Secret World

The sun wedged herself between layers of heavy rain-filled clouds, creating perfect silhouetted figures across the beach. Like vibrantly colored swimsuits against bright turquoise water where our skin is painted in gold, blackened figures contrasting in muted filtered light is as equally beautiful.

I love days were the afternoons linger, practically coming to a complete halt, giving us an extra dose of memory making. We’ve been on our own clock, in our own time zone, and loving every moment of this summer goodness.

I read this passage this other day, and I believe it is spot on.

 Everybody has a secret world inside of them. All of the people of the world, I mean everybody. No matter how dull and boring they are on the outside, inside them you’ve all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds. Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands maybe.
-Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 5: A game of you

Here we are, in our own world, with vibrant swimsuits and black silhouettes.

And it’s unimaginable. Magnificent. Wonderful. Stupid. And amazing.

Create your unimaginable world.

Love, Emmie

DIY Headboard {Project Pretty}

I'm finally getting around to posting our DIY headboard. We actually made this ages ago, but I wanted to wait until our bedroom was completely decorated to post the big reveal photos. However, over the months we've moved and once again, our bedroom has taken the back-burner, and it's still not complete.


For now, our headboard is finished, so I'd like to share with you on how we made it.

What you'll need: 
 (I purchased all items from Lowes)

• two 8' stud boards (if you don't have high ceilings, you'll need to cut these down to fit your room)
• six 1x12x8 boards (for a Queen sized bed)
• 28 lag bolts and washers
• Rust-Oleum Kona Wood Stain
• Rust-Oleum Oil-Rubbed Bronze Spray Paint (for an antiqued look)
• Drill

Steps:

1. cut the stud boards to the height of your liking
2. stain all of the wood
3. lay your headboard flat on the ground
4. drill two holes on each side of each piece of wood-- you should have a total of 4 holes/board, 24 holes total
5. spray paint the screws and washers with the oil-rubbed spray paint
6. carefully screw in the bolts (make sure your washer is behind the bolt) into your drilled holes. if any of your bolts are scratched, you can touch them up by using a q-tip
7. once you move your headboard inside, take your remaining four bolts and washers, and use it to attach the headboard to your bed frame

Please note that I still need to change our lamps, and add artwork and mirrors. I'm also playing around with the idea of sewing new curtains and a duvet cover. Stick around for more bits and pieces of our bedroom makeover. 

I hope you all have a productive week, and stick around for more interior updates!

Happy Monday.

Love, Emmie

Summer Happiness

I packed my agenda in my carry-on bag with the intent to plug in activities, to-dos, and a plan for our Hawaiian trip-- that agenda has yet to be put to use. Instead, we wake up slowly without plans or schedules and we wing it, rolling with the punches, keeping it light.

Our days have been filled with salty air, sandy toes, and golden sunshine. It’s the perfect combination for summer happiness.

Here are bits of our happiness:

Impromptu picnics in the park (bird bombing included)

…followed by vibrant beach days.

A boy and his bucket.

A boy and his duckie. This photo is the definition of pure contentment.

Sun drenched baby faces.

Saving the apple. We’ve lost many apples to the sea and sand…probably more than we’ve actually eaten. I told him, this is his last apple, if he loses it, that’s it. He made sure to raise that apple as high as it could go and protect it with all his might against the waves…that apple is floating somewhere in the Pacific.

This. This hits me right to my core because I know exactly what’s going in her mind. She’s creating and writing stories in her head. After several moments of daydreaming and starring off into the horizon, she’ll run over to tell me her stories, her make-believe adventures with mermaids and fairies, and her future plans of opening a boutique or a restaurant or becoming an artist. She’s shining bright.

Shaved ice on the beach. Because it’s awesome. Enough said.

Still loving these birds.

And Will loves the birds too…in the same sense of Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians.

and my favorite, being together. As much as they push each others buttons and test their limits and push the boundaries, a moment like this pushes the scale back to the balancing position.

I’m ending with this quote, which is perfect for summer happiness:

“and these are the days we dream about when the sunlight paints us gold”

Love, Emmie

Smooth and Easy

We kicked the day off smooth and easy, starting with Will pretzeling himself around my arm saying, “Mom, don’t go away”. You can’t argue with something like that, so we stayed in bed a little longer until he popped up his head of blonde curls wanting eggs. When the sun streaming through the window grew more intense we shifted into the kitchen to meet his request. Just as I started to break the yoke, the meltdown happened…

Apparently his Batman toy doesn’t hold the weapons properly, resulting in Batman’s sword fighting skills to be flimsy. Will’s dissatisfaction in my inability to fix this problem made for the biggest 360 meltdown ever! 

Needless to say, my smooth and easy morning has transformed into hard and fast. I’m packing beach bags, peanut butter sandwiches, bathing suits, and a cranky toddler, and running out the front door.

In the meantime, here are some of our smooth and easy moments from the other day.

Disclosure: there are not many photos of my first born in this post because she was busy snorkeling... But fret not, there’s plenty of my feisty tot.

I hope your day is smooth and easy, friends!

Love, Emmie

Turn Your Lips Up

North Shore was our destination. The trip across the island required leaving the house early a must, in order to snag a parking spot. We packed the car to the brim with floaties, goggles, coolers, chairs, beach toys, towels, and boogie boards. I didn’t think the truck would close with all of our necessities, but with the help from our hip slamming action, the items wedged tightly together and the lock finally clicked.

Piled on top of one another, off we went venturing out of the city, through the country, and towards drop dead gorgeous beaches.

We ended up at Shark’s Cove. And yes, there were Whitetip Sharks below the rocks. I know this because when a guy said, “Hey, check out the three sharks”! All I saw was one shark for me, one for Ron, and one for the guy yelling, “Hey, check out these three sharks”. I didn't stick around. I hightailed it out of there so fast, the straps of my bathing suit slid off, making the rest history.

Anyhoo…

Shark’s Cove is a fantastic location to snorkel. It’s a 50 foot drop is some places, but you can still see down to the ocean floor. Schools of fish, sea urchins, rock formations, and my favorite…sea turtles, were some of the creatures we encountered. 

Swimming with the sea turtles in their natural environment?  Epic.

I swear, my heart was spilling over the rim for these creatures. So graceful. So beautiful. 

While Ron and I had a blast underwater, Krysta was full of giggles boogie boarding over the waves with my mom. She did so good zipping over the waves and riding them onto the shore. Boogie boarding is now her current addiction, along with snorkeling. Next step, paddle boarding…so stay tuned for when that day comes!

It makes smile seeing my babies so content and so naturally drawn to the salt life.

As Will says, “Your lips turn up, Mom-Mom!”

I hope your weekend was a blast and that it made your lips turn up!

Love, Emmie