Five on Friday, Vol. 20: House Edition

Three posts in one week? Stop the madness! 

One of the things I've missed most over the past month of non-blogging is linking up with Darci, April, Christina, and Natasha on Fridays. 

 

{O N E}

First off, thanks everyone for your sweet words about our exciting news! This whole house hunting journey has truly been a lesson in patience and trusting in God and His timing. For us, the whole process was relatively easy, but I wouldn't exactly call it fun. The fun part for me starts now. I can't wait to decorate and renovate our new home!

{T W O}

Picking colors has been one things I've really been looking forward to. I started looking at colors long before we actually had a house, and pretty much had my heart set on a particular color pallet. Our new walls will be painted in blues and warm greys!

Anyone surprised to see blue in the mix? Ya, I didn't think so :)

{T H R E E}

We closed on Monday, got the keys on Tuesday, and renovation started Wednesday! We aren't wasting any time! Phase I of renovations include: new floors, ceilings, and paint. James and I haven't been able to be at the house since demo started, but we're getting daily updates from our awesome superintendent.

Later parquet floors!

Goodbye popcorn ceilings!

{F O U R}

Other than changing the floors we aren't touching the kitchen this go-round. Sis sent me a picture of my dream kitchen, so thankfully I have a while to convince the husband that this is exactly what he wants.... wish me luck.

{F I V E}

We're spending a weekend at the beach watching the Heritage Golf Tournament. Unfortunately, the weather isn't going to cooperate with some beach time, but we're enjoying a vacation either way.

Happy Easter y'all! Hope you have a great weekend!!

Hey, Guess What?!?

We're HOMEOWNERS!!

We closed on the house yesterday and we get the keys today! We celebrated with burgers...

and cupcakes! Because what else would you celebrate with :)

It's been a crazy journey, and we are so very thankful. I'll share the entire story later, but for today, I'm just going to enjoy the awesomeness of being able to say we own a HOME!  

Blog Breaks and Babies

Hi! 

Remember me?

It's been a while. Actually, it's been a whole month. I didn't mean to take such a long break, but between work picking up, stress with the house (more on that tomorrow), and simply not feeling inspired to write this blog got put on the back burner. Apologize for the absence, but I'm back now! 

My first friend, Cara, and her sweet husband, Frank, are expecting their first baby this August! This past weekend we celebrated mom-to-be and "Baby E" with an elephant themed baby shower in honor of Cara's favorite animal. 

It's been fun, albeit a bit odd, transitioning from having wedding showers to hosting a baby showers. How did I get old enough to have friends who are having babies?! Love it as long as I'm hosting and not having one... yet.

I'm a bit obsessed with these adorable invitation we used from FrancyShmancyNotes. So perfect!

When guests walked in the door they were greeted with this pretty pink table. "The Giving Tree" was one of my favorite childhood books, and we figured it would be a great guestbook.

In case you didn't know my sister is crazy talented. She sewed 6 adorable elephants that we used to decorate the chandelier. Seriously, could they be any cuter? 

We set up a "Wishes for Baby" station. I found these from StockberryStudio and loved how they matched the invitations. Everyone did a great job of filling them out!

Some of my favorite answers:

"I hope you learn to love UGA football" As if that's even a questions!

"I hope you aren't afraid of wolves" & "I hope you learn not to hit" Great advice from a 6 year old!

"I hope you love cheese dip" Let's be honest. This is key.

"I hope you become just like your momma" <tear>

We also set up a decorating station. We laid out iron on appliques and fabric pens. Everyone decorate either a onesie or a burp rag. Have you ever held up a newborn onesies?! So. Tiny.

I know I'm biased, but I think the one mom, Sis, and I made was the cutest ;)

And no good shower is complete without lots of food! Momma-to-be loves her some goldfish, so of course we couldn't forget those!

Is she not the most precious pregnant person ever?!

 Love you sweet friend and can't wait to meet baby girl in August! Oh, and please move back to GA, Baby doesn't like TX!

Five on Friday, Vol. 19

Happy Friday All!
There is something pretty great about waking up knowing it's Friday. It's even better when you don't have to work on Friday! Linking up with Darci, Natasha,Christina, and April to share a few great things from this past week. 

{O N E}

Thank you for all your sweet words about our exciting news! Y'all are the best!

Today is inspection day! In fact, there is a very good chance we are at the inspection as you read this. Hopefully everything looks good and we get to continue on this journey of becoming home owners!  

{T W O}

In other exciting news, I'm a puppy aunt! 

If you follow along on Instagram you already know this, but I'm a proud aunt so I just had to share again. Sis and the BIL brought this sweet 4-year old poodle home this week, and I can't wait to meet her. Her name is Felicity and I already love her!

In case you were curious, I'm a puppy aunt, but James is a puppy brother. It totally makes sense because I just wanna say puppy brother everyday.

  Video Source

{T H R E E}

The house may not be ours yet, but I'm already in decorating mode. I've mentioned before that my mom is an interior designers and we'll definitely be enlisting her help. I want to be design educated, so I'm trying to learn as much as possible. Plus, James and I are excited to tackle some DIY projects. These two books are perfect for both of these things! Great DIY design tips and ideas.
Young House Love: follow they're blog if you don't already do so. They're the jam!
The Perfectly Imperfect Home

{F O U R}

If we're making fish for dinner chances are it's gonna be salmon. If we're making salmon chances are it's made in this sauce.
Side note: buy salmon from Costco, you'll thank me later.
This sriracha sauce and lime salmon from Gwyneth Paltrow's book is perfect. Not too spicy, a little tangy, and great flavor. Try it, you'll thank me for that too.

Source

Ingredients:

Juice & Zest of 1/2 a lime

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 1/2 teaspoons sriracha sauce 

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1 1/4 pounds salmon fillet (skin removed)

2 tablespoon chopped cilantro (optional)

I don't do cilantro, so that gets left off. If I was a good wife I would put some on the side for the husband, but I don't do cilantro... at all.

{F I V E}

Have y'all tried these yet?!?
I love my Crock-Pot. I hate cleaning my Crock-Pot. I've been looking for these for a while with no luck. This past week I finally found them. Game. Changing. I'll cook in my Crock-Pot every night if clean up is just remove the liner and wipe down. Life officially changed.

Hope you all have a safe and happy weekend!

What a Weekend!

It's been a while since I did a post recapping our weekend. Lately our weekends have consisted mostly of house hunting which doesn't really make for blog friendly material. I've also tried to focus more on being present and less on trying to get good shots and brainstorm blog posts. I still love this little blog, but sometimes I just need to step away and put the blog on the back burner. 

With all of that said, I'm excited to recap our weekend and share some pretty awesome news with y'all!

First things first though. Can we please discuss this weather? I'm not sure about the rest of you, but GA got its act together this weekend! 70 degrees? I'll happily take it. I just need to remember warm weather  = sunscreen. I now have a sunburned face to remind myself of that.

GA Tech sports are not my favorite, but it was nice to spend an afternoon outside watching baseball. I'll give them this, the baseball field is pretty nice. 

After the game we headed to Yogli Mogli for a celebratory treat. Frozen yogurt eaten outside in the sun? I'll take it! 

James was celebrating a GT win, and we were celebrating... {drumroll please}

A HOUSE!!

Yay! We are under contract on a home! We still have a long way to go before it's really ours. I'm trying not to get my hopes up just yet because a lot can happen over the next few weeks. I can't lie though I'm super excited! Prayers that everything works out how it's suppose to are greatly appreciated!

My mom gifted me my very own decorator's bag complete with paint color swatch book and magazines. She always carried one around whenever we went to fabric or home improvement stores. Hers was always overflowing with fabric samples, paint colors, and design ideas. I feel so official having my very own! 

See that beautiful blue and gold binder? I've also started to put together a decorating binder! The house isn't ours yet, but I'm already brainstorming "looks" for each room :) So much for not getting my hopes up.

 Hope you all had a great and hopefully warm weekend!

Five on Friday; Vol. 18

Happy Friday!

I haven't joined in for Five on Friday in a few weeks, so I'm super excited to be back linking up with Darci, Natasha, Christina, and April. Between house hunting (nothing to update), work, and being over winter there hasn't been much to report

{O N E}

Sis' Etsy shop, Anchor of Hope Designs, was featured on a blog this week! Head over to Hey Kelsea Rae to read all about her shop and enter the Giveaway!

{T W O}

Have y'all tried this yet!? Ben & Jerry's is genius! I'm eating Salted Caramel right now... so good! I can't wait to try "Hazed & Confused" and "Peanut Butter Fudge." I'll admit I make not needed trips to Publix on a daily basis to see if they have new flavors in. When it comes to ice cream, I have no shame.

{T H R E E}

I got my "Cara Box" this week. Due to some weather delays, it came a little late, but my partner did a great job. It was the perfect box for me! If you've never heard of the Cara Box exchange head over the Kaitlyn's blog Wifessionals to learn all about it. My first experience was great and I can't wait to do it again soon! 

{F O U R}

So, this week I learned my MacBook is "ancient." I was pretty sad to learn my computer was no longer compatible with PicMonkey. If any of y'all know of another site to edit photos and add text please let me know! The husband will greatly appreciate it. I don't think he's interested in upgrading my computer just yet :)

{F I V E}

I did a post earlier this week about the beach, and ever since then I'm itching to get there. I'm ready for sun, sand, and ocean water. Here's to hoping for warm weather soon!

Hope you all have a great and hopefully warm weekend!

There's No Place Like Home

  

Today I'm joining Brianna for her "10 Favorite Things" link-up. I was so excited for the theme this month: "the place you call home." Initially, I figured I would do Atlanta because it really has been the place I've called home for most of my life. However, after thinking about it I thought I may switch it up. I love Atlanta and love that it's home, but there are a few other places I consider to be home as well. Charleston and Athens are both definitely home even though I only lived in those places for a short time during college. As much as I wanted to pick one of those, I figured the best place to choose would be my home away from home: Hilton Head Island. 

Growing up we vacation on Hilton Head a few times every year, and a few years ago my parents bought a place there. Since then we've go down and visit regularly. It's one of my favorite places ever and here's why:

1. The Beach House: My parents bought a small older home and completely gutted it. I'm not one for seeing the overall "vision," and when they first purchased it I thought they were crazy. It was old and needed serious love. However, once they were done I got the vision. It's not a big home, but I think it's beautiful and it's so special to us. The house has changed a lot since these pictures, but here are the before and afters of a few of my favorite rooms right after the house was finished:

Before Living Room:

After Living Room:

Before Kitchen:

After Kitchen:

Before Bunk Room/ Sis and My Room:

 

After Bunk Room/ Sis and My Room:

2. This view: The view off the back deck is pretty awesome. The house is on a golf course and a little pond. The boys like finding abandoned golf balls in the pond while us girls like watch a pray that they don't fall in a get eaten by an alligator.

It's Riley's favorite view too :) 

But he's afraid of gators, so he doesn't go off the deck. Smart boy.

3. Secret Spots: Hilton Head was the first place James and I vacationed together as a couple. I took him to this pretty secluded dock on our first bike ride around the island. It's become our special spot.

4. Weather: For those of you who don't know Georgia is weather challenged. It can be snowing one day and 70 degrees the next. Hilton Head always seems, for the most part, have the weather thing figured out. One of my favorite times to go there is at Christmas. There is never anyone around and it's the prefect temperature.

5. The Beach: Duh. My mom has always called Sis and I "beach babies." I'll pick the beach over the lake any day.

6. Sunsets: Ever since my parents bought the beach house we always make a point to do sunset dinners on the beach. We pack up wine and cheese for dinner and head out the beach to watch the sun go down. It's my favorite.

7. Harbor Town: I have so many memories to going to Harbor Town in the summer and watching Greg Russell sing silly kid songs. I'll admit we still go see Greg Russell sing to all the kids when we can, but my favorite part of Harbor Town is the lighthouse.

8. Riding Bikes: One of my favorite things to do on the island is go on bike rides. Sometimes riding a bike is just more fun than walking.

9. Gators: What's a trip to Hilton Head if we don't look for the gators? There a bunch that live in the pond behind the house, so we're always bound to see at least a few.

10. Family Time: It's my favorite place to hang out with my favorite people!

There you go! A few of my favorite things about my home away from home!