THE Mood Board!

Agghhh! I'm so beyond excited! My decorator, i.e. friend SHANNON created this mood board for me. This is our interior design concept for the Great Room, Kitchen and Formal Dining room for the new house we are building. Isn't it dreamy! I am so in love with all the colors and textures! 

Wonderful, beyond excellent job Shanny! You captured my vision and needs perfectly!

A Chair for the Hubs

Chair from High Country Furniture

So every man deserves a "man's chair" right? 

Well, my Hubby has a love of leather, don't most men?

 I use to be really against this hard, masculine textile but have come to enjoy owning this easy to clean with kids, um, I mean sophisticated material :) 

So, I sent my Grandmother who lives in N.C. near some fabulous furniture stores on the hunt for a rich brown leather chair and ottoman for the Great Room. She found it, the chair above is PERFECT! I love the color and lines. Hubby and I actually agree on it too, so I won't have to sacrifice style over function!

Can't you just imagine the leather chair next to my chair that is similar to this....

 

Recovered in this fabric....

  

Perfection. In my opinion :)

Change of Heart

I've been researching & planning the decor of our new Great Room for a few months now. I have 2 chairs to recover and have been trying to find a few fabrics that I love. This is a much harder task then I thought it would be. There are so many options and I want to choose something I can live with for quite some time based on the fact that I seem to like $100 dollar a yard fabrics!

Originally I have been liking the color scheme above. But once again I've changed my mind. As my planning got deeper I was having a hard time find a rug I like with the colors and just overall apprehensions about going with such bold colors. I find I'm more attracted to cooler tones and soothing colors. 

Then I found this.....

and I was hooked. SO, unless I change my mind again (which is entirely possible) THIS is the new color palette and fabrics I'm working with. Good thing my decorator is so patient with me! Thanks Shannon :)

Love Birds

Playing footsie.

Ah, childhood love.

this IS summer

What says summertime more then eating watermelon in a sundress at the pool?

NOTHING! 

Happy Sweet Summertime!

Captain and Mrs. James A. Darlson

Captain & Mrs Darlson at Dining Out . Osan AFB, South Korea

Last night James & I attended dining out (my first). It's a formal event, sit down dinner, awards ceremony. Not really sure of the real purpose, moral booster? Nevertheless it is a fun time to dress up, get together with friends and use those formal manners that have some how escaped our society. Like pushing in a ladies chair, standing when a lady gets up from the table, not eating till the head table has started, exc. I had a great time and look forward to more formal events throughout Captain Darlson's Air Force career. 

OH, did I mention James was promoted a few weeks ago? Yep, that's why I keep calling him Captain!

Crazy About Paper

I'm totally in love with wallpaper right now! I think I've found a covering for our new dining room. I have to order a sample and see if the color is right but here are pictures of the pattern.

Asuka by Osborne & Little

I'm partial to this blue/silver color. I'm hoping it will flow with the other colors we are thinking for the Great Room & Kitchen.  This covering is offered in about 6 different colors so I'm hoping one of them will look fabulous because I LOVE the pattern.

Random Wednesday

1)  The last 10 days (minus the weekend) have been pretty rough on all three of us. James has been working crazy hours (night flying week, inspection coming up, volunteered at an orphanage, going into work on the weekends). It's not always this crazy but it just seems like when it rains it pours, you know?

     Well, with James working so many hours the last 10 days I have been in single mommy mode again and it's EXHAUSTING. Adalie is usually not a challenging child but when I'm already tired and she doesn't nap it's a bad day for all of us. This has happened 2x this week. God give me strength to get through the weekend! Hoping things will get better after the inspection is over next week.

2) On a lighter note there is a "Dining Out" this weekend. I've never been to one before but from what I understand it's a formal sit down dinner and award ceremony.  We have a babysitter for Saturday night and this will be my first adult only outing in 14 days so I am looking forward to dressing up and not hearing "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" for at least a few hours :)

3) My suitcase is finally unpacked. I can see my floor again and not trip on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

4) I've just finished a new book "The Help" I read it in 3 days! This is the best book I've read to date. PICK ONE UP! You will be hooked from the first chapter. (Grams, I'm mailing you this book).

5) I've found a new yummy, quick, easy weeknight recipe.... especially good if you have a meat aversion like me. I still can't stomach chicken breast, I tried last night but couldn't just ate my salad and veggies.

Click HERE to make this....

A Father

Happy Fathers Day!!

 I think Adalie has one of the best out there.

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother."

- Rev. Theodore Hesburgh

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."

- Mark Twain

Life was a lot simpler when what we honored was father and mother rather than all major credit cards.

- Robert Orben 1927-

My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.

- Clarence B. Kelland 1881-1964

Inspired Dining

With our new home comes a new room that we've never had before, a formal dining room. Which means new furniture! Which also means $$$$, err. But I cannot let the first room you see in my house stay bare, so I am on the hunt for a dining room table. One with style and not so heavy on the pocket book.

I've never really thought much about what style I like for a formal table until now. Here a few of my top choices. All very different but I could live & love any one of them. What's your favorite?

The Owen Table

 Image found on Me Oh My!

Aren't those chairs amazing? I love the mixer of the dark wood and white chairs.

House Beautiful

A round table in a formal room is so inviting to me.

House Beautiful

I love the lines of this table. Simple & Structured. Very "Meghan" :)

House Beautiful

Love the legs on this one.

Ballard Designs

Breaking Ground

On the agenda while we were on vacation was a trip to Valdosta, Ga. to meet with our builder! We were very busy over our 3 days there, we chose our subdivision, the lot, and all the materials. I have never had to make that many decisions in such a short time. It was overwhelming and exhilarating all at the same time. 

We were thrilled to finalize the location of our future home and choose the lot. James and I feel like we are both getting all we want in the location and lot. We had a few requirements, we wanted to be in a subdivision where we would have neighbors fairly close but not be on top of each other, we wanted to be no more then 15 minutes away from base and I was set on having a decently wooded lot. 

Our builder is breaking ground tomorrow! My friend Celia is going to take pictures over the next few months as the house is built and you know I will post them :) We are very excited that in 4 short months we will be living there!

Random Wednesday

1)  Our suitcases are STILL packed. I'm hoping to get around to unpacking and starting the laundry that will certainly take at least 3 full days to complete. Here in Korea we only have one machine that washes AND dries. It's insane how one load takes about three hours to dry! This is why I wear my jeans at least 5 times before washing. I know it's gross.

2)  I love when Hubby gets up before me and makes the coffee. I swear it tastes better. Just like when I eat out I think it's better too. I'm sure it's only because I am not the one doing the work! When I was young I use to swear water ALWAYS tasted sweeter from my Mother's cup. Strange?

3)  I'm in a ongoing personal debate (and with a friend) on the pro's and con's of spanking. Adalie is 2 and has maybe had 8 spankings in her life.... 3 of which were about 2 weeks ago. I see a vast improvement in her behavior and how she is listening to our direction since the spankings BUT there is a lot of negative talk about spanking. What are your thoughts?

4)  I'm very thankful for that friend who I get into heated debates with :) I really feel we all need friends you can be 100% real with. SHE IS ONE OF THOSE. We definitely do not agree on everything but I think we challenge each other in ways that are positive. And at the end of the day we can leave the debate at the door and still love and respect each other. I THANK GOD FOR YOU!

5)  I'm very disappointed to tell you I was a TERRIBLE picture taker on our vacation! I think it's time to invest in a camera bag. My camera is so heavy I often leave it behind because of the bulk and then I'm always sad I don't have pictures to remember the occasion. I'm thinking one of these would be fun & useful...

It Was Fabulous

I'm back! Back in South Korea that is and back to blogging.

 Our vacation was seriously a dream, minus Adalie's 8 days of high fever. Even with her illness it was FABULOUS! Seeing family was wonderful, spending time with our AMAZING friends at the beach was "a weekend like no other" and having 3 weeks of my Husband around 24/7 was undeniably the best part of the whole trip.

 Hub was like a different species during our 3 weeks in Florida. I even asked him a couple of times where my REAL Husband was!  Now let me clarify, James is not in any way a dead beat Dad or Husband but most wives/moms out there could always use a little more help, right? Without work consuming him he was Mr. Mom on steroids. I felt like I was on vacation from Motherhood! He helped with Adalie so much and paid attention to my every need. Oh yes, I could get use to this! 


This proves to me that when he says "I'm sorry hun, I'm just stressed from work" it really isn't an excuse it's the truth. Which means I might need to give him a little more slack then I have in the past. I need to be more appreciative of the MANY sacrifices he makes daily to support us. AND we need to go on vacation more often!