Sunday, December 30, 2012

Welcoming a New Year!

I love the New Year! It always feels like a great fresh start and it is invigorating to think about the changes that I want to make in the new year and the hopes of what it will bring. 

2012 has been a really great year but an interesting one none the less.  In 2011 I started this blog and a new job and we put our first house on the market.  We also built the first house in the neighborhood we are developing. 

Last year for New Year’s in THIS POST I stated that in 2012 I wanted to live more simply and my two big resolutions goals were to become more physically and financially fit.   Well a lot happened this year!!! 

January I started off with a lot of furniture painting and completed many projects.

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Side Table

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Twin Bed

I took you on a tour of the house we built to sell in the neighborhood.

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Home Tour

In February this blog turned 1!

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Vintage Sign

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Mirror

In March, I turned a year older and we got an offer on our house.

House Contract

I welcomed Spring.

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I posted one of my most popular posts to date.  I made these great bird nest for my apothecary jars and it was a hit.  P.S. they still look exactly the same!

Spring Apothecary Jars

In April the blog started to suffer.  I had a yard sale to get rid of all those things we didn’t want to move and in May we really started to pack. 

In June we went to the Bahamas.

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As soon as we got home, we moved, as in the day after we returned!! Crazy!   We moved into the new home we built since it was still on the market.  Just in time for me to decorate a Summer Mantle.

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In July we started to settle into the new home and I decided the green front door had to go, so I painted that a calmer blue.

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Front Door

I received a free kitchen island and I gave it a face lift.  This post gained a lot of attention, since I was featured over at Southern Hospitality!! 

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Kitchen Island Makeover

Then we received an offer to purchase this house!  One month later!!

So on August 10th (exactly 2 months from when we moved in), we moved again…this time we moved in with family and we have been with them since. 

I caught you up on a furniture project I did just before the move.

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Dresser

And I showed you a small makeover.

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Yellow Table

In September we stayed really busy and went to Atlanta, GA where I finally got to go to a Pottery Barn Outlet and then we went to Charleston, SC where I found some pretty neat stores and dream homes too.

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In October I shared with you our simple living quarters and we started construction on another house in the neighborhood.

New House Build

I also painted a little jewelry box.

Jewelry Box

Jewelry Box

I attended the first annual Southern Bloggers conference and met some really great ladies and found some really cool blogs!

In November I helped my friend paint her dining room hutch and table.

Hutch & Table

The house building continued.

In December I was super busy with Christmas festivities and I did not get a lot accomplished that was blog worthy except this table décor.

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Christmas Table

Whew! That was a busy 2012!

As for my 2012 resolutions goals, we did wake up and start paying attention to our spending habits more.  We were forced to pay more attention with two houses on the market over the 1st half of the year and we realized we needed to cut back.  We still have a long way to go in being billionaires, but we are going to make it :)  Sadly I failed miserably on the physically fit goal.  I pretty much stopped exercising after we went to the Bahamas and through the two moves.  Living with my family has wrecked my eating routine.  Great excuses, I know…I’ve practiced saying those a lot and I put on weight by using them as excuses :(

The blog definitely suffered this year, my post count was chopped in half.  I am really sad about that but there was no way I could continue to rehab a lot of furniture projects during packing and moving and now not having a work space. 

Selling two houses in 2012 was a huge blessing and we are so very grateful for that!

Looking forward to 2013,  we are excited about what the year will bring.  First up will be moving again.  We can’t live with Family forever…even though they are great helpers in our busy life!! We have completed a new home build in the neighborhood and have it on the market to sale as well.  We having a closing date set and will move into the home if it does not sell first, when it sells we will most likely rent for a while.  I do look forward to having my furniture back and a space we can call our own. 

As for those New Year’s Resolutions for 2013…..well, I am very serious about losing the weight I have gained! I am going to join the thousands of others that know they need to be better.  I bought a juicer today and I am very excited about adding in more fruits and vegetables into my busy lifestyle.  Meal planning will become a habit I hope and I am slowly going to add in the excersing again too. 

My other resolutions will be to continue down a good financial path and spend less.  I still follow some of Dave Ramsey's Principles.  Read more of the bible daily and lastly,  stop playing so many games on my phone!!

What are your resolutions for the New Year??

 

April

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hey Ya’ll!  I’ve been so slack lately with the blogging.  I need to catch up with you for a minute.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  I think this has been one of the busiest seasons I can remember but Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our wonderful Family was so great!  We are very blessed and enjoyed every second we had to spend with them. 

If you are following on Instagram you saw what generous gifts I received! I got a great new camera, so watch out blogging world…high quality photos coming soon!  Unfortunately the camera we used yesterday deleted all our pictures, so that is why I have none to share today Sad smile

In other news we have not moved yet, we were supposed to close on the new home December 20th, but that was pushed back because of paperwork and other delays.  We are now hoping to close on January 14th and hopefully we will move soon after.  We are eager to get into a home of our own again.  Remember it’s for sale, so you never know! 

I hope everyone has a great New Year’s.  I go back to work tomorrow but looking forward to another long weekend!  It has been nice to have some down time this past weekend and I am looking forward to more in the coming weekend.  Hoping it will give me a chance to unwind and get in a good mindset to start the new year off right. 

 

April

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Christmas Table Decor

I wish I had more Christmas décor to share this year with you guys.  I’ve been so inspired by other bloggers and Pinterest but not a lot of Christmas decorating going on this year since we are not in our on home.  I do miss it, especially all the pretty things I bought last year after Christmas.  Remember these GREAT ORNAMENTS from last year,  I had big plans for those on a wreath, but I am saving all my ideas for next year. 

I did fell the urge to do a little something.  My father in law, Al,  asked me to paint a little box for him in chalk paint.  It was a box that clementine's come in. When I asked him what he was going to do with it he said he wanted to put red Christmas ornaments in it which gave me an idea.  I painted the box and decorated the dining room table while they were away one night.  It turned out great.

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I used red ornaments with a mixture of magnolia tree cones, these are pretty for Christmas with the red seeds.  I also had been wanting to use some cotton in décor this year, I have been so inspired by Kristen over Sophia’s Décor, she uses cotton a lot and it look so pretty.  Please stop by her site for major Christmas inspiration!

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Here are the box details.  Before with clementine's (does anyone else love these as much as me?)

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I just simply painted it with ASCP in French Linen and then went over it with a dry brushing of Old White.  It took about 5 minutes and it dried in about 30. 

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That was my little inspiration piece to jump in and decorate a little.  It was also neat to decorate with red for Christmas because I rarely do, I am more of a green, blue, purple, pink girl.

Today I am off to help my Mom paint a table and finish a hutch, can’t wait to show you guys her new Kitchen!! It has been an ongoing process since August and I am hoping it is done today so I can snap some pictures and share!! So stay tuned!

 

April