beginnings + endings.

I've always thought the week between Christmas and New Year's is sort of an awkward week. While I am thoroughly enjoying the days off from school and trying to be productive at home, I do find December 26-31 sort of a weird "limbo" between the old and the new. I'm finding that a good use of this week is to plan. It's a great time to reflect on the past year, be thankful for blessings, move on from the disappointments, and decide what you want to accomplish during the next year.

Patrick and I had a very interesting, and overall amazing year in 2011. Patrick got a new job in March (praise the Lord!!), we bought our townhouse in July, and we took some awesome trips with friends and family. I made it through yet another year of pharmacy school. We had a wonderful Christmas, and feel blessed we were able to celebrate with both families on Christmas Day :)

The last few days, we've been trying to set some goals for 2012. Of course, we need to get in shape. Our hectic schedules have not encouraged an active lifestyle, so we're planning to join a gym ASAP. We have also set some financial goals, which are challenging but encouraging at the same time. And finally, probably the most daunting goal of all: to get organized.

Now, don't get me wrong. We are not complete slobs. We're both fairly tidy people, and given the right circumstances can be quite clean and neat. I think once we set up some organizational systems, we'll be able to maintain them pretty easily. The hard part is going to be getting everything organized initially, and figuring out a system that works for us. One nice thing is that we're sort of starting from scratch, since we've only been living in this house for about 5 months, and we're still not "settled". I expect this to be an ongoing process, but I really hope that by this time next year, we will have made significant progress.

I've decided to start with organizing Christmas. This may sound silly, since it's over for this year, but I thought while everything is fresh in my mind and we're going to be putting all the Christmas stuff in storage next week, it's actually a great time to get everything ready for next year.

My mom bought me this book awhile ago, and I'm finally understanding how helpful it is. It's a binder that walks you through the Christmas season - when to buy gifts, organizing your Christmas recipes, putting your decorations in storage, and planning events. It will be so nice to get this out in early November next year, and already have my Christmas season mostly planned out! 

Speaking of a week in limbo, all of our projects seem to be that way, too. Lots of things have been started, but are nowhere close to being finished. 

I'm working on creating my own craft space in the basement. It's going to make our dining room much less cluttered, since I've been using the dining room table as my workspace. The "craft room", as I've been calling it, is a serious mess right now. I'm sort of embarrassed by it. But I'll show you anyway. It's a work in progress. 

Also, we've decided to go ahead and tackle the kitchen island project. We placed our order at Lowe's a couple of days ago, and should have our island by the end of January. We have our old kitchen table sitting about where the island will be so that we can get used to the space. Once we have the island, the table will be moved to my craft space. 

The bad news is, we're going to have to paint everything. Since we couldn't match the cabinets exactly, and they are dingy and need to be repainted anyway, we ordered the island unfinished and we're painting it and the cabinets a pretty, clean white. I think the walls are going to be light brown. Fun times ahead. 

One last thing. Here's a craft I made as a Christmas present :)

I made this for my brother-in-law's girlfriend, Rachel. She's a creative and crafty person herself, so I thought she would enjoy it.

Here it is!

To make it, I painted a canvas a dark charcoal color, then glued leaves I had cut out from scrapbook paper onto it. I painted a center for the flower with gold craft paint, then used Mod-Podge to cover the whole thing. That's it!

Yay! Rachel really liked it :) I like the way it turned out too, and may even make something similar for my own house.

Not yet, though...I've got a few things to finish before I start yet another project!

christmas morning for two.

Last year, which was our first Christmas to be married, Patrick and I started what we think is a great tradition. We decided to have our own little "Christmas morning" together before seeing our families and entering into all the craziness and hustle and bustle. It's really special, and gives us a chance to start our own little family traditions that we'll hopefully continue even when we have kids. Last year, we did this on Christmas Eve, since we were going to my family's house later in the day and they only live about an hour away. This year, we're spending a few days in Knoxville first (Patrick's family lives there), so "Christmas morning" for us was on Thursday the 22nd.

First, we opened our stockings. Patrick went all out this year:

I got craft supplies, hand warmers (I'm always cold), a pretty scarf, earrings, a coffee mug, and some Yankee candle stuff for my car.

Here's the contents of Patrick's stocking:

 He got boxers, a Buckyball, an iTunes gift card, and candy (including some chocolate-covered candy cane "coal" that I got at Trader Joe's, hehe).

After stockings, we made our traditional (does it count as a tradition if we've done it two years in a row?) french toast and bacon breakfast. We like this tradition because it's very adaptable. We made regular french toast the last couple years with a little vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg, but we're thinking we may mix it up and try stuffed french toast next year. We may even try making some different sauces, since I don't like maple syrup.

After stuffing ourselves, we opened our main presents.

Mine was the softest, fluffiest robe ever! :)

Sorry I look super gross here, but I wanted to get a picture. 

I got Patrick a non-blue dress shirt. He loves blue, but nearly all his shirts are that color so this is my attempt to incorporate some grey. 

 I also painted this:

 "It is Well" is one of mine and Patrick's favorite hymns. I painted these to hang in our bedroom. They look more green in this picture that they actually are (thanks, yucky yellow walls) but I was going for a water look. Which I think was quite successful in real life. 

This shows the color a little better: 

Well, there you have it. Our Christmas morning for two. Now it's time to have fun with our families for the next few days! :)

counter clutter.

The bathroom counter. Easily one of the most clutter-prone places in my household (other than the dining room table). Lotion, contact solution, toothpaste, my retainer (yeah, I still wear it, don't judge), hairbands, hairspray, you name it...it's laying around. So gross. We have a cute little linen closet, but the problem is that I want the things I use the most to be more accessible. 

Here's what it looked like before: 

I saw a shelf on Pinterest with tin pails sitting on it, which was originally what I was going for. But when I found this little 3-pegged beauty at Hobby Lobby (purchased with a 40% off coupon), I knew those pails could do so much more.

The little apothecary bottle was 99 cents at Michael's, and is filled with buttons. I don't know about you, but buttons end up everywhere in my house...so this was a good way to corral them. The shell was actually my first gift from Patrick. He found it for me on the beach in Jamaica, where we met (on a mission trip in college). 

I think he already liked me ;) 

Now the counter looks like this: 

Ahhhh, a clutter-free bathroom counter. So nice and easy to clean.

This bathroom still needs loads of work, though. We plan to replace the faucets and knobs (ASAP) with oil-rubbed bronze ones, which will then match the soap dispensers and clock I have in here and tie into the rustic-y look we're going for with the house as a whole. I would eventually like to replace the counters as well, but that involves more cash than my other projects...so it won't be anytime soon. They'll look better with the new paint, anyway, so I can wait.  :)  

We actually have the paint for the walls (see? they're the weird pinky-beige color, ew). The new paint is called Morning Fog by Olympic (you get it at Lowe's). I find it very refreshing and calming. Here's a pic of my shower curtain that it will match. It has a light aqua, grey, and white design. I got it at Target.  

This bathroom is attached to our master bedroom, which has similar colors. Can you tell I really like blue? 

Since we have a SUPER busy couple weeks coming up with Christmas and New Year's, I'm not sure when the painting will get done. Hopefully sooner rather than later! In the meantime, I'm working on making a craft area in our basement... I know, it sounds super dorky, but our house is currently littered with scrapbook paper, canvases, paint, and glitter. Gotta have somewhere to let the creative juices flow, right?

Speaking of crafts, I made a couple things as gifts, but I obviously can't post them on here til next week in case it ruins the surprise. I really like how they turned out though :)  Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

you have to start somewhere.

Finally, at long last, the downstairs half bath is nearing completion! We picked a grand time to start it - right before Thanksgiving / my finals - so it's taken a bit longer than we expected. Patrick also ran into more snags than he anticipated by removing the giant wall mirror, which was attached to the wall by some super adhesive - so that resulted in LOTS of spackling, sanding, and extra painting. But it's nearly done! 

Here are the "before" pics again: 

aaaaand after: 

The walls are now a soft grey. It makes it a bit darker than before, but I like it because this isn't a bathroom where anyone will be putting on make-up or anything like that. I think it looks much softer and more comfortable now. 

 The faucet, knobs, and light fixtures - which were all brass - are now brushed nickel. I think the framed mirror (which I bought at Kirkland's a year or so ago for about $30) looks much prettier than the big, impersonal wall mirror. The light switches and plates are also new - I know it sounds like a small detail, but they were gross and paint-covered before, so this looks so much cleaner and more modern.

This has maps of where we met (Jamaica), where we married (Tennessee), and where we honeymooned (Mexico). I know it's a bit cheesy, but I think it's kind of fun, especially since it's in a place that guests are likely to see. I've had that frame since high school, and I think it works well for this purpose. I printed the maps from pictures I found online, used burlap as a border, and wrote the captions below it with a sharpie pen.

I plan to do more with this wall in the future (probably put some sort of pictures around or on either side of this painting), but for now I just wanted to get this off the floor and onto the wall. If you want to see how I painted this, here's the post.

I also want to make the sink area look a little nicer - I'll probably put a basket or apothecary jar with some soaps or something in the corner. This Woodwick diffuser smells awesome, by the way (it's Sunset Beach, I think). It's nice because it's spill-proof. I'm also on the look-out for a cute soap dispenser (I have plans to make my own gallon of Meyer's lemon soap for about $4). 

So, it's not completely finished. But it's definitely an improvement! You have to start somewhere, right? We've bought the paint for the bathroom adjacent to our bedroom, and we're hoping to get that project finished over the holidays as well. I'm super excited about the color...you'll have to wait and see ;)