December Bucket List

Now that Thanksgiving is over & December is just around the corner, I am in Christmas mode!  Let's be honest, I was in Christmas mode right after Halloween... ;)

There is no doubt about it, Christmas is my favorite holiday.  I love the music, the lights, the movies, the food & of course the snow!  For the past two years my husband & I were living in Wenatchee, WA where we got the most beautiful snow!  Now that we have moved to a different area, we are hoping that we will get at least some snow this year.

Aside from spending time with our families, here are a few of the things I'm looking forward to this holiday season:

Decorating cookies - I feel like this is a Christmas tradition for most families.  When I was little, my sister and I would go over to my grandmas house & decorate boxes & boxes of cookies!  My mom would also make cookies at home for us to decorate, she is the best baker!  Now that I'm married, I've also spent time at my mother-in-laws house baking cookies.  She makes so many delicious cookies for Christmas! 

Driving around to look at Christmas lights - There are some great places to view Christmas lights where we live.  Every house in the neighborhood right behind us is decorated!  Some favorite places of ours include the Portland International Raceway, Peacock Lane, downtown Portland, and Zoo Lights. 

Cutting down a tree - Since we've been married, we have always had an artificial tree.  I know its not the most festive, but it certainly has been easy for us living in apartments & condos.  This year now that we have our own house, I'm looking forward to going out & cutting a real tree down!  We plan to go this weekend :)

Decking the halls - I've been patiently waiting to get out all of our decorations so we can get this home in the Christmas spirit!  I love all of the pieces we have collected over the past five years.

Getting all cozy & watching a Christmas movie - This is one of my absolute favorite things to do.  I love getting under a fuzzy blanket, sipping some hot cocoa & cuddling with Sean & Miesha while watching one of our fav movies.  Christmas Vacation, Home Alone & Love Actually are just a few of our favorites.

The Nutcracker - It's tradition in my family that every year the girls get all dressed up for a night out at the theater.  We always see the Nutcracker & I feel like no holiday season is complete without it.  It's one of my favorite ballets of all time.

Here is a blast from Christmas past...Christmas 2012.  This was our second Christmas as a married couple & in our first little apartment :)

What are you looking forward to this holiday season?  XOXO

Thankful

Thanksgiving: a time when we express gratitude & show appreciation for what we have.  I actually do this quite often, it is not reserved once a year for me!  Since tomorrow happens to be Thanksgiving, it seemed like a great time for me to sit & reflect on what I am thankful for this year.  Here they are!

I'm thankful for my family.  They are the greatest support system & friends anyone could ask for.  Each & every one of them make me laugh & we always have the greatest time when we are together.  I'm thankful that everyone is healthy & happy,  I find myself extremely lucky to have a big family & extended family that are so wonderful!

I'm thankful for Sean & Miesha.  Everything I wrote about my family applies to these two as well.  Only so much more ;)  My husband works incredibly hard for our family, I appreciate & love him so much for this.  He is also one of the most caring individuals I've ever met.  He is always thinking of others & wanting to help in any way that he can.  I just love him so!  Miesha, Miesha...my baby!  She is such a sweet & silly girl, she can always make me smile with her kisses & how she loves to take naps with her toys.  I can't imagine my life without either one of them!

I'm thankful for our house.  Some days, I still can't quite believe that we are finally homeowners!  This is a goal that we had been working towards for so long & now we can say that we have achieved it.  Not only did we become homeowners, but also landlords. Say what?!  Yes, it's intimidating having tenants and two houses to keep up, but it's also been a huge learning experience for us & so far it has been great!  Not to mention, we are so excited about the long-term investment this will be for us.  I have been having so much fun decorating & doing little projects around the house, making it really feel like our home.  It's such a great feeling!

What are you thankful for?  Wishing you all a happy Thanksgving!  XOXO

Shelving Project

Over the past week, Sean & I have been working on a project that I have been wanting to do for awhile now -- some shelves!  When we moved into our house, I really wanted some sort of open shelving in the kitchen.  Since tearing out our cabinets & replacing them with shelves was out of the question, I thought that making some & placing them next to the kitchen would be a nice alternative.  This ended up working out great because it offers a nice way for me to display my books & some plants.  Here is how we made it!

We bought one piece of wood (sized to our preference) & some Minwax wood stain in the color dark walnut.  The first step was to stain the wood!  We let the board dry for about 24 hours.  Once it was dry, we measured the wall where we wanted to hang the shelves so we could cut the board accordingly.  

Once the boards were cut (& after some more staining) it was time to drill the holes.  This was my first time ever using a saw & a drill with that weird bit thing to make the holes.  I was intimidated at first to use the power tools, but I am glad that I'm learning!  Hopefully that means I will be able to make more projects like this in the future :)

Next, rope was used to connect the shelves, hooks were screwed into the wall & then...

...we had the finised product!  I'm so happy with it & think it turned out pretty great!  What do you think?  XOXO