Thursday, December 31, 2015

House too Small to Host? There's Always the Garage...


So, how many folks out there are wondering where yet another year has gone?!   Much has transpired this year in our family with job changes for my hubby, new volunteer activities for me and even the sad loss of my step dad of 8 years. I continue to struggle through the learning process of guitar play, though often times it feels like a lost cause.  This year also marked the year of coloring my hair - probably should have started that last year.

And I must say that in-spite of sadness and tons of rain in the closing of this year, the time spent with our loved ones was sweet and memorable. My mom asked me to host our family Christmas and I gladly accepted. We hosted 19 wonderful people and had what I called a "Honky Tonk Christmas" in our garage!

Top: LOFT/Pants:LOFT/Shoes: 9West
The Stockings Were Hung in the Garage With Care!


I covered the inside or our garage door with cheap table cloths, wrapping paper, stockings and Christmas lights! All our "junk" was hidden behind the curtains, most of the garage floor was covered in random rugs and plastic folding tables were decorated with borrowed table cloths.

Amazing ambience

We moved folks from the garage for our present exchange and then returned to the garage for stockings.



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Monday, December 21, 2015

Quick Fireplace Makeover

For the last couple of years I have been contemplating the idea of painting our fireplace.  So I added that to my living room to do list and that is where it stayed. An idea. Something I wanted to close my eyes, snap my fingers and then open them to find the project done. 

As it turns out, I will be hosting our family Christmas this year and I have a 13 year old boy who is figuring out what buttons he can push to make mom crazy. That combination lit a fire under my procrastinating bootie. 

Here is the fireplace before.


I cleared off of the decorations, swept and dusted the fireplace.



I diluted the grey paint I borrowed from a neighbor with water (3 to 1), painted with a cheap paint brush and then wiped the freshly painted surface with a rag.


With cuties...


Without cuties...



There you have it. It's not as drastic as I had hoped for, but I could always add a white wash later. For now, I'm happy with how much cleaner the living room looks!

Merry Christmas friends!
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New Boots for Christmas!




I love how adding the right key pieces to your wardrobe creates new outfit combinations! And that's exactly what my thrift store find and early Christmas present from my sweet mother in law has done for me. Admittingly, this outfit has a lot of pieces but I love how it all came together.

It began with a burgundy cami and print leggings. From there I added the chambray thrift store find, followed by my lace skirt and then my new dark brown boots, which I topped with a subtle pair of boot socks. Accessories were kept to a minimum as the lace and print leggings were stars of this ensemble.

Here's another outfit with these boots...


Boots and Chambray Top


Boots and Leggings...

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