Yes Please!

I just saw these on an advertisement on a blog. Aren't they beautiful? I'm not the biggest fan of pearls...but living in NC you get use to them and then you wonder how you can some what wear pearls with out actually just having a set of pearls and pearl earrings. I've found that I'm more fond of the pearl lately, but always like it with a little more flair. This would be my take on pearl earrings.

link to Charm and Chain Jewlery

crafting vs buying

I've been looking at lots of blogs this winter. I guess it's my way of zoning out from the realities of life. I've always enjoyed decorating and finally having a place of my own, makes me want to decorate all over the house. I have years of decor all stuffed up in my head.
I was musing about this today. I've been in NYC all week and away from my usual zoning mechanism. I think it has been good for me to get out of Dodge for awhile...have time to see life at full pace again. But getting home, I realize that decor doesn't matter that much and in the scheme of life...decorating is a "get to" and not a "have to".

Oh, the balancing of life's pleasures. Always making sure they are in their appropriate place. I am praying today that God will help me to see things more rightly. God gives us decorating and design and their is nothing wrong with it, but sometimes it becomes too important to me because I find it to be such a fun escape.

The other problem I find with decorating and crafting is...it takes money. Yes there are crafts that are cheap, but those small fees at the dollar store add up.

ANd here is my last problem...sometimes crafting turns out great and looks equal to something you can buy in a store...sometimes crafting should look "crafty"...but sometimes crafting looks cheap and sloppy. As for me, I can barely draw a straight line (Seriously, I almost failed 8th grade science because I couldn't draw a straight line. ) so crafts have a tendency to look cheap the first time around. I have to do a craft a few times before it starts to look quality enough for me to display in the house.

So what am I trying to say? I guess, just that I wish that money wasn't an object that stopped me from buying what I wanted and that I had extensive amounts of money to blow on failed attempts at crafting. LOL!

But since this isn't possible or healthy for me, I'm trying to be aware of what I need to just buy because someone else can do it better than I can and will save me time in my life & what I want to craft because it will be fun and I might actually be able to create with quality.

Valentines Day hopes and trials

These are the beautiful dark pink flowers my husband bought me for Valentines day. Perfect!



I had lots of fun ideas for Valentines Day and lots of fun crafting ideas, but only got to one craft this year. I have a lot of fun ideas ready for next year and some glass urns that will help decorating year round. I made the 'X' and 'O' craft out of marbles. I got the ideas from Tatertots and Jello blog. This was my take on it.

Good-bye Christmas!

I didn't take down Christmas until about Feb. 6th. Crazy. Right? Well it's true. But I did want to post pics of what I did this year.
I like have simple things for Christmas and more of a "winter" feel more than cutesy Christmas stuff. Or more of an elegant, simplistic feel.

















My pretty silver ball ornaments.

Valentine's Day Decorating

1) Valentine's Day bags 2) Heart word art 3) XO wreath 4) Valentine's Subway art 5) Love Birds 6) cupcake 7) the 14th 8) XO marbles 9) valentines subway frame


Valentine's Day is an interesting holiday for me, and I think for most people. As a single person, in my early 20's I hated this holiday and felt like it was a constant reminder of my singleness. And even when I was dating someone, it wasn't my favorite, because it could hold so much angst. "What is he going to give me for valentine's? What does it mean about where we are? What should I give him? What is the right gift to define where we are in our relationship?" I think even for girls who are in a relationship, it can be a stressful holiday and very isolating.

As years went by in my twenties, I started to realize that I could make Valentine's Day what I wanted it to be and not make it about my status as a single person. I saw it as a time to get together with my friends and make Valentine's Day a time of community and let other girls know that they are cared for too. It became a holiday for me to reach out to others and remind myself of the loving community I had around me.

As I was thinking about decorating for THIS Valentine's Day, I became aware that I felt so excited for this year and that was because this is the first year that romantic love is 100% certain in my life. Of course I came to enjoy this holiday in my late 20's but this year I am in a new season of my life. Being married means that I can openly express my love for my husband and there is no nervous-ness over where he is in the relationship. I love it!

Of course, you might say..."well you've known Zack for a few years", but two years ago I wasn't even sure that he loved me. Two years ago we were in New York and he handed me a painting of a heart....and he professed his love to me for the first time! So romantic....but yet very risky emotions going on. And last year, we were about two weeks away from our wedding and didn't even acknowledge the holiday.

This year...we can sit back and be excited for a holiday where we are secure in each other's love and happy for the certainty that marriage brings. I for one, am marveling at how different this holiday feels as a married person. So glad to be here and so grateful for where God has brought me in my life. Very glad to be able to profess to the world that I am madly in-love with my husband Zack!

Above, is an idea board of all the wonderful Valentine's day decorating items that I love and think are super cute and trendy!

Re-Decor

I'm terrible at photographing or keeping a history of the change that I do in our house. I need to get better at showing the before and after.

Anway, When I moved into Zack's house, the kitchen had a nice three shelved dresser with a marble top against the main wall. I like the the dresser, but didn't feel like it gave us enough room for all of the junk we had both accumulated in our 32 years of life apart. So, I took my pottery barn ladder shelves and set them up against the wall and put the dresser in the dining room. BUT ....I saw this wooden/metal shelf on Humble Pie, and now...I'm thinking about how beautiful this would look in my kitchen instead of my ladder shelves.

For now, it's a dream...I start dreaming about one or two years before I usually get a new piece of furniture. Always trying to find a deal or makes sure my heart is set upon something before I invest in it. I'm pretty sure I would never get tired of this though.

Humble Pie's style ...and her ideas from Paula Dean

I LOVE this kitchen! I got it from the Humble Pie blog. I do Love her style...very simple, trendy, a bit Scandinavian slash French....I do believe my trip to Prague influenced my style even more than I realized it would. The Check's literally build right on top of the last style ...thus their buildings and style are beautifully mismatched. I find myself loving mismatched and loving putting opposites together.
Of course this is already a the trends of today, but I found myself naturally moving towards this trend way before I saw it in magazines. I love the irony in design right now. This kitchen, to me ...is beautiful!

Below is an example of architecture in Praja (Prague).