Dayquil and Decorating

We have returned from our Turkey Day Extravaganza in Athens, NY. Oh yes, Oscar did get his wings and you will have to believe me because Oscar's parents forgot their camera! Some blogger I am!?

We had a lovely time with family and new friends and window shopping for junk. The only thing I brought home was a bug. Boo...I blame the germ infested airport...and my coworker Lucas, who came to work sick last week!

Considering, I have an immune system of a rock star , I am going to sleep off the germs today and be back in full swing tomorrow. mark. my. words. Now that Thanksgiving is over we have Christmas decorating to do/finish. We tried to pull off a magical Christmas Tree last night, before exhaustion set in...

Martha Stewart: Is that a fake tree?

Nikki: Yes

Martha Stewart (eyebrows furrowed): Why?

Nikki: It was free, easy and long lasting. When Oscar is older we will do the whole chopping a tree to the ground bit.

 So perfect looking. The tree that is.

 Effortless...my mom had already put it together, thanks Mom!

 Baby's first fake tree. Fakelalalala-lalalala.

 Our Christmas Miracles...

 Nothing a little Dayquil can't handle.

Mantel: Photo Hunt

I know that I am about to show you pics of our Thanksgiving Mantel that are extremely similar to our Falloween Mantel.


So in the spirit of PHOTO HUNT make note of the 6 differences...

1. No more spider and web 2. Baby squash 3. Floor Pumpkins 4. Baby white pumpkin 5. Bon Voyage to the dead tree trimmings 6. The framed photo! So exciting, we got our first family photo to proudly hang above the fireplace. Ahhh, virtual bear hugs for everyone! 

We are off to upstate New York to spend the holiday with Henry's family. We are anxious to see everyone (plus, I hear there is some good junkin' in those parts)! May all of your Thanksgivings be filled with friends and family, loads of food, good health and lots of lounging around!


I am thankful for Henry and Oscar and Stella!

Ribbon and Tape

It's a small change, a free change and probably a temporary change...

Wrap a piece of ribbon around the edges of your lamp shades. I scotch taped the ends together- I didn't even tape the ribbon directly to the shade to ensure it won't leave any goo or take off any shade texture.

 Kinda cute... I might change it up next week.

Pile of Night Lights

Before Mr. O arrived, Henry and I slept in the dark, like most adults. Now we have a need for a little light in our bedroom so we can safely shuffle around in the middle of the night when we hear little baby noises coming from the bedroom next door. Then, safely bring Mr. O back into our night lighted room to change and feed him. I know it sounds odd, but it's what works for us.

You know the empty silver tray that's been sitting on our dresser? It is now the home of our Christmas inspired night light.

 Such a festive little glow.

No more tripping over extra pillows and slippers scattered about. It only took us 4 months of feeling our way out the door and stubbed toes to efficiently go and fetch our little noise maker.

Plus they keep away the monsters!

Paper Ornaments

Any chance I get, I make a paper ornament or two in preparation for the holidays. The possibilities are endless with these cute little paper balls. Plus, what a great way to use up all the small pieces of scrap paper y'all have laying around.

 4"x1/2" strips for small ornaments. 6"x3/4" strips for the larger ornaments.

Stack up 13 strips and secure the ends together with a brad (not a man named brad but a craft brad). The longer the tip the better. I used standard square brads for the little lanterns and cute snowflakes for the larger ornaments.

 Back sides.

 Start with the bottom strip and twist out. etc. etc. etc.

 etc. etc. etc.

So cute and easy it's like paper magic!

Check out more crafty projects at Whipper Berry and Stories of AtoZ and Tip Junkie and DIY Home Sweet Home

Happy Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday was my Birthday and it was oh so special thanks to my best guys and my best gals. Since I am the girl behind the camera, I didn't get a lot of shots of all the happenings, but I am happy to narrate how the day went down.

Since it was a Sunday we all slept in, well Stella and I slept in. We got up got ready and my friend Amanda showed up to watch Oscar. I had 3 hours to do whatever I wanted. What did I want? Lunch and to tackle my list of errands! So, Henry and I mapped out a plan and made things happen. We made 4 big box store stops and spent an hour gazing into each other's eyes over a fried food lunch. Loved my time on the town and love my girl, A-dog.

The rest of the afternoon we chilled and I opened my gifts from the fella. Henry gave me a picture collage he created and...ready...jeggings! Yup, I am wearing them right now. Believe it, I am hip! Just ask me:) Oscar gave me the gift of taking a nice long nap and Stella gave me some good quality Shitzu Snuggles.

Since it was Sunday, we took Oscar's weekly photo- holding a doughnut to celebrate his mamma's B-day. I love doughnuts almost as much as I love Os...triches!?

OK, this photo is Oscar's real gift. If that's not the sweetest thing you have ever seen...?

and all 18 weeks...

After a day of chillaxin' a couple more gfriends came over with pizza, wine and cookie dough ice cream cake. Put some pointy shoes on me because I feel as lucky as a leprechaun to have such lovely friends and fellas in my life.

Good Times!

Look up...another header

I didn't realize how attached people get to seeing a familiar look to a web page that they like to frequent...in this case my blog:) I just changed up my header a few weeks ago because I was so I excited that I figured out how to make a header.

Since I thought my last header was a little too Halloweenie...I changed it-again. Just like that. Didn't think twice about it. I quickly learned that not everyone thinks changing it up is quite as nice(throat clear...Kathy). She prefers I leave it alone so she knows she is in the right place. I guess my adorable bedroom decor isn't enough for her?!


So, I am curious. What do you all think about changing the header. Does it bother you? Do you even notice? Do you think the header makes the blog? Could you care less?


Check mark away...



Just curious about blog header expectations. Is it all in the header?

Copy Machine Photos

Let's talk about inexpensive art. I know I have gone on and on about inexpensive ways to gussy up your walls, but this time I am for real. For real for real.

I found a couple of good pics of our kiddos, cut and pasted into a word document and pressed print. Here is the result of all that strenuous work.

Cute, right? I glued them on the styrofoam and slapped on a coat of Mod Podge.
Here is a photo of what we were lookin' at Before this free upgrade.

 Now

 Did I mention these are just photo copied pics?

At the risk of showing you every tchotchke and dust ball we have in our place, I can't wait to show you a good idea I have for that silver metal cake stand.

Check out some cute cute ideas at WhipperBerry

A big step for the Lovely's

We have one really big step in the front of our house. I was convinced it was to prevent intruders. Once those burglars trip up our steps they would be so embarrassed they would turn and run the other way!? Our home inspector assured me that the step had actually sunk. Whatevs!

Fixing this problem was on the top of our Henry's priority list because it is the gateway into our house; our guests first impression. I agreed, but there is no chance I am hauling bricks around. I prefer to hang frames and spray paint our furniture...or spruce up our front door!

We did a little bartering with our friend Chris. We helped him with a project and he is helping us by tackling our big step.

The guys tell me the plan is to add a layer of bricks to the bottom step and build a 4th step.

The first obstacle- concrete pavers. Thoughts below "Uh, I think we need a jackhammer." "Yeah! Yeah! Let's get a jackhammer!" Scratch scratch belch belch.

No hesitation.

Alright, they needed the jackhammer.

Materials for our new step. Looks like a man's job to me.

This is how the steps look right now. Sorry Mr. Mail Carrier. Good thing we are willing to squeeze out every bit of energy Chris has before the snow flies.

 

Anything for our guests!

Couponing for a Duvet Cover

Since the start of our master bedroom transformation I knew that I pulled the trigger a little fast when I purchased a duvet cover in February. It is nice but limiting to try and decorate around. So, I broke it to Henry that we needed to buy a different duvet cover. He made me cross my heart hope to die and stick a needle in my eye if I buy another duvet cover in our lifetime. I agreed. Seriously, like I would stick a needle in my eye. 


I found this at West Elm...

Ooh, organic and matelasse (who knows what that means) and on CLEARANCE! I really like the texture and the neutral color for more decoration flexibility. I like to buy the king size for our queen size nest to avoid the shallow sheet and blanket mess...and it was still only 49.99! A real steal. We couldn't afford not to get it. So, I committed to this duvet cover as my last duvet purchase in my lifetime. When I got to the check out page the total price was not 49.99, with shipping and tax the total price came out to be $61.96. Still a fair price for organic and matelasse?!?! But  I was really jazzed for the 49.99 find. SO...I googled 'West Elm Coupons' and wham I found a discount code for an additional 15% off clearance items.

I happily entered my credit card number for the 54.46 total. That is a fair price for our new duvet cover to be delivered to our doorstep! Wahoo!

It is super soft and and thankfully I love it because buyer beware, you can't return items that end with .99.