House of Hydrangeas

Jon and I got back from our 10 day trip through Texas onto Alabama and back to Oklahoma.  We stopped in Dallas for a few days before we headed to Alabama for Thanksgiving. While in Dallas, we celebrated sweet little Gabbi's first birthday.  It was a great party for all...especially Gabbi, who had the best time ripping the wrapping paper off of her gifts.  She even made little grunt noises.  It was too cute. We headed out to Alabama on Monday morning and had a pretty pleasant drive aside from one stop on the interstate where Remington got to enjoy the scenery for a bit. My sister and I experienced our first Iron Bowl married to Auburn men.  Even though we lost, it was still a good game, and no one killed each other while watching.  :)  Here we are sporting our crimson.  Roll tide! I was in the organizing/purging mood (as usual) and convinced my sister to help me clean out my mom's attic.  Although it was a full day of work, we enjoyed ...

Happy 7 month anniversary to us!   We're enjoying it by spending time with friends and family in Alabama this Thanksgiving week.  We have so much to be thankful for this year and always, and to celebrate that, we're going to start a new tradition--a journal of thanksgiving.  In this journal, we'll write what we're thankful for on this Thanksgiving.  And each Thanksgiving after, we'll add to it.  I think it's a necessary and important to stop and realize just how blessed we all are.  And in years to come, we'll be able to look back on the pages of this book and remember all of our many blessings. Happy early Thanksgiving to you all!

Tomorrow Jon and I are going to our good friends' little girl's 1st birthday in Dallas.  It is a garden themed party, and I've heard about and seen some of the decorations and party ideas and know it will be absolutely adorable affair.   Birthdays are a big deal.  It's amazing to see just how much a child can grow in a year.  The people of marthastewart.com must have thought they same thing because they came up with this great idea.   Use a scrapbook or album to hold pictures of your child posing on his/her birthday each year.   The kids can decorate their own signs showing the age they're turning (except when they're really young of course).  Eventually, you'll have a book full of photos documenting their birthdays and growth over the years.  It is recommended that you have your child stand so you can noticeably see their growth.  It's such a cute tradition and easy to do keepsake! I'll definitely be making one for my kids in the future!

It was a cold and rainy day here in Oklahoma yesterday, which made it the perfect day for starting to put up my Christmas decorations.  Now before you call me crazy, let me just say I'm not overshadowing Thanksgiving.  We are leaving town tomorrow and won't be back until after Thanksgiving.  So technically we won't be celebrating Thanksgiving with Christmas decor around us.  But now, when we return home, we'll be all set to enjoy the three weeks of our Christmas decor we have before we head out again for two weeks for the holidays. That brings up another issue.   If you were to look at our DVR recordings, you would see shows like Inside the Milky Way and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills--about as diverse as they come.  I'm sure you can guess which one is mine (sorry, it's a guilty pleasure).  Well about as much as we differ on our entertainment choices, we also differ on our thoughts on whether or not to buy a Christmas tree this year. As I ...

I'll spare you some more Christmas talk (I'll get back to that tomorrow).  But for today, I want to show you some before and after photos of the home of designer Lauren Liess of Washington, D.C. Let me preface this by saying that Lauren and her husband bought a home that had been sitting on the market for nearly 4 years.  It was built in the 70's and everyone (including their realtor) told them to steer clear.  But lucky for us, they didn't, and the transformation is astounding. First up is the kitchen. Here is the before... And here is the after... Lauren and her husband installed new walnut-finish elm flooring, added an open island from ikea, put up white beaded board, hung a flea market chandelier, painted the lower cabinets and replaced the top cabinets with open shelving.  Quite the change, huh?  And because they didn't have to buy new cabinets, they saved a ton.  I've always adored open shelving and after seeing this transformation, I might ju...

I ordered our Christmas cards today!  I can't wait to get them and start sending them out!  It's our first Christmas as a family, and I am beyond excited to celebrate it with my loves.  Here is our first Christmas card, designed by Lily Pad Boutique .  Lily Pad has a ton of adorable stuff and can make you any custom design you can dream of!  You should check them out! I'm sad I didn't have Remington in our photo (he wasn't around yet), but I really wanted to celebrate the fact that it is our first Christmas as husband and wife :) In other Christmas news, I ordered these boxwood mini wreaths for our dining room chairs today.  They were already a little on sale, and I had another coupon.  Victory.  I hope they turn out as cute as they look here!

My latest issue of Lucky magazine had a 10th Anniversary special on 100 edicts to live by.  I circled a few of my favorite shopping tips and thought I'd share the advise with you. 1. Don't shop for clothes when you're tan, thin or in the Bahamas because everything looks good when you're tan, thin and in the Bahamas. 2.  Buy clothes that you'll wear on a Tuesday afternoon, not a Saturday night--few people lead Saturday-night lives. 3.  Avoid being featured on Hoarders by living the "one in, one out" mantra:  If you buy something new, take something else out and set it on eBay or donate it.  Another good tip for the Closet Declutter post from yesterday.   4.  If something is expensive, leave it behind for 24 hours.  If you're still obsessed with it the next day, buy it. 5.  If shoes are only marginally comfortable when you try them on in the store you can be sure they'll be excruciating on the street.

One of the perks to having a smaller home with limited storage is that you have to switch out the clothes  in your closet every season.  This might not sound like a perk to many of you, and honestly, I didn't for me either initially, but it has proven to be a wonderful thing.    For one, it makes me reevaluate everything I own every few months.  I have to figure out what I really want to keep, what I don't wear and what I don't need, thus eliminating a lot of things that were just taking up space before and that can better serve someone else.  It also helps me remember what I have.  When you have a closet big enough to allow you to keep piling things in it, things get pushed to the back and forgotten about.  Not so with my clothes.   Another great thing about changing out your closet each season is that it keeps you organized.  Because there is a complete overhaul four times a year, four times a year everything gets nicely repositioned...

Jon, myself and Remington had a wonderful visit in San Antonio.  We hadn't seen Jon's parents or brother since our wedding, so it was definitely a treat.  Remi was a big hit too :)  We're definitely blessed with loving family and warm and welcome "homes away from home."  We can't wait to go back for another visit in a month. We were also blessed with a beautiful day to travel on our 9-hour journey back home.  I couldn't help but notice the distinct difference in God's creation as we traveled past the rocky ridges of San Antonio, up through the hill country of central Texas and returned to the sweeping plains of Oklahoma.  We saw quite the sunset on the way home, and it reminded me of one of my current song favorites by The Afters. "You've opened my eyes so I can see You all around me...You light up the sky to show me that you are with me."

Jon and I are leaving to spend a long weekend in San Antonio with his parents and his brother (who will be town from Arizona).  But before we go, I wanted to leave you with some pictures from the Officer Spouses Club Table Decorating Contest that was held last night. I called Jon on my way home from base, and he immediately asked "How was the contest?" to which I responded "Victorious." The 32nd FTS, our squadron, took first place! The theme was Silver Screen so we decided to focus on famous quotes from each movie genre. Each place setting featured a different movie. We had a "drive-in" for our center piece where clips of the famous quotes were shown. Welcome to the Jayhawk Drive-In! Wizard of Oz place setting. The glass had a button you could turn on to make the water swirl and look like a tornado inside. Also notice the witch's feet sticking out from under the plate :) A close-up of the yellow brick road I painted. Silence of the Lambs pl...