Favorite Time of the Year!

So if any of you know me at all, I LOVE Christmas!

It's so much fun for me.

I love decorating the Christmas tree.

I love watching Christmas movies, like Home Alone 1 & 2,

Miracle on 34th Street, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, etc...

My poor husband think I'm like a 4 year old when it comes to Christmas.

I think he's like a grumpy old man (possibly Scrooge?) when it comes to Christmas...

There's a balance in there.

 Some where.

Well.... I usually have my house decorated by now.

This year, not so much.

Not because I don't want to!

Trust me!
We've just been working non-stop on our flooring.
Pictures to come soon.

So since I cannot decorate yet...
I'm going to live vicariously through Pinterest.
Here are my favorite things...

Fireplaces:

I love this living room.
I would so decorate like this.

I love this mantle because it blends so well with the homes every day decor that it's a nice simple soft Christmas touch.

If I had a log cabin.... This would be my Christmas decoration for it. <3

I think these wreaths are kinda cool... Not your typical wreath hanging.

I love these lights with the sheer curtains over. *swoon*

If I lived in NYC, I'd decorate like this.

I love this dining room... So sweet & soft

I plan on making the burlap garland.... Maybe even the tulle... So cute!

I have already made something similar to this. Which once I decorate, I will show you! :)

I love the burlap stockings!
These would be so adorable in a beach style house with starfishes hanging with the letters!

LOVE the garland on this bed with the stars... So beautiful!

Love the garland over the mirror... Mine wouldn't say DREAM though...

Love the matching but not the same wrapping idea here!

Hilarious Ornament...

Love the candy Canes over the window with garland!

Love this home!

This is pretty much me... :)

Funny Stuff

Print this out and frame it for easy decoration!

Ha!

Reindeer Names! Love them!

This is my future absolutely adorable daughter at a Christmas party... :)

All of my pictures came from pins on my Pinterest board called Holidays.

Hopefully this weekend I will have my decorations up...
Wishful thinking?
I hope not!

House Update

About 2 weeks ago. We decided to see if our house had hardwood floors underneath the carpet.

Our thought was that our house was so old, there HAD to be wood floors, right?

This house originally never even had a bathroom. It had an outhouse.

Do you remember what our carpet looked like before?

Here's a picture you can see it in:

I know you can't see much of it... 

But you at least get an idea of the beautiful colors.

So we started by ripping up carpet in our hallway.

Underneath the carpet was old linoleum tile.
Underneath the linoleum tile was particle board.
Bummer!
Well over by the door the particle board was rotted out…
Cha Ching!
Score!
Wood floors after all!
*Happy Dance*

So our weeknights and weekends have been bombarded with getting all those layers of flooring out the door.
It’s been a lot of hard, hard work.

I have blisters, bruises, and calluses to prove!
I don’t have any pictures for you now,
but I promise they will come when I can find my camera in my mess of a home.

Excited to be posting pictures of it soon!

xxooxx
Talia

We Have A Winner!

I went here to get a random number. I entered 1-4 (number of entries) &:
#2 was our random number....

Number 2 is Teena!!!
Yay!
Teena won a personalized set of 12 Glass Christmas Bulbs!
Congrats!
Please contact me with information about what letter you would like on your Christmas Bulbs!

1st Ever Blog Giveaway!

Starting NOW!

Are you ready for this one???
What can I say about this giveaway....

Well for starters, it's Christmas related.
(Of course )
:)

Second, it's something you put on a Christmas Tree!
(WOO HOO!)

Third, it's personalized to cater to you.
(Yup... any letter of the alphabet... All 26...I can do!)
(Aren't you proud?)




Know what it is yet???













Personalized Christmas Bulbs!
Specially for YOU!
Set of 12!

Original Source here.

To enter you must be a follower either by e-mail or by Google friend connect.

Google friend connect is located at the bottom of my blog.
Email is to the upper right-hand side of my blog.

Then you have to tell leave a comment telling me your
most favorite thing about Christmas tree decorating!

Please don't leave a comment as "Anonymous"
I wont know who you are.
:D

Giveaway will be closed Monday, November 7th, 2011 at 11:59 pm (PST)

My most favorite thing about Christmas Tree Decorating is all the memories I have.
Like this one year I leaned over a candle and my hair caught on fire.
Not all of it though.
It pretty much just died out itself before I even knew what happened.


Good Times!

Excited to see what you all post!

xxxoooxxx

Talia

Master Decoration

Remember how I posted pictures of our bedroom?
These ones?

 

well i finally got around to picking a bedroom color

i finally got around to painting the room
i also got around to painting & distressing our dressers...












wannna see?




i know you do...
so here it is!!!

don't mind the mess in the hallway.. mmmkay?

now i know it's not perfect yet.. but it is really hard to decorate when you live in the boonies.
decorating takes time and frequent shopping trips
i'm very limited on both of those things

but it's a start and i'm so glad i finally got rid of the ugly green

you want to know something funny?

i placed a grey paint chip color on the wall and ryan
asked why i would paint it the same color....
HA!
i sometimes forget he is color blind.

it all makes sense now...


it's still a work in progress...
but at least it's better... right?


xxooxx
talia

Ryder's Birth Announcement

I posted before that I did a photo shoot for my new nephew, Ryder.
I also created the birth announcements for them.
Now that they have been out and circulated, I can share this with you!
Isn't it precious?
I love him!

xxooxxoo
Talia

Things that make me smile...

I made a list of thing that make me smile to make me feel better.
Here they are:

Things that make me smile:

-laughing so hard that I cry. {or snort}

-staying in a bubble bath until all the bubbles are gone.

-when a storm turns into a light drizzle right before I go outside.

-when everything you are cooking gets done at the same time.

-when my iPod shuffle reads my mind.

-when I forget I ordered something online and then it randomly shows up. 

{happens all the time, I'm just really forgetful}

-a little kid who is at the age where they say "hi" to everyone.

-catching up to a car that just passed me at the red light.

-when someone leaves a building at the same times as I do so I don't have to touch the door.

-when a red light turns green as I approach it.

-staying up so late that everything is funny.

-somehow waking up at the right time even though I forgot to set my alarm clock.

-when the person I'm meeting is even later than I am.

-dancing like a dork when you're home alone.

-when a cop finally passes me after following behind me for a what seems like forever.

-when my pup is really excited that I'm home.

-popping bubble wrap.

-when I'm really tired and about to fall asleep and someone (it's usually my mom... never my husband) throws a blanket on me.

-when you come home to a crock pot dinner that smells irresistible.

-when I wake up to puppy kisses.

-when I realized everything that happened, fell perfectly into place.

Happy Anniversary To Us!

So Ryan & I celebrated our 1st Wedding Anniversary!
Can you believe it?
I can't.

A whole year went by.

Somehow by having a wedding anniversary, I feel accomplished and old.

Yup.

Somehow...

Accomplished because we made it a year (without Ryan dying).

Old because now I have wedding anniversaries.

We celebrated by traveling up to the San Juan Island and Orcas Island.
It is incredibly gorgeous up there.

That's saying a lot from a girl who grew up living in the Columbia Gorge area.

Here are a few pictures from our trip!

Sunset on "Grandma's Cove"

English Camp Beach

Moran State Park... This is one of my favorite pictures.

This is my beautiful baby!

This is the hubs!

They had Blackberry Barbeque Sauce. Yummmmm! I also had Hush Puppies for the 1st time. So Good.

I love the beach. It's one of my favorite places. So peaceful.

This is me... Hair all crazy in the wind and all!

Again... My beautiful baby.

Grandma's Cove Again

Rainey loves sticks!

Ryder

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend yesterday taking sweet pictures of my new nephew Ryder.

What an easy baby he was to take pictures of! 

He let me move and shuffle him around in all these weird positions and he slept the whole time. 

Of course he made a few faces at me... 

But I don't blame him. :)

Isn't he just adorable?
I love him so much already and he is only 10 days old!

I bet he is the most kissed baby between my mom, sister & I!

That's it for now!

xxooxxooxx

Bakin' Fool

Remember way back in the day when I said I wanted to post every single day? Yeah, I remember that too. Funny what you use to think & how it all changes. ;)

Anywhooo... To the good stuff!

So I've been a busy girl workin' away in the kitchen. Tonight I made some granola. Mmmmm Mmmm Mmmm is it good. While it was cooling out in the pan, I kept walking by & grabbing handfuls of it. Now that it is put away I can hardly keep myself from pulling it back out &

munching on it some more!

So this is how I made it:

6 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1 cup Coconut
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 dash of Salt
2 cups of Mixed Nuts (I used almonds & walnuts)
1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup Maple Syrup
1 cup Craisins

I mixed all of the above except for the Craisins in a large bowl.

I melted the honey in the microwave before adding it to the bowl to make it easier to mix it all up.

 I then baked it in a 9 x 13 inch pan at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

While it was baking I would stir it about every 5 minutes or so to keep from burning.

Once it looked golden brown, I removed it from the oven & added the craisins.

I kept stirring (and eating) the granola until it was just about room temperature.

TA DA!

Easy peasy, huh?

I have mine stored away in the fridge. It's so good.

Just an F.Y.I. the measurments above are all approximate measurements. I probably

(okay I'll admit it) 

added tons more cinnamon to the mix because I love it so much.

Last week while Ryan was out on the Wishram fire (p.s. Ryan's a firefighter) I picked a bunch of blackberries and made this really yummy cobbler.

OH MY GAWD!

It was good.

As I was making the dough for the cobbler, I kept thinking it wasn't going to be very good.

The dough was just super heavy.

But it proved me wrong.

Here's the Recipe:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold butter
• 1/4 cup boiling water
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 4 cups fresh blackberries, rinsed and drained

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees..
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/4 cup boiling water just until mixture is evenly moist.
3. In a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in cold water. Mix in remaining 1 cup sugar, lemon juice, and blackberries. Transfer to a cast iron skillet, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Drop dough into the skillet by spoonfuls. Place skillet on the foil lined baking sheet.
4. Bake 25 minutes in the oven, until dough is golden brown.               

Peaches & Cream Pie

I love everything about summer (except shorts), from warm breezy days to sweet, ripe peaches! I love the bright cheery colors, sunbathing, hot sand, driving with the windows down, barbeques, warm evenings, flip flops, hammocks, reading by the pool,  ice cream, blue skies, etc... 

The list goes on!

Remember how I said I love sweet, ripe peaches? 

You'll love this even more! Peaches & Cream Pie! 

***YUM***

I made it for the first time a few days ago. 

You start off with making your crust first & I did.

Guess what I forgot to do?

Yep... I forgot to poke holes in the pie crust before I baked it!!!

I was so mad at myself... 

One little mistake & it was ruined!

I was tired when I made it & so you know how you are all tired & something like this happens?

Yeah.. I wasn't a very happy person at that moment.

At least it looked cute, right?

Well, I bucked up & tried again, this time remembering to poke holes!

***YUMMY***

HUH?

I found the recipe out in blogland here.

Hope you try it out too! 

Definitely on our make next summer list!

xxooxxooxx

Talia

Baby Shower Invites + Super Post

So I FINALLY finished the baby shower invitations for my sister (in-law).

 I love how they turned out!

***YAY***

sorry about my lame "white out" on the picture...
figuring out photoshop can be a pain

That's pretty much what I did all day today...

On another note... I know it's been a while since I last posted...

So this will be a SUPER POST!

Like how Super Man is Super!

For Starters:

Here's my SUPER DOG

If Rainey had a cape around her neck, this picture would AWESOME!

This is the desk I got for free...

Gonna wrap it up with some new hardware & some new legs & new paint for sure!

I've sanded down the drawers already & now I'm waiting for my hubs to

help me pull this heavy sucka out on the grass...

I got these too... aren't they awesome?

I'm going *gasp* paint them....

They are beautiful as they are now...

but they don't work with the decor I'm wanting...

I also have (but no pictures) 2 bookshelves, 2 barstools, 2 lamps & 1 stand all in the garage waiting for me to work on them.... I think I have my hands full with projects for a while...

At least you got to see one finished project, right?

I'm off to bed now... it's been a crazy week...

xxooxxooxxoo