Spring Cleaning and Inspiration

When I worked in Philadelphia for two years, my aunt, mom, sister and I had a tradition of getting together for dinner and drinks in Philly when my aunt was in town from Chicago. Last week my aunt was in town, so I was able to get together with the girls for the first time in a long time! I made plans to meet my mom at Anthropologie's garden store, Terrain, for garden inspiration before heading into the city.

The shop itself is absolutely beautiful but way too expensive, so we shopped for inspiration and succulents and sat down to enjoy a snack. If you ever visit Terrain, I highly recommend ordering a cheese plate in their cafe.

Mary eating cheese

I left Terrain with some ideas for our little back yard and the cutest little pot of succulents for our kitchen. Now that spring is here, I want to incorporate more plants throughout our house, so the succulents are a start.

Succulents in my kitchen window :)

We enjoyed dinner at The Dandelion Pub in the city, a little restaurant we have been wanting to try for years. The food is "British pub" food and decent but not a place I would consider a "go to" in the future.

The Dandelion Pub menu

On Wednesday night I went with my sister and her friends to free yoga at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a very cool experience. The instructor worked at yoga studios throughout the city and it was so tough! The beautiful atmosphere was a distraction to the difficult yoga positions.

View from the Art Museum

Art Museum Yogis

I tried to keep busy throughout the rest of the week but the weather was not cooperating, so I was left without a car for the majority of the week. I was going stir crazy so I painted the downstairs doors a very dark gray.

I was very happy with how the doors turned out, so we will be painting the rest of the doors in the house the same dark gray, a big project.

Before

After

On Thursday afternoon I went home to Kutztown with my sister, too much alone time was not doing good things to my head. It was so nice spending time with my family, doing yoga and eating great meals.

Farm to Table restaurant with my parents

On Saturday morning I met with my Aunt Hallie and Uncle Larry for a 6 mile run around Kutztown. The 10-mile Broad Street run is in two weeks and my runs have been terrible, so a good run was a confidence booster.

Post-run pictures

Andrew came to Kutztown Saturday afternoon and we were able to meet with our kitchen contractor to make some changes to our plans and pick out our cabinets. The contractor, Mike, is a family friend who lives down the street from my parents and has done three kitchens for my parents over the years. It was so cool to visit his home and shop, where he will make our kitchen!

The shop!

Andrew checking out the paint gun

We picked out the cabinets, which will be painted an off white. I really think a light kitchen will be beautiful and brighten up the house, but I have a lot of decisions to make on everything else!

Our cabinets (in Cherry)

After picking out our cabinets, we headed back to my parents for homemade pizza, french fries and gin & tonics. My parents recently bought a Breville pizza maker, which makes very delicious pizza.

Pizza prep

Nom!

On Sunday we had my dad's entire family plus Andrew's family over Easter dinner. The weather was beautiful and I always enjoy spending time with my family.

My sister and cousins

The Haughton family :)

I have one more week at home before heading back to Charlotte to start my new project. I didn't finish the projects I had planned last week but I am going to take advantage of my final time at home and make the house beautiful for spring visitors!