Shiznit we got for Christmas.....

I asked Ross what I should call this post after telling him what I was going to talk about and this is what he suggested. We're tired. As you can probably tell.

So the "shiznit" we got for Christmas would be for our on going tradition. (2 whole years now!)

The ornament we decided on this year was a graduation one.

I graduated in May and Ross graduated earlier this month.

This is also Medved's first Christmas so we decided to get him his first ornament...

And his very own stocking. :)

Marla also gave me one of Ross' first Christmas ornaments from the year he was born to hang on our tree. Very special to us.

We just bought everything for Christmas cookies to make tomorrow.

It'll be nice to have some time to relax with my husband and puppy for a whole day, I forgot what that feels like.

:)

Now all it needs to do is snow.

Cathy

Oh Christmas Tree...

Hey guys!

I think today is the first day I haven't stayed late at work in about 3 weeks. I've missed chatting with you guys. (one way conversations, of course)

We've had a FULL month. I can't even believe how much we have done in the last few weeks. I had my birthday......22! Yay.... I feel a lot older than that. Haha.

Myles, Ross' brother, came home "early" from his mission a week ago. And by early, I mean that he decided to tell us a later date and come home a bit earlier then that date and "surprise" us instead. And by surprise, I mean us actually surprising him at the airport because we found out his "plan".

Okay I think I just did over kill with the "".

So he's home for the holidays and we had a fun week catching up with him and spending time with family.

He's spent the last two years in Romania, teaching people about our religion. Such a huge sacrifice. Learn more here. :)

We stupidly forgot our camera when we went to the airport. This is all we got of the handsome RM.

Hahahaha...

He's single ladies.

Now for some CHRISTMAS stuff.

This is when we got our tree. Medved smelling it, marking his territory - no big deal.

This is us, figuring out that it won't fit in our stand.

Here's Ross shaving down the bottom with a kitchen knife so it would fit.

Ah, finally.

He loved the lights. :)

Before the tree skirt and presents.

And after :)

I feel like I have sooo many things I want to talk about. But I think I'll just leave you with the tree for now.

Expect posts soon though! Like tomorrow and the next day and the next day. I have to make up for the last month!

And I have so many fun Christmas things to talk about.

:)

Cathy

GRADuate...

Ross finally graduated. He's (almost) done. He has one more paper and one more presentation and he's dunzoo. He'll have his BA in Russian Language from the University at Albany. :)

I'm very proud of my man. The last few weeks have been a little rough but he handled it like a champ.

Here's us before:

(Dave, Marla and us)

During: (all blurry)

And the party:

I made the banner, the mason jar candle holders, and the chocolate cake :)

It was fun to spend some time with family and friends, and bask in Ross' great accomplishment.

Medved and Trueman sleeping :)

Rinn and Medved. Medved's Best Friend.

She put this jacket on him, I thought this was the cutest thing!

(haha, he doesn't like pictures)

He did great!

We picked up our tree tonight and we're decorating tomorrow. Look forward to some fun posts soon :)

Cathy

Brown paper packages, tied up with string...

Honestly I could not think of a title for this guys. I'm gettin rusty.

Anyways... my main man is graduating this Sunday. Yea you read that right - he is FINALLY done. I'm very proud of him. More on that later though.

I wanted to give you a sneak peak of the decorations I'll be using for the party. :)

I'm pretty excited.

Here's our little snow monster. My parents had a ton of snow up north when we went up for Thanksgiving. Let's just say we had to drag him inside, he loved it soooo much.

:)

Cathy

No room in the Inn....

Found an incredible deal today.


5x8 for $115.70 with Free shipping.


I don't think it gets any better than that. Too bad we don't have any room.





















Isn't she beautiful? She comes in a few other colors too. Check her out here.


One day people, one day.




Cathy

The blues...

There hasn't been anything too exciting going on here. I have a few Arbonne parties this weekend and I talk in Church on Sunday. Totally nervous about it! My ward is HUGE, so much bigger than I'm used to talking in front of.

Oh jeeze, I can't even think about it.

Here are a couple additions we've made to our cute little apartment lately:

(blurry - I suck at taking pictures)

I spray painted this little mirror grey. Doesn't really go with all the warm colors we're using here but I want to do more cooler colors in our next place so I've been trying to transition.

Hence the new blue chevron pillow. She looks beautiful in real life, you know, not on camera.

That's about it around here.

I honestly can't wait for snow now. Sadly, it just doesn't feel like the holidays without it.

What fun projects have you been doing? Have you had the blues (or greys) lately?

Cathy

DiSTRESSed....

I've been running off some stress lately. Lost some weight already so maybe the stress is doing me some good. :)

Well onto my project - I bought this mirror from Goodwill a few months back (for $8) and decided that I wanted some color in my life.

This is the only "before" picture I could find. We taped it and spray painted it. (a few times) I couldn't make up my mind :)

I decided on a turquoise. Just fun and beautiful. I wanted a distressed look so I decided to sand it down in areas to make it look worn.

Then I added a distressing ink in a chocolate color.

This is what it looked like after.

Full thing. (puppy's feet in the mirror:)

I've never distressed anything before and I LOVE how it turned out.

Now that it's winter the sun has been rising right out our living room window.

I'll miss our view when we leave.

Hope everyone has a great long weekend.

Cathy

MIA...

Sorry I've been MIA lately...


I have been working on a project (slowly) lately. I'm gonna reveal it tomorrow. :)

Here's some eye candy while you wait:

I love the mixture of colors here. Along with the natural linen thrown in. So simple but it has such a big impact.

I love the charcoal cabinets and farm sink.

Beautful natural table and nailhead trim chairs.

I love almost everything from this office. I could see myself working here.

Walk in shower and natural light - gorgeous.

This entry way is adorable. The stone flooring, beautiful wallpaper, and bench are so great together. Such a cute puppy too (who looks like he needs to go out :)

All images via pinterest.

Definitely stop by tomorrow for a fun project.

:)

Cathy

Polar Bear.....

October 27th marked our first day of snow.


When we got our bundle of Joy it was already spring. So this was his first snow fall.

HE LOVED IT.

He didn't know what to make of it at first but he started to sniff and run around.

We went inside so I could start cooking dinner and he just sat on our bed for like an hour and a half just watching it. I would sneak in and he would look back at me for a second and then go back to looking outside.

If you knew him, you'd know that Medved sitting still for even 5 minutes at a time is amazing. He was mesmerized.

This is him "swaddled". He was cold. :)

Hope everyone is staying warm!

I think we're in for a bumpy winter this year.

:)

Cathy

Easy Peasy....

A recent favorite in our house (as of yesterday - the jar is almost gone already :)

Nutella Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup Nutella
½ cups Sugar
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1 whole Egg

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Blend all ingedients together well.
Form into 1″ balls. Place on a cookie sheet.
Press down firmly with the bottom of a glass.
Bake 7-8 minutes or until set. Cool

Delicious. Trust me.

Cathy

Snuggling Goof.....

What I woke up to yesterday...

I LOVE my fluffy, puffy, puppy.

♥

Cathy

Apples....

Seeing that it's fall we went Apple picking. We got a ton of them.

I've already made Apple pie, Apple chips, Apple turnover things, and tonight we're making Apple crisp.

(That's my pie, it tasted better then it looked ;)

Next is baked apples. mmmm. This might explain my weight gain...

Have a mentioned I love this time of year?

Just a few random pictures, my cute husband in his bow-tie :)

My sweet puppy, framed by a project in process. (post in a few weeks, very nice and very sentimental)

I have handsome men in my life.

:)

HAPPY FALL!

Cathy