New Year, New Goals

Here is to a great year, filled with happiness. Here is to the next year - may it bring you health, happiness, laughter, and smiles.

Around Christmas, we were discussing what we wanted to do to our house in the upcoming year. The basement was on top of our list. While it isn't fully finished, it is in a great state, and it is an area we enjoy spending time in! 

A few things stick out in my mind for 2015 and what I would like to accomplish throughout our house:

1. Clean / Organize our 4th Bedroom 
2. Clean / Organize Attic Space (Continue to buy bins that are holiday coordinated) 
3. Pull carpet going into basement on steps and refinish
4. New carpet runner throughout house (when #3 done)
5. Landscaping - Ongoing (When is it too early to buy more hosta?!)
6. Fence on North side of house (waiting on neighbor for height purposes)
7. 2nd Guest Room - Possibly paint, work on trim, and make more functional 
8. Wet Bar - Basement (Look at new IKEA cabinets in Feb. '15)
9. More DIY projects around the house 

I know there is more, but you get the idea. As of right now, we are at a point where many of the next projects (aside from paint, caulk, trim, etc) are more on the expensive end of the spectrum. Kitchens and baths are by far the most expensive, and I am already eyeballing kitchen ideas at IKEA as well as possible bathroom ideas for our guest bathroom. Those projects will be in the future, but it is fun to look and get ideas! 

Do you have any projects that you hope to accomplish in 2015? Here is to a great year!

Very Merry!

For those of you who are celebrating the end of Hanukkah or the beginning of Christmas Eve, I hope that each of you find time to eat, drink, & be cozy! May you find happiness, love, and laughter in these days and in the upcoming year!

From our family (and "farm") to yours! Cheers!

Winter Break To Do

Today was the first official full day of Winter break! A glorious time in which I have no work responsibilities. (Well, although they aren't all responsibilities I do have things that I need to do. Lesson planning, some grading, writing in plans... You get the idea.) Anyway, two weeks of time to get some things done! The next big break will not be until March. I will be craving Spring by that time and reminiscing on what we have done to our house in the second year of owning it. 

Back to this post. In the past week especially, we have been working on deep cleaning and tidying up some loose ends. Friday evening, we had Z's coworkers and friends over for a holiday celebration. I loved seeing our house filled with people! Our house is looking spectacular being so clean, and I must admit - it is a great feeling of that going into break. 

We did quite a few things to get prepared for the party, in terms of cleaning, and was able to get some tasks marked off my "winter break list." My new strategy to tackle the list is to do at least one thing on it each day that I am working on house things. If I feel motivated, I will do more. But, perhaps with this attitude, I will get more done! Here's what I hope to do:

1. Finish our Christmas Cards - this weekend! (They may arrive a day or two late, but whatever! It makes me happy to receive mail, and I hope it does with these people too!)
2. Organize our kitchen cabinets (mainly just a cabinet or two)
3. Organize our hallway linen closet
4. Organize our bathroom vanity *We purchased organizers from IKEA, so I hope to utilize those more. This one goes well with #3. 
5. Organize roll top desk in dining room.
6. Organize coat closet in entrance hallway.  DONE!

Not an extensive list, but things that I am really hoping to accomplish! I am hoping some tasks I can combine. Do you plan lists when you have time off to accomplish things? I am also hoping to snap some really good photos of our house in its clean state during the upcoming days, especially being decorated for Christmas. That is on the list somewhere, too.

And when not working on my list of things to do.... 

-E

Hello, October!

Hello, October and Fall! I suppose we skipped over September entirely and a large portion of August.   House projects have continued during this time, but sadly, the posts have not! There is much to update you all on around our house. (I promise, I'm not pulling a YHL post.... I'm so sad!) The plans keep growing, the ideas run wild! In the meantime, we are prepping our house for Fall. We are slowly building an inventory of holiday decorations. 

For the past three years, we have ventured out to a local pumpkin patch that is like no other! I feel as though I could be a spokesman for this patch because I love it so much. What sets this one apart from patches that I visited as a child is that there is acres filled with a variety of pumpkins still on the vine. It is truly a "pick your own" type of place. It's fantastic! Today we headed out there to make our haul. Oh! And, they charge by the pound! For $0.45 per pound, you can pick pumpkins to your hearts delight. And, boy did we do just that! Here's the 2014 haul... Z thinks it keeps growing each year. (But, I can't resist the perfect pumpkins!)

Last year, we set these around our fire place for the perfect fall decoration. I loved it. We will see how things set up this year with our haul. We will put up some lights throughout the house, but it seems as though we tend to get things on clearance. Best time to pick up a few things that we had been eye balling at a discounted rate. I am already eyeballing this guy at Target. (I have been affectionally referring to him as tinsel mummy.) We will see what we find on November 1st, or on sale in the upcoming weeks. My mummy lights are a must to be hung up! Here's hoping to adding more mummies!

Speaking of holidays, I have been noticing that stores are already introducing Christmas and Winter decorations. I won't go into a long rant about that and how I feel like we should enjoy each holiday independently, except for the statement that yes, I have already bought a decoration. Yes, you may judge at this point. Each year, I debate when is it too early to decorate. With Christmas, I am on the fence this year. I typically wait until after Thanksgiving, but, I am tempted to do it earlier this year for various reasons. Anyway, when I do decorate, we will be adding to our collection this year. Last year, I admired a "holiday tinsel dachshund." With much sadness, they sold out quickly and did not bring them back due to some safety issues. Fast forward to October 2014 - Target is setting our Christmas things and tinsel dachshund 2.0 is back! Yes, I am that crazy person who bought a Christmas decoration this early. But, it's tinsel dachshund! How could I resist, especially after heartbreak last year?! You understand, right!? Yeah, it's ok to judge. :)

Do you have holiday traditions or celebrations that you plan and decorate for at your house? Would love to hear about what you do, or what you would like to do! (I still would LOVE to host a big Halloween party.... someday!)

Home for the Holiday

This year is especially bittersweet Christmas for us. It is the first Christmas that we are spending in our home. Although we are away from family today (due to work schedules) it was exciting to wake up in our own house on this day. We have done some of our traditions that were started three years ago when we lived in Chicago, and continue to create some new ones. Something that I have learned over the last few years is it is not about the actual date you celebrate - but rather cherishing the time that you do celebrate. As a result, we will have a chance to celebrate with our families this upcoming weekend. So, our holiday continues through the weekend! We will see what next year brings when we reach that time next year. However, I will cherish our first Christmas in our house.

Our crew opening presents. (From left going counterclockwise: Kiki, Milo ("Little Kitty") & Oscar.

                     

The aftermath of the M. family Christmas! Success! 

This year, we bought an artificial Christmas tree that we placed in our lower living room. Last year, when living in our apartment, we talked about when we had a house that we would have two trees. (Crazy to think that at this time last year, we were looking at finances and homes!) The artificial tree fit in great with our lower living space - next to our fireplace that is adorned with battery operated and real candles, decorations, and smells of freshly baked cookies. Picture perfect..... for the first few minutes. The newest addition to our crew, Milo (aka "Little Kitty") found this to be the "purrrrfect" thing to climb. After some debate, we decided to see what he would do with a real tree and to satisfy the craving of having two trees. So, here is our real tree set up in our formal living room. Go figure that he seems less interested with the real tree! Although, as you may notice from the picture, we went without ornaments this year in fear that he would knock them off. I'm hoping next year he will be out of his kitten phase and we can add ornaments. (The vet speculates that he is about 6 to 7 months old as of right now - but that's another story!)

We sat in here, opening up presents this morning. It was filled of sips of coffee, laughter, and phone calls with loved ones. As I sat there with Z, I couldn't help but think that this would be the room and place where we would open presents for years to come - regardless of what day it is celebrated. 

I'm excited to watch our traditions continue and evolve as we celebrate holidays in our home. Here's hoping that your holiday had time of rest and celebrating! From our family to yours - Happy Holidays!

-E

Happy Holidays at Home

As corny as it sounds, I had wished for a white Christmas with this being the first Christmas in our home and it looks like my wish has come true! It snowed a few days ago, but temperatures have been cold enough to keep it around for a while! Lovely!

Now that the major crunch time is finished for me, I will hopefully be updating more frequently! I am planning on updating in the upcoming days, if not tomorrow! As I looked through the blog, I was disappointed on my part that I hadn't updated it with some of the most exciting updates! From our guest bedroom to our kitchen to dining room to the upstairs bedroom... lots has been done! I can't wait to update you all with these things!

In the meantime, happy holidays to each of you and your loved ones! However you choose to spend the next few days, I hope you do things that fill you with happiness! I'm certainly looking forward to a quiet and peaceful day in our home especially since it's the first one in our home!

-E

P.S. - As I was admiring my friend, Michelle's blog this evening, I noticed that she added this blog to her faves for home interiors. She's too sweet. She's an outstanding blogger, fashionista, illustrator and friend. If you haven't already checked out Creature Type, do so this holiday season!