Harrison's Year Old Pics by Shawna Moore

Here is a set of photos taken by my friend, Shawna (ShawnaMoorePhotography.com). She gave us a photo session for a baby shower gift and I couldn't wait to redeem it! Of course, we snagged a few of Eden and the two of them together as well. Hope you enjoy! :) 

(are you kidding me? Look at those eyes!)

 (love that toothy grin!)

(this one is our favorite) 

(our smiling beauty) 

(this one is very misleading...they look so serious!) 

Hair-dos and Hardware and Chairs, Oh My!

Things have been happening around here in the Caranci household! Seems we are on a roll with getting stuff done. Here is a recap of the last week:

First topic is rather vain on my part, I admit. Here is the back story: my friend Deanna showed up at a baby shower last week with the cutest hairstyle - her hair was curled and in a side ponytail, with the top pinned back. I thought it looked so pretty! Now, any of you that know me know that I cannot do a thing with my hair - not one single thing. It is either down and a hot mess or in a ponytail and a hot mess. But her look inspired me to try it. Jason and I were going to a movie last Friday night with some of our closest friends and I took the opportunity to try it out. Wasn't too hard, but it took some pinning. Here is the front:

Side:

Back:

I thought it looked pretty good, at least what I could see. I asked Jason what he thought and he couldn't seem to understand why it wasn't centered, haha. I told him that was the way it was supposed to be and he said if it was supposed to be off-center then it looks good, but I still don't think he got it. :) As it was, I fidgeted with it the entire night, trying to get it to stay to the side and worrying that the pins would come out. But all in all, it was a nice experiment to get out of the box of my normal boring 'do. We had a great time at the movies though, and I highly recommend The Avengers!

Enough about me, on to more exciting things! Next up is a project concerning light fixtures in the hallways (one upstairs and one down). I really dislike these lights - not just the gold, but the shape:

Since we can't afford to buy new fixtures at this point, I knew I could at least get rid of the goldtastic parts. Out came my favorite spray paint and voila! Not great, but better: 

Next, I had bought some hardware for the drawers in our bathroom and just now got around to putting them in. Makes a HUGE difference on the practical side of things! I hated having to try to get the drawers open with no handle - this makes it much better. 

A shot of the whole bathroom (notice the curtain is actually hanging in the correct place now and no more gold door knobs! Still need to iron that shower curtain though...):

We also had hardware for the kitchen cabinets that Jason and his dad started putting in on Monday and I finished up yesterday:

It is amazing what a few little handles can do! I think it helps the kitchen not to look so builder-basic. 

Next up, we ordered a chair from Dynasty Furniture in Winston Salem (yay for groupons! This one was a $150 gift certificate for $49 and I snagged it last fall). The music room needed some extra seating in a bad way so we decided to get a side chair for the little wall between the piano and stairs. Of course Eden had to help Jason put it together:

She approves!

Now we have one more place for someone to sit comfy and visit. :) 

Keeping on the theme of chairs, a while back I posted pics of the new desk in the music room but was so embarrassed by the chair we were using for it I didn't even have it in the pictures. It was one we got from our alma mater when they upgraded to new furniture. I forgot to snag a before shot, but the legs and arms were basic brown wood and the upholstery is a gray/pink shell-like pattern. We do not like it, haha. But it was free and an extra seat so we took it. Jason mentioned the other day in passing that we should just spray paint the arms and legs and re-upholster it. Although I am not sure I can do the re-upholstery part, I know I can spray paint! :) This is how it came out:

Still not great, but at least the legs match the room now and the upholstery kinda blends. I am considering just getting a throw to put over it and cover the pinky material. Any thoughts, suggestions?

After I removed all of the grocery bags I used to protect the fabric while painting, I did notice a little spot I missed on the arm near the back of the seat. Darn, guess I will have to break out my spray can again. 

So that's it for our little round up! Been busy, but we are marking things off of our list. This week I am tackling some other things too: re-painting the banister, starting on the trim around the house, re-arranging Eden's room, etc. Everything is still a long way from done!

Just as a bonus, here is a shot of the kids "practicing" - I love Eden's expression here, like she is thinking "he is not doing that right"...she is a just a tad bossy. :) 

Lastly, my favorite shot of the week, no explanation needed. <3

A Whole Lot to Talk About...

Wow, so a whole lot has happened since my last post. Hold on to your horses, here's a quick roundup of what the Caranci's have been up to!

Jason and I got tickets to go see the Winston Salem Symphony perform Carmina Burana, one of my favorite music sets. It was amazing! We don't get to do this kind of thing very often, but it was wonderful to be in touch with the music world again. Here we are in the car getting ready to head in to the concert:

Next up, I was able to take a few days and go to the beach with two of my girlfriends, Jennie and Deanna:

We had a wonderful time! It was nice and relaxed. We just did whatever we felt like doing at the time, which included movies, shopping, eating, etc. Here we are getting in the Christmas spirit at Callahan's:

A picture of me in a cowboy hat (thought my Dad would appreciate it): 

We also took an afternoon to rent bikes and ride on the beach for a few hours. It was wonderful, albeit tiring!

Believe it or not, this is a metal box we found washed up on shore. The barnacles are so built up it is hard to tell what it originally looked like, but we couldn't get it open or move it at all. I like to think pirates left it for us, or at least Johnny Depp. :) 

It was a great little trip and it was so nice to just chill. I had a wonderful time with these two girls, getting to know them better. :) 

After my trip, it was back home to my sweet little family. I missed them! But of course I couldn't rest long, it was back to my project list for the house. I was able to spray paint (of course, my favorite thing) the hinges for the kitchen cabinets. They used to be this bronze-y gold color:

And now they are a nice satin nickel, to match the hardware we bought. I'm hoping to get those installed sometime this week and I will have pictures of the finished project. I am thinking of painting the cabinets white...Jason says I won't like it because it will look country, but I think with the new sleek hardware it might not have too much of a country vibe (I do not like country-looking stuff...at all). Any thoughts? 

Another random tidbit is that we are loving the fresh produce that is in season! Fresh peaches and strawberries are the best!

Another exciting tidbit is that our hydrangea is definitely alive! Take a look at these beautiful pink blooms:

I was so excited to come home from my beach trip to find them. SO glad Morgan was unable to kill our new bush!

Lastly, I thought I would include a bunch of random shots of the kids. They are growing so quickly and learning so much. Eden's vocabulary is becoming quite extensive and I love seeing her put new words into sentences and be able to communicate better and better. Harry is growing like a weed too and will be walking before we know it. He has added a few words too, including juice, bye-bye, and mama pretty regularly. :) 

In this one, I thought Eden looked so cute in her little white shorts and pink shirt, all ready for the beach! With her breakfast in hand of course, a waffle. 

Harry doing what he does best, eat:

A morning at the park:

(I love his little pucker here, so cute!) 

(Eden has always had super strong legs - it looks like she is doing a Russian dance here, haha) 

I also wanted to ask for opinions: now that Eden has moved to a toddler bed there is a huge open wall in her room (from the lack of the princess canopy). I would really like to do a hand-painted tree mural, something like this, this or this. Any thoughts? Should it be centered on the wall or on one side? I like to be able to move the furniture around too, so I don't want something that is too limiting. Should I fore-go the tree thing altogether and go for some other kind of art? Other things I considered were this or this. I am open to any suggestions!