Holiday Happiness!

So we are entering into the magical holiday season and of course my favorite part is the decorating. Over the next few weeks and months I'll be posting lots of holiday decorating ideas as well as gift ideas. I always find I enjoy the holidays more if I get my shopping done early so hopefully some of my gift ideas will work for your friends and family. Also keep an eye out for the Paper Possibilities holiday card line which will be posted very soon - not to mention our personalized stationary makes a great holiday gift!

Currently Fall is upon us and I love decorating for fall and prepping for the long winter ahead. Yesterday Andrew and I headed to Chicago Firewood and purchased some oak logs for our fireplace. They also sell birch logs, which although they are more expensive look so contemporary and modern. If I had my way I would stack them all the way up to the ceiling.

Photo courtesy of West Elm

I'm also looking forward to driving out to Chalet in Wilmette and purchasing some gourds and pumpkins. They have a great collection of the most unique gourds. I'm currently obsessed with white pumpkins - they are gorgeously neutral and urban! Create stark centerpieces, or you can even paint the pumpkins for a more traditional look. Or if you are the fabulous Eddie Ross - love him btw - you'll paint your regular old orange pumpkins with white paint (to get them Martha Stewart Perfect)! Once the house is all gussied up I'll be sure to post some pics!

For additional fall decorating ideas check out Better Homes and Gardens website where they feature 16 beautiful and easy ideas.

FOR SALE

So, when ordering my console table we ran into a bit of a snafu. The first table delivered was a bit damaged - the shelf was chipped. I didn't realize this until I fully unpacked the table. The company was great and shipped out a new table right away, however much to my surprise they allowed me to keep the damaged table - apparently it's too much of a hassle to ship it back to them. So I now have a damaged table that I'm looking to sell. The shelf is unusable due to where the chipping occurred, however the table looks great without the shelf. The only noticeable difference is there are small holes where the shelf would have been installed. We paid $350 for the table, so I figure $150 is a fair price for it being damaged. If anyone is interested let me know. It's a great table and it would look beautiful in someone's home!

You can see images of the non damaged console table here.

Hills fans?

Can't say that I was an avid watcher of MTV's "The Hills", or a huge fan of Lauren Conrad. Her original designer line went bust due to the busted economy, however this is good news for those of us that couldn't afford her designer digs in the first place as L.C. has created a fashion line for Kohl's. I really love all the pieces - they are simple and the fit appears to be flattering. The line will be available in stores in November, however I suggest purchasing your pieces online at Kohls.com. Here are a few of my favs.

Only $60 for this dress. Even though I just told Andrew I didn't need a new
dress for an upcoming wedding in October maybe I do after all!

Only $30 for this shirt - I would pair it with her super cute boyfriend jeans.

Antlers and Horns - gross? or awesome?

(photo Metropolitan Home)

(photo Country Living)

So lately I've been seeing antlers and horns everywhere! Sometimes I think it can be a little much - I definitely will not be putting a antler chandelier in my house anytime soon. But I've noticed that two antlers or two small horns placed on a side table or coffee table looks bohemian and eclectic. I'm not going to pay the $200 plus that some design stores charge, so I found a website that sells authentic buffalo horns and white tailed deer antlers - its called Hide and Fur.

By purchasing my antlers here it would only cost me about $12 - and they would be authentic! Do you think they will smell? That's a major concern for me...

What do you think? Is this totally gross? Or kinda chic?

2 posts in one day?

Despite having already posted today - I had to post this quote from one of my favorite writers and bloggers - Shauna Niequist, because she mentioned something that really resonated with me.

"David Gergen (Harvard professor, author, former presidential speechwriter, CNN political analyst, all around fascinating person, with, incidentally, fantastic social skills and name recall) said something like this: It’s easy to confuse motion with progress.

Ah. Confusing motion with progress. He was, of course, talking about a president. He wasn’t talking about a mom in Chicago who feels like she spent the last week driving in circles between Baby Gap, Trader Joe’s, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and Costco, over and over. One more gift, one more box of Cheddar Bunnies, one more try at the right outfit.

So maybe today, let’s stop the motion and think about what it would mean to make progress. What can go undone, what it would look like to rest a little, what expectations we’re putting on ourselves that, if we were to let them drop, might just set us free. Let’s learn new solutions to the same old problems."

I guess lately between grocery shopping, working, establishing my company, and all around taking care of life it feels like each day is filled with motion more than progress. When you work in a job that isn't exactly making the world a better place, how do you daily make an effort to grow, to do something kind? What does that look like in the day in day out mundane? The days are going too quickly for me it seems - summer is almost over, and I guess I feel that I haven't spent it as well as I should. As the count down to another pretty freezing Chicago winter begins, I'm thinking I need to have a fresh start.

As a kid, I loooooved the start of a new school year. My favorite part was shopping for school supplies. I would spend the few weeks before school started admiring all my supplies(they were so clean and fresh) and making promises about how this year I was going to get all A's, make new friends, and stay organized. Of course those promises weren't always kept (I stopped getting straight A's in the 3rd grade). But as an adult we miss out on the fresh start of a new school year. We don't get to start over every year. We don't go through the important process of making new goals, reorganizing our lives, and prioritizing our dreams for the upcoming year.

So, while I'm on vacation this next week- I plan on sitting down and working towards a fresh start, talking with my husband about our goals for the new year, and how we can progress and grow rather than just living through the motions of a busy, busy life.

Hurrah for a fully accessorized Console Table

I've finally finished accessorizing my Console table thanks to some very fun birthday gift certificates and cash - Thanks Jessy, Lorie, Grandmas and Grandpas.

Don't worry because the mirror height became quite the debacle in our house. My husband is 6' 5" and unfortunately this means that we have to hang all the mirrors in our house way higher than I would like. So even though the mirror is still a good 2 inches too high for the height of the table - I compromised (that's what marriage is all about, right? :) I guess it's important that Andrew can see the top of his hair in the mirror.

I also think the two little vases are a bit small for the table. I'm now on the lookout for something better, however I already had these two pieces, so... I also love the painting featured on the table. I purchased this piece over the summer at the Old Town Art Fair. The fair featured some incredible artists, and I was overall really impressed with the quality of work available - not your typically cheesy arts and crafts fair.


I am however OBSESSED with my coral lamp. It's so kitschy and different. Perhaps the coral trend will be over in a year, but I think I will love my lamp forever!

I'll also be posting mine and Andrew's most recent home improvement project this week so keep a look out! I recently added a subscribe tool to my blog - I would suggest adding it to your Firebox Live Bookmarks. You can select the Atom option from the "Subscribe To" tool. It will take you to a new page which will give you the option "Subscribe to this feed using". Select Live Bookmarks and then select your Bookmarks Toolbar. A link to the blog will appear in the toolbar just underneath your search box. You can simply roll your mouse over the button to see if there is a new post. How easy! Please note, you can only use this tool if you use Mozilla Firefox as your web browser.

Messy Condo

So lately I've been feeling pretty frustrated with my messy house. It seems that each week the mess just builds up until I can't stand it anymore and I do a full clean which usually takes me a few hours. I'm realizing that in order to keep our condo cozy and comfortable and to bring my stress level and guilt down to a normal level, I need to do a minor clean each night. So here are my most troublesome areas and my new goals for conquering them. I'm hopeful that if I put this out into blogworld I will feel more motivated to actually achieve my goals.

Living Room Clutter - I always joke with Andrew that he leaves his "papers" all over the place. He tends to open mail and leave it in different spots all over the living room. While this might be my pet peeve about my husband, I'm also guilty of cluttering up our living room. I have a habit of ripping out the pages of magazines that feature an outfit I want, or inspiration for my stationary and wedding designs, etc. These pages tend to land on our sofa or coffee table instead of my file folders that are supposed to organize them, so I'm also to blame for the "papers" laying around everywhere. I also have the terrible habit of eating my dinner in front of the TV and then leaving my dirty plate to sit there overnight because I'm too lazy to get up and put it in the sink. I know you are probably appalled to discover my vices.

GOAL: My goal is to clean up the living room each night before bed. This means putting any miscellaneous papers in the proper spot and removing any dishes and other clutter. I also promise to clean my coffee table if I ate dinner on it...there's nothing worse than crumbs and rings on glass.

My Bedroom: Because our condo is vintage - we have very small closets. So I have my own closet within my studio (formerly our guest bedroom) and Andrew uses the closet in the Master Bedroom. I have a small daybed in the studio and my clothes tend to pile up on the daybed instead of going in the closet where they belong. This drives my husband crazy, and understandably so because he keeps his closet and our bedroom very neat.

GOAL: Put away clothes after wearing them. Dirty clothes go in the laundry closet and clean clothes get put away. Sounds so easy right?

Kitchen: I really LOOOOVE to cook, however I'm a notoriously messy cook. Somehow flour and olive oil and crumbs make their way into every crevice in my kitchen. I also find that after happily working to cook a wonderful dinner, I fall into a coma and suddenly lose all motivation to clean my kitchen and wash the dishes. I really don't have it so bad as my husband and I have pretty equally divided the chores (he does everything I hate doing aka laundry, emptying the garbage, swiffering, and emptying the dishwasher...I cook, do deep cleaning aka scrubbing bathtubs and toilets, and wash the dishes) So I really don't have much of an excuse.

GOAL: Leave my kitchen clean with the sink sparkling each night - this includes the nasty task of emptying the drain of all its gunk (I especially hate this task and cannot wait until I have a disposal). I think I will be a happier person if I come home from work to a clean kitchen.

I think these are reasonable goals and I'm looking forward to establishing a routine. If I can stick to it, I'll hopefully replace my bad habits with good ones!