Favorite Places To Waste Time

The Centsational Girl is having a party and I'm joining in the fun!  Who doesn't love a good party?!


There are so many things I love about living in Lexington, Kentucky.  I grew up in Southern California so living here is quite a change for me.  I enjoy having all four seasons and being surrounded by beautiful horse farms.  Sure I miss the beach, but there's something really special about living in a town with such a rich history.  Of course I love going to Keeneland (a day at the track is always fun!).

Keeneland

                                            

You may not know this but much of the movie Secretariat was filmed there.  Lexington is also nearby a number of bourbon distilleries which are really fun and interesting to tour.  Maker's Mark is one of our favorites located in Loretto just about an hour and half from Lexington.

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Known for their wax top when you visit you can actually dip your own bottle (although you have to be 21).

While Kentucky is known for its bourbon there are some wineries here too.  Without a doubt our favorite winery in Kentucky is Jean Farris.

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You seriously must go and read the story behind this winery here, and then if you are ever in Lexington you have to make Jean Farris dinner reservations.  The food is unbelievable!  We visit them quite often and are members of the wine club as well!

While horse racing, bourbon tours, and great dining make living in Lexington absolutely wonderful; my favorite places to waste time in this town are not so obvious.

This might look like just an ordinary strip mall.  At first glance if you didn't know any better you might just drive right by.  What a mistake you'd be making!  These two stores are unique and fabulous.  Hitting them both up in the morning is my idea of a great way to start the day!  Coffee Times Coffee House is without a doubt the best coffee place.  They roast and flavor their own coffee.  My personal favorite from the espresso bar is the Mexi-Cappuccino which is espresso, steamed milk (non-fat for me), and Mexican spiced cocoa topped with whipped cream (but I usually take mine without the whip).  It is heavenly!  They also have a cute little gift shop and they're connected to favorite spot numero dos - Street Scene.  It is the coolest little vintage shop.  I love the way the store is styled and the inventory is constantly changing.  They sell everything from vintage clothing and accessories (their jewelry is always awesome!) to sofas, coffee tables, and well you name it and they have it.  It's hard to go in there and not buy something.  There's just too much good stuff, but even if you are just window shopping it makes for a fun place to lose yourself in time (if you have time to kill that is) with a great coffee in hand, of course.  ;)

On the morning I snapped the above hipstamatic pic, this guy was my shopping buddy (our vet's office is right across the street).

This is Prince.  Named for the greatest artist ever.  ;) 

Which is just so fitting because my third favorite place to waste time is the Wellington dog park (Lexington has quite a few dog parks around the city).  We don't usually bring the dogs with us; but instead we load the bikes up in the back of the swagger wagon (yeah- we've got one) and head out there to ride around the trail.  The dog park is a great place for "bike riding beginners".  The kids absolutely love it.  The hub and I love that we don't have to worry about cars pulling out of driveways like we do in the neighborhood.  It's a nice place to spend some time outside together as a family.

My bike is the green one.  It's a $30 yard sale find that my bro-in-law found.  I'm kind of in love with it and the cute basket I bought at a beach shop in Kiawah, SC a few years ago.  Guess who rides that pink Hello Kitty number.  

Yeah you guessed it.  The girl rides that one.

There's a sweet little garden that's maintained by volunteers.  

Check out the helmet!

The boy is much harder to photograph. 

He is at one with the trail.  :)

Busy perfecting his "tricks".

Occasionally I get close enough to snap a decent photo.

Those three favorite spots filled up much of our summer.  With the start of school and soccer season, we don't have as much time for them.

It's funny how the simplest places can be your most favorite places to spend/waste time.  What are your favorite places to waste time in your town?

Then again, time you waste having fun really isn't time wasted - is it?

****UPDATE - Somehow, I scheduled the wrong draft to post last night?!  - Oops - I apologize to anyone that read the "unfinished" version of this post. -- My bad!

Styling Kitchen Cabinets......

is not my thing.  The cabinets in our kitchen (that we inherited from the previous owners) have glass front display cabinets on the top.  When we toured this house before we bought it I remembering thinking to myself, "These cabinets are going to be so fun to decorate!"

I've been tweaking them since we moved in about a year and half ago.  Fun?  I don't know if I would really call it that anymore.  Over the weekend I pulled everything out of them AGAIN and painted the backs.  I'm repainting the kitchen Macadamia by Martha Stewart (color matched to Behr primer and paint in one - eggshell finish).  This is the same color I used on the ceiling in our dining room.  I decided I wanted the backs of the cabinets to match the wall color rather than leave them the khaki color (Porter Autumn Leaf) that they were.  Here's how they looked before.

This was last fall (hence the pumpkins) before we started our little kitchen renovation.  Also I forgot to turn the cabinet lights on for this photo so it looks very dark.  Anywho, clearly there was just too much going on in the display cabinets. It just looks a little too cluttered to me now.  Oh, and we changed the light fixture over the sink looks a little different now - blog post coming soon.  

Since these cabinets are so high (like I need to get on a ladder to reach them) I decided to use them to display serving pieces that I love but don't use very often.  I also wanted to bring in a few sentimental pieces.  Overall I kept it all white and cream with a few silver and gold accents.  I wanted something that just sort of blended in with the color of the cabinets.  I'm sure I'll continue to tweak things (I just can't help myself) but for now I'm glad to be done with them!

The hubs thought the ampersand was a little odd.  I liked the gold accent and it's kind of like saying, "Would you like some cream and sugar?"  Apparently I'm the only one that understands this?  Whatev- a happy wife is a happy life - so he just goes with it - most of the time.

We served Kentucky Woods Bourbon Barrel Cakes at our 10th anniversary party and I kept one of the boxes.  It makes me smile to see it displayed in there.

Mint julep cups seem appropriate in our bluegrass kitchen.  You knew I had to get a horse in there somehow.  

My hub proposed in a Chinese restaurant (where we had our first date - Peking Dragon -Dana Point, CA) with a fortune cookie, so I put this ceramic cookie in here right next to the silver toasting flutes from our wedding.

So, all in all, I'm just glad to have this part of project "kitchen reno" under my belt.  Maybe I can stop obsessing now, at least for a little while.

Do you have display cabinets in your kitchen?  Are you constantly tweaking them?  Oh, you mean it's just me  - alrighty then.

I've been posting kitchen projects as we've been completing them and this is one lonnnnnggggg mini-reno.  I'm scared to think how long this would have taken if we gutted our kitchen!  If you want to get up to speed here are the links.

Why this project started. 

Finally - we got a stove!

New floors

The inspiration 

Updates and some minor progress. 

Distressing the kitchen cabinets. 

Adding moulding to the cabinets and deciding on hardware. 

I decided to go with the black hardware.  Sorry for all those that voted for gold.  In the end I liked the gold but the black seemed like a better fit with the antique glaze we added to the cabinets.  I'm planning to bring in some gold with a few accents though (like the ampersand that the hubs is puzzled by).  ;) 

I just now realized that this project started back in FEBRUARY!  Holy bananas.  It might be snowing again before we're done!

*Linking up to My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style

Going Green and Why I Need to Learn How to Sew

I'm packing lunch for not 1 but 2 kids now.  I choose to make their lunch because I'll admit I'm somewhat of a control freak, and I like to know that my kids are eating healthy food.  I'm sure before the school year is over I'll allow them to buy lunch in the cafeteria.  Thankfully, they've been happy with what I pack for them and haven't even asked if they can buy their lunch.  Although, I've noticed that I'm going through Ziploc bags like crazy!  I'm using 2 or 3 per child per day.  I'm not always super green, but more and more I'm getting there.  The other night I ran out of bags and had to run to the grocery store just for Ziploc bags to pack their lunch!  I thought that was ridiculous so I headed over to Etsy to see if I could find any reusable baggies.

To my surprise, there are tons of shops that sell them.  I guess I might be the last mom on Earth to jump on this bandwagon- oops, my bad!  I was like Alice going down the rabbit hole checking out the various shops that make and sell reusable lunch, sandwich, and snack bags.  I happened across one, the high fiber co, that I liked and ordered a starter set which included 2 sandwich sized bags and 2 snack bags.



I love supporting mompreneurs and knowing that the items they sell are tested by their very own kids!  I chose this shop because their bags are designed with a boxed bottom and are lined with a stain and water resistant food-safe nylon.  Plus you can hand wash them or throw them in the washer!  She also had lots of fun fabrics.  I chose these styles for my kiddos.

For the kindergarten-loving girl -






For the second grade rockin' boy -





I love the little tabs on the top that make for easy opening!  These bags would be a great little teacher gift filled with some baked goodies.   I'm thinking of ordering one for myself to use as a makeup bag.

I just had to share this shop with you, especially because right now she's running a 15% off back to school sale!  I have no doubt that these bags will end up saving me money not to mention they'll keep me from running out at 9 pm for ziploc baggies.  I'm pretty sure when they arrive the kids are going to love them too!

And once again, there's just one more reason I need to learn how to sew!  This list just keeps getting longer!

Have you switched over to reusable baggies yet?  Anyone else ever have to run out to the grocery store at night to pick up just one stinkin' item?!  That always puts me in a bad mood.  ;)

Hope you all had a great weekend!  We were thinking of our friends on the coast and hoping everyone stayed safe.  Wonder if the name Irene will be a popular one in about 9 months?  You know what they say about power outages.  Our son Collin might have been an Isabel as we lived in Virginia when that hurricane came through.  Ummmm..........maybe that was a little TMI!  ;)   Happy Monday!

Friday's For The Love Of Chairs #12

Happy Friday!

I love receiving e-mails from my readers, especially when they feed my chair obsession!  Katie, from the blog As for me and my House , sent me pics of a chair makeover she completed, and I just had to share it with you.

She started with this $15 Craig's List find.

With the help of some white paint and a fabric remnant she found at a garage sale for a $1, she gave that chair a makeover. 

                     

                            

I love the lines of this chair and the cane back!  The paint and new fabric really give this chair a fresh new look.  Thanks Katie for sharing your beautiful chair makeover with me. 

If you have any chairs you'd like me to show off here at Our Fifth House send me an e-mail to Carmelraye@yahoo.com.  My obsession needs to be fed.  :)    

Have a great weekend!  To all my friends on the east coast, please stay safe.  I'm praying for you all!  

My Favorite Room

Good morning!  I'm hanging out over at Sadie + Stella's today.  They invited me over to share my favorite room.  Here's a clue.

If you've never seen the before pics of this room you really need to head over there right now.  It was quite the transformation.

Happy Wednesday!

P.S.   Guess what?  When I cleaned out my daughter's closet I took her outgrown clothes over to a children's consignment shop.  Yesterday I stopped in there to settle my account, and I earned $75!  Now I'm even more motivated to head on down the hall to my boy's closet!  Woot-woot!  Do you all consign?  

The Little Girlfriend's Closet

All of my 30 minute organization projects have motivated me to take on some more-time-consuming-but- much-needed projects around here. One of which was to spend some time organizing my daughter's closet.  It is ginormous!

Clearly this is the before picture.  ;) 

I think she has more closet real estate than anyone else in the family.  There's no way she'll ever have enough clothing to fill this closet.  That would be crazy!  I decided to use the left side for clothing and the right side for toys.  We don't have a playroom so this will work out quite nicely.  I decided to work on the left side first.

I pulled everything out........

and painted the inside of the closet a very light gray (Olympic moonstone).  This is the same color I'm planning to paint the rest of her bedroom.  I organized, labeled, and prettied things up in the closet; and it looks like this now.

I'm so glad I finally took the time to do this.  It makes getting her dressed and ready for school in the morning so much easier.  I re-purposed a Stella and Dot jewelry box (from a necklace I recently purchased that I'm in love with!) to make cute hanging labels for her white storage containers.

I laid a piece of chalkboard vinyl (purchased at Michael's months ago) right on top.

Her room is going to be done in a turquoise and pink color palette, so I wanted to keep that flowing into the closet.  To label the large storage containers on the floor (Ikea), I used some wooden oval cutouts (Hob Lob) and more chalkboard vinyl.

I used a black sharpie to color in the sides.  Then I hot glued a little bow on top to make them fun and girly.

I used a piece of Command tape to stick them on the containers. 

My little girlfriend is all about the accessories.  I think she may have a career in jewelry design.  I'm not kidding.  I think her first word was necklace - or rather "neck-yes".  Anyhow, I wanted to give her a better set-up for all of her pretty little things.

These were all items that I already had.  I used a plastic planter that I picked up a while ago in the floral dept. of Kroger to hold her sunglasses and headbands.

The metal rose wall hook I attached with command strips.  This is from the Shabby Chic line at Target (years ago) and it used to hang over the crib in her nursery.  It's perfect for more headbands and necklaces.  Vintage teacups are so great for charms or squinkies (whatever you're into).  ;)

The pink acrylic container was a vintage find and it holds more of her little hair pretties.

The mirror and framed footprints I brought in just for fun.  I like the way the mirror makes this closet look a little less closety.  You know what I mean right?!  If it's pretty we'll work harder to keep it that way.  That's my hope at least!  Don't even get me started on those tiny little 10 day old feet.  I heart them.  I love seeing them in here with all of her big girl clothes.  It makes me realize how fast time goes every time I open her closet doors.  It's a great daily reminder to slow down.

The only thing I really bought for this little closet makeover was an over the door shoe holder (Kroger).

It was the best $9.99 I've ever spent.  Seriously, I love it!

Okay, I lied, I also bought some command hooks (with a coupon of course at Target).  I wanted her to have an easy place to hang up her dance bag, robe, and other VIP things.  I placed them low enough for her to hang things up all by herself.

Hanging these command hooks low left room up top for a hair bow holder.  I had this canvas in my craft closet.  I glued some grosgrain ribbon to the back.

Then I was inspired by this gorgeous piece from Cocoa and Hearts by Jen Ramos.......

I  LOVE THIS PAINTING!  

and painted my own version.  I'm soooo not an artist, but I don't think my little girlfriend minds too much.

She loves it, and that's what matters right?!

So here's the left side of the girl's closet.

Much better than before right?  Now I need to get busy on the right side.

Anyone else doing any organizing lately?




*Linking up to Beneath My Heart and