Face-Lift for the Buffet

I absolutely cannot believe that this year is almost over.

Unlike most years, I am relieved. I won't quote what a friend said about how bad this year has been (ask me privately & I'll tell you)- it was hilarious, by the way- but, I will say that this has been the worst year of my life. Even so, it was still overflowing with blessings. God is still God. We made it through. We're just hoping that coming out of this worst year, 2012 will be our best!

So, on to the fun stuff :) ...

I am so excited about this simple little transformation that I was able to squeeze in during our Christmas break. I got a Hobby Lobby gift card for Christmas (one of the best gifts EVER!), so it didn't take long for me to use it. I still have a balance left on it too, so we'll have to hit it again soon! I had picked these glass knobs out once before on a trip there, but they weren't on sale & I hadn't decided yet if I was even going to use them or not. The day after Christmas, I got brave & quickly decided to go ahead with it. Also, it didn't hurt that all of their knobs, drawer pulls, handles, etc. were on sale for half off. Yay!

Since I "inherited" this beautiful buffet from my grandmother's house about a month ago, I knew I had wanted to fix the one handle that was missing. The holders were there, but no handle. I removed the two handles from the only two drawers on the buffet, and used one of them in place of the missing handle. Easy! Then, I just screwed in the new glassy knobs with a screwdriver

(so simple), and it was done!

Some before & after pics...

BEFORE

The beautiful, antique-y glass knobs...

AFTER

I just love it! The darkened glass & the brass on the knobs go so well with the original handles. I wanted something that wouldn't stand out so much, and these are just perfect!

Thank you, once again, Hobby Lobby for making this girl happy!

Happy 2012!!

Deco Mesh Love

I LOVE deco mesh!!! This stuff is so incredibly easy to work with, and it goes such a long way! Not to mention, it is bea-u-tiful!
I bought just two rolls of the stuff from Wal-Mart earlier in November, and it has made so many bows
(which were SO much easier to make than I ever thought),
with a little left for other things too.

I have decorated our front porch handrails for a few years now with greenery & lights, but the deco mesh has added such a pretty pop of color this year. I took these with my new camera & love how they turned out! Not as well as they would have with hubby's camera, mind you, but it gets the job done for me! My new camera has definitely surpassed the skills of my previous one, and I could tell that from the first picture I took with it!

Here's our Disney tree that's in our master bedroom. I'm so glad we now have a tree in a front window this year!

I even had a little left over, so I used some on the little trees. You definitely don't have to have a degree in design to use this stuff.
It adds so much, just by whirling it around.

I love the bows added to our light fixtures too!

Not even the mailbox was spared in the deco mesh madness...

And here's our beautiful, all-natural wreath that my Zach
picked out.

I'll include a pic from a previous post too. This shows one of the two bows I used on my mirrors in our dining area this year. They both came from arrangements of my Dad's. I just added a few sprigs of glittery picks from the Dollar Tree on each one,
and they were done.



I will definitely be looking around for more of this awesome stuff to use throughout the year. I'm thinking like colors for all of the holidays. Only kidding- I know Zach would just love that! :)

New Traditions

I talked to a friend recently who lost her father about a year before I lost mine. She wrote me a sweet note the other day, letting me know that she was thinking about me this Christmas. I have had so many other sweet messages & comments lately, and I want each & every one of you to know how much those mean to me. My friend told me that it's good to have new traditions, especially after a life-changing event happens. Since we knew this Christmas would be so different without Dad, we knew from the start that we wanted to do something different.
And so, we did. It was wonderful.

We had Christmas Eve dinner at our house this year. I felt like it was all part of me growing up, I guess. Like I was taking over the reigns in a way. We had always had Christmas Eve dinner at Mamaw Ruth's.

We had breakfast on Christmas Eve morning with our other set of grandparents, Mom's parents, then went to Mom's afterwards to exchange gifts. I got a few pics of both places.

This one shows my brother & the great company that he was during that morning. :)

Mamaw Helen & Pop opening presents...

Their cat...

FAT cat, that is...

Mom opening her ring that Zach & I got her.

Mom's tree...

And Jonathan sleeping again at Mom's, with Reese's in hand...

Zach playing his game. He loves those puzzles!

Mamaw Ruth at our house Christmas Eve night...

Zach took a really good pic of us & our little family in front of our tree on Christmas night, and I hope to post that soon!

We also got to see many of our friends over the Christmas weekend. We had dinner on Thursday night with our sweet friends Nathan & Katie. Nathan was one of Zach's groomsmen. We also got to see another of his groomsmen, Brett, and his fiance one night. Then, I got to see my friend Jen & her husband at church on Sunday morning. We always enjoy Christmas break when so many of our friends come home!

Here's to even more new traditions throughout this next year!

Images of Christmas- 2011

I'll be honest- I had already typed up a little "vent" post about this being my first Christmas without Dad, but I'm not posting it. Instead, I am posting about the positives of this Christmas. I initially had the draft all typed out, then I went back and deleted it all, replacing it with the post that you see now. It felt good to just type it out & re-read it to myself. I won't post it here for all to see. It made me feel better to do so, and that's what matters.
So, here goes...my "Happy Blue Christmas" post. :)

The truth- I was anxious about this Christmas. Normally, I am excitedly counting down the days, just waiting for it to get here. This year, I thought I would rather just sleep through it all. I thought, "Wouldn't that be great if it were possible?" Yet, everything was still going on around me in their normal ways.
At the beginning, I wanted to scream as loud as I could that everything's not normal anymore.

Yet, it was still a blessed Christmas. I knew it was going to be. I wrapped countless presents one night last week, and realized just how blessed we are. The base of our tree was completely covered (pics of that to follow). Not only that, but we brought home even more gifts for ourselves. Christmas didn't quite feel complete, and I don't know that it will ever feel complete again.
But, it was a good one. I can happily say that now. :)

The message of Christmas is still there. I witnessed it first-hand two Sunday nights ago in our children's choirs' drama. I witnessed it first-hand last Sunday night at our choir concert. Music always gets to me- much more than words ever could.

Christmas is still my most favorite time of the year,
and I think it always will be.

Here are some images of our Christmas this year. Some are courtesy of the new camera my sweetie got for me. Others were taken & edited with Instagram. Enjoy!...

What Christmas is all about...

My pretty Daisy girl, enjoying her Christmas break...

Cosmo...

And Cosmo, sound asleep...

My two handsome guys...

 My present to myself :) ...

My favorite gift, from my sweetie...

Our tree...

Gifts...

My Christmas table...

Christmas night...

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

"The Rose Suchak Ladder"

I hope you got the post title! If not, it's from The Santa Clause, one of our favorite Christmas movies.

This idea is from a site that I don't frequent, but found a link for it on another site that I do...here's the link, if you're interested. Her version of a ladder is bigger than what I have,
but I love mine just the same!

This little ladder was used at Mom & Dad's house for years & years & years. I remember it leaning against the Christmas tree
every year.

Not too long ago, I was helping Mom clean out stuff in a closet, and found the ladder. She hadn't used it in a few years, because her main living room is now burgundy. The red clashed terribly. So, I took it home with me. :)

All I did for its first year in my house was tape (some of )
our Christmas cards to it, and that's it!

 

I love finding creative new ideas for displaying our cards! Last year, I had attached them to our laundry room door in a Christmas tree shape, but my sweet Papaw primed & painted that door for us recently, so taping anything to it is a big fat NO.

I love that I can re-use this little piece of my childhood. Things like this mean so much more than using any sparkling,
brand new item from the store.

Things are going well- we're both just incredibly busy. I am trying my best not to get down about the season. Our pastor preached a sermon a couple of weeks ago about slowing down & not getting stressed out during the holidays. Not just that for us this year, but lately, feeling sad about this Christmas has been all too easy. We're making it though.

One big thing that I was a little anxious about was our choir Christmas concert that was last night. It was absolutely beautiful! I told Zach that day is probably my most favorite one of the year. I love getting to sing all day, and having our choir luncheon at The Summit every year. It's just so much fun all wrapped up
in one day.

The music was almost all traditional, which I love! I was in our echo choir, and we sang one song from the balcony. Beautiful! We had a great crowd, as we always do, and a lot of my family attended. There was still a big gaping hole though.

And there always will be.