Miss Madison Turns One!

* Warning* If you do not love fur babies you might want to skip this post and join me Sunday

Today is Miss Madison's First Birthday!

I thought I'd share a few of the pictures I've taken of her over the past year.

She has really grown up :)

She is all Westie - attitude, confidence and spunk!

Here she is the day we brought her home.

Happy Birthday Madison!

(She got a delightful bath with

Pure Grace soap by Philosphy as her present)

I am joining Show and Tell Friday & My Favorite Things Saturdays.

Miss Madison's New Accessories

Miss Madison, weary from Winter and looking forward to Spring

expressed a need for a new accessories.

(Yes my kids think I'm crazy)
While on One Kings Lane today I saw these adorable
sets under Harry Barker.
Miss Madison will be so fashionable in her pink and green!



Below is more information about this company:
" Packed with preppie style, Harry Barker's fun, eco-friendly doggie beds, pet dishes and kibble canisters are as warm and unique as the woman who created them. Carol Perkins, an ex-model and fire-eater for Penn & Teller on Broadway, began creating dog beds, toys and robes for friends, at her kitchen table. Her creations were an instant hit, and Harry Barker—named after her Super-Sheltie—came to be. "

They had some super cute stuff!
I'm joining Outdoor Wednesday at
A Southern Daydreamer

Madison Met Monday

Welcome to Met Monday hosted by Susan over at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/. Today I'm posting the photos I've to date from the breeder, Wonderland Kennels in Hickory, Kentucky (between Mayfield and Paducah) of our new puppy Madison. These show her at two, three, four and six weeks. We are scheduled to pick her up on August 22nd!

Met Monday She Left . . She's Here!

This week I've put an Organized Life on hold, but it will be back next Monday. Please join me in thanking Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Metamorphis Monday. Be sure to stop by there and see all the great posts. http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

I'm late to post my Met Monday today because we've had a very busy weekend. My daughter left for her senior semester abroad on Saturday. I'm glad she has the great opportunity, but Christmas can't come fast enough so she will be back home! The same day my daughter left, my fur baby Madison arrived! We drove down to Paducah and picked her up Saturday. Needless to say we've not had a lot of sleep, but I think that has helped me not worry about my daughter as much. I put a picture of Madison on the right side of my page.

Today's post is a picture of our daughters room. It looks very empty now that we've moved all of her stuff into storage or she has taken it with her. I'm calling on all empty nesters out there to help me with suggestions on how to transform this room into a guest room. These empty shelves need help! Any ideas?

Beeutiful tablescape

Madison wants you to join us for dinner on the porch.

Okay Mr. B wanted Madison up on the table, see her reaching

for a treat from him, we really don't let our pets on the table.

Tonight I featured black and cream along with my wonderful

Mary Lake Thompson bee napkins!

Here's the placesetting totalled layered with the lace cream plate on top.

Underneath is the green ceramic plate.

Followed by a black charger and a black rattan placemat.

Here's a bird's eye view.


And a closer picture of the napkin feature.

Guess we're having sandwiches because

apparently I forgot the silverware!

In the center I placed some yellow day lilies

getting ready to burst into bloom.

The candles are cucumber tea lights on star of david coasters.

The green wine glasses look lighter than they are in person.

They are really a Forrest green.

Hope you enjoyed this table setting.

Thanks for stopping by to visit!

Please join Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch

for more beeutiful posts :)

Black and White Porch

Today I'm sharing the update of our back porch, 

which runs the length of our house with access

from the dining room and the master bedroom.

 Here it is "before" in desperate need of painting

and new flooring.  

The existing floor was tan indoor/outdoor carpet.

We talked about wrapping it with siding, but decided

to have it painted along with

the rest of the outside of the house last summer.

 The flooring was a difficult decision.

No carpet for sure!  Tile? Wood? 

 I love the black and white check floors, and thought the outdoor "room" 

could support such a bold floor, plus it was a good 

place to experiment without having to look at it everyday

if it was a terrible decision (believe me I've made some of those!)

 Here's the process we (meaning my husband) followed:

After the porch was painted we laid new plywood flooring

Then we painted the entire floor white

Next we taped off squares (you can see above) with Frog tape

Filled in the squares with black enamel paint

And let it all dry really well.

 Here's the finished product. You can see Miss Madison was the

first one out on the porch LOL!

 Here it is furnished again with our rockers and table.

 Down by the master bedroom we have the rockers 

where we sit and visit lots of evenings.

 Here is the floor by the wicker rockers, which I repainted black

from the white they were to match the floor.

 I hung a battery operated chandelier over the dining table.

 We repainted the rod iron table and chairs white

and my sweet mother in law made the cushions for 

both the dining and wicker chairs.

I used Waverly outdoor fabric.

This picture is from this past week.  The others are from one year ago.

I wanted you to be able to see how it's "wearing".

Sometimes I see projects and think "that looks great now, 

wonder how it will look in a few months"

Since it is an outdoor porch, even though it is protected by the overhang,

it gets wet when it storms, dirty from bugs, etc.

The floor does look less crisp than when we first finished it,

but I like that look of a little worn, so I am happy.

If you wanted perfection forever, you could put a coat of poly to seal

but I didn't want my white squares to tinge yellow, so we skipped that step.
*Don't forget to visit Bee Breakfast at
http://beeutifulbydesign.blogspot.com/2013/07/bee-breakfast-on-porch.html
for a chance to enter my giveaways!*

I'm joining:

Metamorphosis Monday http://betweennapsontheporch.net/a-sweet-bird-girl-in-the-garden/

Inspire me Tuesday at http://www.astrollthrulife.net/

Wow us Wednesday at http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/

Tutorial Tips and Tidbits at http://www.stonegableblog.com/

Outdoor Wednesday http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/
Furniture Feature Friday http://missmustardseed.com/2013/08/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-a-link-party-25/

Porch Sitting Area

Madison says it's time to get back out on the porch and add some more details!Here's the sitting area in winter time.

See nosy rosy peeking out into the yard?

This area was pretty plain and boring!

A few weeks ago I added the wreath and blue birds.

But I wasn't totally happy with it, so I added a cake plate to the wreath and candle to increase the height.

I placed a plant on the wicker table and some green pillows I found 1/2 off at Target on each chair.

Then I added this pillow from the tv room. My Dad bought this for me at the State Fair a few years back.

It's a Yellow Lab and a Westie!

I still want to add some things around the plant on the wicker table, but I haven't found the right accents yet.

On the wall behind the sitting area are two signs I got at Hobby Lobby last year. This needs something added to it but I'm torn between a mirror or pictures.

What do you think would look good?

Thanks for joining me today. Please leave a comment before you go over to visit our hostess Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.