{Christmas Time is Here}

Can you believe that it's almost Christmas?? I am so very excited and as most people, just LOVE this time of year.  Mainly because it's a time to look back at the wonderful year that's passed with family and great friends and look forward to the next year and what all it has in store for us! I have decorated for Christmas, this is the holiday that I do the most decorating for.  I have put the garland on the stairs but have not put the lights on it yet :(. Also, hubby has not put the outside lights up yet.  That's in the plan this weekend.  We will see...we both have this nasty head cold.  It's no fun! I gave it to him, my mom and my friend at work.  You're welcome! Anyway, here are some little pictures of the decorations so far. As you can tell the tree & mantle are the most decked! LOVE OUR HOME! (Please excuse my iPhone pics.....it's just so darn convenient!)

Pretty Tree

Stockings

Our little Bear's stocking. 

My newest Christmas purchase...my little Pottery Barn Christmas tree found it's home on my PB tray: a gift from my bridal shower.

I just love this red stuff

Spray Painted pine cone tree from last year

A daylight picture....just as cozy as night!

I hope you enjoyed looking at our home this Christmas, and can have a little fun decorating yours! 

{my weekend in pictures}

I had an absolutely wonderful weekend away from football with my mama at the lake.  We stopped in Cockrell, Missouri on the way down for their Annual Christmas Open House! Can you say cutest little town ever? The area we went had so many cute little kitchen stores.  I imagine it would be what Heaven looks like!!! My sweet mama bought me a nickel cake stand with beaded edges, it looks similar to my tray that I LOVE that's currently on the coffee table. I couldn't get a picture of it because it a Christmas present & she wouldn't let me take it out of the bag. Wink wink... :)

Christmas...which I love!

Yummy Damifino (Damn If I Know) wine --Madre decided she needed a case! 

Cole Camp, MO

We made little homemade dog treats.  They were a BIG hit!

I hope you enjoyed my weekend in pictures, because let me just tell you...I did!

{Lately & my DIY Trough}

 I'm a little behind on this one, but with my sweet new job, a new and little furry son {which BTW is the perfect pup, no potty accidents in the house and only a few poos & he sleeps through the night {sometimes...}! We got lucky, to say the least!!}, and baby/bridal showers GALORE I have been one busy lady!

My goal was to finish this project before Christmas so I could put TONS of greenery & ornaments in it, but it would have been nice to get it done before {my favorite season} fall sets in, so I could stuff some leafy garland and things of that nature in it!

My hubby left town last Wednesday to head to California to see one of his old HS buddies.  A bunch of the guys went and he had a blast, but I was pretty excited about all the free time I would have to catch up on my shows, snuggle my pup, shop, and of course a few projects!

Back to the trough box, Thrifty Decor Chick did it 1st. She is one very bright lady when it comes to home projects! Some I love, some I don't love as much, but she does a pretty great job when it comes to DIY! Another blogger Laura at Suburban Living Crafts also did it.  I liked her version as well!

My version is a little taller because it is on our mantle and we have seriously 12 foot ceilings in our living room.  I needed some height.  It's pretty bulky and I like it!

 I have to insert this funny story here: So I'm in the lumber aisle trying to decide which width to get and of course going through every piece of wood there trying to find the perfect piece.  I had been at this for about 4-5 minutes without noticing the world around me was still moving.  This little old man is standing there waiting for me to {friggin'} make up my mind, with a big smile on his face like he was just waiting to see how long I would really take to make a decision this easy.  I finally looked over and apologized for making him wait.  Then I heard the song on the overhead, and no joke it was that country song "Waitin' on a Woman".  He made some comment about the song and I had to laugh as I walked away.....isn't that a cute little story?


Mike would say that song describes me to a tee!

So since hubby was gone, & I'm not one for patience, I had to do some manual labor.  Although we do have a compound miter saw, I don't trust myself around it.....I had Lowe's cut it for me to the pre-measured dimensions that I wanted.  To get these dimensions, I basically measured across my mantle and the depth of it.

I beat it up a little bit {same as Sarah} with a hammer and then stained it with a foam brush the exact stain that I used in the guest bathroom upstairs. I then attached the three long pieces together.  First with liquid nails, then after that dried, with actual nails.  I capped the small end pieces on last.  I wanted to make it look a little more rugged so the nails on the capped end pieces are exposed. TA-DA! If anyone else would like to do this project, I would love to give you some advice! It was one of my favorites and it's the gift {to myself} that keeps on giving! Here's the masterpiece! What a versatile piece for our mantle!

You probably noticed the new trellis pattern canvas in front of the mirror....hmmmmm I did a little re-do on it.  Previously it looked like this:

I grew a little sick of it, never truly finished it, and I like the stencil pattern but did not want a whole wall of it because it's so trendy.  This is the stencil I used 

and I think it turned out DARLING! 

Guess what? FALL is on it's way! & I am too excited...Only 3 more days until Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back at Starbucks!! Yummy! I can't wait for everything fall! 

To get the long weekend started my best friend and I went to Pirtle Winery in Weston, MO.  Such a cute little winery & town! The Apple Wine is delicious!

I'm going to wrap the post up with another yes another deal with it picture of my dog son. Peace!

{wrapped & done by December 1}

OK guys, that is my plan.  To be wrapped & done by December 1 {I got the idea from this gorgeous website}....Do you think I can do it? 

I started my Christmas shopping just recently, and because I always get ahead of myself I have included a link to the gift tags that I will be using this Christmas on all of our presents!  Aren't they just as cute as can be? I love this! Fall can't come soon enough.....

These are the two tag pages that I love so much! I may tie in some of the black ones too, but I'm not loving the lime green.  To print them yourself, just buy some good ole card stock, print the tags out, cut them out, punch a hole in the top and put some ribbon through it. Voila!! Gift tags can get expensive! Well, the really cute ones that I like can.... Not anymore!

CLICK HERE For the Website Link!

You're Welcome!

P.S. Please don't print the tags from this blog post, they won't be very good quality.  Go to the website above and scroll down, click on the tags you like, then print. 

{Organizing is F.U.N.}

Happy Cinco de Mayo!! What are your plans tonight?? We're going to get some Mexican food downtown with my pops and family and my little brother (fresh from a year vacay in the land down under). So, funny story, when DH (dear husband) and I were eating Mexican on Sunday night, I said something like "Cinco de Mayo is this week" and no joke he said back "What date is it?"...blank stare with a burrito in my mouth. Oh he must be kidding? No, people, he didn't know that Cinco de Mayo meant fifth of May...I then proceeded to ask him how many years he's been alive...blah blah blah you know the rest.

Anyway! I am normally bored by organizing tutorials and posts, but not when it happens in my own home!  Not now at least...In the past, when it came time to clean and organize, I was more the type that would go to a room to clean get distracted by pictures, end up looking at them for an hour, go to another room to clean, paint my nails, wait for them to dry, go to another room, play with all my make-up and skin products, get a phone call to go to lunch with a friend, go to lunch, then get to the cleaning {the original task at hand}.  You get the idea.  It was a looooong process.......Not no mo'!...well, not most of the time.  Mr. Hubs would say I'm still that way, I would have to disagree.

I got away from my old habits for a couple of hours to complete this little organization project.  The wheels started turning one night when hubs and I were wasting time after dinner and before our movie at Bed Bath & Beyond.  I spotted these cute little tray organizers and that's when it took a turn...

They fit perfectly in our drawers!

These are our bathroom drawers before. Hot Mess Express.

Can you guess which one's mine? Does the hair flower give it away?

Hubby's supplements or whatever these are went into the *newly* organized linen closet, in the 'other' basket



Random findings

I had 3 pens just lounging around in my drawer and hubby had 3 in his as well.  Great minds think alike...  It makes sense to store pens in a bathroom drawer...doesn't it?  Don't answer that.  Needless to say, they got moved to the desk in the office, and now I don't have to go searching everytime I have a list to make. 

Look how perfectly this one fits!

After.  Whew, much better. 

Hers

His, yes that's a mint, he had Starbursts hiding in there too...

I did organize underneath the drawers as well in the bathroom, but those pics aren't nearly as fun. Really boring, but really organized!

I would like to end this post with my brand new aloe plant that I'm in love with.  Who knew terra-cotta pots double as chalkboards?

I got this cutie at the River Market a couple weekends ago with my BFF Courtney.  Look at those pretty flowers, too!

Until next time!