Plate Wall

Here is a peek of how I am contemplating arranging my plate wall. I laid it out on the dining room table last night and I think I might be in love. I just need to figure out which wall I want it on too....Thoughts?

Not too shabby for thrift store finds huh?

More Plates

First of all, I want to just share that I am becoming "pleased as punch" with my dining room. It has been a work in progress for over a year now and I was just so ready to get it looking the way I want. My new light  fixture came in on Saturday and my MIL and SIL came over to help me hang it. It took forever, but it looks fabulous! I can not even tell you how much the room has changed from that one simple thing.

I also got 2 new pieces of furniture this past week which I am so excited about. One for the dining room and one for the living room. I will post about that on another day... but I am loving both!

I went to a few thrift stores today and I picked up some more plates for my plate wall in the dining room. This way I will have plenty of options and if I don't use one or two (or three... or four... ha) I will be ok with it since I only spent "change" on them...

Got these. One for .50 and the other $1.

All of these for $1.75

And this one was .50

I am so excited that my dining room is coming together. My deadline is fast approaching (I want to have it done before the shower I am giving my friend) February 11. Bring it on! Ha. Its all coming together!

Sugar Pecans

I made some really yummy candy pecans tonight for our small group. I had originally planned to make them around christmas time but never got around to it They are super easy and very delicious so I had to share the recipe

Ingredients:

1 egg white

1 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 to 3 cups pecan halves

Preparation:

Beat egg white until foamy; slowly beat in the brown sugar mixed with flour. Add salt and vanilla flavoring, then fold in pecans. Transfer pecans to a greased baking pan and bake at 250° for about 45 minutes.

Done. It's that simple and tastes heavenly. Enjoy!

Shopping at Kirklands

I was in Kirklands the other day and they had some really cute things... I am not typically a huge fan of the stores accessoires, but sometimes they do have good stuff......

Isn't it cute? Love the shade, its $50, so I will probably wait til it goes on sale... it always does there!

These, I thought were cute too with the little birdies on top...

I snapped a few pictures with my phone while I was in there...

love the wire baskets

this reminded me of the "pallet" shelf I have seen on Pinterest...

Rustic shelf

Big chunky wood mirror

And we have all seen these... what a great idea for them to make one....

They always have some cute initial stuff and I have purchased a TON of their seasonal garden flags. Just some ideas. Do yall ever find anything here?

Recently

First of all, we have had a few beautiful days this week, warm, sunny and 60 out. I have loved pretending like it is spring with my windows and sunroof open. It makes me happy to see everyone outside- kids playing... ah... spring...

We watched this movie the other night... such a great story! I love it, especially after such a great message at our church this past weekend...

¹³ Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. ¹⁴ Do everything in love

1 Cor. 16:13-14

Good stuff I tell you!

A dear friend of mine is getting married in April and I am throwing her a bridal shower at my house and I am really excited because I got all the stuff at Hobby Lobby to match the invitations. It will all be black and white damask. I cant wait to see how it all turns out...

The invites turned out really cute!

I have been planning on what kind of food to do. I am pretty sure it will just be fruit and cupcakes and maybe cheese and crackers or something. I am also planning on making the famous tissue balls to hang and some other things.

My SIL gave me my pretty Birthday gift the other day...

A new pillow to go on the chair in our bedroom. I think it is so pretty and feminine.

On another note, a friend of mine had us over for dinner the other night and I stole the recipe she used...

I thought I was so smart to take a picture with my phone! HeHe. It was so yummy and easy to make (although definitely not the healthiest....) I made it for dinner tonight! Yum!

My Sis Is Pretty Thrifty Too

My sister and I both enjoy shopping for good deals, especially thrifting, craigslisting and going to Estate sales.

She and her husband got a great deal on some really well made pieces back in the fall...

Don't you just love the curves, legs and hardware? Plus it was made incredibly well!

It did not match their other bedroom furniture so they debated whether to stain or paint the pieces... I said.. BOTH. That is exactly what they did... here is how they turned out.

I love them! It matched their bedroom perfectly. Their bed is stained and they have white side tables...

They decided to move their old dresser (also bought at a garage sale when my Sis was in college) to the living room to put their TV on...

I think it turned out perfectly! Don't you?

We both really enjoy buying someone elses "trash" and turn it into a "treasure".We have tossed around the idea of opening up a booth somewhere... I think it would be fun but I keep trying to weigh my options and the pro's and con's... any thoughts?

New Light

Today I made a stop at the Goodwill near my house, they had some great thing but I only came home with a pair of shoes.

a BRAND new pair of shoes that is.. with the tags fro TJ Maxx for $5.99....

Now, I did not buy it, but I spotted this cute little desk for $19.99. It needs a little love and attention but it would be a really cute desk for a little girls room.

I ordered my Birthday gift today! I am so excited because I have been searching for a lantern type light for my dining room since we moved into our house. I kinda forgot about it for a while but when I was thinking of things I wanted for my Birthday, that was one of them. I did a lot or searching and size configuring and I finally found the one I wanted....

Here she is. I feel like it is a classic look and I am going to keep the old light so that when we move, we can take it with us... I can not wait to get it and see how it looks.

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13 was a lucky day for me, HA... it was my 26th Birthday!

The night before, the Hubs and I celebrated since he had to work on my actual Birthday

He bought me 2 bouquets of my favorite flowers and a new big fluffy robe from Victorias Secret. "Its so fluffy I'm gonna die." Then we headed out to eat at one of favorites, Carrabbas

This is my absolute favorite dish, Spedino De Mare... best thing I have ever put in my mouth. We also got the fried zucchini and I had some sangria to celebrate. YUM! Then we went next door to Marshalls because after all that eating, I felt like I needed to purchase some workout pants... HA.... which I did!

The next day was my Birthday and I worked a short day. My coworkers were so sweet!

They gave me a big, fat, Andes cupcake (YUM)

And balloons! I felt so special! Plus we all went to out to eat for lunch and they gave me a gift card to Panera and one to TJ Maxx... they know me too well!

Saturday, my Mom, Sis and I headed to Atlanta for a girls trip!

Another favorite of mine. We ate lunch here....

My Birthday dessert

Such yummy family style Italian food... what could be better?

More Birthday dessert...

We went to several stores in the area and had a great time browsing....

I had never been here before and I told my Mom, I thought this was what heaven looked like. They have a container for everything and so many options for organization. I got so many ideas and now I am ready to organize even more at my house. I LOVED this place!

This was my first trip to Ikea... I have to say, I was not as much of a fan as I thought I would be. I enjoyed going and looking but all I could think was... this is like an amusement park for adults and that I could only imagine how terrible inventory would be at this place! HA. We all came out empty handed and shocked at the HUGEness of the store.... wow!

We had to stop and browse Pottery Barn, and we also went to Ballards, I love both places, just my style!

Our last stop was the Outlet Mall a little closer to home. We only had 1 hour left til they closed and I think we went to 5 stores, now that is what I call power shopping! No one had purchased anything all day until we hit these stores.. I racked up at Bath and Body!

What a great Birthday! I enjoyed every last second of it!

January Cruise to The Bahamas

Our crew boarding the ship!

We just got back after a full day of driving on Monday night, just in time for the big game... (which was boring as crap)

We left Thursday after work and drove half way to Orlando and spent the night in Valdosta GA at a lovely hotel... ha.... then we got up early the next morning to drive to Port Canaveral to board our ship.

Here are just a few pictures to make you a tad jealous and ready for summer.... 

This was our view on Saturday morning in the Bahamas.. not too shabby eh?

Our boat docked in the Bahamas

Bahama sunset

Dinner on the boat

Our picture they took... which I illegally took a picture of and did not purchase... HA

Our towel animal on our bed when we got back, I think its a Walrus?

 The boys after dinner

Sunday we got to go to Coco Cay, an island near the Bahamas that is owned by Royal Caribbean.... the weather was PERFECT!!!

That is our boat on the left

 

It was so nice getting a taste of the beach in January and the weather was absolutely perfect!

My New Vacuum!

I have been on the prowl for a new vacuum for a while now, looking at the stores and online and reading all the reviews. Ours was never that great to begin with and it finally blew up (literally... smoke, smell and all...) For months now I have been borrowing one of my parents and toting it back and forth... fun times!

Anyway, my parents gave us money to buy a new one for Christmas... we went back and forth on what to get and finally settled on one...

This model. It had great reviews, its lightweight and very streamlined. We were going to order it online but my husband just happened to be in "Big Lots" (we NEVER shop there) and he spotted the same vacuum we were looking for. It was the LAST ONE and it was $99.... SOLD!

Another deal of the century in my opinion... saved $200. I will take that any day!