Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all have a wonderful day filled with love!   Not only is this Valentine's Day, but this is the day that 18 years ago my sweet husband asked me to marry him.  He had worked at the bowling alley all night, and I was in a nightgown with a cow on it that said Love Me Tender watching an I Love Lucy marathon.  He came by to bring me my present.  He told me to close my eyes and when I opened them he was on one knee with the ring box opened in his hand.  He said, "I didn't even get you a card, but if I did, it would say, "I love you Kathryn Anne.  Will you marry me?"  I was so shocked I couldn't speak!  He looked at me and said, "Are you going to say "yes"?"  I then said yes about 1,000 times!  I have never regretted saying YES.  I love you BHW with all my heart.  Thank you for everything!  Happy Valentine's Day!

This was Jemma's Valentine to pass out at school.  Beth from Home Stories A2Z did these last year and I knew I wanted to do them!  They turned out so cute and all the other moms were very impressed!  Thank you Beth!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!!!

Cleaning up

I have been going through the house and just starting the process of cleaning out and straightening everything up.  I had so many ideas that I was going to do this year and now we will be moving!  We have lived here for almost three years and I have said that it seems at three years is when I feel like I "know" my house and know what I want to do.  Oh well, I already have lots of ideas for a new house!  I thought I would show you a few pictures of our house now as I am cleaning and photographing for our sale!  Yes, I am taking my own pictures of my house!! 

Want to know what is crazy?  Now that I am about to leave, I am getting calls about my photography.  I was asked by my realtor to do photos for other realtors of their homes for a set price.   Then I was contacted by a children's clothing boutique to shoot their clothes on kids for their advertising!   Of all the luck... well, it just makes me more determined to start of on the right foot in Minnesota!  Hello, my name is Kathryn and I am a photographer.  Thank you very much!

To kick of the house tour, we will start at the front door.  I haven't edited anything so beware!

I love the C shape to our staircase.  The office is to the right.  I refuse to show it.  We have a lot of furniture in there that is too big for the room.  We just aren't ready to give it up so in my office it went!  I will be rearranging and cleaning out this room next week!

To the left of the foyer is the dining room.  This set is very special to me.  My mom passed away in 1997 and she didn't really have much of anything in the sense of "hand it down".  When she passed, she had a small life insurance policy that was mine and her husband's to split.  I decided I wanted to buy my dining room set with the money so I would have some to give to my children from their grandmother.  Every time I look at it, I think of my mama and it makes me happy to know that Jemma will have this little bit of her too.  

I love my big fancy schmancy picture!  At first glance, I was like "that is a big ol' picture of fruit!", but the more I looked at it, the more I liked it.  It was from a store that was going out of business.  It was priced at $975 but I got it for $300!  I know that is still a lot, but I figured I couldn't even frame something that big (and this baby is big!) for that price.  It was one of those pieces that I knew I would regret if I didn't get it and I just love it!

Through the dining room is our kitchen.  I thought I would love the cooktop on the island so I could talk to the family and all that jazz... I hate it.  I hate that it interferes with my space on my island which is where everyone congregates.  I feel compelled to clean and scrape the sucker all the time because I can't stand for any spots or marks on it.  I definitely won't have an island cooktop next house.  That is for sure!

This picture is for all my rooster loving ladies!  Do you spy him?  He is nestled in the fake (gasp and egad!!!) greenery.  The greenery was on top of the cabinets which didn't look as bad, but I moved it for Christmas and never put it back!  I hope my next house has double ovens.  I love those bad boys!!!  

I am out of here for now and going to bed!  I will share the rest as I take pictures for the realtor!  

I still can't believe I am moving!!!!  Thank you for all your sweet comments and words of encouragement.  It really means a lot to me!  Just know that I am dragging all of you through this with me so get ready!