HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!

Today one of my very BEST friends is celebrating a very important and special Birthday!

Janell Beals of the oh so popular blog, Isabella and Max Rooms, is celebrating her 50th birthday today!!! First of all, can you believe that??? This woman is one foxy lady (trust me I know!).

For weeks I’ve been wondering what to get her. I mean really, what do you get someone for a birthday this special? A J.Crew gift card? Personalized stationery? Flowers? I couldn't think of anything to give her that I thought was worth giving. Janell has been my blogging friend since day one (over two years ago), she has been a great confidant, teacher, and most recently boss! We toss idea’s back and forth, I trust her with everything…EVERYTHING! She is never too busy to respond to me regardless of how unimportant the situation is. She is a good listener, advice giver and receiver. She is fabulous in her own right… Seriously, she has done things that I use to feel were only dreams of mine, but now I believe and know that they are possible.

She is going to kill me for telling this story, but here goes (She is across the country for goodness sake!)

When I first met her in New York last year, I remember her being very worried about her age. So right before bed, we were talking and she brought it up again. She said, “you know, I’m probably older than your mom”. I was like okay Janell, that’s a stretch, but how old are you? She said 49. She said 49 and she went on and on about how she was nervous to meet everyone else because we all were probably younger than she was. The entire time she was talking, I was thinking “This is so cool!”. How cool is that for a 27 year old to inspire to be just like this soon to be 50 year old! From the beginning I have always said I wish I was her! I also have always said that 50 has to be fabulous (especially after watching Oprah celebrate her 50th birthday). Janell is one of those bloggers that can give you a run for your money. I mean seriously, I am now 28 and I don’t think I can keep up with her!

Janell, I haven’t found you a gift that I think is worthy of giving, but until then, will you accept a Thank You or two or three?!

Thank You for being my friend

Thank You for always lending me your ear

Thank You for giving me a chance to work with you

Thank You for always believing in me

Thank You for being that shoulder to cry on even though you’re far away

Thank You for being an inspiration

Thank You for being my only non family follower for months

Thank You for sharing your wisdom

Thank You for being you and showing us that 50 is fabulous as long as you want it to be!

With all of that being said,

Happy 50th Birthday

Janell!!!

I love you girl!

MASTER BEDROOM UPDATE…

 

 

I just purchased a set these for my bedroom! Now if I can just find a duvet

Happy Monday!

DECISIONS FOR THE MASTER BEDROOM

There are a few decisions I must make in the master bedroom before I can continue.  One being whether or not I should change the headboard to an upholstered one

I think most of you love the current headboard in my room, but it never really did it for me

I think it’s the height of the headboard in my room that’s the problem for me…Maybe I could raise it up somehow?

Then there are the lamps

I’m thinking they need to be a little heftier.  I found a pair at a thrift store that I can spray paint that would probably do the trick!

and lastly, bedding…

 

This is probably why I gave up last time.  Bedding is the hardest thing for me to decide on in my room.  I need something basic.  And I need it to be in the right color.  Not but, but not cream.  I always think ivory, but sometimes what a company considers ivory is not what I consider ivory

I really can’t wait to finish this space.  Every time I look at the above picture, I realize that I’m so close!

Who else is going to see Cars 2 tonight?!!!

BUILDING MY BUSINESS AND MY BRAND…

I’m assuming you’re wondering what I’ve been up to. Maybe you’re not, but to make me feel better I’ll just tell ya:

I’m blogging on my other blog!

I wasn’t going to say anything, but I didn’t want you to think I was keeping a secret from you.  I’m going to continue to blog here, but Swoon Worthy Boutique will be the blog that I feature my shopping excursions for vintage treasures and my transformations of said treasures! I’m slowly but surely making it into the business I want it to be.  Home to three Duncan Boys will still exist as mentioned, but I will only talk about things that I do for my home, deals I may find for the home that I think you may enjoy, DIY projects for my home, and etc.  Basically,  this blog will be all about my home and my boys from time to time.  I love this blog and I love my readers (you guys!), but it’s time for me to start building my business and my brand and I have to separate the two.  Plus I think some of you could care less about my ramblings so Swoon Worthy will be perfect for you! I am starting to build my furniture collection so there will be plenty of furniture makeovers coming up over there!

So, with all of that said…

If you’re interested in furniture refurbishing and watching  my dream of owning my own business come to life, pop over and follow me there too

I hope to see you there soon!

Click here to check out the blog

PS, I have not abandoned my master bedroom

CONVERSATIONS WITH COCA-COLA

On Monday and Tuesday (June 13^th and 14^th) I had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with some amazing women

(first two images courtesy of Dresden Shumaker)

(photo by Cate O’Malley)

Originally I had planned to skip this event (is that being too honest?) due to the fact that I am sick of going to “conferences” or anything similar and walking away with nothing beneficial. I’m so happy to say that this was totally not the case with this event! Seriously, I don’t know where to start when it comes to talking about things I learned, the inspiration, and all of the positive energy a girl can dream of being surrounded with! It all started with a presentation with Elisa (one of the cofounders of blogher)

Then we were put into groups where we made vision boards

It’s amazing how such a simple project can make a huge impact on your life! After the projects we listened to a presentation by a McDonald’s representative which gave us insight on how McDonald’s is all about sustainability and how they encourage healthy eating habits by introducing new and healthier options to their menu.

After lunch, another panel of people was brought in. This time is it was a group of women in leadership positions for Coca-Cola! This was probably the biggest treat of the entire event. To be able to listen to how these women live positive lives and work for a huge cooperation (Coca-Cola) and lift other women up as they climb! Don’t you love that last part? “Lift up as you climb” was a quote by one of the women and I couldn’t agree more. In a world where I see more and more of what I call the crabs in the barrel syndrome where everyone is trying to get out and not help each other, it was refreshing to hear that.

(Photo by Cate O’Malley)

(My choice of beverage? An ice cold Shirley Temple! image by Cate O’Malley)

I really could go on and on with a step by step run down of what happened at “Conversations with Coke” event, but I’ll spare you and just tell you what I learned:

*Coke is a brand that is all about positivity. No matter how much people try to go against them with negative jabs about their products, they continue to thrive and help communities.

(I miss these ladies! Photo by Dresden Shumaker)

*The women in leadership at Coca-Cola are truly that…LEADERS! They encourage one another, they are serious about their position, and they work hard at their jobs and maintaining a healthy home life.

*One of Coca-Cola’s biggest Allies, McDonald’s, shares Coke’s vision of living positively and being healthy and they push really hard to get those messages across.

*Coke is not a business that take, take, and take. Did you know that their bottling facilities make sure that their waste water goes back to the environment clean? And that they make it possible for other countries such as Africa to have clean drinking water for their schools?

*I also learned that Coke owns a lot of brands such as Minute Maid, Simply (lemonade, orange juice, apple juice), Fuze, etc

Overall, this was a fun and enlightening experience. After being surrounded by soda for two days and listening to how great Coke is as a company, I’m going to start purchasing a little more for my household. I figure that would be my way of contributing to their generosity when it comes to giving back!

I REMEMBER ME…

Do you ever look in the mirror and ask yourself what happened to the person you use to be?  With kids, marriage, and work, you can easily forget what made you…well, YOU!  At a recent event I attended, we had to do a project that consisted of us putting together collages that represented different things in our lives.  I originally planned not to attend this event because frankly, I’m burned out when it came to “conferences” and anything that’s similar to one, but I decided to bite the bullet and go plus it was in town so why not!

The three topics we touched on were: things that we were struggling with in our lives, what we would like to achieve, and what would be the outcome.  Here is my collage

The front of my board basically was about what I’m dealing with in my life right now.  Needing help, finding balance, wanting words of encouragement, trying to better my relationship with my husband, wanting peace in my life, needing a makeover and to lose weight, and wanting to smile more…are all of the things I’m struggling with at this very moment.  When you turn the board over, you’ll see

Here you will find me motivating myself to pursue dreams and stop waiting around.  You will also see  how color inspires me. I found phrases that inspire me like “ never let a period take center stage” and “bedtime is not for sleeping”.  The first phrase “never let a period…” made me think of some personal feelings and things that I went through with a few bloggers that literally made me want to walk away from blogging.  It made me realize that I can’t let one “period” in my life dictate what I was going to do the rest of my life.  The second phrase “bedtime is not for sleeping” made me think of Janell and how she works hard after the kids are put to bed and early before they awake in the morning.  Hard work is the key to getting what you want out of life so I can’t spend hours sleeping

 The last image of the designer sitting in the chair…well, that represents me! It represents the day that I ‘arrive’ for lack of a better word! After all the hard work, after all of the ups and down, at the end of the day I will arrive and none of what I’m going through now will matter except but to encourage others with a similar story to let them know that no matter what they are going through, they can arrive too!

It’s hard staying true to who you are and not letting other people and situations bring you down, but if you can just remember who you are or who you were, it is possible to get back there.  Do you remember you?!

MASTER BEDROOM: Table Reveal!

Hellllooooo out there! I’m back today for the not so thrilling reveal of the table in my bedroom

You remember what I started out with, right?

I decided to paint the top

Then I showed you the during stage of me “stapling” the fabric around the table

I haven’t finished off the bottom of the skirt nor have I added the ribbon trim around the top of the table to cover the staples.  I’m trying to see if I like it.  I think a more free flowing fabric with some type of print would look great on the table (don’t you?).  Now I need to find a fabric that I think would work…

For some reason I’m getting a banquet table vibe from looking at these pictures

 

GUEST POSTING AND STILL WORKING ON THE TABLE

Good Morning! Today I’m over at Lori’s blog talking about my boys rooms

I’m also still working away on the table in my bedroom

I tried to clean the base just to see how it would look all shined up…

Below is what it looked like after I scrubbed the heck out of it… Yeah, not a good look

So I just gave up with that and started priming the top

Because this table is in my room and I didn’t want to haul it downstairs, I needed a primer to use that I didn’t need to sand the surface, and that did not have too much of an odor… This is where this goodness comes in!

I’m always asked about what primers I use on my different pieces.  I’ll try to post about the different ones.  I use about 3 or 4 different primers depending on the piece I’m working on…

Anyway, I primed the top of the table

And that was one coat… The coverage was really good!

Then I painted it the same white as the other white in my room and started adding the fabric.  Here is a sneak peek of that!

More about the table tomorrow!

Don’t forget to check me out on Lori’s blog!