Merry Christmas

I really need to try and update my blog more often! Merry Christmas everyone! I hope this finds you all doing well and enjoying the festive spirits that the holidays bring!

Things have been busy with us! We started looking at homes in the area a couple months ago, but last week found a great home in foreclosure that was listed at an amazing price! We were really excited! It definitely needed love, but nothing that a little elbow grease and some DIY couldn't cure! We submitted our first offer on Friday night after seeing the inside of the house for the first time. However, come Sunday night we were told we were in a bidding war and needed to submit our final and best offer by Tuesday afternoon.

The house I fell in love with and now must let go. Boooo....

Needless-to-say we didn't get the house. It was between our offer and one other one, and we received the phone call tonight that the other offer was accepted. I was pretty bummed, as was Ian, but I think the difference for me was that I already felt like it was our home and  was decorating and accessorizing in my head day after day. Something felt different about this house and I really thought our offer was a strong one. It's too bad. I could have done some serious awesome to that house!

On a different note, I really need to get my craft on! I started a painting project for my family's "secret Santa" yesterday, but a couple of my canvases didn't quite turn out so I had to run to the store tonight for more spray paint. I will post pictures on those after they are dry tomorrow.

I also started completing a couple accordion albums tonight that I meant to give as gifts to our former neighbors about 3 months ago. Way to go me! I seriously need to get better about crafting and DIYing on a more timely manner. 2013 resolution? Possibly. They are very similar in style and color to the albums I posted some weeks back titled "Challenge Post #3" on my Candid Captures blog. Check it out if you haven't already! I am pretty proud of them!

Lastly, I bought a new sewing machine tonight! I had to get paint at the store anyway, and last time I was at Walmart I saw these Brother sewing machines on sale for $49.95! It's an LS2350 with 20 stitch functions and a starter DVD. I like the Brother brand of machine, but I wasn't sure how this would hold up. There were some really great reviews and some not so great reviews online. Well I did some research and decided to try my luck and see what happens. I have an OLD Singer sewing machine stored in my parents' basement, but I decided I needed something a little more portable and easier to handle. Besides, Singer isn't my favorite! I will have to update later on how I like this little machine!

I hope everyone is looking forward to the holidays! I know I am! Merry Christmas all!

Happy Halloween

I cannot believe it's Halloween already! We didn't even have time to get our decorations out this year! We had quite a few trick-or-treaters, though, so that was good! We gave out granola bars this year because we had a ton left over from the wedding and because the "doctor's house" should probably give something half way healthy. We only had a couple kids that looked at me strange when they went to pick out their "candy". haha

So now that Halloween season is officially over, I guess this means I need to start getting ready for the holiday season all together! So my goal this week is to get out our Christmas decorations and to start hanging things in the house so that when we leave for Florida at the end of the month it will already be done when we get back in the middle of December. I also need to finish my Thank you notes from the wedding, finish my application for graduate school, and make my Christmas cards! So I have plenty to do the rest of this week and into the weekend!

I wish all those on the East Coast this evening my prayers and well wishes in a quick and easy recovery from Hurricane Sandy. It looks like it hit hard, but hopefully not as bad as they originally were saying.

Spent

Well I didn't get as many projects posted as I wanted to this last week, but it was fun posting what I could! I still have a couple of photos to add to my last post, but I am hoping to get those done later today!

   This biggest thing today has been finalizing and completing the details of my 10 year class reunion. It has been difficult to try and plan this the way I wanted to while also doing everything else I have been busy with this year. Hopefully we have a decent enough turn out! I am ready to start focusing on other things, though. I'm getting tired planning big events!

   Other than all that, this weekend has been one of the first weekends I have been home in over a month. Ian has had a really rough week at work this past week (I think he worked at least 70-80 hours), so yesterday I promised him a "date" day! The plan was to go to the zoo for the harvest festival, but unfortunately it was rainy and cold most of the day. Instead we decided to get a few other things done. We dropped off ink cartridges to be refilled, went and bought Ian a suit and two dress shirt/tie combos to go with it, bought some seasonal candles from Yankee Candle, and dropped off some Bridal magazines to the used bookstore! It was really nice to spend time together! We went out to eat for lunch and went and explored Prescott, WI for dinner options. We settled on Chinese takeout (we needed to find a good place for Chinese), and had Spotted Cows at a nearby bar while we waited for our food! Then we came home and watched a movie and relaxed! It was really nice!

   Today Ian has been busy while I have been on the computer getting the reunion things finalized! He's now working out, and I think I am going to go finish some Thank you notes! Overall, not a bad day at all! Plus...football has been on all weekend...so we cannot go wrong there! I also need to order some wedding photos because I received 101 free prints from Snapfish! So I need to start planning which ones to order! I'll post one of the pictures I just ordered in 8x10 this week! It's definitely one of my favorites!

Eric Lundgren was an amazing photographer for our big day! I'm so happy with the pictures we have!

Well I hope you all have been enjoying your weekend!

Returning to our regularly scheduled program...

I have not posted in a long time! This last month has just flown by, and now October seems to be approaching rather quickly! Where is 2012 going? I swear the whole year has simply vanished!

Anywho...the wedding was awesome! I cannot explain how excited I was that all the planning, creating, and organizing paid off! It was a fantastic day full of love and laughter! I will have to post pictures of some of the projects very soon! Everyone had a great time, and Ian and I were beyond happy to share it with our nearest and dearest!

We arrived back from Aruba early Friday morning after a very long day of traveling starting Thursday afternoon. It was nice to be home, but I wasn't home long! I went to Wisconsin to attend a weekend crop with my mom as part of my birthday present! It was a lot of fun! I mostly worked on our honeymoon pictures and album! It is turning out really nice! I took a K&Company Smash book with us on the trip and recorded things we did and food we ate each day so that we would not forget the memories we made during our 10 day trip! Here are a couple pictures I just HAD to work with in our new album:

View of the Aruban coast from our airplane!

The view from our hotel room at the resort! Real rough life, I know!

Beautiful Aruban sunset

Snorkeling the amazing reefs off De Palm Island

I took about 700 photos, so I had to be very selective in what I posted! We even took an underwater camera for all the snorkeling shots! The pictures turned out better than I thought! I cannot wait to work with the rest of the pictures soon! Unfortunately, though, reality has caught up to me and I have to do responsible things for awhile before I can play with paper again. I suppose starting with writing the 200+ thank you notes we have to do would be good!

However, I am also going to challenge myself to post a project on my blog everyday this next! I really want to show some of the things I have been doing, and give mini tutorials on how I did it! Hopefully you all will enjoy what ensues! Feel free to post comments if you want to see anything in particular!

WI Bridal Shower

I am so blessed! Today was my first bridal shower, and I had an amazing time! My sister and cousin planned it, and it was beautiful! The colors were completely our wedding colors and the games, activities, and prizes were the perfect reflection of me! Thank you so much to everyone who came! I know many of you had to travel today, and I am so grateful for all of you in my life! Now to celebrate the bachelorette part of the evening with some crazy and fun girls! More details to come on this great day!