Happy 4th of July!

Here's a throwback from our vacation on the Florida panhandle a few years ago! Happy 4th of July everyone!

Vacation and Coastal Living

I was here last week:

We were at Carillon Beach, which is near Seaside and Rosemary Beach in Florida's panhandle. I have posted about Carillon before; it's our 3rd year there. Luckily, we missed tropical storm Debby.

While there, my friends and I were lucky to be able to visit Coastal Living's Idea House at Rosemary Beach:

We came back home from vacation and hit the ground running the next day with soccer games, and various sports camps. I have yet to unload my pictures from our trip. When I do, I will share my pictures of this great home (& maybe trick you into seeing some vacation photos!)

I also bought some Annie Sloan's chalk paint today. I had no idea I had a retailer just minutes from my home! I am hoping to paint a big armoire soon.

Carillon Beachside

Some of you know that my family and I vacationed the last two summers in Florida's panhandle. The town is called Carillon, and one of the posts I wrote was on the beach house once owned by designer Suzanne Kasler, and how my friend was able to rent the beautiful home for a week.

Anyhow, a few months ago, I received an email from a woman who's husband developed Carillon. She somehow found me through that post I wrote, and wanted to know if I had any paintings that were inspired from that town. Since this was right after our vacation, I had a ton of paintings in my head. The one I sold her was this:

It is a whimsical scene of the town as viewed from the sea. I spent a few hours on a paddle board (basically a surf board that you stand on while paddling with an oar) in the ocean on one of the days, and I was able to see the cute homes from a different vantage point. I knew I had to paint it, but with a bit of whimsy.

My client gave the painting to her husband as a gift, as his heart is still there. I hope when he sees the painting, he knows he helped make some beautiful memories for many families. How amazing is it that one can randomly meet people like this while blogging?!

Goobye Summer…

Well, school started last week for our children. The summer was good while it lasted. It is now a distant memory. We will miss this:

Now back to the real world, which includes this:

We were at a soccer tournament all weekend – it was exciting. I think I lost a few pounds from being nervous for our girls. The above picture was from the championship final game in our bracket. The score was 0-0 at the end. We ended up losing 4-2 because of the tie breaker penalty shootout. Heartbreaking, but I think we are now over it. :)

By the way, you see #4 in red above? She has bubble wrap around a green cast. She broke her wrist a few weeks ago at soccer camp. She played tough even with that cast. I’m a proud mama…

Have a great Monday everyone!

The Beach

We're hoping to see some of this soon: