I'm Dreaming Tonight...

Of a cozy little beach house off the coast of, well, anywhere warm!

Enjoy your New Years!

"Divine Design"

Have you seen this show? It's on HGTV at 3pm weekdays, and I try to catch it if I can. I love, love, love Candice Olsen's designs! How I would love to have a room designed by her! I drool over everything she does!

Candice Olson

Here are several of her makeovers...

Bathroom Before:

Bathroom After:


Bedroom Before:
Bedroom After:

Dining Room Before:

Dining Room After:

Try to catch this show if you can - it's worth it!

Photos taken from http://www.hgtv.com/

In Limbo

We're kind of in this "limbo-time" between Christmas & New Years, where it feels like the holidays are semi-over, but we're not quite finished yet!

We had lots of wonderful family-time over the past few days! For Christmas Eve, my sister Sara & I made an Italian-style dinner using recipes from the Olive Garden. We made an appetizer of Spinach & Artichoke Dip with Italian bread and Chicken Castellina for the dinner entree. It was so yummy! (recipes can be found on Olive Garden's website)

And, of course, watching Avery open her gifts was the best part! Last year she was only 6 months old, so she didn't understand what was going on. This year she understood, but was pretty overwhelmed with all the chaos and excitement!


Her favorite - books!
I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas too!

Merry Christmas To All!

Things That Don't Disappoint

The January '08 issue of Real Simple had an article listing products or things that, according to them, don't ever disappoint.

So I thought I'd make my own list, just because I feel like it (and I might be slightly bored)...

Here goes!! (in no particular order and please pardon the randomness)



1. Favorite Cleaning Product - Spray N' Wash Dual Action
This stuff get out almost anything! I haven't found a stain yet that it hasn't removed. It even removed a 2 year old blood stain on a pair of pants! Awesome stuff!

2. Favorite Shoes - My Clarks Privo sneakers
Super comfy and stylish - love the pink & brown. My shoes are similar to these guys...


3. Favorite Christmas CD - At the moment it's Sarah Mclachlan's "Wintersong"
My friend Rachel turned me on to this CD and I've been listening to it a lot over the past few days. It's very soulful and beautiful!
4. Favorite Book(s) - Anything by Ted Dekker. This guy know how to write! His novels and mostly suspense, thriller, mystery-type books that keep you on the edge of your seat!

Another one of my very favorite books is "Peace Like A River" by Leif Enger. I love his writing style and read this book over and over!

5. Favorite Movie(s) - "My Fair Lady"
I love any movie with Audrey Hepburn, but this is my favorite.


6. Favorite Piece of Furniture in my House - my $25 yard sale comfy chair!
Hubs was not thrilled when I came home, filled with excitement, and begged him for the chair. Finally he relented, and I drove back to the yard sale, holding my breath, hoping that someone else didn't snatch it up. And it it was my lucky day!


7. Favorite Baby Product - BumGenius All-In-One Cloth Diapers
I would have never in a million years thought that I would ever use cloth diapers. I mean, disposables are so handy, right? Well, I started doing research on cloth when Avery was about 9 months old and decided that I was sick of constantly running to the store to buy more diapers. Besides being very easy to wash and dry, the cloth diapers are environmentally-friendly and have saved us a lot of $. I wouldn't use them if they weren't super-easy to live with!

8. Favorite Household Tip - Homemade Febreze
While I love the real thing, I've found that Febreze Fabric Freshener is expensive and a bottle doesn't last very long. So I found a recipe for making my own and it couldn't be more simple - just mix 2 cups water and 1 cup fabric softener. I spray it on everything!

That's it for now folks!

More Holiday Cheer

Here are a few more holiday decorations around the house...

I made the wreath (below) a few years ago using square pieces of foam, moss, and silk flowers. I have it hanging in the dining room with the glitter snowflakes hanging from the curtain rod in front of it.

Here is the foyer with the staircase...

A closeup of the ladder I hung from the ceiling. I bought it at a sale and it's fun to decorate it according to the seasons. I love the oversized red bells my mom gave me...


Outdoor decorating...


Now I just need to go shopping for last-minute gifts, wrap a bunch of presents, and get ready for the Christmas parties!

Anybody hungry??

Can you believe these are all for our little family of three??

The Weaver family had their annual cookie exchange yesterday and we came away with more cookies than I know what to do with. I've been making some gift plates and freezing most of them.

These were part of my contribution...
I suppose getting fat is just part of the holiday celebration! :)

Holiday Home Tour

I just love to take a peek into other people's houses to see how they live, decorate, and make their house their "own".

This morning I went on a Christmas home tour of Lititz with my friends Nellie and Beth. It was so much fun to see everyone's different styles and tastes! I thought I'd just share some pics I took...

In Bent Creek Country Club (we just stared, and stared, and stared!)...

This house was my favorite. I love the cheery yellow color! And the master suite was amazing!

This was an old restored farmhouse with an incredible stone fireplace that we loved!

Hope you enjoyed the tour! :)

Family

There's just nothing like family, and I am so thankful for mine! My mom's side of the family is from Ohio, so we go out to visit every now and then. In my mom's immediate family there were 10 girls (yes, 10!) and 1 boy (can you even imagine??). You should hear the noise when all the sisters are in the same room. Unbelievable.

I have lots and lots of cousins. Some I see whenever I visit, and some I haven't seen for 15 or more years. A few days ago I got to hang out with my cousin Miriam and her 4 sisters, and we had such a good time catching up!

We stayed at Miriam's house, which is just so yummy!! There's just no other way to describe it. It's the type of house where you want to just curl up in the family room next to the fire place, wrap up in a blanket, read a magazine, and never want to leave! So homey and inviting!

Here is Miriam, her husband Adam, and their adorable kids...

Thanks for a great time guys!

The Blissful!

Avery & I spent the last few days with my mom & sis in Ohio visiting many, many relatives and having a great time!

One of the best parts of the trip was our visit to The Blissful, a French-inspired store in Canton with all kinds of goodies! Thank you Melissa for the recommendation on your site a little while ago!

We were a bit overwhelmed with all the lovelies in this store - so many very cool ideas and fun items! It was worth the extra drive we had to make.


(Pics taken from www.theblissful.com)