How I Spent My Summer Vacation. or How pinterest is sucking up my time.

Every fall as I think about the first day of school and what I'm going to ask my students to do I chuckle to myself about having them write the "How I Spent my Summer Vacation" essay.  There is value in that essay as cliche as it may be.  It gives you a baseline on your student's writing abilities as well as a little insight into their interests and possibly their personality.  Then I think, "oh, I should write my essay first so that they can see a model."  Then, I promptly discard the idea for something that involves less grading on day one of the school year.  But still, I consider it every year and this year I'm actually writing my version of the essay.

My summer vacation has flown by in a whirl of activities for my children, trips to the pool, waitressing shifts, summer school, and my attempt at expanding my drama program through the Berlin Park and Rec.  Oh, and Pinterest.  That damn highly inspiring website has led me to redecorate my kitchen, dining room, and bedroom this summer.  Already I've started a board  for Kate's "big girl room".  We plan on doing that for her birthday.
Today I thought I'd share my kitchen.  We repainted the kitchen two years ago.  Its a cheerful mango yellow with a mimosa accent wall. I have black cabinets. Phil replaced all the windows in our house and trimmed them with beautiful woodwork on the inside that I painted white.  I fancy my kitchen is a little bit French Country and accented it with black and white accessories.  Usually in that scroll pattern that is so popular right now. What I didn't love about my kitchen was the table.  It wasn't tall enough to function as a work space for anyone but my children who used it as a craft table evidenced by the paint smears all over it.  It was a catch all for stacks of junk mail, school forms, and Kate's toys.  It was a constant source of bickering between Phil and I.  I'd been asking for an island for years.  Then one day I stumbled upon this idea on Pinterest:
We had torn up our dining room floor and there was a stack of 12" wide planks crying out to be used by me.  I created my own giant rule to measure the kids. I wanted to put it in the kitchen but it didn't look right there, so now it is in the living room awaiting its final home yet to be determined, but it opened up a can of worms so to speak.  That wood is just too beautiful to leave outside so I threatened to use the table saw and build myself an island out of it.  I really wasn't sure how I was going to do this, but I'm a resourceful woman and started searching for Pinterest.  I think Phil got nervous that I might actually do it and next thing you know I had an island built out of 100+ year old barn beams and my lovely floorboards.

Then I decided I needed curtains.  We had not had curtains in our kitchen (or living room or dining room) since Phil did the windows.  He didn't want me to cover up the woodwork and it was fancy enough to stand as a decorative touch on its own so I didn't make curtains.  Then...I saw some on Pinterest that I wanted.  Plus I'd always wanted a canopy over the sink so here's what I did.
I have a few more touches to add.  I saw a suggestion on Pinterest to frame recipes in your grandmother's handwriting and hang them in the kitchen.  I took it one step further and superimposed the writing on a photo of my grandma, but I'm still looking for handwritten recipes in my Busia's writing and Phil's grandma's writing so I haven't done that part yet.  Then I found this chalkboard at my grandparent's farm that I want to do something with, but haven't quite figured it out yet.  (Did I just hear Pinterest calling me over for some inspiration?) In the meantime the kids draw things on it.  Yes, it is supposed to say "Bears".  I'm working on that!

That's also a map of Italy and a plaque that says "Angie's Kitchen".  It came from Phil's grandma's kitchen.  I need to find a way to work it in, even if it is dated looking.

I've also hit the dining room and our bedroom and walk in closet  with my Pinterest ideas.  I'll share those soon. Enjoy the end of summer!