Hello July!

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July is one of my favorite months because it contains the day we celebrate Independence. Now, I could get completely dorky and teacher on you and explain why I like the American Revolution and what it means to me, but I won't. However, we must say thank you the French.

Besides all of that history "stuff" I like the forth because we get to show pride for our country!

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Love the blue door with the red star

Adorable!

Perfect for a party!

I've seen some CRAZY nails. These are too bad and patriotic!

I probably wouldn't do all the candles, but I like the overall feel.

I'm a sucker for flags...just need some sunflowers.

I miss the days of the bike parades. We used to completely deck out our bikes. I don't think many kids do it anymore. Sad.

I have 2 days to make this.

There are a lot of things going on for us in July, which I'll blog about later, but for now I'm excited to celebrate the 4th with friends and family.

What are your favorite parts of Independence day?

Kitchen lighting

When we first moved in we hung up a basic light above our kitchen table. It wasn't anything special but it did the job. It matched well with our kitchen sink and hardware but it was never my favorite. I wanted to get something a little nicer, especially since our house is very small and you can see it from almost everywhere downstairs.

first light

Sorry for the poor quality of photo

After my parents moved and downsized their home, they had quite a bit of "stuff" left. One of the things they were not using was their dining room light. I always adored this light. It definitely was not cheap so I'm happy to see it hung up some place where we can enjoy it.

I know it doesn't follow the "kitchen table rules" of lighting facing down but since we don't have a dining room I'm not following the rules. Either way, I'm in love...

I especially love how much more light it brings into our small room (obviously). We have a dimmer on it now but it's not working correctly. Once we fix that we will be good to go!

Love how just some little updates can change the look and feel of the room. This definitely dresses it up a bit more.

What are some of your favorite changes?

Thanksgiving Part 1: Decor

I've always wanted to host Thanksgiving at my house, however we don't have a formal dining room and the eating are we have is quite small. Unfortunately in this home I will never be able to host Thanksgiving for both my family and J's family. But that's okay...one day!

This year we are actually having Thanksgiving at our home for J's family, since not everyone can make it. This means there will be a total of five people, maybe six, including ourselves. I think we can handle that.

Here's the problem. As excited as I am I'm completely freaking out about everything. In a good way of course. I could have blogged about all of this in one post but that would have been a lot. So I decided to break it down into food and decor. You'll understand why soon, especially after you read the food post. Which leads me to today's post...decor.

Normally I am all over the decor. I know exactly what I want and I know I want everything looking fabulous! For Thanksgiving, not so much.

It's all about this dishes. They are the start of your tablescape. Once the dishes are set, everything else just seems to fall into place. I have FiestaWare. LOVE IT!! I can't say enough good things about it...except for sometimes it's too bright and summery. There is a brown Fiesta plate (which I don't own) and dark green (which I don't care for), and dark blue but that's about has "warm" the colors get. My entire house is based off of browns, golds, deep reds, etc. Fiesta is great for daily dining but not so much for formal dining.

I'd love to have a whole set of dishes like these just for Thanksgiving

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I'll take these in a heartbeat

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Paired with these

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But in reality 1) I don't have the storage for them and 2) how many times will we have Thanksgiving here with 5-6 people to really use them. 

So I guess I'll have to go with my good ol' Fiesta unless I can come up with something else.

When I was in middle school and high school I used to always tell my mom I was going to use paper products because it would be so much easier. She told me I was crazy. But to me, the true meaning of Thanksgiving is to spend time with family and friends and be thankful for what you have. The majority of the time is spent in the kitchen and let's just get rid of one more thing to clean up and use paper! I don't think that would go over very well...

If you host Thanksgiving at your home, what dishes do you use? Your every day dishes? Do you have china? Do you have special Thanksgiving dishes?

What I'm loving Wednesday!

Linking up with Jamie today for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

These great free printables!

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More free printables!

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These beautiful tablescapes

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Wreath

(I think I could do without the legs)

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House Projects: kitchen

J and I have been back and forth about when is the right time to move. It's a tough decision and a lot of things went into deciding what to do. I think we have come to the conclusion that we are going to stay where we are for another year or two. While I'm a little bummed about the decision (who doesn't want to find the home that you will love for years), I understand the reasoning and know that it's just not meant to be right now. So, since we will be here for a while longer there are so things I want to do to this home. We've done a lot already {thank you parents and inlaws} but there is still a lot to be done.

First up, my wonderful father put up the tile in our kitchen. We had new counter tops installed last summer and it definitely took a whole year before we put the back splash up. Now that it's up we have to paint the entire downstairs...all the walls are connected and they're all the same color (but one). Confusing? Yes. I'll show pictures soon.

Anyways, the first small order of business is to replace the kitchen curtains. I bought pretty cheap ones when we moved in five years ago thinking I'd replace them shortly after. Yep, they're still there. They look very dated now that we have nicer counters and tile. Now I just have to decide what to get!

Here is what I have now. I'm not sure if I like the topper because it gives off a lot of light or if I want something longer. I think I'll do a floral print of some sort. Not sure yet. {ignore the blind...Wembley got stuck in the string and messed them up...tile still drying and need finishing pieces}

 Here are a few options I like:

*Note: Most of these I like for the style

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Love these curtains but I think they're too fancy for the house we live in now.

Next home!

What kind of curtains do you think best suites a kitchen?