Boots & Totty » Mr.vB

So Much To Catch Up On!

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 01:54:15 +0000

Here’s a recap of what we’ve been doing the past 2 weeks…

1. Philly Day 2011 - we took our nephew Philip out on an adventure for his birthday.

First stop was the State Fair.

Too bad Philip fell asleep shortly after eating the biggest corn-dog EVER, cause he missed

the chickens

And a Bull with REALLY big horns!

But he woke up in time for us to also go to Build-a-Bear.

and build him a bear. Kung Fu Bear to be exact!

vanny seemed a bit bored with it all..

But in the end we were all smiles!

2. Birthday Party Sneak Peek- I started prepping for the big Birthday Celebration next month.

It included some of this..

A Balloon Wreath

And the Prince’s Throne.

3. Tile Demo Anyone? That’s right. Bye-Bye Orange Tile!

4. Making a Halloween Costume- any guesses as to what I am making?

5. And Keeping up with my little dude!

I’ll hit you guys with more details on everything shortly!

so Pitiful!

admin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 01:25:59 +0000

I was hoping to have vannyB’s 9 month photo shoot today, but he is under the weather.

His 9 month well-appointment this morning turned into a sick appointment. Poor Dude has been fighting a 103 fever all weekend. Hopefully he is on the mend, but in the meantime we’ve been doing a lot of snuggling.

Happy Father’s Day!

admin — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 01:36:20 +0000

So I have to share with you guys what I got Mr. vB for his 1st Father’s Day gift.

I enlisted the services of Mary Chiaramonte who is a good friend and an amazing artist.

{check out her site here.}

I sent her this picture…

and she created this painting…

Isn’t that awesome!! I got chills when I saw it for the first time!

And Mr. vB loved it like I knew he would!

vannyB also made his daddy a painting of his own to hang in his office…

Love you Mr. vB!! You are an amazing father and husband!!

Keep up the good work!

What a tease!

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:07:15 +0000

I’m full of sneak-peeks this week! This one is courtesy of the “back of the house” siding project…

Almost Done!!! It’s been 4 long years in the making!!

I’m headed off to NYC bright and early tomorrow morning for a few days. My god-daughter, Lee Shelly, is graduating from High School and I had to be there to help celebrate!

Mr. vB will be holding the down the fort until I return.

Let’s hope they BOTH survive!

To the Rivah and the Pool…

admin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:58:35 +0000

So we took van “down by the rivah” for the first time last weekend. {Chris Farley reference anyone?}

He was a bit hesitant about the rivah…

even with Dad’s reassurement..

So we opted for the pool instead.

Winner Winner- Chicken Dinner! He loved it!

What a heart-breaker..

oh- and my baby too!

I love both those boys with all my heart and soul!

Viva La France!!!

admin — Sat, 14 May 2011 12:19:00 +0000

I’ve still got piles of dirty laundry to get to, but I’d rather report on the fabulous trip that Mr. vB and I just returned from. {I tried to condense the vacation into as few words as possible, but this still might be the longest post to date. Just Warning ya!}

As a “reward” for exceeding my sales goals last year, Mr. vB and I (along with 135 others) were treated to 5 days of pure luxury in the South of France by my company. 3 days in Monte Carlo, Monaco and 2 days in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France.

Let’s start in Monte Carlo.

We arrived on a Tuesday Morning just a bit groggy thanks to 2 Flights, one of which was overnight, teamed with a 6 hour time difference. But none the less we were stoked to be on vacation! We were then whisked from the Nice airport and taken to the beautiful Hermitage Hotel in the heart of Monte Carlo. {only about a 30 minute drive)

After checking in, we grabbed a quick {4 hour} cat nap and then got gussied up for the Welcome Reception.

Our Hotel room was the size of a postage stamp, but my teammate Toni’s room was ENORMOUS! They even had a private terrace that overlooked the main harbour and Palace. {that’s where the above photo was taken} Needless to say we hung out in their room ALOT!

Here are Toni and I in one of our many refined moments of the trip.

We were “raising the roof” and/or maybe patting ourselves on the back for winning such an awesome trip!

PS. you can’t really tell from this photo but Toni is 7 months prego. She was such a trooper during the trip and I think I complained more about my feet/back that she did!

After a great night of sleep we were up bright and early the next morning to go on our first tour. We headed out to see the sights of Monaco as well as surrounding cities.

The Bay of Angels

Eze, France

What a view from this mountain top perch!!

St. Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco

(Where Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier}

And the Royal Palace..

{look the prince is home- the white flag is flying above the turret}

Then that evening we got gussied up again, this time for the Black Tie Awards Dinner at the Hotel de Paris.

What a fun evening!

We even caught a model photo shoot, just over the patio…we all gawked, but didn’t recognize either model. Do you?

The 3rd day we trekked out again in the morning, but this time we headed into the city of Nice.

Did you know that Nice is the 5th largest city in France? I didn’t.

While in the city we stopped at a few churches, a farmer’s market and drove past the Modern Art Museum.

Then once we got back into Monaco, we took a boat taxi through the harbour over to the Oceanographic Museum and Aquarium (Musee Oceanographique).

What amazing Architecture!!!

By the end of the day we were EXHAUSTED!!

All the energy we could muster up was to order room service and hang out in Toni and Mike’s {fabulous} room.

On our last morning in Monte Carlo, we walked around and took in a few more sites.

The Grande Casino

The Hotel de Paris

The Hermitage {our hotel again}

More models?

And then we were off to the Four Seasons in Provence!

Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur is about 1.5 hours from Monte Carlo and took us through the countryside of France. We literally thought we were in the middle of nowhere until this came into sight.

The Four Seasons was AWESOME.

Instead of hotel rooms they had villa’s. And you got to your villa via golf cart! How cool is that!!

This was the door knocker to our villa.

And when I saw villa I should really say small house. We had a foyer, a living room, a dining room, a patio, a bedroom, a closet that was the side of our hotel room in Monaco, and TWO full bathrooms. Really???

We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the resort grounds.

The Spa

The Pool

The Crazy People from Virginia

And before we knew it, it was the last day of the trip.

We ventured out that morning to another town called Saint Paul De Vence.

It was really neat because they infused Modern art throughout the entire village. But of course I didn’t get any good photos of the art to share.. So instead here are the vB’s and Eubanks…

And check out the view of the Alps! {Hi Mike- Hi Toni!}

Once back to the resort, we had a lovely lunch and then I headed to get my relaxation on! Someone had to test out the spa!

Our last evening was spent going into the City of Cannes for dinner.

The vB’s, The Eubanks and the Yare’s- looking good!

And then 24 hours later we were back home. What an amazing week of seeing new sites and staying in luxurious places, but I was itching to get home to my boy vannyB! He stayed with my parents at their house in Newport News. Luckily we still got to see him twice a day…

So there you have it! Our trip in 874 words and a mere 70 photos. Not bad! Now the pressure is on to qualify for this year’s trip!! Anyone need a chair or keyboard tray??

A Valentine’s Day to remember!!

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:29:19 +0000

Happy February 15th everyone!

Hope your Valentine’s Day was better than mine and Mr. vB’s!!

We both woke with fevers, aches, chills and other unmentionable symptoms. {guess who never got their flu shots??}

Luckily vannyB was in good spirits and off to daycare he went while mommy and daddy spent the day in bed.

Today we are feeling somewhat back to normal. I’m running a small fever and am terribly congested, but other than that I’m feeling just peachy!

Thought I would share some latest photos of the boy. They make me smile and I hope they do the same for you!

I’m such a big boy now! I can play in my johnny jumper and my excer-saucer with the help of some extra blankets!

I can’t get over how red his hair looks in photos! In person it has a twinge of strawberry blonde, but these photos make him look like he is a red head! {not that there is anything wrong with that!!}

Here’s to feeling back to 100% tomorrow!!

2 Months Old!

admin — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 22:00:04 +0000

Time is a flyin! Our boy turned 2 months old on Tuesday! I can’t believe it!

We celebrated by giving him a bath which produced quite a happy baby!

He is smiling and cooing more and more every day. I just find it hard to catch those moments with the camera. But believe me- he’s a heart-breaker!

We also celebrated Mr. vB’s birthday this past weekend with a family trip up to Wintergreen. {For those of you not from the Old Dominion, Wintergreen is one of 2 ski resorts that our great state has.} We were joined by his mom and step-dad, his bro and his family, and his step-sister and her kids. It was definitely a packed condo, but we had a blast!! We ate cake, relaxed in the hot tub, hit the slopes, and enjoyed some great family time! Here are some pics…

Gotta love homemade Birthday Cake! Thanks to my mums for making it!

VannyB tested out his older cousin’s high chair and I think it was a hit!

“Look ma, I can kick my feet!”

The older kids did some snowboarding…{Justin- where’s your cell phone?!}

While the younger ones watched Scooby-doo on the ipad.

The one thing we didn’t do was get a family photo! SHAME ON US!

So instead I will end this post with this funny photo of my nephew Philip!

what a cutie!

DIY Custom Bulletin Board

admin — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 13:24:00 +0000

Here’s the scoop on the cool bulletin board that I “constructed” last weekend..

The frame started its life looking like this.

Ikea- Ung Drill… $29.99

I found it several months ago at Ikea. {And I remember seeing it on some other blogs in the past, but I believe they used it as a chalk board frame.} It was originally intended for one of the walls in my ladies lounge, but never actually made it onto the wall. Guess that ended up being a good thing!

It must have been when I was cleaning out the room that has become the nursery, that a light bulb went off. I could finally use the frame and make it into a bulletin board for van’s room. I then debated leaving it black or painting it a color. Painting it a color won… but I had to leave that to Mr. vB to accomplish.

I picked the same yellow paint that we painted the nightstand, but knew it would be a headache to paint with a brush. Luckily Mr. vB could use his air compressor paint gun to spray it on. That way he could get all the nooks and crannies.

LOVE IT! Thanks Mr. vB- you did a marvelous job!

Now it was my turn to get to work. I went on the search for a cork board that would be big/wide enough to fill the opening. All of the cork board squares I found were the right thickness, but not wide enough to span the distance I needed without having a seam down the middle. I then figured I probably just needed to get a 24 x 18 bulletin board and cut the oval shape out. Easier said than done!!

Cutting the board was the messiest thing EVER! I assumed {incorrectly} that the cork was going to be solid all the way through. Well it actually was a super thin sheet of cork applied to a pressed wood backing. When I cut the cork, it tended to tear away from the pressed board. And then when I flipped it over and tried to cut it from the opposite side I think I made it worse. The photo above kinda sums it up. But thankfully once I shoved it into the frame, you couldn’t even see the torn sections.

Ta-Da!

I love how it turned out! Now I just want to find some really cute push pins to use with it.

What?? It’s all in the details you know!!

PS. after some quick googling I just saw something about DIY push pins.. hmm… Looks like I know what I will be up to this afternoon.

DIY Drawer Organization

admin — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:03:59 +0000

As promised, I am back with details on how Mr. vB created these awesome drawer dividers for me!

Thankfully the dresser we are using in the nursery can double as clothing storage and a changing table due to its size. But what bothered me was that the 2 bottom drawers were just wide open, without any dividers. I could just imagine digging in the middle of the night for a onesie and coming up with a handful of the wrong size because they had gotten all jumbled together. {yes- that would be a TOTAL nightmare for a person with an A+personality- aka moi} So what did I do to remedy the problemo?? Well I googled DIY Drawer Organizers of course!

I found several options, but this one sounded the closest to what I was looking for. The one thing we modified though was what we made the dividers out of. Mr. vB had some left over peg board from our other organization project that he decided to use instead. We figured it would be more sturdy than the cardboard option in the DIY Instructions- especially with the length of drawer we had to span!

So I drew up a little plan for Mr. vB of the layout that I wanted for the dividers. I figured it would be best to divide the drawer into 4 main sections. The 2 sections on the left would be sub-divided into 3 more sections, while 1 section on the right would be sub-divided into 2 sections, and the last would be left wide open. {did any of that make sense?!} That way the different size clothes would each have their own cubby, plus there would be sections for burp cloths, sheets, blankets, etc.

He got busy slicing and dicing with the table saw and before long we had 8 pieces of peg board that were ready to be fit together like a jig saw puzzle.

I think it turned out pretty darn well if I do say so myself! It did cross my mind to spray paint each section so it would all be a uniform color, but then I scraped that idea. I’m not that anal. {no comments needed from the peanut gallery} Plus once it is packed with clothes you only see the top section anyways. These days I need to reserve any extra energy that I may have for the other projects I want to complete before the little dude gets here.

Speaking of the little guy, did I mention that we are 37 weeks along as of yesterday???