Lately ...

A Goodwill store opened in our town this week and its just down the road from our house so I had to check it out.

I found this cute milk glass vase which is currently sitting by my kitchen sink filled with cheery green flowers.

I also spied this tarnished platter on the bottom shelf and picked it up to give it a closer look. Its quite heavy for its size and when I flipped it over I discovered it originally came from Pottery Barn so I knew the $6 price tag was a deal.

After cleaning it with Brasso it now looks like this - pretty huh?! (The rag was pretty nasty though.)

Its perfect for my makeup and other goodies.

Before I put my goodies on it I had some fun with the pretty ring Josh got me for our first anniversary. I don't get to wear it often but I love it!

As a brussels sprouts lover I was over-joyed to walk into the grocery store the other day and see this:

I didn't even know they sold them on the stalk like this! Luckily Josh refuses to eat them so I get them all to myself. Yum!


The kitchen cabinet painting project (saga) continues. Because it has been too cold to paint in my makeshift garage workshop we've been without upper cabinet doors for well over a month.

Its been pretty convenient not having to open doors to get things so its going to take some getting used to when they're back on. Oh and I don't think I ever said what color we're painting them - well I guess from the pictures above you can see we went with black. Its a bold choice but we're really excited about it!


And finally here's a tip: if your dog just came in from a potty break, don't let him jump up on your lap!

Birthday wishes

Today is the birthday of my mother-in-law Terry. As far as mothers-in-law go I got pretty lucky - we get along really well and I consider her one of my dear friends.

Here she is at our wedding with her husband Tom (Josh's step-dad)

Happy Birthday Terry - wish we could be there to celebrate with you!

Love you!

Hello 2010

I'm a little late on the new year post but as they say, better late than never :-)

Its hard to believe its the end of yet another decade, and what a decade it was!

This past decade I:

- Graduated college
- Had my heart broken so badly I thought it would never heal (it did)
- Had my last boyfriend (now my husband)
- Was boring and kept my hair long the entire time
- Got engaged, then got married
- Bought my (our) first home
- Gained a lot of weight on prednisone (and didnt lose any of it)
- Got my first pets: 2 cats and a dog (I'm not counting the ones I had when I lived with my parents because I wasn't totally responsible for them)
- Had 3 post college jobs and so far haven't loved any of them
- Bought too many black shirts
- Wore too much black
- Got into and then out of credit card debt

I learned a lot about myself and grew a lot.

I have given up on new year's resolutions because they never seem to last but I do have a few goals this year: I want to simplify my life, and use my time more productively.

Here's to a wonderful 2010!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Someone's waiting for Santa!

Christmas

I was going to post these pictures over the weekend but then I thought I might as well wait a few days and make it an entire month since my last post. I guess not posting for a month gives the impression that we haven't been doing anything. Which is sort of true. Actually we have done stuff it just doesn't make for interesting blogging. I am still working on the kitchen cabinets - that project is a labor of love if ever there was one. I have also been spending a lot of time helping my dear friend Sasha plan her wedding. Its next week and I still have a LOT to do! Yikes!

I wanted to post some photos of our holiday decor because I love how cosy our house feels during the holidays. I don't do a single thing for Valentine's day, Easter, 4th of July etc (because I am too lazy) but I LOVE Christmas! Last year I bought some berry garlands on super sale after Christmas and I couldn't wait to use them this year!

I had enough to put them all the way up the stairway banister and I love the touch of red it brings to the room.



I secured the berry garlands with some black ribbon (left over from our wedding) and I love the little black bows almost as much as I love the berries on the other side.


I also got a little out of hand with the marked down glass ornaments after Christmas last year. There were way too many for the tree so I put a bunch into some cylinder vases for a festive centerpiece.
My friend, who is a mother of 3, came over the other day and as soon as she saw them she announced that it was so obvious no kids lived in our house! I guess she's right.


We got our tree from Costco last year and we weren't sure how well it would fluff up the second year. Well it looks just as good as last year - thank goodness - so hopefully we can get many years of use out of it.


I hosted an ornament exchange at the beginning of December and this the ornament I got for it.


I loved it so much I went out the next day and got one for myself!


The cats got personalized ornaments from pottery barn kids last year so of course this year I had to get Zeke his own. (I just re-read that sentence and I sound like a crazy pet-obsessed person.)


Don't ask me why there are 6 stockings when there are 2 humans and 3 pets living here - it just seemed like the right thing to do to use all the stocking holders.

Now I need to go listen to Christmas music - its almost Christmas and I haven't listened to nearly enough this year!

The worst project ever ...

First of all I must apologize for being a bad blogger. We haven't had much going on lately and the few things I have been doing aren't really interesting enough to blog about. Well actually we did go to Philly at the end of October and it was really fun, but I didn't really take any photos so I wont bore you with a picture-less post about it.

Anyway, on to the worst project ever!

Last weekend we started the greatly anticipated (and at the same time somewhat dreaded) project of painting the kitchen cabinets.

I know some people consider it a crime to paint wood, but really this wood is not in good shape. There is water damage by the sink, above the microwave, and in a few other spots, and it needs immediate attention before it gets worse. And lets not forget the color - yellow oak - not exactly my favorite look.

For your viewing pleasure here are some examples of the damaged, peeling varnish:

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Before we decided to paint we looked at our options:
1. Have the cabinets refaced --- too expensive
2. Strip, sand and re-stain them --- way too much work (just the sanding alone had me convinced it was a no-go)
3. Lightly sand, prime and paint --- also a lot of work, but less than staining and we've already had some success painting the powder room vanity and the upstairs hallway cabinets

Well ...
We're about 1/4 of the way done and its officially the worst project ever - I feel like we're working on it constantly with the multiple coats on every surface, and ever since we started its been cold and moist here so everything takes longer to dry. But we cant stop now so we have to continue. So I guess I'll just whine about it until its all done, which at this rate will be in about a month. Hopefully it will fabulous when its all done and then it will all be worth it! :-)

Birthday boy

Remember this little munchkin???

Zeke turned 1 today!

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To celebrate this milestone we subjected him to an embarrassing (but cute) photo shoot ...

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(Monkey was really intrigued by the fluffy yellow thing at the top - being an inside cat he lives a sheltered life.)

(My favorite shot - that demoralized face is too adorable!)

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Happy Birthday Zeker-dog!!!