DIY Coffee Scent

To get that heavenly scent of coffee in the home (which is also a great deodorizer), try this trick!
Take a small dish, and fill with coffee beans or coffee grounds, and then place a tea light or small votive candle in the middle of the beans/grounds. The heat will heat up the coffee scents and create a nice aroma in the home! Also, coffee is a great deodorizer! Which is great for my husband who has bad allergies! We can make the home smell good, without those potent potpourris!

Everyday Blue and Red and Yellow Place Setting

I have been craving some change, and some color uniformity, this past month or so. Maybe it is the warmer weather or the thought of Spring coming soon (it has been an unusually warm winter in NC this year!)... regardless, I wanted to tackle another crafty project, and make a color change to our home!

Hence: Blue Red and Yellow! I have fallen in LOVE with the color combo of pale blue with vibrant red, and a toss of yellow sunshine never hurt any one. And every time I cooked in my kitchen, I found more and more kitchen objects that especially fed my new pale blue and vibrant red obsession! Pots, bowls, spatulas, Tupperware... how did we register for these items and never noticed the theme of colors?!?! So something had to be done! Our kitchen runs right into the dining area, nothing fancy, but definitely makes you want your kitchen to either match your dining area, or be completely opposite (to separate out the areas more). I wanted it to all flow, maybe making the appearance of a bigger over all space :) I try!


This is a table setting I created using some stuff from around the house. The placemats are actually Christmas placemats I bought on Clearance in 2011 from World Market, I just turned them to the backside! Double duty!

Blue and Red and Yellow

I have been craving some change, and some color uniformity, this past month or so. Maybe it is the warmer weather or the thought of Spring coming soon (it has been an unusually warm winter in NC this year!)... regardless, I wanted to tackle another crafty project, and make a color change to our home!

Hence: Blue Red and Yellow! I have fallen in LOVE with the color combo of pale blue with vibrant red, and a toss of yellow sunshine never hurt any one. And every time I cooked in my kitchen, I found more and more kitchen objects that especially fed my new pale blue and vibrant red obsession! Pots, bowls, spatulas, Tupperware... how did we register for these items and never noticed the theme of colors?!?! So something had to be done! Our kitchen runs right into the dining area, nothing fancy, but definitely makes you want your kitchen to either match your dining area, or be completely opposite (to separate out the areas more). I wanted it to all flow, maybe making the appearance of a bigger over all space :) I try!

I made these sets of prints and framed them using frames from around the house! I really liked how it all turned out! It uses the themes of colors, with similar frames (black, black and silver, and silver), all in a cluster layout, which I think adds to the over all charm!

"Snow"

It was a really really mild winter here in Raleigh, NC. And the most snow we got was little to nil. But I caught that little amount on camera! As proof that it can snow in The South and in North Carolina. Although... I have seen more snow in Georgia... but I digress :)
On our "snow day", I remember seeing on the weather channel that snow was guessed to be coming our way. I was so excited! When you don't get snow often in the winter, a snow day or two is exciting! Sorry Michigan friends, I know it's hard to understand :) Well, our snow didn't come till late at night, and I knew by the morning it would be gone (silly sun), so my husband and I stayed up to

Snow by the AC units, it was the best place to see clusters of snow at night!

It rained, then snowed. But here is a view of our tree and the grass field behind it.

My husband made me a snow ball so I could have a clump of snow! Yay!

happy new year!

A little bubbly to celebrate at midnight!


Our fancy steak dinner spread! Complete with Dill red potatoes, broccoli, spinach salad and of course... a juicy steak!


Happy New Year, from our family to yours!

Taking down the Tree

Today, Bentley and I tackled "taking down the Christmas Tree"... whew... what a project! Why does it always seem easier to "make a mess" then clean it up?!?! haha

Well of course I stopped to have some fun, at Bentley's expense :) Doesn't he look cute though!

Christmas Cookies!

A HUGE tradition for my family has always been making tons and tons of Christmas Cookies! We don't make a lot of cookies through the year, especially since they seem to get eaten too quickly! So, when we have an arsenal of cooks in the kitchen, we make a TON and share them with family and friends and enjoy them for days on end!

Now, I can't share ALL my family's cookie recipes... some need to be secrets so that people will come to our annual Christmas Eve Party craving cookies! But I did take a picture of the ones we made! I missed taking a picture of a few, but you will get the idea ;)


My favorites! White Chocolate, Macadamia, Dried Cherries


These were a new recipe for us! They are Italian Anise Cookies


Another favorite: Scandinavian Almond Cookies


Peanut Butter Kisses


Wreath cookies


Chocolate Crinkle Cookies


New this year: White-Chocolate Cherry Shortbread


My husband and my brother decorating the TONS of gingerbread cookies! It was my husband's first time decorating gingerbread cookies and he did an AMAZING job!


Gingerbread with royal icing

Our First Christmas Indoor Decoration!

Merry Christmas!

This was our first Christmas together as husband and wife, and definitely was our first Christmas season in our own home! Since Thanksgiving, the decorations have been proudly up and have created such a warm and loving glow in our home. I hope you enjoy!


Our first Christmas tree! We bought this 8 ft beauty for $20 on Craigslist! SCORE! And the ornaments are from my mom; Every year since I was born, she got us an ornament so that when we left home and had our own tree, it wouldn't be bare! It's one of my favorite traditions from my mom ♥ And boy was our tree full of ornaments!


We have this overhang above our kitchen sink, and this is how I first decorated it.


Then I wanted the wreath outside, so this is how it is NOW decorated! I loved getting Christmas cards in the mail addressed to Mr and Mrs L! yay! And my decor is complete with my Nutcracker collection up above! I have loved the nutcracker ballet since I was 5 and my mom would take me every year, as our mommy-daughter date ♥


Another view of the tree, with Bentley in his "cone of shame"! Poor Bentley, it has been a rough year for our pup.


I LOVE our WillowTree nativity scene. It's so natural rustic and romantic. My mother gave them to us for Christmas for the past two years and it means so much to me. Especially since decorating the nativity scene with my mom was a tradition when I was younger.

Our First Christmas Lights Decoration!

Merry Christmas!

Here are some pictures from our first home, all decorated for the holidays! Enjoy!

Our porch! With red sparkle snowflakes hanging, bright multi colored lights, garland, snoopy, Holly pillows, and pathetic tree!


A closer view of the porch with the Holly pillows, and a lit up Santa Snoopy on his dog house! I was going for the whole Charlie Brown Christmas theme if you couldn't tell!


Charlie Brown's "pathetic" tree! My husband loves this detail on our porch :)

Home is where the Heart is

This is a drawing that I did one afternoon. I drew a map of the United States and then drew hearts for each of the places me and my husband have lived (either together or apart). Then I labeled the places. I created a sign on a piece of wood (from our wedding!) saying: Home is where the ♥ is! and put a ribbon through it to hang it up. It really turned out cute, and is a great memento of where life has taken you as a couple, and where you are together today!

Bedroom

Yesterday, my husband and I moved ALL the furniture around in our bedroom. We are still trying to figure out what looks and feels best in that room. Well, our bed looks stellar!!! (I am biased, I know!) But we ran into some problems with rewiring the TV and dvd player/ wireless cables [not pictured]. Why can't they put those outlets AROUND the room instead of limiting you to one spot?
I am a constant furniture mover... so I was unhappy that the TV was limited to one wall. We moved it anyways. :) Thank you God I have a husband that puts up with my constant furniture moving and just figures out a way to make the TV cords work, instead of limiting me. My husband is perfect for me ♥

Here is our bedroom all decorated!

The white center pillow was made by my best friend, who sewed it to look like our wedding invites! What a great memento from our wedding day! She's so crafty :)


A side view to get the painting in the picture too! This painting is just temporarily up there (since it is a Christmas gift to a friend later on) but I will put the thumb print wedding tree up when the painting needs to go :)


Bentley is always confused why I take so many pictures around the house... yet he always stays there like he is posing for a picture :)