Project recap of 2010

Just like last year, I am here to recap some of the bigger and better updates we made to the house in 2010. Looking back at the archives it hit me that we didn't do that much, which for me is a bummer. The home we're in now is not our forever home, so it doesn't make sense to do all the things I would like, like new floors, countertops and a backsplash. You can bet your bottom dollar when we finally move, there will be a loooong list of projects that I will be dying to tackle! But for now, here's what we accomplished.

Definitely one of my favorite updates was when we painted the kitchen. The wall used to be the ugliest "red" you could imagine and this is so much more calming. The green really plays well with the cabinets and appliances and I am really happy with how it turned out.

This next one isn't really an update to the house, per se, but we finally upgraded our dining room set. We bought the table and bench first and the Mr. surprised me with the chairs I had been eyeing. I love how everything looks together, especially with the next project...

Our buffet! This was the first piece of furniture we built together and while it took some time, it was a straightforward process. I enjoyed working with my hands and having a creative outlet, so I am hoping we can come up with a few more things to build in 2011.

Probably the most needed fix of the year was outside in our garden. After two snowstorms, it was looking pretty pathetic. We purchased a few new bushes and it is back to looking warm and inviting.

This simple side table started with legs (previously staircase spindles) that we found at an antique fair back in the spring. Having built the buffet, we knew this would be an easy thing to create, and it was. Simple, cheap and gorgeous- can't beat that!

Last but not least are the new appliances we bought for the kitchen. The stove and dishwasher have been awesome to have around for the past couple months and I am pleased as punch with our decisions. Who knew that a dishwasher could actually wash the dishes so well?!

Like I said- not too many jaw-dropping transformations, but I'm happy with them :)

There are a few projects I have my eye on... we'll see if I can convince the Mr. to go along with them!

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2010 resolutions recap

Earlier this year I posted about my five goals for 2010 and seeing as how 2011 is right around the corner, it's time to talk about how I did!

Goal 1- Continue on my path to being healthier (including exercising and eating healthy).

I did really well until May when I had my accident. It actually took a good month or two for the wound to heal enough for me to feel comfortable exercising and I just never picked back up. So I haven't been working out consistently... But! I have been eating better and less and as a result I have lost 13 pounds since the beginning of the year.

The Mr. has been going to the gym in the morning for a couple months now and I have thought about joining him, but 4:45 is so early! I should probably quit being a pansy and just suck it up and go. Maybe that will be a 2011 resolution.

Goal 2- Spend/save money more wisely.

Big fat check on this goal. Even with some big bumps in the road, we've been able to save quite a bit of money, I've increased my 401k contribution (when I changed jobs) and we've been really good about curbing the excess spending.

Only caveat? We put our new appliances on an hhgregg credit card even though we had the money in savings. For us it was a no-brainer to open the credit card and pay it off in a year since they were offering 0% interest for 12 months plus an extra 10% savings when you use their card. We did the same thing with our kitchen cabinets and it worked out swimmingly.

Goal 3- Pay off the Mr.'s car.

Not so much. Again. About halfway through 2010 we sat down and had a big talk about future plans and we ended up changing our plan of attack on this. Originally we were going to pay it off quickly (and be consumer debt free), but we decided that increasing savings and paying down our mortgage were more important. With our current plan, the car will be paid off around March though!

Goal 4- Take a big vacation.

Another check here. So we didn't go to Europe or Hawaii like we thought, but we lounged in luxury and had a blast in Provo. You can see those recap posts here, here, here, here and here.

Goal 5- Get knocked up.

Our original plan for baby making wasn't put into motion until the second half of the year, so we were limiting our time to begin with. We actually did conceive, but I miscarried after about seven weeks and we haven't had a chance to try again. I guess you could say we're still working on it :)

So 2.5 out of 5 (I am giving myself half a point for goal one)... Is that good or bad? I am going to go with good. Since we changed our financial goals and plans, paying off the Mr.'s car just wasn't in the cards. That leaves me with exercising and conceiving, which I plan to work on in 2011.

I also wanted to run a 5K in 2010, but that didn't work out. I refuse to run in the cold weather, so anything before March and after November is out. I thought about trying to run a 5K in May/June/July but my bike accident really hampered walking, let alone running. SGS is great about working out and doing 5Ks, so maybe I can tagalong with her one time.

The other small goal I had was to take some smaller trips throughout the year. This was another win, and I feel so lucky because of it. We celebrated our five year (dating) anniversary in Stephens City, enjoyed a family weekend down in Appomattox, visited a friend down in Florida, and took a quick trip to Baltimore for a Blue Man Group show.

Of course the year wasn't all good and we had say goodbye to some people we loved dearly, including the Mr.'s dad and my Grandad.

Here's hoping 2011 is full of more good than bad, more happiness than tears, more births than deaths and more love than hate!

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Too good not to highlight

You've heard about them a few times already, but these organizers have changed my life. Seriously.

Most of our ornaments were still in their original boxes, but those boxes were fading quickly. We kept the handmade and one of a kind ornaments in a medium sized box and hoped that they would make it through the year without breaking. Now I don't have to worry about that at all thanks to the ornament storage from Honey Can Do!

The handle on the front

The lid is scored down the middle and therefore can open halfway

Perfect storage for my oddly shaped ornaments

As you can see, the slots are quite large and can fit multiple ornaments. Also, each separator is its own piece, so you have a ton of options for making some slots bigger than others.

Yes, I organized by color :)

I have a ton of smaller (1/2"-2") ornaments and they were grouped together to make life easier next Christmas season.

The boxes stack easily and are sturdy enough to ease my worries. Now I wouldn't go stacking heavy things on top of them, but they can handle themselves.

I am equally in love with this gift wrap organizer (also by Honey Can Do). We had been using a clear under-bed storage container, but it was too tall for under the bed and was therefore a pain to get out. Most of the time I had the Mr. lift the bed so I could grab it. Annoying!

This organizer is less than 5" tall so I was worried it wouldn't hold everything. Turns out that worry was for naught. The pockets and compartments are perfectly sized and hold a ton.

Unassuming from the outside

Ta-da! (And hi Macintosh toes)

My new ribbon stash is laid out to please my OCDness, with enough room for gift tags, tape, scissors and more. A neat feature (that I didn't photograph- sorry!) is that this compartment can be taken out to fit longer rolls of wrapping paper. Our rolls are all 30", but it will fit rolls up to 40".

We are able to fit six rolls of wrapping paper easily, along with a ton of bags underneath.

There are two velcro closure windows on the flap that are perfect for smaller gift bags, tissue paper and more gift tags.

My only complaint is the color of the product. I am using this for all my gift wrap (not just Christmas), so I'd prefer a simple white or black color... but that's nitpicking.

And no, I'm not being compensated for this review. I just want to share the info for those that may be searching for organizing solutions :)

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And just like that, it's over!

It's amazing to me how much time, energy and excitement goes into preparing for Christmas, and then poof! It's done. I go to bed with so much anticipation and wake up raring to go! About thirty minutes after we start with the dog's stockings, we're done opening all our presents. I remember Christmas growing up and it was an all morning extravaganza. Stockings before church, then the remainder of the presents after. With four kids, it took some time :) I look forward to those days. Well, not the four kids part. ::shudder::

As a pre-Christmas gift, I received a couple dated ornaments from my Mom (she remembered we were looking for one) while the Mr. scored an Oxcart plane ornament.

The puppies were quite happy with their jumbones, nylabones, peanut butter filled bones, kong stuffing and toy. Imagine that ;)

We both made out pretty well, getting most of the things on our (reasonably priced) wish lists. I came away with a new necklace, screw backs for my diamond earrings, some headbands, a couple Redskins shirts and of course home decor. The Mr. received a Redskins shirt (great minds!), a couple gift cards, a golf club, a PS3 game, a CD player and a WVU windbreaker. Definitely a good Christmas haul if you ask me.

I'm even sporting my new necklace today at work :)

Hope you all had a lovely holiday and got everything you wanted!

We'll be spending the rest of the week watching my sister's house while she heads to the snow covered north. Since we'll be away from our house for a few days, we packed up the ornaments and put the tree out for trash pickup this morning. Normally we wait another week, but for some reason our tree was fading fast. It didn't soak up the water like normal and as a result the branches were hanging at an 89 degree angle. No joke.

Oh, and if you're looking for a good ornament organizer, I highly recommend this one. Maybe I'll do a review post of it and the gift wrap organizer I snagged. I seriously geeked out over them!

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A Christmas story on this Christmas Eve

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure. Then Mrs.Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where. Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drunk all the cider and hidden the liquor.In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and an irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Not a lot of people know this.

**Thanks CC for passing this one on to me. Merry Christmas eve, and to all a good night!

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The boy loves bananas

Macintosh's eyes did not move from his daddy while the banana was around. And you should have seen the puddle of drool :)

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Sure, why not?

I rang in the new year with pneumonia, so it seems natural to be sick as 2011 approaches. I mentioned here about being sick last week and it has progressed in interesting ways. Good news (?)- I didn't have a cold. Bad news- I now know I had the beginning stages of adenovirus.

For those not versed in viruses, adenoviruses usually result in a respiratory tract infection. I'm one of the lucky ones that has a seriously bad case, consisting of tonsillitis (my illness from Wednesday) and now conjunctivitis.

Now each morning I wake up with an incredibly sore throat, stuffy nose and eyes crusted shut. The conjunctivitis was so bad that we had a middle of the night ER trip to get my eyes checked out. Sadly there is no treatment for adenovirus, so I just have to wait it out and try and touch as little as possible.

As a result, I've amended my Christmas wish list. Santa- I'd really like to wake up feeling normal on Christmas day (or before!). I'd also like to be able to kiss my hubby without fear of infecting him with this horrible virus.

PS- you're welcome for not posting the NASTY picture I have of my eye. It would make even a strong stomach a little queasy.

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Snowy day with the dogs

Sorry for the radio silence, folks. We've been a smidge busy over here! The busyness began about where my posts stopped, so I'll start there.

I had my final immunology class last week and I am happy to be done with the class. Finals were due yesterday morning, so keep your fingers crossed that I did just as well as my midterm grade (97%). I am trying to decide what class to take next semester since there are so many great options.

We actually had a bit of a scare on Saturday when we came home to a freezing cold house after running some errands. The Mr. went up into the attic to try and fix it, but it was a no-go. My sister was a saint and let us bring the dogs over since we didn't want them freezing at home and we had no idea if/when it would turn back on. (Thanks again, sis!) Ever since the HVAC guy came Monday and cleaned the system everything has been working well, thank goodness.

Saturday night we had a holiday party in Maryland that was hosted by a coworker from my previous job. We helped them paint their new house a couple months ago, but it was so great to see everything else they finished. Not to mention the good food and great company! I love those get togethers because we get to catch up with the people I worked with for 3+ years. I was an idiot and completely forgot my camera, so no pictures :(

Sunday started out down south in Fredericksburg visiting the Mr.'s family. We wanted to get together for Thanksgiving, but as you know we hosted my family at our place. The girls were with some other family and his mom left early to beat a storm brewing in WV, but it was great to hang out with the Mr.'s brother and his wife.

Mid afternoon we headed back up north to a party being hosted by the Mr.'s bosses. The food was delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out by the wood burning fireplace. (Does anyone else love that smell?!)

Tuesday I came down with a cold or something and was knocked out for most of Wednesday. Not even kidding, I slept from 9pm Tuesday to 1pm Wednesday, minus a couple bathroom breaks and phone calls. I am feeling a bit better today, but when my boss saw me he told me to go home. So I finished up the work I needed to do and headed out. Just in time, since it's been snowing like crazy since about 10am!

The pups have enjoyed having me home and I enjoyed getting some pictures since it seems like it has been forever since I whipped out my camera. So enjoy!

View from our house as of noon

Can we go out and play now?

How about now?

I love his eyes :)

Aspen refuses to look at me when I am taking pictures

Hi pretty girl!

Hope you all stay safe and warm on this snowy afternoon!

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What I'm loving: 12/8

It's been awhile since I did one of these, and I've got some great goodies this time. I guess you could consider this a "home edition" since all of these picks would make a house a home. Let's get to it!

I am absolutely loving these gorgeous wool blankets from mexchic. Handmade using natural wool, these are a steal at only $70! The houndstooth pattern is my favorite, but they have a bunch of other styles.

This pair of vintage-inspired pillows is to die for. I'm not sure what I love more- the covers or the pillow inside.

Everyone needs a little extra sparkle during the holiday season and these cachepots are the perfect thing to provide it. Blown glass is gorgeous to begin with, but the antique mercury finish really completes the look.

Every year I buy a new calendar from Etsy to display at work. Last year I went with a Le Papier Studio calendar, but this year I plan on purchasing this adorable one. I love the notes section for each month since I have to keep track of so many birthdays!

Last, but certainly not least, are these gorgeous metal and wood tables. I love the rustic yet modern look these provide. I have wanted to replace our (free off Freecycle) end tables for quite some time and these are definitely calling my name. If it weren't the season to bleed money, I might pull the trigger.

And even though we need that extra shelf for storage, I love this option, too.

Well, that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed the latest version of What I'm Loving!

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A little more holiday cheer

As promised, here are the pictures of our outside Christmas decorations! I was just going through the blog archives and I realized I have never posted pictures of what we do outside. I am sure I have them on my external hard drive, but now you have nothing to compare to!

Well, this is what we did this year:

We have always done the lights on the low-lying bushes and we continued that this year. However, normally we put lights up the tree trunk and loop them through the tree out front. The Mr. wanted to change things up a bit, so that's what we did. We bought two cheap garlands from Lowe's ($10 each) and just added some LED lights we already had to them. Wrap it up the column and voila!

This picture shows the ornaments I always put in our transom window and the gorgeous wreath we bought along with our tree.

And that completes the Christmas decor tour. I'm really happy with the simplistic and classic look we've got going on this year. Might be my favorite year of decorations yet!

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