me in my quest
to scout out happiness for a whole year?
Simply post a photo of something that
makes you wildly happy and tell us all about it.
Then, steal my button and include it in your post.
Don't forget to link up to Mr. Linky.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Throwback Thursday :: How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Pumpkin

Originally posted 08/18/11

So I got all smarty pants yesterday and for some reason

decided that I wanted to start

a new "How to" series on my blog.

So here is the first in a series

of what will probably bereally bad ideas.

How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Pumpkin

Step 1: Drag your kids to Walmart (with good intentions).
While there you will need to pick up

*A pumpkin

*The cheapest black spray paint they have

*Tape

*Doilies

*A Sharpie

Step 2: Tape a doily to the pumpkin.
At this point you should have high hopes
that a whimsical pattern will appear on the pumpkin.

Take a moment to feel super creative and smart.

Step 3: Spray paint the crap out of the doily.
Be sure to hold the spray paint can way too close to the pumpkin.

Also, let your fingers get in the way
of the paint as it sprays
so that you get a ton of smelly black paint
on your fingers and under your fingernails.

Start to feel unsure about your little project being successful.

Step 4: Remove the doily to uncover
what could be the ugliest pumpkin
ever to be created.

Flip pumpkin to other side
in an attempt to try again.

Repeat steps 2-4.

Step 5: Draw a face with a Sharpie
in an effort to fix the ugliness.

Accept that you just created a pumpkin that
looks like it has some sort of disease.

Give up dreams of being the next Martha Stewart.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

On a rainy day...

I call this photo my

"instant cheerer upper".

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The Happiness Project :: Week 31

I chaperoned a class field trip for Griffin

and had the pleasure of driving

three spastic best friends in my car for 2 hours.

I listened in on a rousing game

of truth or dare that unfolded in the back seat.

It was very educational.

We headed to a gold mine in the outskirts

of the North Georgia mountains.

We panned for gold.

Look, there's gold in them there hills!

We did a little gemstone mining.

We also travelled miles down into the gold mines.

We saw some amazing sights

and learned some really cool facts.

I love being a stay-at-home mama

so I can be available to go on these fun trips.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Throwback Thursday :: The Inept Throwback

Originally posted 01/18/10

I am an inept throwback to the 1950's housewife. Our grandmothers just seemed to know how to be domestic engineers with flair. I could blather on and on about how it's the most important job known to man or ramble almost incoherently about how it's a thankless job it (especially since my 9 month old has kept me up all night and has woken up for the day at 5 am that last 3 nights). I love being a Stay at Home Mom but I am constantly laughing at the fact that I am the one running this household. For the most part, I love this job and in my heart I want to keep the house tidy. I wish that I could throw together an elaborate dinner made from scratch every night. In my heart, the kids are always clean and dressed. The reality is that most of the time they have remnants of lunch on their faces and Griffin spends the afternoon running around on the couch in his underwear while a store bought casserole cooks in the oven.

It's comical that I am the one in charge of the laundry because I am challenged when it comes the completing the task. We typically have two laundry baskets in the living room full of clean and unfolded clothes. We simply select the clothes we want to wear from the baskets. We spend some time searching for various items and nine times out of ten, Griffin goes to school in socks that don't match. My husband goes to work with two different socks on all of the time. It's awesome.

It's ridiculous that I am in charge of keeping the house tidy because I am the messiest person on the planet. Once, in High School, my best friend was rummaging through my drawers and found a half eaten Snicker bar stuck to a pair of tights. I wasn't even ashamed when she pointed it out to me. I just shrugged and went on with my life.

I adore the concept of the 1950's housewife, as absurd and outdated as it may seem. The whole notion of running a smooth household is a mystery to me. I just love the idea of creating this wonderful space for your family to live in. I love the romantic notion of being this well groomed woman that has her sh*t together and drives to the grocery store in fancy shoes. Yet...I can laugh at my inability to be that woman.

As I float through my home and look at all of the crap that needs to be done to keep it nice and tidy I am not willing to make the sacrifices needed to have that perfect home. I would rather let the dishes sit in the sink and play Go Fish with Griffin instead. I would rather let the laundry sit unfolded as we dance around the living room. The mopping can wait as I sit on the floor and play with Koen. My home is not perfect but in my heart, I am the type of Woman who can do it all. In reality, not so much.

Thank God my family loves me despite the fact that I am domestic joke.