SANTORINI BLUE

When I was a little girl and would travel to Amarillo to visit my grandparents

we would pass by all the Route 66 Motels.

Amarillo is just about halfway..in fact Adrian, Texas is the very exact halfway mark between Chicago and LA on this famous and historic route

I was so inspired by each and every hotel, and still am...they are so quaint and one of a kind and capture a very romantic moment in time

Little did I know how much those little hotels impressed upon my design taste, especially the swimming pools.  The pools were all small, with fancy umbrellas and crisp blue water

LOVE

I am living my 8 year old dream of having a pool in my backyard and this summer's project has been an outdoor kitchen area

The first thing I did, as I almost always do...is let color inspire me

I loved Santorini...that blue is the prettiest color I have ever seen!

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I love the pots, the water, the stone, the vibe

the next thing I love are the fancy umbrellas

I purchased this paper parasol at Pier 1 and it is long gone in the Texas Panhandle breezes

I will always be on a search for another

last summer we added a pergola to the pool house and a privacy fence between our neighbor and us

we also purchased a large fountain

everyone matches!!

Miss Betty

Mr. PV and Cute Carpenter Man are working around this 100 year old elm tree

did I really go for orange umbrellas this year?  Sometimes I like when we have hail storms that tear up umbrella fabric

moving this brick patio was a very big and very hot project...we moved it under the covered kitchen area and replaced it here with gravel

concrete counter tops and this will be an Argentine grill

because my man likes to cook outside!  He likes to catch fire to meat!

I wanted to cover the face of the cinderblock with tile

similar to this...but this is not in this summer's budget

so I began looking on Pinterest for ideas to paint/stamp/stencil and found lots of very cool ideas

we seriously had a cold front on this day that dropped our temperatures to the low 80s

perfect for Pandora, paint, and some rum drink that starts with a P...oh yes...

Pineapple Rum...with an umbrella!

after I completed the "tile" and after I ordered stencils from 3 different ebay stores and after I took the question to Instagram...I think I might like the "tile" just the plain way that it is

and guess what...I spent about $8 on the whole project

next summer....

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all those plans for next summer, next Christmas, next birthday, next year, next time

well....that's what makes time go by so darn fast

look back on the past with fondness, look forward to tomorrow

but cherish the time you are living in right now

and as for me....I just might go grab a room at the