Sunday, December 30, 2012

A New Year Christmas and a surprise!

Hello, lovely friends!



I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas surrounded by family and friends. 
I just wanted to share a few photos of what Christmas and, more accurately, New Year looks like around here. Once again, we are celebrating New Year's with my family as our Christmas. Nate and I are hosting at our house this year.


Burlap wreath that I made  for the front door
 ~ Originally from Better Homes and Gardens and all over Pinterest
 One of the few projects that I made this Christmas

~*~
 Christmas ~

We spent Christmas eve with my husband's immediate family and Christmas  day with his extended family. It was a wonderful time as always!


I made this burlap pin board for my lovely sister-in-law for Christmas. She's always so supportive of my blog and the projects that I've made. She's told me more than once that she wanted me to have her name for Christmas so that I could make her something. I guess she "lucked" out this year. We both had this pinned on Pinterest. She had a few items pinned that were similar to this one so it seemed perfect. This is almost a complete copycat to the original from ~ caitcreateblogspot.com 


 My cousin-in-law Sarah made this beautiful Christmas tree piece for me! She made one for our aunt a few years ago and I've been giving her a hard time about wanting one ever since. This was finally my year!

~*~
Decorating the house ~
 

I kept most of my decorating to the living room this year. I ran out of time and energy to do anything more than this!
 



 I made the Merry Christmas banner for the fireplace. The rest of the mantel is a bit plain, but again, I ran out of energy to go out and buy some greenery for the mantel. Next year I will try to do something fabulous!


I like to mix in a little Santa along with the more Christian aspects of the holiday!


One of my favorite Christmas ornaments ~ and so true!



We finally got snow here the day after Christmas and now it actually feels like Christmas, especially with family soon filling the house.
Presents, reading the Christmas story, and appetizers on New Year's Eve and a big New Year's Day dinner all planned I finally feel ready for the holidays (smile).
The week between Christmas and New Year was always such a festive time around our house growing up. We still had presents to wrap for my Mom's family, lots of Christmas cookies to be baked, and Christmas music playing all the time. I love that we get to drag this time of year out just a little bit longer!

~*~
The biggest news of all and still a surprise to some ~


Nate and I are expecting baby Asper at the end of June! We are so thrilled right now!!!

Now you know why I haven't been blogging, or decorating, or having the energy to do much of anything around here. I'm finally entering my second trimester and some energy is returning after about three months of laying on the couch every night after work. I'm nauseated pretty much all the time but eating always helps. I haven't gotten sick to my stomach on a regular basis, just occasionally, which I'm very grateful for. Anyway, I've promised myself for years that I won't be one of those pregnant people that acts like they're the first person to ever be pregnant and no one has ever experienced anything like it before. So enough about that! Again, we're nothing but happy around here about this baby!

In the new year, I hope to actually start blogging a lot more! The house is almost all decorated. Our big dining room table project is just about completed, and now we have a Benjamin Bunny/Beatrix Potter nursery to put together! The new year holds so many exciting things for us!


A belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Love,





Vintage postcard images from Vintage Fan Girl  & Quotescoop.com 


Thursday, November 22, 2012

Thanksgiving Fruit Salad Recipe ~

Hello lovely friends! 

A happy Thanksgiving to all!


 It has been quite awhile, yet again, since I've posted anything. We are slowly settling into our new home and loving it!

I've been sick with two different colds for a month now. I just don't have the energy or inspiration for decorating right now. Yes, that's how sick I've been!

Anyway, I am hoping for a long relaxing weekend at home to finally start hanging shelves, paintings, and decorating in general.

In celebration of Thanksgiving; I thought I would share an old family recipe for fruit salad. I'm making it this year for my husband's extended family's Thanksgiving. I'm missing my family terribly and my Mom's made-from-scratch Thanksgiving dinner. So the salad recipe is comfort food from back home to brighten my spirits! 

This is my Granny's recipe that she made every year for as long as I can remember. I'm ashamed to say that I hated it as a child but I LOVE it now.

~*~ 

Fruit Salad recipe ~

Fruit Cocktail - 1 large can, in heavy syrup
Mandarin Oranges - 2 11 oz. cans
Maraschino Cherries - 1 small jar
Crushed Pineapple - 16 oz. can
Chopped Walnuts - 1/2 cup
Apples - 3 large fresh, red
Cream Cheese - 3, 8 oz. packages
Cool Whip - 3, 8 oz. containers
Marshmallows - 10 oz., miniatures


Let the cream cheese and cool whip get to room temperature for easier mixing. Luckily I have my Kitchen aid mixer to make things much easier!
Cut apples and soak in lemon juice, This should be done first. 
Drain the fruit cocktail, mandarin oranges, and pineapple. Slice the cherries in half. Save 10 or so for the top for decoration.
In a mixing bowl combine one each cream cheese/cool whip together, scrape into a large bowl. Repeat two more times, combining all into the bowl. Stir in all the ingredients. Lastly, drain the apples and rinse just before mixing into the salad. Transfer to a decorative bowl if desired. Top with remaining cherries. 


Delicious!


There are many things to be thankful for every day and not just at this time of year but this is when we seem to acknowledge the things we are most thankful for. This year I am especially grateful for my husband Nate, for our new home, our families, and our wonderful friends.

Enjoy a very blessed Thanksgiving!


Post card images via ~ http://abduzeedo.com

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Painting: Before and After

Hello, lovely friends!

It took us six days and the help of my father-in-law, mother-in-law, and two sisters-in-law but we finally have all the painting done! My sister asked me to show pictures of the house painted before we moved any furniture in. These were taken about an hour before we started the big move in.


~*~
Living Room ~ Before


The Living Room ~ After


I really love how the color lightens up the whole room and really makes the white shutters stand out!


The color is Cappuccino (MSL203) in
Behr Ultra in Satin

~*~
The Bathroom ~ Before


The Bathroom ~ After


I absolutely love how the sage green color lightens up the bathroom. It all looks so fresh and clean!


Look at that beautiful beadboard. I really adore how it looks with the sage paint!

The color is Soft Sage (GLG18) by Glidden
We did a color match and used Behr Ultra Semi-Gloss

~*~
The Bedroom ~ Before 


The Bedroom ~ After



We used the same paint in the bedroom and bathroom. The sage is so much prettier than the blue. It really matches all of my bedroom decor so well.

~*~
The Dining Area ~ Before


The Dining Area ~ After


I really love how the yellow turned out!


The color is Whisper Yellow (300A-2) in Behr Ultra Satin

This was literally a few minutes before we left to meet everyone who was helping us move. We didn't have time to replace the plates over the outlets and I didn't get a picture of the kitchen as my sister-in-law was still doing the finishing touches in there. 
Isn't family the best?! We are so blessed with our families!

We are all moved in now and slowly unpacking and setting up. 

A big thanks to everyone that helped us paint and move in! 

Have a great week!

Love,


Sunday, October 14, 2012

We Bought a House!

Hello, lovely friends!

 I am beyond excited to share the news that our search for a house has finally ended after many months of searching!

This is our beautiful new home ~ 
 

We bought this cute little bungalow this past week. It took exactly four weeks from our initial offer to our closing. The former owners were already moved out so we were able to get the keys to the house the next day. 
God is so good!

Here is the house ~ The before pictures:

The Living Room ~


The front entryway


I love the fireplace, the hard wood floors, and the plantation shutters in this room


I really like the big window looking out on to the street. Can you see the pretty autumn colors peaking through? Fall is so beautiful!


Notice the new paint has already been purchased!

The Kitchen & Dining area ~


I love the white and black back splash and the warm color of the wood cabinets. I can't wait to finally have my yellow kitchen! I have cut out and saved pictures of yellow kitchens from catalogs and magazines since I was little. I think the yellow will really make the tile and the cabinets pop.


Another view 


The side door entryway and stairs to the basement

Isn't the vintage fan above the window cool? There's also a little door for the old milk box under the window. I love these kind of touches in an older home!


I really like this little spot in the kitchen. The refrigerator is really neat too. The freezer on the bottom reminds me of the one we had growing up. Notice the pantry on the end? I am very excited to have a little pantry spot in the kitchen.


The eating area


The open area and the size really made me fall in love with this house.

This room is large enough to have my whole family home for our New Year celebration this year, New Years Eve is Christmas to my family.

The Bedrooms ~


The master is upstairs in the 1/2 story of the house



The walk in closet is very unique, I almost have to duck to enter the area and I'm only  5'1. My poor husband! He doesn't mind at all though. There's always some character to these post World War II homes and I love that about them.


The view down to the hallway between the eating area and the living room



We'll paint the main floor bedrooms after we move in at some point. We're not in a hurry to fix them up right away even though there's a lot of bright colors going on here!

The bathrooms ~


The floor and the shower both have newer tiling. 


The beadboard look is one of my favorites so I was very happy that the house already has it and we don't have to do it ourselves.


A laundry shoot! It's the little things that get me excited...

I'll be painting this a much more neutral, lighter color.


The half bath is down in the basement. That color and the Giants border has got to go!

The Basement ~


The built in cubbies along the staircase down to the family room is another little thing that I love


This room will be my husband's "man cave" he has been waiting for one of these for years! Even though he's going to decorate the whole room in U of M decor I'm very happy he finally has the perfect space to make his own.



The laundry room needs some work, like different paint color for starters, but it's actually one of the nicer ones in all of the houses we've looked at over the last few months. It is mostly finished, has a big counter space, and a spot for hanging clothes to dry. It also has an ironing board cabinet which is really nice.

I don't have a picture but there is a large unfinished work space that I am super excited about because it will by my place for painting furniture and working on my projects. No more painting on the patio of an apartment!

The Outside ~


The unattached garage is pretty nice, the cute little fence runs along both sides of the new driveway.

The landscaping is really pretty around the entire house!


There's a nice spot for a fire pit and there's even a Koi pond in the backyard. The trees are young but the yard is very shaded by the trees from the neighbor to the right and at the back of the house. I can't wait to have my very own garden next year! We eventually want to replace the brick patio with a deck. This yard will be a wonderful place to enjoy the outdoors!

Well, as I'm sure you can already tell, We are very thrilled to finally have a home of our own. We are truly blessed!


Now for the cleaning and painting to begin. There isn't a lot else to be done which is wonderful!

I can't wait to move in and to start decorating and crafting again. The idea of making a home into a calming, peaceful, and homey place is very exciting for me. 


It feels like it took forever but it's so clear that we had to wait on God's timing for the perfect place for us. Everything went so smoothly throughout the whole process. Our constant prayer was that the right house would be obvious to us. Our prayer was answered very clearly.


We are both so thankful to my husband's parents for letting us live with them while we were looking for our house.


Have a wonderful week! I know I will. Moving day is this upcoming Friday. 

Back to blogging once again, lots of posts and pictures to come!

Love,