Merry Christmas!

It's Beginning to Look a lot...

Like Christmas!
This is our first Christmas in our house and I was so excited to decorate.
Last year we were in our apartment surrounded by boxes, prepping for the big move
with our mini neon target tree.

2010 Christmas flashback.

What a difference a year has made,

and what an amazing year it has been!

Our entry way table. Twinkling branches & a thymes frasier fir candle.
Smells like Christmas when you walk through the door.
And our tree, a perfect fit.

My first mantel-scape.

Cozy.

My kitchen chalkboard. Can you read my countdowns?
19 days until Christmas.
29 days till baby.
Maybe Santa will bring the stork this way?

Snowy Day Photo Update!

Well, now it's our turn. We've got a lot of the white stuff up here in southern New England and today? I don't really mind it! I love the snow when I don't have to work, and luckily, Hubs and I both managed to have the day off. Yay for snow days!

{snow day essentials: breakfast sandwiches, snowmen & hot cocoa}

{Lilly, part puggle/part snow bunny, with her new friend! & the view up the street from our house}

And I finally got around to uploading a ton of photos from Christmas until more recently. Is it too late for Christmas photos? I think not.

{Christmas Eve: The Hopkins tree, gingerbread houses & my cute nephew on his new pony}

{Christmas morning surrounded by boxes: Our new festive pajamas we exchanged on Christmas Eve & our little tree complete with filled stockings and some extra presents Santa brought for the new house!}

{The post Christmas blizzard that delayed our move by a day! & our old apartment packed to the max}

{January has brought birthday celebrations, my father-in-law's 60th & many renovation casualties!}

Reconnected

My goodness it's been a whole week! I have missed you all and am taking tonight to relax...so a blog update and Grey's Anatomy it is. We finally got our cable and internet hooked up today and I didn't realize how much I missed it until this very moment. I can't wait to read about all of your holidays! Can you believe Christmas has already come and gone!? The holidays always seem to fly by, but this year...I just don't know where the time is going! There just aren't enough hours in the day.

I have SO much to share. The last week and a half has been a totally awesome blur...if that makes any sense. What an amazing way to spend the holidays and ring in the new year. I have literally been up to my eyeballs in boxes and paint. Packing and unpacking and cleaning and organizing...all in between working and celebrating! I am exhausted, but in the best way possible! We had a wonderful first married Christmas and I'll  have pictures to share as soon as I unpack the camera & work up enough energy to download all the photos. The house is s l o w l y coming together, and I'm loving every second of this home owner gig so far. Saturday my parents are coming up to spend the weekend with us and I can't wait to show them our new place. I hope you all are warm and cozy and enjoying these last hours of 2010. What a year it has been!

{via}

I'm in Love.

With my new house!

Wow, what a week it has been! First off I just wanted to say thank you to each and every one of you for sharing in my excitement with all your sweet comments!! Seriously, you're the best. It is such a bright spot in my day to read through each and every one!

Tuesday was right up there with our wedding being one of the best days ever. I hope I never forget the gamete of emotions I was feeling as we did our final "walk through" of the house and then sat and signed paper after paper. There was fear, nervousness, anxiety, apprehension, happiness, excitement. You name it, I probably felt it in that short time we spent at our closing. With each moment the fear and anxiety subsided a little bit and the excitement took over. Like, this is really happening!

I also hope never to forget the way it felt to realize the house was ours. Hubs and I went back to OUR house, and kinda took it all in. We kind of reveled in the moment for a little while, hugged and kissed and smiled and laughed...then promptly got to work! We enjoyed our first pizza in our dining room. Granted we sat on beach chairs in the middle of an empty first floor, but it was perfect nonetheless. I finally got some better photos of the house and I can't wait to share those with you, along with some of our plans, after the holidays!

So, I won't be doing much blogging over the next week. We are moving in slowly and won't actually spend our first night in the house until sometime next week. There are more boxes to pack, wallpaper to take down, cleaning to be done, walls to paint, unpacking to be done. Such a process! The hardwood floors were done yesterday so I'm itching to get back in there and start tearing down some wall paper! We had planned on waiting to paint until we decided on some furniture, but after seeing the house empty, with the minor imperfections on the walls, we decided we're going to tackle it now before we move in. And in between all of that, we hope to enjoy some time with J's family! I'm certainly not complaining. This has been such an awesome Christmas gift. One Christmas that we will certainly never forget.

I hope you all have safe travels to wherever it is you're off to, and that you get to enjoy the peace and quiet of the holiday with your family. I am hoping to do the same!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

the weekend.

Currently, there are snow flakes falling outside my window, Pandora's Mariah Carey Christmas station is blasting, and the pup is snuggled on my lap as I take a little break from the piles of STUFF & boxes that surround me.

This weekend was wonderful. Of course it went by way too fast, but it was SO so nice to see my family. It had been too long.

my twin sisters, & the little brother who's not so LITTLE anymore. and my whole fam reunited.

We spent the day eating, drinking, and being merry of course. We exchanged Christmas gifts since I'll be working the days around Christmas and we'll be moving, so we won't be able to travel to Pennsylvania. J & I were really spoiled. Along with some china from our registry and things for the new house, we received these two gift cards that I can't wait to use!

me & hubs around the tree

Hope you all had a lovely weekend! Christmas is right around the corner and tomorrow is a big day for us. Hopefully all goes well with the closing and I'll be sharing photos of us sipping champagne in our new HOUSE!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday friends! The weekend is here and I could not be happier. We are packing, baking, wrapping, finishing up some homemade gifts {which I can finally share next week!} and getting ready for a weekend with family.

Have you seen this target commercial? I love, LOVE Target, I mean obviously, who doesn't? And Christmas lights make me happy. So to me, this commercial is perfect.  Enjoy!

Thursday's Random Thoughts

• It is way, way too cold here. I forgot how much winter and I do not get along. The static hair, dry skin, runny nose. I'm not a huge fan.

• Thank goodness for these things in my life. Without them, I would not be the same.

restoration hardware throw. lollia handcreme. UGG boots

• While I'm on the subject of the cold, I'm already scared to see our first heating bill in the new house. We are spoiled right now that our heat is included in our rent. Oil heat in an older home...I think we're in for a rude awakening. I hope we don't end up like this!

• We tried to shop for some furniture this week. Normally, I would think this would be fun, however, I really can't stand the sales people that follow you around like stalkers. I know it's their job but seriously, just let me be. I need time to look and space to breathe. {We still have not made any purchases!}
• On to some more happier thoughts, I get to see my family this weekend! We are headed to the lovely state of New Jersey to celebrate Christmas with my mom's family! Yay for Christmas festivities, yummy food, and family. I haven't seen them since August and that is far too long.
• Christmas is only NINE days away. Seriously cannot believe it. J's stocking is stuffed and Lilly's is too!

{not our actual stockings}

• I LOVE my husband for handling the transferring of the utilities to the new address. You rock, babe.
• I realized today that I should have shared this on my O Christmas Tree post. My sister-in-law's tree, complete with my cute, curly haired little nephew underneath. I love it!

•  I'll just let this photo speak for itself!

{via}

•  It's almost the weekend and I have five glorious days off. Hallelujah!

{via}

O Christmas Tree

Some fun takes on the old Christmas tree.

via poppytalk

 I will most definitely have one of these "branchy" trees somewhere in my house next year.

via martha stewart

 

via style-files

via inthefunlane

via poppytalk

And this photo, well I just love everything about it.

via style-files

Happy Wednesday!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered.

Our Christmas cards will be in the mail today! We were planning to do a little "family" portrait card, but that didn't really turn out quite as we hoped. Luckily, a few family members had already suggested we use a certain wedding photo so we had a backup plan.

First, a few outtakes from our portrait session. Think, a Sunday December afternoon in Rhode Island (cold!) and an uncooperative puppy, and a frustrated husband. Ha! Not exactly a recipe for a good photo.

After a little editing, I like them more. Oh well.

And for our actual card.. We had them made at minted and I'm so impressed with the quality. I will definitely be ordering from them again. We have been scouting out some change of address cards for our big move.

Sorry I couldn't make it bigger, the photo got blurry when I tried to enlarge it. That's us on our wedding night in the window. The picture looks a lot better in person. We thought it was kinda festive with the wreaths on the door...(even though they were summery wreaths, you can't tell) and hopefully people will realize that's us up there! It's nice to be able to share another wedding photo with our family & friends. We had also made our thank you cards post-wedding with one of our photos.

Stocking Stuffers

I don't know about you, but the stocking always was and still is one of my favorite parts of Christmas morning. Growing up, I would save the stocking for last because I always loved seeing what little gifts and trinkets were in there.

{via}

So this year, J and I decided we are are only doing some small gifts for one another and sticking to the limit of our stockings seemed like the best way to do it. We are on a strict spending limit, especially for each other, and really, we don't need anything! We have had an amazing year with getting married, a honeymoon, some weekend trips, seeing some concerts and shows and, in a few weeks, we're buying our first house! We really are blessed.

But since he keeps asking me for some stocking stuffer ideas, {even though he doesn't really need any help in this department...the man knows me, and what I like, and always fills an awesome stocking!!} here I am. Some fun little trinkets that can be tucked in a stocking!

1. button flap mittens via j.crew
2. kiel mead forget me knot ring
3. passport cover via j.crew

1. alayne white spa card for facial or massage
2. fresh cosmetics via sephora
3. pretty pot holders via anthropologie

1. underwear via aerie
2. Snow & Graham wall calendar via paper-source
3. ballet russes earrings via anthopologie
4. travel perfume via sephora

1. capri blue candle via anthopologie
2. pretty necklace via anthropologie
3. initial mug via anthropologie

Holiday Mantels

So obviously we decided against putting up our usual big, real Christmas tree this year. It's just going to be in the way of packing and boxes in the coming weeks. I think we got the next best thing though, in our neon green three foot Target tree...especially because it's decorated with neon LED lights, ice cream cone & cupcake ornaments, and fits right on the window shelf! :) Only thing missing is that Christmas tree smell...but I'm planning to buy some candles today to fix that!

I have been saving SO so many photos of home decor inspiration in the last few months. I can't wait to actually put some ideas to use. Soon enough, soon enough...three weeks from today in fact! Right now though, I'm thinking towards next Christmas and our fireplace mantel and loving all these holiday mantel-scapes!

via coco+kelley

via traditional home

via coco+kelley

via weheartit

via HGTV

via HGTV

via lisaleonarddesigns

Do you have a favorite? Any inspiration to share?

It's beginning to look a lot...

Like Christmas!