It smells like Christmas spirit

Now that Thanksgiving is done and over. Albeit there is more turkey left. Which is good thing. 

But now more then ever I am so ready to get started on Christmas. 


Weird Alert: Christmas has always been my least favorite holiday. 


I can't quite explain it, but it just is.


But now that I am a mother, I am shaking inside with excitement of the music, the smells, the decorations, the bustle, the hustle. The wrapping paper, the love, and maybe, just maybe even some snow.

Last year we decorated the outside of the house for the first time and it was pretty weak looking back. 




I think it took us 5 or 6 trips to Walmart and Target to finish getting just this little amount of lights. Still wasn't enough.

I did of course put up a Christmas tree which I called the "Candy Tree" because it reminded me of, yup. Candy.

But this year I want to go all out with outside decorations and inside.


We're planning on doing the tree next weekend. I would actually like to go to a Christmas tree farm to cut it down ourself.

Seems like a fun family tradition to start.


My only concern is how do you keep a toddling toddler away from the tree?


 Click these links for a few examples of things I'm thinking of doing.

Better Homes & Garden- Indoor decorating 

Gumdrop wreath  (this will be perfect if I keep the same tree theme)

Outdoor basket

Topiary

Outdoor wreath option


Window wreath

Carnation wreath


Outdoor wreath


Outdoor tree lighting

Outdoor lighting

Urn topper

Easy as ABC

Reading one of my craft blogs today Little Green Notebook and she introduced me to this really cool website. Daily Drop Cap.

 

 

I'm going to print out all the letters and frame them and hang them in Phoenix's playroom.

And maybe print out the ones for his name and hanging them in his room.


And maybe blowing up the A and the S and hanging them above my bed.


Too much huh? Am I going to turn my house into a schoolroom?!


Well now that I'm thinking about it, I kind of don't care. I actually really love the ideas.

I went to pick up my awesome $20 couch yesterday and brought two more ceramic elephants.

A huge wooden mirror for $4! Have you seen how much these are in stores? All it needs is to be painted.

And this footstool which I'll recover.

I kept fighting the urge (hopefully I don't offend any of you with my next comment. I swear it's not my intention) to feel like really poor. But it wasn't why I was buying the stuff.


I could go out and buy a brand new couch with a triple digit price tag, but it wouldn't really be something I loved.

I love print. I love it print. I love print. I love print.


Have I mentioned how much I love print?


But all the printed couches I've seen in my price range look like Grandma.


This might be slight Grandma. But it's Coco Chanel Grandma.


I honestly see so much potential in things I've seen at thrift stores and Craigslist.


It amazes me what some people find garbage.

Now I was pursuing CL yesterday and stumbled upon a libertor for sale.


If you don't know what one is, that's ok because I didn't either.


But why in heaven's name would someone sell this and who in their right mind would buy it?!

I'm still on the hunt for the perfect end and coffee tables. 

And I also have this idea of getting a big farm house style kitchen table and painting it like this.

Maybe you don't quite see it yet, but I do and I think it could be fantastic! 

Our new TV buddy

Yesterday our little Soup Family decided to go to lunch (after our "Save the Marriage" session with our Pastor").

Next door was a Salvation Army and I decided to pop in and see if they had anything good.

And they did. My brand new couch for $20!

 

Am I crazy or is this pattern lovely? I just stared at it for a good 20 minutes before a few phone calls to my mom and Shawn's persistence told me to get it.

The couch was also extremely comfy. 


The only things wrong with "her" was it needed a good clean. But a carpet cleaner will fix that.

The flowers on the front, back side were a bit faded, but some big pillows will hide that.


I also didn't like how low it sat to the ground but Shawn said he could build some legs for it.

I also picked up this little elephant because I saw this post a few weeks ago and had been looking for something like this.

And I also picked up this other piece.

The wood needs to be repainted and the thing in the middle isn't my style but my plan is to pop it out and recover it with some fabric.

I never, ever, ever thought I would be someone who enjoyed shopping at thrift stores but I think it's paying off.

I also stalk Craigslist now as well because I picked up this little gem for $60.

I found someone on Etsy to make me a slipcover I now just have to find a good fabric for it.


I originally planned on doing a real conversational fabric because the other sofa I had my eye of was kind of blah, but the sofa is so "BAM" I don't want it to be a bunch of competing between the lover seat and the sofa.

It could get really messy in here!

But I really, really, really love patterns so the following are a few that I have my eye on for the love seat.


Thoughts? Should I just stick to a simple plain color?

 

 

The Campbell Home Makeover

Shawn and I have only been together 3 years and have lived in FOUR different places!

The first place was an apartment and I hated it so much (he signed papers on it before I even saw it!) that I refused to turn it into "home". No pictures, no decor, NOTHING!

The second place was a townhouse we moved into 5 months before Phoenix was born and moved out 2 months AFTER he was born! This place also never felt like home and by the time I started to get comfortable I started itching for something new and itching to be closer to my
family.

The third place was my favorite. It was a single family home that had a huge backyard, hardwood floors, deck, garage, 4 floors. I liked it. I didn't looove it (the outside was kind of odd) but I was comfortable enough that I knew I could make it home for awhile. Plus our community was across the street from a Target, Barnes & Nobles and Old Navy! Mecca! And only 5 minutes away from my family.

But then I get the word my parents were moving an hour away and I started getting sad. I started looking and when I saw what I could get for our money where we are now I knew it made sense. So we gave our landlord a story and packed up!

And here we are now. I pretty much love our house and neighborhood. The only things I don't like is that we don't have a deck and our backyard is small. But it was built in 05 or 06 so it's very new looking, my kitchen is huge,my bathroom has double sinks, jacuzzi tub, I have a walk in closet, full basement,fire place and 4 bedrooms....I think that we have found home for at least 2 more years (maybe. What can I say?I like new things and get bored easily)

Now the only thing to do is turn in to HOME. I read Nesting Place for inspiration and this girl is AMAZING! I also settled on what I what my home to say which is, Shabby,Vintage,Chic (stop laughing Mom!). What I love about this is it's such an eclectic way to decorate a home AND to be completely authentic to the vintage side, it can be done cheaply!

I have all of these ideas about scouring Craigslist, antique stores and even flea markets (Yikes!). I'm thinking old looking pieces of furniture (minus the couch) that can be repainted. I'm thinking doors on walls and shutters. Mirrors and empty frames.

My first order of business is a new couch. I found one Saturday that I really like.


The colors are hard to see. It's striped with sage, pink, and different shades of browns and beige. The colors are lighter then they are showing. It's really comfy and perfect for curling up on and reading allllll day.

And then after that its a few scouting trips to Goodwill, antique stores and flea markets to finish!
On a whim I stopped at Goodwill yesterday and was shocked to see so many great finds (furniture wise).

Shawn found this great trunk which we are guessing is from WW2 era. Perfect for a coffee table
dontcha think?




I found this pitcher that I'll use as a vase, that accidentally matches perfectly with the sofa.


And my favorite piece was this random table thing. I'm thinking of repainting it white and stenciling it with the same words or something else?? And using it near my steps to display pictures.



My final order of business is to mistreat"my windows (blog on this later)

Is this going to be as great as I think or am I totally going to make my house look shabby and used instead of vintage and chic?

Baby food time is ovah!

This past weekend brought us closer to the day that little Phoenix puts on his little book bag, waves and hops on the school bus. We started Phoenix on baby food at 4 months. We could instantly tell food was a pure hit for him. Nothing satisfied him and everything tasted good. At about 6 months we bumped the solid intake up to 3 meals a day and went to stage two baby food. Still after a whole jar of food and a nice serving of baby oatmeal he still didn't seem satisfied. Over the weekend we had Jason Upton come through our church (he was great. awesome. such a blessing) Shawn and I volunteered with the meetings because it was almost 600 people. So we get there 2 hours early and are kind of just hanging out. We had food for the band and after they were done there were leftover. Of course my husband and my pregnant sister and a few other make a bee-line for the food. I knew that the moment Phoenix saw anyone put anything near their lips he would flip so I decided to nurse. We sit down, have a nice little nursing session. Do you think this kid is full? Please! Not in the least. He sits up and starts reaching for his Dad, who always passes him treats. Then for his Aunt Abby who starts to feed him green beans and stuff. We eventually had to make him a plate because he kept going after every one's food. One lady even says to me "Wow, does he ever get full?" and I was like 'Nope! He doesn't!" He was making me look like I never fed him! So after an almost adult size plate I finally put my foot down and tell him that meal time was done and over. So we move on we go out and enjoy the worship service. Then his Papouli aka my Dad comes back and starts trying to feed him Fritos! I'm screaming "No!!!!!!" And again this is after a recent nursing session. So I go make him a bowl of oatmeal and fruit, feed him that. He starts flipping out when its over and so not to disrupt the people trying to enter in I give him ANOTHER jar of squash. When that's over he is STILL screaming! So to this my mom says "Al, I think he's done with this baby food" Later that evening we went out to dinner and order him chicken tenders, which he eats, along with Shawn's mashed potatoes. And starts screaming because we tell him it's time to go!

We went Sunday to Buy Buy Baby which I am soooo in love with. I mean seriously! Babies R Us has nothing on BBB. We bought him a new highchair and this great Skip Hop playmat. We are turning our new dining room into his playroom. Our new kitchen is HUGE. Big enough for my office, eat in kitchen and an island with bar stools so we really didn't need a formal dining room. We also are in the process of re-doing his nursery too. It's going to be really cute! Fun, Fun Fun!