a new home...

I know what you are thinking, didn't you guys just move to a new house last year? 

Yes, we did and we celebrated our first year here this past May. 

It's been great, we love it and we plan to stay for as long as we can but this time,
it's not my family that is moving,
it's my blog. 

After nine years of being at plumtreestudio.blogspot, I've decided that it is time for me to move on.
 I've loved my little home here! I've celebrated many many milestones, achievements and made dozens of friends because of this blog but it's time for a change. It wasn't something that I decided to do overnight, I took a lot of time to think about this change and in the end I felt that I needed a new space that would reflect the direction I am going. I know that I could have added pages to this blog (which I have done in the past) and had someone create a new image for me but honestly it just didn't feel right. 

After all, I no longer really associate with my old brand, plum tree studio. 

So I took a little leap of faith and started a site that will allow me to grow as a business as well as blog in a manner that suits my schedule. I didn't hire anyone to help me with my new site, (that is hopefully in the near future) but it's a start and I am happy with my new little home. I hope you will follow me as I journey through this new adventure as www.danadear.com.  

a little update

It's been really quiet here...and for good reason.

 I took an unexpected break. 

I really needed to sit down and just reflect on everything around me,

my business, my family, my home, my health. 

I'm excited to say that something is brewing..it's close but not complete.

So if you want to stick around, I hope to share some things with you very soon! 

Until then...here's a little 4th of July memento...

monday monday

I rolled over this morning and asked Ben if we could have another Sunday...

he was thinking the same thing too.

It was a great weekend, I didn't take many photos and now I regret it. 

My friend Lula drove up from Florida and we ended up having an impromptu girls (and boys) weekend. 

It was so nice to spend time with her and you know what, I didn't take one single picture of us together. 

Kicking self. 

I have a pretty busy week ahead of me, client meetings, jobsite visits and getting the family ready for a road trip. Should be pretty fun!

Oh...hello Monday. 

have a good one!

my weekend tidbits

- finally fixed our front door area - more on that later this week.

- my new favorite indulgent - tart cherry juice with organic soda. 

- took a nice long walk. 

*paper plane's entrance*

- celebrated this amazing dad!

aka: Appa

My heart swells thinking about these two together. 

I have loved watching my husband become the amazing father I always knew he would be. 

He's so loving, gentle but matches O with a little boy-ish rough housing, super silly,

 incredibly patient and most importantly, the best role model for our son. 

Hope you all had a great weekend! 

friday find

While I was looking at Society 6, I came across Teagan White.

I love stumbling across children's art that I have an instant connection with. 

The human like animals with all their beautiful details reminded me of childhood books that I loved. 

Not to mention the Woodsey collection I had adored as a kid. It's hard to not want to buy them all, hopefully someday I will be able to gift one of these prints. For now though, I will just admire them.  

Happy Friday. 

feeling blue

Recently I took on really exciting (big) project. My clients just bought an older home last month that just so happens to be very close to my house. It has a tremendous amount of character but it really needs a lot of updating. They have teamed up with an architect that I'm currently working with right now on another project that is in the full blown construction phase. Some things we are looking at is moving the kitchen from one end of the house to the other, expanding the back half of the house to include a four season room (aka party room), mudroom and laundry area as well as creating really unique bedrooms for both of their kiddos (so fun!). I can't tell you how excited I was when we met last and they told me they would like to have blue cabinets, not dark blue but more of a mid to light blue. 

Of course I started to look for inspiration and pulled a few ideas to show them...

There are so many beautiful shades of blue that we could use and honestly I am not sure if I have a favorite out of all these pictures because I truly like them all but I do know that we will be able to narrow it down to the perfect shade...eventually. When we do, that hue will be teamed up with some soapstone countertops 

and this amazing new customizable Pratt and Larson tile.

 I'm so in love with this tile, this picture does not do it justice! Seeing it in person makes your jaw drop, it's that amazing. It's going to be a fun project! 

images:: de opkamer :: atl homes & lifestyles :: centsational girl :: the kitchn :: modern country style :: pinterest :: michael graydon :: house beautiful

weekend review

Virginia Highland Summerfest - Connie & Jack booth

My Connie & Jack bracelet - in love!

Ah man...a huge tree limb of ours fell Sunday Morning..causing some damage. 

My little guy started Summer Camp.

my summer dress

 I was at the mall picking up a new supply of foundation when I walked by the Madewell store and noticed a pair of cute sandals. I am in need of summer sandals, mine are so worn out.

 I only had a few minutes so I decided to pop in and take a quick look around. 

 I am so glad I did. I have been wanting this dress (above) for a couple weeks now and when I saw it in person, I knew I had to try it on.  

It is the perfect summer dress, it's light weight, super comfy, not too clingy and the chambray is a pretty shade of light blue, oh and it didn't hurt that it was also on sale! 

I didn't end up getting the sandals, they were a little too orange-y for me, 

but I did end up with my dress and a fun knit dress that will be great for client meetings. 

r&r weekend

This weekend was about family. With my schedule being hectic last week, I decided to take most of the weekend off to concentrate on my boys. It was relaxing and honestly we didn't do much which was nice. We did manage to hang some art and do a few things for my office. Oh, after a week of staring at two big empty black pots on my front porch, we finally went to Home Depot and picked out some plants to fill them with. It feels good to have those done and some color on our porch. One day we will tackle the renovation of the front porch/front door area, how wonderful that will be! 

I had told O about the pool that was sitting in a box in the garage last week and I might have mentioned us blowing it up over the weekend...which kind of stuck in O's mind all weekend long. He sweetly kept reminding us of the pool and on Sunday even though it wasn't the hottest of days, we got that pool out during nap time and surprised him with it. He was so very excited that we both wondered if his body was registering just how cold the water was. After about 15 minutes and some shivers later, we managed to get him out of the pool. I have a feeling that pool is going to be a big deal this summer. 

Happy Monday!

the perfect shower

 

This bridal shower is called Flamingo Pop, adorable right? 

It's so girly and fresh, from the flowers and stripes to the shades of pink, green and peach. 

So sweet! You'll have to check out the rest of the pictures on The House That Lars Built to see the beautiful dresses from BHLDN as well as all the decorations but I have 

to say the balloons weaved with those amazing flowers are my favorite! 

Happy Friday!