Tag Archives: Christmas

Dreaming of a Lovely Christmas at Home!

Good afternoon, my beautiful creatives!

I am dreaming of Christmas in my new house. We are not there yet. We actually do not move in until December 1st.

In my world, we put up our Christmas decorations on November first. My hubby and I have made this one of our favorite Christmas traditions since the year my mom died, which was in 1999. He kept playing the song, “We Need A Little Christmas”, and we did, we really REALLY needed it.

So a Christmas tradition was born.

I know that November, 1st is technically early, but do you know how much work it takes to decorate everything beautifully??? And since my hubby and I are usually out of town for the actual Christmas holiday, we try to enjoy evenings with the twinkle of Christmas lights sparkling off of shining ornaments for as long as we can.

This year, however, since we are moving, and more specifically, moving on December 1st, we are not doing that this year. Right now, as I sit here typing this, I am thinking that our very first thing going up, in our new house, will be our Christmas tree. I won’t care if I haven’t yet found our toothbrushes, or drinking glasses. Those are just minor details compared to the ambiance and radiance that a Christmas tree brings to our home.

Even though I am so excited about our move, I am a little bit sad that I cannot decorate as early as I want to, and because of that I thought I would share some of my FAVORITE Christmas Instagram pics that I have discovered! This is just going to have to do it’s magic little best to tide me over to the day that I too will be able to share a pic of our Christmas home!!

Now that the Halloween decor is put away does anyone else have Christmas decorating on the brain??? Don’t worry I haven’t brought my Christmas decorations out yet. This is for inspiration only. This beautiful tree by @lizmariegalvan (who is my total decor girl crush) gives me all the feels 😍😍check out my story to see how I’m going to recreate this look and also bring my own style into it too of course 👍🏻 I’m so excited to have a tree that’s going to look covered in snow 👌🏻❄️🌨 . . . . #christmasinspiration #holidayinspo #christmasdecor #christmasideas #christmashome #rusticchristmas #vintagechristmas #fauxtree #fauxchristmastree #homedecorinspo #lizmariegalvanblog #blogger #bloginspo #seasonaldecorating

A photo posted by Jordan (@jordecor) on Nov 1, 2016 at 12:08pm PDT

Clayre & Eef 🎄 heeft nog veel meer leuke spulletjes trouwens (naast de producten die je kunt winnen op de blog). Ik heb heel wat mooie fotootjes 📷 gekregen van @clayreandeef, dus zal jullie vanalles laten zien! 🎅 Dit kussen hoort bij de Hello Deer collectie. Leuk??

A photo posted by Christmaholic (@christmaholic) on Oct 26, 2016 at 11:04am PDT

#новогоднийдекор советы от #christmashome 🌲👉Электрические #гирлянды – универсальное новогоднее украшение, но сама по себе нитка гирлянды смотрится не слишком эффектно, гораздо красивее переплетение ярких лампочек и зелени ветвей. Включение огней создаст эффект звездного света и поможет украсить темные углы или прихожую. В Европе есть #традиция #украшать лестничные перила детскими мягкими игрушками, они еще издалека покажут всем прохожим, что в доме праздник. И еще один #совет 👉 Заполните несколько больших прозрачных емкостей (это могут быть большие миски, хрустальные ладьи, кувшины с мелким красочным орнаментом) яркими ягодами и красивыми фруктами. Подобные украшения не только красивы, но и аппетитны. 👌#новыйгод #декор

A photo posted by Christmas Home (@christmashome) on Oct 12, 2016 at 12:57pm PDT

Okaaay so I’m already ridiculously excited for christmas. I think I may have a problem. 11 gifts bought along with wrapping, tags etc…..#christmasfreak #itsthemostwonderfultimeoftheyear #excited #ihaveissues #cozychristmas #xmas #redandwhitechristmas #2016 #santa

A photo posted by Fran (@francrazycatlady) on Aug 4, 2016 at 10:37pm PDT

@robyns_frenchnest tagged me days ago to share my Christmas style for #4squarestyle and @rae10657 just tagged for #therealhousewivesofig and their Christmas collage, so I figured I better share! —————————————— My style is kind of all over the place but my downstairs is probably the most consistent; traditional, a little retro and I loved throwing some vintage in there this year. @decorandmoredesigns or @giosmama2626 have you shared your Christmas style yet?? #christmasdecor #bringbacktheholidays #colorFULLChristmas #redandwhitechristmas #myholidayspirit2015 #therealhousewivesofig

A photo posted by Kendra (@threebeancircus) on Dec 17, 2015 at 3:34pm PST

Here is to an AMAZINGLY MAGICAL holiday season!

1 - Signature

Happy New Year!!!

Good evening!

I know that to say “Happy New Year” on January 10th is a little johnny-come-lately, but I figured that it is better late than never!! So…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2012 was a pretty great year for a lot of great changes for both my sweetie and myself, and I personally am very excited to see what 2013 has in store for us!!!

As you may already know, my sweetie and I have both had gastric bypass surgery this past year, and my sweetie has lost a little more than 150 pounds. I have lost almost 95 pounds. I only throw that little tidbit in this evening because I know a lot of my friends are curious – you are, aren’t you!! Yeah – I knew it!!! 😉

Anyway, I did something ABSOLUTELY INSANE tonight, that I am SERIOUSLY-CRAZY-SUPER-EXCITED about!! I have just purchased about 500 like-brand-spanking-new books!!! WHOA!!! and it only cost me $100 dollars!! I can hear some of you saying, “like you really needed any more books???” Ok, so no, I don’t NEED any more books, but I’ve got a plan!! and I am going to keep my plan under my toup’ for a little while! (BTW, that is toupee for those of you who I may have just confused the heck out of!!!)

What else?? Well, Christmas was pretty cool!! My sweetie went above and beyond in the gift-giving department. Everything that he got me made me feel uber-girly, and I LOVED every single gift I got this year. My sweetie got me:

Urban Decay’s Naked Eye Pallette

Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark

Katy Perry’s Perfume Purr

A Cute DS Travel Bag

Fannie Flagg’s Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook

Quitter book by Jon Acuff

Plus my sisters got me a really cute Santa at his toy workbench – SOOOOOO CUTE!! and a two foot Christmas tree COVERED in Hallmark Santa ornaments – ABSOLUTELY INGENIOUS!!!

So, all-in-all, it was an AWESOME Christmas!!!

Anyway, I have a whole slew of chores that I still need to get done this evening before I get to go to bed soooo…

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

My Kindle Touch Review!

Kindle Touch

Good evening!

I am soooo excited to be on the eve of a FOUR-DAY WEEKEND!!! Seriously, I really am needing a break! 😉 Jason and I just got back from a big grocery shopping trip, and as fun as it is to shop together – it is, it is not so fun to put it all away – it isn’t, but it is such a HUGE weight off my shoulders not having to worry about what are we having for lunches, or dinners all week – it is!! 😉 Anyway, God bless my sweetie, he is in the kitchen right now putting the rest of the food away so I can spend some quiet time in my living room blogging away!! I really do LOVE that man!!

With that said, I think that is a GREAT segue for what I was really wanting to talk about this evening! My new Kindle Touch!

But first, let me back up a bit…

All season I have been telling Santa that “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”.

He would say to me, “Wouldn’t you like one of these?”, and I would respond, “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”.

“Or how about one of these things?” he would say, and I would reply, “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”

It has been said so many times, “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”, since October that I might have saved myself quite a bit of talk time if I would have just been able to push a button to let it say, “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”.

Now, my hubby, being the great man that he is, ordered my special gift from Amazon and there it sat wrapped under our lovely Christmas tree, weeks before Christmas. I was soooo excited, I was soooo dazzled that I was sure that Jason had not only gotten me exactly what I wanted, he even got it early!!! YEAH!!! WHATTA-MAN!!! 😉

Oh, did I mention I bought Jason the EXACT same thing that I wanted???? I was thinking we could replace both of our old, first-generation Kindles in one fell swoop.

Well, Christmas came and I was just ITCHING to get to that package – you know me I LOVE TO READ!!! Anyway, I remained patient and when I finally got to this package, I opened it and realized that Jason had gotten me the wrong thing.

Wahw-waaaahw!!

EEEEK!! I was devestated, he had ordered a Kindle Fire, which I am sure ANYONE else would have LOVED, but I want to read, and the Kindle Fire is great for watching NetFlix, and Hulu, and playing games, but I WANTED TO READ!!!!

What happened to my audio recording of “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”???

Am I invisible???

Kindle Fire

After taking a chill-pill, thanking my sweetie, while continuing to smile. I gave my new Kindle Fire a tryout. I played games, (FYI: Angry Birds really is fun – REALLY!), I watched television on Hulu, and watched a couple of shows from my Netflix queue, I ordered a magazine subscription, and spent some time going through an entire Marie Claire magazine from cover to cover, and when I did get around to trying to read an actual book on the Kindle Fire, I realized where my problem was. You see, it was the day after Christmas, and I was in the car going home. I was trying to read a book, but the glare from the overcast sky was so harsh that it made it nearly impossible to read my page. By the time I got home, I had decided it was time to fess up…

“Honey, I really love you, and I LOVE that you got me such an AWESOME gift, but I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads. Can we trade gifts!?!? Well, he was very sweet, and laid back, which of course is TOTALLY him, and said sure Baby, whatever you want!

Well, since then I have been reading up a storm, and Jason is now soooo addicted to his new Kindle Fire that we may have to enroll him in a 12-step program!! I swear, I am dreaming about the Angry Birds game, I can hear him playing it so much!! 😉

We are such a perfect couple!! Thank you, Baby, I love you!! 😉

Now on to my Kindle Touch review!

Hmmm…how should I put this??

IT’S AWESOME!!!

It is small, sleek, extremely light, and easily fits into any of my bags! The pages turn so quickly, faster than if I were reading one of my paper books. There is almost ZERO glare from the lights, the sky, sunshine, etc! The e-ink is just soooo gentle on my eyes, which is such a positive thing because I am on a computer for more than 8 hours a day for my day job, and my eyes get REALLY tired!!

Anyway, the Kindle was a little tricky to figure out how to maneuver at first since there really aren’t any directions to speak of, and it is not as intuitive to use as our original first-Generation Kindle was to use, but there are great tutorials on the Amazon website! I also find that Amazon really does have a great book selection, but some of my favorite books are just not available in Kindle’s bookstore. However, probably my biggest complaint, is that I have hardback library, that I LOVE growing, and a new Kindle book, oftentimes cost just a few dollars less than a brand new hardback copy, so a lot of times, if it is a series, or an author that I happily familiar with, I have a tendency to purchase the hardback instead of purchasing an electronic copy for my Kindle.

Even with those minor downsides, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives! and this new Kindle really makes my old Kindle seem archaic, which I guess it kind of is, but seeing that it is only a few years old, that is a little odd.

I LOVE my new Kindle Touch!!

Hmmmm…now if only I can find a cute cover for it…well, I guess that will have to be a different post!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

PS. Just for those who might be curious, I don’t receive any kind of compensation from Kindle for saying any of this! 😉

Merry Christmas!

Good evening!

Merry Christmas!!

After being on sabbatical from being on the internet for the past few days,I am happy to be back, and wanted to with all of you VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 😉 I have been spending quality time with my family. We have gone antiquing, shared meals, laughed, had an insane Nurf fire fight over all of the opened Christmas gifts, gone to church services, and spent time with each other just having a GREAT time!!

Unfortunately, I am not going to have any pics to share. I am very sad to announce that my camera has gone kaput, for some unknown reason! So, I will either have to have a Christmas miracle to have it fix itself, I am going to have to find a way to get it fixed, or I am going to have to purchase a new camera! I am praying for that miracle!!! 😉 I will keep you posted! 🙂

Jason and I are heading home tomorrow morning, and as sad as I am that we will be leaving our family behind, I will be very happy to sleep in our bed again!! Air mattress living can wreak havoc on our poor backs, something that I am sure we will get over rather quickly!! 😉

As I make spend the rest of the evening trying to squeak some more time with my family, I want to wish you and all of your families a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

Last Minute Prep!

Good evening!

Whew! I am taking a break from listening to Christmas cartoons while wrapping about 1,000 little stocking stuffers for my family. Ok, maybe 1,000 might be a SLIGHT exaggeration, but I am sure that it is only by an exaggeration by a tiny bit!! 😉

After I get all of those done, I then have to get last minute packing done, finish straightening the house (I have a rule about making sure the house is spotless before I go out of town, so that when I get home, I just get to unpack my suitcase, and NOTHING ELSE!). I then have to make sure the dogs get bathed so they are clean and comfortable while we are away (thankfully our friend, Don will be watching the girls while we are out, as always!!)! After all of that, I have the task of making sure that we all get into bed and get some sleep before we get up in the morning, pack the car, and then I get to work, hopefully on time!!! Mamma is gonna need some serious caffeine to make it through the day!! 😉

I have been working long days this week, so that Jason and I can leave for Roseburg for the Christmas weekend tomorrow at 1:30, and I am hoping to be on the road straight away!! I SERIOUSLY can’t wait!! 😉

I always have such a fun time hanging out with my family, I just can NOT wait to get there!! We have a full weekend planned of Christmas light seeing, church services, breakfasts, dinners, present opening, manicures, antiquing, and just all around hanging out with the family!! I am planning on taking a ton of pics all weekend, and I will do my best to share them all with you!! 😉

WHEW!! Now, that I have said all of that, I realize I am just SOOOO BEAT!!! As I zip off to get more of my to-do list done this evening…

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

Taking Time with My Sweetie!

Good evening!

This is going to be a rather short post. I feel a little like the white rabbit, saying, “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date!”

Tonight, after getting some chores done, my sweetie and I are going to spend some quality time together, and for that I am supremely grateful! With me being sick, and him getting busy in his work life, we haven’t had a whole lot of quality time together lately!!

After work today, we stopped and had a lovely dinner together, where we could just catch up and check in with each other! I knew that I was going to head up to snuggle down in bed early tonight, but I also knew that I have some chores that need to get done, who doesn’t have those, and I also knew that I wanted to spend a few moments enjoying my Christmas tree tonight. So, I am doing that now while I am getting my posting done!!

Chores:

Swap laundry
Sweep
Vacuum
Clear off stair
Load dishwasher
Tidy up bathrooms
Change bedding/make bed

On another to-do list type note, we are almost ready for Christmas – Whoo! Hoo!! I have just one more person on my list to shop for, and then my sweetie has got to get all of the fixings so that we can put together goodie baskets for all of the families, just like we do every year!! He is a phenomenal baker, and I always love helping him in the kitchen wherever I am needed, even if that is just to make sure he doesn’t eat all of the goodies!!!! Hmmm…I wonder what we will make this year?

Marshapine
Peanut butter crunchies
Peppermint bark
Peanut butter fudge
Mini chocolate chunk cookies with butterscotch chips

That should please the masses!! I know that will please us!!! YUM!! I can’t wait to get cooking!! 😉

What else?? Well, not too much! Now that I have freed up my head with my lists, I really am just itchin’ to get my chores done, so I can squiddle down in my freshly made bed, with my sweetie, my girls and a great romance novel! Yes, that is the genre du jour!! It will be SA-WHEET!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

A Quiet Evening!

Good evening!

I am having a nice quiet evening at home, well that is except for the sneezing and the coughing – that is a little noisy, but seeing that I am the one doing it, I will excuse it!! 😉 My official plan for this evening is to continue spending this evening cuddled up on the couch with my girls while watching French movies!! I just LOVE doing that!!! 😉

This evening, for my blog posting I thought I would share some more Christmas Craft Fair pics from the Douglas County Christmas Craft Fair from last weekend! Most of the items I have purchased while there were used to decorate my drab cubicle at work, and I am just LOVING the change of scenery there!! The market has also really got me thinking about officially starting my own business where I can sell refinished home furnishings and one-of-a-kind home accessories, but that is another blog posting!! 😉

As I enjoy the rest of my quiet evening…

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

A Cute Surprise!

Good evening!
I got home this evening, and Jason told me that he could hear murmuring coming from under the Christmas tree, so on further inspection this is what I saw…

Closer…

Do you see what I see?

Isn’t that too cute???

You see, I collect Santas and usually they come from my sisters every year. This is a tradition that my mom started in 1997, 2 years before she passed away. Well, apparently Jason has been Mr. Sneaky and has gotten me one this year too. I can’t wait to see what he looks like, but apparently Santa is going to be sitting, er-uh, standing under my tree all season! It is a really good thing that Christmas is coming soon. I am just too antsy to want to wait to open my presents!! 😉

I am off to go spend some time with Mr. Sneaky!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Flurry of Activity!

Good evening!

This evening has been a FLURRY of activity!! My sweetie and I are frantically getting everything ready to go down to Roseburg for the weekend. My sisters and I have rented two booths down at the Douglas County Christmas Fair, and we are going to be selling all sorts of hand made goodies! I will make sure to take plenty of pictures all weekend of everything and anything! Our good friend, Don is going to be coming over and babysitting our two little girls – thanks, Don!!! So, I know they will be in good hands!

We still have some more housekeeping to do before we go, and I need to make sure we get EVERYTHING packed into the minivan, because I am leaving work at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon to head out, and we are leaving straight from there.

I am not exactly sure what to expect from this Christmas bazaar, but I am excited to be getting to spend some time with my sissies, and to be able to sell some of my hand made bead and wire jewelry. It has been sitting in the house, some of it for up to five years, I have got to sell it, and make room for new creativity!

Back in 2007, I had opened my own jewelry business, and I did pretty well at making a nice selection of treasures, but because of some health problems that my sweetie was having, I decided that I needed to focus my attention on getting him better, so I put all of my jewelry-making supplies away. I get a little sad whenever I see them now, because I really do enjoy making jewelry, but really haven’t given myself permission to get back into making my little baubles! I think that after this weekend, that is going to really change! I would love to see myself start making jewelry again, with a focus on soldering, mini collages, ephemera, personalized memorabilia, and inspirational and sassy thoughts! 🙂 That sounds like SO MUCH FUN!!! 😉

Anyway, as much as I am enjoying my view of our lovely Christmas tree, and part of my book collection (see picture above), I have got to get going and get the rest of my to-do done for the evening, so I can go to bed before midnight!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

My Tree Is Done!!

Good evening!

It has taken me three days, but I have finally finished decorating my Christmas tree!! WHOO! HOO!!! I know it is early, but I really have needed a little Christmas spirit early this year! 😉

I wasn’t going to put up our tree this year, because I was thinking that it is an awful lot of work for just my sweetie and I, and we aren’t even going to be here at Christmas, however, when I expressed my thoughts to my sis, Alex she convinced me that even if it was just to enjoy the Christmas tree while I am reading on a quiet evening – it would be worth the work!!! 😉 She was absolutely right! AS SOON as I got the Christmas lights on the tree I was IMMEDIATELY put me in the Christmas spirit! It also helped that my sweetie helped my put the tree up this year, which I REALLY appreciated it!!

My theory on decorating my Christmas tree is to basically put EVERYTHING and ANYTHING that I LOVE on the tree!!! Which means that every single solitary inch of that tree has something on it!!

I love to tuck little treasures and momentos into our tree too. I especially LOVE pictures of my sweetie and from various different Christmas’!

We are such babies in this picture. This is one of our first Christmas’ with my sweetie’s family.

I also have lots of little signs, and this little red bird. One of my pastors, growing up, used to tell me that the little bird in her tree would wake up every evening and fly to the north pole to report to Santa whether or not we were behaving or not. Even though we don’t have children, I sometimes wonder if our little red bird flies to the north pole while we sleep and give a full report of our behavior to the man in the big red suit too!! 😉

Oh, and with my love of Santas, how could I not at least have one or 10 Santas on my tree??? 😉

Here is our Christmas star. Everyone always makes fun of me for this topper. Apparently it isn’t quite as flashy as the rest of our tree, however Jason and I bought this tree for our very first Christmas almost 17 years ago and every year I pull it out and PRAY that all of the lights in it still work. Every year, I am always amazed when they do!! WHOO! HOO!! 😉

When I describe our tree to anyone who has never seen it before, I always say that it looks like a jewelry box exploded ALL OVER our Christmas tree!! I still think that is pretty fitting!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! ;-)

PS. Thank you, Alex, for cheering me on when I was having a moment of weekness!! I dedicate this blog posting, and my lovely Christmas tree, that has made me ABSOLUTELY SMILE to you!!!You were 100% right!!! I love you, Sissy!! 😉

Beautiful Creatives

Empowering your juicy life!

Tag Archives: Christmas

Dreaming of a Lovely Christmas at Home!

Happy New Year!!!

My Kindle Touch Review!

Merry Christmas!

Last Minute Prep!

Taking Time with My Sweetie!

A Quiet Evening!

A Cute Surprise!

A Flurry of Activity!

My Tree Is Done!!