Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind The Blogger

Carla from The River

 Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger is a feature done each Saturday that introduces you to a blogger you may already know or a new blogger for you to get to know. This feature gives you a peak into the personal life of the blogger.  Getting to know the special person behind the beautiful blog.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland so enjoy getting to know these talented bloggers each Saturday.

Good Saturday Morning everyone.  This week in Spotlight I have a special blogger Carla from The River.  Carla is a wonderful blogger and outdoors kind of girl.   You will love getting to know more about Carla and her family.  Enjoy reading her feature and then hop over to check out her sweet blog.

Thank you Kris, for asking me to participate in your Saturday Spotlight.

My name is Carla.

My husband is Jeremy.

We are the parents of two boys, Samuel and Atticus.

We live in Northwest Wisconsin.

I was born and raised on a dairy farm in Northern Wisconsin.

I am a Wisconsin girl.

I love the outdoors.

My friend Bobby Jean shared with me about her cousin's blog Cranberry Morning 

I started to read Judy's blog and fell in love with the world of blogging

With the encouragement from my hubsand, I started my own blog, The River

 A few fun facts about me.

I will get this one out of the way...my favorite season is Winter!

I love to Cross Country Ski!

I have a Fresh Flower and Produce Stand in my front yard.

I love to garden. Last summer I opened up a Fresh Flower and Produce Stand in our front yard. I used a card table, a fun table cloth and some cute baskets to create it.  This year my husband  and boys built me a new stand, with a roof. I will be doing a blog post about it next week.

This garden season I have four garden plots at our local community gardens and one at home.

I named my garden, The Little Garden That Could.

I have a mailbox at my garden.

I love receiving fun mail from other gardeners and friends.

I also leave notes for other gardeners. The mailbox has been a lot of fun.

  

Atticus

He is 13.

Both of our boys are in Shooting Sports.

They shoot Trap for the Rice Lake Warrbirds.

  

Samuel

He is 15.

Sam passed his text portion of Driver's Ed this Spring and will start Behind the Wheel in October.

I am still trying to figure out how my boys grew up so fast.

When they were little I would pretend to give them a shot, to keep them little. They would laugh and say, "It will not work Mom"

Now as my handsome 15 year old, who is much taller than me, he bends down to  give me a hug. 

I smile.

 My boys, they are growing up and I am proud of them.

Rice Lake Warrbirds Trap Team

One last fun fact about me.

My birthday is 12/12

My husband helped me celebrate my 12/12/12 birthday in a magical way.

  

Thank you for reading.

High Fives from Wisconsin!

Thank you Carla for sharing yourself and your wonderful family and life with us.  Have a great Saturday everyone.  

Kris

:)

Sometimes It Just Takes A Word.

  I wanted to show you how a little word like LOVE can make your heart smile.

Terry painted up this little sign for me with an old piece of wood and some vintage salvage pieces.

Just was a sweet little surprise.

I also want to say thank you to a sweet blogging friend.  Rita from Panolpy sent me a sweet surprise gift in the mail today.

I was outside watering my flowers and my mailman (Terry teases me he is my boyfriend because he likes to bring my mail up to the door and say Hi)!!!!  Anyway my boyfriend mailman came up to me while I was watering and said you got a box in the mail.  I was so excited to get a surprise box in the mail I ran into the house and did not even flirt with my "boyfriend" the mailman lol!

Look how sweetly she had everything wrapped.

I unwrapped everything to find these treasures.  A beautiful vintage Friendship Tribute book Rita found on a recent antique trip.  Love!!! Note cards made by Rita's friend and a lovely white embossed towel and best of all the beautiful sachet pillow made by Rita's sister and filled with Lavender from Rita's garden. 

I put the Lavender sachet pillow on my 3 tiered desk lamp.  Ohhhhhhh smells so heavenly as I sit at my computer.

Rita's sister hand painted the button that she put on  this beautiful pillow sachet filled with the sweet scent of lavender.

Rita your lovely package just made my heart smile today.  I have found and been so blessed with beautiful friendships in the land of blogging.  Rita thank you always for your sweet friendship shared and thank you for this lovely surprise today.
Hugs
Kris

Hope your week is unfolding nicely.  Be sure to come back on Saturday for a sweet and talented blogger to meet in Spotlight.  

Kris

:)

Living Room Reveal

Finally the living room reveal.  Yeah!!! I say reveal but it is always a work in progress for me!

So here goes with the pictures.  Warning lots of pictures!

Here is the before of the Living Room.  This was when I was trying to marry a Pottery Barn Leather Sectional with my white chippy chic.  Just was not me!!!!

Before

After

The after now of this living room is more me.  My chippy whites, creams and grays all married together with my pretty architectural salvage pieces.  This is now my happy place!

Before

After

This is the chair that Lisa Harmon from LHarmonDesigns did for me awhile back. This chair was in the back of my dining room so I did a switch a roo and brought it up for the corner of the living room

I moved this ottoman out to bring in some soft taupe to match up with the pillows and throw on this chair.

My old chippy arched window with the old cast iron vintage mailbox with flowers.

Vintage garden round iron table with glass top.

Vintage square garden table for another side table.

I love the gray and white patina on this table.  Just so full of chippy goodness.

Loved using my vintage frames to give a good character outline to the chandelier.

I brought in this garden table for a coffee table.  It is not exactly what I am in love with just yet.  I am on the hunt for a little bit bigger oval or square garden table.  This one just has so much pretty character it will do for now.

Before

After
This room is flooded with light all day long.  It is hard to get a good clear picture with all the light streaming in but trust me this room is so pretty and bright with the way the light comes in.

No pillows, throws or crafts are allowed on Terry's comfy chair!!!!  The poor guy needs a chair and space that is not white, chippy or pretty just a relaxing well worn 
"Man Chair"!

However my recliner will sport a pillow or two and a cute throw once in awhile.

Another beautiful creation from Lisa Harmon @ LHarmonDesigns.  Here is my new slipcovered sofa.  It just makes me smile :)

Before

After
I wanted a double ruffle so Lisa tackled it with her wonderful design and sewing abilities and gave me a pretty double ruffle for the skirt for a sweet custom look.  If you need a pretty custom slipcover I highly recommend Lisa.  She is so talented and quick and has some of the best fabrics that wear and wash like a dream.
LHarmonDesigns
Lisa on Etsy

Hope you enjoyed seeing my new living room reveal.  I have to say the only money spent on this re do was with the slipcover that my daughter bought for me from Lisa in exchange for the leather sectional and the new pillows from Janet.  For the rest of the redo I shopped the house and had the paint.
I love the challenge of a redo and not spending money.

Have a great week.
Kris
:)

Parties this Week:
Show and Share
Inspire Me Tuesday
Wow
Before and After Wednesday
What's It Wednesday
Share Your Style
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Share Your Cup Thursday
Favorite Things Blog Hop
Sweet and Simple Friday
Shabbilicious Friday

Happy Sunday

Good Sunday Morning.
Hope your week end is going great.

Today I am going to give you a sneak peak at my new pillows I got for my new slipcovered couch.

I promise tomorrow I will have the whole living room reveal with the new slipcovered couch and all.

Terry and I went into Arlington Heights where our friend Janet owns her shop Lucky Junk.  She has a sweet and talented gal that makes the prettiest pillows.  

So I knew I would find some great pillows for for my new slipcovered sofa.

I love going into Janet's Lucky Junk Shop.  Janet is not only a great friend but a wonderful finder of fabulous "junk" treasures.
My heart beats just a little faster every time I step into her shop.
Thank you Janet for my new pillows to add to my pillow collection.

Here is some info on Janet's shop.  If you are in the area you must stop in.  I promise you will not be disappointed.

You got a little sneak peek at my new slipcovered sofa.  Come back tomorrow to see the whole room reveal.
Have a great start to the new week ahead.
Kris
:)