Summer Loving and Happenings

  Hello blogland!  I bet your wondering where I've been for so long?!  I've been throughly delighting and basking in the warm summer air.  I really can't get enough of it.  I've been spending time with my loves in my life, doing away with cable television, devouring one library book after another, packing picnics to view movies in the park, experiencing my first country music concert, camping and hiking through Starved Rock,  taking neighborly strolls to the local dog park, keeping my cool with frozen treats, joining my brave sis for Sunday morning long runs along the lakefront (she's training for the Chicago Marathon). And last but not least,  I've been working tirelessly on our place and was super excited to have our home featured on Apartment Therapy last month too!  It was fun working towards getting our place to feel more lived in (with the help of countless DIY's) as well as adding a jolt of color happiness on the surrounding kitchen walls. Joe and I loved how everything came together and we just renewed our lease for a second year!!  Yay :) We are here to stay!!  How's your summer been?  I hope you've been getting the most out of it and enjoying as many experiences as well as creating new memories along the way.

  Below and above are a few snapshots of our flourishing succulent garden display in our front bay window.  These babies are thriving like you wouldn't believe!  And with so little effort on my part, once a week watering is all they need!  I highly recommend all variety of succulents for the green thumb impaired :)  I found mine at my local Home Depot, all under $6 a piece.  And the wood containers I found at a local Goodwill store for a $1 each! I covered some books with brown craft paper and splurged on some fun wrapping paper from the Container Store to give the display some height and pops of color.

Keep the Summer loving coming.....

Photos by EV Photography

Hello December

I've missed you and all things that revolve around you like hot chocolate, ice skating, Christmas tunes, pine trees, walking on freshly fallen snow, skiing, baking, decorating, and most important spending time with family. Yes, I admit! I am a holiday junkie!! Although nowadays I choose to make my gifts instead of buy them. And speaking of gifts, I wanted to share with you a special one that I started putting together this week. Who wouldn't enjoy reliving a moment in time each month for the new year? I bought this DIY mini desk calender kit from the awesome paislee press. For $4.99 you get 12 layered templates (sized 4 x 6 & 5 x 7) one for each month as well as at a glance calender of the entire year . With easy clipping masks, inserting your own photo is a breeze! Plus with convienent photo sizes you can easily print them at home or send the files to the printer of your choice. The hardest part is deciding what photo to use for each month. I can't wait to start printing these babies out on my Epson. But mostly I can't wait to see the look on my family member's faces as they look back on some of our favorite family moments.

Example of Feb month. Here Sam's eyes do all the smiling.

At a glance for the year. Isabella in a most relaxed moment.

As an extra special bonus, this kit also includes pretty packaging to really make your give shine!

hello sunshine

Happy start to your week everyone! How was your weekend? Did you do something adventurous, fun or scary? I did something all of the above this weekend- Joe and I hosted our very first dinner party on Saturday night. Besides having to run out and buy more chairs so that we could all sit in the same space, we roasted our first beef tenderloin, which came out pretty tasty and we indulged on apple pie with a scoop of pumpkin ice cream from TJ's. All in all I'd say it was a success and I can't wait to host again :)