Redemption Weekend (thus far)

Happy Sunday! 

Last weekend was spent tending to Anna Ruth's stomach bug.  It was terribly sad and required load after load of laundry.  We holed up inside and watched loads of Blues Clues.  

So THIS weekend has been redemption weekend. 

By far. 

We've had date night with candles and the best cheese and crackers EVER, sausage and hashbrowns for breakfast, mysterious fog...

well, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Because they always do, don't they?

I got the idea to tidy up our dining room and great room shelves a bit. As I was looking for the photos to put on the "after" version I came across these old pictures.  So funny.  This is how our dining room looked once upon a time.....and then,

it went to looking like this,

and then this....

and THEN this.....

and finally:

the final AFTER.  (we can all let out a collective sigh of relief now...ahhh)

Here's our dining room now, I'm happy to say!  

I always, always have ideas for changing things up and decorating in our home.  Lately I've been trying to "reign it in" and make my style and ideas a bit more clean and classy and styled.  We spend at least half of our days around or near this table.  It has stories to tell the walls only dream of telling if they could talk.

Just some little close-ups of the art and plants and jars I moved around a bit.  The plant in the can idea came from my sweet friend Natalie, at Natalie Creates!   You should definitely check out her blog.  I even got to hang at her house last week and can I say it was even more wonderful and beautiful and calming once you get inside!  

I already changed what was inside this...

I just can't help myself people! 

I actually took down my mini She Art canvases I painted and hung them on my new(ish) inspiration wall in the craft room.  I suppose I'll share a photo soon.  :) 

This was the view during the process of restyling all the shelves!  This is what I see when I stand at the kitchen sink.  And I stand at the kitchen sink a lot.  SO, I want it to be a view worth glancing at!  This was the "before"........

and here's the "after"!  I moved some things around on the shelves and simplified the mantle some...

and meet the newest little lady around the Torbett house, the angel on the mantle...

the huge She Art (inspired by Christy Tomlinson's She Art online class I've mentioned a dozen or oh, a hundred times!)....

I'll share more details on this little angel soon.  Or pictures at least! 

Most of the folded quilts came from my momma.  She is an extremely talented seamstress and makes gorgeous......everything.  Quilts especially.  These are worth more to me than gold. (and yes, we really do use them)

We also had the most magical, mysterious fog this weekend!  I just love fog.  Especially when it happens on the days I can run out on the back deck in my jammies to snap a few pictures of it, then run back inside and eat a plate of delicious breakfast food and guzzle coffee. 

I see God everywhere in this picture.

We also spent time in the garden,
ate delicious food at a restaurant (where both girls did so great.....Betsy dipped her fingers in ketchup consistently and I let her so I could eat my fish tacos, lol),
I watched a ridiculous chick flick with popcorn and diet coke in the coziness of my bed,
played "hide and seek" with Anna Ruth in the yard,
tickled Betsy and laid in bed with her for a minute (a rare, so sweet moment),
laughed hard at Brett as he did a stretch to "align his back", (still laughing),
just lived.

Really lived this weekend.  I dumped out some fears and UNconfident thoughts to Brett and let the weekend soar.  And soar it has.

And just think, it's only Sunday.
:)