MIA

I've been a little quiet lately but don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you! Things have been busy here and I've been a little under the weather, not to mention Hurricane Tropical Storm Frankenstorm Sandy. My family comes first, without question and I know that this little blog will be waiting for me. I don't want this to feel like another obligation, but rather something that I use as a platform to share my ideas and hopefully inspire others. I was offline for two days straight and it felt so GOOD! Yes, it meant a ton of catch up, but it was totally worth it. I highly recommend unplugging every now and then. And my apologies for the delay in responding to comments and emails.

In the meantime, please check out and like my (very) new facebook page.

As you can see, there's not much on it now, but I'm going to try to be more active. Lots of love to those of you who already have. And if you don't want to miss a post, simply subscribe by RSS or email on the right of the page.

Be back soon!!

What's Been Going On...

As some of you may have heard or even experienced yourself, there was a HUGE wind and lightening storm Friday night that caused severe damage in our area. (If you follow YHL, you know that Sherry and John were effected also.) Our local gas and electric company had over 600,000 people with reported outages. Needless to say, I've been out of touch with blogland and most certainly haven't gotten any DIY done around here. We finally got our power back on Monday night around 9:30 pm - almost 72 hours after the storm. Our house was a cool 87 degrees. Luckily we have a basement which is about 15 degrees cooler than the upstairs so we were sleeping down there every night. The kids loved it and thought it was a fun sleepover party. For the hubby and I, not so much. Once it gets dark outside, there is literally nothing to do unless you want to read by flashlight. I don't know how people used to manage - we are so spoiled! Here's a sample of the damage that was left behind after the storm.

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The worst part was that my office closes every year the week of July 4 so I was hoping to get a ton done while I was off. Instead I'm playing catch-up on household work and we're going to spend our day stocking up the fridge and freezer. I don't even want to think about all the food that we had to throw out.... Yesterday I did a couple errands and got some supplies for some projects I hope to complete, but right now my work area is looking like this:

Can you say "disaster zone"? I can't even explain half of the stuff that's there so don't bother asking! Just keeping it real for you :-) Now before I get anything done, I have some major cleaning to do. Hopefully I'll be back next week with something fun to show you.

Until then, have a great July 4th! Enjoy all the barbecuing and fireworks and God bless America!

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I'd like to thank the Academy...

I was going to wait until I had reached a major milestone in my (short-lived) blogging career - maybe after 100 posts, a year of blogging, or a significant amount of followers, but the blogging world has been so good to me that I simply couldn't wait any longer. I want to thank all you amazing readers who somehow stumbled upon this blog of mine and for all the comments and support you give me.

Like I said, my blog is basically a newborn - I haven't even reached the six month mark, but I feel so  fortunate to have had some of my work featured on some incredible blogs. For those of you reading by email or in a reader, here's a screen shot of what I'm referencing.

DIY by Design, House of Hepworths and Beneath my Heart all featured my Mudroom, my Crispy Onion Baked Potatoes Recipe was featured by Serenity Now, and my Knock Off Pottery Barn Eagan Mirror was featured by Thrifty Decor Chick.

Imagine my utter surprise, shock, and amazement when I received an email from Jessica at become.com that her editor chose me to receive an "Editor's Pick Award"!! Like, pick-my-jaw-off-the-floor shocked. The website has links to niche blogs that talk about product reviews, tips, ideas and buying guides for everything from home and garden, baby gear, pet care and health/beauty. (No, I'm not getting paid or perked for mentioning them, I just wanted to give them a little shout-out to thank them.)

Enough with the rambling - I just want to thank you all again. I never dreamed that I would be so lucky and that others would actually find my projects as great and fun as I have creating them.

Just to close with one fun thought:

via Pinterest