Monday, November 28, 2011

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Giving Thanks

I honestly cant believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  Where has the year gone?  This time of year is always my favorite and my least favorite at the same time.  So many exciting things happen, with turkey day, and then my birthday a week later, and then family parties and ultimately Christmas and New Years.  Although I am a grown up, I cant help but admit that Christmas and my birthday are still my favorite holidays (yes, my birthday IS a holiday).  I love getting gifts and celebrating with my family and friends.  Yes, giving gifts is fun too, but I am not one of those people who would rather give than receive.

Anyways, here is my list of what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving:

1.) That my parents are driving 6 hours to come celebrate the holiday with us in New Jersey
2.) that the tree department finally picked up all our branches from the Halloween snow storm
3.) That I have a home where I can host Thanksgiving dinner with our family and actually enjoy it
4.) My new DV shoes that I havent stopped wearing for a week
5.) Our fireplace
6.) For the husband, who makes more messes than a toddler
7.) For the husband, who cleaned the upstairs yesterday
8.) For my family, be it my brother in Texas or my in-laws. Not many people can say they have a family that gets along as well as mine does and i truly appreciate them all
9.) The pup
10.) football tomorrow, Friday, Saturday AND Sunday
11.) frozen hot chocolate
12.) pies, stuffing and gravy
13.) For my king size bed, where my perfect little family sleeps each night
14.) For health and happiness, sarcasm and humor.


Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving with their families and friends!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Favorite Home Ever

As a blogger and self proclaimed stalker of all things interior design, I tend to find alot of things that inspire me on a daily basis.  My ultimate goal is to one day have a job where I can simply take tours of people's homes and then write about how amazing they are, a la Apartment Therapy.  I see pictures and drive by gorgeous homes every day and there are many different things that attract me to the ones i love.  Bright colored front doors, hand-crafted shutters, large and inviting porticos with the perfect lamp hanging above, lattice work and hard wooded porches, the list goes on and on.  But every time I see these homes I love, there is always something that is out of place.  Maybe the colors are all wrong, or the area sucks.  Or maybe the house is a cookie-cutter type, for which I have never been fond of. 

When we started searching for our first home over 2 years ago, my biggest "want" was for it to feel like a home, and not a carbon copy of the house next door.  I wanted an open space and new fixtures, but i didnt want boring basics.  I didnt want to miss out on all the perfect imperfections that make a house a home.  So when we found our colonial home, it really packages up everything I wanted.  It needed some love but had good bones, and by changing some colors and putting our own design spin on it, it became ours.  It is still changing (I literally move things from room to room on a weekly basis), but we love it.

So what is the point of all my babbling?  Its that I have found my dream house.  No, its not a mansion on the water, or an old, renovated victorian in some overpriced neighborhood.  Its simple and plain, lived in and imperfect. It doesnt have shiny sparkly appliances and a chef's kitchen.  It is quaint and cozy and is filled with amazing, one of a kind pieces that I would happily accept from the owner, say, if they wanted to give them all to me.






  I want to live here.  I dont care that its in Sweden, or that it is easily 100 years old, if not more.  It has land, a view to die for, and I want to wake up every day in this attic-bedroom with exposed beam ceiling, go downstairs and light a fire in my kitchen stove while I yell at the husband to go outside and get more wood.  Yeah, thats what my perfect house wish is.  Whats yours?

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Nailed It

With the holidays coming up, I am always looking for some sweet new way to make my nails really pop.  Out are the days of boring old manicures with one shiny color, and in are technicolored nails that are sure to get attention.  Check some out below:

Peacock inspired

 
nice and light, with minimal artwork
 inverted and matte, probably my favorite and something i can definitely not DIY

A bit southwestern/Aztec-ish

Now this is amazing.  Supposedly if you add water to a bowl, add in some of the desired colors (they will float), swirl with a toothpick and then put your nails in, you get this result!

This one might be the most manageable of them all, easy and straight lined, with great color.  

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Ive been a bad bad blogger

I have been MIA lately, and its totally lame, I know.  Last week was truly a week from hell, and so far this week aint gettin any better.  Let's review:

It all started last Monday, when the proverbial shit hit the proverbial fan at work.  Nothing to do with me, but I of course had to clean up the aftermath and everything that was in it's wake.  Tuesday wasnt so bad, and then Wednesday hit me in the face like Chuck Lidell with brass knuckles.  My blackberry broke.  As in the screen went black, the buttons stopped working, and I couldnt do any work.  I happen to be in CT when this all happens, so I high tail it to the nearest Verizon store to get a new phone, because (yay!) Im due for a new one anyway.  They are so nice, and after 3 hours of waiting, I get me a new phone, and bam, its on like donkey kong.  I return to work/home with my new blackberry, and the world is good.  The weekend came, TG, and off we went to PSU (more on that later).  Then yesterday rolls around.  I happen to be at lunch with my boss when my brand spanking new blackberry stops working. Completely. 100%.  Im thinking it must just be a system upgrade.  I drive back home, I head to Verizon, where Im told "we cant do anything for you mam because you bought this phone in CT".  I fight the urge to jump across the counter and slap Olga, my friendly sales rep, with every ounce of me.  I leave and decide that although sitting in my car crying will make me feel bad, it aint gonna fix the phone.  I go to another store, and 3 more hours later, I walk out with a brand new iphone.  I didnt want an iphone to begin with, but it was cheaper (woot woot) and i guess sooner or later i was going to have to make the switch.  So now im the proud owner of a white iphone. with instagram (see photo below).  and a new app that translates my dogs barks into English.  and the husband believes every word of it. and its only wednesday.  Isnt it depressing to think that I have at least 1500 more Wednesdays to work before i retire at the ripe old age of 60?

I do love me some instagram though.  how you like them bangs? and yes, I know, my shirt looks like it has animal crackers on it.  back off me yo.