Weekend fun in the springtime

Hi friends!  Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Take a look at what's blooming around here:



See the wisteria hanging just above the azaleas?



And just look at this perfect dogwood blossom:



There's a price to pay for living in such a lush locale as North Carolina, though.  The pollen is absolutely choking.  I wiped off the table on my screened porch (or tried to)--and here's my cloth:



Now it's coated even more thickly than before.  Sneeze, cough, sneeze.

Just for fun, I'll share this photo my husband snapped last night with his iPhone:



We went to a gala to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House at the North Carolina Children's Hospital.  Such a good cause!  As you might guess, the theme was The Wizard of Oz.  Aren't the characters cute?  Yes, there was a yellow brick road that we followed to enter the ballroom.  Such fun.

Lots of us were wearing black, though, and when went out onto the patio, the staff warned us not to lean up against anything.  Black dresses and tuxedos don't look so great with pollen smeared all over them.  So today I wore a chartreuse dress to church--I figured if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

What have you been up to this weekend?  Has spring arrived in your neck of the woods?

Another decorating decision to make-- please help again!

Y'all are so helpful!  Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the new color for my kitchen.  Now I have another question for you.

I am considering taking off the tall breakfront portion of my china cabinet and just using the base as a buffet.  If you've seen my dining room before, you know that I have built-in china cabinets in this room:

In addition to these built-ins, I've had a china cabinet at the other end of the room:

That's a lot of tall stuff in one room, but no serving space.  So here's what I'm thinking about:


Here's a photo with the lamps turned off so that you can see a little better.


With the built-in china cabinets, I certainly don't need the storage or display space of the tall hutch.  As a matter of fact, keeping my china and crystal in the hutch made it very difficult to use, as a plate or glass threatened to topple over every time I opened the doors.

Do you like the idea of using the base cabinet as a buffet?  My plan is to put a large mirror above the base cabinet.  I love the two lamps--it took me weeks to find ones that I liked, but these are wonderful.  (If I decide to put the china cabinet back in the room, I'll use these lamps elsewhere.)

So what do you think?  Put the tall breakfront back or keep the buffet space?  I'd love your thoughts!

**Note: The blue on my walls is a Sherwin Williams custom mix.  Here's the label:

Decorating decision to make--please help!

Hello, friends!  Hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

Today I need your help.  This week is a big painting week at my house, and I'm having trouble deciding on a color for my kitchen.

I have made a little progress.  Green is my favorite color, so I've decided I want to stay in the green family.  The kitchen is currently painted a very neutral color--a dark sage that's on the tan side called Ruskin Room Green by Sherwin Williams.

Here's my kitchen now.  In these photos the green looks a good bit brighter than it does in real life, but this will give you an idea of what I'm working with.  There's not too much wall space on this end:


Lots of wall space on this end:

I think I want to go a bit lighter and brighter in here, so I'm thinking about Sherwin Williams "Sassy Green."  



An alternative would be the next lighter tint, Sherwin Williams Hearts of Palm:



Here's a paint chip of the Sassy Green right on top of my Ruskin Room Green walls.  You can see here that the Sassy Green is much greener than the current Ruskin Room Green.

What do you think?  Do you like the Sassy Green and/or Hearts of Palm?  Help a sister out and let me know your opinion, please!