Love, Laughter, & Whimsy

Love, Laughter & Whimsy

Well, as I already mentioned, we are officially closing on July 11^th, on our old house, that is, which leaves us a couple days short of six weeks to pack up our entire house…& get out, which if we’re exceedingly diligent, focused, & task-effective about it, should be ample time for a pleasant, organized, & exciting move. Luckily, I've already managed to make a considerable dent in the packing process by averaging 3 boxes a day, which I'm carefully & strategically filling to the top & carrying into our garage!! I've devised a fool-proof labeling system in order to easily keep track of all our belongings & to insure that once we arrive at our new house, wherever that will be, unpacking won't be a huge undertaking, & everything will make it to the correct rooms!! I'm extremely excited!! In fact, I haven't been this excited since my wedding day - I would say shopping for a wedding dress was pretty high on the excitement scale!!
I just can't wait to paint, decorate, make a new house into a home filled with love, laughter, & whimsy!! I'm looking forward to planning & blogging about this experience, room by room. I have tons of decorating ideas I can't wait to share. Jon & I have seen a couple houses with our realtor so far, & this morning, we are seeing three more, all of which are in Williamstown in beautiful neighborhoods, & are fairly new - around 10 years old or younger.
Jon has been totally awesome!! On the other hand, my #1 Helper has been taking some time off, & feels that she needs a little R & R, & time to herself!!
mmmmmmhhhhhmmmmm...

UNDER CONTRACT!!

Well, Chez Botbyl is officially UNDER CONTRACT!!!!

I totally can't believe it!! We are moving out July 11th, & it still has yet to sink in. The last four years have definitely been memorably wonderful & we will never ever forget our 1st house. As we embark on a new exciting journey which entails venturing out into the unknown, we will reminisce on trials, tribulations, laughs, love, & unforgettable experiences we've had while residing here!! Particular memories that come to mind are finding sweet 2-week old kittens outside under the hosta bush...decorating our sad little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree...our nephew Brayden nervously exclaiming "Dad, I can't float!! I'm only a little boy!!" Coming home from our honeymoon & actually living in our home for the 1s time...Relaxing in our lovely refreshing pool on a hot summer afternoon!! Having guests over to relax as well!! All in all, we've certainly enjoyed living here, & as much as we'll miss it, we're ready to move on & see what our future holds, and are extremely excited to be welcoming something new - something a little bigger, a little closer to work, & something we'll confidently be able to called our "Forever-House"!!

To D.I.Y. for!!

Good Morning!! I have awesome Saturday inspiration for you this lovely spring morning, in the form of creativity and craftiness - things that you can create yourself!!

Photo 1 is from Martha Stewart.com!! What a cute little spring tray which could be used for Drinks, snacks, books, you name it!!
Photo 2, 3, & 4 are from Wendy Woodall at Pinterest.com, which is a neat website where you can post collections of things you love!! These three items, the decorative candlesticks, bright & bold pine cones, & the paint chip bookmarks maybe something that you already decorate with or have used before, but without the colorful twist, so It's definitely cool to see how you could take these items one step further just by utilizing vibrant colored spray paint or ribbon!! The 5th photo is from "frugallifeproject.com" & the 6th photo is from "TheMagicofordinarythings.blogspot.com", two creative blogs I just recently came across while searching for some quick inspiring DIY projects!! Last, but not least, the awesome bookshelf idea (photo #7) is from "creamylife.com", and the adorable colorful bird pillow (photo #8) is from "thesoho.blogspot.com".
All of these fun projects could be taken on within the confines of a considerably small budget & time frame, consisting of items that you may already have hiding in your home!! Have an imaginative weekend!!

Run, Sun, Fun, & Mothers!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

This morning, Team Artese-Botbyl enthusiastically participated in the Brian Anderson Walk/Run-Athon in Washington Twp, for which the weather was absolutely gorgeous - What a fantastic day to spend outside while donating to a great cause! Also, it's always nice to spot people you haven't seen since High School - Most of the time anyway!! The rest of my afternoon consists of finishing school work, while this landscaping service that Jon just hired cuts & shapes our backyard, which better look amazing!! Then it's on to another extremely jam-packed week of work, rehearsals w/the spring dance team, choir, talent show auditions, flute lessons etc!! We're almost at the home stretch at this point!! This year is completely flying by!!

Hope everyone had a terrific sunny weekend & A Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Belated Easter

I haven't yet gotten around to creating a post about Easter although it was a week ago!! These pictures from Easter were taken from mom's camera (since mine's been out of use since its fatal accident that took place in our washing machine), which due to my severe camera withdraw, I just had to borrow for a couple of days!! After our little Easter Performance at church, we headed over to "The Lakehouse" in Franklinville, which is totally adorable, & as you may have guessed, is right on a quaint little lake!! How appropriate for a lovely sunny spring day!! They has an awesome Easter Brunch consisting of a plethura of breakfast & lunch options, as well as dinner such as Roast Beef & Chicken Parmesean - Yummie!! This will definitely be an option for Easter Sunday in the future - Maybe next year!!

Inspiring Spring Kitchens

Good Evening!! Just a little End-of-the-weekend Spring Kitchen Inspiration for our 1st day of May!! The 1st two photos are from meohmymama.blogspot.com, which is a creatively adorable blog, & the last two photos are from "House of Turquoise". Hope you had an amazingly fun-filled weekend!!