See the silver clock on this picture of my mantel from a couple of years ago?  It was the first thing I bought for our current house about ten years ago.  When our house was being built I started getting so excited to finally decorate a place of my own.  Kenny and I had only lived in apartments up to that point and all of our furniture was either leftovers from family members or wedding gifts (and we were so poor we were lucky to have what we did!).  But Law School was almost over and Kenny and I both had real jobs waiting for us in California.  So I decided it was time to break free of our poor struggling student chains!  I went to Pottery Barn (because what better place to stage a break out) and bought this clock.  It was around $45 and I remember feeling like it was such a splurge!  I winced at the checkout counter when the lady rang it up and days later I almost took it back.  I felt so guilty spending that much on a clock!  But I didn’t take it back and it is still in my house today and is a fun reminder of how exciting it was to finally pick out my own home decor for a place of our own.

So when I was out shopping last week and just happened upon a Pottery Barn (it’s a true mystery how I always seem to end up in that place…)

Isn’t it fun!?  Found it at Home Goods.  When Kenny saw it he said “oh great.  You bought another stacker so you can stack more stuff.”  He clearly doesn’t get it.  I want to paint my “stacker” and make fun new labels for whatever I do decide to stack inside.  It’s located next to our garage door so I’m thinking it will be great for cell phones, keys, wallets, miscellaneous stuff the kids need each day.  One more thing on my list of future projects!

 Today was our first day of summer and Ellie spent in on the beach!  She is doing her lifeguard camp again (pics are from last summer) so she is one happy girl.  And my car is one sandy mess.  As it will be for the next two weeks.

 Of course once Ellie was home the kids entertained each other all afternoon and it made me so happy!  I was just soaking in the fact that we didn’t have anywhere we needed to rush to.  Nowhere we needed to be.  Just free time to do whatever we wanted!  Kids played in the backyard.

I turned on my go to for music – “Pandora” – internet radio on the TV.  I have it set to play “Lenka” music.  I love Lenka and it plays not only her songs but anything else that sounds at all similar to her.  I did a little cleaning…

I pulled out my list from last January and updated it a bit.  Slowly but surely I’ll tackle all of the spaces I want to organize this year.  Summer is a great time to organize.   Right along with Winter and Spring and Fall.