The Handcrafted Life

Entry Hall 'Mud Room' Planning

2012-02-16T06:02:00.088-05:00

Yes, I'm still keeping myself busy planning out our new house decor!

And my latest planning has taken me to our entry hall. It's next to the entryway/foyer, but separated by an open door jam from the entry way, and leads to the back of the house.

I've (of course) found lots of inspiration online for what to do with our entry hall, but my favorite inspiration photo is this one below. A narrow bench with great storage in a hallway. And although we have a slightly wider space to work with, I think something like this would be perfect for hanging up my purse, coats, scarves, and storing easy access shoes, like flip flops or my yard work tennis shoes. It will also be an easy place for guests to hang their coats when they come over, but I like that this hall area is separate from our entry, so this won't really be visible to anyone just standing at the front door.

Plus, it's a cute solution to the fact that the two closets on the other side of the entry hall don't currently have clothes rods installed. They just have a bunch of shelves in them, so there's no good place for hanging up coats currently.

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And if I zoom in on our floor plan, you can see there's the perfect little wall between the entry and the main stairs for a little entry hall bench, about the same depth as the one in my inspiration picture!

Of course, the entry hall needs a lot of work first, just like the rest of the house. There's a reason I've been referring to it as a "project house"!

Here's what the entry hall looks like as of right now, with the seller's stuff still around:

Before I can even implement my plans for the entry hall, I'm going to have to tackle some other things first, including lots of painting.

But once the hall is cleaned up, I'll be able to put in something like this, to the right of the stairs (This is the straight on view, as if you were standing on the opposite wall of the entry hall)!

Organized cuteness! A shelf about 2/3rds up the wall, with crown moulding underneath it, for displaying pretty things. Beadboard on the wall, with coat hooks installed on it. A storage bench (that I want to build myself), with shelves for storing shoes and some storage baskets. And I'll use blue on the walls, which will flow into the family room and kitchen, and accents in red and yellow, to tie in the red and yellow color schemes of the formal living room and dining room.

Regarding the storage bench, I really liked the clean look of the bench in my inspiration photo, but after thinking about it, it's not the right design for us. Using a hinge on the top of the bench to access the storage area would keep things tidy, but if, say, both my husband and I come in from working in the yard, and want to sit down and take off our shoes at the same time, we wouldn't be able to access the storage without both of us standing up. So a more accessible bench design is what I'm planning.

And the best part is, all of this will be pretty inexpensive to implement, but make a big (and useful) impact!

Has anyone else been lusting after mud room concepts...on Pinterest, perhaps? ;) Have any of you put in a storage bench or coat hooks in an entry or hall area?

Valentine's Day Dinner Plan

2012-02-11T05:33:00.047-05:00

Happy Valentine's day everyone!

It's not very fun that it falls on a Tuesday this year, but my husband and I don't usually do that much to celebrate anyway. And this afternoon we'll be doing our last round of more in depth house inspections, so I know I'll be short on time tonight to make a fancy dinner.

But I'm still going to try to whip together something!

I've decided to keep it simple, and go with several finger foods/shareable tapas. This will make it easy on me when I don't have much time tonight to cook (plus I still have to go to the grocery store!), and hopefully also be yummy. Just add candles to any meal, and it's romantic to me! ;)

We'll start with a salad of some kind. It will include avocados, and maybe I'll find some strawberries at the store to give it a hint of Valentine's Day red.

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Then, will come the two main courses to share. Smoked salmon, with capers, green and red onions, on a bed of gourmet potato chips, and topped with a drizzle of Avocado Dill Dip.

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Avocado Dill Dip

Our second portion of the main course will be warm, Baked Crab Rangoons. This is the part of our Valentine's Day diner that takes the longest to cook, baking for 15-20 minutes, but I'm planning to prep the smoked salmon while the rangoons are in the oven.

Baked Crab Rangoons

Finally, for dessert, I'm keeping it simple. My husband asked me at Christmas time why I had to make such fancy cookies, and couldn't we just have peanut butter or chocolate chip. Well, obviously, since at Christmas I was baking for a cookie exchange, it had to be fancier. But for him, I'll grant his wish, and am going to bake him peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I might have to stick one of those mini Reese's Peanut Butter cups on the top, just to make it a little fancy though!

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Do you have any fancy Valentine's Day plans, or will you be keeping things simple tonight? Anyone whipping up a meal for their valentine?

How We Negotiated the Final Price of Our New House

2012-02-09T05:34:00.274-05:00

In my House Hunters style posts I did to reveal which house we bought, I'd said I'd write about our sales price negotiations if anyone was interested. And since a few of you said you'd like more info on the subject, I've put together this post about how our Offer to Purchase negotiations worked out. Hopefully it will be useful to some of you thinking about buying your own homes someday soon!

But before I go into the progression of how we got to the final sales price for our home, I wanted to share some tips that were very useful to us before we even were ready to submit our initial offer.

Study the market

As soon as we moved to Raleigh last spring, I started checking out local real estate sites, to see what homes matching our wish list were going for. I even signed up to receive emails when new homes that met our criteria were listed, when they had a price change, and when they finally sold. If your local real estate companies offer a service like this, I highly recommend signing up for these types of emails. Over the course of the 9 months before we actively started looking at houses, I was able to gather data like how long it was taking for these homes to sell, how many times and how often the prices were being lowered, and by how much, and was able to just get a good overall feel for what prices were reasonable for our area.

Research the neighborhood

This is pretty obvious, but I wanted to mention it anyway. Check out real estate websites to see what the houses in the neighborhood have sold for recently, as it might guide your price negotiations. Your realtor can also provide you this info, but I wanted to be proactive, so I tracked it down myself. We learned that there were some houses that had sold in the past 6-12 months in our new neighborhood that were a comparable square footage to our home, but sold for up to 25% more than our house was listed for. This is a good indication of how well the home you're looking to buy is priced, and for us, we knew that even though it needed updates, the home was already a pretty good deal for the neighborhood it was in.

Think about key price points, and make sure you don't insult the sellers by offering too low

Right now, it is a buyers market. Which means that typically you can get away with offering a lower price than the listing price, and expect to end up somewhere still south of the listing. But that doesn't mean that you want to go too low, as you might end up insulting the sellers. They want to get a good price for their home, just as much as you want to get a good deal for the home. So try to think about the offer you're planning to submit from the seller's point of view. Chances are, they've loved their home, and still have a sentimental attachment to it, so don't offer them such a low price that they end up thinking you don't value all that their lovely home has to offer. From the research I did, the general rule of thumb is that anything more than 10% less than the list price is going to be insulting. It definitely depends on the situation, but that was the best guideline I could find online.

Also, it's good to keep in mind key price points, again, thinking from the seller's point of view. I'll touch on this more when I get into our actual negotiations, but in short, think of it like how stores price products. From a buyer's point of view $9.99 sounds a lot better than $10. But to the seller, it's the opposite, $10 is going to look like a lot better offer than $9.99, even though there's actually very little difference.

Research the sellers

This part is so important when trying to figure out what your initial offer, and subsequent counter offers should be!

Early on, we'd asked our realtor to feel out the seller's realtor, to see if the sellers were motivated, and if there was going to be some flexibility on the price. We already knew that the house had been on the market for quite some time, but the price had only been lowered once, back in late September. And according to what their realtor told ours, their realtor had been trying to convince them to lower the price again, but the sellers hadn't wanted to. To us, this meant either they wanted to leave it at the current listing price, so they would have more room to negotiate when offers came in lower, or else it just meant they weren't going to be very flexible in going lower than the list price.

This was just the first step in painting the picture of who we were going to be dealing with.

Next, I tried Googling the seller's by their names. I didn't come up with much, except that they are in their late 60s (based on US Search). But it was another clue, since people in their late 60s are generally at retirement age. So perhaps they need to downsize to a smaller home, or perhaps they've been itching to move to Florida or something, and need to sell their current home to move on with their retirement plans.

Also, be sure to check your county's government website, to look up the tax information on the home. This can provide useful info like if there are other names listed on the deed, how much the current owners purchased the home for, and in what year, what the appraised value and tax rate is, and if they've done any additions that required getting a permit.

You should also look at the county's Register of Deeds site. This is where you can look up the history of deeds on the house and the mortgage history by searching by the seller's names. Here you can see what the amount of the mortgage was when the sellers purchased the home, refinancing, and second mortgages. My mom, being the smart accountant and controller that she is, took the research even a step further with this little tidbit of info:

In 2007 they took out a 30 year mortgage for $XXX,000. Since they probably didn't use the money upgrading the house they probably needed it for other uses, which means they may need the money out of the house now. Assuming their mortgage was 6.4%, the FHA historical rate for May 2007, they now owe about $XXX,000 on the house. I did a loan amortization in Excel to calculate that info.

I'd found that they'd taken out the mortgage in 2007 on the Register of Deeds site, but I didn't even think to find out the historical interest rates and do the amortization calculations. All good info though, and brings me to my next tip.

Ask for advice

Especially if you're a first time home buyer, and probably even if you're not, it can't hurt to ask others for advice. Who knows what valuable info you'll get from them, like the amount still owed on the mortgage that my mom gave me. We spoke to our friends who work in real estate, and my husband asked his parents for advice too, since they just retired and are looking to sell their home and move soon. Getting the advice and opinions from anyone who has had experience buying and selling a house could end up being invaluable, or at the very least, will give you additional points to consider when crafting your offer to purchase.

The Offer Negotiation Process

So, here's more than you probably wanted to know about how we negotiated the final sales price of our new home. I'm going to illustrate the back and forth offer prices as a percentage of the original listing price, since I think that will be more useful for you to apply it to your own situations, as me talking in actual dollars would mean a lot less to you if you're in a different price range than we were in.

Here's the first graph, showing the house's listing price when we went to make our offer:

Initially, before we finished all of our research about the owners, we were thinking about putting in an offer that was 6% below the listing price, or as expressed in my graph, 94% of the asking price.

However, once we did the research, and we took into consideration that the house was already well priced for the neighborhood, and that the 6% below list price offer we were thinking of was just below a significant price point that the sellers might not want to go below, we decided to go in with a little higher of an initial offer, at 4.7% below the list price, or at 95.3% of the original asking price. We also put in our initial offer a request that the sellers get the septic tank cleaned, since we'd learned that they had no idea when it was last cleaned. We were not familiar with septic tanks, but relying on Google, found that they're supposed to be cleaned every 3-5 years, so we wanted to make sure this was something the sellers would take care of.

We submitted our initial offer mid-morning, and by late that evening, we'd already received a counter offer back from the sellers.

They came back at a price just 1.9% under the listing price, or at 98.1% of the asking price. But they did agree to get the septic tank cleaned. So this was a step in the right direction, if a small one.

We decided to have a call with our realtor the next morning, to discuss our next steps, and then we stayed up late that night discussing our new strategy. We decided, based on this new counter offer, exactly where we wanted to end up after all was said and done (which was still halfway between the listing price and our initial offer price). We also made a list of the things we would ask to have the sellers fix, in case they were not willing to come down more on the price. Then we would at least have something to negotiate further with, and still get something out of the deal, even if it wasn't on the price of the home.

The good news was, at this point, the seller's 1st counter offer was slightly under the max price we said we would pay, so from that standpoint, I guess we'd already won.

After we had our call with our realtor the next morning, we decided to come up on the price, to 3.1% below the listing price, or 96.9% of the asking price, but we also added another stipulation to the offer. On top of getting the septic tank cleaned, we wanted them to get an inspection report on it stating the age of the tank, the type of tank it was, and the condition. Usually these reports can be done at the same time as the cleaning, so it wouldn't be that hard for the sellers to provide, but it would be one less inspection we would have to pay to have done ourselves before purchasing the home.

That afternoon, we got our second counter offer back from the sellers. They did agree to get an inspection report done on the septic tank, on top of the cleaning, but unfortunately they only came down slightly from the last price they'd countered with, and they stated it was as low as they could go.

But their second counter price was super close to the halfway point between the original list price and our initial offer price. Only 0.1% more than that magical halfway point we were looking for. So we decided to go back to the sellers, agreeing to to the price they had countered with, but also asking that they have the broken and unsightly dog fence/pen in the backyard taken out.

From there, it was only about an hour or so until we heard back from the sellers about our counter offer. They accepted!

We had a done deal at a price that was 2.2% less than the listing price, or 97.8% of the total asking price. Plus they were going to get the septic tank cleaned, and provide an inspection report on it, and remove the ugly fence that would have been a pain for us to dig up and dispose of ourselves. Considering our research on how well the house was already priced in the neighborhood, and that we ended up so close to our goal of splitting the difference between the list price and our initial offer, we were very happy with how things turned out. And were even more happy that only about 17 hours elapsed between the time our initial offer was submitted and the time we had a done deal!

So, that's how our home price negotiations all went down. Hopefully my graphs made it easier to understand than all of the percentages I was throwing around, and you were able to see how all of our back and forth offers went. And feel free to let me know if you have any questions, or if any of this didn't make sense!

Our next step, now that we're in the middle of getting all of our home inspections done, will be to probably research the negotiations process for when you want to go back to the sellers and have them fix/pay for a few issues that came up. Nothing major has come out of our inspections yet, but we might not have as long of a lifespan left on the roof as we initially thought, so we're getting licensed roofers to come out and do a more in depth evaluation. We might ask the sellers to knock down the price of the home a little, or contribute to our closing costs (as of now we haven't asked for any seller's assistance on the closing costs, so we have some room to negotiate there, as it's pretty common these days for buyers to ask for closing assistance up front). Oh, and while I'm on the topic of lifespans of home components, I'll share this useful list of general lifespans for various home items that we've found useful (thanks Mom!).

But we'll see how that all pans out after the roofers come out, plus, we're still waiting on the septic tank report, radon testing results, appraisal and survey, all of which we should be getting within the next week. I'll keep you posted on if we decide to negotiate further though. I figure I might as well make this documentation of our home buying negotiations as complete as I can!

Have any of you gone though the purchase price negotiations process? How did yours compare to ours, was it easier or harder? And did yours take longer? We were expecting it to take closer to a week, and were surprised we were done in less than two days.

To-Scale Room Planning: Guest Bedroom

2012-02-07T04:57:00.120-05:00

Last week, I shared how I've been planning out what we want to do with the color schemes for the different rooms in our new house. Now, I'm going to take the planning a step further!

I've a very visual person. So I like to see how things are going to fit into a room before I actually implement it. Even when I was a kid, when planning on how to rearrange my bedroom, I would measure my furniture and cut out everything to scale on construction paper, so I could arrange it all on a piece of graph paper. Yep, I was a planning dork even as a child!

These days though, I do this type of thing digitally.

In Adobe Illustrator (although this would also work in Microsoft Word or Publisher) I will set up a document that is the same size as my room dimensions. One inch = one foot. Then I can measure my existing furniture (or use measurements for new furniture I'm dreaming about online) and make to-scale shapes that represent the furniture I want to include in the room. From there it's easy to move things around with my mouse and see where they will all fit. Much easier than pushing heavy furniture back and forth across a room, and also, it's something I can do before we move into our house!

Here is an example of what I've mocked up for our guest bedroom, with the room dimensions and all of the furniture to scale:

Once I've got the room laid out the way I like it, it's fun to take it even another step further! I can mock up the walls of the room using elements from my color scheme board. I don't have any of the great room design programs they use on HGTV, but I can still work with basic shapes and photos I've found online in Illustrator to get a decent mock up representation.

If I'm feeling ambitious, I will do more of a 3D mock up, showing three walls of a room at once. But doing 2D versions, showing one wall at a time is much easier, so that's what I've been doing lately.

Here is what I have mocked up so far for what I'm thinking the room is going to look like. Imagine you're standing in the doorway, looking into the room from the hall.

There's the bed, storage bench at the end of the bed, bedside table, floor lamp, the window...it's all there in 2D and color! I even added real lamps and pillows I found online. It makes room planning so much easier for me, to do these types of mock ups. Paint chips, photos of furniture and fabric scraps are nowhere near as useful, especially for how visual of a person I am. :)

Next, imagine you turn to your left 90 degrees, to look at the next wall.

There's the two chairs for our guests to use if they like, the bookshelf, and the door to the closet. Like I said last week, I'm going for a posh beach house feel for this room, hence the beach canvas prints. Eventually I'd like to add white beadboard wainscoting too further enhance the beach house feel.

Now, turning another 90 degrees to your left, we have the wall that is along the hallway, and the door to the hall. Two more bookshelves, and another floor lamp, and room for the closet door to open on the right complete this room's mock up, since I don't currently have anything on the last wall, to the side of the bed.

So now that I have a plan for how my furniture is going to be arranged, what colors I'm going to use in the room, and what types of accessories I'm thinking about, I can put together a list. And you better believe I love lists, even more than making digital layouts!

But this list is important. Working with my mock ups, I can now write up a list of all of the things that need to be done in the room, assign estimated costs to them, and then prioritize them on what order I'm going to implement them. This is going to be a big help when it comes down to our budget, since I won't be able to just snap my fingers and have a magically complete room. No, there's going to be some saving up, some painting and DIY'ing, and slowly, things will come together. But it's going to be even easier now that I've got my plans all mocked up and planned out!

Here's my current list for this room, in case anyone is curious. These are all in prioritized order, and not counting the popcorn ceiling scraping (that's under an overall house budget on a different list), the estimated total for this room is $622.87. That's because a lot of the furniture is stuff we already have, just being updated in one way or another. The main costs are new lighting and bedding (Did you see that HEATHER! We're getting new guest bedroom bedding just for you!!!).

Get popcorn ceilings scraped
Prep all woodwork
Prime walls and all woodwork
Paint ceiling white
Paint walls storm cloud grey
Paint woodwork and doors white
Make wood headboard and add moulding
Paint headboard
Paint apothecary table
Buy 2 floor lamps
Buy 1 table lamp
Buy sunburst mirror (or make?)
Buy teal sheets
Buy white comforter
Make/find white curtains
Update/find brushed nickel curtain rod
White chair slipcovers
Paint 3 bookshelves
Make wood end of bed bench
Paint wood bench
Make or buy 5 throw pillows
Canvas wrap art
Make/find frames for DIY shell art

So, that's one room down! Assuming I don't change my mind or anything (totally could happen!). I've also added an "Actual Cost" column next to my "Estimated Cost" column on my list, which will be interesting to fill in. Hopefully everything will come in under budget, or at budget. And this is probably going to be one of the cheapest/easiest/shortest to-do list rooms in our house.

Do you have any efficient ways you like to plan out how you're going to re-arrange your furniture, or add new decor to rooms in your house?

I Just Can't Help Myself!

2012-02-03T05:02:00.180-05:00

So, you all know by now that we bought our first house. Or, more accurately, are in the process of buying our first house, since we don't close until March.

And I've been trying to not let myself get too excited too early. After all, we haven't done our home inspections yet (happening this weekend though!), and something could be wrong with the house, and we might not be able to go through with the purchase. Or the sellers could still back out. Or something else could happen that would cause us not to actually get this house. Until all the paperwork is signed, we hand over the biggest check we've ever written in our lives, and the keys are in our hands, this house isn't ours.

But yeah. Sitting idly by, twiddling my thumbs, waiting for our closing date just isn't my style. I have to do something to pass the time, and dreaming about how we're going to decorate our new home is about the only thing I can think about lately.

So throwing caution to the wind (because everything IS going to work out and this house IS going to be ours <-- sending those positive thoughts out into the universe can't hurt!), I've been busy planning color schemes and designing furniture layouts and making mock ups of 2D walls to bring to life some of my plans. I just can't help myself! And of course, I felt the need to blog about these ideas! If only to be able to look back once I've got the rooms decorated, to see how/if my initial ideas play out in the end.

But the first order of business was making a cleaner digital version of our house's floor plan, rather than the photo of a print out of the floor plan that I'd posted before.

Then, once I had the floor plan laid out (in Adobe Illustrator), I could start playing around with wall colors. Being a renter for the past 11 years means that I've always had to live with no color on the walls, and add color to the rooms with furniture and accessories. Now, I'm excited to finally be able to paint our walls in bold colors, and invest in more neutral colored furniture. After all, if I ever get tired of the colors in the future, it will be easy to paint the walls another color, that will still work with neutral colored furniture.

As you can see, as of right now (I'm reserving the right to change my mind, especially since all of this playing around with colors is just for fun until I'm 100% sure. Plus, I want my hubs to sign off on the paint colors, to make sure he'll be happy with them too.) I'm thinking of using lots of greys, and repeating the same shades throughout several rooms in the house. Hopefully this will allow me to use different color schemes throughout, but still make the rooms feel tied together. You can also see I'm thinking about jumping on the stenciled walls trend, in the dining room, entry way, and even on the ceiling in the laundry room. These are a few of my inspiration photos:

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I still don't know yet what we're going to do in the master bedroom (although likely it will end up in the same sage green, chocolate and cream color scheme we have currently, at least at first), the bonus room (aka the pool table room, which may end up with similar colors to the formal living room), the office (I know, it's weird, but we're thinking about making that the 'cat room,' where the kitties can have their cat door to outside, we'll build them a new kitty jungle gym, and they can have their own out of the way space to hang out. Yes, we're those people. We have more rooms than we need, so might as well give one to our fur babies!), and Alex's home office, which he'll probably never want to paint or decorate. And I've got nothing figured out for any of the bathrooms yet either. Eventually we'll probably re-tile them, so color scheme decisions are much further off for the bathrooms.

But as far as the rooms I'm already decorating, I've put together little color scheme boards, to start playing around with the accent colors I want to incorporate, and looking at some different patterned fabrics. I put these color scheme boards onto my floor plan as well, with the wall color being the largest square in the top left corner.

I just did these color boards in Illustrator as well, making squares from colors I like on the Benjamin Moore site, and finding fabrics on sites like Joann and Fabric.com.

Here is a closer look at the formal living room color scheme (for which I'm planning to search flea markets to furnish on the cheap. Hooray, furniture to paint and re-cover! This is going to be our "hello, person at the front door, glance over my shoulder to see how clean and orderly our house is" room. It's main purpose will be to look pretty, so people won't know what a mess our real living space is! 'Cause otherwise, I don't really know what to do with a formal living room, even though every house seems to have one.):

My dining room color scheme board:

If this color scheme looks familiar to any of you, it's probably because it's the same colors I've been dreaming about for a dining room since last May. You might remember this room mock up I did in Illustrator:

Yep, I'm still thinking about doing something very similar to this for our dining room!

The family room colors (which will also spill over into the breakfast nook and kitchen, since they're all open to each other. This is a similar color scheme to what we've had in our main living space for years, with bright blues and greens, but I'm hoping to achieve a more sophisticated, but still fun, look this time around, and bring in some accents in red and yellow, to tie in the living room and dining room colors.):

The guest bedroom color scheme:

Which was inspired by this headboard. I'm hoping for a posh beach house feel to the room, and would eventually like to add white beadboard wainscoting to the walls.

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And finally, the color scheme for what is going to be my combination home office/craft room/walk in closet bedroom. I'm going to try to make the most of the small space by dividing the room with some custom cabinets I want to make, so I'll have a defined office space and clothing/closet space. And this room uses some of my very favorite colors, and is close to the colors used for our wedding, and this blog!

Anyone else enjoy playing around with color schemes and planning which colors to paint walls? I can't wait to get into our new house and start painting--we're hoping to hold off on moving in until about a month after we get the keys, so hopefully we can get a lot of the painting done before we have furniture in the way!

Valentine's Day Wreath with Painted Conversation Hearts

2012-02-01T15:04:00.009-05:00

Thank goodness January is finally over! It's always been my least favorite month, mainly because our house looks so empty and bare after taking down our Christmas decorations.

But now that it's February, I felt it was time to finally hang up the Valentine's Day wreath I finished last week!

In elementary school, Sweethearts Conversation Hearts were always my favorite Valentine's Day candy. Who didn't love finding the hearts with the best sayings stamped on them? So with my new-found love for wreaths, I decided I needed to make a Valentine's Day one with conversation hearts.

I'd seen several wreaths on various blogs made out of the actual conversation hearts candies, but I was doubtful that something like that would last very long. Inside, sure, but I wanted a wreath for my front door, which is exposed to the elements. I didn't want the candy getting wet and running down my door!

So instead, at Michaels Crafts, I found these bags of little wooden hearts to use. Combined with some acrylic paint, ribbon, a piece of acrylic and some other supplies, I had all I needed to create my wreath.

I wanted to use acrylic as the backing to my wreath since it's clear, so my little conversation hearts would be more clearly defined against our black colored front door. In case you're curious, I got the 16 inch acrylic circle from Tap Plastics, for $13.

Oh, and if you've never worked with acrylic before, don't be surprised when you receive it and it's blue colored. Back when my husband and I were making the LED luminary escort cards for our wedding, I'd thought they had given us the wrong acrylic. But no, it comes with blue protective coating, which you just have to peel off to reveal the clear plastic.

Once I had my supplies gathered, I laid my hearts out in a wreath shape, to figure out exactly how many I needed of each size.

Then it was time for lots of painting. This was a fun project, because I hadn't had the opportunity to paint anything for a while. And the acrylic paint on the wood made for the perfect matte finish, to mimic the look of the chalky conversation hearts candy.

Once all of my hearts were dry, I laid them on top of the acrylic circle again, double checking my spacing, and then just glued them to the acrylic with hot glue.

Don't forget to glue your hanging ribbon under the hearts, but on top of the acrylic, unless you want to deal with trying to put a hole through the acrylic itself (trust me, you probably don't).

Once all of your circles of wooden hearts are glued to the acrylic, add some felt pads to the back side of the acrylic, to cushion it when opening and closing your door. Then just tie your ribbon into a bow or knot, and your conversations heart wreath is done!

Oh, and you might have noticed in the background of my photos above a larger wooden heart, with LOVE stenciled on it. Well...originally I'd planned to add that larger heart to the wreath, but in the end I decided it wasn't needed.

So instead, I just glued some more ribbon to the LOVE heart, and hung it on the inside handle of our front door.

I made the LOVE stencil myself, by printing out the letters on card stock, and then carefully cutting them out with my x-acto knife.

Then I just used a tiny bit of spray adhesive to hold my stencil to the wooden heart, while I quickly painted two coats of sparkly red paint over the letters, and then removed the card stock stencil before the adhesive had time to dry.

I'm glad I found a use for this larger heart after I decided I didn't like it on the wreath. Now I have a little Valentine's Day flair both on the outside and inside of our front door!

Have you made any Valentine's Day crafts or decorations this year? Did you feel the need to wait until February 1st to display them, or did you put them up as soon as they were done?

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Stuffed Peppers {5 Minute Prep!}

2012-01-31T05:54:00.078-05:00

It's no secret that I don't particularly like to cook. Except for other people, that is. Which is probably why I only really like making appetizers--foods that are easy to transport to other people's houses, where they can ooh and ahh over my amazing creation, never suspecting that at home, I might only cook dinner 2 or 3 times a week. And only once a week if I can make a casserole big enough to feed us the whole week!

What can I say, ~~I'm busy~~ I've got other priorities than slaving over a hot stove for a hour every night!

But I have thrown together this super quick recipe that I thought I'd share, if any of you are too lazy to do much cooking like I am. This has got to be hands down the quickest possible way to make yummy stuffed peppers--only 5 minutes of prep time by using some short cut ingredients!

First, gather your ingredients.

4 red peppers (the recipe makes 4 servings, but for my husband and I, we just save 2 peppers and half of the stuffing for the next night)
1 packet of 90 Second Ready Rice
1 package of pre-cooked chicken breast (usually found by the sliced sandwich meat)
1 cup of shredded cheese
3/4 cup salsa (or a little less or more depending on how you feel)
1/4 cup diced onion
Sour cream to taste

First, turn your oven on to 350 degrees. Throw the Ready Rice in the microwave for 90 seconds, pre-heat a small skillet with a little olive oil, dice your onion and throw it in the skillet for a little light browning.

In a bowl combine your pre-cooked chicken (I like to tear it up into smaller pieces), cheese, salsa, all the while occasionally stirring your onions in the skillet. Add the rice once it's cooked.

Rinse your peppers, chop the top off of them, and cut out the innards. Give them a second quick rinse to make sure all the seeds are washed away. Add your onions to the bowl and stir everything together.

Then all you have to do is stuff the contents of your bowl inside the peppers with a spoon.

Place your stuffed peppers on a cookie sheet and top them with a little more shredded cheese. Done and ready to put in the oven, in only 5 minutes! Even someone as lazy as I am can handle this, especially when I only have to wash a bowl, skillet and spoon afterwards.

Bake your peppers for about 25 minutes, or until they look cooked and ready to eat.

Add a spoonful of sour cream if you like before serving. My husband even likes to grab a handful of tortilla chips to eat with the stuffed peppers.

Enjoy! I'm sure this isn't a drool-worthy Pinterest recipe, but it is super easy and super yummy. And I bet if you serve this, nobody will ever know it only took you 5 minutes to throw together! ;)

Do you have any very-quick-to-put-together recipes that are your "go to" when you're feeling lazy?

P.S. Obviously it will be different if you use different brands of ingredients, but the way I made these they equal out to be 378.75 calories each.

House Hunters: The Morgan and Alex Edition, The Finale

2012-01-26T09:38:00.000-05:00

Part 1: Intro and Wish List
Part 2: Houses 1 and 2
Part 3: House 3 and Which Will They Pick?

It was so fun to see everyone's guesses yesterday!

So now for the answer to which house we bought. Cue dramatic music!

Narrator: So which house did Morgan and Alex choose? The least expensive, move in ready home?

The fixer upper that had lots of potential?

Or the most expensive home, that also needed updating?

But this is the part where I'm going to totally deviate from the House Hunters style I've been going with for these posts. Because in real life, you never have to pick between just three homes. And I didn't want to just make up the whole "which of these three houses should we pick" conversation that the couples always have on house hunters, because we definitely didn't sit down and discuss it that way.

Also, while I'm on the subject of real life, why do they always show people either chopping vegetables and cooking in their kitchens or walking around happily while the House Hunters narrator talks? Like, really, can't the producers think of something else to stage, to give us a little more variety while we get to know the couples? If my husband and I were really on House Hunters, you'd totally see us just throwing frozen dinners in the oven, and then vegging out on the couch with glasses of wine to watch TV!

Anyway, back to which house we picked. Basically, as soon as we got back in our car after seeing house #3, we decided we weren't feeling it. It really was overpriced, and we didn't like the level changes, and we just knew it wasn't the house for us. So it was off the list, just like that.

an anti-climatic house elimination, I know!

Directly after seeing all three of these houses, my husband and I drove over to his brother's house, to have dinner with him and his wife. We talked with them a little about the houses, and then headed home pretty late for a Sunday night, so we decided to make time to discuss houses the next night.

I think it was really good that we gave ourselves the time to sleep on it too. Because of course that night I dreamed about floor plans and how to decorate things, and in my mind, there was only one house to consider.

So we didn't experience a typical House Hunters style of elimination. It wasn't just pick house #1 or house #2, there was also the option to just keep looking once more houses come on the market this spring. But apparently my husband, along with my dreams, was only thinking about one house, and didn't want to keep looking. And by lunchtime the next day, we were already asking each other, "so, are you going to buy me that house or what!"

So was it the first or second one? (Insert more dramatic House Hunters music here!)
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The second one! The house with the great floor plan and a ton of potential!

The first house was really nice, but the floor plan is something you can't really change, and it just didn't flow the way we wanted it to. Having to "make it work" with our needs felt too much like settling, which was one of the biggest things we didn't want to do when buying our first home. Plus, it was so updated already, that I just knew I was going to be sad that I wouldn't be able to put my own stamp on things.

So now we get to do whatever the heck we want with our project house, in a floor plan that perfectly suits us! We have got SO many plans for updates--and it's going to be so much fun making this house ours! Oh, and since I forgot to include it in earlier posts, here's a look at the floor plan, so you can see why we love it so much, with the open kitchen + breakfast nook + family room. And there's TWO freakin' staircases even!

Someday I'll get around to making a prettier version of the floor plan. And also take better photos of the house, once the seller's things are gone, and I'm concentrating on my camera settings, and not just trying to look around at the house.

But for now I'm knee deep in gathering all our loan documents, scheduling home inspections (we're getting two independent inspections--Mike Holmes on HGTV has made us paranoid about bad home inspectors), and a million other things. We close in mid-March!

And no, three months later you won't see us happily entertaining friends in our completely decorated new home, like you do on House Hunters. It's going to take us a while to completely nail down the updates we want to make to the house, and of course, buy all new furniture. And save up for it all! So far I've got big plans to paint EVERYTHING, get the popcorn ceilings scraped down, opening up the kitchen by removing cabinets, and I've got an idea brewing for updating the large brick fireplace in the family room, that doesn't involve painting the brick. I'm so insanely excited, and I'm sure I'll be sharing here, as it all starts to come together! :)

P.S. I thought about writing in this post about our negotiation process with the house we ended up buying, but I'm not sure how interesting that is to you guys. That's something that's probably only useful or interesting to read about if you're in the process of buying a home too. But I'm happy to write about the offer to purchase strategies we used and how the back and forth negotiations worked for us when we made our offer, if anyone is interested! Or you can just email me if you want the details.

House Hunters: The Morgan and Alex Edition, Part 3

2012-01-25T05:12:00.181-05:00

Part 1: Intro and Wish List
Part 2: Houses 1 and 2

Narrator: Renters since college, Morgan and Alex, moved from Northern California to Raleigh last spring. And now these first time home buyers are on the search to find the perfect place to make their forever home. But finding a home that meets all of their square footage, floor plan and lot size needs is proving to be a challenge.

So far, they've seen a house that is nicely updated, on a large lot, but it's a little close to a busy road, and there isn't as much privacy in the backyard as they would like, plus it doesn't have an open kitchen floor plan.

They've also seen a house that meets their space and lot size requirements, and it has the potential to become the ideal open floor plan the couple is looking for. But it's also $15,000 more expensive than the first house, and it needs a lot of updating.

Today Morgan and Alex are going to look at a third house, which is a little further north than their preferred area of Raleigh.

But the floor plan looks promising in the listing, with more square-shaped rooms, rather than the long and narrow rooms that was an issue with the first home. Plus it has the biggest, most flat yard of all three homes. However, going this far north means some noise from the airport, and this home is further away from shopping and downtown. And this home is listed for $25k more than the first house, and $10k more than the second house.

The home features 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, in 2706 square feet, located on 0.99 acres.

Alex: "This looks like a comparable sized living room to the other houses."

Morgan: "I like the windows that go all the way to the floors. They aren't the widest windows, but still let in a lot of natural light. But this dining room feels a little smaller than the other two houses, maybe because they have such a tiny table, with a huge light fixture?"

Morgan: "Um, this isn't really what I was expecting from this kitchen. The listing says this house has a 'Gourmet chef’s kitchen with breakfast room'! Maybe I have too high of standards, but laminate counters and non-stainless appliances do not mean a chef's kitchen in my book!"

Alex: "It is a good sized kitchen though, the biggest one we've seen. And it has two big pantries."

Morgan: "Yes, but it's only next to the family room, not open to it. And I'm not sure I like how you have to either not have room for a table in here, so you can use this back door, or block off the access to the deck."

Narrator: The couple goes down a short hall, past the access to the garage, to the bonus room.

Alex: "What's with this level change in the floor? I'm probably going to trip over this every time I go into the bonus room."

Morgan: "I do really like the vaulted ceiling, with the beams. With some paint, this room has a lot of potential for an entertaining space, and there is plenty of room for our pool table."

Narrator: Through the bonus room is one of the doors out to the back deck.

Morgan: "This deck is a little smaller than some we've seen, but I do like how it's flanked on either side by the house, so it's very private from our neighbors."

Alex: "The backyard is pretty huge. Although it isn't as wooded as the last one, and would need some landscaping work to get it where we want."

Narrator: The couple heads back inside through the bonus room, but while passing through the kitchen again, they notice something concerning.

Morgan: "Hey, check out this cracked tile. Oh my gosh, there are several rows of cracks across the kitchen floor. I wonder if it's something to do with the floor joists or something...?

Alex: "Really? That is not good. And at this price point, $25k more than the first house we saw, they really should have fixed this."

Morgan: The family room off of the kitchen is a really good size. I think it's even a little bigger than the last house, or at least with more square feeling dimensions.

Morgan: "But I'm really not a fan of having to go down two steps from both the kitchen and the front hall to get to the family room. I'm always carrying food and drinks out to our current family room, and I can just see myself tripping someday."

Alex: "Yeah, go down two steps to get in here, go up a half of a step to get into the bonus room, it's all a little odd."

Narrator: Morgan and Alex continue through the family room, back to the front entryway, and head down the hall to the second half of the house.

Alex: "This half bathroom off of the hall is a decent size. Although it would make more sense to me to have a bathroom on the other end of the house, near the bonus room."

Narrator: Off the hallway, this ranch-style home features three guest bedrooms along one side of the hall, with a full bathroom and laundry room on the other side of the hall.

Morgan: "Well, another bathroom that needs updating. This looks like the original 1970s tile too."

Alex: "It's kind of nice having the laundry room right next to the master bedroom."

Morgan: "I agree, as long as you're not planning on doing laundry while I'm sleeping!"

Morgan: "I don't think I like having an outside door to the deck in the master bedroom. It eats up wall space, and I don't really see us ever needing to go out there from this room."

Alex: "The master closet is smaller than in the last house, but still technically a walk in."

Morgan: "Ick, more of this orangy-bisque colored tile in the master bath."

Realtor: "So, Morgan and Alex, how did you guys feel about this third house?"

Morgan: "I'm actually a little disappointed, considering the price it's listed at. It needs a ton of updates too, and it's a little further from downtown than we wanted to go, plus it's the most expensive of the three houses we've seen today."

Alex: "I agree, I think it's overpriced. I do like the ranch floor plan, but considering the two less expensive homes we just saw, this one isn't quite as nice. The backyard could be pretty great with some work though."

Morgan: "Yes, this house would definitely need some work, inside in out. I guess this is where we need to do that number crunching, to see just how much all of these updates will cost, and then weigh that against the prices of these homes."

Narrator: The couple has viewed three homes in North Raleigh, and now it's time for them to pick which one they will make their forever home.

The first home was the least expensive option, as well as the most updated. It had good access to shopping and highways, but may have been a little too close to the busy road. And the couple felt the floor plan was something they could work with, but wasn't the most ideal, with the long and narrow family room. But the deck and backyard were the most landscaped and entertaining-ready of all three homes.

The second home was priced in the middle between the first and third homes, but it needed a lot of updating, including new kitchen cabinets, flooring, and the backyard needed work as well. But it had potential, if the couple is willing to put in the work, something Morgan isn't sure Alex is ready to take on, or pay for.

House number 3 is the most expensive home the couple looked at, and isn't in their preferred location. But it is a ranch style home, which the couple likes, although there were some small level changes throughout the house. This home also needs some updates, but the large, flat yard has a lot of potential.

So which home did they choose?

#1 - The move in ready home that was the least expensive
#2 - The house that had potential but needed the most updates
#3 - The most expensive house that also needed updates

*****

Three great options, huh? I can tell you right now that we definitely took some time to sleep on it, before deciding to make an offer on one of these three houses. We wanted to be sure we were ready to take the plunge, especially considering how early we were in the house hunting process.

So which one do you think is now our house? :)

House Hunters: The Morgan and Alex Edition, Part 2

2012-01-24T05:57:00.019-05:00

Part 1: Intro and Wish List

Welcome to Part 2 of the Morgan and Alex Edition of House Hunters! Let's jump right in, with a warning that this is going to be a VERY photo heavy post. :)

Narrator: The first home realtor Renee H. has lined up to show them is near shopping, and has great freeway access. The home has been recently renovated, and has the large lot Morgan and Alex are looking for. However, it is located only one block off of a main street, so the couple may have concerns about traffic noise and their outdoor cats roaming the neighborhood.

The home features 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, in 2642 square feet, plus a 600 square foot basement, and is located on 0.98 acres.

Alex: "Looks like really nice hardwoods."

Morgan: "Oooh, I like the big bay window and all the natural light in the formal living room!"

Alex: "Wait, is this the family room? It's really long and narrow..."

Morgan: "Yeah, it must be. I'm not sure what we'd do with this room, it wouldn't really work as our TV room, like we currently have set up in our family room."

Morgan: "The kitchen is really nice and fixed up, but it's so tiny!"

Alex: "Yeah, and this 'eating area' is kind of useless space because it's so small. Plus, the kitchen isn't open to the family room like you said you wanted."

Morgan: "But the kitchen does open up to the really nice sun room. Maybe we could figure out a way to make this our TV room?"

Narrator: The couple heads outside to check out the landscaped backyard.

Alex: "I love this deck."

Morgan: "It would be so much fun to entertain out here!"

Alex: "But for being on almost one acre, the neighbors feel a little close in the back. I know it's winter, and there are no leaves on the trees for privacy, but I was expecting the other houses to be a little further away."

Morgan: "Yeah, I agree. The front yard is pretty big, so there's not as much space back here. At least it would be less lawn for you to mow!"

Narrator: Back inside, Morgan and Alex view a bathroom and two bedrooms, before heading downstairs.

Morgan: "Wow, look at how nicely done this bathroom is! It's not exactly the colors I would have chosen myself, but it is really, really nice. We wouldn't have to do anything in here."

Alex: "One of these two main level bedrooms is a little small, but they both have nice storage in the closets."

Morgan: "Wow, I love the grey on the walls and the new carpet. This is so nice!"

Morgan: "And I'm loving the new tile on the floors. This is another great entertaining space."

Alex: "Yeah, it's not what we're used to, but we could make this work as our TV room/family room, instead of the space upstairs. I'm still not sure what we'd do with what's supposed to be the family room upstairs though."

Narrator: The couple looks at another room in the basement that the owners are using as a workout space, a full bathroom, and the laundry room, and then heads upstairs to see the master bedroom.

Morgan: "These stairs are going to be dangerous with my 4" heels, since they are more narrow on the right side because of the curve."

Narrator: At the top of the stairs is the bathroom, that is shared between the master bedroom and the other bedroom on the top floor.

Morgan: "Another nicely done bath, although I'm not crazy about the wallpaper border. Finally, something that I could change in this house!"

Alex: "I'm not sure I like having a door to this bathroom to the master bedroom, and to the hall. We really wouldn't get the master suite feel here."

Morgan: "Eh. It doesn't bother me that much. We only have guests a couple of times a year, and we can stick them downstairs and they can use that bathroom."

Alex: "The master bedroom is a good size."

Morgan: "OMG! This storage room off of the master could totally be turned into my walk in closet!!"

Narrator: The couple views the last of the home's 4 bedrooms, and then heads out to the front porch.

Realtor: "So, Morgan and Alex, what did you think?"

Morgan: "Well, I really liked it. You can tell they put a lot of time and effort into updating it, and I do like most of the finishes."

Alex: "I liked it too, but we'd just have to give some thought to what we'd do with the rooms. What they're calling the family room is pretty awkward, plus it isn't really the open kitchen floor plan we prefer. I think we could make it work though."

Morgan: "Yeah, I think we could make the floor plan work too, especially with that huge basement. The only thing I'm not really sure about with this house is just how fixed up it is. We wouldn't need to do anything to it, which is great at this price, but I was looking forward to doing a little work on our first house. I guess I'd just have to jump right in with picking out new furniture!"

Narrator: Next, the couple travels about 3 miles west, to view the second house on their list.

This house is $15,000 more expensive than the first house, and is tucked back in the corner of a sprawling neighborhood, on a quiet cul-de-sac. The home needs some updating, but has potential for the open kitchen floor plan that the couple craves.

The home features 4 bedrooms plus a den, 3 full baths, in 3161 square feet, located on 0.81 acres.

Morgan: "This living room seems bigger than in the last house. But I would definitely need to paint all of this dark wood trim a bright, shiny white."

Morgan: "The flooring in the entryway would have to be changed. I can see tile, brick and carpet all from just standing here right inside the living room."

Alex: "This dinning room also feels bigger than in the last house. And there's more dark trim for you to paint!"

Morgan: "They did a nice job with picking out a neutral colored granite for the counters, and I like the back splash. But those cabinets are not pretty."

Alex: "I'm not sure we would use this little desk area, but maybe we could put in more cabinets there instead? The pantry closet is a nice addition though, although the appliances need some updating."

Morgan: "This room has a lot of potential though...I could see us taking down the cabinets over the peninsula counter, to open up the space to the breakfast nook. And taking down this divider railing would also make the nook flow into the family room a lot better. The bisque colored tile floors with dark grout though...that would have to go."

Alex: "This family room is a great size, and I think the TV above the large fireplace would look nice."

Morgan: "I like the wood beams, but yeah, this house just needs a lot of work to get it updated. Also, I'm not a fan of the fake wood laminate floors in here."

Narrator: After viewing the main rooms on the downstairs level, Morgan and Alex check out the downstairs den, which has stairs next to it leading up to a bonus room on the second floor.

Alex: "These back stairs give you really good access to this bonus room, off of the family room. And our pool table would definitely fit up here."

Narrator: The couple continues their way through the second level of the house, through a door from the bonus room, directly into one of the three upstairs bedrooms, which can also be accessed from the main staircase at the front of the house.

Morgan: "Both of these two upstairs bedrooms are really great sizes. The bones of this house seem really great, and it wouldn't be too hard to just paint the walls and trim to instantly make them look more updated."

Alex: "Double sinks in the upstairs hall bathroom are really nice. But that counter is not exactly updated."

Morgan: "This master bedroom is definitely a little bigger than our current bedroom, even with their big bed frame. And I love the window seat!"

Morgan: "It's not huge, but at least there is a walk in closet in the master. You can have this, and I'll take one of the bedrooms across the hall for my closet!"

Alex: Yeah, the master bathroom isn't huge either, but it is a lot bigger than what we have now. I think the two of us could actually stand in here at the same time and brush our teeth!"

Narrator: The couple heads back downstairs to see the fourth bedroom, another full bathroom and the laundry nook.

Morgan: "Wow, this house just keeps going! How did we miss this section of the downstairs the first time? This is a great sized bathroom, and I like how it's just down a short hall from the family room."

Narrator: Outside, Morgan and Alex check out the large deck and backyard.

Alex: "This deck looks like it's in great condition. And it's about 4x the size of our current deck."

Morgan: "The landscaping is going to be a lot of work though. And I wonder if the flamingos come with the property? Haha. But I do love the fact that we can't even see our neighbors behind us, even this time of year with all the leaves on the ground."

Realtor: "So, what did you guys think about this place?"

Alex: "I really liked it. It seems to have a much better floor plan than the first house."

Morgan: "I liked it a lot too, but it does need quite a bit of work. A whole lot more work than the first house, and Alex, remember that you didn't like the very first house we viewed a week ago because of all the work it needed..."

Alex: "That's true. But I do like this one much better. I guess we'll have to crunch some numbers to figure out what new flooring and landscaping and everything else would actually cost. Especially since this house is $15k more expensive than the already updated first house we saw."

Narrator: Coming up, Morgan and Alex see a home a little north of their preferred location, but the house looks like it has a great floor plan in the listing. Will it live up to their expectations for their forever home?

*****

Ok guys, sorry, time for another commercial break!

I'd thought I was going to be able to fit all of the houses into just one post, but it's getting a little crazy with 60-some photos already. Plus it's taking me way longer than I thought it would to type up all of our notes from our house hunting. So my next post will combine the third house we saw, with the opportunity to vote on which you think we picked!

House Hunters: The Morgan and Alex Edition, Part 1

2012-01-23T05:19:00.151-05:00

Spoiler alert: We bought a house!!!!!!

Last week we submitted an offer on the perfect house, and by late afternoon the next day, we had a done deal! I'm still trying to process how this all happened so quickly (and trying to temper my excitement until after we're done with the home inspections), so I thought doing a little recap of how we got here might help.

And of course, what better way to structure it than like an episode of House Hunters, one of my favorite HGTV shows!

Narrator: Washington State natives Morgan and Alex uprooted their lives nine months ago, and moved from the San Francisco Bay area to Raleigh, North Carolina. And now they're looking to buy their first home in the much less expensive Raleigh housing market, and build their lives together, while they both telecommute to their California-based companies.

There's just one problem. Alex isn't sure which price range of home they should be looking at. He thought they should be looking lower, but that also means a smaller home, that needs more updating. On the other hand, Morgan knows exactly what she wants: their forever home. Which means they will need to spend more money to get the square footage and lot size she wants.

The couple has already seen one home, in their current neighborhood, but both agreed that it was too small and would need too much work. So now they're increasing their budget by $75,000, up to the price point that Morgan had been looking at all along.

Will she get the size of property she wants? Or will Alex's uncertainty about what he wants get in the way of finding their forever home?

(Ding dong! Imagine the House Hunters opening music playing....)

Source

Raleigh, North Carolina. A diverse, capital city in the South, with sprawling suburbs, surrounded by beautiful scenery, and lots of activities for an active lifestyle.

Source

Morgan and Alex met at Washington State University, and moved to California shortly after graduating, for Alex to attend Stanford for graduate school, and where they enjoyed all that the bay area has to offer.

After dating for eight years they got married, and shortly after, started thinking about their future, and their desire to purchase their first home. Once they evaluated their options in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country, they decided to move across the country, to Raleigh, where they would more easily be able to afford a house.

(blah, blah, blah, I'm assuming if you're reading my blog, you already know about my husband and I, and if not, you can check out my About Me page. So I'm just going to skip to our wish list!)

The size of the home is very important to us, as we want to have room to do whatever we want with the home, be it having space for a media room to a workout area. And since we both work from our home offices, we need a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house. 2,500 square feet at the very minimum, and that would have to come with a garage at that square footage. We would like to have a living room and family room, plus an additional communal living space like a basement, bonus room or sun room. And an open kitchen floor plan would be ideal, but isn't necessarily a 'must have.'

The yard is very important to us, and we value a private, wooded backyard. We spend a lot of time outside, three seasons of the year, and love to BBQ on a back patio or deck. This means we're not a fan of corner lots, and as well, would prefer not to be on a busy street. We really want at least a 1/2 acre lot, and the bigger the better.

We are targeting a specific area in North Raleigh, between several major highways. This will give us easy access to the freeways, won't be too far from the airport, will be closer to Durham (where family lives), but also not too far away from downtown Raleigh. For us to be willing to go north of the highway, the house would have to be perfect, as that is a little further from downtown than we prefer, and you get some airport noise up there. And being a short drive to shopping and grocery stores is important to us as well.

We would like to keep the final sales price of the home to a comfortable budget, so we can put 20% down and still have a good cushion in our savings for if anything breaks and needs repairs right after we move in. Plus, we need new furniture for practically every room of any house we buy (since we're still using thrift store furniture from college), so we want to make sure we can afford to furnish the new home. Being cash poor is not a situation we are willing to let ourselves get in!

*****

Ok, this is getting a little long, so time for a commercial break! Next up, a look at the houses we saw, and then you can guess which one we bought :)

Is anyone else a big fan of House Hunters? And if so, do you also get annoyed when the people on the show reject a perfectly good house because of little things like paint color?

OOTD: Nervous But Excited

2012-01-18T17:30:00.000-05:00

I've been way too lazy to take photos of my outfits like I used to! To lazy to take pictures everyday, and too lazy to get dressed up half the time. I guess colder weather makes me like my PJs a whole lot more!

But this morning I got out of my yoga pants and T-shirt, for a very exciting, but slightly nerve-racking meeting. Remember how in this post I said we weren't going to settle on something on our house hunting adventure, and were going to take our time? Um, yeah....apparently not (to the taking time part, not the settling part)!

We found a house! And put in an offer this morning!

It's one of the ones I teased a photo of in this post, but I don't want to jinx anything by talking about it just yet. So instead, this is what I wore to go fill out our offer paperwork. Not too overdressed or too casual.

Chiffon Dress: Express, Black Cardigan: Old Navy, Black Tights: H&M, Necklace: Target, Belt: H&M (came with another dress), Boots: Steve Madden

The necklace is hard to see in the above photos, so I wanted to show another photo of it. It's probably my favorite of all my Target jewelry finds: a little birdcage, with a dove inside and a vintage looking finish. I found it on the jewelry clearance rack for $5.99 a few months ago, and it goes perfectly with the gold glittery thread on my dress.

Also, my kitty was just begging me to take her picture while I was photographing the necklace by our back door.

Fur Coat: Authentic Blue Point Siamese!

So now we're just playing the waiting game, impatiently waiting to hear back from the sellers if they'll accept our offer, or want to negotiate further. Fingers crossed that it will all work out and we'll be closing in early March!

Some Pretty House Photos for Your Friday Afternoon

2012-01-13T15:02:00.000-05:00

So yeah. I've pretty much spent every waking hour this past week obsessing about houses. And the non-waking hours too, as I keep having dreams about redecorating rooms I've only seen in photos.

I have a feeling this isn't going to stop until we buy our first house. And maybe not even then!

As I mentioned earlier this week, we kicked off our home search on Tuesday. The house wasn't for us (it was a little on the small side, and basically had just trees, and no landscaping or grass in the backyard, which isn't something I look forward to putting in ourselves, given my black thumb), but we're not discouraged. We're just waiting to hear back from our realtor on when she has availability to show us some more homes, either this weekend or next.

And so you can all see what I've been dreaming about, here is a sampling of photos from the homes we're going to go view very soon!

Backyard to die for:

Huge kitchen and vaulted ceiling family room:

Although I'd like to see a more classic stone on the fireplace, instead of the somewhat dated wood look:

Source

So much potential with a little updating, and taking down some cabinets, to have a lovely open floor plan kitchen, breakfast nook and family room:

But maybe we'd cover the brick with some built ins and hang our TV by the fire:

Source

So many windows, so much master bathroom counter space, plus the walk in closet:

I really am a sucker for a vaulted ceiling in a bonus room, and love another pretty back deck:

Anyway, there's just a peek at what we'll hopefully get to see soon for ourselves in person! I wish I could have a camera crew following us around like on House Hunters, so I could really share our home buying experience with you, but I guess this is a start for now.

Do you have any fun plans this weekend? Was anyone else tempted to mentally redecorate any of the rooms in the photos in this post? Ah, potential. One of my favorite parts about looking at homes!

(Note that I'm purposefully not linking to the home photos in this post. They all came from our real estate company's website, but I don't want to post a link with the address, just in case we end up buying any of these homes.)

Guess What I Was Doing All Weekend?

2012-01-09T06:03:00.150-05:00

Living on my computer, researching and pinning home decor ideas. Which is nothing that out of the ordinary for me, but this time it was different. This time I actually let myself look at decorating ideas that are permanent, only-things-you-can-do-when-you-own-instead-of-rent kinds of ideas!

That's because this week we are FINALLY starting to look at homes to purchase!

Ok, really only one house, because one just came to our attention that is for sale only a few streets over from our current rental. And we love our neighborhood and the area, so we would be remiss if we didn't go have a look at it, even though this is a couple of months earlier than we were planning to start looking.

And so of course, I've already started decorating this not-yet-seen-in-person house! It's ok though. Most people would probably say "don't get your hopes up, don't get your expectations up too high, blah blah blah." But the number one goal my husband and I have agreed upon is we absolutely won't settle. We definitely have a list of what we want in a house, and know we will have to compromise somewhere, obviously. But location, lot size and floor plan are our sticking points, no matter how long it takes us to find the right house. So I think by actually getting my hopes up, and building each house we go see up in my mind, it will actually be easier to reject them when they don't tick all of our boxes on the list, so to speak. And that will mean we won't settle until we find the perfect house!

That's why it's a good thing that the one we're going to go see tomorrow meets all of our location, lot size and floor plan criteria! (Well, meets all of our recently changed criteria, which is now: within about a 5 mile radius of where we currently live, minimum of 0.4 acres and 2,000+ square feet with a garage and open kitchen floor plan. And the house is a great price, so we would definitely be able to do the cosmetic renovations that are needed (I bet nobody is surprised I want a project house, right?).

And here's just a look at what I've pinned on my Pinterest, for our hypothetical new house:

For a sun room/bonus room, a beadboard vaulted ceiling.

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Maybe also with beams.

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I LOVE the color of blue of these walls for a family room/TV room, with beige and white furniture and decor, and pops of yellow and green.

Source

Especially when paired with extra tall bright white baseboards, crown moulding, and refinished walnut hardwood floors, like these ones.

Source

And of course, you've gotta have some built ins around the fireplace!

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As far as the kitchen goes....well, there are too many little details to show them all, but basically white cabinets + medium grey counters + green back splash + dark wood floors = perfection. Sort of like this, but brighter and simpler cabinets, and not the cherry wood island that doesn't match:

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As much as I love my blues and greens, I'm leaning toward a more posh and sleek grey, neutrals and red palette for the formal living room.

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And in this one I'm intrigued by the idea of a grey window and baseboard trim, to complement the color scheme.

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And the outside living...oh the maybe-we-can-afford-something-cool-a-decade-from-now possibilities with a large yard. I love the yard layout in the photo below, but with more of the aesthetic of the images below that.

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And I absolutely must have an outdoor fire pit, so I can have s'mores and roast Little Smokies sausages, without having to then spend the night in a tent!

Source

Ok....maybe that's enough for one post. As you can see, I kinda went crazy on Pinterest with the home decor stuff this weekend! But it was so refreshing to let myself look at more than just rental-friendly projects. :)

So anyway, I'm super stoked, after almost a year of studying and researching the Raleigh real estate market, we can finally jump in. Wish us luck!

Random Photo For A Blah Wednesday

2012-01-04T09:57:00.004-05:00

I was typing up a complain-y post about my post-holiday doldrums, but that just made me feel more blah.

So instead, here is a random photo from our Christmas trip, me with our friend's adorable kitty:

Happy Wednesday to everyone! Hope you're feeling more motivated and less blah than I am this first week of 2012!

And....We're Back!

2011-12-30T12:21:00.000-05:00

What? You didn't know I was out of town for the past 12 days? :P

Thank goodness I had enough holiday projects that I could line up some scheduled blog posts, since I never like to announce on here when I'll be out of town. But we had a great trip in central Washington State, spending Christmas with my in-laws.

I hardly took any photos the whole trip. Mainly it was a lot of waking up early due to the time zone difference, working almost every day, staying up late to try to get myself switched over to Pacific time, lather, rinse, repeat. It was only about the last two days of our trip that I finally got used to the time difference, and now I'm back home, and have to switch times all over again. Let me tell you, jet lag is a bitch.

But one of the highlights of our trip, other than seeing family, friends, and playing with our friend's kitten, was on our flight from Dallas to Seattle. I grew up with a view of Mount Rainier, but have never, ever gotten to fly as close as we did on our flight there. Or else I have, but the view has always been obstructed by clouds and rain. It was a magically clear day for once, so I made good use of the opportunity to snap a few photos out the window!

Sigh, so pretty! But that doesn't mean I'd ever want to move back to Washington, since a clear day like we saw out our airplane window only happens a couple of times each month. On our way back through the Seattle airport it was grey and rainy, as is typical.

Now that we're back, we've both had to hit the ground running, even though we're pretty exhausted. Work deadlines and all that. Luckily it's a short week for us both this week and next week. I'm hoping now to have more time to catch up on things in blog-land, and to finish out WEverb11. Maybe over the long weekend I'll get some things done, like clean up all of the messes the kitties left for us when we were gone.

This is what I get for leaving wrapping paper, and boxes with packing material on the floor. They've gotten their revenge for us leaving them alone over Christmas!

(This is just one room, but basically the whole upstairs of our house has little bits of packing material everywhere. Guess the kitties made their version of Christmas snow!)

So I need to clean. And go grocery shopping. And do a million other things this weekend. Or maybe I'll just sleep. 'Cause jet lag is lame.

Did you have a good Christmas? Got any big plans this weekend?

Fail Scarf and Felt Picture Frame Ornament

2011-12-27T05:40:00.075-05:00

Wait, isn't Christmas over? I bet you thought I was done with holiday posts!

Almost, but there's one post I've been saving for after Christmas, because it's one part describing a gift I was attempting to DIY (that was a complete fail), and the replacement gift I DIY'd instead. I had to wait until after my mom opened the gift to show you all!

OK, first the failure. This was something I'd pinned on Pinterest, from Martha Stewart. A no-knit scarf! Which I thought would make perfect DIY Christmas gifts. I was gonna make one for everyone!

Source

We already know this didn't end well. But here are a few of the progress shots.

Once I'd gotten to the end of my strands of 140 inch yarn, as Martha's tutorial had told me to measure out, I was confused. My scarf was only about half of the length it should be! Definitely not long enough to wrap around my neck twice, as is pictured, not even long enough to wrap it around once!

So...fail.

I wasn't ready to give up though. I decided to try again with much, much longer strands. But I knew this project was going to take forever now, and so I thought I'd only make one for my mom, and not for a bunch of people. And I decided to try to make it wider this time too, since it was a little sparse feeling the first go around.

The only problem was, I couldn't find quite as bulky of weight yarn this time, but I decided to make do with medium weight fuzzy yarn instead.

It was at this point, about 5 hours in, and only maybe a quarter or a third of the length complete, that I decided to do an assessment. It was looking just alright. Not super cute and awesome, as I'd hoped. And then I grabbed the end, to try to put it around my neck to check the length, when I realized what it was actually going to look like while wearing it.

Like a bunch of stupid knotted yarn. Not a pretty lattice pattern.

Double fail.

So I bagged up the yarn (who knows, I might have a reason to finish it in the future, but I sure as hell wasn't spending another 15 hours completing it when it wasn't something I was willing to give as a gift), and went back to the drawing board for my mother's Christmas present. This project definitely didn't fit into my "quick, cheap and easy" mantra for holiday crafting!

I ended up getting her a bunch of fun North Carolina foods (like pinot noir jam, honey, etc), since she already has so many "things" and nowhere to really store them. But I felt like she needed one more gift, and so I revisited the DIY idea.

At Thanksgiving I'd noticed my aunt had this photo of our whole family at our wedding framed in her living room.

Shoot Me Now Photography

So I decided to turn it into a photo frame Christmas ornament for my mom. I just cut out a 4.5" x 3.5" piece of card board and some felt with pinking shears, and followed a similar process of layering on the felt with hot glue, like the felt wreath I'd made.

Adding some ric rac ribbon to frame the photo, another mini poinsettia, and some ric rac to hang it on the tree, and I had a DIY picture frame ornament.

Thank goodness this turned out cute enough to gift! Although my sister and I were joking that I could always just glue some macaroni or uncooked beans to it, like the ornaments and DIY things we used to make my mom in elementary school!

Alright. Now I'm finally done sharing my holiday crafts. For this year anyway!

Did you have any crafting failures this holiday season? Has anyone out there tried Martha's no-knit scarf with better results than I had?

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T05:53:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all have something fun to unwrap under your tree tomorrow morning!

XOXO,

A Crabby DIY Ornament!

2011-12-22T04:41:00.000-05:00

You might see this on Weddingbee, but since I know a lot of you don't read the blog over there anymore, I wanted to share this little crafty project here too!

Every year all of the Blog Bees do an ornament exchange, and every year I like to DIY something for my exchange partner. This year I drew Mrs. Hermit Crab, which was quite the challenging moniker to recreate!

Image via Weddingbee

I knew I wanted to do something with a real shell, so I wandered the aisles of Michaels with the little Hermit Crab image pulled up on my cell phone, until I was inspired.

And about 6 hours of work later, I had this little Hermit Crab figurine (I realized after I'd already started making it that HC might not be doing a tree, so I made a figurine instead of an ornament, but it would be easy to just tie a ribbon around the the shell to hang it.)

I highly doubt any of you care how I DIY'd a hermit crab ornament/figurine....but every time I don't think anyone cares about a tutorial, someone always asks. So to cover my bases, and be a good little blogger, I took photos of the steps. Feel free to scroll to the bottom and skip this if you want!

Paint the shell. I used metallic Folk Art paint, and it took 4 coats of the purple for full coverage. I made little blue dots with the blunt end of a wooden shish kabab skewer.

String your beads on 20mm jewelry wire. I just put all of the beads I bought onto the wire to start, so I could cut to the right length easily later (I did this while the shell was drying, so couldn't measure accurately at the time I was doing the stringing).

Hold up the strung beads to the shell once it's dry, and cut one strand of beads to bend in half to use as two of the legs. Twist the ends of the cut wire to secure the beads.

To make the crab claws, I had my husband cut round, flat beads in half using a mosaic tile cutter. Cut along the hole in the beads, so once they are cut in half, you have half of the wire hole exposed on either side, as a half circle, or a trough.

Using a strand of pre-strung beads, attach another piece of wire to the end by twisting it around the strung bead wire, to form a V shape.

Put hot glue in the half circle troughs you created when you cut the flat beads in half, and place the troughs on the wire Vs, as close to the other beads as possible.

Once you have two strung bead sections cut to the correct length and bent in half, and the claw legs completed (so, three strands of beads total, bent in half, to make six legs), glue them into the shell, starting with the back legs.

Finally, make another strand of tiny beads, with black beads at the tips, to create the eyes. In case you didn't know, hermit crabs have some weird looking eyes!

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And there you have it. How to DIY a hermit crab out of a shell, beads, and wire, just in case you ever have the need!

And of course, I couldn't send off this little guy without making a cute card, and some custom Hermit Crab wrapping paper! Its just printed on four sheets of printer paper, lined up and taped together.

In return, I got this fabulously DIY'd Cola ornament from Mrs. Ferris Wheel!

Have you ever participated in an ornament exchange before? Or ever tried to recreate a challenging object as an ornament?

Quickie Holiday Cards

2011-12-21T05:38:00.056-05:00

Unlike last year, this year I caved and sent out a handful of Christmas cards.

And of course, I just couldn't bring myself to send store bought cards. Not in the midst of my holiday craft-a-palooza. But, like most of my December crafts this year, I wanted something quick and cheap, so I could move on to the next project.

So I grabbed some card stock, snowflake stickers, my x-acto knife and my printer, and whipped up some quickie cards.

After cutting out the card stock, and getting ready to glue everything together, I decided some red ribbon was the perfect extra addition, to tie in the red text. And I already had leftovers from my ribbon tree centerpiece and our spruced up stockings.!

Some glue, ribbon, and stickers, and I was ready to write nice notes to my family members I wasn't going to get to see at Christmas this year.

(You can see my DIY roman shades in action in the background!)

Because I was using leftover ribbon, I ended up with five slightly different card designs.

I think one of my favorite parts is the snowflake watermark on the inside. I think it gives it a little something extra, don'tcha think?*

And they wouldn't be complete without tying in the snowflake theme on the envelopes. I just ran these through my printer, using the same snowflake clip art from my paper snowflake luminaries, that I found online.

Did you send out Christmas cards this year? Did you go the store bought route, or did you DIY them?

*10 points if you know what movie this is from!

It's Beginning To Look A Little Like Christmas

2011-12-19T04:22:00.041-05:00

Not a LOT like Christmas, but at least a little!

Some of the other decorated houses out in blog-land put mine to shame, but I wanted to share anyway. If anything, I can look back on this post next year and be happy about my progress. I've already informed my husband that next year, along with getting our first tree, we will be spending at least $500 on decorations (I would hit up the after Christmas sales this year for like 70% off of that $500, but then we'd have to deal with the pain of moving all the boxes of ornaments and possibly breaking some before they reach our new house, so my hubs said he's OK with paying more next year to avoid all of that).

Our stockings that I made, hung on our downstairs mantle, along with the paper snowflake luminaries.

Under the mantle are the mostly-for-looks "presents." AKA, a couple of gifts, mixed in with empty gift bags, for the illusion of festivity. Am I the only one that does this? It just looked too sad without more gift bags though, since I let my husband open his gifts early, and my gift from him isn't tangible.

And the whole fireplace set up.

Upstairs, on our entertainment center, we have lights on our TV, and garland and more luminary candles in front of the TV.

The front of our house. Since a 2 story ladder isn't something we own (and is on the very long list of things we don't want to buy until we own a home), I just taped lights to the inside of the windows on the second story of our house. It gets the job done, without having to climb up on a ladder, and I've got them all set up on light timers, so I don't have to go from room to room, plugging them in every night.

I really do love our front door (and the felt wreath I made). The detail around it is so pretty, and I hope we can do something similar once we buy a house. Plus, it makes it easy to line the door with lights!

Also, guess what I spotted when I opened the door to go outside and snap these pictures? Two deer on our front lawn! It's not the best picture, since I had to use the flash, and they were moving, but still. Hooray deer! :)

Have you got all of your holiday decorations up already? Is anyone planning on hitting up the after Christmas sales to stock up on decorations for next year?

Winter Song

2011-12-16T06:58:00.058-05:00

It's no secret that I have a very deep love for Ingrid Michaelson. She is my favorite singer, I've been to quite a few of her concerts, and I even had my sister's boyfriend learn to play one of her songs on his guitar for our wedding processional. And of course, my husband and I danced to her version of Can't Help Falling in Love for our wedding first dance.

(Gratuitous photo of our first dance, by Shoot Me Now Photography)

I've also written about my almost-as-deep love for Sara Bareilles. I even got to meet her in person once!

(Photo from the radio station's website)

Well, back in December 2008, I got to see Ingrid and Sara in concert together (along with Lenka, Buckcherry, Alanis Morissette, and another one of my favorite bands, O.A.R.). It was the first time I ever heard their duet, Winter Song.

(Crappy cell phone picture I took at the concert of their duet)

I'd forgotten all about this song until I rediscovered it this year. And I found that it has the most adorable animated video to go along with it. This song has been seriously haunting me for the past few weeks. It is actually rather sad, but I love the feeling of hope at the end of the video.

So I thought I'd share, in case you've never heard this beautiful song before. I bet you'll find yourself listening to it over and over too!

Have you come across (or rediscovered) any songs this year that you just can't get out of your head?

WEverb11 #15: Surprise

2011-12-15T13:00:00.034-05:00

WEverb11 Prompt #15: Surprise

Surprise.

What event of 2011 affected you in an unexpected way?

Contributed by Kimberly Michelle [kimberlymichelle.com]

I have been thinking and thinking about this prompt since Monday, when this week's prompts were published. And I keep coming up with a blank. I guess I haven't really had a surprisingly eventful year.

A lot of this probably has to do with my compulsion to plan things. I'm not often left surprised by anything (since of course, I always have contingency plans at the ready). I'm not the kind of person you plan a surprise party for, and I'm OK with that. Usually, if my husband is going to get me a present, it's from the Victoria's Secret catalog, where I've circled options and written in my size. The unexpected is something that needs to be researched to death, so it becomes the expected.

I know. My personality probably annoys a lot of people.

But hey, if you're my friend, you can always rest assured I've picked the best restaurant for us to eat at. And if you're going on vacation, I'm happy to put together some suggestions or an itinerary for you. Or if some snafu arises when we're together, I've got you covered. So while us type-As are annoying, they can also be your peace of mind!

Anyway, all of this is to say, I can't think of any events that impacted me in an unexpected way. That's just not how I roll. The only thing I can think of that barely qualifies is when we finally discovered deer and a fox that live in the woods behind our house. That was a pleasant discovery, although I wouldn't say it was that unexpected, since our neighbors had told us months before that there were deer around.

Oh well, I'll insert some cute animal pictures now, and just move on to the next, hopefully easier to answer prompt!

*****

For more info on #WEverb11, or to join in on the fun, click here.

Photo Paper Snowflake Luminaries

2011-12-15T04:39:00.074-05:00

I'm sure you don't remember, but back in June I made digital watercolor art using photos of my cats. And while cutting out the photos, I realized that the photo paper was slightly transparent when held up to light.

I knew I eventually would come up with a good way to put this discovery to use, and I finally did!

A couple of weeks ago I had repinned this photo of rather expensive bone china candle holders on Pinterest, with the note: "Would be cheap and easy to DIY with card stock and snowflake punches."

Crate and Barrel via Pinterest

And with that note in mind, and a really long shopping list to go through at Michaels Crafts, I set out to get some card stock and snowflake punches and make my own, much cheaper snowflake candle holders.

But while perusing the paper punch aisle, and being disappointed with the variety of snowflake punch options, the transparency photo paper popped into my mind. Boo-yah! An even cheaper and easier solution!

Using my Epson Glossy Photo Paper (S041271), some snowflake clip art I found online, my printer, a little tape, and some little candles left over from our rehearsal dinner, I was able to make snowflake candles for basically only the cost of the paper!

I made four each of three sizes, to display both on our mantle, and on our entertainment center. Blue and white snowflakes seems to be my holiday theme this year, if you couldn't tell from the recipe cards I made for the cookie exchange I went to this past weekend.

Here's what they look like unlit.

And these are the kind of candles I'm using inside of the paper luminaries, with little glass holders so I don't have to worry about the flame coming into contact with the paper.

Another quick, easy and cheap holiday decor project complete! And I'm so glad I didn't have to go to all the work that punching out snowflake shapes would have been.

Have you incorporated candles into your holiday decor?

WEverb11 #14: Breathe

2011-12-14T13:00:00.002-05:00

WEverb11 Prompt #14: Breathe

Breathe.

How did you make space + peace for yourself in 2011?

Contributed by Megan [everlastingpresent.com]

I think I'm going to interpret this prompt in the literal sense, in that I made a home office space for myself this year. Which in turn, did give me peace (and quiet) to spend my 12+ hours a day on my computers.

I've never before had more than a small desk to work on growing up, and in college, more often than not I did my homework on my bed or on the couch. To this day, both my husband's and my laptops often live on our coffee table. So it was really nice to be able to set aside the space for a home office, especially now that I am telecommuting. Plus, all of the extra space on my three desks means lots of crafting space!

I'm not sure I'd say it gives me peace, but having an office + crafting space sure does make me happy!

*****

For more info on #WEverb11, or to join in on the fun, click here.

WEverb11 #13: Read

2011-12-13T13:00:00.032-05:00

WEverb11 Prompt #13: Read

Read.

What article or book changed your outlook on an issue or life?

Contributed by Melinda [www.palindromeathome.com]

I've read quite a few articles over the past year that have either changed my outlook, or reconfirmed my way of thinking, but one that really stood out for me was "How To Talk To Little Girls" by Lisa Bloom.

I really love the message that you should talk to young girls about their thoughts and accomplishments, rather than just tell them how pretty they are. It is really something to think about, because I am guilty of telling kids that I like their outfit, or their hair is pretty, etc. I think it's become automatic to so many people, just like the automatic response when you meet someones pet is to exclaim how cute they are. And it's something we really need to get over, even if commenting on a kid's appearance is the easy way to make conversation. We need to start treating girls as more than objects, even from a young age. We will be a better society, and have more well rounded kids because of it.

If you read this article, please chime in and let me know what you think!

*****

For more info on #WEverb11, or to join in on the fun, click here.

Devil's Food Oreos and a Ribbon Tree Centerpiece

2011-12-13T04:30:00.093-05:00

I had a holiday-filled two days this past weekend. On Saturday afternoon I ran errands, finished all of my Christmas gift shopping, and sent a big box of presents to California. Saturday night I went to see the Nutcracker Ballet, and Sunday was spent baking cookies and attending my first Christmas cookie exchange at Jill's house!

It's been a while since I've posted any recipes on here, so I thought the cookies I made would be perfect to share with you all. It's a recipe that I got from my mom, which I think she got from a cookie exchange years ago (or maybe a coworker, or a magazine...lets just say my mom is my source since I'm not sure!).

Homemade Oreo Cookies

2 boxes of Devil's Food cake mix
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup sugar (for rolling)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cake mix, eggs and shortening thoroughly. Roll dough into balls
and lightly roll in sugar in a separate bowl. Bake for 9 minutes. Cool on parchment paper or brown
paper bags (This step is important. Brown bags work best, but I've also used parchment paper successfully.).

(You can see some of the grease from the shortening under the cookies, that's why using the inside of brown bags work best, to absorb the grease.)

Cookie Filling

1/4 cup butter or margarine
8 ounce package of cream cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 package of powdered sugar

Mix ingredients together to desired consistency. Add food coloring if desired. Spread filling on cooled cookies.

Makes approximately 36 oreo-style cookies (or 72 individual cookies), and are 191.33 calories each with the filling.

To take to the cookie exchange, I also made cute little recipe cards to hand out.

And as you saw in the first picture in this post, I made a ribbon tree centerpiece for my cookie platter. This is something I saw in Michaels, and just like I did for the spruced up stockings, I snapped a photo with my cell phone to reference while I made my own version.

(as seen on the floral department counter)

This ribbon tree was really easy to make. But instead of using a foam cone shape like they did, I just created my own cone out of card stock, and cut it down to the height I wanted.

I cut out little strips of 4 different kinds of ribbon, looped them, and started hot gluing them to my cone.

To finish my ribbon tree off, I stuck two snowflake foam stickers together, and tucked an end into the top of my cone, with a little hot glue. So easy and cheap! And I must say, I like my version better than the one from Michaels, with the cleaner rows of ribbon branches. :)

I just used a couple of small pieces of Scotch tape to hold the tree to my platter, and added some extra ribbon to the edge of the platter with double sided tape for a festive display that would travel by car relatively well once covered with foil.

I've let myself eat exactly 1/2 of a cookie, since I'm on a diet. It was delicious, but I really need to find a way to make a lower calorie version! I love making these for almost any holiday too, since you can just switch out the color of frosting (think red, white and blue for the 4th of July, orange and chocolate for Halloween, etc).

Have you ever gone to a Christmas cookie exchange party? And do you have a go-to cookie recipe that works for any occasion?

WEverb11 #12: Thrive

2011-12-12T13:00:00.017-05:00

WEverb11 Prompt #12: Thrive

Thrive.

What was your healthiest habit of 2011? What would you like to change or do differently in 2012?

Contributed by Tonya [life-accomplished.com]

This habit came later in the year, but it is just being more active.

I telecommute, and work on my computer sometimes 12+ hours per day, which wasn't helping me in the weight loss department. But I've learned over the past couple of months that I really just need to be more active. Counting calories only does so much for me.

So I've found exercise that I actually enjoy doing! It's a completely novel concept, but it's so much easier to motivate myself to put in the exercise time I need, if it's more than just exercise. It's actually enjoyable! For me, I've found Pure Barre classes, and tennis lessons are what I enjoy doing. Which make sense, because when I was younger, ballet and tennis were both hobbies of mine.

I only started my serious weight loss efforts in September, with counting calories. But in late October I got really serious, and broke down and bought a scale. I'd never owned one before! And to date since October 28th, I've now lost 6.2 pounds.

So finding something that gets you to be more active and is something you enjoy is the key to getting healthy, and making it a habit, not a fad. Or at least that is what is working for me!

For 2012, my goal is to keep on with what I've been doing this fall, since it seems to be working. Using my Fitbit, and counting calories religiously. Getting exercise through activities I actually enjoy, and really thinking about what I'm eating, and making choices about what foods are "worth it" or not.

*****

For more info on #WEverb11, or to join in on the fun, click here.

WEverb11 #11: Try

2011-12-11T13:00:00.027-05:00

WEverb Prompt #11: Try

Try.

What 12 new things do you want to do/accomplish in 2012?

Contributed by Kimba [ultratrailgoddess.com]

1. Buy our first house
2. Finally get to paint walls in our house
3. Finally get to buy new furniture, and retire our thrift store furniture we've owned for 10 years
4. Get more involved locally (volunteering, joining a new club, etc)
5. Visit a new state
6. Reach my weight loss goal and maintain it
7. Learn a new skill or crafting technique that I can apply to our new house
8. Plant flowers, and keep them alive for longer than one month
9. Try out tent camping in NC, rather than just renting cabins with air conditioning
10. Try a new food I've never eaten before
11. Revisit our retirement savings goals (after completing #1)
12. Get our first Christmas tree (and hope our cats don't destroy it)

*****

For more info on #WEverb11, or to join in on the fun, click here.

WEverb11 #10: Create

2011-12-10T13:00:00.016-05:00

WEverb Prompt #10: Create

Create.

Share a creative project you undertook this year (art, writing, DIY, cooking, home decoration, crafts, photography … whatever comes to mind). How do you use your creativity to express yourself?

Contributed by Tara [twowishes.com] and Eileen [mynameiseileen.com]

Being creative is one of my favorite past times these days. As a kid, my mom was always working on something, and oftentimes we would get to help, or make something ourselves. Everything from painting a Christmas village, or learning to sew. I definitely got my creative genes from my mother.

And blogging about things I've created is something that always makes me happy. I even have a whole page devoted to my DIY projects. So instead of picking just one project, here is a quick look at what I've done in 2011.

Handcrafted Kitty Stockings and Spruced Up Human Stockings

DIY Holiday Accessories: Mini Felt Poinsettias

Pinterest Project: Felt Holiday Wreath

Pinterest Project: Celestial Pumpkins

Pinterest Project: Halloween Candy Wreath

Window-Balancing Master Bedroom Curtains

Goodbye Duvet Cover, Hello Ottomans

Updated Bedroom Wall Art

Post-Wedding Project: Displaying Our Guestbook Wishing Stones

DIY Art: I Left My Heart in San Francisco, To Buy a House in Raleigh

Shadow Boxes: A Little Snapshot of Our Wedding

My Rehearsal Dinner Dress: Revamped One Year Later!

How To: DIY Roman Shades

Pool Table Room Progress and DIY Digital Watercolor Art (With Cats)

Don't Cha Wanna Know Our New Address?

My Ghetto-Rigged Guest Room Headboard

$19 Bathroom Makeover

Inspired Repourposing = New Purse!

Potpourri Bathroom Wall Decor

*****

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WEverb11 #9: Appreciate

2011-12-09T13:00:00.042-05:00

WEverb11 Prompt #9: Appreciate

Appreciate.

In which moment did you find yourself flooded with gratitude? How will you rally around gratitude in 2012?

Contributed by Megan [everlastingpresent.com]

Not a specific moment, but I am extremely grateful for my husband.

It's the little things, really. Like coming home from a night out with friends, to find he's done the dishes.

Like going grocery shopping with me, even though I know he hates it.

Or pouring me a glass of wine when I'm frustrated about getting done with work for the day at 11pm.

Like reaching things out of the tall cupboard, so I don't have to get out the step stool.

Or him giving me the encouragement I really need to work out (or taking time out of his busy day to go play tennis with me).

Like putting up with my many quirks, including my need to bring two giant suitcases on a 6 day trip, my insistence that everything in the fridge has a specific place it needs to go back in, my type-A personality, and letting me watch silly girly shows on ABC Family.

I'm very grateful, and appreciative for my husband, for at least a thousand more reasons. But most of all, for being my best friend.

*****

For more info on #WEverb11, or to join in on the fun, click here.

All I Want For Christmas...

2011-12-09T05:03:00.001-05:00

Around this time last year I wrote a post about what I was wishing for for Christmas, so I thought I would do it again this year.

Honestly though, this year I'm not really expecting much. I spent a lot less than usual on my husband's gifts, and since he purchased our quite expensive plane tickets, I told him that's enough for me. I'm trying to keep our home buying goal front of mind--in a few months I bet we will be glad we didn't splurge on Christmas gifts!

But hey, on my blog I can always dream. So if we won the lottery, these are some of the things I would like.

Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Standard Zoom Lens

This has been on my Amazon wish list since May. I really would like to upgrade from my kit lens to this, and use it as my universal, everyday lens. I would finally be able to zoom in on wildlife!

K-Swiss Women's Bigshot Tennis Shoes, size 6.5

Supposedly (according to the K-Swiss site) the fastest tennis shoes on the market. Considering I've been playing 3-4 times a week, I think I need something a little better than the $30 Target shoes I've been wearing.

Racket Re-Stringing

The rule of thumb is you're supposed to get your racket re-strung an equivalent number of times per year as times per week you play. So if I'm playing 3-4 times per week, I should be getting it re-strung 3-4 times per year. Uh, yeah. I've owned my racket for about 15 years, and had it re-strung once, about 14 years ago.

Source

Joby GP3 Gorillapod SLR-Zoom Flexible Tripod + BH1 Ball Head with Bubble Level

For travel and hiking

Dolica AX620B100 62-Inch Proline Tripod and Ball Head

For around the house

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir)

Jenny Lawson's book (aka The Bloggess), sure to be awesome.

ASICS Unisex Adult De-Luxe Fleece Headband

I had one of these in college, and it rocked in the cold weather for keeping your ears warm, but not messing up your hair. My ears have been freezing while playing tennis at night, and I couldn't find one of these at Target. :(

Fotodiox Dedicated (Bayonet) Lens Hood

For the above lens.

The rest of my wish list is just experiences. With animals! :)

Conservators' Center Photography Tour

This tour offers participants the opportunity to capture great wildlife shots. You will have access to areas off of the regular tour path and the chance to safely take photos against the fencing with the aid of an experienced staff member.

Duke Lemur Center Lemur Keeper for a Day

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a Lemur Keeper? Well, find out! Join one of our amazing lemur caretakers for a day and experience the life of a keeper first-hand. You will be involved in all aspects of the daily husbandry of our endangered prosimian primates here at the DLC. Help us prepare diets, clean, feed, enrich, and whatever else happens that day (lemurs ALWAYS keep you on your toes)! You will have a behind the scenes experience that only staff members ever do. So put on your cleaning boots, grab a hose AND your camera, and romp through the forest for a day with the lemurs! This will be an experience you will never forget!

Carolina Tiger Rescue Twilight Tour

Your tour will take you on guided half-mile walk outdoors on grass and gravel to meet some of the world's most endangered species. Your guide will personally introduce you to tigers, lions, caracals, servals, ocelots, binturongs, and kinkajous, explaining the rescue stories that brought them to Carolina Tiger Rescue and the issues that their kind face in the wild. The tour will last approximately 1 1/2 - 2 hours, depending on the group's involvement.

What are you asking for this Christmas? Or are you being more practical this year, and only dreaming about fun gifts?

WEverb11 #8: Choose

2011-12-08T13:00:00.030-05:00

WEverb11 Prompt #8: Choose

Choose.

What was the biggest choice you made in 2011? What caused you to choose what you chose?

Contributed by Melissa [53blonde.com]

Actually, I don't really feel like I made any big choices this year.

Late last year we made the huge decision to move across the country. And early next year we will be choosing a house to buy. But for this last year, we've kind of been just biding our time while renting, and waiting for the next big thing.

So I guess my biggest choice this year has been not to make big choices until our life timeline catches up. Which I've mentioned on here time and time again. How I've been waiting to buy new furniture until we own a house, and been trying to make our temporary rental feel like a home with non-permanent wall decor.

In some respects, this year off from making big, life-changing choices has been good. It has given us plenty of time to do the research, both on how getting a mortgage works, the areas we would like to live in, and even the real estate market trends in our area. Sitting back and watching how things have played out will be a huge help to us in a few months when we start looking to buy ourselves.

So look out 2012! It's going to be the most important year for making choices we've ever experienced.

*****

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Handcrafted Kitty Stockings and Spruced Up Human Stockings

2011-12-08T05:37:00.075-05:00

Confession time: as much as I love decorating, we have never had stockings before!

In our own house, that is. My parents have always put out stockings for us, and about 5 or so years ago my MIL bought me an awesomely appropriate high heeled stocking for their mantle. But in our house, we've never had stockings, because we've always just gone to our parent's houses for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Plus, we've never before lived in a house with a mantle before (although our last place had two fireplaces).

But now that we DO have a mantle above our fireplace, naturally we needed stockings!

And of course, in my Christmas crafting overdrive, I decided our kitties needed stockings too, and that I was going to DIY them. Enter some red felt leftover from making poinsettias, green and kitty-colored embroidery floss, white fuzzy ribbon, and some Google Images templates, and I had everything I needed to make some easy stockings.

This really doesn't warrant a full tutorial post, but basically I found a stocking shape, and three outline shapes that sort of reminded me of my cats online, printed them, cut them out, traced them on the felt, and cut out the stocking shape, and used the cat outlines to embroider the images onto the felt. I then did a whip stitch to attach two stocking shapes to each other, and hot glued on scarves made out of ribbon and the fluffy white ribbon around the top. Done!

They were quite easy to make, but did take me about an hour to an hour and a half each, with the hand embroidering. But it's simple enough to do while watching TV at the same time.

A closer look at the stockings, and the kitties that inspired them!

Hailey:

Topper:

(I even included the little knob defect at the end of his tail on the stocking)

And Rascal:

For some reason, the kitties all look sort of grumpy in those photos. They definitely don't appreciate all of the hard work I put into handcrafting their stockings. But they will once I fill them with Greenies treats!

As far as stockings for my husband and I, I wasn't about to attempt to embroider our images. But I was inspired by this striped stocking that I saw at Michaels, for like $15 or something. I wasn't in love with the poofys or the bells, but I liked the striped concept a lot.

So I went the semi-DIY route, and bought two much cheaper stockings. 50% off too!

Take plain stockings....

....add cheery ribbon with hot glue, and you've got instantly spruced up stockings!

I still need to iron these, and figure out a good way to hang all of the stockings from our mantle, but I must say, I am pretty happy about how these all turned out, and the price (since I was using a lot of leftovers/stuff I already had, about $12 total for the 5 stockings, plus I still have leftovers of the new ribbon I bought).

Have you ever found a quick and easy way to spruce up something store bought? And if you have pets, do they have their own Christmas stockings?

WEverb11 #7: Travel

2011-12-07T13:00:00.003-05:00

WEverb11 Prompt #7: Travel

Travel.

Where did you travel this year? What was your favorite part? If you didn’t get to travel, where do you want to go next year?

Contributed by Allison [hisbirdiesnest.blogspot.com]

I was lucky this year in that I got to travel a fair amount (for me at least, since I'm not very well traveled). In 2011 I traveled to:

Florida in March

Drove through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina in April, while taking a photo every 30 seconds with a camera mounted on our dashboard, which I turned into fun timelapse videos

NOLA with fellow Bees in April (only 6 days after we moved into our new house in NC)

The Smoky Mountains in June

The Beach in July (first time to the Atlantic Ocean)

Northern North Carolina in August

Virginia in September

And back to San Francisco for Thanksgiving

I definitely can't pick a favorite trip from 2011, but overall my favorite part of traveling anywhere is getting to see the local wildlife. From gators, manatees and pelicans in Florida, to deer, turtles and lizards around NC, seeing animals is always a high point for me while on vacation.

For next year, we actually don't have any travel plans set in stone yet (gasp! I know, a surprise, given me and my planning). Of course, I already have detailed itineraries and budgets planned out for amazing vacations in South Africa, the Bahamas, the Florida Keys and Belize. But with 2012 comes our first opportunity at home ownership, and all of the time consuming house hunting and unpredictable expenses, it makes sense to prioritize that over travel.

So we'll see where 2012 takes us--if nothing else, I'm sure we'll be able to fit in a weekend camping trip or two!

*****

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WEverb11 #6: Favor

2011-12-06T13:00:00.002-05:00

Weverb11 Prompt #6: Favor

Favor.

What was your favorite month of 2011? Why did it beat out all 11 other months?

contributed by Jen [livingabrighterlife.blogspot.com]

This is a hard one! Other than April (the cross-country move month), I could find a favorite something about every month this year.

But I guess if I have to pick, it would be June, because it was when we celebrated our one year wedding anniversary. We came a long way in just one year of marriage, and it was a great opportunity to look back at our wedding.

Plus, we celebrated by renting an amazing cabin in the North Carolina mountains, where we enjoyed cupcakes, exchanging gifts, hiking, mountain views, hot tubing, and I saw my first NC baby deer. It was a wonderful way to celebrate our anniversary, and a great introduction to what NC has to offer for weekend trips.

*****

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DIY Holiday Accessories: Mini Felt Poinsettias

2011-12-06T05:08:00.004-05:00

Alternate title: When Inspiration Inspires, and Then Inspires Again!

Remember the felt holiday wreath I was inspired to make last week, with the cute little sparkly felt poinsettia?

Well, a certain, awesome bloggy friend gchatted me one evening last week, to let me know she had been inspired by my post to make her own miniature felt poinsettias!

And in turn, I was inspired to make mini poinsettias too! Seriously guys, these are so cute and itty bitty. The thought of miniature versions of just about anything make me giddy! But as soon as I realized the possibilities, thanks to Hannah, I just knew I had to make some holiday accessories!

Following the same instructions as last week, but in a much more scaled down way, I quickly made three adorably mini poinsettias.

The first one, I hot glued to an old random (and slightly tarnished) silver ring I found in my jewelry box.

Instant holiday ring!

For the other two mini poinsettias, before I glued the top leaves on, I made two little snips with scissors in the middle of the bottom leaf, by folding it in half.

Then I could thread bobby pins through the holes, to look like this (top on the left, bottom of the poinsettia on the right):

And then I had two mini poinsettia hair clips!

They are so freakin' cute! I've been wearing my new holiday accessories around all weekend :)

(kindly excuse my bare minimum mascara-only eye makeup!)

There are so many more things I can think to attach mini felt poinsettias to....I might even make some more to use instead of bows on presents!

Have you ever been inspired by someone eles's inspiration? And does miniature versions of things make you giddy too?

WEverb11 #5: Befriend

2011-12-05T13:00:00.003-05:00

WEverb11 Prompt #5: Befriend

Befriend

Did you meet any new friends this year? How did they impact your 2011?

contributed by Jen [livingabrighterlife.blogspot.com]

It's no secret that I value my online friends. A lot. And this year I was lucky enough to not only meet quite a few of my blog friends in person in Florida in March, and in NOLA in April, I also now live near a couple of my blog friends too!

These are two ladies who I've followed since 2010, and I look forward to their posts popping up in my reader every week.

Jill of Home Sweet Hopkins

Not only is Jill a great cook, talented scrapbooker, wonderful wife and rescue doggy mom, she is a sweet, funny and down to earth person in real life. I finally got to meet her in real life back in June at a Weddingbee local meet up (Pssst! Any other Research Triangle locals coming to the December 8th meet up at the Melting Pot?!?), and it's been great keeping in touch with her ever since!

If you're not already following her blog, you should. And she just recently revealed an exciting secret over there, so go check it out!

Katie of Dress Floozy Anonymous (aka Mrs. Magic on Weddingbee)

Katie is a hilariously funny, lay it all out there (especially the suckiness that wedding planning sometimes was) blogger. And she is just as funny in real life, plus a fellow wine and kitty lover. I've loved getting to know Katie in person since we moved to NC, even though if most of the times we've hung out we didn't get around to our intended goal of finishing her wedding crafts, but instead drank wine, watched live webcams of African animals, and learned how to Dougie. And now that her gorgeous wedding is over, I can't wait to read her recaps, once they're ready! Add her blog to your reader too!

I've really enjoyed getting to know my blog friends in real life over the past 6 months or so. It's like an extra, added dimension to getting to know someone, if you read their blog too. Even if I go a few months without hanging out with them in person, I am still up to date on what's been going on in their lives. And I'm so thankful that both Jill and Katie have kind of taken me in, as a newbie to North Carolina. I've really appreciated every time they've reached out to invite me to do something, or include me (especially since I've gotten really bad about inviting people to do things, since my old set of friends were so flaky, I'd about given up.). I'm really lucky that I've been able to meet and be friends with both of them!

WEverb11 #4: Haiku

2011-12-04T13:00:00.003-05:00

WEverb11 Prompt #4: Haiku

Write a haiku.

Sum up your year, via haiku.

(instructions on how to write a haiku can be found here and elsewhere on the web)

contributed by Tara [twowishes.com]

A year of changes,

New places, new challenges.

One more step forward.

Source

WEverb11 #3: Learn

2011-12-03T13:00:00.010-05:00

WEverb11 Prompt #3: Learn

Learn.

Learn. What lesson did you learn in 2011 from “The School of Life” rather than a classroom?

Contributed by Julie Jordan Scott [http://www.fivepassions.com]

Well, I guess since I haven't been in a classroom all year, everything I've learned has been from "The School of Life." Or, you know, the internet.

Not one thing in particular sticks out in my mind, so I'm just going to write a short list of some of the things I've learned:

I've learned some new craft techniques, or made some up myself.

I've learned lots about living in Raleigh, where the best restaurants are, the best tennis courts, the quickest way to get to downtown, and just in general, learned how to get around.

I've learned that I can survive summer in the south, as long as I have air conditioning
I've learned that cats are bad, mkay (this comes after I was just interrupted from writing this post to go catch and release the 2nd baby mole that the cats have brought inside our basement in 2 days)

I've learned that short-term home decorating is super annoying; on one hand you want your home to be decorated, on the other, when it's only for 1 year, and you don't want to invest too much money or time, it can be really frustrating trying to come up with decor ideas. Luckily, the Command removable hooks have been a lifesaver. Except that one time when they didn't work.
I've learned all about applying for a home mortgage, and what to expect next year when we're ready to begin the home buying process.
I've learned that your credit score is kind of a game. Certain things make it go up, certain things make it go down, and it's all about playing the game and having the right balance to get your score to go up. And there's only one legitimate place to get the true credit scores that mortgage lenders will look at (http://www.myfico.com/), all the rest of the places on the internet basically make up their own version of your credit score and get you to pay for it, and so if you're looking to buy a house, these are basically useless. Oh, and if you get pre-approved for a mortgage, don't go out and get a new car, or even a new cell phone plan before you close on the house. Even just getting a new cell phone can ding your credit score 3-8 points, and even if you're pre-approved, the lender will pull your credit one last time at the closing, just to make sure it's still a good score. (I could go on and on about credit scores and applying for mortgages, but it would fill an entire post, so I'll just end this bullet with saying if you happen to be looking to research this stuff too, be very cautious of what you read on the internet. There is a lot of bad, or just plain false-to-get-you-to-pay-for-or-subscribe-to-something info out there. So start your research with the FTC, since you know they are a trusted source of information.
I've learned to become a slave to calorie counting, but since it is actually working (I've lost 5 pounds since the last week of October, even with Thanksgiving thrown in there), it is worth the time.

I've learned a very important aspect of fitness is finding something you actually enjoy doing for exercise. Tennis has become my main exercise of choice over the past 6 weeks (two lessons a week, plus playing with my husband 2-3 times a week), and I'm still loving it. Plus, I'm burning 300-350 calories in about an hour!
I've learned that the older I get, the even more I feel the need to have stuff planned out. I've always been a planner, with travel itineraries, outfits planned out, etc. But after traveling for the week of Thanksgiving with basically no plans for when we got there laid out in advance, I was annoyed and frustrated the whole week. And I had to bring two big suitcases for a 6 day trip (including 7 pairs of shoes), just so I could feel somewhat prepared, clothing-wise, for whatever may happen. I know, this makes me a lame person. But I am also learning that part of getting older is admitting your faults and shortcomings, so you can plan around them (ha! Or maybe my theory is just so I can plan more!).

Ok, well, I probably learned a whole lot more this year, but this list is getting pretty long, so I think I will leave it at this.

What did you learn in 2011?

*****

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WEverb11 #2: Listen

2011-12-02T11:51:00.000-05:00

WEverb11 Prompt #2: Listen

Listen.

What song did you listen to in 2011 to completely change your mood? Think about ways you can you add more music to your life in 2012.

contributed by Bella
[bellaonthebeach.wordpress.com]

One of my favorite songs from 2011, that I discovered last spring was Tightrope, by Janelle Monae.

Not only does it have two great messages (try not to care what people think about you, and have balance in your life; don't complain about the lows or brag about the highs), it has a great dance/workout beat. So many times throughout the year I have put on this song to repeat three times, and jumped on my stair climber, for a mini de-stressing session.

Here is the song if you would like to hear it:

Tightrope Ft. Big Boi

And here are the lyrics, copied from eLyrics, with some of my favorite lines highlighted:

Whoaaa
Another day
I take your pain away

Some people talk about ya
Like they know all about ya
When you get down they doubt ya
And when you tippin on the scene
Yeah they talkin' bout it
Cause they can't tip all on the scene with ya
Talk about it
T-t-t-talk bout it
When you get elevated,
They love it or they hate it
You dance up on them haters
Keep getting funky on the scene
While they jumpin' round ya
They trying to take all your dreams
But you can't allow it

Cause baby whether you're high or low
Whether you're high or low
You gotta tip on the tightrope
T-t-t-tip on the tightrope

Whether you're high or low
Baby whether you're high or low
You got to tip on the tightrope
Now let me see you do the tightrope
And I'm still tippin' on it

See I'm not walkin' on it
Or tryin to run around it
This ain't no acrobatics
You either follow or you lead, yeah
I'm talkin' bout you,
I'll keep on blaming the machine, yeah
I'm talkin' bout it,
T-t-t-talkin' bout it
I can't complain about it
I gotta keep my balance
And just keep dancin on it
We gettin funky on the scene
Yeah you know about it
Like a star on the screen
Watch me tip all on it

Then baby whether I'm high or low
Baby whether you're high or low
You gotta tip on the tightrope
Yeah, tip on the tightrope
Baby, baby, baby
Whether you're high or low
Baby whether you're high or low
Tip on the tightrope
Baby let me see you tight rope
And I'm still tippin' on it

Big Boi

You gotta keep your balance or you fall into the gap
[ From : http://www.elyrics.net/read/j/janelle-monae-lyrics/tightrope-lyrics.html ]
It's a challenge but I manage cause I'm cautious with the strap
Do damage to your cabbage that a doctor cannot patch
See bot you don't want no friction like the back of a mathbook
Daddy Fat Stacks will fold you and your MacBook
Close shows, shut you down before we gon' go backwards
Act up, and whether we high or low we gonna get back-up
Like the Dow Jones and Nasdaq
Sorta like a thong in an butt crack
Come on

I tip on alligators and little rattle snakers
But I'm another flavor
Something like a terminator
Ain't no equivocating
I fight for what I believe
Why you talkin' bout it
S-s-she's talkin' bout it
Some callin me a sinner
Some callin me a winner
I'm callin you to dinner
And you know exactly what I mean
Yeah I'm talkin bout you
You can rock or you can leave
Watch me tip without you

N-N-Now whether I'm high or low
Whether I'm high or low
I'm gonna tip on the tightrope
Baby, baby, baby
Whether I'm high or low
High or low
I got to tip on the tightrope
Now baby tip on the tightrope

You can't get too high
I said you can't get too low
Cause you get too high
No you'll surely be low
1, 2, 3, Ho!

Yeah, yeah
Now shut up, yeah
Yeah, now put some voodoo on it
Ladies and gentlemen the funkiest horn section in Metropolis
Yeah, yeah, yeah, OH!
We call that classy brass

Do you mind?
If I play the ukulele
Just like a little lady
Do you mind?
If I play the ukulele
Just like a little lady
As I play the ukulele
If I play my ukulele
Just like a little lady

*****

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WEverb11 #1: One Word

2011-12-01T14:31:00.000-05:00

WEverb11 Prompt #1: One Word

Choose one word.

Encapsulate the year 2011 in one word. Explain why. Imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2012 for you?

In the spirit of where this all started… this is the same first prompt from 2010.

For me, the word that best sums up 2011 is change.

At the beginning of this year, my husband and I were in the early stages of planning the biggest, most life-altering change we'd ever embarked upon together. You would think this would have happened in 2010, when we got married, but no, the biggest change we experienced together came this year, when we uprooted our lives and moved 2,800 miles across the country.

We went from this:

(A Sunset Cruise on the San Francisco Bay, June 2010)

To this:

(Anniversary trip to the North Carolina Smoky Mountains, June 2011)

Our decision to move across the country didn't come lightly, but we made the decision together to change our lives for the better, and move to a more affordable place to live than the San Francisco area. In April of this year, we arrived in Raleigh, NC, our new hometown, and have been experiencing many more changes as we get used to living on the "right coast," and in the south.

Next year, I hope that the word that will sum up 2012 will be progress. We made so many changes in 2011, all for the purpose of being able to live a more affordable lifestyle, and finally purchase a house. Once we become homeowners, I will definitely consider us to be making progress toward our life goals. I'm turning 30 next spring, and all I'm asking for is a house as a birthday present. :)

*****

For more info on #WEverb11, or to join in on the fun, click here.

Pinterest Project: Felt Holiday Wreath

2011-11-30T11:33:00.000-05:00

I've caught the crafting bug again, with all of the holiday project inspiration popping up on Pinterest and blogs that I love!

And this post was just going to be a "oooh, look at the pretty wreath I made, here's the link to the instructions" kind of post. But honestly, the instructions kinda suck, so I figured I might as well go into some more detail, in case anyone else pinned this wreath and is interested in making it themselves.

But first, this was what I had pinned:

Pinterest via Better Homes and Gardens

Adorable, right? The color scheme is my favorite part, since it's less traditional, and so bright and cheery. Perfect for contrasting on our black colored front door.

So, I glanced at the directions, to see how much felt I would need, and proceeded to buy a 16 inch door sized foam wreath and four colors of felt. Luckily though I had bought an extra sheet of each color (and even more of the red to make the poinsettia)....remember how I'd said above that the instructions weren't great?

Well, you can find the instructions here, but this is all it said:

Cut seven 1x8-inch strips each from turquoise blue, light blue, red, and lime felt using pinking shears. Referring to the photo, wrap strips around a foam wreath with each strip slightly overlapping the previous strip; pin strips to back of wreath. Follow the instructions below to make the poinsettia flower; pin the felt poinsettia to the wreath.

Notice anything missing? Like, uh, what size of wreath to buy to accompany your seven 1x8-inch strips of felt? Yeah, thank goodness I was smart enough to think about it when I got out all of my supplies. No way was 7 strips that are 1 inch wide x 4 colors of felt going to cover a 16 inch wreath. They must have used a 10 inch wreath, to allow for overlap.

And this really ticked me off.

Isn't it the jobs of whoever is publishing these tutorials to be thorough and accurate? It's not like this is on some random blog, it's on a major magazine's website! I really enjoy making tutorials myself, and this just really annoyed me, to leave off something so simple as the size of the wreath. And of course, this comes after I was just burned on the last project I worked on, which came from a Martha Stewart tutorial, and the measurements given were completely off. Like, off by double. So I'm feeling a little bitter about the integrity of the inspiration projects I've been finding lately.

/end rant

Oh, and by the way, I totally plan to write about my other failed project, I just want to figure out a way to redo it so it works first. You know, provide anyone reading this with something accurate!

So anyway. Back to the wreath.

I had to figure out if I could even still make it, given the amount of felt I had on hand. So instead of doing math, I took the shortcut, and just measured the circumference of the wreath with a tape measure. Rounding up, it was about 51 inches. So I figured I could do seven strips of 2 inch wide pieces of felt, which would equal 56 inches, and give me enough room for overlap.

Once I figured out the correct amount and size of felt I needed, the rest was mostly smooth sailing. I used a pen and a 2 inch piece of scrap card stock to mark my cut lines on the back side of the felt.

(Yep, circle punches and dark wood grain paper are involved in yet another in progress project I've got in the works!)

Pinking shears were kind of a pain on the felt, but it worked best if I cut shorter sections at a time.

Another note about the instructions on the BH&G site...I'm not sure what is up with the directive to pin the felt to the foam wreath. I guess maybe if you want to reuse the wreath for something else in the future, it makes sense. But I sure know myself--after all this work, no way am I going to want to take it apart! Spending $8.99 on foam the next time I want to make a wreath sounds a whole lot easier in my book, so I just went ahead and hot glued the felt on the foam wreath.

Also, yet another note, the 8 inch long strips in the original tutorial don't work on a 16 inch wreath either. I cut my strips to the full 9 inch width of the felt, and they barely overlapped in the back. Just one more measurement issue to keep in mind!

Completely wrapped and glued into place:

Requisite cat photo. She was "helping" by nestling in my scrap garbage bag on the floor next to me.

The poinsettia tutorial wasn't quite as bad, although it lacked photos to really illustrate the steps. But at least it came with a PDF template (found at the bottom of the tutorial page I linked to above) for you to cut out to make your shapes. The main issue I had was, and maybe this comes down to just being lazy, but I more think it's my need to not deal with overly complicated, unnecessary steps, but they wanted you to cut out the patterns on paper, then iron something called freezer paper (WTH even is that?!?) onto your felt, then trace the patterns on the freezer paper, and only then can you cut out your felt and remove the freezer paper stuff.

Ok, I'm not exactly a genius or anything but....nobody is gonna see the back side of these. And who the heck has "freezer paper" handy, or even knows what it is (hmmm, I'm beginning to think I should probably Google it).

So chalk it up to laziness or whatever, but I just traced the pattern on the back of the damn felt, cut it out, and called it a day. No freezer paper required (for inquiring minds).

Then, making the poinsettia was pretty easy, although like I said, I would have enjoyed more photos to illustrate the steps. You're welcome. This is how you pinch the leaves and glue them (except again, I simplified their instructions, and instead of using fabric glue and a clothes pin to hold the pinched part, I just went straight for hot glue that dried in 10 seconds, and didn't have to worry about holding anything in place).

Glue the leaves to the bottom star shape, add something for the center of the flower (I used pearls, since I thought they looked prettier than the recommended circles of white felt. Also, I did not have white felt on hand).

Sigh. Is anyone else getting tired of my complaints? I am. And I sure was when following the steps to make this wreath. The last thing they left off was that you need a way to hang it. Unless of course you're just going to shove the nail on your door straight into the foam? Not a good solution to me, but hey, whatever works I guess! For my wreath though, I just made a little loop out of scrap felt and hot glued it to the back, top of the wreath. Instant hanging hook.

Thank goodness, I was done! Ready to hang it on the front door.

I really hope the rest of the projects I'm planning on working on over the next couple of weeks don't turn out to be so incomplete or a pain to figure out. Last night I came out of Michaels Crafts $90 poorer, so I've got a lot in the works!

Have you ever come across poorly done or incomplete tutorials online? Does it annoy you as much as this one annoyed me? :)

Fall Leaves

2011-11-28T06:49:00.000-05:00

Whew! I am exhausted. We just got back from a week on the west coast, and I seriously underestimated how much the three hour time difference would effect me. But spending time with family, friends, and being back in the office for three days took a serious toll. Everyone wanted a piece of me, and I was just too exhausted to blog in the evenings; crawling into bed at 8:45pm PST was way more enticing, after involuntarily waking up each day well before sunrise. So, sorry for my week off of blogging! I was just too beat, and have been fighting off getting sick all week, on top of just being sleep deprived.

I'm also pretty tired from the hours we just spent in the yard this afternoon, mowing and raking up all of the fall leaves. Where I grew up in Washington State, we really never had to deal with leaves, just pine cones. But they're so pretty before they fall, it's worth the clean up work. Pretty fall leaves are definitely one of the advantages of living on the east coast, especially when all you have to do to see the colors is to look in your backyard!

Next year though, I definitely think we need to invest in a leaf blower. With just one rake and a broom between the two of us, it took way too long to pick these all up!

Do you have pretty fall leaves that turn into tiresome lawn debris where you live? Is the prettiness of the fall leaf colors worth the extra yard work?

Lower Calorie Swap: Homemade Caramel Macchiato

2011-11-16T12:08:00.001-05:00

I still remember the very first time I tried a Starbucks Caramel Macchiato. I was in high school and it was on the morning of my PSATs. I went with a couple friends before the test, but I'd never been to a Starbucks before, and had no idea what to order, since I wasn't a coffee drinker and my parents weren't really coffee drinkers either.

But my friend placed her order first. Something kind of hard to pronounce, but had the word "caramel" in it, so I figured I'd just order the same thing. And it was love at first sip! The sweet, buttery caramel sauce, the smooth, lingering flavor of vanilla--I can pinpoint it to the day when I became a coffee lover. All because of a Caramel Macchiato.

And I've been a Caramel Macchiato fan for over a decade now. But in early 2010, when I started dieting for our wedding, I started counting calories. Have you ever tried to religiously count calories before? Let me tell you, it is damn depressing!

Just look at my beloved, 5 times a week morning pick-me-up:

via Starbucks.com

Ugh, 270 calories just for a drink! And if you had this with 2%, it goes up to 330 calories. Just the caramel sauce alone is 160 calories for 2 tablespoons.

(My special occasion stash!)

So that is when I, very, very sadly, gave up my Caramel Macchiatos (although I did reward myself with one on the morning of our wedding!). I instead switched to Iced Venti Skinny Vanilla Lattes, which only had 110 calories.

It was never as satisfying though.

But a year and a half after I gave up Caramel Macchiatos, I've finally found a way to swap out a lot of the calories, and still get the rich caramel taste that I love. By making my own version at home with this yummy creamer!

The International Delights Coffee House Inspirations Caramel Macchiato flavor is pretty dang good. And this is coming from someone who has never been a fan of creamers before. I'm really glad I gave it a chance when I happened to spot it at the grocery store. The best part though? Only 35 calories per tablespoon!

To make my lower calorie Caramel Macchiato at home, I use three pumps of Starbucks Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup (I order it several bottles at a time from here, since I like it way better than the Torani vanilla syrup you can get at the grocery store. Trust me, the syrup definitely makes a difference when trying to imitate the Starbucks taste.).

(I also measured it, in case you don't have a syrup pump. 3 pumps is about 1 2/3rds tablespoons. But since it's calorie-free, you can use as much or as little as you want. For reference, a venti skinny vanilla latte has 6 pumps of vanilla syrup.)

Now, when you make a regular Caramel Macchiato, you layer the ingredients as: syrup, milk, espresso shots, ice, caramel sauce. But because I use creamer instead of milk (and I was always guilty of stirring the regular Caramel Macchiatos as soon as they were made), the order doesn't matter, as long as you add the ice last.

So after adding my syrup, I brew three shots of espresso (5 calories per shot, for 15 calories total) and add them to my glass.

Then in goes 2 tablespoons of the creamer (35 calories per tablespoon, for 70 calories total).

Followed by a couple of handfuls of ice.

Stir, and you've got a yummy imitation Caramel Macchiato, for only 85 calories!

SO much better than 270 calories, and it's a very close match in taste. Plus, you don't have to worry about your straw getting clogged up with caramel sauce anymore.

The only drawback is that when you're using creamer and not milk, you are missing out on some of your regular calcium intake. So that's why I keep a bottle of multivitamins next to my espresso machine, and I take one with my coffee every morning. It's a win-win, since I get my calcium, plus a lot of other vitamins, and I'm saving a ton of calories every morning.

***Oh, and by the way, if you're not a fan of iced coffee like I am (I drink it year round), the same recipe works well for a hot drink as well. 3 pumps of vanilla syrup, 3 shots of espresso, 2 tablespoons of creamer, stir and drink! And still only 85 calories.***

Do you have a favorite coffee shop drink? Have you ever looked up how many calories are in your favorite coffee? Counting calories has made me realize just how ridiculous most of my favorite food and drinks really are!

A Kinda Fun Fashion Discovery

2011-11-14T13:03:00.000-05:00

Well, being so busy with work has made me very unsuccessful at doing my Work From Home outfit posts. But I did manage to dress up one day last week, to go to the grocery store.

And at the same time, I also made kind of a fun fashion discovery!

See this cute ruffled red scarf?

Does it look familiar at all? How about now?

Yep, that's right, I discovered that I can turn this dress into a scarf!

The dress just happened to be lying over the arm of my chaise lounge bench in such a way that when I glanced down at it, I realized it sort of looked like a scarf from that angle. So I grabbed it and played around for a minute, when I realized I could just pull it through the arm holes and it magically turned into a scarf!

Like so:

Black Top: Target, Jean Pencil Skirt: Express, Brown Belt: Target, Dress-Turned-Scarf: Target, Brown Boots: Reneeze, Earrings and Bracelets: Target and H&M

The blue flowers on the dress even work well with my Anthropologie coat!

So that was my fun little discovery last week. I'm excited to try it out with a couple of more dresses too, since how great is it to find a use for my sundresses before next spring? I've opened up a whole world of new scarf possibilities that are already in my closet!

Have you ever made a surprising fashion discovery, or found a new way to wear something that was already in your wardrobe?

A Tuesday

2011-11-09T13:12:00.003-05:00

Wow, I haven't posted in a while. A whole week! I think this is about the longest I've been gone from blogging in quite some time, but I've been super busy with work. Meaning all I want to do at the end of the day is have a glass of wine, not craft or get dressed up or otherwise do things I'd normally blog about. Oh well, this happens every year around this time, since it's the busiest time of the year for me at work, through the new year. Plus, this past weekend was my husband's birthday, so I was a good wife and stayed off the computer all weekend, so I could spend time with him instead.

But since I've been so busy the past couple of weeks, I thought I'd share what a day in my life is like right now. It's very different than when I have slow times at work (my job in Marketing Communications is either very busy or very slow, not much in between, since a big part of what I do is linked to how many new products my company is launching at any given time), so maybe I'll do another one of these once things slow down. But I've always enjoyed reading other blogger's 'a day in my life' posts, so here is mine, from yesterday!

9am - Hit snooze alarm (I live on the east coast, but work for a west coast company, so my hours are shifted a little)

9:30am - Wake up, brush teeth, head downstairs to check work emails

(My new desk set up, looking out on our backyard, so I can watch for wildlife. The blue blanket draped over the front of the desk is so I can move my feet around without scaring the deer, since they seem to be very aware and sensitive to movement.)

10am - Urgent emails are answered, go back upstairs to make coffee and breakfast
10:05am - Take breakfast of hard boiled egg, go-gurt and coffee (232 calories) back to desk

10:35am - Send out new product launch announcement that I started on last night

(edited for privacy)

10:40am - Go get dressed for tennis lessons
10:50am - Drive to tennis, leave a voicemail for a co-worker on the way
11:00am - Tennis lessons

12:00pm - Drive home from tennis
12:10pm - Jump in the shower to rinse off, throw on some jeans, a t-shirt, and slippers, since I know I've got emails waiting for me to respond to, no time to iron clothes and do my hair

12:13pm - Sync my Fitbit to my computer, see that I burned 281 calories at my tennis lessons, log what I ate for breakfast
12:15pm - Answer more work emails, follow up with people I'm waiting for content or approvals from

12:30pm - Check personal email, pin a cute photo from the Better Homes and Gardens newsletter.

Open an email from our real estate company about a house that matches our search criteria. Drool over a super cute 3,000 sq ft house on 1 acre that’s selling price was just lowered $20k (We're not seriously looking to buy until early spring, but it's very encouraging to get frequent emails about great houses in our price range)
12:43pm - Back to responding to work emails
1:15pm - Eat lunch of a peanut butter, butter and honey sandwich and 27 grapes (347 calories) with husband while watching the news

1:35pm - Head back downstairs, answer more emails, begin working on international versions of the product launch announcement that went out in the morning
2:30pm - Conference call to kick-off a new in development product

(My tennis lessons in the middle of the day are really making it hard to dress up. Not enough time before the lessons, and no point, and then I get sucked back into work after I get back, and just haven't been getting around to getting all dolled up.)

2:40pm - Multitask on the call by putting together a USA vs Canadian price comparison chart, for an upcoming price change communication
3:02pm - Conference call ends, take another call to hash out a quick promo idea for the Pro Audio market, run margin analysis and put together a quick promo flyer

3:26pm - Cat walks by, stops to stare at a bug or something in the grass (cats walking by actually happened all day)

3:39pm - Receive IM from co-worker, shares some gossip, I confirm a product price for her
3:45pm - Back to working on international announcements, updating regional pricing, editing the PowerPoints
4:30pm - Begin working on a product launch announcement for a different product, send content to product manager for approval

4:48pm - Kitty jumps in my lap for a couple minutes of petting

5:09pm - Go grab a snack of a Cherry Coke Zero and 9 Quaker Quakes Rice Snacks, sprinkled with garlic for a snack (70 Calories), log it in Fitbit

5:15pm - Take a call from my boss's boss, set up a meeting for later in the week to go over the dealer program management process improvements I've been working on, to roll out for 2012
5:21pm - The fox darts across the yard, as my fat cat watches sleepily from a perch just outside the back sliding door

(I didn't get a photo of the fox this time, but here's a photo of him from Sunday, sunning himself in our yard again. My fat black cat, from the photo above this one, was also sunning himself in the yard, about 20 feet away. They seem to just ignore each other, which is pretty smart on both their parts. After doing some research, I've determined he is a Gray Fox, and adults only get up to about 15 pounds. My fatty cat is 18 pounds, and while a little shorter, he's definitely a lot more solid than the fox. Plus, the more I've thought about it, the less concerned I am about them fighting. Our neighbors have let their cats roam free for years without any issues, so I'm just going to hope for the best, that they'll all realize they're too evenly matched to bother fighting.)

5:35pm - Begin working on the HTML content for the latest product launch I'm still awaiting approval on
5:50pm - Price change proposal comes back, prep old vs new price list, have database manager update pricing in 2 databases, and request a product mix with updated pricing
6:20pm - Back to working on HTML email, complete it, pending uploading the content to our server and inserting links (still waiting on final content approval)

(ooh, HTML code, exciting!)

6:45pm - Begin working on HTML email for Canadian price change, while waiting for the product mix to come back
7:05pm - Take a call from a sales manager, looking for sales numbers on his latest promo, run promo code report, email it to him
7:25pm - Receive international mixes I was waiting on, send out two international versions of the same product announcement I sent this morning
7:45pm - Take another call from a sales manager, push back on why we won't approve them adding $80k to their dealer's program without an upside, specifically, increasing their gross sales goal for the year
7:55pm - Respond to a few more emails, and send out some follow ups for things I still need for tomorrow, including the mix for the Canadian price change and Product Manager approval on the new product launch that needs to go out in the morning
8:10pm - Sign off my computer, commute upstairs and "make" dinner (Healthy Choice Herb Crusted Fish, 270 calories and 1 cup of wine, 184 calories)
8:20pm - Dinner is ready just in time to watch Glee on our DVR (starting 20 minutes late means we can fast forward through the commercials). I'm multitasking and trying to catch up on 2 weeks of Google reader as quickly as I can, since I really hate to 'mark all as read'

9pm - More TV watching, and spending time with my husband while we're both on our computers. I'm uploading pictures for this blog post, and another in progress cooking post

9:47pm - Have an evening snack of 1 cup of Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop (17 calories), log dinner and snack calories in Fitbit

(A screenshot of my Fitbit tracker for Tuesday. Not surprisingly, you can see that from all the time spent on the computer, I was sedentary a lot of the day. But it's also pretty cool to see the number of calories burned jump during my tennis lessons. Also, I guess I should have eaten more, since I'm shooting for around 1,200 calories a day on weekdays)

10:22pm - My eyes give out from staring at computer screens all day, so I take a break for some kitty snuggles

(Aww, just look at that little tongue!)

10:30pm - Straighten the kitchen a little
10:45pm - Take my real shower for the day, brush teeth
11pm - In bed in time to watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report, check work emails on my blackberry for anything urgent
1am-ish - Finally fall asleep

So, that was a typical busy-with-work day for me. In December, I'll be logging about 2-3 more hours a day on work, since our biggest trade show of the year is in early January, and I'm in charge of all our promotions for it. But my non-busy days are a whole lot less interesting (sending a ton of follow up emails, and doing laundry, since so much of my job is dependent on other people's inputs). Hopefully I'll get to have a few less busy days over the next few weeks, or else I'm going to have to start blogging on the weekends to keep up!

Have you ever done a 'day in your life' kind of blog post? I'd love for you to share it with me if you have, since I really enjoy reading them!

*The Handcrafted Life*

Entry Hall 'Mud Room' Planning

Valentine's Day Dinner Plan

How We Negotiated the Final Price of Our New House

To-Scale Room Planning: Guest Bedroom

I Just Can't Help Myself!

Valentine's Day Wreath with Painted Conversation Hearts

Stuffed Peppers {5 Minute Prep!}

House Hunters: The Morgan and Alex Edition, The Finale

House Hunters: The Morgan and Alex Edition, Part 3

House Hunters: The Morgan and Alex Edition, Part 2

House Hunters: The Morgan and Alex Edition, Part 1

OOTD: Nervous But Excited

Some Pretty House Photos for Your Friday Afternoon

Guess What I Was Doing All Weekend?

Random Photo For A Blah Wednesday

And....We're Back!

Fail Scarf and Felt Picture Frame Ornament

Merry Christmas!

A Crabby DIY Ornament!

Quickie Holiday Cards

It's Beginning To Look A Little Like Christmas

Winter Song

WEverb11 #15: Surprise

Surprise.

Photo Paper Snowflake Luminaries

WEverb11 #14: Breathe

Breathe.

WEverb11 #13: Read

Read.

Devil's Food Oreos and a Ribbon Tree Centerpiece

WEverb11 #12: Thrive

Thrive.

WEverb11 #11: Try

Try.

WEverb11 #10: Create

Create.

WEverb11 #9: Appreciate

Appreciate.

All I Want For Christmas...

WEverb11 #8: Choose

Choose.

Handcrafted Kitty Stockings and Spruced Up Human Stockings

WEverb11 #7: Travel

Travel.

WEverb11 #6: Favor

Favor.

DIY Holiday Accessories: Mini Felt Poinsettias

WEverb11 #5: Befriend

Befriend

WEverb11 #4: Haiku

Write a haiku.

WEverb11 #3: Learn

Learn.

WEverb11 #2: Listen

Listen.

WEverb11 #1: One Word

Pinterest Project: Felt Holiday Wreath

Fall Leaves

Lower Calorie Swap: Homemade Caramel Macchiato

A Kinda Fun Fashion Discovery

A Tuesday

The Handcrafted Life