fall retreat

Today, I am playing catch up......

We take our Gate kids, every September, to Andy's parents home in Central Wisconsin! 

Camping. 

Ice cream.

Bonfires.

Hayrides.

Zip lines.

Tents.

Devos.

Pontooning.

Coffee.

Laughing.

Bonding.

Bliss. 

Here are some pix from our weekend..... In no particular order.

Here are some pix from this past weekend of our kids bouncing with friends!

Happy Wednesday!

The Dollhouse Reveal

I am so excited to share with you the dollhouse that my hus built and I designed! It is so lovely! We have been wanting to build a dollhouse for the girls for a while now and am so pleased with the end result. I posted on the progress here and here. My hus used an old church organ for materials. I painted the dollhouse with acrylic paint and used scrapbook paper for wallpaper. I love the character of the dollhouse! It was Zakiyah's first birthday gift! We have it in her sister, Zion's room for now, since the pieces are little too small at this point for unsupervised play time. 

I used a gray paint for the exterior. (just like our house) and painted the trim a whiteand the roof black. I hope to shingle the roof eventually! I am going to add a door and windows on the exterior too for character. Maybe even house numbers.....

I painted the floors with white paint and used a liquid gold pen creating wood grains. 

I still want to add more things to the walls for art and charm. As for now, I have a mirror (pier 1) above the fireplace and photobooth pix (from a wedding) that I mod podged on cardboard in the dining room. I wall papered the living room and kitchen.

I love the vintage bassinet and dolly from my mom!

The loft is used for playroom/kids bedroom.

going potty. 

I mean, look at those mugs and flatware :)

the fridge.....

Grams kicking her feet up and watching Parenthood.

Isn't that wallpaper so cute? the owls and deer are just too much.....

 I bought the furniture at Amazon- they are Hape.

The dollhouse peeps are Hape. I have been collecting things for the past year for the girls when I saw them on sale on amazon, target and other websites. I love the modern look of it.

What do you think? Have you made a dollhouse before? I love the fact that the girls will have this forever! I love seeing my girls play with this and use their imaginations! Happy Monday!

Love Love WEDNESDAY

Happy Wednesday everyone! I started Lock Lock Wednesday to get myself motivated to style my hair everyday. It is so easy, for even hair stylists to get in a rut with their hair. I am hoping to inspire you along the way with simple and fun techniques to help you look fabulous! Join me along the way. It will be fun! All you have to do is take snapshots of your hair during the week and link up with me below! 

My go to look these days.... Dry shampoo on roots and sea salt spray and scrunched it in. headband. done!

Dude, have I mentioned how hard it is to take pix of your own hair? Horrible. Here:  I pinned my hair half up and through in flowers. It worked. 

My famous three buns with bobby pins. I do this often. It is my go-to look for the days I want a pony.

I worked some crazy hours lately. September brings us MN folk to fresh cuts and colors to go with the season. I had the privledge of coloring my friend, Taylor's hair last night. She is getting married in a couple of weeks, so we did the overhaul. I colored her roots/ and painted the color through to her mid-shaft with a right medium brown. I used a 9 gold and high lift bleach for her lighter pieces. There are a lot of variations/ techniques out there on the perfect ombre. I like how Taylor's flows and gives subtle dimension and contrast. We lightened 50-75% of her tips with the blonde to brighten it up. She looks radiant! I love it. 

Join me below and show off your hair!

Also, I am doing a poll........

Please take the time and leave a comment and share your favorite hairstyle right now......Color. Cut. Product. Style. Also, I am wanting to do some tutorials this fall- Videos and step by step demos- What would you like to learn about or see how to style? Please Share with me! I would love your feedback?! Thanks!

Happy LLW!