Happy Mid Summer!! 

I am a tad behind but, here is the Readers Digest version of things!

Man it has been HOT here in the South, but really everywhere!

 But even though it is hot, I am the weird one who still drinks hot coffee, no matter what the temp outside! 

Are you team cold coffee or hot?

Around here it has been a busy summer so far, we are trying to pack  as much as possible into the time we have before we all head in different directions in mid August.

Ella, Gary & I started playing weekly tennis.

 At first we sucked, but now we suck less & less and really enjoy it!

In May, Ella and I took a fantastic girls trip to NYC and it was amazing. 

This was the first time we had ever spend any time there and we loved every minute of it. 

Here just a few of the hundreds of pictures I snapped.

NYC view from The Hudson River Line

OMG! I ran into Wallace Shawn while walking to dinner!

We met a Rockette after touring Radio City Music Hall

NYC Dana was loving it!

In June, we took our yearly family cruise trip to the Bahamas.

 Taking a cruise is one of our favorite ways to travel. 

We cruised out of Tampa and it was so much fun.

 Allure of the Seas was an amazing ship!

Central Park on Allure of the Seas

Loving our Perfect Day at CoCo Cay!

Here are some items I have been loving around our house!

Coffee Pod Holder

Kitchen Cafe Curtains

Heads up, cafe curtains are coming back in style and I am loving them! I recently removed my blinds from my kitchen and put up cafe curtains. They are shear and allow light thru, but give privacy. 

In my neck of the woods, the only thing that is outside of our windows are Deer.

Acai Refresher Cups

We have enjoyed some lazy days at home inside trying to stay cool, but also loving the long days when we are floating down the 

New River or kayaking on Lake Norman. 

I have eaten my share of watermelon this summer and it is always a refreshing treat! 

Do you salt your watermelon? I think it is a Southern thing!

We have also been cleaning our garage(ugh) and our attic. Whew! It is a dirty chore, but so needed. Having clean organized spaces is my love language. It is amazing the crap we keep! 

I have used Bagster in the past because it is so easy, I throw all my junk in it, schedule pick up and done! 

See short and sweet! See you next week!

Love, 

Dana

12 oz Tri Color Rotini Pasta

16 oz Italian Dressing

1/2 Red Onion Diced

1 Small Can Black Olives

1/2 Block of Sharp Cheese cubed

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

1 cup of Pepperoni

Love, 

Dana 

I know when you hear motor lodge and it brings up visions of old, dark, scary motels on the side on the road! Not in this case,we visited the newly remodeled and stunningly gorgeous Rhode's Motor Lodge in Boone and WOW!

Let me show you around!

We loved the fire pit after a long day of tubing

Game room/Chill Zone

Fire Pit area during the day

Plenty of room to enjoy a meal from The Canteen-the onsite house bar & restaurant

The whole place got new paint and updated

Bathroom had plenty of space for us

The branded Coleman cooler in your room is a nice touch

Mountain Views

The patio is a great place to grab a drink

The vibe here is mid century

My favorite part is they kept the old Greene's Motel sign

Rhode's Motor Lodge has 54 perfectly appointed rooms Rhode's Motor Lodge Hwy 321 Boone, NC 28607 Ph#828-865-1110

This Women's Chiffon Top is cute for Spring. 

I am in love with these Faux Boxwoods. These pictures do not do them justice. I have them on top of planters by my front door and they look so amazing.

Recently, we stayed in a hotel in Charleston, and they had these sleep machines in the room. As soon as we came home we ordered them, I like how you can adjust the volume of the white noise with a simple turn. 

Ella was accepted to App State, and I am over the moon with excitement and pride. This App State flag is garden size flag and looks amazing in my yard. Show your Mountaineer Pride and pick one up today.

Hope you enjoyed a peek at our Amazon finds and hopefully, you have found something that you would like in your own home. 

Cheers!

Dana

We have lived in our house for approx. 24 years and with all things, time takes its toll and things need a refresh. Our house has lots of traffic with 3 people and visitors, we also have 3 cats. We have so many memories here and plan on making a bunch more.

Our floors have been neglected, we have had the same builder grade carpet, since we built our house. 

But, this change is really coming because, I am sick of being sick. My family and I, have been sick since Aug, and it is really starting to suck. We have had everything from ear infections, strep throat, sinus infections and so much more. The carpet can't be holding anything good in them after all these years. 

We went with Stainmaster Summit Oak

 I also wanted cohesive flooring in the whole house, as we had 3 different types of flooring that could be seen from our foyer. So, up they came and new non-carpet flooring will go down.The flooring we chose is going to be a LVP-Luxury Vinyl Plank from Stainmaster, it is more affordable than hardwood, but better than laminate, in my opinion. 

Oh my, I am not going to miss this at all. Bye!!

We will be using Lowes Hardware for this project. We have tackled other projects around our house but, we are smart enough to know, this is a monster we do not want to wrestle. 

Lowe's came out to our house, and measured our floors and started the process.Our first floor is 1700 sq ft and it all got new flooring.

We picked out a color that we felt would be a great fit for our family for years to come. They have so many options to choose from.

The prepping part is the hardest on us, we had to pack up all the knick knacks, nothing could be left on the floor and the furniture had to be clear of lamps or anything else that was on the top surface. 

Prince thought all this flooring was for him

Kitty quickly made herself at home in the moving boxes

We also used this as a time to purge junk, we all have "stuff" that serves no purpose, and it makes my type "A" brain happy to clean out and make space for calm. I am a huge fan of these Bagster-Dumpster in a Bag and use them often, they really hold a bunch of junk and pick up is easy as one simple call. We moved upstairs for a few days while the floors were replaced downstairs. It was a lot of work to prep our house for new flooring, but the reward is amazing.

Also, I was warned of the dust that would be going on during this project but, man I way under estimated it. I am still finding places where there is dust hiding. The pictures below are just a brief look into the process we went through.

So long carpet

Lowes team was very calculated and took rooms in sections

Yes, that is our toilet sitting on the front porch

We have started moving some things back inside but, some pieces didn't make the cut and are still sitting in the garage waiting to be hauled to Goodwill.

Living room before

Living room after, our large area rug is being cleaned and should be back soon

Foyer is starting to come back together

Soooo much better