Nerd Alert-Weather Watcher

Whatcha doing Irene?

I have a confession....I'm obsessed with watching the weather. This all started back in 1989 when Hurricane Hugo was headed towards Charleston, SC. Several family friends and my brother came up to Asheville to ride out the storm with us and I was glued to the news. I had no idea about the awesome powers of mother nature and what she could do. I mean, how amazing is it that during a certain few months out of the year the chemistry of the atmosphere and the ocean come together to create something so terrifying and destructive? Yes...I see the dork-meter rising.
After College I moved to Florida and in 2004 we encountered Bonnie, Charley, Frances, Gaston, Ivan, Jeanne, and Rita. Frances wrecked West Palm Beach, left a coconut dent in my Jetta and tore apart my back house at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens. Gaston came to Pawleys Island where we were watching Frances on the news during our Vacation and caused a little excitement there. Ivan took out all the trees at my parents house in Asheville and chased them to Nantucket, and Jeanne convinced my boss at the time to fly me up to New York for a week. (I can't complain about the latter). It was quite the summer.
In 2005 Katrina left her mark on my family in Louisiana, and as Forrest Gump says... that's all I have to say about that. Wilma came to FL late in the Summer and left us all without power or groceries...when the new Whole Foods opened off PGA Blvd it was a frenzy to buy meat.

Anyways..

Spaghetti Models

My favorite two websites to peruse all things Hurricane are NOAA and Spaghetti Models. And just to tie in the fact that I try to blog about decor; how wicked would these 4 look as prints in a kids room? You heard it here first. I'm going to print these bad boys off and put them in Ford's big boy room...but I'll probably color replace the pink in photoshop.

Upper Air Time Section Analyses Images (what you say?)

These graphics provide time-height (pressure) section analyses of upper-air soundings. Data includes observed and anomalous wind speed/direction, relative humidity, and theta-e (θ_e) for meteorological stations in the southeast US, Central America, Caribbean, and western Africa.

Minus the hairy little black marks these are awesome! What I wouldn't give to study weather data all day....

Powder Room Prints? Come on...these are fascinating!

So who agrees? Weather watching is exciting! Who's with me? (Crickets...Crickets)

xoxo-Bourbon Dork

House Beautiful September Favorites

My final House Beautiful arrived last night. I have received multiple reminders to renew my subscription but I'm just not sure what to do. I typically love at least one or two homes and find several sources to earmark but I'm having a hard time carving out the space in my day to go curl up and spend the bandwidth required to immerse oneself in a glossy. I did a quick flip through while breastfeeding (thanks brestfriend!) and here are a few of my favorites from this issue:

The issue is called the "Art of Color"...but this room seems rather neutral to me. I can't ever decide if I'm a neutral or color person. This bedroom looks absolutely serene to me though! Master Bedroom by Betsy Brown

Love the colors in this kitchen by Rhoda Payne...I'm too chicken to paint my cabinets.

Precious Powder room by Mona Ross Berman

I would have to upgrade from drugstore makeup if I had this bathroom!

Bath by Pierce Allen

Photos via my Iphone of House Beautiful.......b/c I'm too lazy to scan.

The Nursery Reveal (Finally!)

Well, its about time right?! Now that my little baby boy is 4 months old I'm finally starting to get the hang of things! Plus I'm a perfectionist and I can't get the pictures right...something about the blinds and the curtains being squashed most of the time but what the heck, here it is! The pics look fuzzy b/c they are each over 5MB and blogger is smushing them.

I went back and forth on color choices and I really wanted my curtains to be in the Circusy fabric you see on the Pillow shams (on daybed) but it was a little $$. So I took the advice of my G-town girlfriends and headed to Mary Jo's. THAT PLACE IS AMAZING! It was between the red and this chocolate brown that I loved but I went with the red! I had originally wanted to find red and blue fabric but I figured I could still paint the walls blue. Real original right? Baby blue walls? My husband called me at work and told me I had to pick a paint color within the hour b/c the painters were there. So I just said eff it and picked the lightest blue I could google. And.............it worked.

I took the most boyish Norman Rockwell's out of a book I found at the Tobacco Barn in Asheville and had them framed above the crib.

Lovies trying to escape. That frame was an awful faux-marble so I went a little nuts with red spraypaint. I wanted a bookshelf that was more of an etagere and found this one at Tobacco Barn! It was also updated with some glossy white spray paint.

Curtain Fabric is Robert Allen's "Cat's Cradle" from Mary Jo's. I have the BEST curtain source. She is in Atlanta and you just mail her your fabric and she mails back perfect pinch pleat lined curtains. Less than $80 for a pair.

The charcoal painting is of my grandfather Bob Boylan. I wish I could have known him but from the stories I hear he was quite the character. My dear friend MOS gave me the red lamp for my baby shower and the rest of the table contains pictures of everyone in baby's family .

The oil painting is from Post & Gray. Should I have it framed? I guarantee every one of those frames are from Homegoods. The steamboat piggy bank and silver brush were mine.

I really wanted the Pottery Barn glider but I bought this lovely off Craigslist. Not as comfy as PB but works just as well! I had it upholstered in a white matelasse.The little red table is from Homegoods and it got a quick red spraypaint. The shelves are from Exposures and also were doused with red spraypaint. Let's just say at 7 months pregnant I was outside for a day with a mask on and red/white hands.

The dresser is from Tobacco Barn, and the mirror is from a booth at Market....looks just like the ones in Restoration Hardware right? I think I need something on each side of the mirror. What about one of those leaning ladders to hang all his blankets on?

Another shot of the glider side. My crib is Craigslist Jenny Lind from my newly made friend Kristin! I should have done a cribskirt in the material from the curtains or shams but just ordered the pique Pottery Barn.

This Tole chandelier was purchased from Bamboo's moving sale. It was hot pink so I sprayed that puppy white! YHL gave me the idea to put it on a dimmer and I'm so glad we did. Mr. Bourbon Mountains went one step further and put the dimmer on a remote. 

Cute knobs for the dresser from World Market.

I don't love this daybed but needed a place for me to sleep. You can't tell but the Shams are in a Circus print from Calico Corners. I need a better duvet to cover the gaps between the bed and the floor. Any ideas? Oh wait, I have a close-up of the shams....

I mean...how cute is that?

So I'm no professional but not too shabby right? I love it. My husband didn't understand why I would do all this for a baby's room but this was really for me. Honestly it was mostly done with items from Craigslist, Tobacco Barn, and pieces from our home. And honey....just consider it my push present. ha!

Daycare.................

I have lots of feelings about dropping Ford off at his first day of daycare...I just cannot articulate them right now. Last month I shared a nanny with a friend and it was a wonderful experience. The stark contrast between dropping him off at her house with Nanny C, and dropping him off at a daycare center with cubbies/personalized cribs/used toy gear....etc..is mind blowing. I know he is fine and they will do a great job but I think I'm allowed to feel a little blue today.

That's all.

xoxo