My Buddies

This post title reminds me of the 80s toy, My Buddy...I always thought it was a little creepy.  Anyway, are you a cat person or dog lover?  Me, I love dogs!  When I see a dog on the street, I have a pretty hard time just passing by without a pat on the head or a scratch under the chin.  I truly love all dogs.  

Let me introduce you to my buddies: Andy and Enzo, our two male labs.  Andy is older (age 7) and Enzo is still a puppy (age 2). 

They are the love of my life (other than my Mr. HSH, of course!)  When I am home, they literally can't leave me alone.  Whether I am cooking, watching TV, getting ready in the morning, they are by my side at all times!  Andy and Enzo are the best snugglers!

The other dog love of my life was Luna, part Syberian Husky, part wolf.  Yes, you read that correctly...she had some wolf in her.  Luna was my family's dog for nearly sixteen years, and let me tell you...she was the absolute perfect dog!  My sweet Luna passed away in December 2010, and she will always have a place in my heart. She was such a graceful dog.  If you have an animal, go hug it and give it a kiss right now b/c you never know when they may be gone!  Same goes with your family!  Love them with all of your heart. 

Quick + Easy Projects

Somebody stop me!  I have been bitten by the DYI bug.  On an icy day like today, these two projects that I completed really help put my cabin fever at bay.

First up is a nail-head bulletin board.  I have admired the look for a long time, but I didn't want to shell out the money to buy one a la Ballard Designs.  I recently came across a bulletin board that was shoved to the back of a closet, so I decided to try give it a new life.  Instead of using burlap (which is very cheap), I went with a painter's drop cloth.  Honestly, I needed to run to Home Depot for some other things, and in an effort to minimize my outings.  While there, I also picked up some silver thumb tacks.  I like the color, so no need to spray paint them, but by all means, if you feel up for it, I'm sure it would be pretty quick.

Naturally I didn't take a photo of the bulletin board before, but I did manage to take some photos about halfway through.  This is the backside once I stapled the drop cloth in place.  I suggest pulling it taught because it will make adding the thumb tacks that much easier.

Here is the final result hanging on the wall:

It's a little different from the Ballard Designs version, but I have to say that I'm pretty happy with the final result.  And, the total cost was around $12! and took all of twenty minutes!  You can't beat that!

Next up, I found these tiles at Home Depot for $.33 each.  I snagged eight of them with the idea of turning them into coasters.  All I needed to do was add felt protectors to each corner, and presto, it worked!

Before (as just plain tiles)

After in their new life

Pretty amazing, right?  This project cost me $8 and took about ten minutes to pull each piece of felt and put it in the corner.

Love cheap and easy projects!  Happy Weekend!

My First DIY...Ever

My little secret is out...I have never started a DIY project!  I'm not counting the burlap tablecloth from Thanksgiving because I really didn't do any work.  After reading design blogs for quite some time, I was finally inspired enough to take on a relatively easy project.  I decided to spray paint a wicker shelf that has followed me from my high school room to my various apartments after college, and finally in my house that I share with Mr. HSH.  This shelf has seen many different lives and traveled near and far, so I did not want to get rid of it.  It just needed a face-lift.

Here it is in all of it's former glory

See what I mean?  This poor little shelf was neglected in our middle bedroom.  I desperately needed some extra storage next to my desk and to cover some those unsightly cable cords.

After giving it two coats and letting it dry overnight, I am pretty pleased with the new color.

I decided to go with Charcoal gray.  Below is a full on view of my desk and garden stool (scored at Home Goods).  If you look closely, you can tell that I did some styling between the two photos! 

Now I feel that I am ready to conquer any DIY project! Perhaps finding a solution for the other cable cords?  I will update you along my journey as I take on other DIY projects!

31 Before 32

I know, I know...I have already broken one of my resolutions, and we are only one month in!  I am going to try my best to be a better blogger going forward.

This past weekend I was in glorious La Jolla, California visiting my cousin (who is more like a sister) and her precious family.  She told me that each year she creates a list of things she would like to accomplish before her next birthday.  I was really moved to do one too, so we created our lists together.  Before showing you my list, I want to point out that some of these things are rather easy to accomplish.  Each month, I will go through this list to see how I am doing and give you all an update.  Here is my list...

1. Go on a trip with Mr. HSH
2. Complete RCIA 
3. Read one book a month (reading I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg)
4. Enjoy one bottle from our "reserve" collection
5. Finish 3 house projects (buy additional seating for family room; update bar area; have bed skirt made)
6. Continue to get manicures regularily
7. Get I-Phone
8. Put together (and stick to) a budget
9. Be grateful everyday for the blessings in my life
10. Walk dogs regularily
11. Do Clean diet in February
12. Watch less TV; play more games with Mr. HSH during the week
13. Find a new perfume
14. Buy DVD player for den
15. Make effort to do more with friends
16. Have slumber party
17. Go on a date night twice a month
18. Take a cooking class
19. Go to lunch with my brothers.  We all work relatively close to each other!
20. Grow a plant or some herbs
21. Ask for help
22. Have a quiet time in the morning with God
23. Subscribe to Southern Living and Better Homes and Gardens
24. Respect my husband
25. Enjoy the small things in life
26. Blog more and put blog out there to friends and family to read
27. Buy a new work purse
28. Move dog kennels out of breakfast room
29. Be less judgemental
30. Accept what I can't change
31. Go see more movies

Winter Treat

Living in Houston, our winters are cold on some days, hot on other days, but are normally pretty mild.  It drives some people nuts because just when you think you are finished with your short sleeved clothing, it goes up to eighty-five degrees.  I love it because I can still enjoy ice cream pretty much year-round. 

One of my favorite winter indulgences (which truthfully isn't that bad) is my own version of peppermint ice cream.  Remember all of those candy canes I used as decoration for Christmas? When the holidays are over, I put them in a ziplock bag and freeze them and use them throughout the year.  My favorite thing to do is to crush a few up at a time and use as a topping on fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt.  It is the BEST treat!  I forgot to snap a picture of my "ice cream" last night, but trust me, it was delicious.  I'm sure it would be even better topped with hot fudge.  Hmmm...maybe I'll try that next time. 

I hope you will try this yummy winter indulgence! 

Happy weekend friends. 

XO-Home Sweet Home

Changes Around Casa Sears

Over the past few months leading up to Christmas, I have made some tweaks to my my family room.  I recovered some chairs and added more pillows to my sofa.  A girl can never have too many pillows, right? 
First up are my much improved Berge chairs.  They were previously orange. See this post for the before, and here they are now:

I absolutely love the blue velvet fabric.  The pillows on the chairs are a bit hard to see, so here is a close-up.

The fabric on this pillow is: Neviz Glacier.  My cousin is an interior decorator.  She helped me pick fabrics...didn't she do a good job?  I also had some additional pillows made for my sofa out of the same blue velvet fabric.

I love the greek key trim that was added to give the pillows some additional interest.  Here is how they look with the other two pillows on the sofa.

Lastly, I swapped out the black frames on some bird sketches I picked up in Round Top many years ago.  I found some gold frames at Michael's for next to nothing, so it was much easier than sanding, priming, and spray painting the frames.  What do you think of the gold frames?



All in all, I am very happy with how everything turned out.  The room is still not quite complete.  At the back of the room, we have a bar area that I would like to revamp.  Look for that in the coming month or so. 

XO-Mary Catherine 

Resolutions?

Happy New Year my friends!  I hope your 2011 is off to a great start!

Do any of you have resolutions?  Mine resolutions are to blog more often and to put my blog out there.  I would like to get up to blogging three times a week.  Since I only blog about twice a month, this is a huge leap!  Wish me luck.

This year I am going to work on some small projects around my home.  A few will be DIY and others will require a professional.  Stay tuned.

Have a great week!