Thank You

I just wanted to say thank you for two things. First, thank you for all your calls, texts and e-mails yesterday regarding the tornados in Alabama. We are okay, the really bad tornado missed us by a few miles. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for so many others, including a really wonderful client of mine (they are physically fine which is such a blessing). Also, I wanted to say thank you for all the childcare comments and e-mails. I needed the advice, trust me! To take time out of your busy days to send me the wealth of information you did is really awesome. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and if I have not e-mailed back yet it is not because I am ignoring you, it is because the computer virus that won't quit is still having a blast in my computer.

I hope you have a wonderful and peaceful weekend.

PS- Anyone have any idea what why my right sidebar is not showing up? If you click on older posts it is there but not with the newest posts....

Image found She Takes Flight via Emphasis Added

Baby Strong Is A....

We are adding another male to the household...Baby Strong is a boy and we could not be more excited!!! I had numerous requests for a pregnant picture, this is one we took yesterday...
After months of thinking it was a girl I was shocked to find otherwise, Harry was in shock as well (or maybe relieved that someone will be coming along soon to take the unwanted attention off of him)...
So now it is time to start thinking about a nursery for little baby boy! I am not sure what I am going to do yet but I know I would like to use wallpaper is some way so that will probably be the jumping off point. I will keep y'all in the loop as I find inspirations and ideas.

A Few Answers

I seem to be behind on e-mail (what is new?) so I wanted to answer some questions I have received multi times. Some of these are repeats, sorry!

My watch- Several people wanted to know where it is from, I am asked about it a lot outside of the blog world as well. It was a gift from my husband 4 years ago right before we got engaged. It is one of my favorite possessions, I never get tired of it. It is nothing fancy, it is from Guess. I knew I wanted a black men's watch but at that time they were hard to find and options were very limited. I am sure this design is long gone but I would check any department store and I am sure you will find something similar.
Several people have asked what happened to the upholstered coffee table project.....Well I have decided to scrap it. I liked where it was going but I did not have time to complete it. It really needed the nail detail around the edges. I like to think I am a DIYer but these days there just doesn't seem to be enough time. Also, as much as I like a good project I love the look of professionally done work (just waiting for the wallet to agree). As far as the table I had it custom made about 4 years ago as well but similar tables are available from Restoration Hardware. If you are near Birmingham and would like a quote for one please e-mail me.
The mirror- This was a wedding gift from Jenny, the decorator I started with. She purchased it from a company at Market. I am not sure if it is still available. I will check for those of you who wanted info about it. The bowl on the coffee table is McCarty Pottery. I will have to do another post on this since I could go on for a while. Paint is Benjamin Moore Wheeling Neutral.
My Christmas Decorations- First, I would like to say THANK YOU for all the e-mails and comments from the Southern Flourish piece. Y'all are too sweet. I was surprised to open a few e-mails asking what my actual mantel looked like. Sigh....
The sad, sad truth is that we don't have a mantel. It depresses me to be honest. So for now all we have is a tree. And well, it is kind of sad too. Space was tight this year.
We don't have that many ornaments, slowly we are building up our collection. There are fillers on there but I would like to get to a point at which every one is special. This year we have added a few like this boy from our trip to Peru.
For those of you who asked for pictures of the trees lined up on my street here is the best I could do. Boooo. Sorry, I just couldn't get a picture. It is special though. I am not sure how other streets do it, but on ours there is a woman who is in charge of everything. We get an order form in our mailbox the first week of November and then they are delivered by volunteers the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It is nice to come home and have the tree there waiting for you.
I hope this answered some questions. If you have e-mailed me and have not heard back yet I promise I am getting to you! Thank you for your patience. I hope you have a great week!

To Peru & Back

I'm back from 10 wonderful days in Peru. My Husband and I love to travel and we had been saving for a big trip. A lot of locations were discussed but Peru was on the top of both of our lists so away we went. Joining us were my younger brother and Dad (on either end in the picture below).At some point I will make a complete list of all the places we went but I have a lot of catching up to do first! With over 1,000 pictures these are just some I picked but probably more are coming. We started off at Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world which is home to a whole community living on an island made completely out of reeds.
We took several train rides, most on the Hiram Bingham through amazing and mind blogging landscapes ( I will be back with better pictures).
We stayed at the most wonderful hotels like the Monasterio (below), Casa Andina and The Inkaterra...
Met so many interesting locals along the way...
Saw very remote places that constantly reminded all of us how lucky we are to go on trips like this one...
Snuck in a date night in Cusco, a truly hidden gem of a city.
But the whole reason we went was....Machu Picchu, ruins hidden the Andes Mountains that are beyond words.
I have been so blessed to travel to some amazing places- Africa, Patagonia and all over Chile (my Dad's home where that whole side of the family still lives), Europe and more and I can say that Machu Picchu is indescribably special. There is nothing I can type here that could begin to describe the spirit of this place.
We spent two days there and the second day we went really early to catch sunrise over Machu Picchu, I will never, ever, forget that moment. Ever. Watching the sun come up (over mountains 8,200 ft in elevation) onto ancient remains was moving and emotional...
The remains were astounding and on there own would have been impressive. However, the very remote setting surrounded by the Andes made it that much more unique (picture taken from high above)...
The trip covered Puno, Lake Titicaca, Cusco, Machu Picchu/Aquas Calientes, and ended in Peru.

I would recommend this trip to anyone. Peru is a wonderful country full of unique and special places. More to come at some point but I wanted to share were I had been. Now it is back to the real world, sigh.