Phone Photo Friday
05/18/2012
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Art, Art: Phone Photo Friday, Family, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: baby, cell phone photography, foot, Phone Photo Friday, precious, toes | 
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Posted by mahlbrandt
New Home Update
05/17/2012I wish I had more exciting news to report. I was really hopeful that we’d be breaking ground this week. We’re working things out with the bank, trying some different options to see who/what/where will be a good fit to finance our new home. In the meantime, our contractors have the building permit in hand and are ready to go as soon as we close on the construction loan…which could be a few more weeks. Boo. We’re really eager to start moving forward.
I have some samples of countertops and wood flooring on my desk. This is honed granite, which is an option we’re considering for the kitchen countertop. The wood sample is hickory. Jason picked it up at the hardware store because he likes the fine, straight grain and the variation of colors. I do too. We’re still quite a ways away from needing to make those decisions but we’re looking at options as much as possible now so we can decide quickly later on.
Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: interior design, Art: modern design, Art: new home build | Tagged: construction, countertops, dream home, flooring, granite, hickory, house, kitchen, new home | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
New Home: Nursery Plan
05/16/2012At our last house, I designed a combined nursery and kids room as we were becoming foster parents. It had to be suited for 1 or 2 kids, either gender, newborn up to age 5…all within a 10×11 bedroom. In our new house, we’ll have TWO bedrooms for set up for kids. Hooray! (And another bedroom that we’ll set up as a den/playroom for now.) Here’s my plan for the nursery, which will be for our daughter. She will be about 1.5 when we move in. The room is approximately 10×11 (not including the doorway). The only new purchase for us in this room will be the curtains.
Sources
1. Sherwin WIlliams Rosebay – accent wall color
2. Sherwin Williams Greek Villa – other three walls
3. Petit Collage Animal ABC – Basic $40
4. IKEA BARBRO curtains $15
5. Lamp – vintage, thrifted
6. Dresser – vintage (changing table height)
7. Mr. French Poster Pop-Tone Monkey $30
8. Mobile – handmade by me
9. IKEA SOMNAT crib – no longer available
10. IKEA RIBBA picture ledges (to use as book ledges), x2, $10 each
11. IKEA GOSSIG SPANIEL – no longer available
12. Braxton Studio Letterio White Cradle Chair $80-120
13. IKEA TOFTBO bathmat (x4, taped together, MACHINE WASHABLE!) – no longer available in this color $13
14. Nightstand – vintage, refinished by me
Floor Plan (to scale)
1 Comment | Art, Art: interior design, Art: new home build, Art: new home nursery | Tagged: bedroom, inspiration, interior design, kids, mood board, new home build, new house, nursery, precious, room plan | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Phone Photo Friday
05/11/2012
Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: music, Art: Phone Photo Friday, Family, Family: Jason | Tagged: 2003, band, cell phone photography, guitarist, Jason, Phone Photo Friday, rock star, singer, Waterside | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Prickly Plants
05/09/2012Normally this time of year, I’d be snapping pictures of our garden and the plants around the house. The pink dogwood behind our house… I missed it this spring. However, our new yard has a gigantic beautiful white dogwood out front. I wonder if our prickly pear cactuses exploded with yellow flowers this spring. I’m sure the azaleas were blindingly vibrant. And the gorgeous Japanese Flowering Plum—I missed that one, too. Is the new home owner keeping up with the weeding?
Jason did bring quite a few plants over to our temporary home at my parents’ in pots. Recently the spineless prickly pear has been having it’s spring grow spurt. I love this thing. It’s so fun! It grows these soft, thick “spines” that dry up and fall off, leaving a polka-dotted paddle. The spineless prickly pear in front of our old house was (and still is) getting huge. We hope to grow these salvaged babies big in front of our new house, too.
We recently bought a huuuuuuge round pot for this agave at Old Time Pottery. It’s happy.
Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: gardening, Art: God's creation | Tagged: agave, cactus, gardening, plants, prickly, spring | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Phone Photo Friday
05/04/2012
Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: Phone Photo Friday, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: birthday party, cell phone photography, Phone Photo Friday, princess, rapunzel | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Documenting an Adoption
05/03/2012A sweet commenter suggested that we hire a photographer to document our adoption day. I had thought about getting a photographer to get some family pictures of us around the time of the finalization but it didn’t occur to me to have someone document the actual day. She sent a link to the video that was put together celebrating their family’s adoption day. The audio from the courthouse really gets me because it stirs up memories from being in court with Ladybug and Precious. This brief documentary is so beautiful. I’ve cried every time I’ve watched it. (Fair warning.)
I am so looking forward to our adoption finalization day!
5 Comments | Art, Family, Family: Foster Parenting | Tagged: adoption, adoption day, children, court, documenting, Family, foster care, parents, photography | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Cincinnati Trip – April 2012
05/02/2012It keeps happening. I intend to document an event, a trip, a visit with friends and I come home with a camera full of pictures of my daughter. I don’t know how it happens…
A couple weeks ago we took a weekend trip up to Cincinnati to visit our dear friends Sean and Renata and their kiddos. It was rainy and cold on Saturday so we went to the aquarium.
They don’t allow strollers in the aquarium. I thought that was the dumbest thing until I realized how packed it was in there. It was hard enough just to move around all of the standing people. Our very heavy little girl needed to take a nap anyway, and Daddy’s shoulder is the perfect spot.
I call Precious Ali-gator all the time as nickname for her real name (does that make any sense?) so I thought it was pretty awesome to get a picture of the gator under a Gator Alley sign.
She’s not really anything like an alligator. This guy was massive!
There was a trippy and very relaxing room full of neon lights and various kinds of jelly fish. I could have watched them for hours.
We caught a brief penguin show, too. This sweet family will be welcoming a new baby boy on Precious’ birthday in July!
Precious is a wonderful traveler. Look, all she needs is a shoe to chew on…
Sean and Renata have a beautiful, comfortable mid-century modern home. We love visiting them!
We even worked in a little time for antique store browsing this trip. We didn’t come home with anything but I enjoyed seeing these Curtis Jeré (real and/or imitation) metal wall sculptures.
I might regret that we didn’t buy this to put on our yet-to-exist fireplace.
1 Comment | Art, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: aquarium, Cincinnati, framily, friends, jere | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Phone Photo Friday
04/27/2012
I rescued this guy out of my parents’ pool skimmer box a few days ago.
Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: God's creation, Art: Phone Photo Friday | Tagged: cell phone photography, frog, Phone Photo Friday, pool | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Cedar Siding
04/26/2012Our new home exterior will have cedar siding, as well as concrete block on most of the front, and hardie plank accents around the side and back. I was having trouble visualizing the cedar so I did some homework and looked for images on Pinterest.
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Source: contemporist.com via Matthew on Pinterest
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Source: banjarinfo.com via Amy on Pinterest
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Source: 3ghomeimprovements.com via Yunkyung on Pinterest
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Source: Uploaded by user via Lindstrom on Pinterest
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Source: realcedar.org via Meghan on Pinterest
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Source: cococozy.com via Alli on Pinterest
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Source: flickr.com via Amy on Pinterest
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Here is what I DON’T want it to look like!
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Or like this. Too rustic for my taste.
Source: tinyhouselistings.com via Melissa Barr on Pinterest
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I stumbled upon this image, also. This house has several elements similar to ours. Concrete facade, cedar siding, courtyard entrance, glass store front style door. I also really love the unexpected pop of blue.
Source: plusmood.com via Martina on Pinterest
1 Comment | Art, Art: modern design, Art: new home build | Tagged: cedar siding, construction, dream house, modern, new house | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
myMCMlife.com 