Creative Do-It-Yourself Ideas and Inspiration for Your House and Family. Currently making _______________.
Something about baking, putting up lights, wrapping presents and listening to Christmas music just puts me in the most relaxed mood. I love seeing everyone slowly settle into the season’s comforts. I’m all about adding layers of decorations, day by day. And I love seeing everyone’s Christmas lights – new ones seem to spring up every night! It’s a month-long celebration and we’re right in the middle of it.
Are you craving Chritmas cookies like me? Stay strong! We’ve made a batch of cookies already, but I’m doing my best to keep my hands out of the freezer. I devised a plan that both my sweet tooth and my brain can agree upon.
Hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving! We had a lot of fun doing our annual Turkey Trot, even though it was a little wet and wild outside. We got two rounds of turkey, visiting family all around the metro. And we still have a Friendsgiving to look forward to. Bring on the leftovers!
If you got a little burnt out on Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping, it’s ok. I actually swore off Black Friday shopping a few years ago. It was after heading out in very icy conditions… I think I was looking for a crock pot or something petty. Long story short, I ended up rear-ending someone because my brakes couldn’t handle a fresh ice patch, and that was a very short-lived little shopping trip. I decided all the madness of consumerism and downright danger were just not worth saving a few bucks. I took a step back and thought about how silly the whole thing is. Thanksgiving is about friends, family and togetherness. Where’s the gratitude in a $19.99 crockpot and fender bender? So that was the end of my Black Fridays. I went cold turkey. (Thanks for noticing the pun.)
But I’m all for Small Business Saturday, the day after Black Friday. I fully support the notion of using our cash to support local shops rather than big box stores. We vote with our dollars, you know? I’m guilty of deal hunting at chain stores, but I really want to try to support more small businesses. It just feels good. While I’m trying to cut back on holiday shopping in general, I think at least being mindful of where I’m using my money is a step in the right direction. That said, I’m hoping to do a lot more Christmas crafts this year! And please, before you throw something away consider first donating it, recycling it or upcycling it. Organize a clothing swap, have a DIY-off with friends, make mittens, sew a quilt, make shop rags or give it to someone in need instead.
Our friends at Cotopaxi have some ideas for recycling and repurposing as well, and have a promo code for you at the bottom of this post if you’d like to check out their website.
What we really love about Cotopaxi is that all the backpacks are handmade by someone who otherwise may not have a job. The person gets to personally design the bag with colors and fabrics that inspire them. No two bags are alike. And all the fabric is repurposed, fabric that would otherwise have ended up in a landfill. It’s a win-win. I’m impressed with their commitment to impact sourcing – the people who make these bags earn a decent wage to actually improve their quality of life.
If you have a certain someone on your shopping list who’d like a unique, socially responsible, durable and useful gift, we’d highly recommend checking them out! There’s a promo code just below. Watch this video for their inspiring story:
Cotopaxi did not sponsor this post. We just think they have a great business model and mission worth sharing and we hope you will too!
This has been a long time coming. When we moved in, we discovered this incredible secret storage area know as the crawlspace. After moving from a slightly larger house, we needed a place to put boxes and miscellaneous things that either didn’t fit, or we didn’t have a place for right away. So into the crawlspace they went. And the garage. But that’s a whole other story… It was finally time to tackle our storage area and get things to their homes. We spent our staycation working on this, and a few other big projects.
A couple weeks ago, Joe and I took a few days off work for our very first staycation. I’ve got to say, it was really exciting! We hardly told anyone where we were going – I know, it’s pretty anticlimactic when you realize our big getaway vacation was actually… nowhere. But to us, it was our time to truly enjoy the house for the first time between moving in, work, and a summer of nonstop commitments.
I found this recipe in our staging cookbook that we used for house showing decor. It’s the Better Homes and Gardens annual recipes 2003 cookbook. We picked it purely for the colors and photos, but hey, I’ve already made two recipes from it! I put a different spin on it to serve up for Sunday. Easter has always been my favorite holiday, and I’m so excited! If you’re looking for a good spring recipe, I would highly recommend this one. (Unless we’re going to the same family function.) It’s fairly easy, and there’s even a surprise filling inside. Hope you enjoy!
Alright, I owe you guys some more chocolate. And if you can’t eat it, you can at least look at it, right? I guess I have a thing for weird cupcakes. If I’m going to eat something unhealthy, I make it count! Since I’m not allowed to bake anything in the kitchen right now, I’ll just pretend I’m able to.
While we’re not huge fans of Hallmark holidays, we do like to celebrate special occasions in our own way. I’m big on spending quality time together, so I figured there was no better time to sign Joe up for some volunteer activities. Hey, that was my Valentine’s Day wish.
We hope you truly have a blessed year in 2015 and beyond. And a very fun and safe night tonight. Joe and I are still deciding how we want to ring in the new year, but I’m sure we’ll make it a memorable one 🙂 We hope you’ll hang around next year for some new adventures. Many surprises to come.
Here are some fun highlights from our blog. Click below if you’re curious and want to see the full infographic.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,300 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 55 trips to carry that many people.
Click here to see the complete report.
Wow, what an excellent weekend we had away from everything. Joe’s family treated us to a few days up north at a cabin. We really enjoyed ourselves! Thanks again for such a great time 🙂 We’ll remember it forever. And we practically were the only people there!
We were digging the lofted ceiling and fireplace. So homey! Everything was beautiful.
