traditional anniversary gifts... what do you think?

so our one-year anniversary is just around the corner (as in, it is THIS sunday!) and i think we have decided that we just can't play along with the whole "traditional/modern" anniversary gift-giving requirements. for those of you who don't know what i'm talking about, here is a chart that tells you what type of item you are supposed to purchase for your spouse each year:


so, traditionally, this year we are supposed to get each other something made of paper. it seems that the usual gift for this year is tickets to something, just based on what all of my married friends have done. i didn't want to go that route because i didn't want to buy US tickets to something because then its a gift for US and not a gift for HIM. if you don't go with tickets, what else can you buy that is made of paper and something unique? books and stationary come to mind, but those are both things that neither of us want or need. once i realized how difficult it was for the first year, i started looking down the list and realizing it was only going to get worse. look at the 4 year anniversary: fruit and flowers. FRUIT AND FLOWERS? SERIOUSLY? i'm sure you could think outside the box and turn that into a trip to wine country because of the grapes that are involved but come on, who really wants fruit and flowers for their anniversary gift?

so now i'm really curious... those of you that are married, do you follow along with these rules? and if you do, i would LOVE to hear some of the gift ideas you have come up with. and if you're not married, do you think you will follow them?

never have i ever...

we've all played this game, right? and we know its a whole lot LESS about what you haven't done and a whole lot MORE about calling out your friends? well anyway, i was having a conversation with a friend last weekend about random foods that i refuse to eat and it turned into a pretty funny chat about seemingly normal things that i have never done, eaten, etc during my 29 years on this earth. i decided that i needed to share some of these things, so here goes!

1. i have never eaten: a hot dog, a snickers bar, fried chicken, mustard, chicken wings, pepperoni, or anything from mcdonalds except french fries (just to name a few)
2. i have never had my eyebrows waxed (it freaks me out - and no, i don't have a unibrow, thankyouverymuch)
3. i have never driven a car with a stick shift
4. i have never seen the movie "old school" (which is cause for divorce, according to my husband)
5. i have never been admitted to a hospital, broken anything, etc.
6. i have never had the chicken pox
7. i have never had a car payment or paid for my own car insurance
8. i have never had a credit card
9. i have never failed a test, quiz, etc
10. i have never been in any kind of wreck
11. i have never had a cavity

ok so now that you're all thinking that i am the most boring person EVER, here are some not-so-normal things that i actually HAVE done!

1. i have been to the top of, and inside a volcano
2. i have watched humpback whales breach in the ocean from a boat that was about 20 feet away from them
3. i have owned my own business
4. i have met my favorite musician EVER, dave matthews!
5. i have been to NBA, MLB and NFL games... and even got to be a VIP at a Chicago bears game once where we got a police escort to the game and then got to go on the field during the pre-game!
6. i have watched someone give birth
7. and i have also watched someone die
8. i have been to 31 US states (and i'm not too interested in some of the ones i have left haha)

i could really go on and on about the funny things that i have never done, and especially the things i have never eaten! now blog friends, PLEASE tell me that i'm not the only one who has never done a lot of random, normal things?!

another little project!

back when i was planning our wedding, i bought these frames to make framed monograms for our gift table and the corner of our bar. while i still love the framed monograms, we don't really have a place where pink and green makes sense in our house. i love the thick white frames so i decided to re-use them to add some color in our kitchen. here are some pictures:






i just bought some modern-looking scrapbook paper that matched our kitchen and put it in the frames, then made a little design in photoshop and framed that between the two. i really love the interest and pop of color that it brings to the kitchen. what do you think?

see ya later, snow!

today, we will be going from this...


to THIS:


tonight we are heading to san diego to visit family and friends and also for ryan's grandfather's wedding. let me tell you, my ghostly white self CAN'T WAIT to see the sun again. you know it's bad when the local meteorologists are SO EXCITED that the weather is going to get "up to freezing" today. ugh. get me out of here!!

easiest valentines day bouquet EVER!

after my last post, i had several twitter messages asking "what is in that bouquet on your table?" well let me tell you, it is the cheapest and easiest thing ever! here is a close up:


i just took one of my monogrammed vases (you can't even really tell that part) and put in a bunch of sweetheart candies (that is - after i found out that my dog ripped open the bag and ate half of them!) and then some fake red and pink tulips. i'm normally not a huge fan of fake flowers, but i couldn't figure out how to make this work with real flowers and the water that would need to be in there without using 2 nested vases. this is the extent of my valentines day decorating... as you can tell, we REALLY go all out! :)

Kitchen Makeover - Before & After!

warning: LOTS of pictures ahead!!! it pains me to show you these before pictures - that's how much i hated it. promise we can still be friends afterwards! here goes..

BEFORE:





....aaaaaaannnnndddd AFTER!









i think it is sooo much warmer and feels both bigger and more cozy at the same time. obviously, we still need to put some stuff on the walls. i have a couple of things picked out, but it involves a road trip to cincinnati for me to get both of them. overall - i'm kind of in love with this room now! what do you think??

what's dominating my time?

THIS MESS:




remember that kitchen makeover i was hoping for? yeah, well, it's in full effect. before and after pictures to come soon...(hopefully)...

2010: Show me the MONEY!

for some reason, i always think of "resolution" as such a dirty word, so like a lot of other people, we are just going to set some "goals" for 2010 instead. one of our biggest goals this year is to SAVE MONEY!! we aren't doing anything drastic, just making some little changes that will hopefully go a long way!

one of my friends, mandy, always seems to find the best coupon deals and i read about them on her blog and on facebook, so yesterday i decided to ask her for her secrets! i was curious about joining "the grocery game" (which requires a paid membership) but she helped me learn that there are a lot of free resources out there that give you the same information! since there are SO many of the coupon/deal websites out there, i was so happy that she was able to give me a few of her favorites. here are the sites:

www.hip2save.com
www.moneysavingmom.com
www.kcpennypinchinmama.com
www.mommysnacks.net
www.mymemphismommy.com
www.stlmommy.com

(p.s. - if you don't have meijer, kroger, etc. i have seen a TON of other coupon sites for the publix & bi-lo stores as well as the west coast stores like albertsons, vons, ralph's, etc.)

so, armed with my artillery of websites, i sat down for about 3 hours last night and worked out my "game plan." it probably wouldn't have taken so long but i was reading EVERYTHING on these websites, and making a ton of notes. i went out on my shopping trip this morning and my 2 stops were target and meijer. since i am a newbie at this heavy-duty couponing, i forgot to take pictures of what i bought! i will say that i definitely had a full and somewhat over-flowing cart of stuff at meijer, and it was about twice the volume of stuff that i normally buy. here is what my receipt looked like:



that is definitely an impressively long receipt in this household! so, how much did all that stuff cost? well, when the cashier originally rang it up, it was a few cents under $70. After all of my coupons... it was... $33.00!!!!! That means that I SPENT $33 and SAVED $37!!!!! at target, I only had to buy a few things (12 pack of pepsi max, granola bars, green tea) but my total was $3.73 after my $3.80 in coupons!!!

i'm going to keep a running tally of my coupon savings on my sidebar so that i can keep track of our savings! is anyone else starting a 2010 savings plan of their own?

2009 in pictures

i have LOVED seeing everyone's "2009 in pictures" posts so much that i decided that i needed to do one of my own! it seems like a lot of people didn't really enjoy 2009, but i absolutely loved it. yes, the economy sucked and we felt it just like everyone else... but for us, the good definitely outweighed the bad in 2009. here are some fun pics and highlights of our 2009!

the ice storm/blizzard of january 2009:


finishing our wedding invitations after MONTHS of work:


we bought our first house!


my bachelorette party in chicago:



GETTING MARRIED in may!




honeymooning in maui:




MEETING DAVE MATTHEWS!!!!


uk basketball becomes first team to get 2000 wins!


this, in a very tiny little nutshell, sums up my 2009! i hope that everyone's year was just as blessed and eventful as ours was. have a safe and happy new year's eve- and best wishes to all of you in 2010!

kitchen confessions

i hate my kitchen. i know, hate is a strong word, but not strong enough to express how i feel about our kitchen. to make matters worse, i picked out everything for our kitchen LESS THAN A YEAR AGO. our house is barely a year old, and we have lived here for 10 months. over those ten months, i kept telling myself that i would "get used to" the horrible, horrible color mistakes that i made in the kitchen. buuuut, that didn't happen; i only grew to loathe the space more and more. the room was such a beast to paint that my poor husband laughs nervously everytime i talk about my desire to re-paint the kitchen. he thinks i'm kidding. i hate it so much that i'm not going to post pictures of it, but they are obviously spread throughout this blog for anyone who wants to look at them and feel thankful for their own kitchen.

that being said, there are structural and design parts of the kitchen that i DO like. i love the dark wood cabinets, i love the picture window with window seat, i love the big open wall, i love the stainless steel appliances and i'm okay with the tile and countertops. so basically, everything i hate about my kitchen lies completely in what i have done to it. i blew it. and, anyone who knows me will know that admitting defeat is not something that i do on a regular basis.

so i have begun scouring the internet and various design magazines in hopes of finding some inspiration for our 2010 kitchen makeover that my husband still may or may not be aware of. my question to you, my dear readers, is: what online sites do you use for home decor inspiration? it is a little overwhelming to begin this search because there are SO many options. to be honest, as far as our home goes, i normally just get an idea in my head and go with it and 90% of the time, we end up loving it. our current kitchen would be the other 10%.

please answer my cry for help!! what are some of your favorite sites for inspiration?

Our Home for the Holidays...

Welcome to our Christmas home tour! Whether you are a regular reader, or your visiting via The Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes, we're glad you stopped by! I will be short and sweet since these tour posts are all about the pictures! Hope you enjoy our home tour... have a very Merry Christmas!