holy smokes what a year

First off, who hit the fast forward button? This year went by so fast but I guess they all do. 

Where to start? 

We made it through the hottest summer, the.hottest. We moved into a new home(rental). He started up his own business, Modern Man. I met some amazing people through my photography. We had lovely holidays. We started to juice, now we will live longer. We made our first homemade soup, dog treats, dog food, cookies & so much more. We ate way to many Christmas cookies. We made some AMAZING new friends. We enjoyed all our amazing friends. We loved on Austin so hard that today it's paying us back with 70 degrees & sunny blue skies. Peanut & Sugar mastered their Texas sun bathing skills. He discovered his all time favorite breakfast, toast w/peanut butter, banana & chocolate chips. Not to forget boating season. Oh boating season. Friday night taco or pizza nights on the boat, you rocked. My sister turned 30 & I got to visit her in Michigan to celebrate. Our niece is only getting cuter. We bought, renovated & sold an investment property. We made a road trip to buy an Airstream, not exciting at all. It's just an Airstream!! Eeks. We started our first build!! & this here blog. Oh 2011 you were good to us. We thank you. Bring on 2012!! We are ready.

This weekend we are off to our friends ranch to celebrate what is going to turn out to be one amazing year. 2012 let's make it one year long party. With disco balls, music, friends, family & most of all, love. Happy New Year to ya.

hey there our little three pounder

That there picture of you was the last one taken of you being 4. Yup you are 5 now & we can't believe it. Mommy feels old today. You were my 24th birthday gift & that means I'm 5 years older now too. Yikes. Lucky for you, you only get cuter as the days go by.

Sugar, Sug teeny, Wormy, Squirrel, Small Fry, Woogie, Sugs, Sugar Booger today is your birthday & man are we happy you were born. No one snuggles like you, sleeps as long as you or shoots boogers quite like your sweet little nose. Your name suits you so well. You are our Sugar. Daddy, Mommy & Peanut wish you the happiest of birthdays & we love you oh so much. We can't wait to go rock climbing with you today at Mount Bonnell. The sun is shining for you today our sweet little baby. Happy Birthday.

we gave, received & these are our faves

1. We gave this book to our friends only after skimming through real quick & loving all the tips. If your goal in 2012 is to save some green you should check it, for sure. It even includes recipes to help you save money.

2. He thought I drove him nuts before with my camera, just wait, now I have a remote!! I can now be in the family picture. For $7.95. 

3. This was given to us by some of our best friends. We are that couple that doesn't really go a minute without our tunes. So this is perfect. Once we are spending our days at our build daily, this is sure to be there. Family picnics, you can bet this little guy will be in my purse along for the ride. Comes with a bag & sounds amazing too!

4. Do you see it?! I don't think I need to say more. It's Bob Dylan in 24x36 for $2.85. Yes please & thank you.

5. This one is a bit pricey but when he received it he said, "I can pack food for us & our kids." So you can just guess how my heart melted. He also brings his lunch where ever he goes, as do I. We love this cooler set. 

Well there are our faves, feel free to share yours. 

paper, puppies & technology

This year marked the second year being away from our family for the holidays & I can't say I wasn't sad. But thanks to technology we were able to skype with them multiple times & feel like we were home. We also got to face time with my in-laws. BIG kiss for technology. BIG. 

I was worried it wouldn't feel like Christmas around here this year BUT thanks to our amazing friends, my wonderful husband & our little love pups, it was perfect. Our crazy furry babies happy hearts around the tree this year was more than one could ever ask for. Man do we love their cute little furry butts. 

We can't wait to see what 2012 will bring. Happy Tuesday to ya.

let's just snuggle & watch movies

Before Santa made his way down the chimney we snuggled with hot chocolate & love amongst the glow of our tree. We watched some movies that are worth seeing. So today if you find yourself yet again with hot chocolate, love & a boob tube, here are some good flicks:

Senna (an amazing soul & inspiration)
Crazy Stupid Love (ladies you know...& the love of course)
If a Tree Falls (an eye opener)
Bill Cunningham New York (a man that will make you laugh & love life for all the good that it is)
note: 3 out of 4 are on Netflix

Why does all this extra love have to be only around the Holidays? Love is a daily celebration.

photo source

I hope the holidays are bringing you love in its deepest form. Ours sure is.

we wish you..

Well it's almost that time to see who has been naughty or nice. To our family that we miss so much, keep it naughty. Nice is boring. We love & miss you more than you know. Happy Holidays to ya!

it's no holiday without you

& maybe a cookie or two. I love you & our little pups too.

girl crush // Lissie

As I enjoyed my daily bowl of oatmeal today my pandora played, like always. Then I heard her. Then I saw her photo. I have a crush on a girl. Named Lissie. She's a badass. And I just had to share.

  To Santa's music loving elf: A ticket or two? In my stocking?

DIY // free center piece

Yesterday he worked on getting the lumber ordered for the build but more bumps are getting in the way. We.just.want.walls! I keep telling him after we have this first build under our belts we will be good to go. A little stressed we then headed to Goodwill where I found some goodies. I kinda love them. I found two 1970s pitchers that go perfect with our cute juice glasses. I will share more on that next week. Can I just state all of our holiday cookies are officially eaten as of this morning. 3 sticks of butter in 4 days. That's nasty. BUT yummy. Guess what that means? Time to whip up some puppy chow today!! I hope your holidays are just as tasty as ours are turning out to be.

So let's get to this free DIY center piece.

Supplies

- bottles from your very own recycling bin

- a long piece of yarn

- two feathers 

- super glue

- clippings from your yard

- water

Clear your bottles of all their labels. Glue two feathers together. Glue the end of the yarn to the back of the bottle & wrap it around to your liking. Then glue the other end of the yarn to the bottle as well. Now just simply tuck the feathers in how you like. Head to your yard, clip away, add water. There you go! a cute center piece for free. Add some ornaments to your branches for a little holiday flare if you like. We set our clear glass tree treat jar next to ours. You can also use red berries in place of the feathers for more holiday cheer. Have fun. 

review // clairol root touch-up

I know it's not just me with these issues:

1. Booked your next hair appointment 8 weeks prior only to realized you didn't think ahead. To then realize your holiday do will require a santa hat to hide beneath. 

2. Being 28 with gray. Yes gray hair. Actually I started getting gray hair at 23.  

My dad went completely gray at 18. I couldn't imagine him any other way. My brother, sister & I would loss him in a store & would just start looking for the full head of gray hair bobbin' around. He has that gorgeous silver hair. Better than Richard Gere. But let's face it, it's just not the same on a 28 year old lady. 

Then I found a solution between hair appointments, Clairol root touch-up. It worked great but next time I will leave it in a little longer. Ladies if you are covering gray, it's not lying when it says leave it on longer. It really does blend in with your current color too. Best part is it only cost about $7. Wow this post is making me sound so old. Then he says, "Imagine if you didn't dye your hair, you would have long gray hair." Thanks Babe. And Dad I miss your gorgeous gray head. I really do. 

My fellow ladies with the gray, it's better to have gray hair than none at all. Bam! 

So if you find yourself with roots this holiday week & want to get freshened up(gray or not), try it! 

p.s. Please feel free to share your hair tips below. 

weekend recap // christmas cookies

After this weekend I think we may receive a workout dvd from santa & his cute elves. It's one thing to buy your cookies BUT when you make them from scratch. Let's just say, that can't be right! What? how many? how many? 3!! sticks of butter. Yet we can't stop eating them. At least we get a short walk in every time we go back for another. 

We also did a little shopping this weekend & even sent them on their merry way. Made ourselves some more homemade soup & chit chatted over all our yum eats. Happy holiday week to ya. 

No we didn't lick the beater. YES we did. 

a little note to him

Babe,                                                                                                                                         There is nothing that feels more like home than your hand in mine. When things seem out of place there you stand, next to me. Life is right with you. You & me. Music will play & we will dance. Life happens & we will live it. I need you, we need us. You were meant for me & I you.                                                                                                                              Love, your wifey

wish list // minimalist with a hippie twist

Funny thing. The other day as we cooked away like always I got to thinking. Our kitchen is a puzzle piece of things from our adventures. Not in a good way, other than our Mexico shot glasses(from our honeymoon) & our juice glasses(I love those). From 2006 - 2010 we moved back & forth from Michigan to Austin,TX more than I can remember. From our condo in Michigan to our current investment property at that time in Austin. So when we made the decision to make Austin, TX our permanent home in October 2010 we thinned out all( I mean ALL) we owned & pieced together the years past in the form of kitchen pots, pans & dishes. It's not pretty. So Santa I put a little somethin' somethin' together for you & those cute elf's of yours. Check it.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
p.s. No need to wrap.

a modern home on a chunk of land w/goat

This morning I woke up & I clicked on People.com (don't you go judging me). I was inspired by this photo. Yes even the goat. So I ran to the kitchen while he was whipping up pancakes & eggs, bacon for him. The house smelt like we were off in a cabin, far far away. I told him I want our modern home on 2-3 acres & I want a goat. I want our family to run wild. Live like hippies, but super clean ones. You know, for mommies mental health.

Photo source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

dark & dull to happening + DIY feathers

Remember when I talked about being able to design a little decor for a private house concert? I still have to share the photos from that lovely affair. Soon, promise. Well I get to do it again! Today I will be out & about planning to turn a dark dull bar into a happening place for $50 bucks. Wish me luck! Shh don't tell, the small budget kinda pushes me to make it look even better.

Now being that it's the cute packaging season, check out these cuties! My feather affair continues. These are some of my clients discs that were sent out the other day. Oh feathers.

weekend recap

Let's see. We shopped on a Saturday, never again. The homeless guy taste testing every.single. lunchmeat at the deli pushed it over the limit. or maybe it was his cart with only a backpack & empty sample cups I flooded the house. Yup you read that right. I flooded the house. I will forever blame it on the older washer without the safety feature Glad our rental has tile flooring & that my handy hubby owns a wet vac. House is extra clean now. Phew. We continued to cook tasty food. Surprised a birthday girl. Woke up too early for his work schedule. I colored my gray away(more on that later). I worked on a future design post that will be coming later this week. I also found a piece I thrifted forever ago & I think I have never worn. Oops. Well that was a whole lot of random.

Ladies hands off. That coupon clipper, he's all mine. Happy new week to ya.