what's cookin, good lookin?

Happy Thursday!  Here's a short & sweet post about my latest kitchen ideas.

• Etsy Print:  AshleeAlaineDesigns.  Love these colors!
• Hood:  Whirpool.  We have this hood sitting in our garage, just have to install it!
• Dark brown cabinets:  This was just a random image I found online to show you the color we plan to stain our existing cabinets.
• White Subway Tile:  Again, a random photo I found, but I'm 99% sure I want this tile for the back-splash.
• Rug: Urban Outfitters, I actually just ordered this yesterday!
• Countertops:  The image shown is Martha Stewart Shoreline, but I'm not too picky.  I just want something light-colored, probably gray & white.
• Kitchen towels: West Elm, so bright and cheery!
• Fresh Flowers:  A no-brainer, flowers make every room more pretty.

What's your favorite kitchen accessory?

xo,

Rachael

dresser sneak peak!!

If you follow me on instagram, then you've already seen this picture but I finished Chloe's ombre dresser last night!!

Side note: Have you ever used the term "ombre" when speaking with someone who doesn't blog or use Pinterest??  I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain to people what I mean when I say "ombre dresser"!  Even Tony tried to tell me that ombre meant "man" (which is actually hombre) when I told him I was going to give Chloe "ombre toenails".  ("Man toenails??")

But back to the subject at hand, I love how it turned out!  I'll probably add drawer pulls at some point, but for now I'm happy with it.  Here is my inspiration picture:

via

I also got about halfway through hanging up all the newly-painted frames above the dresser, but I ran out of 3M Command strips, so off to Home Depot I shall go.  Here's a picture of some of the frames with their nice new coats of white paint (they're just laying on the carpet here).

And if you remember, this is how they looked before the magic of primer & paint!

Huge improvement, right??  I love how crisp they look now.

I promise to have more pictures of the final product by Thursday!  And thanks everyone for your lovely comments on instagram.

xo,
Rachael

this weekend, I...

This weekend,  I went to happy hour for work at Sazerac, where I discovered my new favorite drink - the Moscow Mule!  It's too bad that these drinks run about $15 each, because I could have downed ten of 'em.  They are ridiculously tasty!

Here's the recipe if you want to make your own:

Moscow Mule

1 ounce vodka

1 tsp. sugar syrup

Fresh lime juice

1/2 cup ginger beer

1 sprig fresh mint

1 slice of lime

This weekend, I spent some time with the family!  We celebrated my Dad's birthday/belated Father's Day/ his retirement at Lighthouse Park in Mulkiteo.  I love this park, it's right on the water and has amazing views. We BBQ'd steaks, chicken, and of course fish for me!  There was so much yummy food, and it was good to see everyone.  

This weekend, I caught the tail end of the Fremont Solstice Festival.  We didn't make it in time to see the Naked Bike Race and we missed most of the actual parade, but we did spend a few hours in the beer gardens, and we grabbed some yummy tacos at El Camion.

This weekend, I finally finished the last step in painting Chloe's ombre dresser and frames, which was spraying two coats of polycrilic over everything.  Tonight we're going to move the dresser back into Chloe's room and hang her photos, so if all goes well I should have tons of pictures to share tomorrow!

What did YOU do this weekend?

blog makeover

Hi everyone!  I'm super excited because I gave my blog got a face-lift yesterday, whoohoo!

Here's how it looked before yesterday:

I loved my old design but wanted something a little more bold.  I still need to tweak a few things though.  I love playing around with my blog design.  I'll be the first to admit I really have no clue what I'm doing, but it's so fun to learn as I go!

I don't know why the new header doesn't look white, even though it was white when I created it in picmonkey.  It's driving me nuts!  Anyone have any ideas?? (Sarah, this means you, hehe.)

Oh and my goal is to update my picture soon.  Maybe this weekend I'll have Tony take one...if I have a free moment to brush my hair, that is.

Here's my new button, let me know if you want to swap!

<div align="center"> <a href="http://homesweetharbor.blogspot.com" title="Home Sweet Harbor"><img src="http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m89/Rachael_017/newbutton_zps5ec76294.jpg" alt="Home Sweet Harbor" style="border:none;" /></a></div> Happy Wednesday!

50 Reasons My Dad Rocks!

June is a big month for my Dad!  Today is Father's Day, next weekend is his birthday, and most importantly, he retired this month!!  He's worked for the same company my entire life, so it's about time he stops working so hard and starts relaxing!

And now, here are 50 reasons that my Dad is the best!

1. I would always wake up to the smell of his coffee brewing, and to this day that smell still reminds me of him.
2. He nicknamed my signature move as a little kid “crazy kitty”, which included me spinning around on my hands and knees on the carpet over and over until I got so dizzy I fell over.
3. He called one of his hands “Spidey” and the other “Snake”, and they would crawl and slither and tickle us when we least expected it.
4. He would always warm up my car and scrape ice off the windows before school in the mornings.
5. He sold his motorcycle after he married my mom so they could buy a family van.
6. He likes his food slightly burnt.
7. He used to blow dry my hair after a bath if my mom was busy.
8. He’s always singing made-up songs that usually include our names.
9. He was (and probably still is) the official trash-taker-outer at our house.
10. He would make us grilled cheese and soup for dinner if my Mom didn't cook.
11. He permed his hair in the 80’s!  
12. He’s only shaved off his mustache once in my entire life.
13. He plays the drums at my parent’s church.
14. He’s always the man behind the video camera in our home movies.
15. He always offered to fill up my car with gas and put air in the tires, even after I moved out and was just there for a visit.
16. He and my mom have helped me move probably six times.
17. He’s in a band.
18. He passed down his goofiness to me.
19. He was class president of his high school.
20. He used to sneak us into his work building after hours so we could go to the top and see fireworks on the 4th of July.
21. He would always swim with us in the ocean, the lake or the pool.
22. He always puts others before himself.
23. He would always smooch my mom in the kitchen, which would be followed by a round of “Ewww, gross” from my sister and I, but actually taught me would a healthy marriage should look like.
24. He calls me “Rachie-Poo”.
25. He's always the driver on long family road trips.
26. He never complains about the amount of wallets & ties he’s gotten for Father’s Day or his birthday.
27. He has a crooked pinky from playing football as a kid.
28. He loves soaking up the sun while enjoying a delicious beverage.
29. He has great taste in music, and loves the Beatles, Pink Floyd, UB40 and R.E.M.  Those are the albums I remember growing up to.  Those, and the soundtrack to Footloose.
30. He used to take us to his office so we could type up our book reports for school, before we had a computer at home.
31. He gave an amazing speech at my little sister’s wedding, and I can’t wait to hear what’s in store for mine (whenever that may be!).
32. He always says the prayer before meals during family get-togethers.
33. He is an awesome Grandpa to his growing number of nieces and nephews!
34. He used to drop me off at the high school in his truck, “Old Blue”, before I had a car so I didn’t have to take the bus.  He called me his “silent drive partner” since I’m so grumpy and non-social in the mornings.
35. He loves Snickers and red wine (not necessarily together).
36. He’s always mowing the lawn in the summer, and the smell of freshly cut grass always reminds me of him.
37. He was always the person behind the video camera in all our home videos.
38. He used to bring his work lap top home and let me play on it.
39. He joined "Indian Princesses" with me when I was little (even though I only went twice because I was too shy!)
40. He's always tan!
41. He has a lot in common with Tony and they get along great.
42. He has a Facebook page.
43. He is the adventurous type, and does things like white-water rafting and zip-lining.
44. He has a huge collection of records.
45. He treats my mom so well!  I don't think I've ever seen them fight.
46. He raised my older brother and sister as if they were his own.
47. He has a great sense of humor (it's where I got mine, duh!).
48. He is Mr. Popular at his church.
49. He's super easy-going.
50. He never complains that his birthday and Father's day are usually celebrated at the same time.  Kind of a rip off if you ask me!

And I also want to give a shout out to the other Dad in my life, Tony!  We celebrated today by going out to breakfast and then kayaking around Gig Harbor.  It was so sunny and was the perfect morning!

Happy Father's Day, I love you both!

a letter to my 21-year old self.

Hey there 21-year old Rachael,

I'm here to give you a few words of advice, now that I'm older and much, much wiser.  Because you know,  hindsight is 20/20 and all that.

Rockin' out on stage with the band at the J&M!

1) You can legally drink, you’re single, and you live with a bunch of awesome girls.  Congrats, you’ve hit the trifecta of fun. Enjoy it while it lasts, because it will be over before you know it!

Some of the roomies!

2) You’ll watch the movie "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” for the first time this year.  Almost 10 years later, you'll still stop to watch it every time its on TV.

3) You know that “new” rapper you’re currently obsessed with, Kanye West?  Well, it turns out he’s kind of a d-bag.

4) Instead of wearing jeans, a graphic tee, and Adidas Superstars to the bars every single time… why not wear a skirt once in a while?  Throw on some heels?  Class it up a bit!

5) On that same note, you don’t need to buy all your clothes at Wet Seal.

6) Newsflash: Busch Light is not the be-all and end-all of beers.  

...but look how happy it made me!

7) How about cutting back on the frozen pizza?  Maybe put down that second fourth cookie and reach for a celery stick instead?  Your future self will thank you.

8) Try showing up to work on Friday without a hangover at least one time.  Just because Thursday night is the night to go out, it doesn't mean you should be crawling into bed at 3am every single time.

Soldier down.

9) Please don’t get so obsessed with every single guy you meet at the bars.  Your co-worker can only hear the words "I think I met my future husband last night" so many times before she starts to wonder about you.  Trust me, you are not going to meet your future husband any time soon!

10) You met a lot of awesome girls last year.  Even though you will still be super close to most of these girls ten years from now, things will never be the same as they are at this moment.  People get married, have kids, have careers.  Take the time to appreciate being carefree with your friends!

So many years of friendship with these ladies!

11)  And please, do yourself a favor and stop taking all your pictures with disposal cameras.  They aren't cute.

Xoxo,
Your 30-year old self

P.S. I can't wait to here what 40-year old me has to say about my 30's!!

prime time

Can anyone guess what I did this weekend?

I'll give you a hint.  It starts with a "p" and rhymes with "faint".  That's right, more painting!!  Luckily, no fainting, although the paint fumes weren't helping the situation.  I also did a lot of priming.

The first project I tackled was painting the entryway and hallway, which were still a baby blue color from when we moved in.  I used the same gray as the kitchen and dining area, Glidden Smooth Stone.

I realize that in this picture you can barely tell a difference between the before and after, but I swear in real life it looks 100 times better!  At some point we'll be painting that closet door white, and the front doors black.  We're still trying to come up with a plan for that hideous yellow-green window...

I also used Glidden Smooth Stone in the hallway.  Ignore the messy door frame, that will be painted white!  We are also going to continue our laminate flooring into the hallway, so the carpet you see here will be ripped up soon.  And I'm so excited to get something up on these bare walls!

 I also worked on two projects for Chloe's room this weekend.  I've mentioned in previous posts that I'm going to paint her dresser with an ombre effect on the drawers.  I went to home depot and had a paint sample made in each of these colors.  I cannot wait to finish this project!!

Because the dresser has a laminate finish (which is typical for most Ikea furniture!), I bought an oil-based primer.  This stuff is amazing, and can seriously stick to anything!  It's really smelly though, and my advice would be to use a paint brush or roller that you don't plan to re-use because water will not rinse this stuff off of anything...including skin.  Yep, I spent a good 20 minutes scrubbing my hands, arms, leg, you name it, trying to get this stuff off.  I even had a mild panic attack thinking to myself, "How can I go to work tomorrow with white hands???"  Luckily, most of it finally came off, but it was not fun.  So try not to get it on your skin if you can help it!

Here's the dresser before and then after I used one coat of the primer.  I did two coats and let it dry overnight, and tonight I plan to paint it.  I can't wait to post pics of the final project!

The second project I worked on for Chloe's room was arranging some frames to go above the dresser once it's finished.  I thought about driving to Ikea to buy some frames, but ended up stopping by Goodwill at the last minute and totally hit the jackpot.  I found two 8x10's and one 5x7, exactly what I needed, and for only a few dollars each.  The 8x10's at Ikea are $19.99 each, so I saved a lot!

First, I played with a few different arrangements on the floor.

Then it was time to paint the frames white!  I know some people love the mis-matched look of different frames, but for me I just love the clean look of all white frames grouped together.  I used the primer on the frames as well, and I will be using white paint tonight.  I even primed the matting as well so everything will be white on white.

Stay tuned to see the finished product!

We also watched "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" this weekend and I was surprised to find that I actually liked it!  It was a little tricky to figure out which parts were true and which were made up... like, did  vampires really fight in the Civil War?  Did Abe really lose his mother to a vampire?  Was John Wilkes Booth actually a vampire seeking revenge??

I'm no history buff so I guess I'll never know.

hello, there.

I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already!! I have been so incredibly busy both at home and work, so I’ve had to take a mini-blogging break.

This weekend Chloe’s cheer group marched in the Gig Harbor Maritime Parade. It was our first time checking out this parade, and it was actually a lot of fun!  I’m not normally a big fan of parades (unless it's Mardis Gras or Gay Pride - in that case count me in!!), but it was fun to see all the costumes and floats.  Tony even spotted one of his co-workers dressed as a pirate, so that was pretty awesome.  We only stayed to see Chloe’s group, and then we left to grab some pizza.

So darn cute!

We also (surprise, surprise) worked on the house and yard a bit this weekend.  Tony is almost finished laying the floors down, just has the hallway left, whoohoo!  I pulled a million weeds out of the front yard, and even came into contact with some stinging nettle!  I didn’t realize it grew in people’s yards, scary!  Luckily Chloe didn’t touch it, but I had red bumps on my arm, finger, and chin.  Random, right?

Oh, Tony and I have also been spending our evenings watching the new season of Arrested Development which is only available on Netflix.  I know a lot of people can't stand this show, but I 'm obssessed!!  I love subtle humor, and how there are ongoing jokes that have lasted over the seasons.

Hope your week is going awesome!