Many Good Things

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!! Ours was quiet but a good time :) On christmas eve, we had dinner at my moms with my little brother Tanner, and my mom's boyfriend, and his mom. We played some games, ate LOTS of pie, and watched a good handful of Chrismas movies. It was almost one by the time Steven and I got home and since it was technically Christmas, we decided to open up most of our presents then. it's not like we're little kids or anything ;) we saved some presents to open with our family when Josh is home and the big celebration begins but one of the gifts Steven opened was a game I had given him. We then proceeded to play canasta in bed until about 5 in the morning when I decided I had lost enough for the night and was ready to crash haha. good times. One of my favorite parts of Christmas this year though was getting Steven's big gift- a new guitar <3 I hadn't gotten a new guitar since my beginner one. Although I had an upgrade when I got to take over Josh's while he was on his misison. Since he'll be home soon though, I thought it may be a good time to get myself a big girl guitar. I haven't played very much since I got married because between the job I got then and adjusting to married life, I have had NO time. With school winding down though and with a better schedule this coming semester, I'm really looking forward to getting back into my music and writing.

                                          Isn't she beautiful???? gahh. LOVE it. and HIM :)

Because we both splurged a little on eachother for christmas this year , I decided to wait on all the apartment updates I was going to shoot for over the break. So no pictures yet there. But we'll see. hopefully soon!

With my more manageable schedule I will have this next semester, I'm planning on getting back into the workout routine I worked so hard to get into over the summer. While I did not work out consistently during Fall, I went to the gym occasionally when I did have the time to do so. Since then, Steven and I have invested in a bike machine to keep at home to help fill in days when going to the gym just won't work out. Between that and having free mornings 3X a week, I'll make it happen!! We are going to Hawaii for a friend's wedding this summer and you bet I'm gonna be beach ready ;) After seeing what I could do last summer, I know I can drop the remaining weight I have to go to reach my goal and I'm super excited about it. I feel SO much better and energized when I exercise regularly and it just keeps me in a good mood which will help me stay sane when school gets crazy as it always manages to do.

Recovering

We survived finals!!!! barely, just in time, miraculously BUT we finished the semester on a pretty good note and are so happy to have made it to Christmas break :) Plans for the break include drinking lots of hot chocolate while it snows outside, watching lots of great movies, playing with friends/family and welcoming Josh home from his two year mission in OHIO!! SOOOO excited to have him back soon :)

I also have some fairly big plans for decorating and am super excited to post before, after, and in between photos when I get the ball rolling there. Steven prefers earth tones but I love me some color. To compromise, I'll be rearranging some things and adding on to what we have so our living room/dining area will consist of beiges, grays, creams, and a little bit of black for some contrast. kitchen area is still completely up in the air haha (suggestions are welcome!). our bathroom has been slowly coming together with navy, tan, and lime green and I'm loving it so far but I need to do something with the walls. I promised handmade stone sconces a while back and while i still love the idea... i have not started on that! maybe another project for the break? :) The bedroom will also have a lot of the earth tones but will have more colors thrown in with it and will be less matchy matchy, for lack of a better way to describe what I'm envisioning. Here are pics that capture what I'm going for though I think.

These are similar to the look I'm going for with the living room area. cool neutrals with some plants and crisp white/cream to pop against the darker solids. It should be good.

This picture fits well with the style I'm going for in the bedroom but these colors are not what will be in there.

The colors will be close to what we had in our bedroom before with some beige and cream of course but with pops of plum, dusty rose, dark brown and then some even smaller pops of random colors that will come in with the more mismatched stuff. This is kind of a new look for me because I have such a hard time putting things together for rooms that aren't part of a collection or set that's already been matched for me (unless the pieces I find are super matchy). Designers do this seemingly effortlessly though, and I'd like to get better at it so we'll see how this experiment goes :) pictures to come!

I porbably won't be on again for the next few days as I will be busy busy so MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

<3 K