Design Tip: Hire an Interior Designer

via Pinterest

Many people think that you have to have a lot of money, a huge house or a giant remodel project in order to hire an interior designer. Not true. A good interior designer will work with any budget to make a space not only more beautiful for you to live in but also more functional. Any home project you are working on can be stressful if you don't have the right tools and knowledge. Here are 5 things an interior designer will do for you to make your project go smoothly and turn out just the way you envisioned:

1. Choose finishes that will coordinate with one another and are good quality
2. Suggest ways to repurpose items you have so your budget can be spent on items you really need
3. Offer names for contractors or subcontractors that will do a quality job and fit your budget
4. Design a furniture floor plan with appropriate sized pieces for your room
5. Help you bring your room together and make it feel like a home - most importantly - your home!

In fact, an Interior Designer can save you money by helping you not make the mistakes you would by yourself.  So, my suggestion to you is to go out and meet a few, find one you enjoy working with and who's style fits your needs and hire them! 

Surprise Prayer

I have nun friends.  Women who are nuns who are my friends.  They are spectacular friends to have. They love to go out to dinner, they love to talk, they love to ask about your life, they love to tell you that you look great and that everything in your life is going to be alright. They also love a good laugh.

I have two really good nun friends.  One who lives in California and one who lives in Heaven.  I talk to both of them.

Last night, I called Herself, my nun friend who lives in California.  She's Irish. She's absolutely one of the funniest people I've ever met and she has an accent. Really, everything is funnier with an accent.

I asked Herself how her trip to Ireland was this summer and she said:

Oh, it was the best trip I've ever had . . . (pause) . . . I think . . . yes . . . (pause) . . . I think . . . (pause) . . . yes . . . it was for sure.

The best trip ever, Herself?

Yes, I think so, Megan.  Yes, for sure.

Are you sure, Herself?

I'm sure now, Megan.

We went on to talk about life and family and friends and the bartender at my corner bar who knows I like sauvignon blanc and pours me a glass when he sees me coming in. Herself told me that she used to like chardonnay but not anymore, it's too nutty or something, she couldn't quite remember exactly.  Now she likes sauvignon blancs.

At the end of our conversation, Herself said to me:

Megan, today I prayed to God for a surprise.  I love to pray to God for surprises. I love a good surprise. And what do you know, you called me! I had just walked in the door. I've been gone all day so any other time would not have been good. But you called me when I was home. What a joy! What a surprise! Thank you, Megan.

What a fabulous idea - pray to God for surprises!  I always seem to be praying to God for something specific. Some one, some thing, some wish, some need. I'm going to try out Herself's way - pray for a surprise! Who knows what will happen? How exciting! I'll keep you posted.

Cool Blog to Follow: I SUWANNEE

I ran into this blog recently and now it's on my morning "to read" list: I SUWANNEE . She has cool posts about interior design, books she's reading, clothes she's wanting and other fabulous fun stuff: check out her latest book suggestion here that I'm now dying to read.

Today she's giving away Pink Stuff that is awesome.  Go here to see it all and try to win it: Furbish Giveaway

If you want to see her Mom's cool pink bedroom, go here . I'm in love with that darling colorful pillow on her mom's bed.  Wonder if she's taking that with her in the move??!!

Start reading. You'll like it. Trust me.

Design Find: Society 6

About six months ago, I found this super fun website, Society 6 . They have a huge collection of affordable art prints that you can get in various sizes or framed or even cooler - as iPhone cases and iPad skins.  Society 6 has a lil' bit of everything; photography, abstract art, black and white prints, comic style prints, prints just about food and even a section called "humor".  I just ordered this print because I have this cool frame from Ikea that it just had to be in.  Aren't they a happy match?  They look darling together in my powder bath!

Giraffe Art Print: Nicole Cioffe: Society 6

Ung Drill Frame: Ikea

Here are some more of my faves from Society 6

Art Print: Just a Little Cooler: Phil Jones

Framed Art Print: Goodbye Mountain: Matthew Korbel-Bowers

iPhone Case: Colors 201: JenRamos

iPhone Case: Nintendo - Wanna Play?: Nicklas Gustafsson

iPad Skin: Follow the Sky: Bianca Green

Go ahead. Go to Society 6 and find your own print that suits you.  It's fun! You'll like it!

Our Place

Husband and I met at a bar.  We had our first kiss at that bar and he proposed to me at that bar. It was "our place". It served tomato soup and grilled cheese like none you've ever had. I honestly crave it. It had an array of unusual beers on tap and the wine list was written on a an ever-changing chalk board. It was dark and cool inside - a great change from the heat and blaring sun of the streets of Phoenix. It had two comfy chairs in the entry room, a bunch of high tables off to one side and an old, black leather sofa in the front room that Husband and I called "ours". The quirky crystal chandelier and the flocked olive green wallpaper were two of my favorite little items in the old house that Matt and Erenia Pool created into The Roosevelt Tavern in 2007.

On Monday, The Roosevelt Tavern closed.

Husband and I cried.  

Everyone knew this place meant the world to us.  Sister-In-Law even drew this beautiful pencil sketch of The Roosevelt and gave it to us as a wedding gift.  This sketch hangs in our home and every time Husband and I walk by it, it reminds us of us before we were "us" and us as we became "us".

The Roosevelt Tavern as sketched by Sister-In-Law

AZ Central states that the Pools are going to re-open something else in the old house in downtown Phoenix that was The Roosevelt Tavern.  I'm sure it will be awesome because they are awesome.  But still, I can't help being sad. I think tonight, Husband and I might have to go have tomato soup and grilled cheese and find an old, black leather sofa and sit next to each other and talk about us.

RIP Roosevelt Tavern. Thanks for the memories.

True Love

Yesterday I hopped on the train to Philidelphia for the afternoon.  I had an amazingly delicious lunch at the Shake Shack that included a fabulous hot dog and a bowl of custard filled with bananas, carmel, and marshmallows and topped with pretzels.  Luckily, I was walking everywhere so I hope I shed maybe an 1/8 of those calories I consumed at lunch.

While I was at the Shake Shack a group of middle school children came in on a school field trip.  (Side note: I never went on any school field trip that included a place like that for lunch - lucky kids!) They were very well behaved and a I loved watching them at that age: hovering between babies and teenagers.

As I sat amongst them waiting for my food, I overheard a conversation between a boy and a girl who obviously had a very severe case of a 6th grade crush.

Boy: I can lick this penny

Girl: No you can't.

Boy: It's shiny. It's clean.

Girl: You can't lick pennies. That's gross.

Boy proceeds to lick the penny.

Girl to all her friends: OMG, he just licked a penny! You guys, HE licked a penny!!

After I watched that interaction I thought now that is true, unadulterated, awesome love.  It's a boy showing a girl an amazing thing he can do. She watches carefully, announces the feat to all her best girl friends and - POOF - Cupid has just struck! True Love!

The other day I sent this quote I found on Pinterest to a good friend of mine.  I think the 6th grade Penny Licker really did anything to be her everything.

via Pinterest

Short and to the Point

Husband and I are so excited to be living somewhere with so much Civil War history. Saturday, we took a drive out to Gettysburg.  I had no idea what to expect and even wondered what was "to see" out at a battlefield. Well, that feeling soon passed and I was overcome by the story of the battle and the huge turning point it played in the Union winning the war.  It was a fascinating place to be and you could feel the history oozing out of the trees.

Before I went to Gettysburg, I like all American schooled children knew and had memorized some part or all of the Gettysburg Address.

Four score and seven years ago . . .

What I didn't know and found very interesting was the background of Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address. Over 6,000 soldiers died in July of 1863 at Gettysburg, making it the bloodiest battle in Civil War history. The nation decided to design a cemetery for those killed to honor them and the battle; Soldiers' National Cemetery. A famous orator and Massachusetts politician of the time, Edward Everett was asked to be the keynote speaker at the cemetery's dedication in November of 1863.  Everett gave a 2 hour long speech that day.  Lincoln had been asked to come and "give a few appropriate remarks".  He gave a 2 minute speech that day; Gettysburg Address. Afterwards, in a letter Everett wrote to Lincoln, "I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes." 

That comment by Everett made me want to read and reread Lincoln's speech.  I sat at the museum on Saturday and did just that.  He's right, Lincoln captured the essence of the moment, the feelings of the people of the time and the importance of that day in 2 minutes. That is a good speech. No, that is a phenomenal speech.  

I think a lot of us could learn from that.  Be wise with the words you choose.  Be thoughtful in what you say.  Be clear and concise and make an impact.  

After the two political conventions we are currently in the middle of,  we all might wish there was another Abraham Lincoln out there  . . . and maybe not just for his speeches.

Gettysburg Adress:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Read more history of the Gettysburg Address here.