Our Backyard Patio Makeover

If you follow me on Snapchat (I'm katevonskunkboy), you've probably seen WAY too many snaps of this tiny space.  When we first moved into this house, all of the extra bikes and plastic play toys and things like that landed here.  One sweaty day, I got fed up with how much clutter we had around the house and decided to start selling off bikes we weren't using and baby toys that Poe has obviously outgrown.  Once I had embraced that freeing-purging thing, I unearthed our back patio.  I knew immediately that this would be a space to host many fire pit nights and friend hangs.
Let's take a peek at how it looked before:


This space is cute.  It wasn't like, "Ugh.  My eyes!"  But.  My first issue was that our old fire pit was too large for the space and people were cracking their shins on the corners.  Ouch!  Plus, it didn't really match the rest of the decor.  It's a pretty classic looking pit, and I wanted something a little more neutral.  The chairs I got from Elsie's garage sale before she moved and the rug and grill were left here for us.  So... using many of the resources I already had (saving those dollars, man), how would I make this space more... Katie/Skunkboy-esque?


The first thing I did in the space was replace the polka dots with some color.  I knew I wanted this area to feel fun and colorful, so a rainbow fence was the obvious choice.  I toyed with painting the large wall rainbow as well, but ultimately I decided it would feel too overwhelming in such small patio.  Once the fence was painted, the black bench felt much too dark.  And hot.  It got SO stinking hot when the sun was out.  Oof.


I chose mint for the bench because it's light and airy, and Johnny and I spent many super sweaty nights painting the beige-y/grey walls a clean white.  Flamingos were obviously a must, and I dumped a whole bunch of wildflower seeds in the side yard.  Plants and flowers just make everything lovelier.  It's a fact.  We ended up selling our old fire pit for cheap, and bought this small, cute guy from Lowe's.  It's the perfect size for our marshmallow roasting nights!


I love the way our back patio is coming together.  I obviously have more to tackle, like getting some plants for those hanging pots and finishing up with the rest of the white paint, but I thought it was time to share my progress... you know, before everyone's all pumpkin spice/fall everything and I'm like, "Look at my summery patio!"  ;)

Now!  It's time to plan my next patio night with friends!  xo.

Adventures in Candy Making

We have a really cute candy shop in our town called Candy House.  They offer all kinds of themed candy making classes and we FINALLY made it to one!  Hope and Poe have been super into legos lately, so we snagged them both a spot in the same class (Hope was NOT all about the princess class, so this worked out nicely).


The girls had the opportunity to make chocolate covered marshmallows on a stick, dipped rice krispy treats, and smothered some oreos.  The piping and drawing with candy markers were the big favorites of the day... ya know, besides the part where they got to eat the treats!


I'm glad we finally got around to trying this.  One of the biggest reasons we moved to Springfield was the lack of family-friendly activities in our old town.  The girls are already looking forward to the next class in August-- HARRY POTTER!

Happy Monday, friends!  xo.

P.S.  My "Pin It" button went missing for just a bit, but with the help of a smart pal, it's back!  Feel free to pin away!

Weekly Wears: ThredUP

I've shared in several of my outfit posts that Summer is my one favorite season for clothes.  Why? Because I'm often lazy when it comes to getting dressed, so throwing on a dress and some cute shoes is basically the best thing ever.  I still think Spring and Fall clothes are the cutest, but Summer clothes are just SO EASY.  I love it.  The girls and I recently had the pleasure of picking out some simple, summery clothes from online consignment shop, thredUP.  We got these adorable secondhand clothes for cheap... like, I'm pretty sure that darling dress Hope is wearing was $7.  They have tons of womens and kids name brand clothes.  You know I'm pretty frugal when it comes to clothing for my ever-growing kids (well, Hope less in the last few years), so this is right up my alley.  Plus, saving money on clothing means more money for family vacation!  These girls have been begging to go to the beach.  The never-ending landlocked struggle...

Before we go any further, I need to show you my favorite piece I scored from thredUP:


I love it so much!  Someone bought this Elissa Coleman dress and never wore it!  It came with the designer tags and extra beads and sequins and everything.  This beautiful piece retails for $298.00 and I got it for $50.  Insane.  Well, lovely dress, you've ended up in the right home.  I'm going to wear you to all the summer weddings.  Don't you worry.

Now, back to what I was saying... the girls and I all snagged some cute things from thredUP, so naturally (and especially since I've been slacking on outfit posts this summer), we took some photos.

**Side note: this part of blogging is so great because I'm not sure we would make time for photos together otherwise.  Getting everyone dressed and taking photos with the "big camera" isn't something we would just DO, and golly... these girls are getting so big.  I love these special photos with them.  *Sniff*  Okay, I'm all done being sentimental.


I feel like I've been living these last few weeks in this romper.  I didn't know I was a romper person until I got this one.  Guys, rompers are like dresses, but you don't have to wear spandex shorts underneath!  Mind blown.  ;)

Anyway, we had a really great experience with thredUP and, because summer is so busy for us, it was nice to just plop my tired self down on the couch and pick out clothes for the girls.  I don't have a lot of time to make it to consignment stores right now, so shopping from the computer while everyone was asleep was definitely a win in my book.

If you're interested in trying out thredUP, they're offering a 40% discount on your first order with the code SKU40!  The discount is good for up to $50 (expires 8/15), and that's a lot considering how great the prices are.  I would definitely recommend them!

Snapshots: That Summer Feeling

Summer is in full swing around here... I'm sure you can tell by the abundance of ice cream and swimming photos.  Johnny and I have been busy focusing on painting projects around the house quite a bit lately.  Actually, our living room should be ready to share with you guys here in the next couple of weeks!  It's been a fun challenge to take this house, a place where I used to work every-once-in-a-while (when I was in-studio working for ABM we were still working out of Elsie's house), and transform it into a home instead of the old ABM studio.  I can't wait to share some before and after photos.  It's really starting to feel like the "Skunkboy house" and I like that.

Other than too much ice cream and swimming and friend hangs and house projects, we've been traveling with our band like crazy.  Actually, speaking of band things, our drummer just got done recording an album with her other band, LUX.  They are shooting a video at our house this weekend and Poesy's going to be in it!  It's going to be so cute.  I'll definitely share once the video is done.

Well, I hope you all are getting through the year with your hearts in tact.  With all of the sad/crazy things that have been going on in the world, sometimes it can feel so hard to stay positive and full of hope.  Don't let the ugly things in life get you down for too long, friends.  Let's love each other and help where we can.  Happy Wednesday.  xo.

June Garden

Whew.  Summer has officially gotten busy!  We've been traveling a bunch while trying to still keep up with all the things.  I took a small blogging break to give my mind a little break from one more responsibility.  It was seriously hard not to beat myself up about it, but it was a good exercise in self-forgiveness and self-love.  Now, here I am back at it and feeling good!  Shall we take a peek at the garden in July?

June has been my biggest produce month so far!  We are getting lots of peas and beans, the tomatoes are ripening (in big batches), and the sweet banana peppers and jalapeños are growing in!

The kale is officially a LOT to keep up with, the peas are getting to the point where they are drying out and probably won't produce much longer, and we don't have any squash or cucumber babies, but there are a lot of blossoms.  It's been a rainy June, so the head lettuce ended up starting to rot and I cut it all out.  If I do lettuce again I'll definitely do leaf lettuce so I can keep a better handle on it.  The broccoli, brussels sprouts, and bell pepper plants are getting bigger, but I haven't gotten any veggies from them yet.


My cilantro and basil are both bolting big time at this point, but the strawberries are shooting more and more and getting really big!  The squash is growing and reaching so much that it's starting to wrap all the way around the trellis.  I've made two batches of homemade salsa so far with the garden offerings and I'm certain there's more to come in July!

June was definitely good to us in the garden department!  xo.