Friday Favorites // Snow Day

I'm sure you're getting a little tired of seeing everyone's snow day photos, but you haven't seen mine. Prepare yourselves for some super baby cuteness. It was Blair's first snow and she hated it. We were outside for a total of 3 minutes and she spent 2 of them freaking out.

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You Are My Sunshine

Yesterday's post was a little word heavy, so I won't burden you with a ton of rambling today. Alyssa was home this past weekend and we had a nice snow day at home. Actually, a snow weekend at home. By Sunday we felt a little antsy, so I had Alyssa put on something bright so I could take some pictures of her. She's nine going on nineteen and hates being pulled away from whatever she's doing to have her picture taken. Oh well, at least it brightened my day.

My Boyfriend Built A Bed For Me

We moved into our house at the beginning of last December. First of all, moving three weeks before Christmas is a horrible idea. It was a necessity for us, but it will never happen again.  Since the move, we have been slowly remodeling and redecorating. I buy little things here and there to add to other rooms in the house, but our first project has been our bedroom.

The walls in our room were already a pretty nice shade of gray. Not exactly what I would have chosen myself, but definitely something we could stick with and not have to repaint our entire room. Andy and I both hate painting and we have to repaint almost every other room in the house. So to be able to keep most of the room gray was pretty good news.

When you walk into our room, there's a little corner that is the perfect size for my dresser. I took an old dresser that used to be Alyssa's and repainted it a nice mint green and then sanded the edges and corners to give it a little distressed look. Andy built a small shelf out of pallet wood for me and then added some cup hooks and voila, I've got myself a jewelry organizer. I found a simple navy blue rug on clearance at Wal-Mart for only $20 and so I snatched that up and put it in between the dresser and the door to the bedroom.

Then we have the rest of the room. The wall that our bed is on used to have a glass door that went into the playroom. This made absolutely no sense to us, as it was the best wall in the room to put the bed on. So Andy framed the door in and suggested we paint it a different color than the rest of the room. Can you guess what color I picked? That's right, navy blue. How did you know?

I'm a horrible blogger and don't really have any before pictures. The after photos are what matters anyway. While Andy is away at work doing manly work things, I spend a lot of time on Pinterest getting ideas for more projects for us to do at home. Wait, I mean I spend a lot of time doing the dishes and other such household chores. Ha.

You can find details about these printables here.

So I found this platform bed tutorial and this plank headboard tutorial and hauled Andy to Lowe's that night to purchase the supplies we needed to build them both. The tutorial is for a smaller bed than ours, so we had to make several adjustments and changes to make it work for us. For those who haven't caught on, when I say "we" I really just mean Andy. He's a genius with his hands and his man brain. He can build anything, which is really awesome for me.

The headboard was finally finished this weekend and I was so thrilled to have it in the bedroom. I am so obsessed with it and honestly, I don't want to leave my bed. There are a few more things to do before the room is finished. Andy is going to build some really simple nightstands so that we can stain them to match the headboard. I also have another dresser that I'm going to paint mint to match the other one. And yeah, that TV will eventually be a nice new flat screen, but that has to wait until next Christmas. Sorry, Andy.

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Friday Things // Emily's Week

This Week // Emily Learned:

+ How to say the letters in her name.

+ That she really likes strawberry pop-tarts.

+ The word "pizza".

+Letting mom take her picture can be fun.

This Week // Emily Felt:

+ Sick: She's had a cold for a while now and the cough is getting worse.

+ Entertained: Her cousins were out of school for two days and so they hung out with us.

+ Tired: Some days "we" don't get a nap in because "we" have too much playing to do.

This Week // Emily Ate:

+ Breakfast: Cereal, Pop-tarts, boiled eggs, omelettes and raspberry pancakes.

+ Lunch: Leftovers.

+ Dinner: Steak, mac & cheese, green beans, rice, pizza, chicken & biscuit casserole.

This Week // I  Also Wrote:

+ My Favorite Valentine (here)

+ Decrapifying // 40 Bags In 40 Days (here)

+ Pinterest Recipes That Don't Suck // Cookies (here)

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Pinterest Recipes That Don't Suck // Cookies

Andy has a sweet tooth. A really, really big sweet tooth and a really big appetite. He likes to pretend that he doesn't eat a lot of sweets, but I'm here to tell you differently. He will eat basically anything you put in front of him, which is really good for this Pinterest series.

In honor of Andy's sweet tooth and because last night I made the most amazing cookies ever, today's Pinterest Recipes That Don't Suck is all about cookies. Yummy, sweet, delicious cookies. Alright, maybe Andy isn't the only one with a sweet tooth around here. I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but give me anything with a little bit of cinnamon in it and I'm done for.

There's another upside to whipping up some warm, chewy cookies to satisfy your mans sweet tooth. You can recruit the kiddos to do all the pouring and mixing and BAM, you've tricked them into family time.

Photo Credit: Sally's Baking Addiction

Chewy Brown Sugar Cookies - These are the cookies in my pictures above and also the cookies I made last night. They were so easy and the best tasting cookies I've had in a LONG time. Possibly ever. They are my new favorite cookie, for sure.

Photo Credit: Spend With Pennies

Pecan Pie Cookies - These are perfect for the holidays. I made them back at Thanksgiving and they went over really well. Andy used to say he didn't like pecans but after he tried these he said "I guess I like pecans now!" These are easier to make than they appear when you read the recipe. They also aren't super sweet, which I kind of loved.

So I'm not a huge baker, but I'm working on it. It's one of the perks of being able to stay at home. Have I mentioned that I loved being able to stay home? What a blessing it is. You can find more cookie recipes and other sweet ideas on my "Treats" Pinterest board.

Decrapifying // 40 Bags In 40 Days

One year for Lent I gave up soda. The next year I gave up Facebook. I'm not even Catholic, so this year I had no plans to give up anything. Then I came across the Instagram account for the White House Black Shutters blog. Apparently, she has been spending the forty days of lent each year getting rid of one bag of crap in her house each day. Genius.

I've been on an organizing kick myself. Now that I'm home most of the time, it really drives me crazy to see things laying around without a proper place to go. Which is really hard to deal with when there is a super independent two year old running around who wants to touch and play with everything except her toys. I have noticed that I spend my day following her around, cleaning up little messes, making sure she doesn't touch the stove or take the pins out of my sewing box and put them into the seat of the chair.

In an effort to feed my new found need to be clean and organized, I decided to join in on these forty days of decrapifying my house. Forty bags of clutter in forty days and my first step is the ridiculous playroom that I've been ignoring since we moved into our house two months ago. I used the printable I found on the WHBS blog and started by filling in the first week with things to declutter.

With Emily's "help", I was able to take about an hour and a half out of my morning and sort through all of the toys in the playroom. We ended up with one box of stuff to give away, one bag of trash and broken toys and a whole lot of toys I knew I would be in trouble if I didn't keep. Since I don't want to get burnt out and spend my whole day organizing plus doing my daily chores, I've broken up the playroom into two days. Day one was for sorting the mess. Day two will be for cleaning and organizing. It already looks tons better and I'm relieved I finally made some progress with this room.

My Favorite Valentine

It's safe to say that this past weekend was the best Valentine's Day I have ever had. Andy and I had a lovely kid free getaway to Gatlinburg with another couple we are friends with. The traffic was kind of intense, but we got through it by making a pit stop at my favorite winery.

Once we got to our hotel, Andy set out my Valentine's gifts so that I could open them. There were four tiny jewelry boxes and each one contained something better than the last. They were all rose gold, which is my absolute favorite. The first three boxes were a matching necklace, bracelet and earrings with the infinity symbol. The last box was a beautiful and delicate ring that I am in love with. I put the ring on my right hand and then Andy said "You should put it on your other hand. It's a promise ring."

Now a promise ring between two people who already have a kid might seem a little weird to some. It's a complicated and long story that I won't be sharing today, if ever. But just know that us being "engaged to be engaged" is the right step for us and I couldn't be happier.

That night we got all dressed up and had an entertaining dinner at Dick's Last Resort. The service was hateful and the food was mediocre, but the drinks were big and that was all we needed.

On Sunday, we headed over to Ober Gatlinburg to spend the day snow skiing. None of us had ever been before and the laughs were non stop the entire day. I can't even count how many times I fell down, but by the soreness I'm feeling today I can assure you it was a lot. I cannot remember the last time I had that much fun and the best part is that I got to share the experience with the man I love. Once we had all worn ourselves out, we decided to call it a day and head home. We stopped on the way for dinner and to get a few souvenirs for the kids.

When I was younger I used to buy a shot glass any time I went out of town, but I haven't done it in years. I told this to Andy and he said we should start a new collection together. He picked out an adorable shot glass with hearts on it. He said it would be a good reminder of our Valentine's trip together. Swoon. Such a simple thing and yet it meant so much to me.

Best Valentine's Day ever.

Friday Things // Valentine's Day

Well, I guess I was overestimating my ability and availability when I thought I'd post more than once this week. I blame the holiday? Speaking of holiday... it's almost Valentine's Day. The best and worst holiday of them all.

Last year for Valentine's Day, Andy bought us both a new iPhone 5S with life proof cases. Not very romantic, but necessary at the time. The phones almost made it through the whole year... they both ended up with shattered screens about two weeks ago. The cases barely made it a few months. Life proof is a very loose term, if you'd like my opinion.

This year we're going with a little bit more romance. I planned a special surprise for Andy this year; a gift every day from February 1st until February 14th. Some were small and handmade: a naughty coupon book (bow chica bow wow), a mason jar full of candy. Some were fun: a ticket for two to a zip line course, a key chain flask with his initials and some airplane bottles of whiskey. Others were a little more practical: his favorite boxer briefs from American Eagle (with candy hearts on them, of course), a puffy vest from Gap for our Valentine's trip this weekend. The big gift is on Saturday and I will post more about that on Monday.

Cards: Here

Flask: Here

As for the Valentine's Day trip, we will be leaving Saturday morning for Gatlinburg, TN. We are going with another couple that we are friends with and I am so very excited for our romantic getaway, sans kids. We will spend Saturday shopping, eating, exploring and taste testing at all of the wineries and distilleries. And on Sunday, we will be spending the day skiing. Neither one of us has been skiing on snow before, so we can't wait. Doing things and going places together that neither one of us has done before is kind of our thing.

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Monday?

This weekend went quickly, but it also went by easily. Do you know what I mean? A lot of the time we spend our weekends running all over town, shopping, socializing... we're just usually gone all day Saturday and Sunday. We did make a trip to Lowe's and Wal-Mart on Saturday, but the rest of the time was actually spent at home.

Emily, Blair and I made a trip out to Michael's with my mom on Friday. I was in search of picture frames and knickknacks to go in our bedroom. There were quite a few things that will fit the room perfectly and I can't wait to get everything finished and put together. I did go ahead and hang my little gallery wall and it's definitely my new favorite part of the bedroom.

Feather Print (here) // Miracle Print (here) // Triangle Print (here)

Ampersand Print (here) // Stag Print (here) // Multicolor Print (here)

That night we all piled into our king size bed and snuggled up to watch the new Ninja Turtles movie. Emily fell asleep halfway through the movie, but it's safe to say Alyssa loved it. She quoted it the rest of the weekend.

Saturday morning we woke up to Blair and her massive blowout. There was poop all the way up to her shoulders. I don't know how she managed it, but we definitely had to make bath time a priority.

It was fairly sunny and warm, so after baths, coffee, breakfast and more coffee, I declared Saturday to be "Project Day." Andy is building a bed for us from a DIY I found on Pinterest. It's one of my Valentine's Day presents and I am so thrilled. I'm also painting an old dresser to go in our room. Let me just say, sanding furniture is for the birds. And about halfway through the sanding, Andy informs me that his dad has an electric sander I could have borrowed. Thanks for the timely information, babe.

We finished the weekend with dinner out on Sunday night at a hibachi restaurant with Andy's parents. Hibachi is one of my favorite dinners, and I have been snacking on my leftovers as I write this post.