I'm in a fit

Once I get an idea in my head I must do it.

I'm one of those people.

Especially when it comes to decorating.

The most recent idea that's been in my head and consuming many of my thoughts is a new little sitting area in our living room. Like some ottomans or a chest.



I must complete this idea. If not I will begin experiencing decorating fits. If you think I'm exaggerating then you need to come into my home and feel the wrath. My sister used to call me Martha growing up. You know after the crazy inspiring Martha Stewart. I can get scary.

Umm anywho.......

For in front of the window I'm thinking rustic. Maybe with some burlap.

Possible ideas I'm loving for a little seating area:

This one is quite adorable. The thought of two of these together in front of our living room window makes my heart beat a little faster. We would have to make these because I have never seen anything like them for sale. That burlap lid is pretty amazing right?

These ottomans are covered with coffee sacks. I like you. These could be pretty easy to DIY.







Another inspiration. Two ottomans looking like this makes me happy.



and this is from one of my favorite blogs, Triangle Honeymoon. The wood chest in front of the window (in a darker color) could work well in our living room. It could be pretty sweet and cozy having a old chest in front of the window with a couple of pillows and a faux fur throw.

As you may have noticed, using pallet wood is not an option for this project. See here why.

All these photos are great inspiration but I can't really find anything like them in the store or online for sale. So most likely we are going to be DIYing this unless the rustic ottoman fairies make my wishes come true and place some well priced ottomans in stores in the next couple of weeks.



Imagine

Shout out to my Mom!

Take a minute to listen to her favorite song.

It's a good one I promise.

Among so many other things she taught me how to really, truly imagine.

She was and is one of my life's greatest blessings.

Pre-Christmas

Aj and I celebrated our mini family Christmas in Christiansburg on the Thursday before Christmas. We opened gifts from each other, drank coffee, ate donuts and then did a lot of lounging. It was sweet. Here's some pictures.

The next day we headed up to our homeland to spend Christmas with our families.

Thoughts at 1:20pm on a Tuesday before Christmas.

-Right now I'm on Christmas break. My mind is an empty space. I'm avoiding using it.  

Picture tumbleweeds rolling and bouncing in the wind like in an old western movie

ok. stop.

Now picture this..........

snowman shaped tumbleweeds. Mmmhmm

That's what the tumbleweeds in my mind look like, snowmen. and I like it.

via Pinterest

-While sitting at a traffic light yesterday, an old man on a bicycle saw that the driver in the car in front of me was smoking. So of course he waved the driver man down and went over to his window and asked him for some cigs. The driver gave him 3 cigarettes. I spied Christmas spirit!

-I finally got my haircut. I'm currently experiencing the 5 stages a girl feels after a haircut:

*Stage 1*

Takes place at the salon and while driving home from the salon

 "I feel so much lighter now. and my hair smells so good. I wonder what shampoo the stylist used? I love getting my hair cut, that was so relaxing. I need to get my hair cut more often."

*Stage 2*

Home Enjoyment

"I can do so much with this new style. I can't wait to see how it looks straigthened and in a ponytail. My man is going to love it. It just looks so healthy."

Mess mess play play with your hair in the mirror

*Stage 3*

Post first shower

"Yuck. Eww. What is this part. I told her I didn't want that much length taken off. Was the hair stylist using both eyes when she did this. I'm never going to her again. Tabatha needs to take over that salon"

*Stage 4*

Annoyance-The current stage I'm in

"I can't do anything with it! Staaayy hair, stay."

 hairspray hairspray hairspray

*Stage 5*

Acceptance 

Talking to friends "Yeah, I like it too, I.. I really needed a haircut, you know something new. It's a good change. The stylist that cut it is really great, let me give you her card. You should check her out" 

Just me????

-Our real Christmas tree is spewing spiders. True story. I'm pissed. and constantly cleaning. Want more details? Well, there's something wrong with the spiders. Like they don't have all their legs so they can't really move and go anywhere. They get stuck and die right by the tree. It's a Christmas blessing for me that they die right at the Christmas tree and don't go all over the house. There's actually a Christmas legend about spiders in Christmas trees. I know, I never heard of it either till I googled "spiders in Christmas trees." Why did I google "spiders in Christmas trees?" Cause I'm on Christmas break and can. If you are chomping at the bit to hear the legend it's right here for ya.


-Second Christmas married!!!

-I'm excitedly waiting to go home to Nokesville for Christmas. Can't wait to see my niecey poo on Sunday!

Norah lives here

I feel, I feel happy of myself!!!!

Today I officially completed my first semester of graduate school. and I'm feeling pretty much the same as this little boy does. Very happy of myself!! Only a year and a half left!!!

I think everyone can benefit from his words of encouragement and positive attitude.

-Wock & Woll

What's better than shelves? Pallet wood shelves.

The shelves I posted about wanting to diy here are finished and hanging in their new kitchen home.

This was the easiest diy project ever. It literally only took about 15 minutes to actually make the shelves. I originally wanted 3 of these lovers for the wall but I underestimated their actual size. Only 2 would fit. Oh well. I love love them.  Especially how worn and used they look.

I've just thrown some random stuff we had around the house onto the shelves for right now to give an idea of what I eventually would like them to look like. Nothing on the shelves in theses pictures will be staying there.

But I'm thinking maybe.........

here

here




here

would all be good looking up there.

Whatta man, whatta man, whatta man, whatta mighty good man!

Something about this picture is so husbandly to me. You know climbing up a ladder hanging ye olde christmas lights. Such a good husband thing to do and with a smile.

Gosh, we are so grown-ups.

What do you think 625 girls? 10 husband points at least, right?

Intervention

Scene-On the living room couch, sitting beneath our beautiful sofa pallet wood art after completing our new pallet wood kitchen shelves.

Aj: Sooo how many more of these pallet wood projects are you wanting to do?

Courtney: I don't know, I've lost count....

Aj: You know, you can't have a bunch of pallet wood stuff all over the house.

Courtney: Excuse me?

Aj: You have to stop at some point.

Courtney: .................

Aj: That would look ridiculous.

Courtney: You look ridiculous.



I'll post pictures of the new shelves later :)

and you know what this means

Project Weekend!!!

True Life: I find QVC too relaxing

It's time for me to be honest and confess an embarrassing secret.


Nothing relaxes this girl more than watching QVC.


You know QVC, the home shopping channel.


Seriously. It's really bizarre.


One may think, well if you really enjoy shopping then maybe it makes sense that watching a home shopping channel relaxes you because your doing one of your favorite things while sitting on your cozy couch. and to that, I say no. No that's just not it. I hate pretty much everything they sell on QVC, I would never buy any of it. It's just not my thang. 90% of the time what they are selling grosses me out and I make fun of it while relaxing. But I keep watching and loving the grossness.


So what is it about these home shopping channels that does it for me? What about them relaxes me so?

Reason #1- The Hosts

I love all the QVC hosts. Shawn's my favorite. Doesn't she just look fun and spunky!?

Yeah she does. Let me give you an example of why she's so great. A couple of days ago I was relaxing=watching QVC and Shawn was selling some strange foot buffer product. Since Shawn is such a dedicated host, she was on live tv using the foot buffer thingy on her barefeet. This alone would make some people think Shawn is a blast. But that's not all. She then, barefooted and buffing, asked the camera man to zoom in as close as possible to her foot. The camera man obliged, zoomed in and........toe hair. You could see toe hair! Not only could you see her toe hair but she also acknowledged the toe hair and pointed it out even more to all us viewers. Now that's special. I like her. She's keeping it real, and maybe keeping other things a little too real and natural.

Reason #2 - Holidays

Christmas in particular. Christmas time just makes me feel warm, comfy and relaxed. and lucky for me QVC starts celebrating Christmas in July. No joke. You can get your Christmas tank filled up by QVC around the time of our nations birthday. (FYI-your Christmas tank is located 4 inches down from your heart right underneath your ribs, quite close to your belly, access can be through your belly button).


Reason #3 - People being paid to pretend to be happy

Since everyone on the channel always looks so happy and are acting like they are having the best day ever it makes me feel happy and like I'm having the best day ever. How can you not feel crazy happy and relaxed when Shawn is joyfully selling you a comforter set.


There are plenty of other reasons why QVC relaxes me, but I'm now bored which means your probably bored with the topic too.


I will end with the tip that if you want to get me something special for Christmas, make it a IOU coupon saying something like "I will watch 1 hour of QVC with you whenever you want and enjoy it."

*cough* Aj *cough*

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to the man who gave me......

my sense of humor

resourcefulness

work ethic

and of course good looks :)

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!! You da best!!!!

It's been a month.

It's been a month.

I said I would give blogging a try for a month and then decide if I'm so into it or so over it.

I think I'm so into it.

It's interesting to see your brain on screen and in words.

I'm actually surprised by how consistent I've been with posting. In November, I posted 17 times. That's about a post every other day.

You go girl!!

Let's see if I can keep this thang going for all of December.

Gallery Love

My love for pallet wood is known but you may not know that I also have a love affair with gallery walls. They are the best. We have one in our living room and it just brings a smile to my face.



To me, a gallery wall is never complete. We are constantly adding new items to display and expanding it. But our current one was designed based on the wall in our old apartment living room and doesn't have enough impact for me. So my goal over the next few months is to expand our gallery wall to something like this.

That's what I'm talking about! I want people to walk in our front door and be smacked in the face with the gallery wall.

BAM.

That may look like a lot frames to add in a few months but its do able because picture frames are crazy cheap during the holidays!

Example A- I went to Micheal's the day after Thanksgiving (I didn't even leave the house till 9am) and scored 7 picture frames (6 white ones for the gallery wall) for around $45. That $45 includes a 11x17 frame and a 14x18 frame. I know, so good!



Guess where I'll be the day after Christmas?

and on to the next project

I think I know what our next diy project will be...........


3 pallet wood shelves for the kitchen


for this ugly wall

hate it

One of these days I'll do a post about our kitchen, but I'm avoiding it because it will take a long time for me to write about all the things I hate about it.

Wait, now Courtney that's not fair.

It's not really all the kitchens fault. It's been ignored since we've moved in. We've barely done anything design wise to it. I won't take 50% blame for it's ugliness but I will take 40% blame for lack of effort. People I'm busy! The other 60% blame goes to the kitchen for being old and not ever being very loved.

But!! I do have big plans for the kitchen eventually. I'm hoping Santa brings me a sewing machine for Christmas so I can start by making curtains.

With a little lovins I think our kitchen will be looking mighty fine by summer.


(ok now bring it back to what this post is supposed to be about)


This is my inspiration x 3

http://ana-white.com/2010/04/hack-5-minutes-and-free.html

I also like the idea of making one a wine rack

www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com

cause I'm fancy like that.

cheesy christmas tree decorating post. and you like it.

The title says it all. We decorated our Christmas tree the other night which of course resulted in all unstaged traditional pictures. I'll narrate them for you.

Decorating a Christmas tree requires a delicious and high calorie coffee. I'm talking whip cream and sprinkles. My favorite part of this picture is that my shirt matches my coffee cup. Obvi.

Here's Aj "hanging" an ornament.

 

and here I am doing the same. Though I did switch things up and go with a little more untraditional pose.

Stepping up and being a man performing his star duties.

You know you know.



Ta da!

and you like it.

Fa la la la laaaaa

Aj and I began our tradition of going and cutting doing our own Christmas tree last year and we hope to continue it for years to come. It's more work but it's a lot more festive than Home Depot. So on Sunday we headed to a beautiful Christmas tree farm called Spruce Ridge in Giles County. What a great place! The farm had rolling hill after rolling hill of perfect Christmas trees and the people were oh so lovely.

I love the way the navy and dark green look together

Decorating time!

Navy Crazy

That's how I'm feeling.

My long awaited curtains are finally here and hung. and I could not be happier with them!

side note: I don't think our house is haunted (see multiple orbs) I think we need a new camera.

Now, I don't know if you know how hard it is to find 95" long navy curtains that are the right shade of navy, right fabric weight and right style top. It is hard! Actually, I couldn't find them. I had to modify these navy blues in order for them to be all that I knew they could be.

The curtains I ended up buying had all the qualities I wanted except for they had the wrong style top. Originally these guys came with a grommet top. But I wanted a top that was a bit more simpler and without any type of metal showing.

original top

So I cut the tops off.......

and used some no sew hem tape to make the tops clean and simple. So now they are just what I wanted!

Now, I need to figure out what I want to do about the blind situation. New white mini blinds were put on all are windows right before we moved in, problem is they are ugly.

Current options are:

-Leave them how they are and deal with it for a year and a half.

-Remove the mini blinds and not put any new blinds up.This would work because the curtains can close all the way to prevent peepers. Only annoying part is we will have to put them back up before we move.

 -Get new wood or bamboo blinds. That would be pretty.

We shall see what happens :)



A Reflective Thanksgiving Post

Thanksgiving......

this is what you did to me.

what you get when you google image "stuffed from food"

But besides from feeling like overweight felines, we had a wonderful time with our family and friends when we were back home in Nokesville. Over the Thanksgiving break we did lots of eating, some shopping, some seeing people and some pumpin up of the Christmas spirit.  We also were able to finish our my "Get Done Before Christmas" to do list.

Yes we are now with tree. and it's filling our house with an amazing scent. Mmmm.

If you didn't get to see these felines on Thanksgiving here's a picture from the day, pretty much the same thing.

meow.

Very reflective = not so much

Short and sweet = yes please.

Confused. Like Really.

I've been blogging for about two and a half weeks and continue to be severely confused with this new world.

Questions

I don't know how to follow people. Right after I started blogging I went crazy and became a follower of tons of blogs. I was on some type of a blogging high. All was well. But then the next day my fancy "dashboard" said I was following zero blogs (i.e., I have zero friends). Huh? For almost 2 weeks its said I'm not following anyone and then today I'm following a bunch of blogs again with out doing anything. Headache.

What is the appropriate way to cite things on blogs? Since being in grad school, I have had the fear of God put in me when it comes to needing correct citations.

Is it common for blogs to be getting a lot of hits from people in Russia? Just curious...

Pinterest is making me mad. It would not let me login for five days! Do you know what 5 days without Pinterest does to a girl? It also says I have double the followers than I'm supposed to have. I literaly do not know half the new followers. and I don't think a bunch a new random people are following because I post such magical pins. I think my Pinterest has a virus. Anyone know if its possible for your Pinterest to get a virus?

Who else is excited about my new navy curtains that were delivered today!?

~End questions~

Ok some of those questions have nothing to do with the confusing world of blogging.

I probably wont blog again until Sunday but most likely Monday, ahh but don't be mad if it's Tuesday. Don't think it's becuase I fell off the blogging train, it's because I will be busy busy with holiday fun. Ohhh but the amazingness that will be delivered next week. I'm talking a curtain post, a living room post (cause I know you want to see where we watch tv), possibly a reflective post on Thanksgiving, and maybe a Christmas tree post!!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

via whipperberry.com