Sunday, November 29, 2009

Crawling!

My little bugger finally figured out how to crawl and he's into EVERYTHING!  It's a brand new adventure here at the Hall house. 



Update on the new house coming soon...

Love, Mer

Monday, November 23, 2009

Granny's Chairs

When my grandmother passed a few years ago, she left behind quite a few treasures to my family - tons of furniture, kitchenware, dining ware, artwork, jewelry, and all sorts of lovely things for us to remember her by.  My mother has been storing these chairs in her attic for the last 10 years and they have just been waiting for some TLC to bring them back to life!

My mother is pretty sure that Granny bought these chairs in 1963; I'm not sure if that makes them antiques or not, but their petite size and clean design suit me very well!!  So when we bought the house and started buying stuff to decorate it, my mom suggested that we buy some fabric and reupholster these babies to bring them back to life.  So I went to Mood Designer Fabric online (of Project Runway fame) and picked out a super cute chocolate brown and creme houndstooth fabric, and found a great little upholstery store in Cedar Park, and we're going to do just that.  They're going to end up being more expensive than new ones, but then again, they're my grandmother's chairs AND it coincides with my attempt to live as green as possible - reduce, reuse, recycle!  :)

Today when the delivery guys came to pick up the chairs and take them to the store, I took a quick picture of the chairs in all their avocado tweed glory.  They're still cute, even dusty, dirty, and avocado green!!  I thought it would be fun to do a before and after pic of the chairs...

Whatcha think?  hehe

Love, Mer






Friday, November 20, 2009

iPhones Taste YUMMY!

"Much better than those blueberry things", says Patrick.


Social Networking

So these days, I have a blog (actually two - one for personal, one for professional), plus I use Twitter, Facebook, Linked In on a regular basis.  And since I work from home with no social interaction every day, I actually find myself using ALL of them on an active basis.  I'm starting to realize - are my friends sick of hearing all about everything I'm doing at all times?  Shoot, I'm getting sick of *myself*!

Status updates on Linked In outline my hiring efforts, status updates on my Facebook page about random thoughts, notes on Twitter about recruiting, etc., status updates on my blogs about... I don't know... other stuff.  I'm rather overexposed.  And seriously, all this social networking sure takes up a lot of time!  Perhaps if I reduce my networking, I'll increase other things that I really should be doing... like GOING TO THE GYM and finally losing this stupid baby weight!

Plus, am I really as fun or interesting when everyone knows everything about me?  Surely not.  So I think I'm going to start using my blog more and using social network sites less. So if anyone actually gives a crap about what I have to say, I'm probably going to be saying it on my blog from here on out and less on every other tool. So TUNE IN or subscribe, si'l vous plait.

Love, Mer

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Dreaming

So everyone knows that I'm madly in love with my wonderful husband and can't live without him...   he's a great dad to my son, sweet and a thoughtful husband who loves me just the way I am...  but that man takes up WAY too much of the bed!   And no - he's not a bed hog (he's a cover hog); it's simply that he's IN the bed.  See, in a queen size bed, I need about 80% of the space in order to stretch out and get comfy; and that man has the *nerve* to take up about 40% of it!  ;)  The only time of night that I really get decent rest is after he's gotten up for the day and I scoot to the middle of the bed, stretch my arms and legs, cuddle all four pillows, and finally get some rest.

OK, yes, I'M the bed hog.  Blame all the years of gymnastics and cheerleading, or lugging around a 23 pound infant that can't walk yet, but I am one achy woman with a bad back that gets no sleep because I can't really get comfy.

However, that problem is about to be solved.  Aforementioned fabulous husband has bought me...  a Tempurpedic mattress!  IN KING SIZE!!!  Seriously, I love this man more and more every day. xoxoxoxo

Next Wednesday, the bed of my dreams is arriving to the brand new Hall house!  Firm and spongy, warm and enveloping, large and spacious - this bed is going to solve all my life's problems by providing me with the kind of sleep I haven't had in... well, 2 years since we commingled households.  

Last night, as I was tossing and turning because my back was killing me, jockeying for space (and covers) with Sheridan, I laid in bed and smiled... knowing that this fluffy piece of heaven would be arriving soon.  Only seven more days before I get to sleep on my new mattress in my brand new house...  yipppeeeeee!

Here she is - doesn't she look, well, dreamy?


Tuesday, November 17, 2009

MOVING!

Holy cow.  We're moving into the new house in ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!  That means that the walkthrough of the house is tomorrow and I only have 6 days to pack up this house.  Obviously I've started building the boxes, but now we need to fill them with all our stuff!  I always think "we don't have that much stuff", and then I regret it by realizing that WE HAVE A LOT OF STUFF!  So I really need to be diligent about this packing business.  If only I had the motivation...


Does anyone wanna come over and help me pack up the house?  Anyone?  Anyone??  (Crickets...)  That's what I thought.  Well, I better eat my Wheaties and drink lots of coffee - there's lots to do in a very short amount of time.

EEK!

Love, Mer

Friday, November 13, 2009

GO APPLE!




Go Apple, it's your birthday, we're gonna party like it's your birthday... Yeah boyyyyyyyyy!


Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Change of Plans


So over the last year or so, I've been an HGTV watching fool!  While I was pregnant, I watched tons of "Baby Story" and "Bringing Home Baby" on TLC, but as soon as Patrick arrived and we moved on to the house endeavour, Sheridan and I started watching a lot of "House Hunters", "My First Place", and I fell in love with the show "Color Splash".

OMG, "Color Splash"!  I DVR it and watch every single episode because the work that David Bromstad does totally inspires me.  Watching him create custom artwork for the rooms he designs is actually the reason why I decided to learn how to paint.  He is an incredible designer and is the cutest gay guy that God ever created - I want to be his BFF so badly!!  I can just see us hanging out in our PJs, drinking wine and having pillow fights while talking about boys and shoes.  It would be fabulous.  :)

Anyway, there is this one show where David designed a gorgeous, eclectic, mid-century modern dining room for this family and I just love the way it turned out.  I spent a good amount of time tracking down that episode so I could see exactly what chandelier he put in there, because I remember thinking it was so chic and fun.  I finally found it yesterday and yep, I still love the chandelier.  So I sent DB a message via Twitter to see if he could tell me where he got it... and he responded!!  I was so giddy and excited - it was like I met Barack Obama, or something...

Anyway, I felt it was a sign that a colleague of my husband's sent a coupon to us this morning for 20% off at Z Gallerie... because *that's* where this chandelier can be found!  So I talked to Sheridan about it, and he has agreed to go pick it up with me this weekend.  So no more capiz shell pendant chandelier, as noted in the prior post - this is going to live in the dining room instead of that one (hence, the change of plans, as noted in the title). 

Check it out, isn't it fabulous?  It's 47" long, so it'll stretch a good amount of the table we bought and provide a lot of light and fabulousness to the room.  With the cream leather chairs, colorful rug, and painting that I'm working on, this room is going to be tres chic!  I'm super, duper, uber excited. 



Here it is in David's room.  How cute is this?  (And did you see the portrait of the dog in the room?  This also inspired me to ask my mother in law for the portrait of Baci.  I'm such a copycat!)





Love, Mer

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Dear Santa,

Well, this year I have a VERY big wish list, so I'm going to start early!!  I swear I've been a good girl - I've been fruitful and multiplied, stayed out of trouble, have tried to be a good wife, mother, daughter, and friend, and try to help people in need/ donate/ volunteer as much as I can.  Will you please take those things into consideration???

Here's my Christmas list this year.  I'm sure it'll grow... so please standby.  :)


Mer's 2009 Christmas List 

**Chairs for our dining room -
*2 of these:




**Sideboard for the office:  


**This chandelier for the dining room:


**Couch (in chocolate brown, please):





**Rug in 8X10, please:


**Oh yes, and the currently unidentified PERFECT bedroom suit; you know what that is, right?  :)  .

OK, that's it for the house... for now.  Can I also have one of these too, please?



Thanks, Santa!!!  Can't wait to hear you shimmy down our brand new chimney on Christmas Eve.

Love, Mer  XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Monday, November 09, 2009

Mama's Little Fishy

Master P LOVES the water, so we spend a good amount of time every night letting him play in the water.  Saturday night, he was feeling particularly sassy in the bathtub, so we grabbed the camera.  Please pardon the baby talk - I was talking to the baby!  (Duh...)  ;)

Love, Mer

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Stuff For the New House

I'm so excited - I just bought a dining room table for the new house.  It's saal wood, reclaimed from old Indian railroad tie, restored, and pieced together to create a unique mosaic top.  It's green (not in color, but in eco-friendly terms, hehe) and super modern, and will create a cool focal point for our dining room, which is really the center of our house.  I want to pair it with leather parsons chairs, tons of acrylic candlesticks (not glass since we have a curious kid), a unique rug with lots of colors, and the painting that I'm working on... I think it's going to turn out to be a really cool room.

Re the rug, Sheridan's brother is deployed right now in Afghanistan (keep him in your prayers, please) and is looking into having a custom rug weaved for us.  We haven't quite figured out the logistics of it, but if we can make it work, we're going to have a really cool, custom room.  We'll see how that turns out.

Whatcha think of the table?





Meanwhile, we also bought a refrigerator.  YAY!!  We bought the biggest, baddest fridge we could find - we figured it would be a great investment for the family.  If P keeps eating like he has been... we're gonna need all the cubic footage possible to store tons of food to keep him fed as a kid/teenager.  Whew.

Two major items down, about 100 to go!  :)

Love, Mer