Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger



Susan from Must Love Junk, and myself wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.
There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Susan's and my blog. 
Melanie from Sweet Melanie

Happy Saturday.  This week I am going to introduce you to Melanie from Sweet Melanie.  Melanie is one of the first blogs I followed before I started my blog.  I immediately bonded with Melanie and her blog.  We share the love of shabby chippy chic.
If you do not already know Melanie and her blog please hope over and check it out after getting to know her better here in Spotlight.






What a treat it is for me to be able to share a little about myself and my life thanks to Kris....thank you so much Kris!

First I'd like to introduce myself, my name is Melanie (~Sweet Melanie~).  So nice to meet you!

I live in the Capitol city of West Virginia which is Charleston.


We have a beautiful Capitol and a beautiful state!  I have traveled all over the United States but have "never" wanted to live any place but here.  



I grew up in a small town called Ansted.  It is close to Hawks Nest and the New River which is a major attraction for tourists for it's rapid waters and white water rafting.


We have a celebration day called "Bridge Day" that thousands travel to,  to participate in some unique festivities such as parachuting off of the New River Gorge Bridge.  It is the longest and highest steel arched bridge in the Western Hemisphere.  I was just a little girl when they started building it in 1977.  

Our state is absolutely stunning any time of year.
Can you tell I am proud of our little state?

As the song goes that John Denver sang, "Country roads take me home to a place I belong, West Virginia, mountain mama, take me home, country roads".


I also love the different seasons we have.  I am truly a Winter gal though, then Spring, Fall and last Summer.  I hate being hot, lol!


Our home sits on little over one acre all by itself up against a mountain.  I absolutely love living here.  Our home was built in the late 90's and we have done so many updates to make it to our liking and to function for us.  If you all know me, I truly love flowers!  Especially Peonies or any that are pink!

I married my high school sweetheart at the age of 21 and we've been married for 23 years which is such a blessing to me! We dated 3 and a half years so all together, we've been together for 26 and a half years. We have two beautiful daughters which are the apple of my eye!  I have dedicated my life to them, stayed home to raise them while my sweetheart brings home the bacon.  lol 


We've shared good and bad times throughout our marriage with health problems and family issues.  But as the Good Book says, God always works to the good for those that love the Lord....and that is what He has always done.  I couldn't imagine my life without Him in it!  He is my rock and I thank Him daily for blessing me with my little family!

My mom is who I share everything with on a daily basis.  We live an hour apart which kills the both of us!  But we call each other everyday numerous times and we share photos of things we've done, online.  It definitely helps fill in those miles.  I love her dearly!  We've had our share of ups and downs but God definitely has done a work with the both of us!


I have always had a knack for decorating, creating ect. since I can remember.  I always made my own Barbie furniture from blocks of wood and magazines along with dishtowels for bedspreads.  I used silk flowers for trees and even made a swimming pool.  I even had Christmas trees and lights.  Mom still talks about how beautiful my little house was one Christmas.  Creativity definitely flows in my family.  My daughters are truly artists but without the confidence.  Maybe one day they'll realize just how talented they truly are.  I know I sure do!


Thankfully my sweetheart has been wonderful with not being fussy when it comes to our home.  His motto is a happy wife, a happy life.  And as long as he has a full belly, a comfy place to watch TV and relax, he is A-OK!  The girls are the same way but they do enjoy their rooms being pretty and getting makeovers from time to time.
Our dog, Gabe and our cat, Oliver even enjoy it! 



So that's a little about my life...thanks so much for letting me share it with you.


I love our home, my life and my family.  God has been so good to us!





Thank you Melanie for sharing the personal side of you with all of us.  Now that you have met and gotten to know Melanie please hop over to Susan's blog and meet another talented blogger near and dear to me Cindy Cloches and Lavender.
Have a wonderful Weekend.
Kris
:)

Garden Tour Soon

Happy Friday.  Finally most of the rain has moved out and it is a bright and sun shiny day.  I have been working on my back gardens and deck and hope to finish up this week end and have a post for you soon.

We had such a harsh winter here in the midwest and no Spring to really speak of so having summer slowly start to come back has been great.  I have been excited to get out and create and see the flower garden coming to life.







This year I am adding a lot of old salvage pieces to the flowers like these old porch posts for hanging baskets and old chippy
beach chair.


Old Vintage night stand with plants.



Join me back here soon for the whole garden reveal.

Please come back tomorrow for Spotlight.  Susan and I have two wonderful bloggers for you to meet.

Have a great week end.
Kris
:)

Happy Memorial Day

We will be traveling home from our wonderful family vacation tomorrow.  It has been so much fun this past 10 days in Florida.

The weather has been sunny and gorgeous every day.

I will not bore you with a lot of my vacation pictures but I do need to share one  special occasion we did with our granddaughter Abby for her 4th birthday.

We treated her to the Bibbidy Bobbidy Bowtique .


Abby had her appointment at the Princess Bowtique where they turn the little girls into their favorite princess.


Abby's Favorite Princess is Cinderella.


You enter the Bowtique and they have a special changing room set up just for you.
They have your special princess dress laid out for you.



Getting Dressed




The Fairy Godmother's begin to turn you into a pretty princess.  Make up, hair and nails.

Abby all done and transformed into a beautiful Cinderella.  I think Mommy was pretty excited for Abby too.

After you are all done and transformed into your fave princess they take you into a special photograph studio and take pictures of your special time.

They even let Mommy and Daddy pose with the little princess.
Here is our Grand Abby all dressed as Cinderella.  This was  a fun and special time with her in Disney for her birthday.



This was us in the park with another favorite princess Belle.  We had such a fun week.  I will be sad to get on the plane tomorrow to come home.

source

 Have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day.
Kris
:)



Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger


Susan from Must Love Junk, and myself wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.
There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Susan's and my blog. 
Janae from Not So Shabby Shabby Chic
May 24


Good Morning and Happy Saturday.  This week I am introducing you to a sweet blogger and  I have to put a WARNING on this read.  The warning is you will have extreme "how adorable" and "how cute" is that  while reading her feature.  Janae from Not So Shabby Shabby Chic is a blogger I met through her Mom another fun blogger Sandy from Love of White that I featured a while back.  

 Janae shares my love of white and shabby chic.  Janae will introduce you to her furry family that is just too adorable. I have to warn all of you this will have you saying awwwww on the cuteness alone.   Wait until you see how she get's her little furry kids to all look at the camera and smile.    Enjoy getting to know Janae, her boyfriend and her fur kids.   When you have a minute please hop over to see her beautiful blog.





Hello everyone! I am so excited to be doing the feature for Junk Chic Cottage. I am so honored to be shared by a blogger with such a gorgeous home!
 I'll start with the basics, My name is Janae I am 24 years old, I live in Oregon where I was born and raised. I am huge animal lover and am very close with my family. My day job title is "Senior Certified Pharmacy Tech"  for a well known a chain, but my true passions are decorating and my fur-babies. 
My blog is called
Not So Shabby - Shabby Chic
I bought my first home 3 years ago when I was 21. I have so much fun decorating it.
My boyfriend of 7+ years lives with me, along with our 11 furry children.
Sidney & I have been together since my Junior (his Senior) year in high school.
I am so blessed to have a man who loves animals like I do, and is also very tolerate of having a pink master bedroom and a girly rest of the house, he does have a man cave room in which I do not decorate at all.
My Mother is my very best friend. We see each other at least 4 times a week, usually more, and talk on the phone every single day usually for at least an hour. We have so much in common. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful Mother/ Best friend
My Mother is also a blogger, you may have read about her before, because Kris featured her too a while back.
I am also very close with my step Dad and younger siblings, I am so blessed to have such a close family, I also only live about 5 minutes away from them, although we have talked about trying to someday live next door to each other.
When I started my blog just about 4 years ago it was going to be all about decorating, but over time as I have added to my furry family, it has become just as much if not more, about the fur-kids too. When I started my blog I was a renter so I only had 1 rabbit & 1 cat, so you can see my fur-family has grown a lot.  
We have 4 Pomeranians (Bella, Bentley, Lilly & Lacie) 5 cats (Billie, Lulu, Levi, Leo, & Alien) & 2 rabbits (Little Bunny Fufu & Frankie). They are my babies, I cant even explain to you how much I love them.
I am a promoter of rescuing! Five of my eleven furkids are rescues. When I added the first several to our family, I didn't really know how important rescuing is.  Now that I am educated on the subject, I will only adopt from shelters, or rescue groups.
Two of my Fur-kids are 3 legged Rescues.
Leo my 3 legged cat I took in as a stray kitten in need of a leg amputation
Lilly my 3 legged dog I adopted from a dog rescue already 3 legged.
Both are front leg amputees Leo the left, Lilly the right.
It truly is amazing how well they adapt, they both get along great and amaze me everyday.
This was our Christmas card this past year.
Yes they are all really wearing the hats no photoshop :)
I thought it would be fun for the feature to give you a little tour of our home....
The photo above is of the "Pommy Playroom" . This is the doggie proofed room in which my 4 Pomeranians stay in when home alone (otherwise they get into stuff!). They have lots of fun toys to play with and I also have a camera set up in this room that I can watch them from on my Iphone, yes I am very much a crazy dog lady! I won't even show their closet, because you will think I have lost my mind, but you may be able to find a pic on my blog somewhere :) Sidney & I both work somewhat opposite schedules which is a downer at times, but really works out good for the fur-babies, so they don't have to be home alone too often.
My Favorite room in my house I think is my bedroom
See what I mean about having a good man for sleeping in this bed with me?
My bed is probably a bit big for a small master ( it is a king size) but I need a big bed because all our cats & dogs sleep with us at night, its a pretty tight squeeze with everyone lol.
This is my master bathroom, which is also where the rabbits live.
I do not cage them they have free roam of the bathroom when home alone.
 This is our guest room. I love this room but we rarely use it all, we pretty much never have over night company, since most of mine & Sidney's family is local. This is the room we will someday covert to a babies room when we get married and decided to have human kids.
My sweet babies.
 Now heading downstairs......
 This is the first room you see when you come in my front door. Also the first room you see coming down the stairs ( I am standing on the stairs while taking this picture). The toddler sized bed is for my fur-kids of course.
I love them so much!
Pretty boy Billie.
Here is my little kitchen, it looks so different then it did when we moved in. I have changed the floors, painted the cabinets and counter tops, yes painted counter tops. This is also an older picture I have since got all new appliances still white, but they have a  some what retro look, but I have not got great pictures of them yet.
Cell phone pic with new appliances from the G.E Artistry line. I love them.
Spring time is my favorite time of year, I just love having fresh cut flowers they are like an all natural anti-depressant!
Here is my dining area right next to my kitchen
Which looks on to my living room.
 Peonies are my absolute favorite flower, I have been trying to grow some in my yard, but my plants are still young and do not get a lot of blooms yet. Both my Grandma & Mother give me cut peonies out of their yards when they are in bloom, I love them they make me so happy ( both the flowers and my Mom & Grandma).
 Here is my tiny half bathroom that is downstairs.
Okay now for my crazy obsessions
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Vintage Mirrors!
I have quiet the collection. These mirrors I have mostly found at Goodwill's and other thrift shops. My Grandmother has also found a bunch of them at garage sales. My upstairs hallway and landing area has no windows, I love the way my mirror wall reflects light.
I hope you enjoyed meeting me and my furry family, as well as the tour of our home.
Feel free to pop by my blog anytime
Thank you so much again Kris for featuring me.
Love, Janae

Thank you Janae for doing Spotlight.  It was so much fun to learn more about you and your handsome boyfriend and the furry kids. Your spotlight was so heartwarming.   Now that you have gotten to know Janae please hop over to Susan's blog and meet Jen from City Farmhouse.
Have a Great Week End.
Kris
:)

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