Birthdays and Such

Hey friends!

I have quite a picture filled post for you today! Last Saturday was Ryan's 25th birthday! He's such an old man now. ;) We went to Cincinnati with our friends Mallory and Camden to celebrate by going to Ikea and Pappadeaux. It was our first time in an Ikea and man, was it awesome. I want everything in that store! We've needed another bookshelf for some time because of all the books Ryan has gotten for seminary, so we were determined to get one on this trip. Our only hiccup was that we drive a Civic. Not exactly the best vehicle for hauling furniture. We ended up getting one though and got it home by taking it out of the box and placing the boards in car with part of the back seat folded down while Mal and Cam sat next to each other on the rest of the backseat. I'm so thankful for friends who love us enough to ride uncomfortably in the car! We got it all put together and it is wonderful!

After Ikea we went to Pappadeaux, Ryan's favorite restaurant. It was soooo yummy and we even got a free dessert since it was his birthday! Here we are after our meal!

Me and my hot husband-in-flannel

I also made a birthday cake for Ryan. This year was not my best work, but at least it was yummy!

Note: Royal icing and pudding frosting do not mix.

Finally, I wanted to show off my Christmas decor like I promised in my last post!

Our baby tree on the table

Christmas cookies!

Presents for the fam

The Nativity Set that I got for Christmas last year

Close up of our stockings

Front Door Wreath

Close up

Living room window

All lit up!

I love our decor this year! I'd really love to do more, but seeing as the only people who see it are me and Ryan, I thought I'd keep it low key. If we ever get a house, you better believe I'm drenching that place in Christmas!

I doubt I'll update in the next couple weeks because we'll be so busy seeing friends and family, so until then: 

Merry Christmas!!!

Loves,

Amy

Happy Fall Y'all!

October is probably my favorite month of the year. The temperature is cool but not too cold, the colors on the trees are really vibrant, and pumpkins are EVERYWHERE. I also love fall decor. A couple weekends ago, I made a fall wreath out of some foam piping insulation from home depot. I thought this would be the greatest idea because it was cheap and easy. My friend, Kara, made one as well. I have yet to see her finished project, but I sure hope it turned out better than mine did. Here's my front door with the first wreath:

I evidently loaded it down with too much stuff on it so it kind of became egg-shaped after a day. I took that puppy down and went to Michael's to find a replacement. Michael's had 18" grapevine wreaths for $5 so I snagged one up and put all my "stuff" on it and this is the result!

A zillion times better. Apologies for the crappy photo. I took all the felt flowers and pom poms off the old wreath and added them to the new one along with some extras. Here's a close up of the wreath:

I love it 65435136576435 times more than the other one! The next step in prettyfying our entry way is to get a new pot for the mum. Mums smell so gross, but I love how they look! I also love that it was only $3.47 at home depot. The pumpkins by the door are fake from Michael's. Super cheap as well becuase they were 50% off. I went with fake pumpkins so I could re-use them and so I wouldn't have a rotting pumpkin by my front door. My next BIG projects in the apartment will be to paint a wall in each of the bedrooms and maybe in the kitchen as well. I'm really looking for ward to it!!! I'll definitely keep you all posted!

How do you decorate for the seasons?

Loves,
Amy

Decor Update

2 posts in 2 days?! I must be crazy! I've been wanting to show everyone my updated living/dining room for a while and FINALLY took a picture this morning as I was on my way out of the house. Remember what my accent wall looked like when I finished it? If not here is a reminder:

I adore the wall color, but I wasn't loving the picture that I put up and I did not like the olive green table cloth. I've been seeing all kinds of cute gallery walls on Pinterest and decided to do one of my own. Here is the new area!



I love how it turned out! It takes up so much more space than the other picture and it lets me showcase many of my photos without it looking so sporadic. It was pretty easy to do. I just laid them on the ground and arranged them until I liked what I saw and then nailed those puppies up! I used toothpaste on the photo hangers to mark where I should put the nail. That saved me a lot of headaches and extras holes in the wall. I did have a whole bunch of photos of just me and Ryan and I thought I was a little too much, so I replaced some with a couple family pictures and a bird print. I also replaced that green tablecloth with a new gray one. I love it so much more. And get this I got that baby for $3.47 at Meijer! I love a good deal! It was a little long so I tied up the corners with some brown satin ribbon. I also put up a fall table arrangement. I'll post a more up close photo a little later when I've finished all my fall decorating. I'll also try to include better pictures because the iPhone pics are kind of sad.

What kind of projects have you worked on lately?


Loves,
Amy