5 on a Friday–Christmas

{this was supposed to post yesterday. but as a new mom. with a sick kid and sick myself + working 40.00 hours per week with like 1.5 hour commutes this week, I forgot to hit post. sue me.}

Christmas is RIGHT around the corner and I am way behind on my Christmas shopping. I am actually at a total loss for about 80% of my family and friends so I think I will be dragging my feet and buying rushed gifts this year. Whoops. I can blame it on the infant, right?!

I feel like as you get older, the things you want for Christmas cannot be bought. But, as I do every year. it is time to list out my CCL (Coveting Christmas List) and I am going to rank them from 5 to 1 – 5 being the don’t get your hopes up, it ain’t happening sista … to 1 being this is a totally logical gift that could end up under your tree. With that said, let me begin.

{ FIVE }
New countertops, new sink, and new faucets. Granite to be specific. I am so tired of bleaching coffee stains & black marks from our trivets out of the out of date ‘80s white countertops we have.  I know that in the grand scheme of reality, Kyle wouldn’t let upgrade the kitchen anytime soon either due to the financial costs of having a baby.  But goodness – I would love for some new tan countertops.

{FOUR}
Tory Burch Everything. The York Handbag to be specific (In either the dark brown, light brown, or black), a new pair of Caroline flats (size 10 in any color but gray), and a new wrap bracelet in a fun color. I feel like I am due for a new handbag and I bought a pair of Caroline’s during Friends & Family and those are my new Revas and well, I love her wrap bracelets. And let’s be honest, I cannot even hide my adoration for all things Tory.

{THREE}
Decorative Wall Décor for our house.  We have put a pause on all things decorating and revamping of our house due to wanting to conserve money and not spend outside our means.  So adult like.  Which means – we aren’t finishing our house as much as we would like.  It happens. We have a baby.  but I would love the wooden sign off Etsy for over our bed or the 3 Ivory Tiles from Pottery Barn for over our guest bed.

{TWO}
Crate & Barrel White Canisters.  I had bought 1 a few years back for sugar and LOVED it.  it is sturdy and the clamp thing is high quality and I was in love and knew I wanted more but had no reason {at the time to buy more} and then they stopped making them which I realized when I went to register for more for our wedding. So, we registered for some from Bed, Bath, & Beyond and they ended up looking good & actually being crap {guess the $19.95 price tag should have been a warning}. In fact there is a small one that was never used that is just taking up pantry space that needs to make a trip to our local Goodwill.  Now, Crate & Barrel has the white canisters back and I want like 3 of them – 1 in each size.  Plus I love the little chalkboard piece so you can label the canister since currently I have to open each one to find the rice or the flour. And, I have an unhealthy obsession with all things Crate and Barrel because their stuff is high quality and good looking.  Oh the saga of being a home owner who wants a pretty organized pantry. =D

{ONE}
Gift cards. Gift Cards. And more gift cards. Since our allowances were cut significantly with the birth of our precious baby girl, my cash flow to do things like buy new clothes or go to spin class has been cut.  And with my desire to go to spin one day a week in the morning since Flywheel is so close to me I would love gift cards there.  Or to The Loft or to The Limited where I legit buy all my clothes for work.  I seriously do not know how people have more than 1 kid and still make ends meet & I can tell you we are NOT living outside of our means, just sticking to a very tight budget. So, gift cards are key to me being able to do fun things and buy pretty things. 

And, shameless plug: not sure you if people shop online, but if you do… you should do all your shopping through EBates. If you start your shopping trip there and then go to the store, you get cash back for each purchase.  to date, I have received like $200 back, it isn’t a lot, but it is nice to get a check from them 4 times per year.  Sign up HERE. Right now I have $8.00 pending and I just got a check like 2 weeks ago. 

Everyone have a fabulous holiday season – it will be a semi fun one for us since it  will be M’s first Christmas! But…. what is on your Holiday want list?!

List of Home Improvement Ideas

I want to start this blog post by saying that WE love our house.  We bought our house because we loved the neighborhood – it was big, looked like it would be full of families, was quiet and had good school systems.  When we started house hunting, we wanted a house that we could stay in and raise a family in.  Kyle was always jealous of me that I was raised in the same house and came home to the same place every holiday and summer of college and then after moving to Atlanta.  Kyle and I wanted the same thing for our family and future kids. 

Since my 30 before 30 list won’t really be all that accomplished since I turn 30 in like a month and some odd days {I can’t exactly go zip lining or horse back riding or to a brewery in my condition} I am moving onto our Home Improvements List.  This has no rock solid due date – just as we can afford it.   We had 1 savings account already established called “college education fund” and now that we have moved that to a 529 and the money is taken out of our account automatically – we renamed that account to “home improvement fund”.  {when did I become so old and mature?!}

Some of the things aren’t major upgrades and {thankfully} can be done on our own, but they bug me and need to be done.  I just need to spend a weekend at Home Depot or Bed Bath and Beyond or The Container Store and say I AM DOING THIS NOW!

With all that.  Here is our list.  And pictures with ideas {thanks pinterest}.

1. Kitchen Upgrade: Granite Counters
2. Kitchen Upgrade: New Cabinet doors {thankfully the cabinet boxes are solid and strong. We just need new doors that won’t have laminate that peels. G.Ross.}
3. Kitchen Upgrade: Backsplash

Obviously. I love the light color granite and the light color backsplash.  We do like the white cabinets that we already have and want to keep the white when we swap out the doors and we already upgraded everything to stainless. So the neutral granite + backsplash is the plan.  And… we think we could do the backsplash on our own. Can’t be too hard, right?!

4. Laundry Room Redo DONE
5. Hall bathroom upgrade: new sink fixtures + toilet paper holder/towel holder. DONE
6. New paint job of foyer/upstairs landing
7. New paint job of weird sitting room. NO LONGER WANT: WE DIG THE RED
8. Hardwoods in the foyer – take out the weird uneven marble tile area.
9. Remove the sliding doors – install French Doors DONE & AMAZING.
10. Replace all the ceiling fans upstairs – all 6 of them
11. Master bathroom upgrade: new floors
12. Master bathroom upgrade: new shower. bigger shower.
13. Replace all the door knobs upstairs.
14. Repaint the master bedroom.
15. Redecorate the master bedroom.

and when I say “redecorate” I really mean upgrade the artwork above our bed.  And then since the dogs are no longer crated. Figure out what to do with that big empty space. Plus, new bedding and curtains. To match the new paint job. I really like the 3 above ideas. the 3 wooden picture frames would house family photos though // and I love that Song of Solomon verse.

16. Repaint Kyle’s “man cave” / McKenna’s playroom / the family room.
17. Upgrade the TV in the downstairs room – move the downstairs TV into the “man cave” DONE (AND THE NEW TV IS NOW IN THE PLAYROOM)
18. New furniture for the downstairs family room. Move the current furniture to the “man cave” / random weird sitting room. DONE
19. Decorate the random weird sitting room. DONE
20 .Dining room furniture for the dining room
21. Decorate the large landing thing over our foyer under our big window.  {I want large oversized lanterns from Restoration Hardware or Pottery Barn}
22. Organize the hall closet upstairs.  DONE.
23. Organize the pantry.
24. Organize the laundry room.  DONE.
25. Organize our master closet.
26. Organize the hall closet down stairs.
27. Change all the sink fixtures in the bathrooms in the house.
28. Get a new front door + paint all the shutters to match.

….we have A LOT on the list to do and I am sure that it will only grow longer.  But luckily, a lot of this can be done on our own and all the organization projects {I blame on nesting} are quick weekend things.  But then we have some major projects to save our bonuses and money for!

House + Life Updates

WHAT A LONG WEEK! But... I survived. We survived. And it looks like the weekend will be just as long – between setting up our new house and picking up our current house since it looks like a bomb went off and we have our 6 month walk through this week. Beh. I am not amused.

.life.
Well. Most importantly. Alabama is officially back to back national champs. ROLL TIDE. And that made for the start of a great week. Monday was a long night, making Tuesday painful.  But it was 100% worth it to watch my boys raise the crystal again! Mulligan was obsessed with my shaker and wanted it, but he eventually gave up and sat his 90 pound body on my lap! ... now we have to wait till September for the fun to begin again!

I am super bummed that my #1 FlyWheel instructor got fired this week. something about “complaints from customers” – but hey hello – there are SO many other classes and teaches just take another person’s class. Duh. But –that gives me an excuse to try out the weeknight classes since I going from work is WAY closer than going from the new house.

I had an impromptu trip to Birmingham on Thursday for work and it was scheduled to be a 2 day trip, turned into a 1 day trip... making Thursday a long day. But it was good. A good productive day for the big project I am heading up. Now. Our client needs to pull the trigger so we can get rocking and rolling.

.the house.
last weekend was a mess. i will spare you the dirty details, but long story short we had appliances scheduled to be delivered and they were cancelled last minute. but. after i was a total bitchface to every best buy employee that crossed my path we had a new appointment. and then today... dun dun dun...

I love the upgrade. it was stressful and a pain, but it makes the kitchen look so much better. between the knobs i changed out a few weekends and the appliances our kitchen is a great spot. Now, I just need to get the counters upgraded to granite. And... that won’t happen for a few years. Sad. The only bad: our oven is sticking out about 2 inches because of how the gas pipe is. it doesn’t bug me – but it drives kyle crazy. he will have to deal!

I also spent HOURS putting contact paper in the drawers and cabinets and I am not done yet. And let me tell you. Contact paper is a freaking nightmare. No one warned me how pesky and uncooperative it is. And to think, that project continues next weekend or the weekend after that. Le sigh. if anyone has tips please, for the love, share.

I also decorated our guest bathroom/kyle’s bathroom and it looks great. and kyle actually does not mind the shower curtain. it is the little victories! {i promise, the walls aren’t yellow.}

And my most favorite.  My wrapping paper organization from the Container Store. It was expensive, but 100% worth it to get it all organized and in one place.

But, I am going to spend the rest of the weekend lounging, packing, and trying to clean up the mess that is our rental house. Anyone want to come help?!