Puppy Birthday Party

Well in typical fashion here is a belated post!

December is always a month to remember!  Especially when you need to remember to throw in a birthday party for a very special little girl in your life.

I'll be honest.  I have the hardest time sitting down and getting a party together for our youngest because it falls smack dab in the middle of December.  It's a tough time for everyone to squish in another party so I have been hesitant and we typically just go out to eat and then celebrate with cupcakes and our little family at home.

This year was different.  I knew I needed to get my stuff together and do something for my little four year old.   She had her own ideas of what she wanted her party to be like and she was excited!

She wanted a "puppy party"!  After all she LOVES our dog quite literally to pieces.

A couple of days before the party little miss decided that she also wanted a princess party.  It's a hard decision to make when your 4 guys!  So although it was far too late to go another direction I decided I would add a little sparkle to the decorations and see if that would float her princess boat for this year.

I did that by adding a sparkly gold polka dot fabric that I found for 50% off in the christmas isle. It was intended to be a fabric garland for the tree but it worked just as well as a table runner.  The puppy face balloons were something I came across on pinterest but unfortunately there is no link to go along with the picture I found.  

Since her party falls in december she has lots of extra decorations along side her puppy stuff.

I could not for the life of me get these puppies to turn my way for their photo shoot!

We quickly added some pink puppy paws on the sidewalk before the party guests arrived.

This cupcake cake was also found on pinterest and unfortunately there is no link associated with it either:(  I thought it was a great and easy way to make a puppy.  Mine turned out a little crooked but hey everyone could tell what it was so that was a bonus!

The hubs even offered up his face painting skills to turn all the precious little girls from school into pups.

When the girls arrived they each got a set of felt ears that they could draw polka dots on or whatever their little hearts desired actually.  The felt ears were glued onto cheapy little headbands except for the party girl who had spotted this fancy party hat that we modified into a fancy puppy party hat.

After drawing ears, painting faces, eating cake, opening presents, and playing a very quick and unorganized game of pass the paw(like hot potato but with a dog paw and doggy tunes), the party was a success. 

I think she had a ball! 

Finally..A Tour of the Powder Bath

Did you think I would never ever post pictures of how the hows turned out after we built?  I've wondered myself.  I've had a few requests for a House Tour since the construction finished up last May  but honestly I just haven't had it in me.  

Today is different though.  I thought "o.k. I WILL post some pics of the bathrooms today".

And then…I couldn't find my camera.  Seems the hubs never in a million years thought I needed it today and he took it with him to work?  Huh.

Anywho…So to make myself feel better I took some fancy I phone pics and I WILL most certainly still show you the powder bath and how it is slowly but surely being decorated.

Here she is..

Wait.  Don't leave yet.  She's cute but once she gets a little lipstick she's more fun.  Read on.

It's very difficult to get pics of powder bathrooms don't you think? 

We installed the cabinet and sink ourselves from IKEA and I can't remember for sure where the faucet is from but I believe it was online at Lowes. The light is from Lowes as well..I think:/  (I kid you not when I say I've tried to block out the whole experience and apparently I'm pretty good at it)

I love the mirror I found at Ross one day.  Can you say SCORE!  

So the room was pretty blah.  We haven't ventured into painting anything and I'm not positive about the direction I want to go in here but I came across these books on Amazon and it helped a TON.

Ashley and Jamin Mills from the Handmade Home put together these awesome books that include 40 prints that will fit in any 8 x 10 frame with all kinds of matting possibilities.  All of the prints work together beautifully and I can't wait to use them all throughout out home as we finally start hanging things on the walls!

As you see above I first found some frames that I had stashed in our guest room AKA decor storage room.

See.  

We have no bed for company but you can shop in here if you like.  Oh snap I forgot I had those purple peacock pillows!  Woohoo!

I digress.  So as you saw above I played with the picture layout on the floor first and then started hanging.  No measuring required.  My philosophy is just to wing it which would drive some batty but I don't have the patience for measuring.  If it doesn't look right just move your nail over.  

Guys remember these are phone pics..Lame

So that's how she sat for a while and then I remembered I had my old dresser my parents bought me when I was two that would be fun and funky and brighten up the place.

I painted the dresser for my now 6 year old daughters nursery and now here she sits all fun and bright in out powder bath. 

As you can see we also received another addition to the family for Christmas.  My inlays got us the fab marquee letter H and it fits just fine in here for now.  Mr. marquee may end up in the playroom when we get around to doing something in there.

So there you go.  A teeny tiny peek at how one room actually turned out after construction and is slowly evolving into a homey little space.  Next up…I hope to show you the master bath but I need my real camera back to do it justice.  

Well Hello Christmas!

I'm in denial folks.  Not only about the fact that I haven't posted since July..What?  But the fact that Christmas is next week is freaking me out a bit.  

We have yet to bake cookies and go look at Christmas lights in any shape or form.  The Christmas cards are addressed but not sent out and not a single gift is wrapped.   But…they ARE purchased.  Whew!

The one thing that was accomplished was the Christmas decorating right after Thanksgiving.  It's kind of the thing we always do on the saturday after Thanksgiving and it may just be one of my favorite days of the year.  A day of Christmas music, hot chocolate, big messes and a frustrated husband outside staring aimlessly at the pile of lights that he doesn't know where to plug in or where to hang them;)  

Yeah it's not all cookies and host chocolate is it.  The funny thing is that even though this season is a lot of work it really is the most wonderful time of the year!

I know I still haven't done a tour of the house after we finished building.  I guess I will be sharing it in little snippets over time.

It has been fun to figure out new ways to decorate this year with a new space.  This is our living room and really the only room we decorated for the holidays.

As you can see we haven't ventured into the land of window treatments or exciting treatments on the wall above the mantle yet.

We are still recovering from post traumatic building and financial stress.  Actually that stress is one of the reasons I haven't been inclined to post much since we moved in.  You could say I have had to sit back and undergo a little mental and physical transformation myself. 

I'll be honest I feel like the mantel is fairly blah but it was super duper blah before I spotted these sparkly gold huge ornaments on sale at hobby lobby. It added a perfect touch to fill up that huge blank space.  I almost bought a can of chalkboard paint the other day to through up above the mantle just to add some interest but I chickened out and ran out of time.

We had to get a new tree this year since we donated ours last year during the move.  Instead of a 7 footer we have a nine footer because of the taller ceilings in the living room.  That meant it felt like we didn't have many ornaments. We don't every do a theme with our tree(yet anyway).  Many of our ornaments are special ornaments from our little road trips and things that the kids have made or picked out each year.  I even have some from my childhood tree on it so we have quite the mish mash and we kind of like it that way.  But…it still seemed a bit naked.  So while perusing hobby lobby for birthday decorations for our youngest daughter I found this gold netting.  It was really wide and way too short so cute it into several thiner pieces.

I also purchased some fancy plastic yet super colorful bulk ornaments at target to add a little more color to the tree.  Instead of just spreading them out all over the tree I decided to tie them together in threes and actually attached the sets of three ornaments to the gold netting and hung it all at once.  I think that it added the consistency and repetitiveness that our new tall tree needed.

This room has really been bare since we moved in so it's nice to see a change in here!  I'm going to save my Christmas money for some curtains though.  Those windows are dying for some clothes. 

 

So there you have it.  A mini living room peek and a Christmas decor post.  Here's to a week off from school and work next week and lots of relaxing with the family.  I hope you are getting to do the same.

Merry Christmas!

Linked to:

Thrifty Decor Chick's Christmas Party

Hill Country Girls Trip!

Hi guys!  I need to share some pictures with you!  My mom, sister and 5 year old daughter and I went on a "girls trip" together last weekend.  

If you've never had the chance to spend a little time in Fredrickburg, TX you really are missing out!  It's  only a hop skip and a jump from me so I've had the luxury of getting to go several times in the last 10 or so years and it is always a treat.  

It has changed over time and in my opinion is a bit overpriced but I love to go and get ideas and just soak up all the yummy old buildings and soak IN German pastries.  

This is the adorable little cottage we stayed in.  It had rustic texas furnishings inside with a stone fireplace and stained concrete floors.

Look at the adorable cactus wreath on the door.  I'm totally making one of these soon!  

This was the view from the bedroom window.  There were probably about 15-20 other cottages(by the way it is my dream job to own a place like this!).

The little details like the antler door handles on all of the barn doors inside are some of the reasons this place is more exciting to stay in than your run of the mill hotel.

There was also a huge section of their land that had tons of Elk with HUGE fuzzy antlers.  It was fun to watch them come up to the fence to graze.

The only thing wrong with this place was the bed situation.  Call me old but I can't sleep in just any old bed anymore:(  The bed was way too soft and the pull out couch was well...a pull out sofa bed.  I was pooped after two nights of no sleep.  But the place sure was cute! 

Now on to the pretty stuff!  I should have taken more pics but here are a few examples of some of the adorable stores and their displays.

I loved this bird painting from what I assume is a local artist and the kinda creepy paper mache animals were fun too.

I loved all the color in the place but I really loved the idea of having a fun picture of our sweet chocolate lab done like this.  Quirky and special all wrapped into one.

You know presentation is huge.  These candles did smell great but they looked even better!  I was so tempted but I just couldn't make myself spend $36 on a candle.  Although you could use the containers for like EVER!

I did find the same candles for a tad bit cheaper on Amazon.  The link in on the right sidebar.

Everything bright bold and summery caught my eye.  It was only 105 degrees out so there was no mistaking that we are right in the midst of all out bright summer decor.

More bold colors and yummy patterns...

And this guy!  I never thought I would love a picture of pigs but how can you not?  I would love to see this baby on some white plank walls!  

But...I didn't have $400 to blow.

 Along with adorable stores you get to be surrounded by central Texas scenery and if your lucky you can turn it into an all out TX wine country adventure.  There are tons of wineries throughout the hill country and tasting rooms right on main street.

Fredricksburg is also known in the summer for it's peaches and you can find anything from peach pie and cobbler to peach wine and margaritas!  

I had a yummy fried beet salad.  I had never heard of fried beets before either but it was the healthiest and least expensive thing on the menu so I went for it.

It just so happens that this restaurant outside of town was called the Pink Pig(it was a piggy kind of weekend) and they had a tiny bakery in there restaurant  where they sold yummy deserts and iced pink pig cookies.

Here's my sweet girl at the Pink PIG.

You'll find lots of charming buildings like this throughout town.

Oh and the bakeries!  The old old historic bakeries.  

Adorable right?

Had I known I was going to share this trip with you I would have taken more pics of main street and other cool shops but I think you get the idea.

Need a girls trip?

Oh yea it's all exciting over here!

You guys....We are in the midst of doing a whole lot of thing that feel like a whole lota nothings around here.  I know but it makes perfect sense in my brain.

Believe it or not..(you can chuckle with me if you've been following along with the building process) we didn't have toilet paper holders or door stops installed by our builder. That stuff was a bit of an afterthought for us because we got so tired of picking things out and were out of $.

But before we get to the exciting pictures of toilet paper holders let me show you our guest bathroom pulls!

I love the way they look with our rustic gray brown stain on the vanity.

Now before you think we are totally gross people I have to make myself feel better by saying that the drips on the cabinetry are where the stain didn't take as well because some glue apparently dripped down the wood at some point during construction.  In real life it's hardly noticeable but in the pics it's uh not so pretty.

So the guest cabinet went from this  

to this in a jiffy.  These pulls are from signature hardware and may not be ideal to use as bathroom pulls for every situation but for us they were perfect.

Oh now the fun stuff...

Baam!

Powder bath

Whabaam!  We don't have to bend down and pick it up off the floor now.  This is big stuff my friends.

Master bath toilet closet...

 Oh Yeah!

Can't handle the excitement?  

Well this will put you over the edge!

We have door stops!  And..lots of little piles of sawdust to clean up that I might get to next week.  Priorities guys!

Well thanks for following along on another awesome decorating adventure with me....Until next month!

;)