New Kitchen Renovation Plans, Summer Fashion & More! Morning Musings 14

Welcome to Morning Musings once again, a personal post that I share from time to time with a little bit of this and that! The format may change slightly, depending upon what I have to talk about. This week it’s about kitchen renovation plans, summer fashion, what I’m watching and more…so let’s get right into it friends!

LET’S GET PERSONAL

I’m off to our beach place today for another long weekend and yay to that! We have had our beach home for quite awhile now and it’s been such a blessing to have somewhere to get away to. Especially with the fact that normally we do a fair share of travel but we just haven’t been since the pandemic. I do feel that it’s safer to move about more freely nowadays but travel itself by plane has been a pain in the you know what! One of these days, perhaps in the fall we will embrace our wanderlust again. It should calm down once school has started and people are mostly staying home. For now it’s been super hot and it’s nice to have air conditioning, the pool and beach to go to. Is it hot where you live? I feel like it is everywhere these days and it’s sad.

WHAT I’M LOVING IN DECOR

Here is a little peek at a project that we just completed in the garden and I’ll be sharing the full DIY & reveal soon! I’ve really been enjoying this new spot under the oaks to read and there’s a great breeze being on the canal. Darby loves it too!

Our kitchen renovation plans have finally been signed off on and I couldn’t be more excited for this!! We are tearing everything out and have redesigned the space, so it’s quite a project. There are several things that I most look forward to about this. One being that the new cabinets will go all the way up to the ceiling, which means more storage (and I need that!). We were able to incorporate a small walk in pantry in the plan and will be DIY-ing that part of the project ourselves. The current two u-shape counter and cabinet spaces will be eliminated, creating a cleaner look and better flow. Our old double oven on one side, and gas cooktop on the opposite side will be taken out and a new large Italian dual fuel stove has been ordered. In blue! While our island will remain the same size, it will be rebuilt and moved for a better kitchen flow. We hope to repurpose the countertop which is a gorgeous quartz with some subtle veining.

Refrigerator will be in the same spot, but a new one will replace our limping along 25 year old version. Most things have been ordered and some have arrived but we don’t expect the demolition to be until perhaps November. After that hopefully things will move fairly quickly, as I don’t want to be without a kitchen for months at a time! I’ll set up a temporary though in our laundry room, since there are two sinks and plenty of room for countertop appliances, etc. We have a spare fridge in the garage, so that will be our full time fridge for awhile. Patience is key in remodeling these days…now more than ever! Not sure when our appliances will arrive but it will be next year! I’m grateful to be able to do this remodel after waiting a long time to decide on it!

WHAT I’M WEARING

It’s summer, it’s hot…so not much of anything besides summer dresses, bathing suits and linen! I’ve been living in these linen/cotton blend pants and love them so much that I purchased three pair (2 white/1 black)! This poplin dress is something that I’ve worn both while being home and out with my husband and it’s super cute! You can’t beat this set of 2 t-shirts as well as these. This darling tiered dress is definitely age appropriate for me and is 30% off, so take a look. I also picked up this high/low cotton/linen shirt and it covers the bum nicely and is cool for summer. If you love a caftan (but not some of the prices) take a look at this one that I wear around the pool. I also picked up this set of four woven straw braided belts (sooo cute!) and this hat is on my head whenever I go outside lately! I do most of my wardrobe shopping either at Amazon (see my Amazon Storefront HERE) or Chicos.

Head over to see more at my ➡️  SUMMER CAPSULE WARDROBE post, as shown in the graphic below!

BEAUTY PRODUCTS I’M USING

Women of a “certain age” generally start to notice that their neck isn’t as supple as it used to be. If you’ve never tried this product, then look into it…because it works! I’ve been using it for a few months and while I’m not magically 25 again, I’ve noticed a difference. With over 29,000 glowing reviews I decided to purchase this shampoo and now am a fan! I keep a bottle of it by our outdoor shower for all to use after swimming.

WHAT I’M COOKING & EATING

Lots of salads because it’s so hot out that I don’t feel like a heavy meal. Some of my recent salad addition obsessions are hearts of palm and artichoke heats, as well as red kidney beans for protein. Now I know that this sounds crazy, but I’ve been making carrot hot dogs and we really love them!! You peel carrots that are similar in size to a hot dog bun, cook in boiling water for 7-10 minutes until fork tender and marinate for a few hours. The key is to use Liquid Smoke in the marinade and I use my own recipe based on this one. Then grill (I use a grill pan for the marks) and use your typical hot dog toppings. It really tastes hot dog-esque!

WHAT I’M WATCHING

If you need some great streaming I highly recommend The White Queen, The White Princess (which is a sequel to the former) and The Spanish Princess. They are set in the mid 1500’s – 1600’s England, available on Starz and will enthrall you for hours!

WHAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

Tour an 1840’s farmhouse with a modern day young family that new resides there.

A Coastal Style Christmas in July…you’ll be inspired with all things blue!

Favorite Decor Finds On Amazon – Budget Decorating!

A Vintage Cottage Lake House Tour New Build With Charm!