Back from Vacation and Back to Work!

Aloha! And Happy Monday!!!

As much as I'm missing my time in Maui, I'm really

SO happy to be back home! I especially missed my kiddos!!!

It really was a great opportunity for my hubby and I 

to celebrate our 10-year anniversary.

Thankful to God and thankful for Grandmas! ;-)

Today, I'd love to share a few quick highlights, and

then it's beach house, beach house, beach house!

Did I say beach house???

Cuz it's on!

Enjoy!

We snorkeled and swam with giant sea turtles, went zip-lining (do it!),

slept, ate, slept, ate, and laid on the beach.

But one of our BIG highlights started on this

little path (shown below) off the road to Hana.

Just before mile marker 11, you can follow this

path a little ways, look to the left and see this....

Gorgeous!

....then, to the right and see this.

This is Lower Puohokamoa Falls my friends -

a 200 ft. high waterfall.

Not much of a great picture here, but keep reading!

We were using the popular guide book Maui Revealed

and I browsed it quickly, thinking it basically said,

"Follow the path to the waterfall."

Um, no. It did not.

It really basically said,

"Go a ways on the path and enjoy the

beautiful view, unseen by drivers!"

But HEY, we're adventurous!!!

So we.kept.going. ;-)

Oh my goodness, we saw some very cool things...

But after not too long, we were headed straight down.

Literally...straight down, 200 ft.

The end of the path????

Oh that??????

Why yes, that IS a rope...to basically rapel down!!!

Ohhhhhhhh, but it was SO fun!

We got to hang out at the bottom of the waterfall

and go swimming and NO ONE ever showed up.

Other times of the year the waterfall is rushing, but this day

it was calm, not to warm out, and the upper terrain surrounding

the waterfall is lush green foilage - I couldn't capture that with

my little phone camera! But talk about GORGEOUS!!!

Wow.

This was one of my fave pictures of

a little side cave at Black Sand Beach. :-)

And that's our trip in a super tiny nutshell!

Now that I'm home, I went to pick up some paint samples

for the beach house this past weekend and came home with these....

Looks like I need to order my own personal fan deck. LOL :-)

They really all look so different though, I swear!

Thanks to everyone on the Facebook page for giving input on colors!

~~~~~

Also, if you haven't had a chance yet,

please take a moment to "Like" the new Facebook page below

This, That & Life

Yes....RustiChic is officially transitioning into a new blog, and

the Facebook page it the go-to right now to keep up on all the latest.

Both of the Facebook pages will have the same information

posted for awhile, and then we'll transition completely to

This, That & Life.

I'm still figuring out the transtition of other networks.

Just to be clear,

RustiChic will be a part of the new blog, currently

under construction at

www.thisthatandlife.com

I hope you have a great start to the new week!

~Anneke

1 Year Blogiversary!!!

When I began blogging a year ago today, I had

nooooooo idea

what I was getting myself into,

what I'd learn,

what I'd discover about myself as a person,

and seriously...that I was entering another world! Lol :-)

Are you ready??? This is a little long today.

~~~~~

Yesterday I had gotten so impatient motivated, I finally

got out my brushes and went to work on my son's

bedroom. He'll be 3 in a few weeks, and I'd

love to have his room done by then! ;-)

My husband came into the room after awhile,

and what he said has kind of been stuck in my mind...

"Wow...that's really going to change

the feel of this room. It looks great babe."

And that's exactly part of why I love doing what I do.

...the power to change.

A YEAR AGO TODAY

Here was my thinking....

                 1. I'm refinishing and building some furniture.

                 2. I don't like just listing my pieces on Craigslist.

                 3. Hmmm....I've heard of blogs. (I couldn't tell you a single one)...

                        But I'll make a blog page and have a specific page I can

                        show what I've done.

                                              

Some people begin blogs after having followed, commented on,

been inspired by, and so on by other bloggers.

It's safe to say I was greener than green in newness...

Everything was new.

Because of that, the learning curve was tremendous,

and thankfully my husband's patience outlasted

the earlier days of late, late, late nights of designing,

whatever networking I could do, gleaning from other pages on

all the "how-to's" of blogging....everything from commenting,

linking, how to take pictures, etc. Anyone who blogs

knows how MUCH there is to learn!

Here's what I've realized about myself and blogging this past year:

1. I LOVE Blogging.

2. I'm a terrible blogger, because...

3. I just don't have the time to blog consistently.

Hello????

Remember these munchkins???

They spell T.I.M.E.! Lol :-)

4. Refinishing furniture makes up about 10%

of what I'd really like to write about.

5. I've thought about changing my blog name a million times.

6. RustiChic is and will continue on as a Furniture and Design Blog.

7. I am seriously considering starting a new (more personal) blog dedicated to

a variety of other topics that I love, including

Family, Health and Fitness, Beauty and Fashion,

DIY Crafts and Projects, Traveling, and Music.

8. That varied of a blog may or may not go over well. ???

9. I've always loved writing, but I definitely want to

write content that is relevant to readers.

10. Blogging to me is not about numbers, followers, stats,

pins, tweets, etc. and at this point I like being able

to take a couple weeks "off" and not be stressed about content.

My hubby worked so many years to gain a job

that allows us major freedom and flexibility in our schedule,

and I seriously treasure that. 

11. Facebook has been the

best platform for me and my time this past year.

As the kids get older and my time frees up, I SO look

forward to blogging more! :-)

12. I'm thankful for EVERY person who takes the time

to read whatever I post on RustiChic.

~~~~~~~~~~

When I started refinishing furniture, we had two mortgages

and we were in a transition where I needed to fill a creative

outlet that was now void in my interest of music.

RustiChic was slowly born and filled a

financial and creative need for me.

Now a year later...those needs have changed.

So I keep asking myself,

"Does that mean that RustiChic needs to change?"

"Do I still need RustiChic???"

They have been good questions...hard questions.

I've always loved design and even went to school for awhile to

get a degree in interior design. Also, I think once you DIY

you always DIY! Lol :-)

C'mon...am I right, or am I right?

I'm still working out the answers to all these questions,

but even as I originally wrote in my profile,

I'm on a journey, and I'm thankful that you are

here joining along beside me in this thing called life,

no matter what changes come our way.

SO...the next big journey is

THE BEACH HOUSE

We're scheduled to close on the 20th of April, and

then it's full blast to get it ready as a vacation rental for this summer.

Are you with me???

Because this. is going. to be FUN.

To another year of adventures and discovery!

~Anneke~



Spring Break and a BREAK

Monday was the official beginning of Spring Break for our family. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal since my oldest is just in half-day kindergarten and the other two are home. ;-) But it really does feel like a break!

 

Working on our entryway



It's been awhile since I last posted, but for good reason...I've needed a break! I feel like we're in the calm before the storm, officially forecasted to begin next week and projected to last about, ohhh, 2.5 months. Yup...all those life things will be converging into craziness. Swim lessons, gym, ballet, vacations, getting in shape for vacations (because getting in shape for WA summers is a bit of a dichotomy), conventions, training, dr. appts., meetings, volunteering, family events, registrations, recitals, etc. Not to mention date nights, girl's nights, dinners with friends, bridal showers, baby showers (yeah, we're a tad social) ;-). Oh darn, and yes...laundry, vacuuming, grocery shopping, laundry, and laundry.

Never a dull day!

Some of you ask me how I do it. To that, I say, I'm backing off so I don't.go.insane. Amidst ALL of this and then some, I'm trying to put a significant effort into getting things done around our home in terms of design and organization and focus more on learning about nutrition in relation to my kidney and thyroid problems. Seriously people, I've only had two coffees within the past 6 weeks - a drastic change from a daily (sometimes twice daily - yes, you can cringe) Venti Quad Shot (the super sugary yummy kind). The weird part about that...it's been easy. Don't hate me please!



I have a couple custom orders lined up, some tables and an armoire to get refinished and sold, but other than that, I'm not shopping much at the moment for selling items. I am, however, getting ready to work on a couple pieces for our home, build new beds for the girls (maximizing space), and gathering pieces for the Beach House.

OHHHHHH, the Beach House....yes.

Well - we're in the middle of an approval waiting on financing. Once that goes through, you will see a lot more blogging on the process of getting it ready as a vacation rental. Furniture pieces, diy, shopping, etc. I seriously value your input! There may be a vote or two in there on your opinion. It's going to be insanely crazy busy as this will be happening with all.of.the.above. :-)Yes...I'm currently taking a break before the storm.


I'll be around...if it's quiet here, don't worry. I'm certainly not off relaxing in Hawaii (six more weeks!)

~Anneke~

Smiles Are Worth More Than Disneyland

UPDATE: Here is the direct link

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/anneke/mcconnellsforpeople

Thank you!!!


~~~~~~~~~~


Happy Monday friends! How inspiring is this picture for a smily day?

Yup...I'm claiming them. Pretty stinkin' cute, huh? :-)

Well, you may have noticed a small design change on the upper right corner and wondered, "What in the world is that all about?" Hmmm, glad you asked!

So...I have a little story for you today from a very selfless, caring young girl named Annabelle (a.k.a. my daughter), and I'm hoping you'll take a moment to read the whole thing - I think it's worth it (of course) ;-)

As a stay-at-home mom who does a little creative refinishing of furniture on the side, I often would tell my 6 year old Annabelle that I was working on this furniture to make a little extra money so we could take her and her sister Lauryn to Disneyland. Of course she was SO excited!

One day Annabelle and Lauryn were in the family room as I was trying to find a particular station on the tv. "Wait, stop mom! What's that?!" They sat and were captivated as they watched Operation Smile for like an hour, impacted by the realization that other people need help.

Not too long after that, Annabelle came to me and very seriously said, "Mommy, I don't need to go to Disneyland. Those kids need that money more than I need to go to Disneyland. Instead of us going to Disneyland, let's give that money to those kids who really need it." Oh my goodness, bless her little heart!!! Annabelle has always had such a generous spirit, and this has been something that has really tugged at my heart since she said it, because I don't want her to lose that!

I sat down with her little 6 year old self over lunch the other day and we talked about how we could make this a reality. Here's what her and I came up with (she's SUPER excited!):

I am going to be offering all of my proceeds from my furniture sales up to $1000. That's our minimum. If you are local and would like to purchase furniture, this is where the proceeds will be going until we reached $1000. If you are not local and you would like to give, we have set an additional goal of $1000 to be donated through the First Giving page.

We also support Compassion International monthly, and while we are not creating a separate page, please consider donating to Compassion as well. It's your choice - or BOTH! :-D Please let me know so I can tell Annabelle. We have a goal chart at home so she can see the progress. :-)

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for visiting Annabelle's Personal Fundraising Page and encouraging her dream of reaching out and helping other people in need, no matter what your age is! Not only is she trying to raise money to help others - she is also forfeiting the opportunity to go to Disneyland this year. That's HUGE in a 6-year old's world!!! Please consider donating.

Every donation makes a difference, big or small...



~Anneke and Annabelle McConnell

25 Random Things You Might Want To Read...Well, At Least One

1. When I thought about writing these, I instantly thought of my 4 year old Lauryn - she's the epitome of randomness.

2. The other day I, um, "charbroiled" our leftover pizza (homemade btw - yum!).

3. Lauryn, VERY emphatically said, "This smells like fried bananas!!!!" :-D

4. And apparently we can sometimes wear skirts as shirts, but only if we're eating fried bananas.

5. That sounds like a Dr. Suess book. And ew. ;-) lol


6. I went into the walk-in clinic today, thankfully the result is just a "pissed off" throat.

7. Really??? That was seriously the doctor's diagnosis!

8. I don't ever  rarely say "pissed off".

9. But when the dr. said that it made me chuckle a bit. What dr. says that???!!!!!

10. If you haven't been vaccinated for whooping cough, please do.

11. I understand if there are reasons some of you don't vaccinate, but if you haven't just because you've been busy. Stop being busy and get the vaccine - thaaank.you!

12. After our family's various sicknesses, I'm fighting the urge to go all-extreme, all-natural, all-organic, all-crazy healthy on my family.

13. I try to be realistic sometimes.

14. This is a big year in a sense. My husband and I are celebrating 10 years of marriage in June, and I turn 30 in November. Yay!

15. SO excited to have a trip to Hawaii planned for our anniversary! I will plan my 30th, and my husband knows this. It's ok....like, REALLY ok!

16. I have NEVER been to Hawaii before. :-)

17. It's actually a "big" year of travels planned for us. I know the term "big" is relative.

18. Philadelphia, Vegas (Woot-woot!!!), Hawaii, maybe CMAs (oh please, oh please!), at least 3 family camping trips

19. We're not "real" campers. We have a trailer...everyone else traveling with us has motorhomes. Like second home motor homes. (Hi Grandma!)

20. It's REALLY nice - I like camping. ;-) Lol

21. Every day I thank God for each of my kids.

22. I already see the time passing too quickly and how fast they grow. They are 2, 4, and 6.

23. We want to spend days on the beach and taking our kids fishing in the Sound.

24. We like to build sand castles in the summertime and watch the waves crash in the winter.

25. Oh yeah. We put an offer on a beach house.

I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :-) To be continued.....

Have a GREAT weekend!

~Anneke~

Linking here!

A few things...

Well, I've obviously been a little MIA lately, but plenty busy. :-) We're just coming out of a big snow "storm", and I'm not sure I've ever been so happy to see rain! I have not been out and about since Monday...seriously. With three kids in the house - hello???!!!!!  Here's what we've been up to (and sorry...not editing photos tonight):

Obviously...it's been snowing!

Say hello to McConnell's Mukilteo Snowman!!! :-)

It didn't snow once last year (that I can remember), 

and the last time it snowed more than a couple inches 

was a few years ago!

Annabelle was out of school ALL week! We're talking

no school, gym class, mommy groups, play dates. :-/

Have you SEEN our driveway??? 9 out of 10 people

HATE

just walking up our driveway,

let alone driving.

Anyway..I digress.

I am thankful for my home!

And this guy. ;-)

Soooo, I was bored and decided to switch it up in our house.

Sometimes this can be bad, but we couldn't be happier with our decision

to change our office....

into play room!

It's on the main floor right next to the powder room,

kitchen, and living room.

Then our son is moved into the former play room

and the office is now in his former bedroom.

That was A LOT of hauling up and down stairs!

Another day while daddy was gone I cut up some

muslin fabric and let the girls use mommy's

big girl brushes

(OH THE EXCITEMENT!!!)

to paint whatever they wanted.

Just acrylic paints.

I cut and screwed together some 1 x 2 boards, wrapped the fabric around,

and stapled it with my new compressor and staple gun from the hubby

So we have.....

Lauryn's

Mine

Annabelle's

(The freaky eye!)

Michael's

(with mommy's help)

He just wanted to do this....

He had a little brush and kept painting little stripes on his arms and saying,

"I a tiger mama, I a tiger!"

Cute??? YES! Love that kid!!!

(Yes...I was freaking out not wanting the

paint to get on the chairs!)

Ok...as for work  fun:

I pretty much have 3 pieces done and waiting for hardware

and photo shoots

1. One of them is this piece.

Here's a sneak peak:

2. Another piece ready is an expandable table with a coastal finish.

3. The last piece is that pretty armoire that's been

"In The Works" up on the above right of the blog page.

Yeah!

ALMOST DONE!!!

I found this table at ROSS for $80 when shopping for my sister's studio

(pictures coming, I PROMISE!!!)

and keep wondering if I should just return it 

(because she didn't use it)

or PAINT IT????

What's your vote? 

Ok..there you have it in a nutshell!

Just a head's up, I am active on the Facebook page nearly every day

as well as Twitter and Pinterest. I love blogging, but have found Facebook

to be a more practical way for me to interact with others!

Please consider liking any of these pages, however

when I reach 500 Facebook fans I will do a 

giveaway. Why???

Because I LIKE you too!!! :-)

Thanks for stopping in today!

~Talk to you soon~

Anneke 

On Vacation

You may have noticed it's been a bit quiet around here! Just letting you know I'm taking a couple weeks off and helping my sister with her new studio. I've got plenty projects coming your way soon though, so check back after the first of the year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!


~Anneke

The New Studio

I was SO excited this weekend to take our kids to have Santa pictures at my sister's photography studio, and then go down the road to check out where she is going to be moving her studio to after the end of the month. I just had to share a few pictures with you today since my mind has been literally overflowing with the potential design options!

I'm LOVING these windows!!!!!

This space was a super old bank.

This is not the best pict. obviously, but this

vault door looks awesome. The entire place is twice

as big as the place she has been in!

Of course she makes a super duper Auntie always. ;-)

I've promised I'll try not to drive her nuts with

all of my design ideas, and I can't wait to see it come to life.

Be on the lookout over the next month!!!

I hope your day is GREAT!

~Anneke~

You can now follow me via Pinterest and Twitter!

A Week In The Life...

I haven't been able to work on much

this week via "RustiChic", so I thought

it might be fun to give you a little recap of

a week in the life of Anneke. :-)

Nevermind I'm a full time mom for just a sec -

oh wait, that's only 75% of my time!

Well...we had our first ever "triple time-out"

as I'm calling it.

It was so funny I had to get a pict.

Hahahaha...ahhhhhh....

This SO captures each of their little personalities! Lol! :-D

Some book time with daddy. Yes...the boy really can sleep anywhere.

This is what I call bribed compliance @ Lowe's. :-)

I could barely push the cart and ended up at the walk-in

clinic that afternoon. I mentioned that here.

We were getting wood to make this faux mantle for my

sister's photography studio and Santa picts.

After a few days sitting on my butt "resting", I couldn't stand it anymore.

Off to the garage I went.

I'll share some professional pictures

after I get some from Kayla! Yeah!!! 

I've been getting some personal online orders in the mail this week.

One was this lamp that I had in our Family Room Concept Board.

I LOVE IT!!! (I actually got 2 of them.)

Here's the new IKEA cover to our $150 sectional

I found from a very nice couple on Craigslist.

Ahhh....the white.

I needed some new furniture feet, but they didn't go in right,

so now......

My living room looks like this....

....and not this....

.....until the hubby gets off his firefighter shift tomorrow,

because I pretty much threw my hands up in the air

and said, "Forget it."

I wrestle enough with my two-year old -

I don't want to wrestle with my couch! Lol :-)

In the meantime, I leave you with a lovely

"What I Wore Today" picture.

My first ever...Festive, right? ;-)

You may see jeans and sweatshirt, but I see

a dented candle because my monkey boy once

climbed on the counter and smashed the poor thing

to the ground. Love him to pieces still! :-)

And there you have it.

A smidge of a picture in the life of...

Have a GREAT weekend!

~Anneke~

You can now follow me via Pinterest and Twitter!

 

Out on Injury

Remember when I said out entire family was sick for what seemed like forever??? Now it's been three weeks! Last Friday I went to the walk-in clinic after attempting to pick up some wood at Lowe's and was barely able to push the cart and completely unable to pick up the wood.

So I'm popping on here quick to let you know I'm on a bit of an injury leave. Coughing for so hard and so long has left me with a rib issue that requires anti-inflammatory meeds, muscle relaxers, ice, and yes...blowing up balloons! Lol :-) Oh yeah..no lifting. Like it hurts to lift the coffee pot, and that, my friends, is 10 times worse.

We'll see if I can manage some painting, but in the next week I'll try to follow drs. orders as best as I can. I'll admit the first day was easy. Ever since then...not so much.


Be back soon!


~Anneke

Some Birthday Ramblings and Giveaway Winner!

I'm not sure I mentioned once last week that our family has been sick. Maybe I thought, "Oh, it'll just be a couple days and we'll all be back to normal".  I wish!  Feel free to scroll down if you don't wish to hear my brief ranting. :-(

As I've recently learned, even some people closest to me didn't know I am practically blind (at least in my opinion). I wear Night and Day contacts (AMAZING!!!), but last week's projects left some dust in my eyes which has left me with a possible scratch on my eye. I'm resorting to my glasses and no eye make-up, and honestly, just don't feel like myself. Not to mention the hacking chest cough and congestion that just won't.go.away, leaving me tired and unable breath let alone workout. Enough about me - my kiddos actaully endured a couple days of fevers, and my super hubby somehow managed to be the only one of us who didn't get this cold. Even after getting his flu shot last week - at least someone was left to take care of us. ;-)

By the way, my hubby is pretty amazing and really knows me best. If you follow via twitter, you know that my wonderful husband got me this for my birthday last week.

I was SHOCKED to say the least.

Personally, I was just happy that we had a great offer

on our house, he got me a yummy coffee,

and a date night at my fave restaurant Conto's.

It's a new compressor btw. I took a picture of the old one,

but deleted it. It's so ugly and old! lol

This one has one 16-gauge nail gun,

one 18-gauge nail gun,

and a STAPLER! Yeah...no more hammer tacker!

So, now I am recovering from sickness last night's birthday party,

and totally planning to enjoy the little bit of extra

DQ Ice Cream Cake my mom brought for the party.

Oh how I love that stuff...I really need to kick this cold

so I can workout!!!

--- ANYWAY ---

This is what you've been waiting for ~

The winner of the H&M Bracelet is.....................

JENNI STEARNS!!!!!!

Congrats Jenni! I'll be contacting you for info.

to get this pretty bracelet in your mailbox!

Thank you to everyone who entered! Tomorrow is my "official" work

day and I'm hoping to get some pieces finished up to share

with you - please pray that this cold with go away already!

Have a great day,

~Anneke~

You can now follow me via Pinterest and Twitter!