We’re out in the country this week and are loving every second of just being together in the outdoors.  When I was  a child my favorite childhood memory was going to my Aunt’s house.  She lived in an area where everyone had horses and horse barns.  Coming from a neighborhood on quarter acre lots this was a big deal for me as a child. 

I remember marveling at all the space we had to run around and be (loud) kids.  We rode horses, played hide-and-seek in the orange groves, and stayed outside from morning until it was too dark to see.  Watching my children enjoy the freedom of exploration and nature warms my heart and makes me remember the times I was at my Aunt’s house. 

I hope my kids look back on these days with as much fondness.  You can follow our adventures this week on my Instagram feed.

Links

This week I gave a tour of our home on Design Mom’s Living with Kids series.  Although I was initially nervous, I really thought it was an honor to be on it because I truly love the series.  Gabrielle goes out of her way to ensure that the series is very diverse. Not only can you see homes in other parts of the United States, but also other parts of the world. I love that!  Our house was not without a tad bit of controversy, as you will see in the comments, but the overall vibe was one of support and appreciation for participating. If you’re a reader from Design Mom, I thank-you for stopping by and welcome you!

So much is being said about the Abercrombie and Fitch CEO’s views and his ‘target market’.  I don’t personally shop there, but my thought is that there are a lot of other clothing stores in the world.   I believe entrepreneurs should be free to market their goods or services to whomever they wish, as long as it’s not against the law.  What do you think?

Encouragement for Mothers on Mother’s Day

True story.

I almost forgot this weekend was Mother’s Day.  

My gift to you this Mother’s Day is encouragement.  Especially if you’re battling infertility.

The Call to Motherhood—even for the childless {My Archived Posts}

Why you’re never failing as a mother {Huffington Post}

Mother’s Day: It’s complicated {My archived posts}

 Happy Mother’s Day!

The post Links & Things: Going Country Edition appeared first on Trophy Mom Diaries.

I’m breaking from my editorial calendar today because my home is featured on the Living with Kids series on Design Mom!

Do you like looking at beautiful homes in magazines?

I’ll admit that I’m a sucker for a home decorating magazine in the check-out line at the grocery store.

But you know what I love more? I love seeing how people I know live.

I think a house says a lot about the people that call it their home, whether that home be temporary or permanent, leased or owned.

A home is where you live life, where you dream, where you dust yourself off after a set back, and where some of us are blessed to raise children.

It’s so much more than your paint colors, but the paint colors say something too, don’t they?

I find it all terribly fascinating and I’m always honored when someone invites me as a guest into their home.  Aren’t you?

When we leave, the Road Warrior always asks me if I noticed any messes or things left undone.

I always look shocked and say, “No! I was looking at her kids’ art collection on the wall and I really love that she displays their art.  I think we…” 

Then I stop.

Because I know what he is really trying to say.

No one who comes into our house sees the imperfections or piles either.

Design Mom’s Living with Kids House Tour

Today I am beyond thrilled (and a little nervous) to welcome you into our home as part of Design Mom’s Living with Kids House tour.

The series is the brainchild of Gabrielle Blair who is a designer and a mother of 6!

Gabrielle is exactly as you’d hope she be, she is: gracious, kind, generous, enthusiastic and encouraging.

I must admit that I was terribly nervous and self-conscious about emailing Gabrielle. I must have been feeling quite brave the night I impulsively punched out an email offering our home as a feature,  because it took me a few more weeks (and prodding from friends) to submit photos to her.

I hope you enjoy them for what they are:  A glimpse into our lives and photographs meant for inspiration.

I hope you know that behind the photographs there is a real family, there are projects left undone, hurt feelings, many birthday celebrations and rooms I don’t yet have the heart to show you.

If this is your first time visiting please say hi in the comments, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.  I’d love to hear from you.

The post Living with Kids: Trophy Mom Diaries Home Tour on Design Mom appeared first on Trophy Mom Diaries.

Today is my first daughter’s 8th Birthday.

Her birthday request today was that Mommy ‘not work’ and just ‘have fun’ with her today.

From the moment this child entered my life my world changed.

My heart grew and I continue to stand in amazement of what she has taught me through the gift of being her mother.

An Open Letter to my Daughter on the Occasion of her 8th Birthday

Dear Posey,

This morning I got up extra early to do the last of my ‘Mommy Work’ before I devote the rest of my day to you and whatever you want to do.

Truth be told, my entire life is devoted to being your mother (and the mother of your siblings) and I’m sorry that it doesn’t always look that way.

Sometimes I forget that 8 year old girls don’t care if the house is perfectly organized or if dinner is Pinterest worthy.

You look around and you see your home.  The place where your family is. 

I look around and see projects and tasks.

You wait patiently for your mother to just play with you. Or ‘have fun’.

I wait for the list to get done before I allow myself to play…and it never seems to get done.

I hope when you’re a mother you’ll do it better than me.

I hope you’ll remember what it feels like to be EIGHT and just want your Mama to have fun.

But I’m not taking any chances on you forgetting.

I’m going to start modeling that for you.

Starting today, and every day you’ll want to be with me.

Happy Birthday, my love.

Mommy

The post For my daughter: On the Occasion of her 8th Birthday appeared first on Trophy Mom Diaries.

Welcome to our first {ditto} DIY challenge!

Once a month, beginning today, nine very different bloggers are attempting to recreate in our own homes a project or design element inspired by a haute couture design selected by Darlene Weir of Fieldstone Hill Design. 

If this is your first time stopping by, be sure to read about: The {ditto} DIY Challenge and how you can participate next month!

In addition to Darlene, the participating bloggers include:

Ruth @ Living Well Spending Less
Cindy @ Skip to My Lou
Jen @ Balancing Beauty & Bedlam
Edie @ Life in Grace
Rachel @ Surviving the Stores
Karin @ Trophy Mom Diaries
Lauren @ I am THAT Lady
Kelly @ View Along The Way
Melissa @ The Inspired Room

This was our first inspiration photograph:

{A chic painted tray and vanity vignette, from the home of nina bergsten, photography by marcus lawett.}

The {ditto} DIY Challenge #1:

Create your own painted tray and vanity vignette.

Decorating with trays:

There is nothing I love more than seeing an ottoman with a tray.  It softens the room, it’s a little more interesting, and in a pinch it doubles as additional seating!  How could you not love that?

For this month’s challenge I humbly submit the tray on our Living Room Ottoman.   Everything about this project used things that I already had in my house.  Because Ruth didn’t think I could do it.  There, I’ve said it.

Do you collect Coffee Table Books?  I wouldn’t say that I actively collect them, but I have acquired a small collection over the years from our travels and I love to look through them.  My plan is to rotate them on this tray.  Also on the tray is my faux orchid arrangement, as well as a goat & cow bell from our time on Safari with the Masai, in Africa.

Master Bathroom tray vignette:

What’s this? A SECOND submission?  Overachiever much?

Truthfully, I probably deserve the slacker award for this one because it’s something I’ve already had in my home, but it fits the challenge so I wanted to share it.

Oh Wait, I think that makes me frugal—using something I already have?  What say you, Ruth?

To create this bathroom vignette, I put a woven tray on a teak stool, added a live orchid plant, a tray of succulents, and a couple of shells.

Have you tried decorating with trays?  Why not give it a try?

How to  join the {ditto} DIY Challenge

Remember that beginning next month (on Monday, June 3rd) we are inviting you ALL to join the {ditto} DIY challenge!

Go for the GOLD and find out about the June {ditto} DIY Challenge so that you can join us next month.

The post Decorating with Trays: {ditto} DIY Challenge appeared first on Trophy Mom Diaries.

It’s raining in South Florida—a lot.  Pools are overflowing.  I realize this is South Florida Problems, or as my neighbor calls it, ‘Champagne Problems’.  Normally I like the rain, it makes me want to snuggle up and read a book, or organize something.  But, not this week. I have too much to do.  In case I’m the only homeschool Mother you know, May is our CRAZY month. We go crazy and want to turn the school day into a 12 hour affair to fit in the last of what we had planned before the annual homeschool conventions begin.  So to  pass the time (and get in some Home Ec) I’ve been cooking with my kids. 

Online Discoveries:

Closet Visit is an opportunity to look into the closets of some fashionable and diverse women.  What’s not to love about that?

My favorite new Instagram feed is:  UP Close & Stylish.  I don’t care who this anonymous person really is, who she is married to, if she used a professional photographer or whether or not she edits the photos herself on her iPhone 5 (she says she does). I just like looking at the fashion…and pretending I looked like that every day.

Have you liked the Trophy Mom Diaries Facebook page yet?

I post daily finds, questions, and inspiration on there. It’s a great way connect with the other members of the Trophy Mom Diaries community.

This week I posted an interesting article about a man who gave up the internet for a year.  Could you go a year without the internet?

Do you know what the most overused word in the English language is? What word do you most overuse?

Here is the recipe for the Fish Baked in Salt (shown above) only we used Branzino and I doubled the salt mixture.

Have a great weekend!

The post Links & Things: Cooking with Kids Edition appeared first on Trophy Mom Diaries.

Thankfully, times have now changed with the introduction of realistic looking faux arrangements.

I like to mix  faux floral arrangements in with fresh floral arrangements and potted houseplants.

Silk Orchid Arrangement in our Foyer Entry Way

Faux Orchid & Succulent Arrangement in our Living Room

Faux Orchid Arrangement in family Room

Faux Orchid Arrangement in Kitchen

This arrangement in our kitchen was the first realistic faux arrangement I bought. It’s the one that got me hooked and kept me buying.

I cannot tell you how many compliments I’ve received on this orchid plant.  I’ve even had to stop a few people from trying to water it!

Our kids thought it would be funny to put a large snail shell in the arrangement.  I think it adds to the arrangement, don’t you?

Faux Tropical Arrangement in Cabana Bathroom

This bathroom is the busiest bathroom in our home.  I used to try to keep fresh flowers in there, but honestly, I think it went largely unnoticed.

Faux Floral arrangements have come a long way.

Used selectively I believe they can be a great compliment to your home and no one has to be the wiser.

Just don’t forget to dust them.

Resources for realistic Faux Floral Arrangements:

John-Richard Collection at Horchow Home

NDI, Natural Decorations, Incorporated

 

How to clean Faux Flowers:

Mist with water bottle and wipe with clean cloth

Use blow dryer weekly to blow dust off (on cool setting).

The post Decorating with Faux Floral Arrangements appeared first on Trophy Mom Diaries.

On Mondays I blog about Marriage or Motherhood. Since I have 5 children and only 1 husband,  I mostly blog about Motherhood.

Motherhood isn’t a job that gives you instant gratification.

For the most part, most of what you say, do, and instill in your children won’t really matter until they leave your nest.  This can be hard, especially on the hardest days when you feel no one is listening as you repeat yourself for the tenth (thousandth) time.

On those days I choose to focus on what I call milestone achievements.

While society would tell me that my ‘work’ doesn’t matter or that it isn’t a worthy enough contribution to society or womanhood, I focus on the buds sprouting in the lives of my family and our children.

My two greatest achievements as a mother

1. My children have a love of reading

I taught our four oldest children to read.  I witnessed the first words and the first book they’ve ever read on their own and I feel blessed to have done so.

There isn’t a day that goes by that they cannot be found reading, or a night that we don’t have to turn off the lights and pry the books out of their hands.

All those nights I read to them, when it would have been so much easier just to tuck them into bed. It wasn’t in vain.

2. My Children are Friends

People from large families always say what a gift it is to be from a large family.  That there is nothing like the holidays with a roomful of siblings.  But that’s taking for-granted that the siblings all get along.  Not all families are close-knit.

Not all siblings get along.

I love that our children are friends. They actually like each other.  I might even venture to say that more often than not, they prefer one another.

When the Road Warrior and I became parents it was important to us that our children were close.  When we are gone from this earth they will still have each other.

We decided to be intentional about this goal, instead of just hoping for the best.  We felt the way to do this was to not play favorites.  Neither of us has a favorite child. 

When parents play favorites they allow seeds of resentment to grow in the heart(s) of the unfavored as they compete for attention or praise.  We make sure our kids never feel they are in competition with one another.

We don’t encourage or condone them tattling on one another.  We don’t compare them to one another.

We give them room to like each other.

While our children certainly have outside friendships, it’s true they spend the majority of time with each other.  This is mostly because they are homeschooled, but whenever I hear criticism about this fact, I think the same thing:  You could do a lot worse than having your brother or sister be your best friend in this life.

What would you say are your two greatest achievements as a mother?

The post My 2 Greatest Achievements as a Mother (so far) appeared first on Trophy Mom Diaries.

I’ve never really had house plants.

Well, except for that one summer in Kalamazoo, Michigan, but it’s been so long that I really couldn’t say if I truly had a green thumb or if it was beginners luck.

If you recall it was all I could do to put some fresh cut flowers in the house and appease my Road Warrior.  However, after reading Edie’s post on decorating with plants, I felt inspired to get some.

After all, the cut flowers and I are getting along famously, so why not the potted variety?

I think the secret is to not desire a long term relationship with them.

As Edie said, they aren’t children, so you’re not obligated to them like you’re obligated to children (or pets).  Whew!

When I told a neighbor I thought my homemaking and decorating needed to include developing a green thumb, or at least making an attempt to, she told me to just think of plants as longer lasting cut flowers.  Anything over  a week or two is a bonus, she said! 

I think she and Edie may be related.

While I’m sure there are well documented studies about this and why it happens, I don’t need to read them.  Because I already feel (and see) the difference.  Flowers and plants make me happy.

I think my next project is going to be an outdoor succulent garden.If you are considering succulents for your home and are looking for  inspiration, please look at my Pinterest board.  

 Resources for Succulents:

Succulent Resource Guide

How do you bring nature into your home?

Do you have a green thumb?

Do you prefer cut flowers or potted plants?

The post Decorating with succulents appeared first on Trophy Mom Diaries.

On Wednesdays I blog about Travel, Fashion or Health/Beauty.  Once or twice a month I try to focus on my favorite Health/Beauty finds, such as the one I’m writing about today.

Insomnia is not my friend.

As someone who has suffered with Fibromyalgia for the past 10 years, lack of sleep means additional pain.

After trying just about every cure for my insomnia, with mixed results, I finally discovered something that works consistently.

Relax Deep by Aromatherapy Associates doesn’t just relax me, it practically knocks me out.

I put 2-3 capfuls in the bath.

The recommended amount is one capful.

After a 20 minute soak, I’m ready for bed.

I first found out about this when a massage therapist on Necker Island used it  during an evening massage.  She warned me it would knock me out, but truthfully I was skeptical.

The next morning I promptly bought 4 bottles.

If you, or anyone you love, has sleeping issues. I highly recommend trying this.  The Road Warrior has also had luck just applying it his pressure points and inhaling deeply before bed.

Although that method hasn’t personally worked for me, maybe it will work for you?

This is an independent review. No samples or compensation was received.

The post The cure for insomnia: Relax Deep appeared first on Trophy Mom Diaries.

As if that wasn’t enough they kicked it up a notch and even  invited me to participate in an exciting new project they were planning.   It was like a scene out of high school when the popular girls invite you to their sleepover.  It was all I could do to not jump up and down like Tom Cruise on Oprah’s Sofa!

Have you ever looked at home decorating magazine or watched a design show on HGTV and wished you could make your own rooms look that good? Design is not always about expertise or even an unlimited budget (which no one truly has), but more about taking inspiration and making it work for your own space. That is the philosophy behind Ditto DiY.

Once a month, beginning in May, nine very different bloggers will attempt to recreate in their own homes a project or design element inspired by a haute couture design selected by the (uber talented) Darlene Weir of Fieldstone Hill Design.

My personal decorating style

I would describe my own decorating style as eclectic.  I love a mix of the old world, rustic, ethnic interiors and some modern.  As the Road Warrior and I have moved around the country and turned houses into homes there were no two that were exactly alike.  As my tastes evolve so has my decorating style.

My biggest challenge, for this series will be challenging myself to make it myself or restyle something that we already have.  I’m a very good shopper and so my instinct is generally to find what I am looking for, or order it custom made.   In my previous life I owned a store and worked as a decorator, so sourcing is something I’m VERY familiar with.

On the other hand, my biggest strength is personalizing trends or inspiration to fit my own needs or style. I rarely feel the need to copy something exactly as shown.

What I’m looking forward to

I’m really looking forward to pushing myself to get creative and not be afraid to try making something myself, instead of just sourcing it.

In addition to Darlene, the participating bloggers include:

Ruth @ Living Well Spending Less
Cindy @ Skip to My Lou
Jen @ Balancing Beauty & Bedlam
Edie @ Life in Grace
Rachel @ Surviving the Stores
Lauren @ I am THAT Lady
Kelly @ View Along The Way
Melissa @ The Inspired Room

When does it start?

Monday, May 6th, all nine of us will share our inspired DiY projects, while Darlene will provide expert design tips on incorporating the featured design element into your own space. She will then also present our inspiration photograph for the following month. The truly fun part will be seeing what different interpretations of the same photograph this incredibly eclectic group comes up with!

How you can participate:

After you’ve had a month to see what Ditto DiY is all about, we will be inviting you ALL to participate! Beginning in the first Monday in June (and every first Monday of the month after that), all you with blogs will be able to link up. (Non-bloggers can share your pictures on our Ditto DiY Facebook Page!)

This month’s Inspiration Photo

{ditto} DIY

This month’s Inspiration, selected by our interior designer:

A chic painted tray and vanity vignette, from the home of Nina Bergsten, photography by marcus lawett.

The {ditto} DIY Challenge:

Create your own painted tray and vanity vignette.

Designer Thoughts:

Study the image above, and be inspired by the sophistication and simplicity of this design.

The attention to each detail adds up to a beautiful vignette.

The post The {ditto} DIY Challenge appeared first on Trophy Mom Diaries.