Oh Christmas Tree

This Christmas, we decided to start a new family tradition! We went to a Christmas farm not too far from our house and cut down our own fresh Christmas tree.

And here I am - saw in hand! 

Mike helped me out. Cutting down a tree was a bit harder than I expected with that rinky-dink little saw they give you at the tree farm!

Bixby - our new puppy - got to come along to pick out our tree. He had a BLAST and loved all the smells. 

Whenever I would point the camera at him, Bixby would raise himself up on the bales of hay that we rode on to get to the part of the farm with the trees. He looked like he was posing. haha.

Poor Mike had all the tree farm guys fooled with his Carhart overalls. He got to the checkout and the attendant picked up the tree, and asked which TRUCK was his. haha. He sheepishly pointed to the Nissan Altima. 

The good news is, the tree made it to our house in one piece - and Mike somehow managed to see out of the windows well enough to get US home safely too! 

So much fun! Little did we know that our Christmas tree saga had only begun...

Autumnal Hoosier

Now that I'm a Hoosier...I've been engaging in a few Hoosier-ly activities. I recently attended the last quarter of a Colts game (hooray for free tickets!), I have now been to Yats (strangely similar to Dats for my B'town amigos), and I've been through a corn maze. Pretty cool! 

I'm absolutely positive that they have corn mazes in Kentucky. But, you have to remember, I'm from Loo-vul (aka Louisville, for you non-natives), but I'm from the 'burbs. There are no corn mazes there to my knowledge. 

 My friends are awesome. You have to love their American Gothic meets Hoosier Corn Field pose.

 *Sigh* Such a beautiful day. I'm so thankful I got to see my friend Andrew (see Mr. American Gothic above) and spend time with many of my SPEA friends. 

The only thing that could have made the day better would have been adding Suzzy (pronounced like "fuzzy"...but not really...) to our Indiana excursions. (Suz - Please tell Ohio that it must share you...before Indiana has to come over and kick its butt. Thanks.)

Welcome, Baby Eb!

Here comes baby Eb! It's crazy to believe that my freshman-year roommate is going to have her first baby! Here are some fun pics from her shower...

And here's the beautiful momma-to-be! Isn't she beautiful!!? I cannot WAIT to meet that sweet baby boy!

Willy, the comeback houseplant

For those of you who are unaware, I have a serious obsession with my schefflera, Willy. He is definitely my favorite house plant, despite Mactus the Cactus' cool name and even cooler hot pink flowers. Willy is still my main man - no doubt about it. So, I was pretty much devastated when I all but killed him during our big move this summer.

See, I didn't want Willy to sit in a moving truck, bouncing around with a bunch of furniture and boxes. So, I took him to work with me the day before the move so that I could take him to the house afterwards. Brilliant plan....that is, until I left him in my car ALL DAY! Yep, there he sat, cooking in my 95+ degree car until the president of our board called me on his way out of the parking lot to tell me he thought I might be suffocating a large plant in the back seat of my car. 

I took Willy inside, got him a drink, and then ran him to the house after work. I called Mom later and she wisely told me to trim off the dead stuff. I was scared I was going to kill him, but I knew it had to be done. (Yes, I really was this conflicted. I'm telling you, I love this plant.) 

I couldn't bear to photograph him in that pitiful state. So, what you are seeing here is a week or two after my pruning. As you can see, he was looking rather bear.

 

He had some new growth popping up,but it was still sad to see his all-too-bear branches.

The next photo provides not only a wonderful before and after of my now totally revitalized house plant, but also clearly illustrates how slow I am at decorating. haha. Photo above - lovely picture frames with a blank white piece of paper inside. Photo below (four months later) - ditto. haha. Oops.

All critiquing of my empty picture frames aside, you can see that Willy has made a full turn around. Doesn't he look great!

Some people are obsessed with their pet. I'm obsessed with my plant. And I am so glad he is healthy again!

Kiwi Kissed

What once was hot pink like you wouldn't believe....

....is now kiwi kissed (no, really, that's the name of the paint color)....

 

 ...and I love it!

Some of my favorite things...

So, aside from the hot pink room and the room with angels and flowers all over the walls, the rest of the house is really starting to come together! Check out some of my favorite household highlights...

#10 -- Here's the office with this fabulous bookcase that we got from the sellers...I love the mixture of great books with fun international and nostalgic items. Since this picture was taken, I've successfully filled in all the holes. 

#9 -- The pantry. After living in an apartment and stacking canned goods in a leaning wire rack next to the back door, this pantry is like a little taste of heaven. 

#8 -- Hall tree. So cute...and so great for this little space in the hallway. 

#7 -- New entry rug that I got for $4 at Wally-world. Love a bargain!

 #6 -- Bedroom furniture! It all matches!!!! Yeah, that's a feat that I didn't expect us to accomplish until retirement....haha. But, apparently the sellers wanted to go with a new decor scheme for their new place. (Which worked out GREAT for us!)

Mike teases me for having too many useless pillows on the bed...but I love them!

 #5 -- Serious yard sale bargain! I put a glass votive and two small tea lights, and this matching set of yard sale deals has added some fun flair to the living room. (And, yes, I have been watching WAY too much HGTV since we got cable! hehe)

#4 -- I'm so excited to have a fun place to display this big pottery vase that I bought in Guatemala several years ago. 

#3 -- Enormous book case. 

#2 -- Special thanks to Becky for this fabulous idea. Scrapbook paper + old frames I already had = awesome bathroom decor. Check it out! Here's the design in the master bath:

I love this one even more! It's in the spare bathroom: 

I bought the set of shelves for 50 cents at a yard sale! Bargains just make me so unbelievably happy. 

The frames were all different colors, but with a dollar-can of spray paint, now they look like a set! 

 #1 -- My absolute favorite...our closet!!!! My shoes just look so happy on their little shoe racks. haha. I know it's a bit ridiculous, but seriously this closet might actually be my favorite thing in the house....well, that and my big bath tub. (Cheesy though it may be, I absolutely love a nice, long bubble bath almost as much as I love a beautifully impractical pair of peep toe pumps.)

En la cocina

Welcome to our new kitchen! This was one of the first rooms that I finished in our house...and I just love how the painting I bought in Guatemala looks on the wall! (Special thanks to Katie for helping me frame and hang this bad boy!)

We have two of these cute little wicker tables, courtesy of Mike's parents, and we've got a family of house plants filling them up! Love it!!!!

I really like this little shelf off of our kitchen cabinets. I think the little pitchers and the plate Katie got me in the Ukraine fit perfectly. The frame to the left of the shelf is two coffee bags from....you guessed it....Guatemala. (Are you sensing a theme here?)

And, here, in our eat-in kitchen, is Mike's study station. The poor guy is studying a LOT these days as the bar approaches. I know he will do great, and I know we'll both feel so relieved once it's over. 

See that stack of Bar Review books!?! All I can say is....yuck!

Moving Day

Mike and I discovered that moving goes VERY quickly if you offer your friends food in exchange for their muscles. :) Seriously, the truck was loaded up in what seemed like no time at all! 

Along with the Subway and chicken wings we fed everyone, the guys decided to make good use of the can of Cheese whiz that I refused to move. (I don't eat canned cheese, so I'm definitely not wasting any energy moving it from one place to another.) Come to find out, Claire had never tried Cheese whiz before, so everyone decided that it was of the upmost importance that she sample some. Not surprisingly, Claire was not a big fan, but the guys seemed to get a big kick out of her taste test.

Next stop....our new place! I loved seeing our new home with the SOLD sign out front!

Here it is....home sweet home!

More pictures of the rooms and some of my favorite decor creations are soon to come!