White Christmas

It sort of snowed/got super icy here yesterday. Since we usually don't get this kind of weather until January or February it was very exciting. I couldn't even drive to work because the hills at either end of my street were too icy and seeing one car slipping down the hill was enough to convince me not to try it. Why is it that no matter how old you get snow days are still exciting? (If you are from the north totally ignore this post as it will probably make you roll your eyes at my southern idea of snow)

Ch ch ch changes

Ok so the electrician did his thing and I am so excited about all the work. Here are the before and after pics.

Before: Booooring kitchen light fixture

After: Great looking fixture recylced from my dining room (I mean who puts a fixture like this in a dining room anyways) although I'm thinking I need to do a bit of painting around it now.

Before: Fixture that clearly doesn't work for a dining room I mean it wasn't even centered over the table

After: My new chandelier which will be centered over the table once I buy the special swagging kit (who knew they didn't come with those kinds of things)

Before: Old fan that was pretty worthless when it came to circulating the air. But check out the gold details on the blades, classic.

After: Fan recycled from the master bedroom that circulates the air making the upstairs not so warm (I know its not awesome looking but the electrician tells me it is going to break soon, so its on the list to be replaced)

Before: Fan that did not match the master bedroom at all and was noisy

After: Beautiful new fan that looks great and matches

So I'm very excited about my new fixturing. And even better, the handy man service that I used does everything from tiling to landscaping to everything and they were super nice. So at least now I know who to call when I scrape together enough money to do my next round of updating. Stay tuned...

Busy Busy Busy

So I read an article about how to trace your family information online and I think I'm going to give it a shot. I've printed out my blank pedigree chart so I can fill in all the dates for births, deaths, and marriages and lucky for me in college I had to do family trees for some class. I just have to find where I put those family trees I created. I think my grandma will really like to hear about the results I find since she is NEVER going to get a computer and do this search on her own, even though I know she would be really into it. (She just got cable after many years of protesting that she would never watch that many channels and she loves it, we're taking baby steps with the technology here)

So I've had to get a little creative with shopping in these tough times and the sale racks have become the place where I can get my designer fix without blowing a whole mortgage payment on one thing . The other day I found the most adorable spring handbag on sale at ToryBurch.com. It came in the mail today and now I'm not sure if I can wait for spring to carry it. Although people often say it's ok to wear white at winter now, this is clearly a spring bag and people in the South still don't do the whole white in the winter thing too much anyways. Maybe a nice creamy white coat, but not too much else. Oh I know waiting to carry it will make things even better, but it's so darn cute. I'll have to pack it away in the back of the closet for now because the tempation is almost too much for me to handle.

The electrician comes tomorrow to hang up my new chandelier and move around some other light fixtures. Although I've been a faithful DIY'er so far (except for installing the French Doors, I let the professionals handle that one too) I don't think I can handle electricity. So the handy man comes tomorrow and my Christmas present from my Dad is paying the bill! Can't wait to show the updates.

Pigskins in a blanket

So I made the pigskins in a blanket (recipe courtesy of Real Simple magazine thank goodness for them) for the babyshower and they were a hit! It was a little touch and go there when I realized I didn't own any grown up serving dishes (I didn't think tupperware was appropriate or looked really great) but one trip to the store later and I had myself a nice dish that is oven and freezer safe and has a cute little metal stand too. I would highly recommend this easy and delicious recipe for any parties, the recipe was meant for a football party hence the pigskin name but really who doesn't love sausage wrapped in bread? It is really easy to do, just cut up some fully cooked sausage, roll it in those precut crescent rolls from the freezer section, and bake in the oven. Delicioso and cute too. So now all I have to do is think of my next appetizer idea to make for the potluck I have to go to next weekend. I'm learning how to cook in a hurry this holiday season!

Ta Da!

My chair arrived today and I am so happy it's here! It looks so lovely, but no time to enjoy it because I have to make pigskins in a blanket for Amanda's baby shower that is tomorrow night. At least I get to wear my cute cute Christmas apron while I cook. Check out the chair pics below. Will update with pics of my pigskins in blankets after I bake them tomorrow morning (tonight is only for the prep work). Just call me Martha!

Tis the Season

So now that I have weekends off I have had some major time to do some Christmas decorating...

The door sign that I got at Holiday House that is PERFECT for me! And Eddie having real issues about me being outside without him.

I had to make my own garlands because the ones I loved from Pottery Barn were WAY too much. Don't they know we're in a time of economic struggle and we cannot pay $150 for garlands?

My "tablescape" as they call it on the Food Network

Close up of my centerpiece, I'm very proud of this one.

The place settings. And can you believe I got most of this stuff from sample sales!

My Christmas tree. It leans a little and some of the light strands don't work anymore. I think it's probably time for a new one.

Our stockings are hung on the chimney with care!

And finally, the Advent Calendar that I risked going to Target on a holiday weekend to get. It is so pretty!

Looking Back

I've had A LOT of changes in my life in the past few months so I'm taking some time to reflect on what's gone on and what I've learned along the way...

6 months ago eager to put all those years of watching HGTV to good use I bought a "fixer upper" condo. What I learned: It takes a lot more than 30 minutes and a coat of paint to make a room look fabulous.

4 months ago I was moved from my nice 8-5 job in an office to a work whatever hours they want you to in a retail store job. What I learned: Not having bought eyeshadow since highschool is not ok and having your store discount tied into a credit card is a bad bad thing.

1 week ago I was moved from my work whatever hours they want you to in a retail store job back to my nice work 8-5 in an office job. What I've learned so far: I really missed high heels.

Stay tuned cause you never know what changes I might be exeriencing next.

Options

So I want to get a personalized magnetic board to replace the ugly board I use to hold up coupons, cards, and other things in my kitchen. Above are my two options that I'm thinking of ordering from this cute website called awomanswishlist.com. My kitchen has white walls, sand colored cabinets and pops of red in it (see below). Red curtain, red microwave, red everywhere. I think the blue would be a nice addition and really pop on the white walls, but I also think the black with a red ribbon across the middle where that white stripe is and red monogramming would be pretty cute. Big decision since these things aren't cheap. Oh what's a girl to do?

Let's Get It Started!

So I've never done this blogging thing before, but I've been inspired to give it a try...so here goes

Eddie is still recovering from his visit to doggie hospital. He has a bandage on his leg and he limps around like his leg is really hurt. The bandage is just from the IV, but he won't let me take it off. Maybe he wants to show off to the neighborhood dogs that he went to the hospital. Like those people in school who had to go to the hospital and then wore their name bracelets to school like they were cool. He's sleeping A LOT. Is that normal recovery for dogs who had to go the hospital? Well there he is, right after we got home, wearing his "I'm tired of you taking pictures" face cause I always have to take like 5 pictures before I get it right. I hope he gets better soon. I'm ready for my hyper pup to come back.