i love lamp.

Lamps. 

I've never been a big "lamp person."  Maybe it's because everyone always thought my name was lamPkin. It's not.  I know there are some of you that thought it was.  But there's no "P."  only 6 more weeks of that though :)

back to lamps...we won't have an overhead light in our master bedroom so we have to use lamps.  I was on a search.  That search left me so sad because lamps are so freaking expensive.  Lamps and end tables (which we are still on the hunt for)...what's up with that?  Enter: TJ MAXX!  discount lamps...ON SALE!  I got two of these pretty navy lamps with a khaki canvas shade.

I think it will go quite nicely against our grey and yellow...

west elm

wait...navy...grey...yellow....seems like my wedding color scheme is now becoming my house color scheme.  hope I still like it when I'm not in 24/7 wedding mode.

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!

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!!!

Chalk it up

I'm sure you've seen it places...on blogs, in stores.  Chalkboard paint.  It's kind of taking over.  Might as well jump on the wagon, right?!

The old fireplace in josh's house is completely filled in.  So it doesn't work.  He's had a gate in front of it with "fireplace tools" beside to give the feeling of a fireplace.  since those weren't really necessary we gave them to Goodwill to open up the space a bit.  that left a blank canvas.  perfect for some chalking...

and now...the final product!

options are endless!

decorations of red...

as much as I would LOVE to buy new bedding every single month I'm quite the opposite when it comes to my seasonal decorations.  I tend to keep everything the same from one year to the next (as much as I've been able to).  Each little piece is considered an investment and it has a specific place and purpose.  Well, I broke my rules this year.  I got something new to go on the mantle.

Isn't it cute?! We got them in at Hallmark awhile back.  I saw it, fell in love, saw that it was the slightest bit damaged and got it for even cheaper!!!  I love how the bird on top ties in with my beloved bird vase.  So here is our new sign, with it's new "mantle decoration friends" looking like its been there every year before..

I also got this new little, what a I call, sweater tree!  I think it's super cute and warm and cuddle-y. 

In my mind it would go on the floor by the "fireplace" but Dylan thought it was his Christmas toy.  So now, it's home is the dentist cabinet along with some left over yarn balls I didn't use on my wreath.

christmas wreath in progress

it's still lacking one major part...BUT...at least it's on the door!!!

still have a dead mum and gourd on the porch.  baby steps folks...still taking baby steps.

baby steps towards Christmas

When it comes to decorating for Christmas I am typically a GET IT ALL DOWN IN ONE DAY kind of girl.  Well, that just didn't happen this year. 

I mentioned in the last post that we lost all of our outside decor in the flood.  So, we started with the inside and the Christmas tree.  That lead to the mantle and a few other spots. Piece by piece it is coming together.  I don't like that it's not completely finished...but I'm also not at Josh's house everyday so it doesn't bother me as much.

Here is a mantle sneak peek:

and like I said...the outside is not decorated.  not only is just not decorated for Christmas, but it still has a gourd on the porch. GASP! I know, I know.  Please don't tell Martha!  It will be thrown away soon...right babe?! (hint hint).  I was going to take a picture, but you get this instead ...the x's mark what isn't there.

the outside...the very sad, dead, remains of fall.  but inside it's like a Christmas forest full of pine, evergreen, and everything merry.

How is your house? All decorated? outside AND in?!

O Christmas Tree!

Woo Hoo!!!! Hellloooooo Christmas season!  Josh and I (along with A.LOT. of folks) got our Christmas tree this weekend.  The past years I've had an artificial tree.  It was a great deal I found at target about 5 years ago.  She was great and reliable.  Despite the fact that some birds made my tree its home in my mom's basement last year...Josh was determined to get a live one.  I'm fairly certain our family will be a "live tree" family.  It is just a little bit more fun, it makes your house smell nice, and it gives the man something to do when it's time to decorate (not that arranging the garland on the mantle just right isn't Josh's favorite...).

last year our tree was somewhat "small" considering it barely went over Josh's head...but this year, we changed up the location and were able to get a much taller tree!

(I'm sure this is one of those points where Josh wishes I would be more helpful instead of taking pictures the whole time...but it looks like he's doing a great job).  and see...perfectly straight...great job babe!

900 lights and some ornaments later...

We lost all our outside decorations in the flood so we are having to re-think what we want it all to look like.  Josh's is fine to go all Griswold on the roof, I'm more of a keep it classy all white lights look.  We'll see how it goes!

lil' pumpkin baby shower - part 1

my friend Ryan is having a little baby girl, Olive, in February.  soooo...of course we needed to shower her with some love and decided November was the perfect time to throw a Lil' Pumpkin Baby Shower.  If you ever need to throw a shower might I suggest having wonderful helpers like these lovely ladies...

hellloooo fall boots!  but seriously, such fun women to work with (and fabulous cooks...more on the food later).

Here are some of the decorations we had at the shower...

pumpkins...naturally

diaper cake - duh! caitlin helped me put this one together! 

The top is always something I stress about but I love how this bow came together. 

happy girl!!! that means bows!

Lele made these adorable letters (seen in the group picture).  it was her idea to hang them from the mantle by a branch...super cute!  AND look at her sweet little fabric pumpkins.  lele, she's a keeper!

and for little "thank you" treats I made one of ryan's favorite treats, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins!

check back later for more of the food and highlights from the shower!

more of the mantle

I finally remembered to bring the bird vase I told you about in this post over to josh's!

and it has a pretty home on the mantle!!!

and just for more fall fun...here is what I think will be the final version of my Fall Front Porch...for now :)

the big "D"

oh, the monogram.  who doesn't love to decorate with it, wear it on jewelry, put it on your car, your mugs, your tote bags...towels, dishes, pillows,  vases...you.name.it.  we all love it...to a certain degree.  Those things make super easy teacher gifts, wedding gifts, girlie gifts, etc.  Like you've seen here, and here I use a "D" on the wreaths I put on Josh's door.  I'm not sure why I always use it, I guess I feel like it brings it together.  who knows.  maybe it's a phase.

Anyway...as you know I'm working on making over the mantle.  To add to the fall decor I got a "D" from Michael's to embellish and put it up there.  (Maybe I feel like Josh will go along more with the decorating if it has part of his name in it? I don't know.)

I mod podged some orange paper...

Then mod podged this fun brown cut out paper I found...

and here ya go, the fall-est "D" there ever was...

the perfect pumpkin

To me, it was the perfect fall activity and would be something fun to do together and give me a chance to take some fun pictures.  To him, it was a project...his new mission - we would get the perfect pumpkin.

Josh and I went out to Gentry's Farm on Saturday to buy "the perfect pumpkin"...aka a pretty large pumpkin great for carving, and see what other fun things we could find. 

very proud he found his perfect pumpkin!

"I'll be your dentist"

10 points to whoever can name where that song comes from.

oh the dentist.  some people love going...others hate it.  I probably fall somewhere closer to the "hate it" side.  My guess would be that since my dentist was my orthodontist and I had to go see him once a month for 8 years I feel like I've put in my time...plus all of yours.  yep...I was awesome with metal in my mouth my. entire. childhood.

So mom and I decided to hit up some antique stores in nolensville last weekend.  I'd heard my friend Sara Beth talk about how much she loved Three French Hens so we thought we would try it out.  JACK POT!  such fun things!  They also own The Roost right next door.  I was looking for two things: a tall dresser, and a hallway cabinet that could fit in this little nook right in front of the bathroom at Josh's house.  I found several shelves that would work for the cabinet and had a hard time making a decision.  In the end, I decided I wanted something with character, a story, something that made it unique.  I certainly found that!

It was an old dentist cabinet.  The holes on the top were made so they could set their tools in them.  I loved it...just the character, story, and something unique I was looking for.

So now...maybe I don't hate the dentist so much.  They make cool cabinets that add something fun to my hallway!  The shelves are adjustable which is helpful...and I've already filled it with some books.

I'm not sure if I'll ever use the holes for anything.  Maybe just to tell the story.  Who knows.  You got any suggestions?

front porch fall decor

Josh went camping last weekend so I went over to his house to decorate!  That's how that works right? He does boy things, I do girlie things!

on Friday night I brought Bauer over with me so he and Dylan could "play" while I worked on other things.  They ingnored each other for a bit, then they "played", and now they are friends...

dylan seemed to be really happy about it...

Moving on...the crafts.  I found this white basket that I figured I could paint for various occasions.  Maybe fall on one side, spring on the other? I could totally paint the whole thing another color, stand it up, turn it over...the possibilites were endless for my $14 purchase.

I decided to paint it a little for fall...tie some raffia, and here is what we got:

It's not perfect, so I may paint over it, but it was a fun beginning. 

Saturday, Caitlin and I went to the farmer's market to get some decorations for the front porch (and it turns out some things for dinner too!).  And here is what I ended up with:

2 pumpkins and a gord for $15, and two mums for $20. I was super excited.

I know what you are thinking...you just covered up what you painted on the basket.  Well, I've since moved the pumpkins to the other side of the steps.  I'm not sure which I like better.  Either way...it's cool outside, I have pumpkins and mums on my porch, it's fall and I'm a happy girl!