Monday, December 31, 2012

Christmas Festivities 2012

Decking the halls, Christmas crafts, and some celebrating the joyous day. That's what we've been busy doing. It's a whirlwind that I'm not even really sure where to begin. So, we'll just start with the crafts I got done.

On my list of things to accomplish for this month, I wanted to get a few crafts done...nothing too crazy..just some cute ideas I had seen online. First up was some reusable gift tags. Chalkboard ones in fact. I got the idea from here, and decided to try it out on my own.
 
 

 
First I spray painted my wood cut outs, found at your local craft store, with chalkboard paint.
 
 


 
After the second coat has dried, hot glue whatever you wish to use as a string.
I used a silver cording and looped it to be able to tie  on to the ribbons and bows on packages.
 
Next, take a piece of chalk and just quickly rub it all over the painted side of the tag.
This treats the paint, and makes it have that chalkboard finish.
 
The finished product!
 
 
I also came up with the idea to make some icicle ornaments, sorta inspired by this pin on pinterest. Unfortunately, when I went to Hobby Lobby, the only mirror squares they had were mostly broken pieces. So, I improvised. I decided to get a couple bags of those little clear jewels and some fishing line. I started with gluing one jewel on the end of the line, and then...because I'm a genus and made one with silver beads on it...which of course my husband loved, I had to string those teeny tiny seed beads on to each one I was making. Like 40 of them. It took me at least a week. Genius. Well, when I finally finished that step, I glued another jewel to the end to make a loop. And tada!  Finished product that made  a wonderful addition to our tree. 


I really love how they reflect the light!!

 
I had wanted to make a snowman painting for our kitchen, too. But, that only got the background painted. Maybe next year??

Now, here are a few pictures of our brand new home all decorated for Christmas. I'll just show you part of the kitchen and our living room. Since it is after Christmas and my house is a wreck...oh, and that's about all my decorations would cover....our house is just a tad bit larger than our previous ones.
 
 
 
 
 
Sorry for the horrible quality of pictures, they are from my phone.
 
 
And for our celebrating?? Well, on the 17th I had my annual Big Chill Christmas Party. Sorry, no pics this year, but it was a blast as always. We started the day off with lunch, opening presents, then we all had the night off so we could hang out together and enjoy the holidays. Then, on the 23rd, Josh's parents came in town to celebrate Christmas with us. We went out to eat Sunday night and then did our gift exchange with them, but unfortunately they had to head back to Helen on Christmas Eve...and I had to work. But, Josh and I both had all day of Christmas off so we got to spend the day up on Signal with my parents and grandparents. It was a perfect way to spend the day. By the time we got back home, we were so full and sleepy we just fell on the couch to watch a movie...which I didn't even make it through.  
 
Well, I think that pretty much covers it. And except for not finishing the snowman painting, I completed everything on my December Goals. Not to shabby if I say so myself.  It really was a great Christmas season...and I hope all of you had a wonderful time celebrating with friends and family as well. Merry Christmas to all (a little late) and a very, very Happy New Year!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

December Goals

 
Isn't she adorable?!?!
 Ok, so obviously I just got done going over November goals...and well, it wasn't really pretty. So, with it being December, and  a LOT going on, we are going to keep the goals to a minimum. Here we are:
 
 
*Meal plan
*Christmas shop
*Celebrate with work Christmas party
*Celebrate Christmas with family
*Celebrate New Year's with Josh (maybe some friends, too??)
*Send out Christmas cards
*Finish Christmas crafts:
      -chalkboard gift tags
      - icicle ornaments
      - snowman painting for kitchen
 
 
Not TOO much, but just enough with how much I work, and all that needs to get done. Bring it on, December.
 
And on a completely different note, I TOTALLY forgot to mention some big news. About a week before Thanksgiving, Chris and Kittie informed me they found out the gender of Baby Landis. However, because my parents planned on spending Thanksgiving with them, they wanted me to keep the secret so they could surprise them at Thanksgiving. And let me tell you, that was one of the hardest things I have ever done!!! But, luckily now everyone knows, and they have even made it "Facebook Official" so....I am proud to announce that Baby Landis is a.......(drum roll please)....a beautiful.....baby.......
 
 
 
 
GIRL!!!!
 
Beautiful already. Due April 4.


November Goals

Within a blink of an eye, November came and went. I don't even know how it happened, and unfortunately, that means that a lot did not get done around 805. So let's recap real quick what I wanted to get done, and what actually DID get done. (Don't worry, this will be quick.)

*Read 2 books   FAIL!!! Not only did I not have any books in mind, I don't think I even glanced at a book. Horrible.
*Limit of 2 fast food days   Sorta....I can't say that we only ate fast food twice, but I can say that we ate it A LOT less than we used to. So, that's still an improvement.
*Celebrate our 1 year anniversary  CHECK! And there's even a post, Our First Anniversary.
*Celebrate Thanksgiving  CHECK!! More about it here.
*Lunch with 2 friends FAIL.
*Football night with friends  CHECK...even though I never took pictures, or even mentioned it, we did get to hang out with friends for a few different games.
*Re-do dining room chairs, finally  CHECK!!!!! Look at the fabulous transformation.
*Make a kitchen chalk board FAIL
*Find paint colors for the house Sorta...I picked out a bunch of paint chips, but have not actually made any decisions.
*List of house wants/needs  FAIL
*Organize/clean out clothes Sorta...I organized, MOST of the clothes...and went through a fair amount, but we definitely need a whole day spent doing this...
*Work on Josh's man cave FAIL. Nothing was accomplished other than putting up some pictures and moving boxes out.
*Weekly grocery shopping CHECK
*Meal planning CHECK....well...for the most part. HA.
*Christmas shopping list CHECK
*Save 25% of weekly earnings FAIL. Hard to do when you gotta buy for the holidays.

So there ya have it folks. I'd like a lot more green in that list, but not too horrible considering we just moved into the house, and we had Thanksgiving. Yes, I am trying to justify my lack of motivation, time in November. And I'd like to say it will be better in December, but let's just be honest.....it probably won't.


Almost Like New


I finally got the dining room chairs redone!! With the help of my mom, it only took two days to get them all done. And if we had had the seats cut, we probably would have been able to get them done all in one day! Now, I don't really have a before picture of what my chairs looked like, but I have found this one from American Freight's website. (That's where we got this set.) So here's what they looked like before:
















Matrix 5 Piece Dining Set









And the finished result:






TADAAAAAA. Aren't they fabulous?? I think so. And they were done just in the nick of time for Thanksgiving. Which we will get into later.

Thanksgiving

Josh and I were lucky enough to have off for Thanksgiving together. Normally we go to his parents house in Helen, GA to celebrate, but this year, because I had to work the day before and Josh had to work the day after, his parents came to our house. It was really great that they took the day off from the shop (they own a little art store in downtown Helen) and made the 3 hour trip to come see us, and our new home. Oh, and of course the girls. And, I go to show off my mad cooking skills by staying in the kitchen all day long. But isn't that the fun of Thanksgiving??? It really wasn't so bad. I had everything prepped and ready to be put into the oven or stove top whenever we were close to dinner, so it really saved me from going completely nuts, plus I got to spend time with the fam. And of course, the only pictures I have are of the food, who thinks to get pictures of people anymore?? Not this girl. I should make a mental note to take more pictures of US and not just food and the girls. Maybe next year?
 
 


 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Looks delicious, huh? Well it was. ha. Sorry, no left overs.