AWESOMELY DELISH--MEXICAN SHREDDED BEEF TACOS

Greetings TLB friends--

I hope you've all had a great week!

On today's blog I actually combined two recipes that my family really enjoyed. Stop on over, I think you'll like the result too....

FRESH NEW COLOR

It's so rewarding and fun to refresh a home! I think it's my favorite part of home ownership. A couple years ago we tackled the kitchen renovation in our vacation house.

CHIC DIY INSPIRATION

Welcome to Wednesday TLB friends!

Today's blog is all about INSPIRATION! I find inspiration all around me. Truth be told, and my husband will attest to this, much of my inspiration comes from something that is usually over my budget. That's where my inner DIY girl comes into play. There's a certain satisfaction that I get when recreating something that has a hefty price tag on a modest budget.

A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM TLB

Hello TLB Friends!

As we all know "life" has a way of dictating our future, and mine has taken quite a few turns over the past year. My philosophy has always been, "God doesn't give you more than you can handle." In today's blog I'll bring you all up to speed......

Last year my husband's company did some downsizing in preparation of a corporate "buy-out." This affected some of the top executives, like my husband. As many of you know we had built our home in Texas, established our life, and after one year of living in the new house the announcement came.

In the midst of debating whether to sell the house, we received the most wonderful news that our oldest daughter was expecting her first child. She lives in Florida and since we have a vacation home in Florida we decided that it made sense to sell the Texas home and move to the Florida house to be nearer our daughter and new grandchild.

We sold our home to a lovely young family with two teenagers. The kids were so excited when they chose their bedrooms and couldn't wait to swim in the pool! As sad as it was to leave the memories we had already made in our home; all of the painstaking selections, the touches that made it home for us, the friends we had made, it felt good that we knew our home would be filled with the "love and joy of this new family."

So we said-----

AND 

 Hello Florida....

Whenever we move, there is always something that goes awry. Unfortunately, our movers packed the garage door remotes in the Florida boxes, so when we arrived in Florida we quickly mailed them back to Texas to the new family. Soon after we unpacked the rest of the boxes and settled in, we received a note with some of our mail enclosed in an envelope from the new owners. It read, "Thank you for sending the garage door openers, and for the beautiful flowers and wine! We love our new home! 

We always leave the new family's a little something. My Christmas Amaryllis was just the most gorgeous red and full of blooms, it just felt like it would make a beautiful "warm welcome" in the all white kitchen. A bottle of wine is something my husband always likes to leave on the counter for celebrating.

Most everything went into storage in Texas as the Florida house is already furnished and considerably more cozy!!  When we finally land permanently, it will seem like Christmas when we are unpacking boxes. We did alot of sorting and purging prior to this move, making us much more lean. It's funny sometimes how we hang on to some things forever, and when we stop and think about it, we wonder "why?"

Soon after settling into the Florida house, we realized it was time for a bit of freshening. We decided to start with the exterior, giving it a new updated color palette, which we just received approval for from our HOA.

-Body & garage door--Sherwin Williams-#7065 Argos
-Trim-Sherwin Williams-Casa Blanca-#7571
-Front Door-Sherwin Williams-In the Navy-#9178
- Lanai Patio Floors-Sherwin Williams-Casa Blanca-#7571

The beginning of June the painters will work their magic, and in the meantime, I'm toying with new interior wall color, BUT most importantly right now, we are spending a great deal of time with our daughter and new granddaughter.

We just can't get enough of our sweet little-

 Catherine Grace born on February 28th!

Thanks so much for your loyalty during my hiatus. It feels great to be back on the "blogging trail" once again! I have missed all of you!


                                                                        Fondly,

                           Kathleen