R.I.P

Good-bye paper whites. You were beautiful to look at, but man you smelled bad and got worse each day. So sorry, but I don't want my kitchen to smell like cat urine anymore. Farewell and adieu.

Very Excited!

I WON! I actually WON something on a blog giveaway. You have to understand that I never win anything! No lotto ticket wins, draws ... I'm just not a lucky person, but today I went to check my e-mails and found this:

Congratulations on winning our giveaway hosted by Centsational Girl! If you just let me know your full name, address and stencil choice (up to $50), we can ship out your prize in the next day or two!



I am soooo excited! So sure enough I go on over to their website and which one did I pick out? Well of course the Casablanca Allover Stencil - the one I had been looking at awhile ago but thought that perhaps I could re-create the look myself. Here's what it looks like:
 
 

 

I can't wait to get it in the mail and use it!

Stinky.

I wanted to show you an updated picture of our white paper flowers.  Here they are ...

The only problem I've found with these babies .... is they stink! No sweet smell from them ... I can't even describe it. But I will say, that the other day I thought I had left a dirty diaper somewhere and couldn't find it - only to realize that it was the flowers! So although they are beautiful and super easy to grow ... they stink. I'm not sure if there are paper whites that don't smell like this, I will have to research!

Hang In There.

So we went to IKEA with a mission. I felt as though our living room was lacking a little something ... so I thought a display with photos might spunk the place up. But before I went hammering nails in, I figured I should figure out the placement of all the frames (since I was using a fair number of them). Here is what I came up with.

Here is a before picture of the wall .... zzzzz boring!

Now with a little help from painters tape - I took the measurements of the frames I was going to use and started to mark them out.

Yea those sporadic pieces of tape were thanks to Alexis - she wanted to get in on the action too!

and here is where we are at as of this moment...

What do you all think? Of course now I have to figure out what pictures are going in the frames! And please note that I know the tape frames are not level - it's more just so that I can move them around until I'm happy!

Hang in there for the final result!

See This...

These photo frames will soon adorn our wall as well in the living room above our couch.  We are heading to IKEA this morning quickly to pick up a couple things. When I say quickly, I mean quickly - the hubby isn't too fond of IKEA and wants to get home a.s.a.p. to watch ... football.

Anyways, I will update with what it looks like once I get them up. Tooda-loo!

Mantel Moment.

As I've said before, once of the reason's I wanted this place was for the family room with the fireplace. I remember walking through the house and going down to the family room (looking past all the hideous furniture and old shag gold carpet) and looking at the fireplace and mantel and dreaming of what it would look like during the winter season - all decorated with a roaring fire!

Well the roaring fire hasn't happened yet, but I sure got the mantel all decked out! Check out the pictures!

and without lights on and candles all lit up ...

Sorry the pictures are so dark. Ugh I suck at this haha!

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree.

I had a hard time capturing our Christmas tree on my camera and they didn't really show up well in the post earlier, so I made this little video as well. Enjoy, and tell me what you think!  

(P.S. Please thank my sister for sending me some new, and might I add, greatly needed and appreciated tunes! Thanks Ash!). 

Doing My Thing.

Since we've put our new tree up, I've hung the lights (and in case you're interested these are t nothe normal one strand lights - I like to use the garland strand lights which add a little more sparkle!) and recently finished decorating the mantel and tree.

I used various shades of browns and golds as well as various sizes of balls. I also hung a couple sparkly ornaments I've picked up here and there, and of course my beloved Christmas picks that you can find at Walmart or at Michaels (I just picked up some more this weekend and they are on sale at Michale for 50% off so they were only .49 cents!).

I also hung some rattan balls that I have kickin' around. Some are from the pack I picked up at IKEA the last time I went with the girls, and the other ones that have glitter on them I picked up at the dollar store (pack of 6). I love the way they look on the tree!

And we can't forget our old Santa. I love him. We've had him for 3 years. I do like the look of stars but never found one that I really liked - but when I set my eyes on this jolly old elf - it was love at first site. He fits into the colour scheme perfectly too! It was a workout to get the old guy up there - but thankfully I was able to squeeze him on and he just fits!

Anyways, hope you like the pictures and give me some feedback! I also spruced up the mantel a little more and of course my little centerpiece on the coffee table got some love with my mercury glass tea lights that I already showed you!  

Frame Your Face.

and I don't mean like this ...

I mean using intricate frames in different ways to display art and photos. I love finding new ways people are displaying their beloved photos and art work, so when I come across some I like, I usually save them. Here are some I am loving right now!

(Some pictures were googled and some were personal pictures I've taken)

New Love.

This Christmas I have a new obsession. Mercury glass. Enough said. It's gorgeous, it sparkles, and they are elegant! Here are some beauties I picked up at a little market for $2 each and at Target for .99 cents each. Love the way they look at night all lit up, and I like to mix the gold with the silver!

Growing Growing.

Looks like I may have a green thumb after all. I've so far (knock on wood) been able to keep these suckers alive and flourishing. Here's hoping they can grow more!

Santa Baby.

It's that time of year already. It was Derek's works Christmas party for the kids. Last year we attended and Alexis was just 8 months old, and really had no clue what was going on ...

This year however, we knew it would be a little different. Alexis usually does fine in social situations, however he new "thing" to do is act coy and shy. So we were a little hesitant to say the least of taking her up and meeting some jolly plump bearded guy in a bright red suit.

The night started out great! We ate dinner ... while Alexis "people watched", then headed out to play on some of the toys at Adventures on Wonderland.

Then came the time for Santa to hand out the gifts ... Alexis of course waited with all of the other kids

But when she was called, she made it pretty apparent that the whole sitting on Santa's knee thing just wasn't going to happen!

Oh well, there's always next year. Here is one final picture of Alexis enjoying her new Critter Clinic from Santa.

Hello Beautiful.

So the huge 7.5 foot tree is up. I originally didn't think it was going to be this big when I saw it at Costco. But then once you put it together ... it's bigger than we thought. Not in a bad way of course! Then came the daunting task of un-doing all those little branches and fluffing them out. I'm serious when I say there were like a zillion of them! At least that's what it felt like! I think it took me close to an hour to get them all done.  At that point, I was done for the night haha. 

But anyways ... it's done and up and now comes the FUN part! Decorating!!!! I will post again :)

Fa La La La La ....

The Good Old Hockey Game.

My mom won some tickets to a London Knights hockey game to sit in the lovely leather seats.  We figured it would be a good game to take Alexis too, since she would be somewhat contained, and we were in larger seats. Turns out ... Alexis loves hockey. I was so surprised how well she did! I mean she usually acts fine out in public but this game would be starting at her usual bedtime so I had no idea of how it was going to go - but she was a trooper and made it all the way till mid-3rd period when she started to get antsy and we thought it would be better to leave then to make a scene (plus they were winning 8-1).  Here are some pictures I was able to snap of the night! I'm sure we'll be going back again soon!


First time seeing the rink with Daddy





Checking Out the View





I acutally have worked with the guy that is the mascot when were were younger (like 16!) and didn't know he was the London Knights mascot till he came in and told me that he knew me then asked if Alexis was mine! lol. Needless to say she wasn't to thrilled at the time to meet him. But of course with everything, as soon as he was gone she wanted to know where he went!





Fake'n It!

Sorry to those (you know I love how you girls comment!) who believed we should splurge and go with the real and au natural version of the Christmas tree. Although we completely agree that it smells lovely and they are beautiful - Derek and I just couldn't justify spending $40-$75 each year on one - only to have it carted away at the end of December for a landfill. We figure we could enhance the fake tree with some cinnamon scented pine cones and splurge this one time and keep it for years to come - or until it looks nasty (which I'm hoping won't be for years ...)

So I found one that I actually am pretty happy with. It's a 7.5 foot fake Aspen something or other ... and it looks pretty real. Apparently they are made to somewhat resemble real trees. I'm hoping to pick the sucker up today and perhaps even have it up tonight (woot woot!).

I have a million other things going on around here that I need to write up and snap some pictures of, and I promise when I get a second I will do that! I will be back - and might a remind all of you that there are only 40 more days (not including today) until Christmas Eve! Eeeekkkk I'm so pumped!

(photo credit here)

To Fake or Not To Fake?

Since giving up our old Charlie Brown Christmas tree that travelled with us from apartment to apartment a three years ago when we moved yet again ... we were left with no tree. Then two years ago we got a real one ... and then just last year we didn't even have one because I was preggers and really couldn't be bothered.  But this year is different! Not only is Alexis more "aware" of what's going on just in general - I think she's really going to like the Christmas holiday season.

Last week after we put the outside lights up she immediately wanted to see them on and wanted "more".  So you could imagine how excited she was to take a trip to Lowe's yesterday only to be surrounded by dozens of brightly lit Christmas trees!

So now we have a tough choice - do we A) Buy a real tree again this year? or B) Buy a good quality and good looking fake tree?  I just can't decide. I know a good quality fake one costs a bit of money but then you have it for awhile - which is why you don't want to get one that's crappy looking. Or do we dive into getting a new one and suck up all the mess that comes with them - like having to check the water all the time, the needles that constantly fall, will it wreck the floor down there? Making sure if doesn't catch on fire ... uuuggghhh it's exhausting! What do we do?

(photo from here)

Hooo Hummmm.

I wish I had taken a "before picture" but of course I got all caught up with glee and giddiness to re-do the fireplace mantel that I forgot to take one. So far ... this is what I have to show you. Now this is without balls, picks (you know those annoyingly glittery things you stick in wreaths) and some perhaps some other things. But here we go ...