Master Bathroom Reveal

I've been wanting to publish this post for a few weeks now. Just waiting for the right opportunity/light to snap some photos. 

In the interest of time, I've spent my "prep" time for this post re-sizing images, so warning, this post is basically wordless. I'm going to do a separate post on sources for this bathroom reno.

Enjoy!

Here are a few recaps of the process:

Before

Planning

An Update

Thanks for touring our new master bathroom! Like I said, I'll be following this up with a post dedicated to sources, colors, what we learned, etc. If you have any questions, please tell! I'll answer them in the follow-up post.

What do you think? Is there a bathroom renovation in your future?

We're thrilled to have this complete. Yes, we need a window covering still, and a TP holder, towel holder, etc but those will be hunted down after the holidays. We're still on a much needed no-house-projects break.

If you like this post please let me know by leaving a comment or liking my Facebook page. You can also follow along on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Let's stay in touch!

Thanksgiving 2013

I'm interrupting this Friday's typical post format for a Thanksgiving recap, finally. Hope you don't mind!


I can't recall the last time I was able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with my sister. Isn't that crazy? Well maybe not to some of you, but for me - that's insane! I think it may have been her first year out in San Francisco (6 years ago), but even then we ate dinner with a family friend. My parents didn't join me on that trip. Maybe it's been more recent than then and my memory is failing me...but I don't think so.

So ya, when the opportunity arose to make the trip south this year, I jumped at the chance. Leaped! Maybe I messed up the whole splitting family time and every other holiday thing we've got going on, but I had to. I'm not so sure this opportunity will present itself again for a few years.

Our trip to Charlotte a year ago brought sunny skies and 60 degree temps. This year, not so much. I know the whole east coast had a cold front the week of Thanksgiving, but 30 degrees in the south is just weird!

I didn't do a great job of taking pictures but here are the gems I did capture:

A tradition 

J&A picked out a beautiful Ralph Lauren china pattern for their wedding registry, as well as Waterford glasses. The Waterford pattern is actually the same one my Nona has, timeless. My mom loved how it reminded her of her holidays at her mom's, me too!

A few family iPhone photos...hence the blurriness of some. :(

 J was distracted by the paparazzi (A).

After photos it was time to eat! If you have never rotisseried a turkey (we hadn't) you must give this a go. It was amazing. This may have been the first time I've gone for seconds on the turkey!

Another amazing dish Jackie made, white bean and pumpkin soup with a sage pesto. I cannot wait to make this at home. It was soo savory, delicious, comforting. I really could have gone for a second bowl if we didn't have the rest of Thanksgiving dinner to enjoy.

Last but not least, it wouldn't be a holiday season trip to Charlotte without a visit with J&A's next door neighbors! Oh dear, these people really get into it. The lights were synchronized with Christmas music! And yes, the hunting snowman made an appearance again. (last year's here).

 I did my best to lighten this one up so you could really see the size of this lawn ornament....intense!

Overall it was another great trip to Charlotte! Thank you for hosting us J&A!

What are you up to this weekend?

We have a Christmas party with friends tomorrow night if we don't get snowed in, and Sunday is my Dad's birthday!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Before I got all lazy and hung out in sweatpants Sunday and Monday, I mustered up the energy late Friday afternoon to pick out the perfect Christmas tree and spent the day Saturday decorating it.

J was busy brewing beer in our kitchen on Saturday so decorating the tree was all mine. Part of me wishes we did it together because isn't that what you're supposed to do? Isn't that a cutesy couple thing? I saved a few ornaments for J to hang on the tree later that day but was informed that decorating the tree isn't his thing. Hmm. Ok. Well having total control of where each light, garland, and ornament goes is totally my thing so I'd say that's a win-win over here!

We've agreed that down the line me and the kiddos will decorate the tree while J provides snacks, beverages, and holiday music. Pretty solid deal if you ask me. Especially since we're talking years before I have to give up control of the tree. 

So anyways, what's your method to tree decorating? Mine always goes like this:

1. Lights. We've been using white lights since we moved in together. But one of these days, I'd love to find the old school, big bulb multi-color lights.

2. Garland. Do you use garland? Or ribbon? My mom and Nona both use ribbon. I found this garland at Target our first Christmas together and still love it. Its so simple.

3. Ornaments. Do you go with a theme? We don't normally. Although this year I found these red snowflakes for $2 at Walmart and loved them! So I skipped many of our filler ball ornaments this year and used the snowflakes instead.

4. Topper. Well, this year that went on first for some reason. But typically, it's last. And we're pretty un-traditional here using a bow. My Nona has always used a bow and since I'm a little creeped out by the fake angels (total personal thing here, no intentions of offending anyone), a bow works perfectly for us.

I had picked up a couple matching, sparkly bows our first Christmas together and would use one on the tree and one on a plain wreath. This year, we totally fell in love with the buffalo check bow near the cash register so we snagged one. Which ended up working out perfectly because in the new home, 2 outdoor wreaths are needed. And tip - buy the plain wreaths and decorate them yourselves! So much cheaper. So the 2 sparkly bows are hanging outside this year. 

Here's a recap of last year's tree and decorations. This year's decorations to come! I'm still hunting down the perfect red wreath for our mantel....any suggestions on where to look?? Michaels and Walmart were no help.

Happy Wednesday!

If you celebrate Christmas, do you have any tree decorating traditions?

According to Talkative*TLC's fb page, many of you are team Angel topper!

If you like this post please let me know by leaving a comment or liking my Facebook page. You can also follow along on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Let's stay in touch!

Fun Fact Friday 12.06.13

The fact that I won't hear my alarm go off around 5 am tomorrow morning is what's getting me through this day. What a freakin long week! I guess that's how any work week after vacation is right? But man, I'm ready for the weekend.

Here's what we've got going on around here:

1. I finally attended my first Boston Bloggers event. And I am soo glad I did. Finally meeting a few ladies I've emailed with and who's blogs I've been following was so nice. Totally made reading these ladies' blogs less creepy ha. Well now that sounds creepy! But you learn a lot about someone from their blog, so it's nice to actually meet a few other bloggers finally. The event was held at Warehouse here in Boston and I have to say, their drink menu looked amazing! It was crowded though and not exactly easy to grab a drink at first so I snagged a water to start and before I knew it, I'd been chatting the whole time and it was time to go! Boo. Martinis next time.

Jodi, Rachel, Kate, Emily

2. We're getting our Christmas tree tomorrow finally. I have never felt so behind on Christmas decorations. The fact that we have nothing out yet is kinda stressing me out. Between a late Thanksgiving, and traveling for it, we're just behind schedule. I can't wait to get out there tomorrow and pick the perfect tree. There may be a few wreaths and mini trees that come home with us too....we'll see. If you're local, where shall we go?!

3. We had plans to head to Maine this weekend so I took Monday off. And then J remembered it's a home Patriots game this weekend, and he's going...boo. But, I'm pretty pumped to have Monday off now, especially knowing I won't spend half the day in a car.

4. Anyone get any unbelievable Black Friday deals? I took advantage of a few online sales to get some of my holiday shopping done but I have more to do. Honestly, I always thought it was crazy how early some people start their shopping. Until this year, when I read one bloggers plan to just enjoy December now that her shopping is done. And you know what, that sounds fabulous. That will be next year's goal. Cherish the Holiday season, don't save all my shopping until December.

5. This mild weather has caused quite the moth invasion over here! Anyone else? If we leave the outside lights one, the house is seriously covered in moths....gross.

6. It only took us 6 months to check out the local nature trails in our neighborhood. We started off on a nice walk down the street to stretch our legs and quickly veered off course into the woods to let Tuck off leash. He had a ball running around like a mad man in the woods. And definitely burned more energy than a measly walk would have done.

7. I still have a Thanksgiving recap I'd like to post next week if you don't mind. This week just included a few too many later work nights.

8. Lastly, I put a call out on Talkative*TLC's facebook page this week for post recommendations and was excited with the feedback. Are there posts you'd like to see more of?

Have a fantastic weekend!

What are you up to this weekend?

Linking up with H54F, That Friday Blog Hop

Printic

How many photos do you currently have on your phone? If I had to guess, I'd say too many. Right? Confession: my phone says I have more than 1,500 photos on it...dog-mom problems, new homeowner, blogger, lazy photographer...you name it. There are countless reasons.

When Printic reached out to me about printing some of these photos I totally jumped at the chance. I'm horrible about printing updated photos. Horrible! 

But I have to say, this was so easy. And I can't wait to use this again. Since printic is a phone app I really had no excuse. Printing pictures whilst sitting on the couch? Right up my alley. Yes, $.99/picture is more than you'd pay to print pictures to the local drug store or photo site, but I love how these instagram-ish photos look!

Here are screenshots of the app from my phone:

I love that there is an option to edit and add messages to the photos.

FYI - this is a UK based company. So the first time I tried to pay, Bank of America canceled the transaction and called me to make sure it was me using my card. Can't really be too annoyed about that! But it did take me a second try to get my credit card to work.

Here's a peak at a few pictures I had printed. How awesome is the polaroid finish?

Disclaimer: Printic provided me with a promo code for free prints. Although this post is sponsored, all opinions expressed are my own. And as you can see above, I printed more pictures than my promo code allowed...it was so convenient!