Country Living Inspirations

My most favorite article in February's Country Living magazine was one titled "A Good Yarn". It talks about using yarn to add texture to your home. All of the items they featured in this article can be store bought, but because I already know how to crochet & knit, I would just make them myself! Here are a few of my favorites:

I absolutely love the bathmat.

I am completely infatuated with the leg warmers.

I especially like the basket with kindling.

My next favorite article was called "The Very Picture of Rugged Refinement". I am in love with almost every picture they posted here. But here are some that I plan on using as inspiration in my new home.

I really love the table here, but I especially love the shallow bowl. They recommend switching out it's contents to constantly change the centerpiece. I could use red and gold glitter balls for christmas!

The coat rack would be super simple to make!

"One Beautiful Bathroom, Seven Budget-Savvy Tips" is a short article with tons of good ideas!!

They recommend putting your bath salts into new containers, such as apothocary bottles. And I especially love, oddly enough, the toilet paper wrack on the back of the toilet. But there are so many aspects about this bathroom that I truly adore!

I am obsessed with the kitchen in "Back to Basics", even though I already have inspiration for my kitchen.

If I was to ever remodel my kitchen, I would definitely go with butcher block countertops. My father, who remodels kitchens for a living, says that he buys these from Ikea as a cheap, chic alternative. I am enthused by the most minimalistic things. I love the rack holding the wine glasses under the cupboard. I also love the large jars holding the sugar, and flower. Everything comes together in this photo, and its my goal to incorporate as much as I can into my kitchen.

My New House is in the Works!

I am probably one of the most excited people on the planet right now, after the people who are winning the lottery, and the new parents, etc.

In less than two weeks, my wonderful boyfriend and I will be the proud owners of our first house!

Let me tell you why I am so extremely excited, besides the obvious reasons.

• I have had 12 addresses in the past 5 years. It's been insane. I had an ex-boyfriend that I had lived with awhile back, and when our lease was up on one home, we moved into another because I wouldn't have been able to take another year in that apartment. Just a couple months after moving there, we broke up and I moved back in with my mom. Then, just a couple months after that, her and her fiance bought a house, so we moved there. ....And the story continues with my journey of moving every couple of months. Lets just say that I want to settle down and not worry about moving for a very long time.
• I'm living with my boyfriend's parents at the moment. And although I do love his family dearly, there just isn't enough room for all of us. My hunny bunny is the oldest of four (and their house isn't very big, either). When I moved in here, there was hardly enough room for him, let alone adding me to the picture. And then there is the issue that I'm almost 24 years old, I just want to abide by my own rules and live in every room of my house (not just a tiny bedroom). 
• Because of all the moving, most of my stuff has been sitting in storage for the past couple years. I would love to get it all out and actually see all of the stuff that I own! And I've also picked up some things here and there for projects that I planned on doing. I would love to actually finish those projects. 
• And then there's the most obvious reason... I want to DECORATE!!!

So, with all the excitement, I've been searching through the Pinterest boards, finding inspiration for different rooms in the house, as well as different projects that I can do once we get moved in there. I want to share the two biggest ones with you, that I have found.

The one room that we fought about the most was the kitchen. Just about every other room in the house we could agree on how we want to decorate. I FINALLY found some inspiration for the kitchen that I am in love with.

There are some minor differences, we have hardwood floors and we don't have open cabinet doors or the large patio doors. But I think I could easily duplicate this kitchen (and I think the hardwood would look awesome!). I've seen people all over the blogging community removing their cabinet doors entirely, so I may do that for a couple as opposed to the open front doors. We were also planning on doing stainless steel for our appliances, as well. The only other difference is that I think I am going to paint the walls a light grey color.

Oh, and we found a lantern like the one hanging in a local home decor store in the mall. I'm pretty excited!

I am going to make some tables very similar to these for the living room. My boyfriend's family uses a wood burner for heat, therefore I have very easy access to wood. I do believe I'm going to make mine larger in diameter and about half as tall, with longer legs, if I can find them. I have also contemplated doing half moon shapes. What do you think would look better?

These are the two pieces that I am most excited about at the moment. I also picked up a copy of Country Living magazine today, with some inspiration that has me really excited. I might update you on that depending on what I can find online.

I hope you all a wonderful day!!

My Slightly Belated New Year's Resolutions

I'm a little late on this New Year's Resolution thing. I had completely forgotten that people even do that! I've never even really made resolutions before, but THIS YEAR IS THE YEAR!

So, here it goes....

1. I want to run my first 5k this spring, and more throughout the rest of the year. It's been a long journey thus far, because I really don't think my body is built for muscle (in my Fitness for Life class I took for college, we learned that some people's muscles were built for endurance, other's for power, and the rest for both. I think mine were built for power). Therefore, I want to continue my running journey to be able to finish a 5k by this spring, and to continue growing so that I can do a 10k by next year.


2.  My second resolution is tied in with the first. I want, I NEED to lose weight. I'm not severely overweight, but I am overweight and I'm having some health issues because of it. ...And my happiness depends on it as well. My goal weight at this point, is 135lbs.


3. I want to work on making new friendships, and to, overall, be a friendlier person, and more social. I used to be this amazing social person, and I think one of the disasters from a horrible relationship I was in, was my loss of social skills. Is that even possible? If anyone has any advice on conversation, I would love to hear it! Afterall, talking about the weather is for strangers... or so I hear. :)


4. I really need to start working on my school work. I'm currently working on my Bachelor's, and I was slacking just a bit last semester, which was my first semester. I want to be active in class, and I want to do well and succeed!


5. The man and I are buying our first house this year (actually this month), and therefore, my final resolution is to be more mindful of my spending habits. 

So there you have it! My New Year's Resolutions!!

Happy, Happy Birthday to My Love!

Tomorrow is my hunny's birthday! I'm pretty excited for him to turn the big 2-3! Partially because I'm 6 months older than him, so I feel even older when I'm 23 and he's only 22...Haha.

So, a little sneak peak on his birthday present... let's see how selfish I am.

Alex's absolute favorite show is Supernatural. Who else is a fan? He's pretty much got our entire group of friends addicted to the show... even my mom! Last year for Christmas, I made sure that he received all of the seasons on DVD.

I'm pretty sure he knows that he is getting this. He keeps saying things like "If you got it for me, you should just give it to me now so we can watch it." It was so hard, but I've stuck it out and haven't told him that I got it for him! It was even harder when him and a friend were talking about splitting the cost of the Season 6 Dvd's.

I will say though, I do really want to watch it, because I only saw a handful of episodes last year.

I also bought him an orbit sander. I am kind of surprised he wanted one. He had never even mentioned one before I talked about refinishing that ladder I talked about in my Barnfest post.

I picked one of up for him today, and I will say it was partially because I will need it to do the ladder. We also need to refinish his desk at some point as well. But I figured this would be a good gift that I could pick out myself, because some of the other tools he wants I'm afraid of buying the wrong thing.

Has anyone tried this sander? It was between this one and a Black & Decker one. This one had the pressure sensor and the canister to collect dust.

I hope I did good!

Perfect October Saturday Night

I don't know about the rest of the country, but I think that in Northwest Ohio, October finally arrived. I ran into a friend from high school yesterday evening, and she was home visiting from North Carolina. She was telling me how it was 80 degrees there when she left! Up here, it was cold, dark, and windy. Perfect fall weather. :)

Anyways, last night, the wonderful Mr. Alex, a friend of mine by the name of Andrew, and I decided to make Apple Pie (the drink, not the food). I think this is becoming a yearly tradition for us, as this is the second year that Alex and I have made it. We also carved one of our pumpkins last night as well.

 I used one of those pumpkin carving kits from the store to make this one. I think it is officially the best pumpkin I have ever carved! (Even though it is hard to see anything but the carving in the picture. It just didn't look as good inside!) The hardest part about the process was that the tools were so tiny, that my hand was cramping up, especially when I was etching the template onto the pumpkin. We have one more pumpkin to carve, and I'm really hoping we can do the Grim Reaper design! Maybe I'll do a post about it in the future...

Anyways... Apple Pie.

If you don't know what Apple Pie is (and I'm surprised by the number of people who have had no clue what I was talking about!), it is a delicious, extremely alcoholic drink that's perfect for fall. There are a lot of variations on the recipe, so here is the one that we use:

Apple Pie

• 2 Gallons Apple Cider
• 1 Quart Apple Juice
• 2 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar
• 7 Sticks of Cinnamon
• 1 Liter of Everclear

1. Simmer the Apple Cider, Apple Juice, Brown Sugar, and Cinnamon Sticks for about an hour. When the cinnamon sticks uncurl, then the mixture is finished. Make sure to stir often to help the sugar to dissolve. 
2. Let the pot cool. This part may take awhile. 
3. Stir in the Everclear.
4. Pour into canning jars. This mixture makes quite a bit, so make sure to have plenty of jars! Ours filled about 10 4-oz jars and 10 1-quart jars. Pint sized jars are perfect, as well. We left the cinnamon sticks in some of the larger jars, it is up to you.
5. Let sit for at least 2 weeks, the longer the better. The longer the jars are able to sit, the more the flavors will meld together making the flavor of the Everclear disappear. 

**You can use other types of liquor for this, especially since Everclear is not available in most states (We have to drive to Indiana to buy ours). Regular vodka would work, and a spiced rum would also taste delicious. 

 

Happy October!!

Ladder Decor

If you remember, I picked up a ladder when I went to Barnfest a couple weeks ago. I knew I had been wanting a ladder, but I had no idea what for. I was thinking something along the lines of using it in our future living room to hold blankets on (I am a blanket whore), or in the bathroom to hang decorative towels on.

Here are some pictures I found on Google to inspire me in my future ladder decorating ventures. Which one is your favorite?

Also, the one I got is covered in layers of paint that have mostly chipped off. So I'm trying to decide if I want to keep it as is, or if I want to repaint or stain it. Hmm....