{i'm famous!}

Okay, not quite. But gotta toot my own horn every now and then...

My advent calendar got a mention on the "who's who of scrapbooking" blog, scrapscene.com. Pretty cool! Plus a reader gave me this comment, "This has got to be cutest most clever Advent Calendar I have ever seen!! Thanks so much for sharing it with us! Hope you & your family have a wonderful Holiday season filled with love, peace, & laughter!" Aw, how sweet.

{santa and his friends}

Last night, we took a trip to the carnival of gaudy and overdone Christmas décor that is one of the houses on our street. I wish I could show you the entire display. Unfortunately, dark enough for the lights is too dark to photograph. But I was able to get a photo of Santa and a couple of his friends:

{advent}

One of my fondest Christmas memories is opening the tiny little doors of a paper advent calendar. Every year, my mom would buy my sister and I our own little calendars (her way of providing peace on earth—no fighting over who got to open the doors). I haven't had an advent calendar for years and I miss the tradition. So after seeing some really cute scrappy advent calendar ideas on the blogs I read at work, I just had to make one. I saw a wall-mounted, tree-shaped picture holder at Pier 1 a few weeks ago and snatched it up, just planning to hang it on the wall bare. But inspiration struck an advent calendar tree was born:

The backs of all the squares have activities for Paul and I to do each day (like drink hot chocolate and give each other foot massages). It makes us feel like kids again, finding ourselves racing to the tree and eagerly anticipating a new activity. And we like the idea of developing new Christmas traditions and incorporating old ones that we can enjoy now and share with our kids when the time comes.

What are your Christmas traditions—old or new? Wishing you a joy-filled advent season!

{random}

I was getting ready to send some random pictures to my mom and thought I'd just post them here:


The perfectly delicious pumpkin cake I made for Thanksgiving. I really worried about it since I don't bake and our oven is old, but it was scrumptious! I ate at least a 1/3 of the cake myself. And I now I don't want to see pumpkin cake again until next Thanksgiving.



Paul's old hand-me-down side table made a bit more stylish and modern. I took out the glass tabletop, wrapped some funky Amy Butler fabric around the glass, and put the glass back in the table. Voila! Easier than paint, cheaper than Pottery Barn.



Some fabric I bought during a trip a coworker and I took to a really cute little town an hour from Cincy. I'm thinking I will use it as boudoir pillows for the bed.



One of the three aforementioned pine trees Paul purchased for the backyard. It turns out they aren't pine trees they're some other kind of evergreen, but still. Paul planted two and kept one on the porch to use a Christmas decor. The little thing looks pretty cute! Like I said, pine trees are only pretty as Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ever since I can remember, I’ve looked forward to Thanksgiving for one reason: Nana’s (my grandma) stuffing. Sure, I fill my plate with tons of Thanksgiving treats, but the helping of stuffing far outweighs all the rest. Nana passed away several years ago, but my mom took over the stuffing-making duties (and my sister had the pleasure last year). I will be at my in-laws this year so, sadly, I won’t be able to partake of Nana’s yummy stuffing goodness. But dreaming about the herbs and spices Mom promised to make me for Christmas instead inspired this quick digital scrapbook layout I made for work.



What are your favorite Thanksgiving treats? From Paul and me--Happy Thanksgiving!

Pine Trees: An Informal Survey

Last week Paul was mentioning the types of tree he would like to plant in the backyard. First on the list: a pine tree. My reaction? Something along the lines of “What?! Pine trees are ugly. I don’t want to see a big ol’ pine tree first thing right outside my kitchen window.” (For the record, my sweet Paul has decided to plant the pines way down the hill in the forest of our backyard). This discussion has come up a few times since then. I recanted my statement at bit; it’s not that pine trees are ugly per se, they’re just not pretty. Why would anyone choose a pine tree over, say, a beautiful maple or a delicate Bradford pear? To me, pine trees are only appropriate in winter or in the mountains. Paul, and the guy who told him about the tree in the first place, disagreed. Then I was relating the tree story to my mom, who had much the same reaction to the pine as I did (and for the record, we both also hate palm trees and birds of paradise). Then I began wondering if it was California thing. I mean, in California the only time you see a pine is inside your house surrounded by presents.

So, I’m conducting an informal survey. Pine trees: Yay or Nay? Please leave a comment stating your opinion of pine trees and your state. Thank you for participating!

The Gift of Gifting

At small group last night we were given the task of being content with and not squandering the talents and skills God has given us. I’m terribly guilty of squandering my talents. I have a tendency to dismiss them as not good enough. I’m an artistic and creative person and I like writing and shopping, but I always tell myself those things don’t “count” as skills that can be used for the kingdom.

In the church lobby they put up one of those trees where you take an ornament and buy a gift for a kid. I happily picked out an ornament, one inviting me to buy an item of clothing for a teenage girl. And as I was walking away it hit me—here was my opportunity to use my shopping skills for good and not evil! Turns out, shopping does count for the kingdom. I mean, not everyone can do it well or even handle it. Paul, for example, would probably rather poke his eye out than go inside Forever 21. So from now on my talents, shopping at least, will go on the “things that count” list.

New Wedding Photos!

We finally got the disc of all our photo proofs. Yay! I had a freak out moment when I first looked at the photos. I snuck a peak at some of the bride shots while dinner was cooking. My reaction? That I looked like complete crap, totally unphotogenic and that my parents has wasted many, many dollars on horrible photography. I lamented the photos all through dinner. Paul suggested that perhaps the photos were fine and that I was just hungry. Whatever! was my reply. Like that would really affect my ability to look at pictures of myself. Turns out, Paul was right. I went back after dinner and looked at the same ten photos and they looked completely different! All the pictures turned out awesome, even in their "raw" form, and I'm really happy with them. Here are some of my favorites:

Happy Anniversary to Me

Today is my one-month wedding anniversary! It’s flown by. Paul and I love being married. It’s so much fun and really more enjoyable and less stressful than both of us expected. It has not been an adjustment at all; everyday we find new things we enjoy about living together and being married. I think it makes us wonder why we didn’t do it sooner! I’m definitely so grateful to God for bringing us together and provding a wonderful, loving, firm foundation for our lives together.

In honor of our mini-anniversary, here are five things I love about being married:

*Having something besides my alarm clock wake me up in the morning...and bring me a mug of deliciously dark coffee

*Getting to see my favorite person first thing when I wake up in the morning and last thing when I fall asleep at night

*Doing my own thing but knowing Paul is in the next room

*Not having to lug the entire contents of my apartment (laptop, cooler of food, magazine, book, DVDs, flip flops, etc.) to Paul's house

*Cable TV (just kidding! sort of…)

TV

You may know by now that Paul is fairly anti-TV. For him, TV is a mostly a waste of time. You may also know that I’m 110% pro-TV. It’s my passion. If I could allow myself watch TV all day long, I would. Imagine the sacrifice of living without cable last year. Um, yeah. So, the deal with the new hubby was that when we moved in together we would get cable (since I no longer had to pay for cable Internet at my apartment). Let me tell you, it’s been so nice to relax after work and catch some Project Runway reruns and feed my not-so-secret obsession with America’s Next Top Model.

As it turns out, I am not the only cable fan. That’s right: Paul likes cable TV! Not one but three CSPAN channels, plus the Military Channel and National Geographic! Wow!! One time, Paul was watching TV while I read a book. It was like bizarro Paul and Kristin. And imagine my surprise to find out that Paul has been viewing the tube before he goes to work each morning (the Cincinnati version of CSPAN, but still surprising). So of course I’m all excited that Paul shares in a bit of cable excitement and doesn’t resent the new expense. Now if only we could find a channel that we both like to watch… Having completely different TV interests is kind of a problem. It’s bad that I finally have cable and I find myself watching a DVD on my laptop in the bedroom…

His and Her Decor

One downside of getting married and living with a boy is that you really have to keep the girl décor to a minimum. Paul’s been pretty good about letting me put some floral fabric accents around the house. But he pretty much drew the line at hanging a collage print by this etsy artist I love who specializes in girl-themed art. But how cute is this print??













It’s called soul nesting. How perfect! Two newly marrieds...souls joining as one…nesting in a new house together… Plus, the bird in the top right matches a bird in some other fabric I'm putting in the living room. Paul hasn’t actually seen this particular print yet…maybe I can talk him into it. What do you think?


P.S. Yes, I'm in a posting mood...it'll save me the trouble of posting for the next month. (just kidding...sort of...)

Two "hot" topics: Coffee and global warming

I just got back from my weekly trip for a Starbucks treat. It's a bit ridiculous that a cup of coffee (fancy coffee spiced with pumpkin, but still) costs more than four dollars. It's even more ridiculous that I spent the more than four dollar to get one. We wonder why Starbucks costs so darn much. Guess what? We let them. I do, anyway. There are three Starbucks within a 1.5 mile radius of work. And I'm pretty sure a lot of other people let them too. Maybe I should boycott my weekly treats... (yeah, right).

On a separate note, I love to read the quotes on the side of the Starbucks cups. Today's was a rather witty comment regarding global warming:
"So-called global warming is a secret ploy by wacko tree-huggers to make America energy independent, clean our air and water, improve the fuel efficiency of our vehicles, kick-start 21st-century industries, and make our cities safer and more livable. Don't let them get away with it!"

He has a point. I don't know whether global warming exists or not. And, frankly, I don't really care. But certainly is can't hurt to use cleaning products without chemicals, to save money on the energy bill, and drive the car a little less. I'm fairly intrigued with the whole green movement...much of my ideas and information comes from the various home décor and lifestyle magazine I read (which, for the record, I either save or recycle). Perhaps my semi-liberal husband is rubbing off on me.... But, don't worry, I'm rubbing off on him too; he went shopping yesterday (by himself) to find me a houndstooth winter coat...

Wedding photos: Sneak peak!

My good friend Jen Disney took some super cool photos at the wedding and posted a few on her blog (thanks, Jen! You rock!!). Check them out here.

What City Do You Belong In?

I’m supposed to be working right now. But my boss and almost all my coworkers have left for the day, so you can imagine how motivating that is.

So, I’ve been a blog stalker this week. I love reading people’s blogs, getting their stories, finding out what other people’s lives are like (much more interesting than my own, and way more interesting to me than celebrity gossip.) Anyway, I’ve been a blog stalker this week on Tracy’s blog. I don’t know Tracey personally (but I do know her husband from EV Free) but I made my way to her blog from Jen Disney’s photo blog. On Tracey’s blog was a link to a quiz called What City Do You Belong In? I’m belong in Paris—how apropos. Not that I’ve traveled to that many non-US cities, and it’s actually a toss up as to which is my favorite, but I would go back to Paris (where I’ve been twice) in a heartbeat. I dream of Paris and it totally inspires me.
What City do you belong in?

You Belong in Paris

Stylish and expressive, you were meant for Paris. The art, the fashion, the wine! Whether you're enjoying the cafe life or a beautiful park... You'll love living in the most chic place on earth.

What City Do You Belong In?

PSA: Best Diet Dessert Ever!

I'm sitting here enjoying my new favorite discovery: Weight Watcher's SmartOnes Chocolate Cookie Dough Sundae. It doesn't seem that exciting from the picture on the box, but oh-my-goodness, it really is super delish. And only 170 calories and 3 grams of fat. I'm definitely not a diet girl and I eat my fair share of ice cream...but I can't go without something sweet while watching tv so this is a good way to cut back. Just had to share!

The New Black

I was walking around the mall today (as I do 3-4 times a week these days) admiring all the new fall fashions and quietly beckoning the cool air to come visit so that I can wear my new cashmere sweater (it was on major sale, I swear!). Most everything in the stores was varying shades of pine, teal and eggplant. And then it struck me—these hot new colors weren’t paired with chocolate brown. The multitudes of basics (pants, skirts, shoes) were all displayed in varying shades of black. Black?!?

Let me take a time out to explain a simple fact about the fashion, for those that need to be enlightened (as my sweet, yet clueless fiancé needed to be). When a color is said to be “the new black” it means it is the “it” color, the color that just has to be had for the season. It’s the color with which every other color goes, and every basic line of clothing will surely include that color. In recent years, brown has been the new black. Chocolate and espresso could be seen in every store and on every catalog page. Before that it was gray—everything from stone to charcoal invaded stylish American closets.

As a big fan of brown and one who owns quite a lot of it (my new sweater in fact—no wonder it was on sale) I’ve been a bit nervous about the time that brown would cease to be the new black and be replaced with something else. I’ll have to go naked from now on, I guess, because it’s official—black is the new black.

Working Hard...Or Hardly Working?

While I’ve decided to revive the blog, don’t expect any thoughtful prose or witty comments on life. Just anticipate some random updates and photos of my latest craft projects. In an efforts to post something—anything—about what’s going on, I’m mostly sticking to “just the facts.” I’m saving my witty prose for the blog posts for work (see blog here.)

Speaking of work…I love my job. Well, if I were going to choose between going to the mall and going to work, of course I would choose the mall, but if I have to spend 40 hours of week somewhere, at least I get to surround my self with really sweet and creative people and look at scrapbook pages all day. The new job is a vacation compared to my old one, especially considering that reading home decorating and craft magazines is considered professional development. Plus, I get free scrapbook supplies. In fact, yesterday we were cleaning out the collection of rubber stamps and each of us got to take a few home. I took five, which if purchased in the store would have been about $50. Plus I often get paper and stickers and copy ideas out of our books. I’ve learned that scrapbooking is an expensive hobby, but I can do all my shopping for free at work. Such a sweet deal!

Wedding Update

You’ve all received your wedding invitations by now (and if not, then I guess you’re not invited…sorry) so you can guess where I’m at about now. I’m so ready to be married! First of all, driving home from Paul’s every night (or vice versa) it rather tiresome. Plus, I’m tired of spending my free time working on wedding tasks or, if I’m relaxing, wondering what wedding tasks I should be working on.

On the upside, we recently got our engagement pictures from my wonderful photographer and friend Jennifer Disney (of Jennifer Disney Photography at www.jendisneyphoto.com). Here’s the link to our slideshow and a photo sneak peak. Jen is awesome!

http://www.jendisneyphoto.com/_clients/paul-kristin/

Playing House

Adding to busyness and stress of life, Paul and I are trying to get the house ready for me to move in. We’re pretty much sticking to the essentials at this point. But things like redoing the hard wood floors and painting are so much easier to do without furniture so we’re trying to complete them now. A while back Paul sanded and sealed the wood floors in the living and dining room; last week he did the two bedrooms. He did a fantastic job!! I’m so proud (and thankful I didn’t have to help) and the floors look awesome, like brand new. Here’s the living room:

We also finished painting the office bedroom a vibrant, organic green. My vision for the room is to make it the “garden room”; furniture and textiles will be mostly black and white with colored botanical prints. I want it to be my crafting sanctuary and a place for Paul to harvest all his plant seeds during the winter. Here’s a picture of the before and after:

Diary of a Lazy Blogger

I’ve been horribly neglecting my blog. I’ve actually had several things to write about lately, but no time to write them. So I’ve compiled some brief synopses of intended blog entries.

February 20: The cheesiest place on earth: What’s your guess? Vegas? Disneyland? The Midwest? Nope. It’s Pigeon Forge, TN (home to Dollywood if that explains anything). We went to Pigeon Forge because it is the base of the gorgeous Smoky Mountains, where we were going to go hiking. Pigeon Forge has all the cheesiness of Vegas without any of it’s sophistication—like Celine Dion, the Bellagio light show, or PF Clang’s. There were neon lights everywhere in Pigeon Forge begging us to visit dinner shows with names like Dixie Stampede and Black Bear Jamboree.

February 21: Speaking of hiking: It snowed in Tennessee so we didn’t end up going hiking. I felt horrible (because it was Paul’s anniversary present) but I was also secretly glad about it. We drove through the mountains and it was breathtaking. I love the mountains, but I am perfectly happy simply driving through them. I don’t need to work for the view. And that was when I realized it—I don’t hike hiking. I don’t mind it--spending time alone in nature with your loved one is nice--but I was fooling myself into thinking it was a favorite pastime.

February 25: We are family: What do you get when you put two parents and their daughter in one small apartment for five days? Yeah, exactly.

February 28: Something’s fishy: I was listening to the radio the other day—some Arby’s commercial highlighting its two new flavors of tartar sauce. And it dawned on me that I’d heard a whole lot of fish sandwich ads lately. Weird. What’s up with all the fish!? And then I realized it is Lent and Cincinnati is very Catholic, and then it all made sense. Are there fish ads in California too?

March 1: Shopping around: I keep complaining that I don’t have any friends to shop with. I kep meeting people, but no one likes shopping. But I don’t even like shopping with other people—I prefer the solitude. What I want is someone to talk about shopping with.

March 2: I love the Bureau of Motor Vehicles: No, not a typo. Okay, I don’t love it—like I love TV and shopping--but I went there yesterday to get new license plates and it was a remarkably pleasant experience. Hardly anyone in line, and the workers were so incredibly friendly and helpful. Welcome to the Midwest!