country kitchen

oh the kitchen.

it's my most favorite room in a house.  i like that people gather around food...and often times that means gathering in the kitchen.  in the past places i've lived i've worked hard to strategically figure out the best way to organize and arrange my kitchen.  the functionality and flow are very important to me...where the dishes are in proximity to the dish washer...where the pots are in relation to the stove...what to put up top that I don't always need, etc.  I'm still working on that for Josh's. 

in the meantime, we are focusing on decorating.  all the apartments i've lived in before haven't had much wall space (or any space) in the kitchen.  So there really wasn't much to think about.  Josh's kitchen, however, has pretty green walls and an eat in kitchen area that are begging to be decorated. 

All the appliances and kitchen accents are silver.  The walls are green.  We've decided to go with a nice warm, southern, country, farm kitchen feel...since we are both from the south and long for a day when we can have land...and maybe a farm :)

cows

ducks

both pictures are from one of our favorite downtown franklin shops, Wessex and Rye

we also ordered this oversized postcard to put up from Yee Haw Industries!

wall by wall...cow picture by cow picture we are making the house Our Home!

ps. any of you folks with great kitchen organizing tips...i'd love to hear them!

snow much snow

seriously.

What's the deal with all the snow?!?!  (this is for Josh...and his love of Seinfield) Don't get me wrong, I love a good snow day...but this is just crazy! 

sweet little dylan likes to get all cozy in his hoodie when it snows!

a winter wreath

well...Christmas is past so it's time for a new wreath.  a winter one...

Last spring I made this simple twine wreath for Josh's front door...

We still had it in the closet to I thought I would revamp it a bit.

I've been cleaning out my closet over the past few months just to be sure my clothes will all fit at josh's!  Goodwill has LOVED me lately.  There have a been a few older peices that I have kept though...for craft purposes.  Like these...

I cut two pairs of courdory pants and one shirt into strips, like so...

I rolled the strips up into little flower rosettes...

after hot gluing some groupings of the flowers...

you have a nice winter colored wreath!

and just think...when it's time for a new spring one...I will actually live at this house!!!

who wants to lick?!

one of my biggest DIY projects for the wedding has been the invitations.
a. I love paper
b. I have a slight addiction to all things stationery
c. I have control issues and want it to be done just the way I see it in my head
d. I actually think it's kind of fun

I was excited to use one of my most favorite places for inspiration and paper products, Paper Source, for part of the invitations.  The week of Christmas I received a box...

that had these in it...

I'm weird. but I love my envelopes.  I also love Josh...he helped me assemble 100 invitations last week!!!

camera strap cover

my dear friend lele made this awesomely cute camera strap cover for my christmas present this year!

(sorry for the horrible lighting)

not only is it cute, but it's practical. she added some felt and so it's cushiony...my neck is forever grateful.  When you are walking around disney world with a big camera around your neck all day...it gets a tad heavy.  So now, I probably need to go back to disney world to compare it since I have a super comfy camera strap now. right? that's the only  logical thing to do.

far from perfect

Ah, perfection.  It's a crazy thing.  We'll never reach it...even though we always try.  I'm an odd duck.  I tend to be quite the "perfectionist" although I don't like things to be exactly perfect.  My perfect is a little off...just like me.  Nothing like wedding planning to bring out your imperfections.

Example A: these gift tags.  I didn't use a paper cutter.  I just cut free handed with scissors.  None of the lines are straight, nothing is centered, and not one is the same.  Totally full of flaws and imperfect. 

see what I mean? but I LOVED how they turned out.

There's a not a huge point to this blog except to encourage you people who think you "can't" that you totally CAN!  And you don't have to have fancy craft tools...just scissors and glue.

cason, newborn pictures

little baby cason didn't LOVE having his picture made...but I think we got some cute shots!

what a sweet baby boy!

a year ago today

A year ago today, Josh had a stroke.

CRAZY.

it was an odd feeling standing there helpless as he slowly lost the use of his legs...then arms...then he couldn't talk, or focus his eyes. i knew it was serious but there was nothing i could do to stop it or help him.  it was an odd feeling knowing that my mom and could not get him to the car ourselves to take him to the hospital so we had to call 911.  it was an odd feeling sitting there waiting for the ambulance.  i would tell him everything would be ok and he couldn't respond.  he would try and talk and nothing would come out.  i remember seeing the frustration and worry in his eyes as we waiting.

i don't know if any of you have ever ridden in an ambulance.  i always thought that meant you ride in the back with the person that is hurt.  that wasn't the case for me.  i road up front in the passenger seat, in the bouncy seat constantly turning back to look through the window and look at josh.  i wanted him to know i was there, he didn't.

we got the hospital and though josh was able to talk again, he still had trouble forming sentences and remembering information.  it was up to me to provide his date of birth, address, full name, etc.  Apparently the only thing he was able to tell the EMT in the ambulance was that he was going to marry me.  We'd been dating 5 months at this point.  That's not very long for most standards.  Though I knew a lot earlier than I ever admitted that I would marry this man, it was on this day, in the emergency room, praying that he would be ok that I knew I'd be with him forever.

After his family came and tests were run, finally...about 4 hours after the episode he was back to normal and could have conversation with full sentences and remember facts.  They never found an exact cause but all his tests came back normal.  hopefully it was a freak moment and he won't have one ever again!

here's to another year stroke free!

pico

meet pico.

He belongs to my friends Anna (MOH) and Noah.  He's adorable and I thought you should meet him.

Pico lives in Kansas where it's cold so he loves wearing jackets and pajamas.

while anna and noah were in town, they asked me to take a family picture for their HAPPY NEW YEAR card..here is the one they used and their cards turned out great!

new sharpie prdouct

so...I love shapries...given. Josh gave me a whole new set in my stocking for Christmas...he truly loves me!

a few days ago at Walgreens while I was getting my passport picture taken (RANT: I have to get a new passport b/c mine expires in the middle of our honeymoon and i'm terrified of getting stuck in mexico.  So I have to pay $110 to renew my passport to use ONE TIME because the next time I go somewhere my name will have change so I'll spend another $110 to renew it again. blergh.) I saw a new sharpie product:

that's right folks.  Sharpie makes a pencil.  You don't have to click the lead out each time...it's liquid so it has a rolling tip like a pen...I think.  I've used it for a few days.  I don't always love using pencils but this one isn't bad.  You have to hold it upright (like you do the Sharpie pen) or it will skip a little, but it erases perfectly!!!  AND you don't get smudge marks on the side of your hand!

I did make a "to do" list with it and stuck it in my purse.  by the end of the day it had all rubbed off...sad.  but this has been the only negative part.

baby cason

meet cason...

cason was born the week before Christmas...such a sweet little boy!

Josh and I went up to the hospital to meet him the day after he was born. 

I love how he's looking right at josh in this picture.

here's the new happy family of four!

this was the first time Cody had met his little brother, so it took some getting used to! 

congratulations friends!!! we are so excited about your new addition.

check back next week for some newborn pictures at their house.

picture frames

I read a lot of crafty blogs.  I'd seen the same concept on a few different sites so I decided to make my on own variation.  I turned a normal block of wood into, hopefully, a cute picture frame!

I took a block of wood...you could make it any size you want...I actually have no idea what size these are...  Anyway, I sanded down the edges.  Mod podged some paper on the top. Distressed edges.

I had some left over "glass" from old frames I was going to get rid of.  So I got some thumb tacks and hammered them in the wood to hold the glass in place.

I made some little fabric flowers to put on the sides by the glass...

just roll up fabric and hot glue it to some felt. super simple.

then I hot glued the flowers onto to the wood frame...

attach some ribbon to the back...and you're done!!!

the glass can slide out and you just add your picture behind it!

2010 picture review

here is my 2010 photo highlights

january

february

march

april

may

june

july

august

september

october

november

december