It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.....

As promised...our Christmas tree!

 This is after it fell....3 times. We learned that a new sturdy tree stand makes a world of difference!

After Thanksgiving dinner my in-laws gave me two of these adorable old fashioned berry crates. The other one is a little bit larger. Oh how I LOVE them! My in-laws know me so well. I'm so excited to come up with ways to use them around the house.

I got tired of hanging up all of these glass balls and bells. Cute solution...put them in a bowl!

This is also in our living room. I bought the three white trees last year at an after Christmas sale and totally forgot about them until I unwrapped all of our stuff. Such a fun surprise!

 The husband insisted we display his Kermit the frog. And I have to admit, I sort of like him. (And thank you in advance for ignoring the dust on the shelf...and the last-name-cover-up job on the husband's baseball.)

Our plant needed some Christmas cheer too!

Christmas in the dining room. I love my collection of mercury glass trees. 

 Henry helping decorate.

 Wrigley checking out the tree. So far he's only destroyed one ornament! Last year we put a baby gate around the tree to keep him away. I'm hoping he will be better behaved this year so we don't have to do that again!

 Pancake aka "The Christmas Kitty". He LOVES our Christmas tree. 

That's my good boy. Don't you just love Christmas???

Post Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

I love long weekends...but why is it they seem to go by so fast? A five day work week does NOT sound fun right now. Anyway, I hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving! We went to the husband's parents house and feasted on turkey and tons of side dishes. For me, it's all about the sides so I was lovin' it!

I did not participate in Black Friday. Part of me wanted to but I just couldn't bring myself to face all the crowds. So instead we bought and decorated our Christmas tree! It is beautiful....I'll post pictures of it tomorrow. It also fell down three times! I think we bought a slightly larger/wider tree than we have in the past and our little tree stand just couldn't hold it up. We were SO frustrated. Having a fully decorated tree smash to the ground is no fun, let me tell you. Also after decorating the same tree three times the appeal starts to fade. We ended up buying a new tree stand and so far (knock on wood) we haven't had any problems.

On Saturday the husband took me to see Harry Potter! I LOVED it and can't wait for part 2 to come out next summer. I also think I need to re-read all the books in preparation! On Sunday we lounged around and the husband helped me make Jen's Sausage and Tortellini Soup. It was so yummy! (Thanks Jen!).

So how was your weekend? Did you decorate for Christmas? Are you one of those super organized people who have already finished all of their Christmas shopping?

Thankful...

I have so much to be thankful for this year: The amazing man I married, who not only gets me but is also my best friend. My mom who can only be described as awesome. Our wonderful families. Sweet furry animals who love us unconditionally. Friends who make us laugh. A warm and loving house to call home. Good jobs. Fun vacations together. Traditions to look forward to.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day is filled with fun, food, and family!

To Black Friday or Not To Black Friday?

Do you go shopping on Black Friday? I'm usually more of a day-after-Christmas shopper myself. Black Friday is typically reserved for picking out our Christmas tree, drinking hot chocolate, and decorating the house. But this year I'm not so sure. I keep hearing about the amazing deals people find on Black Friday. And I really need  a new coffee maker. Scratch that, I really need two coffee makers. I broke ours. Then I broke my sister-in-law's too. So anyway I'm torn. What about you? Is Black Friday shopping a must for you or would you rather stay home? Have you ever gotten amazing deals on stuff? Is it really worth braving the crowds?

The Guest Room.....Before and After

Well, I've finally finished the guest room! It still isn't perfect and needs some more accessories, but I thought I'd share it with you anyway!

 Here is the guest room before the make over. Plain beige walls and basically no decor.

And here it is after! We painted the walls Behr's Premium Plus Ultra in Cathedral Grey...and I love it! The grey really makes the white trim and accents pop!

We also upgraded to a queen-sized bed so that our guests would be more comfortable.

The light in these pictures is horrible....it has been so dark lately that it's hard to get a nice photo. But trust me the color on the walls really is pretty. So far I just have the one yellow accent pillow...it's from Target and it still has it's tags on in case I change my mind about it, or in case my mom decides to make some cute pillows for me!

I found the wooden "R" at Hobby Lobby and painted it yellow. All the frames are from Hobby Lobby and Ikea. The goal is to have pictures around the room of us with the people who might be staying in this room...i.e. our friends and family. The bottom left picture is us with the husband's family on our wedding day. The yellow framed picture is me with my friend Heather. The picture on the end is my absolute favorite of me and my mom when I was little. The top picture is the husband and I with Wrigley....that one will be swapped out for a friend picture as soon as I find a cute one!

I also spray painted the bed-side table antique white and then spray painted a lamp I already had yellow.

I'm still working on accessories in this room. I want to find a cute mirror to hang opposite the bed and get some more pillows.

Thanks for stopping by!

I've got nothing....

Today I was supposed to show you all our newly decorated guest room.....but it's not quite done yet. My plan is to work on it tonight and Monday so that I can post about it Tuesday. I would work on it over the weekend but I am leaving for a business trip tomorrow! Oh well.

If you recall, a while back I blogged about decorating our guest room in gray and yellow....and that's exactly what we did! Even though it isn't finished it looks awesome! I really need some cute pillows for the bed. So far the bedding is all white with one yellow and white pillow. I found some really cute options on Etsy. If you have never heard of Etsy you should check it out! It's awesome!

I am in love with this LOVE pillow. It would be perfect for the room.....but I think I can actually re-create one myself, so I'm not buying it.

What about this Gray Dot Ruffles pillow. I love polka dots. And I love ruffles. But is it too girly for a guest room?

 This Yellow Ruffles pillow is adorable too.

I really like this yellow zig zag pillow. I think it's less girly....but I can't decide. 

And I am dying over this California pillow! But at $52 it's a little out of my budget. Mom, can you make this for me?????

And there is a Michigan pillow too!

So which pillows do you like?

Wordless Wednesday: Photo shoot outtake

And the winner is....

Thanks to everyone for entering my first giveaway!

The winner of the bracelet is.....

Rachel from Simple Little Joys.

Congrats Rachel!

Time is running out....

I rocked my bracelet at work today. Love it. Don't you want one of your own? Click HERE to enter to win this fun bracelet. The winner will be announced on Monday.

And to answer your questions:

1. The coat I'm wearing in my header picture is from Express. You can get your own HERE.

2. The bracelet I'm giving away is by Vera Wang for Kohl's. LOVE her stuff!

3. The red wellies I'm wearing in the header picture are from Target.

Happy Friday!

Christmas Card Lovin'

I love Christmas cards. I love to see what everyone is up to, how their kids have grown, or lives have changed over the year. I like to make a little collage so I can display all the cards we get each year. Some of the fun of receiving Christmas cards is looking at all the beautiful designs! There seem to be so many creative options available these days.

Shutterfly is a great online tool for sharing photos with friends and family as well as ordering high quality photo prints and cards. My experience with Shutterfly has always been great. And I’ve been very pleased with the quality of their products. So needless to say I was thrilled when I heard that Shutterfly is giving away 50 free cards to bloggers who write a post about them. Score! What a great way to spread the word about their fantastic products. As soon as I heard about this campaign I went straight on over to Shutterfly's Christmas photo cards page to pick out a favorite.

Shutterfly has so many options to choose from. I'm keeping my Christmas card selection a secret for now, but here were a few of my favorite runner ups!

I love the sweet simplicity of this one. So classic but adorable at the same time.

Dying over the monogram on this one! I would have chosen this one for our card but I didn't want to put that many pictures on it.

Is this not the cutest card you've ever seen? And I am sort of in love with the family in the photo too...they look fun!

Scalloped edges? Yes please!

The only thing cuter then this card is the little boy in the photos.

Shutterfly also has adorable Christmas Gift Tags.

Isn't it adorable? I might need to add these to my wish list.

I'm also loving their selection of Christmas Party Invitations. This one makes me want to host a party just so I can get these cute invites.

So tell me...do you send out photo Christmas cards? Or do you prefer to send a hand written note in a traditional card?

Wordless Wednesday: My mom has an orange cat too. His name is Scout. He does NOT like having his picture taken.

Traitor Weekend

Did you enter my giveaway? If not, click HERE for info on how to enter!

When it comes to football in Michigan you have to choose a side. You're either a Michigan State fan or a University of Michigan fan. On the one day a year they play each other the entire state is wearing either blue or green. I went to MSU for grad school and the husband and I met in Lansing, so naturally we are State fans. But this weekend we were traitors. We went to a University of Michigan game with our friends Mo and Ali. The guys wanted Ali and I to experience a game at "the big house." And yes, it was big. And very blue. 

Ali and I with our sad traitor faces while tailgating. We were cold so of course Mo (big time Michigan fan) had to offer us his U of M blankets. 

That's better.

 The boys enjoying tailgating.

We had awesome seats...just three rows up and right in the end zone. We also had a great view of the band and the cheerleaders...which of course is always a great distraction from the game.

During the game I learned all about "Wal-Mart Wolverines." According to Urban Dictionary  a Wal-Mart Wolverine is a fan of the University of Michigan who has never attended the school but roots for them while wearing one or more of the following: 

1. $5 Michigan shirt bought at Wal-Mart

2. Mullet

3. NASCAR hat 

4. Hunting clothes

I think I can also add someone who is missing a front tooth to that list too. 

We saw a lot of Wal-Mart Wolverines. I actually sat next to one for the first few minutes of the game until we figured out we were in the wrong seats. So we moved back one row. Not 30 seconds later, the guy I had been sitting next to vomits all over the place. And just sits there. And then vomits two more times. Then he leaves but the woman with him stays and complains that he better pay her back for the tickets. I could not believe it. And I immediately thanked God that moved when we did. The man came back about thirty minutes later and tried to wash away the vomit with a glass of water...but basically he just pushed it down towards the people in front of him. Disgusting.

That's the vomit man next to me.....about two minutes before his "accident." Gross. 

Believe it or not, we still had a great time even though Ali and I were secretly praying for the game to end. And just our luck they went into triple overtime...but finally pulled out a win. 

Sorry MSU, I promise to never cheat on you again!

I think it's time for a giveaway....

Hi friends! I hope you had a great weekend....don't you just love the time change? That one extra hour of sleep was amazing! 

 Thanks for all of your opinions on my new blog header. Some of you said you loved the old one the most....and I agree it is super cute and will for sure be back in a few months. But for now I'm liking the change!

Last week I was in California for a business trip. Of course I got to stay with my mom and we managed to do quite a bit of shopping. I love shopping with my mom...she has a good eye for what looks good on me (most of the time!) and she spoils me like crazy.

 We both realized I had to have this chunky, pretty bracelet. It's perfect for a fun night out or to go with a cute holiday outfit.  

 We liked it so much my mom bought two...one for me and one for one of you lucky readers!

The giveaway will run from now until Sunday at noon EST.

For one entry, just leave a comment on this post.

For a second entry, become a follower of this blog. If you are already a follower just put that in your comment and you'll be entered twice.

For a third entry, write about this giveaway on your blog and then leave a comment letting me know about your post.

I'll announce the winner next Monday.

Good luck!