Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

Just wait. If you haven't met her, you're going to LOVE my Mom. I speak from experience. Everyone loves my Mom. Shes just so cool.

Why can't coolness be genetic? seriously.

Sometimes she's all business, the result of years and years in the corporate world. But before she was "Mojito Mama: business woman extraordinaire," she was "Mojito Mama: Artist". It was a long time ago. Hardly anyone remembers the days when she would paint sweeping landscapes and bold portraits to sell. But every once in a while Artist Mom and Business Mom combine and devour one another. Introducing: Awesomely-creative-but-don't-get-in-her-way-or-you-will-regret-it Mom!

Watch out! She will run you down with her Home Depot shopping cart!

We are choosing paint colors for the walls. So far, it has been an uphill battle. There are a lot of opinions, but only one artist-in-residence.

I'm just going to go hide until all the colors are chosen!

We tested out a whole bunch of palates. We want to bring some light and openness to compliment the giant windows out front, but also some hues that evoke the sun, sand, and sea. And of course, we are trying to include that unique Cuban flair!

Testing, testing...1...2...3.

But paint colors are so WEIRD. First of all, they all have dumb names. "Oyster". "Golden Buttermilk". (I've never seen an oyster I'd like to see painted on a wall of a restaurant and I've never seen buttermilk any color other than grayish white) We actually chose those two. But we passed on "Tarragon Tease" and "Crusty Butt". Ok. It wasn't really called "crusty butt". It was called "Crested Butte" and when you read that really quickly it looks like...well,you know.

"Now I just need something that compliments Ralph Lauren's "crusty butt".

Not only do they have dumb names, but the colors look nothing like what you imagine when you put them on the walls. The lights, shadows,and the other colors in the room-they all conspire to turn a perfectly nice "Soft Chamois" into an awful shade closer to "Dusty Brown". (Seriously Behr, you've got a Turquoise called "Sweet Rhapsody" and cant come up with anything better than "Dusty Brown"? Ok.)

Choosing colors feels like an impossible task. To me, so many colors look the same.

"Oh yeah, I see how the 'Camembert' is SO MUCH different than 'Pot of Cream'. Not"

And even if I did have an eye for these kinds of things, it wouldn't matter. 

Because only one opinion matters here. 

And dissenters shall be BEHEADED! (Ok, not beheaded, but their taste in paint colors will be mercilessly scorned. And then they'll blog about their dashed artistic vision and tyrannical determined mother. At this point, I'm just really hoping I won't be grounded when Mom reads this post. I haven't worried about being grounded since I was 16, about 10 years ago).

But I have to admit, my Mom is really good at this.

Even her underarms are photogenic. It's just not fair. 

I may not be able to tell a matte from an eggshell but she's got a real eye for coordination. She also has this slightly funky streak so she can tell when a metallic finish will look really neat. If I tried to paint with metallics the result would probably be overwrought. Which is why it's good I am not in charge of decoration. Everything would probably look like this:

"What's wrong Mom? Everything matches!"

I guess it is just an extension of her coolness.

That's a palm tree tank top. Even her outfit matches the theme.
That alien arm invading my shot belongs to my father.

But sometimes its difficult to admit when someone else is always right.

And sometimes it's difficult to live with a brother who fancies himself a comedian.

So after a lot of back and forth, we decided to compromise and go back to the store for additional samples. While there, we also looked at some light fixtures.

Are we more of a oblong crackle family, or a warpy fishbowl family?

Mom likes grassy hanging lanterns.

Which probably means we will go with grassy hanging lanterns.

But we did find these cool "parchment leaf shades" that had a cool design, but they only came in bright white. Lame. 

Before we went, Mom left instructions for the team to take down the collapsing fabric roof on the landing.

And for Dad to tackle the electrical wires with Mike.

Apparently, there was time left over for muscle conditioning:

And showing off.

I'm just gonna hang out with my shining bulging muscles. NBD.

We came back with the samples and decided to tie in some green to go with the booths. Everybody was happy!

Finally everyone agreed. So Mom and dad decided which colors would go on which walls.

So cute! After 30 years of marriage and about 3 hours of arguing about colors.

And we had the happy task of driving BACK to Home Depot for the third time and buying 900000000000 gallons of paint.

"Yes we need 30 gallons. Please don't cry." Seriously though, these ladies were awesome.

Helpful tip: Home Depot is great about their military discount program so if you're a service member or veteran you get 10% off your entire purchase. Even if you buy 30 gallons of Ralph.

So now the painting has started and all the tension around colors is over! And we all lived happily ever after!

Just kidding.

That green color? The one that was the result of compromise after many battles and many trips to the Home Depot?

It's terrible. Really really terrible.

So it's back to the drawing board.

And the absolute worst part? Mom was right all along.

Mother knows best.

And when we do get the colors figured out, I'm sure you will love them. They will be Mom's artistic vision. And like I said, everyone loves Mom. 

Stay tuned for updates on the painting and other features! And stop by to say "hi" if you're walking down Main St.! 

Happy painting!

-Team Mojito