My First Award: the little things that make you happy!

"Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces
 of good fortune that seldom happen as by little 
advantages that occur every day." 

- Benjamin Franklin-

My dear blogger friend Colleen at http://fivefeetoffun.blogspot.com has surprised me tonight with this wonderful award {my first award ever! It's a big deal! } and I am happy to share it with my loyal readers. 

Along with the award come these responsibilities: I must share with you 7 facts about me and pass the award to 10 bloggers of my choice. How fun! Here I go:

About Me:

1. Spanish is my first language. I can also speak Italian.
2. I LOOOVE Country music. Big Brad Paisley and Josh Turner fan!
3. I can sing the Ave Verum Corpus by Mozart in Soprano {and I am good!}
4. I don't like spiders...if I see one, I get the goosebumps then I run {including daddy long legs}
5. Sometimes I wish I could have auditioned to American Idol {Too late now, but I Love my Life}
6. I am an Industrial Engineer and still practice everyday running my hubby's business.
7. I use to be a print and runway model in my hometown {insert a wink here!} 

Ok, enough about me! Now let me award ten wonderful and inspiring bloggers:

1. Lexie at VoiceBoks- The Voice of Motherhood
2. Amanda at Kevin and Amanda
3. Barbara at Español Para Niños
4. Aurie at Our Good Life
5. Lisa at I Am All a Twitter about Life
6. Christin at Mom Blog of Two Little Misters
7. Melanie at Livin' the Dream
8. Samantha at Medtopicwriter
9. Steph at Pendants by Steph
10. Can I send it back to my favorite mama? Why not? Colleen at Five Feet of Fun

This has been so much fun! Thanks Colleen! Have a great evening everyone!

A Real Nursery designed by a Real Mama { a little chat }

After all the excitement and happiness that your heart holds the day you find out you're expecting a baby, after all those mixed feelings - happy, scared, anxious, worried - sink in, you get a second wind and sigh in relief and say:      ' I can definitely do this! ' . Later on, comes the fun part...Designing for Baby! 

Nothing says I LOVE YOU and I WANT YOU IN MY LIFE more than preparing a nest for your little baby and I truly believe that those nests {a.k.a nurseries} are even more especial when they are designed, built, laid-out and decorated by mommy { and sometimes by daddy too! }. And today I am showing you just that. 

Colleen is a young mama from Minnesota who decided to keep the gender of her baby a surprise. She designed a beautiful neutral nursery with lots of vintage details that I am sure you will all love. 

Here is what she has to say about how she created such a especial room for her 'surprise gender' baby. 

One Cute Nursery: Tell us about your baby...                  

Colleen A: My baby boy is named Brennan Bradley and he's almost 15 months old.

OCN: and your main occupation?

CA: I am a stay at home Mom.

OCN:  Which piece, color or story -if any- inspired the nursery theme?

CA: We have this little wall decoration, with a mirror in the center and colored dots surrounding it. It was originally in our bedroom, until it dawned on me that it would be the perfect inspiration for our nursery.

Cool and Retro Neutral Gender Nursery

I really admire all those expectant mommies out there that have chosen not to know their baby's gender. I could not possibly 'survive' 9 months without knowing. Sometimes I think: " hmm, maybe I'll do that if I have another baby..." and then I think "Oh no! if I have a baby girl I want to design a beautiful Shabby Chic/Cottage Style Nursery"...so...no. Yes, I really admire those ladies that compromise many things just to be surprised on the day of the delivery. In that case, I thought I'd sketch a "white/retro/splash of color" design for a Neutral Gender Nursery. 

Here is my inspiration room.

Retro room for boy or girl.

First of all, I love the white. What color can be more 'gender neutral' than white right? It is so calming and refreshing!. The turquoise adds a girly/boyish touch and the gold detailed and mirrored armoire puts the "retro" in it. Using the white as a canvas {that would be your paint color}, put all the splash of colors you'd like. I picked green, orange, yellow and turquoise. As always, I show you my fabulous online finds! 

Here we go.

Here is the breakdown for you!

1. Isabella Armoire in Sea Grass  $1,299.00 {splurge!}

2. Oval Wall Mirror with Delicate Pierced Frame in Antique Gold Finish $242.25

3. Square Area Rug, 5X7'6", Slate  $249.00

4. 15" Cerulean Blue Plush Round Throw Pillow with Button Accent $37.99 {plush!}

Steve Madden Sienna 16-Inch Decorative Pillow $35.87

5. Lite Source LS-20585GRN Viko Table Lamp, Blue with Donut Shaped Body $54.14

6. Izzy - Genuine Monkeez - Acrylic Yarn Sock Monkey - Multicolor Stripes $18.95

Babe - Genuine Monkeez - Acrylic Yarn Sock Monkey - Green/Gold /White Stripes $ 16.06

7. Tadpoles Three Bulb Chandelier in White Diamond $59.99 {so delicate}

8. Angelo Home - Harlow Chair Yellow and White Floral $272.94 {love the casters!}

9. Davinci Jenny Lind Stationary Crib, White $169.00 {steal!}

10. Martha Stewart Pom Poms, Blue, 2 Sizes $16.99

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As always.. {*No compensation was received for this post*}

Thanks to www.babytalk.com for the inspiration picture!

Win a $100 Shopping Spree!

I came across this giveaway last night and I had to share it with my readers! Ababy is one of my favorite stores to find inspiration for beautiful, unique and cute nursery decor. I bought the Sailboats Chandelier for my baby's nursery at their site.

I am NOT hosting this giveaway, so you don't have to comment on this post or follow me to entry {although some follow me love :) would be greatly appreciated!}. I am only spreading the word!

Here's what you have to do:
1. Like ababy's Facebook page
2. Post your ideas and pictures of your baby's nursery on their Facebook wall.
Yes, that's all. Now go ahead and show off your baby's room!

{* No compensation was received for this post*}

Nautical Nursery {once again}

I can't help but wonder.."where did time go?"...A year ago I was painting, designing and buying all the nautical decor for my baby's nursery...and look at "us" now...I am chasing a fast speed crawler all over the house and gone are the days of the "cute", "everything in place" nursery....Every night before I put baby to sleep the room looks like a hurricane just passed through. 

I enjoyed so much shopping for nursery decor and creating things that once again, the nautical nursery bug bit me  and I went and did some homework for you! (not for me, not for now)...When they interviewed me for the article featuring Logan's nursery, they asked me my special tip for mommies to be that are decorating their babies nurseries themselves. I had to say that the most important thing to do when it comes to decorating a nursery is to mix and match within the same hues and theme. If you try to match each and every piece in the room, you'll go crazy and probably spend a fortune! So, today I picked some things here and there and I recreated  a Nautical Nursery that I'm sure  you'll absolutely love. 

Go ahead and take a peek!

1. Graco Charleston Non-Drop Classic Crib, White $174.99 

{ this is the same crib I have! a steal }

2. Sherwin Williams Interior Paint SW6786 Cloudless

 { I used Valspar - Clear Blue Sky, same thing right? }

3. Nojo Sea Babies Tom The Turtle Plush and Sea Babies Ollie the Octopus  $12.95 each

4. White Chapel End Table in White $199

5. Sea Babies Printed Canvas Art - Set of 4 (10" x 10") $27.20

6. Tadpoles Classics Gingham Blue - Coverlet $29.99

Tadpoles Classics Blue Gingham Crib Bumper $34.65

7. Suede Glider Rocker Recliner - Green $539.99 

8. Under the Sea Lamp w/ Shade $44.95

9. South Shore Furniture, Changing Table, Pure White $147

And... take it from there! Maybe you prefer a cheaper glider {I would too!} but a pricey top of the line crib  but the idea is here and I am sure you'll have fun too putting together a beautiful nautical nursery for your little prince. If you do, send me some pictures I would love to see what you do and I'll feature it on my blog!

Come back soon to find more great ideas! 

Thanks for looking, have a great day!

{*No compensation was received for this post*}

{ Image sources: amazon.com }