Let me just preface this with: I may or may not have gone completely off the deep end.

I have been going back and forth with what to do for Christmas decorations in my house for this first year.  With the wedding and everything else going on, I don’t have a ton of time.  In addition to that, most of my decorations were purchased 3 years ago (I’ve been wanting to buy a house for a long time now) and I don’t particularly love most of them anymore.  I haven’t wanted to just put out decorations that I don’t even like because it won’t be enjoyable to me.

I pulled out everything I have tonight and while a majority of it will be heading back down to the basement, I did pull a few things that I like in addition to some vintage items I picked up last weekend from the thrift store.

So here comes the crazy….

Antlers aren’t just for hanging necklaces…

Ummmm yeah – that’s my Christmas “tree”.  I still had a pile of antlers that at the moment I have no plans for.  Problem solved – I think I’m in love now.  I’m still deciding if I will add anything else to it but at this point I don’t think I will.

Unconventional Christmas trees.  Yes, please.

What is the best unconventional tree you’ve seen?

Hi!  Today I have a yummy Buckeyes recipe for you.  I got the original recipe from Smitten Kitchen (she makes all the best food!), but I did make a few changes to it.  I made these last week for my sister’s wedding, and I didn’t even get to have one because they were gone by the time I got to the dessert bar.  But that’s okay because I secretly kept 2 dozen at home for my own dining pleasure:)

Ingredients:

Cream cheese – 2 oz

Peanut butter – 1 1/2 Cups

Powdered sugar – 3 Cups

Unsalted butter – 10 Tablespoons (melted)

Ritz cracker crumbs – 1/2 Cup

Graham cracker crumbs – 1/2 Cup

Vanilla extract – 1/2 teaspoon

Chocolate Almond bark – 16 oz

Start by beating the cream cheese and peanut butter together (normally I would have used my Kitchenaid stand mixer for this, but Tristan was using it for Thanksgiving bread making – yum!).

Add the Ritz cracker crumbs and graham cracker crumbs and stir.  *Note:  The original recipe only calls for graham cracker crumbs, but I had a feeling I would love the saltiness that the Ritz brings to these, and I DO!

Stir in the powdered sugar gradually and then add the melted butter and vanilla.  Stir till combined.

The filling might be a little bit sticky at this point, so I usually stick the mixture in the freezer for about 10 minutes to make it easier to form (also a good time to start the clean-up process).  Once the filling is firm, form it into small balls and put them on wax paper.

Melt the Almond Bark in the microwave at 30 second intervals until completely melted.  Then wait for 2-3 minutes before dipping.  You can use a fork, or wooden skewer to dip the balls in the chocolate, but I usually find that my fingers work best:)

Dip the bottoms and sides of the balls in the chocolate, and leave an opening or “eye” at the top.  Place the balls on the wax paper, and put in the fridge to set.  *Note:  the original recipe calls for dark chocolate, but every time I have used real chocolate, it doesn’t set up as nice as the Almond Bark.  It’s totally up to you though – whatever you like best!

I think that these are best eaten straight out of the fridge – cold, a little crunchy, and the filling melts in your mouth.  Seriously good!

P.S. – this is a great recipe for kids to help with – Gemma did a great job!

Do you want the good news or the bad news first?  Bad?  Okay so the good news is……

I kid, I kid.  Bad news is that we won’t be posting any photos from our sister’s wedding for a few days.  We know, you all have murderous thoughts toward us right now – but sadly, I hardly took any photos this weekend because Stephanie and I were both too busy getting photos taken of us to do much ourselves.  We want to wait until the professional photos come in so we can show you some truly amazing ones – because, let’s be honest, the wedding was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  Seriously fantastic…so much fun and the most beautiful wedding I’ve ever been to.

I’ll give you one teaser – and if you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you’ve probably already seen it so it won’t be that exciting to you.  Admit it though, you’re a cheap date – anything thrills you. {only joking, I love you!}

{Bridesmaid dresses}

Time spent with family was like a little mini vacation and we are so sad to see everyone go home.  We were able to spend Thanksgiving as well as the rest of the weekend with our friends, family and also our now-brother-in-law’s family who are also AMAZING.  We are trying very hard {but probably not succeeding} to convince them to move here from Florida.  We’ll let you know how that goes…

And now for the good news.  You finally get to see some of my house!

I have been so horrible with posting any photos of my house besides very small bits and pieces like my kitchen nook or the chimney.  You’ve also of course seen my closet because it is my pride and joy but because I haven’t felt like anything is “finished”, I haven’t wanted to post any photos.  Today, however, you get to see a bigger section…almost an entire room.  I say almost because I didn’t really take any wide angle shots of the whole thing and I think I missed a wall completely, but there’s not really anything on it so don’t be too disappointed.

My bedroom has been the last place in the house to get anything hung on the walls.  I’ve put more of my focus on the main rooms (even though those are not “finished” either).  With company coming into town and family that hadn’t seen my house yet, I made my room a priority and finally hung some art.  And I. Love. It.

This is “in progress” because I am planning to paint the walls and strip the dark stain off of the floors soon as well as other things, but it makes it so much  more enjoyable to be in my room now that I have some of my favorite pieces hung.  So without further ado, here is my bedroom:

I apologize that the bed is barely made – and to be quite honest, this is my least favorite photo because my coat rack that usually holds all 50 million of my scarves in the corner is missing due to being used for the wedding, which leaves a huge bare spot.  The purpose of this photo is just to show you where everything is in relation to my bed.  Please don’t judge me from this photo alone.  Thanks, I knew you’d understand.

This is my favorite part of the room by far – the view from my bed.  Closet on the right, bathroom on the left.

Don’t hate on the antlers, they make me oh-so-happy.

Like I’ve said before – I prefer to think of it as more of a collection as opposed to an obsession.

*sigh* I love this wall.

So there you go.  Now when you think of me, you will be able to picture where I am.  In a totally non-weird way…

Happy Thanksgiving!  We are hanging out with our family today (35 of us!) and also officially kicking off the wedding weekend:)  We will be taking a break from blogging until Monday, and then we will be back with tons of wedding photos -hooray!

P.S.  We are seriously thankful for YOU.  No joke:)

Today is like Friday because I have the next two days off from work.  Our sister’s wedding is on Saturday, so I took Friday off as well – which is fantastic.  Since it feels like Friday, the ‘cozies’ {co-workers} and I went to lunch to a place none of us had ever been before but had seen many times.

Place is AWESOME.  Such a chill atmosphere and incredible architecture {they even have a tin room with photos of ghosts – or so we were told}.  There is an opera house upstairs where they have bands play on a regular basis.

Food was delicious {albeit slightly on the expensive side}.  Don’t judge me for getting grilled cheese…thing had balsamic vinegar on it – definitely not a kid sandwich and it was the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had.

If you’re ever in the Longmont area, definitely hit up The Dickens Tavern.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Ready to start buying gifts?  We have some cute new items in our vintage shop – take a look…we think you will like them:)

As Stephanie May and I have mentioned, our sister is getting married this week – yay!

We have family coming into town starting tomorrow and things are well on their way to being the most beautiful wedding ever.

Here are some pretty posters I would like to own (hint hint)..I guess I’m liking simple black and white lately?

{All images from Therese Sennerholt}

Our sister is getting married on Saturday (!!), so it’s been a really busy week, and I’ve done lots of running around for the wedding.  I feel like I have been at the thrift store 417 times in the past month….which is pretty much the best month ever.

Tristan and I went on a date to find him a new outfit for my sister’s wedding (he looks SO cute!).  I found this amazing vintage bag, and it will be posted soon soon in our shop.

Vintage neck tie shopping (LOVE the stripes).

I painted some furniture and made a mess on my skin.

Men’s shirt shopping.

I took the girls to their friend Auburn’s birthday party last weekend and they got the most adorable flowers painted on their faces by Auburn’s Aunt Kati.  So talented – love these!

Wedding meeting.  We are having so much fun decorating (yes, we have already started!), and I am getting more excited by the hour:)

I have needed lots of coffee and tea this week.  I hardly ever get a venti, but it just seemed right.

Vintage bow ties.  Which shall it be?

A much needed haircut and some fun with hot rollers (they make me a little sleepy).

There is still much to do over the next 5 days, but I. can’t. wait.  Yippee!!!

Things have been a little ‘off’ lately.  Our sister is getting married(!) next week and life is busy.  It’s a good busy though.

Remember a few months ago when I was spending time re-evaluating my life and the things I am involved in?  Yeah…that’s still happening.  After that post, I realized that a huge part of what I was re-evaluating had to do with my freelance design work and whether that was something I really wanted to pursue on top of my day job and other avenues of work.

At this point in my life, it’s really not.  Don’t get me wrong, I love design work…it’s a great creative outlet for me and I am still doing it on a regular basis.  I don’t want to fully stop – but I do need a break.  I’m just not sure if it’s something I want to do to make a living from, and honestly – if I’m not making money from it, I don’t have the time.  As horrible as that sounds, my time is just too valuable to always be doing design work at the cost of other important things in my life..lately I am realizing I can’t keep up with that while still pouring as much as I want to into other things.

Anna Dorfman of Door Sixteen is pretty great.  I definitely have home envy and want my house to look like hers.  A couple of week ago she wrote a post entitled “Lessons learned.” where she shared about freelance design work and why she is taking a much needed break from it.  As I was reading her post, all of my concerns and questions and doubts finally made sense.  She put into words what I have been feeling and I think you just need to read her post to understand what I mean.

{photo from Door Sixteen}

So for now, I am saying no to freelance work.  I’m sure different projects will creep in here and there like they have been the past few months (I mean…you can’t say ‘no’ when your sister asks you to design her wedding invitations, right?!) but for the most part, I have to decline extra work in my life to focus on the things that are truly important to me.

I bought a house this year and I want to spend time decorating it and making it feel more like home and also be able to just be when I’m there and not constantly working.

I got a dog…and since she is a German Shepherd, she needs brushed constantly and I want time to take her for walks everyday.

One of my favorite things to do right now is work with students on music.  Really just working on music in general…I want to push myself.

I get to work with my sister, Stephanie, on our vintage Etsy shop and when I get too caught up in freelance work, there are just not enough hours in the day.

Thankfully, I live really close to my family who are all married and have children.  They are what is important to me and the people I want to spend the most time with.

If you are in a similar spot with balancing time, let me just say – it is most definitely okay to say no.

It doesn’t hurt for people to still ask (because I know you will…you know who you are:) and I may just make an exception)…but don’t be offended if I say, “No, please.”

A few weeks ago, Stormie Dae shared a recipe for powdered laundry soap, and she said that I would share a liquid version with you….so I guess I had no choice in the matter;)  Here it is:

I used:

1/2 C Borax

1/2 C Super washing soda

Zote soap

water

You’ll need 1/6 of a bar of Zote….I kind of just guessed on the amount.  Oh, and I LOVE the smell of bar soap.  Yum!

Grate the soap till it looks like coconut.  *Tristan had the most brilliant idea of using our food processor to grate the soap.  It only took 1 minute.  He’s a genius.

Put the soap in a pot with 6 cups of water and heat and stir until the soap is melted.

Add the Borax and Super washing soda and stir until dissolved.  Remove from heat.

Pour the soap mixture into a big plastic container and immediately add 208 oz of hot water (or 26 cups) and stir.  The mixture in the bucket will be very watery.  It will form into a watery gel substance overnight.

Here is what it looks like after about 18 hours.  It became very gelatinous, and was very fun to mix up (with my hands of course).   Use 1/2 cup in each load of laundry.

I first saw this recipe on 17 kids and counting (don’t act like you’ve never watched it!), then my sister-in-law said that she was going to make some, and I saw dozens of recipes on Pinterest, so I finally gave in and tried it. I really can’t believe how easy it was!  It only took 20 minutes, and I have TONS of the ingredients left over for the next few batches.  And the best part is, the cost breakdown is only $0.01 per load!  Yup.  One little penny.  I love a good DIY:)

Inquiring minds want to know:  Are you a liquid-user or a powder-user?