Why does spending money have to be so fun??

These are a few new purchases that we have made recently to start personalizing our new home!

These touch lamps for our bedroom are completely awesome.  We both are in love with them.

This corner shelf was a dream come true.  It goes perfectly in our guest bath downstairs.

We bought this dog bed at the same place as the corner shelf.  Our apartment color has a strong green theme, so we were very excited about the purchase.  And the dogs love it too (that's Dylan with "Moose").

One of the next things on our wish list is a fireplace mantel!  I was thinking how bare our fireplace looks and then I thought, why not get a mantel?  It would be similar to hanging a picture, so it wouldn't wreck the walls or anything.  The only problem is how incredibly over-priced they are.  So we will see.  We also want a file cabinet, and I have a feeling that might trump the mantel due to affordability!

It always gives me a taste of childhood happiness

We are right smack dab in the middle of the holidays!  Doesn't it just make you sigh with a bit o' happiness?

Jeremy came up for Thanksgiving, and I even got a picture of his face!  WITHOUT his middle finger blocking it!  :)

We played quite a bit of Settlers of Catan and ate alot of food and watched Year One, which I highly recommend to not watch.  Pretty dumb and gross.

Then after he left today we did some decorating.  The tree is burgandy and gold colors again this year, but even more gold than last, which makes me happy!

The Cowboys are a part of our Christmas every year.

The centerpiece this year is much less extravagant than last year, but I love it just as much.  I love the little pinecone tree!!

The garland got some added flava flave this year with some flowers.

I bought my mom a new wreath for the door.  The flowers are made out of wood!  It's really quite cool!

And you can't forget our precious moments set up.

You will always find pinecones around our house.  Another thing that makes me happy!

And just another picture of my bowl I got over a year ago, that can hold just about anything well :)

Then we have our wooden deer that are forever and a day old.  My grandpa and grandma made them quite a while ago.

Let the Christmas spirit begin!

Easter

Welcome to the season of peeps!

While my mom was on vacation, I decided to do a little decorating for her.

This here turned out to be a disappointment, but oh well. They are little eggs around a candle and there is one on the other side of the mantel as well.

Here is my carrot creation!

And here is the centerpiece...

Now all I need is the house...

In reference to Taumi's blog, here are my results to the quiz!

67% French Eclectic

This suprised me actually. But I guess I do like that "casual, classy" feel. And I've always tried to make me "spaces to feel inviting from the moment you (or your guest) opens the front door".

And when I read that there are "rustic country elements" it seemed a little less suprising to me. I tend to drift towards the rustic, but still pretty, styles.

33% Traditional Country

This one was alot less suprising. I love quilts and coziness and wood, but I also like it to be light and airy. I really do "love spaces that feel casual and lived in. Furniture is practical and comfortable, and yet at the same time its very stylish." Always my goal is to make "Each space in the home seems to invite friends and family to come in and stay a while." And my ultimate goal is that "There is a true sense of home felt throughout."

Overall, I was suprised at first with my results, but probably because I've never really thought about what real styles I may drift towards. Just my own labels I guess. But now, I think the results make alot of sense!

alot of work that I didnt help with

So my mom repainted the living room and dining room. and it looks gooooood!

This is the work in progress...

And the finished product:

everything

Let's start off with the least important of all of these unimportant things. I bought a new comforter for my room. (actually a duvet). And I really love it. It's so purdy with all the paisley's.

So you know when there is road construction and its down to one lane and there are flaggers directing if you can go on the lane or if the oncoming traffic is using the lane? Well, I guess the flaggers of the world are losing their jobs to machines. As my dad and I drove past this contraption that served that purpose...

I took a picture of this bike because it is taking a whole parking space! Who does this person think they are? I mean, bikes can park on sidewalks typically, right? And not only that, he took one of the best spots closest to the door.

Lemons...

I made a virgin Cosmopolitan (in a margarita glass, but thats the best I could do). It was okay. But quite tangy. I would hold some of the lime next time.

Malachi and I made some sugar/dairy free oatmeal raisin cookies. They tasted good, but they were waaay too crumbly. So more tweaking needs to be done to this recipe as well.


The chefs:

Also, tomorrow I'll be watching football (cowboys vs packers) and cheering along with my dogs, who I forced to be cowboys fans...


Hope everyone has been having a happy sabbath!

My Slightly Less Boring Bathroom!

I'm making my bathroom silver/white/orange. My towels arent quite the color I was wanting. They are more of a burnt orange when I want the color of my candles, which is a brighter color. These pictures were taken without the rug in there too. But I am mostly excited that I have pictures up!!

I still need to get a soap dispenser. And I want to get a silver shelfy thing for the stuff on my counter. Maybe tiered, maybe not. Whatever I can find really.
And I was going to make something for my mirror, but I decided to just buy this silver one and save the frame making for when I move and know more about what colore and where I want it. I dont want to put that much time into something that I wont use later!

That's all! Doesnt compare to taumi's dining room. But it still makes me happy when I'm brushing my teeth!

Twin Cities Luxury Home Tour

A couple of weeks ago I went to a few ritzy houses and took a few pictures.

This was a cute little door to a play room that was between a nursery and a little girl's room.

Here is some cool tile. I'm not a fan of the black dots, but the tile was curvy, which I thought was cool.

I like this new trend of textured wallpaper. There is alot of velvetty flower shapes and stuff like that, but this was really cool. It was a leather looking material with lots of knots. It was very fitting for the office that it was in.

Here's Malachi in our 3 season porch with slideable screens.

One thing that was in a couple different houses were ipods in the walls. One house had them in nearly every room and another house had them 'just' in all of the bathrooms.

I am going to make this box.

Here's my dad looking out my balcony at my pool.

I've always thought that a fireplace by a tub is a nice idea, but first of all I dont like that you can see through it to the bedroom. Second of all, I already get too hot when I take a bath, so I would never use a fireplace!

I really liked how they have light fixtures directly on the bathroom mirrors. I also liked how this one had a window surrounded by the bathroom mirror.

This was a bookshelf/secret door.

This was the laundry room/dog bath room. My dogs will never be so lucky. But I think they are happy about that.

A trickling waterfall.