Favorite IKEA finds

Holly from the blog Homebody is having an IKEA party today.  This is an easy one for me to join, I love IKEA and can go around my house and find things to take pictures of in almost every room.

I have a couple of these little galvanized pots.  Right now I have little ferns in them, but I've also used them on my desk for markers and supplies for the kids.

I love the lamps from IKEA - this shade is from there (the cute base I actually found at Goodwill this week)

Pillows and pillow covers.  I have had these ones for a long time.  I love that they have washable covers and the down pillow inserts keep their shape.

This table is solid and we're using it in the kids' playroom right now but I've used it as a side table in my dining room at my old house, and also in my living room as a sofa table.  I like to move things around a lot!

this chair at Kate's desk was originally black, then pink, now white.  And there is another lamp (the base) from IKEA.

this doll bed was natural wood, I painted it pink.  

IKEA photo canvas in our bedroom

CD cabinet (we don't actually store many CDs in it anymore, Chris has all his music digital now)

IKEA bedoom side tables

this was my most recent IKEA purchase - long drapes for the bedroom $14.99 a pair.

Check out Holly's blog for more.

vacation 2010 - Part 4

Our last day in Maryland we drove down to Mt Vernon (George Washington's home). 

I took a picture of this cabinet to remind me I need to paint something this color.

This was in the rooms that was the servants quarters.

You're not allowed to take pictures inside the house, but it is restored to how it looked when Washington lived there, a lot of the furniture and things are original to the house.  I really enjoyed it, but it was a bit boring for the kids!

It is a really pretty location right on the Potomac river.

The next day we packed up and headed for one of our stopovers on the way home (Knoxville, Tennessee).  We made a detour through the Shendandoah National Park.

It was a change in scenery and temperature.

After a night in Tennessee we made it back down to the Gulf Coast.

Spent a little time on Biloxi beach.  Sad to see that there was no one there.  We did not see any signs of the oil spill, the beach itself was clean, probably whatever has washed ashore there is cleaned up each day.  It is very eerie to go to a beach like this there be no one there.

Sunset over Louisiana.

And our last night on vacation in New Orleans.

Went to the Cafe Du Monde for some beignets.

mmmmm, sugar!

vacation 2010 - Part 3

Day 2 in Washington DC started out early.  We rode the train into the city and got tickets for the Ford Theatre.  This is where Lincoln was shot.  There is a museum and then you get to go sit in the theater and a park ranger gives a talk for about 30 minutes.  The theater has been restored and it is actually used for plays again too.

We saw a lot of these "segway tours" going on around the city -

Next up the National Archives.  We were going to see this, but there was a waiting line, so we decided to move on.

On to the National Gallery of Art

this building is beautiful, my pictures do not do it justice

taking the pathway to the modern art museum

this painting above was done entirely with fingerprints, it is really amazing

Back out into the heat now to the Capitol building

Chris decided it was time to take a run.  He ran around this reflection pool, (which is much bigger than it looks in this picture).

The kids and I sat under a shade tree while Chris went back to the Library of Congress.  We had a close encounter with a much too tame squirrel until Thomas chased him off.

Chris got back with his book purchase so on to the Botanical Gardens -

A short stop at the American Indian museum

Then another train ride to Arlington National cemetery

Back to the city, what else can we squeeze into one day?

saw some softball games being played under the Washington monument

World war II memorial

Thomas needed a ride by 

this point.

(Kate and I got in on Chris' self portrait)

one last look at the White House

and a last train ride back to the hotel

If you made it this far thanks for looking at our pictures!

Coming up Part 4 - some more sights in Virginia and our trip back to Texas......