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2017 WENDY CORREEN SMITH. Powered by Blogger.

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A Pinch of Pink for Valentine's Day 2016


Valentine's Day is my very favorite holiday and it's less than one month away. I know, I know, some people don't even consider it a holiday, but I sure do. I loved V-day even when I was kid, when I didn't appreciate the romantic side of it all. I simply love the idea of a day that is all about romance and LOVE! It's a day to cherish the ones you love. Also a great reason to sprinkle pink everywhere in your life from January to February 14th, from candy to candles to fresh flowers. 

I made a little shopping guide for anyone that needs help with ideas from small gifts like the Dylan's Candy Bar to fancier ones like the Kate Spade watch or Valentino perfume



You can shop these items by clicking on the images below! Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours. Here's to love + romance + all things PINK! 




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#thesmithspinkhouse COLORS, COLORS, AND COLORS


We did it! We closed on our PINK HOUSE on Friday. The hashtag #thesmithspinkhouse will be used forever, even after our home is painted Newburg Green, because I think it sounds so dang cute! I snapped this selfie, bright and early in the morning, as we were sitting in the parking lot of the title company. 



We are not feeling like it's home-sweet-home quite yet. We are living in the basement --- the cold, dark, unfinished basement. The whole entire house, every inch will be painted, so having all of our stuff stored away only made sense. Our bed is perfectly nestled between two concrete walls, one of which has a heart spray painted on it from the previous home owners! Ryan spent the whole weekend prepping for the painters that arrived today. He removed every single interior door, all the kitchen cabinet doors and hardware, all the plate covers, and the powder room mirror. I spent most of the weekend finalizing the paint colors. I think I need these cookies by Holly Fox. Aren't they freakin' adorable? I was swimming in paint color ideas all day Saturday! 




Here is the paint color palette as of today. I doubt it'll change since the painter told me to pick up all the paint tomorrow! 



Forget-Me-Not Blue by Benjamin Moore has been my favorite blue for many years. I've had several clients do this color, and my niece and best friend have painted their bedrooms this color. It was the color of my old bedroom and I miss it! 

This is my old bedroom. 



I love this soft and soothing bedroom. 


Palladian Blue by Benjamin Moore is another one of my favorites. I've never used it in my home, but past clients have done it and it always looks beautiful. This will be the main color of our home and I can't wait to see it bring #thesmithspinkhouse to life!





The dining room and upper level bedrooms will be Benjamin Moore's Decorator's White. When I moved into Ryan's bachelor pad, one of our first projects was painting the whole entire house white! We used Snowfall White by Benjamin Moore in all the rooms. I loved the fresh feeling of all the white and it was a great back drop for all of my artwork, but I feel like it's time to bring color back into our home. We'll still have plenty of white! And to be quite honest, it seems like EVERYONE is doing all white now. For me that means it's time to switch it up. 




The super fun part of our home's color palette has to do with the powder room and upper level bedroom closet doors.

Ryan and I went back and forth and back and forth on the pink for the powder room. We were debating between Little Piggy or Sugarcane by Benjamin Moore. I even did a Facebook post asking for help and Sugarcane won by like 80%. Well we thought we'd go with Sugarcane until I saw this dining room by The Band Wife. This shade of pink is the most beautiful shade of pink I've ever seen and I can't wait to have a small pinch of it in our home. It's Valspar's Baby Blush. 




Then while I was on @gummergal instagram page I discovered this creative closet door idea by A Beautiful Mess. As you can see my inspiration for the last portion of our paint colors was found via social media and blogs! We were already planning for white walls up there, so this will be the perfect pop of fun color for the rooms. If we have a baby girl someday she'll be all set with pretty pink closet doors, and if we have a son then we'll have to do a little bit painting! So one set will be Baby Blush and the other set will be Beach Blanket, both by Valspar!




After paint we are doing the hardwood floors and carpet. The stairs are going to be the SHOW STOPPER, and hopefully we'll be the only couple in our little suburban town with stairs like these. 

LEOPARD, YES LEOPARD!!! 



Today the painters did a whole lot of prep work. I suspect they'll start priming tomorrow and by mid-week the Super White enamel should be going all over the dark trim! Follow along with #thesmithspinkhouse progress on Instagram @wendycorreen

xo 
Wen

p.s. remember...
Women who wear black live colorful lives. -Neiman Marcus
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Our Journey to Baby Smith


Last night I posted this on Instagram. Our BIG news, that if all goes well at my next doctor's appointment, then we can begin IVF in February. Today I'm writing this with feelings of excitement, hope, and happiness. I'm in a good place mentally and emotionally. What I want to share is the fact that no couple wakes up one morning and says "hey, we should have some designer babies, let's do IVF!" We do live in a society that grasps to instant gratification, but this is not a case of impatience. This is the reality of 1 in 8 couples that deal with infertility. IVF is not an easy decision and it's not an easy road. Getting to the place I'm at now was not a bright and cheerful one. I thought after my laparoscopy for endometriosis we'd get to move on to making a baby naturally. I thought we'd travel together and one day very soon I'd get that positive pregnancy test and all would be wonderful. I didn't think the doctor would say "You have severe endometriosis, you're a strong candidate for IVF. For now we need to suppress your ovaries and make sure you DO NOT GET PREGNANT!" That news lead to a very sad, dark, and disappointed holiday season. And you know what, only two people knew what I was going through. Ryan and my sister Haley. 



I'm the type of person that prefers to share my life from a joyful perspective. I greatly struggle with sharing anything negative, anything that may make me look weak, or anything that would imply that I don't have my sh*t together. I had written a really long post on December 16th, exactly one month after my laparoscopy and I didn't have the courage to share it. It was a dark piece of my soul. I had written thoughts that involved every negative emotion in the book - sadness, fear, worry, anxiety, resentment, jealousy, confusion, obsession, etc. I shared the truth that I wanted to skip Thanksgiving. This article, The Silent Hell of Infertility During the Holidays, was posted on my doctor's FB page and it pretty much sums up the way I felt at the dinner table on Thanksgiving. My sister is pregnant. She got pregnant on her first month of trying (for the second time) and she had her gender reveal in December. I woke up crying the morning of the reveal. I DID NOT WANT TO GO! I really didn't think I could get through the day. I cannot believe I'm sharing this truth, but it was my reality, and I realize that was a really crappy attitude. I was jealous and resentful. That day when I was grieving the babies we don't have yet, I was being a person I didn't want to be. I was acting in a way I knew was wrong, but I just couldn't help myself. I couldn't snap out of it. I knew I should feel happy and excited for my sister, and for some reason I just couldn't get past my own issues. Clearly, I'm only sharing this now because we've since had a heart-to-heart and I shared my "issues" with her and we cried and we opened up with one another. She understands in the best way that she can, and the simple honesty and sharing of my dilemma helped me move past all those bad feelings. 



I know this journey to Baby Smith will be full of many valuable life lessons. I know that God wouldn't put such a deep desire to be a mother in my heart if I weren't destined to have babies. I know that one day Ryan and I will be parents. I don't know how long the road will be to our babies. I don't know what lessons are in store for us. All I know is that I'm going to consciously go through this process. I'm going to share our story. I'm going to be open and honest. I'm going to pray constantly. Even during my darkest days after the surgery I prayed a lot. I know that is how I got to where I'm at today. I'm feeling strong, hopeful, grateful, and full of faith. 



From November 16th to Christmas Eve* I was depressed. I didn't want anyone to know what was going on with me, I put on a happy face when I had to, and I shut myself off from the world. During that time period Ryan was my rock. This was definitely not our idea of wedded bliss, but that's what was going on in our newlywed home. His support, tenderness, and compassion, during all of this has definitely brought us closer together - more than I could have ever imagined. I already knew I had one AMAZING man, but this man of mine was by my side with every tear that fell. One night he sat next to me on the bed as the tears were falling, and he told me to make sure I remember this moment. He told me to embed this memory in my soul, because when I'm finally holding our miracle the intensity of the love will only be multiplied by this struggle. The next morning after that conversation I wrote letters to our babies, whom already have names. To say I'm going to cherish this pain sounds very ironic, but in some crazy way, we are going to embrace this journey to our miracle babies and once we have them they will know everyday what a true miracle they are to us and this world. 

*Something happened within myself after Christmas Eve Mass. Up until Christmas I had cried every single day. On Christmas Eve morning I remember having one really good cry. I was sad that we didn't have a baby on the way. I was dreaming of the Christmas Eve when we could bake cookies and decorate them with our little tots in their pjs. Then the grieving and fear of what wasn't took over and I had a little melt down. We went to midnight mass and came home to bed. I woke up on Christmas in very good spirits. We had a great Christmas. Then I had an amazing dream, where my Grandma came to visit me, and I do believe she sent me a message on Christmas night. I'll share it when the time is right, but something happened after the dream that helped me put the pieces of the dream together. I love my angel in Heaven and God is good! 

Thank you for reading about our journey to Baby Smith. Thank you for your prayers. 

With love xo 
Wen and Ry

Just a little humor for the day here
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This is How We Rang in 2016


What better way to ring in 2016 than to get the keys to our new pink home? The night before we got our keys Ryan said "lets get up early and go to Starbucks and then we'll go to Anthropologie to get your favorite candle for the new home!" He always knows just what to say to make my heart so very happy! While we were out running our errands, with coffee in hand, we also stopped at Target to pick up our NYE champagne. We got a baby bottle to pop open at the new house, we knew we'd be in the celebratory mood (times two) with it being New Years Eve and all! 



It still feels a little surreal. We spent months trying to find our home, and after putting in numerous offers in this particular neighborhood, that were all turned down, we were really close to giving up. I was calling apartments and looking at storage units. We said many prayers and when we did get bummed about losing a house, we did all that we could to keep the faith and regain our excitement as fast as we could. We believe with all our hearts this is the home that was meant for us all along, and we are just so very happy that we found it right when we did - the last minute, literally. This home was the answer to our prayers! 





After we got the keys, we lit our new candle (this is my favorite candle here in Baltic Amber) and put Eric Church on Pandora. We sat on the fireplace hearth in the living room and we just took it all in. We popped the Prosecco, did a cheers to the house, kissed, and had an early NYE celebration. 

For our New Year's Eve dinner we had Pizza Hut! We wanted to be casual and relaxed. We wore our pajamas, ate pizza on the sofa, and watched Ryan Seacreast do the countdown to 2016! We both said there is no other way we'd rather be ringing in the New Year. 

On the first morning of the 2016 we headed back over to the new house. We had a long list of what we wanted to do before we started to move our stuff over. Ryan spent the day building storage shelving in the basement and I cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned. There is a lot to do before we can even think about unpacking, and we know we have a long road of renovations ahead of us, but we are excited to bring this baby to life! 


Today we started moving stuff and we are both sore tonight! 

I can't wait to share all the progress photos along the way. Renovations will start mid-January and we'll be living out of boxes for a while. We discussed keeping the bed in living room until the enamel paint is finished. This shall be an adventure, and that's what I'm reminding myself when all my OCD tendencies start to surface. ADVENTURE! 

Stay tuned! And follow along on Instagram @wendycorreen

xo 
Wen

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