Introducing....

The newest member of the Beals family, Miss Dolly Parton.

Dolly is an SR Eskies puppy, where all the dogs are either AKC and/or UKC Champions, or Grand Champions, which pretty much mean she's already smarter than everyone in our family. We love her so much already and can't wait to watch her grow.

Spring is in the Air.

The boys are definitely loving this spring/summer weather as much as we are. We are all enjoying it now before it's 120 degrees out.

Chico enjoying a beautiful St. Patrick's Day....

Hank being handsome...

Ace watching the stray cat....

Hank loves strutting up and down the new stone walkway.....

He loves posing for the camera just as much....

Now he's had enough...

Jr. just prefers to eat....

And just be handsome without having to sell it too hard.....

Bedroom Makeover Update.

We've been slowly working towards transforming our bedroom and I'm pretty happy with the results so far. We still have a few outstanding items that we need to accomplish, but check out what's happened so far.

BEFORE:

AND AFTER:

We put new paint on the walls, went for some major drama with the drapes, got new bedding, new wall art, and bought new nightstands and lamps.

The sign above the bed was a small craft project. The center sign was used in our wedding and served as the inspiration for the color pallette of the room. I wanted to pull in more of the light blues that were already on the sign and make the sign itself a larger piece. To do that, I bought a distressed light blue frame from The Depot and had Ryan cut a piece of wood backing, which we wrapped in leftover burlap fabric from the wedding and then centered the sign in the middle of the frame. I also added the horseshoe from my bouquet to the bottom corner. I like how it turned out, but I do want to find something to go on both sides of it. I'm thinking some vintage lantern lights or some rustic, reclaimed window shutters.

We really wanted to find some older nightstands to refinish, but it was beginning to look like we would never find anything to work with, so we decided on these from Garden Ridge. I bought the wicker baskets and added those to the bottom for a little charm and storage. The lamps are from Target.

Another one of our outstanding items is to replace the mirror with the brown frame with a much taller one. I'd like to find one with a barnwood frame, but I'd settle for just brown and really tall.

I ended up getting our new duvet cover from Target. It's from their Shabby Chic line and was a compromise from the Restoration Hardware Linen duvet cover that I wanted that sold for $400 or something crazy like that. I bought this one for $70 and it's pretty awesome for being a Linen blend. It gets softer with every wash and is super comfy.

Pretty big difference, huh? I still want dark hardwood floors and a sliding barn door going into the bathroom (and a chandelier instead of a ceiling fan if my husband will agree to it) but I think it's pretty great the way it is right now and a hell of a lot better than what it was a couple of months ago!

The Yard.

We've spent the first three months of this year on the hustle. We've used some serious tunnel vision and have been 100% dedicated to completing our tasks. I am so happy to say that we are finally done with the yard!

I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago, so you dont get the effect of having the leaves on the trees like you would now, but I was too lazy to reshoot.

We have grass! Thanks to Ryan our backyard is lush right now. We added pine straw around the trees, and moved our stone walkway. The previous owners had initially put it in, but it didnt seem to make sense in its previous location. I love it running from the deck to the goat house....

I repainted the white trim on the goat house, added a window frame from The Depot at Gibson Mill that I got for $15, and bought a window planter from Walmart. Say what you want about Walmart, but when you are running a project on a budget, you can get a very similar product for much cheaper. Know where to spend your money! I filled the planter with an old fake plant that I had in my apartment and it worked perfectly. We got the bistro table and chairs from Ryan's mom and stepdad. They werent using them anymore and were more than happy to give them to us. We bought a few cans of black spray paint to take them from green to black and voila!

GREEN GRASS!!!!!

The new and improved back deck!! We put lattice around the existing structure and then water sealed and stained everything, added mulch and lighting, and bought a gazebo from Lowe's for $500. The gazebo was definitely our big ticket item, but it was well worth it. We needed shade and ambiance and the gazebo achieves both.

We also added planters for the front of the deck and I will be planting annuals in those next weekend.

Gazebo Chandelier.....

Our pretty trees in bloom....

We had a couple of shrubs in the front yard that had died so we needed to replace those. While we were doing that, we decided to extend the beds to the side of the house and added lighting and new mulch.

The end!!

My Loves.

I'm Sexy and I Know It.

This has always been Hank's time of the year. He sheds his undercoat, his top coat gets black as coal, he leans out, he holds himself high, his attitude gets fierce, he's a boss. The end.

It’s Not Sasha. - A Must Read.

I have a blog recommendation for y’all that is waaayyyy to good to be hidden somewhere in my Blog Roll, so here it is, getting its very own post.

Sosha and I have been friends for quite a while now. (I blogged about her family here.) We were initially brought together by work, but remained connected, through what I like to think of as, our kindred souls. She was the first friend that I made in Charlotte that I could really identify with. She was from West Virginia and I was from Small Town, NY, but we both knew that we were from the same place. We didn’t attend private schools as children, our houses didn’t have paved driveways or rose bushes, and our families weren’t exactly angels. We’ve shared our fair share of laughs, booze, and crazy family stories, always sharing the same sense of humor about them. I’ve always appreciated that we were cut from the same cloth and were given the same attitude and grit toward life.

Now, while I can serve you up a dish of crazy, Sosha will serve you a 5 course meal. Her story is HEAVY and gripping to say the least. Sosha’s blog will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will shock you, it will impress you, it will inspire you. It will make you think about how a girl, who had every reason in the world to fail, broke the cycle and rose up to create her own destiny, despite her circumstances.

Check it out and get to know her. This is just the beginning…

The Blog

http://www.itsnotsasha.blogspot.com/

The Website

http://itsnotsasha.com/

Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/itsnotsasha