TDC Top Ten!

Well, here it is folks. The end of another year. I can hardly even believe it. It went by in a blink, didn’t it? I for one am really looking forward to 2010! :)

So here is the list, in all it’s glory. This was my first full year of blogging, so I had more to pick from compared to last year’s list. I was going to go in order of comments, lowest to highest, but I’m running out of time today. I’d really like to publish this before the new year. ;)

So let’s just go randomly, and I’ll end with the post with the most comments.

First off, my dining room redo was oh-so-popular. I was such a brat and kind of strung you along for the whole redo, so I really appreciate that you all hung in there with me!

The DIY centerpiece post can be found here.

The table setting made up of items from Pier 1, Stein Mart, Target and HomeGoods can be found here.

And the reveal of the whole room can be found here.

All that’s left to do in here is take it all out to install new floors! Easy, right?! Crikey.

You all loved my insane obsession dislike for icky cords:

You Squeezies totally get me. You can find out the method to my madness here.

I took a couple $20 lamps and customized them with spray paint and wall paint:

You can find out more here.

I grouped a few of the holiday posts into one entry. There are really going to be about 20 links on this post, but whateva whateva, it’s my blog so I can. :)

The ornament wreath can be found here, the Christmas dining table here and the fall door decor ideas here.

YES, I decorated above the pot-tay. And YES, I did it with a table runner:

You can see how I did it here. ;)

One weekend I decided I would teach myself how to tile. It happened to work out pretty well:

You can see the process here.

We transformed our deck this summer, finally. It wasn’t necessarily cheap, but we weren’t using the space every summer, and now we do!

We actually added a fire pit as well, I’ll show you that next summer. :) To see more, go here.

You all loved how I harassed my sister repurposed an item I found in the neighbor’s trash:

I love to boss her around. I don’t care if she’s not five anymore. You can see the process I went through with this piece here.

I droned on and on and ON about my beadboard island earlier this year. I just love it, I can’t help it!:

You can see how it looked before here.

I like to yell at you a lot about GETTING RID OF YOUR CRAP! In the nicest way possible.

My love of decluttering and organizing is shown in these two posts that you loved too:

Our unfinished basement transformation can be found here. And I brag about my closet here. Don’t worry – they don’t always look like this. Just most of the time. Hate me.

This year I plan to purge a TON more from the basement, and we are really hoping to finish it off too, but we’ll see. And I hope to show you our master closet soon too – it’s the one spot in the house I cannot keep clean and organized to save my life.

You know what I love? My posts I label “love” are some of the most popular, by far.

The top five from this year were:

1. A post about rocking my baby found here.
2. Where I share all I know about blogging here. (A second edition is coming soon!)
3. I decided I would have No More Mondays here.
4. You all sending your love to my family here.
5. And probably my favorite post of the year -- your life and home does not have to be perfect to be perfect for YOU. You can find it here.

The “Perfect” post was my most popular of the year with 175 comments. I’m glad you all found it worthwhile to read, and I am so happy I wrote it.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for a fantastic, fun, inspiring year! I can’t wait to share more with you in 2010! I hope you all have a happy and safe New Year. We are staying home and clinking Pepsi cans. ;) OK, maybe a margarita. I’m going to make some fondue and popcorn and we’re all going to relax and enjoy being together.

Happy New Year!!!

Craftalicious

One of my sweet bloggy friends, who has a little old blog called The Lettered Cottage (maybe you’ve heard of her? Hmmm?), asked me today to share a few thrifty tips. I was happy to oblige, and as I was looking through old posts for ideas, I was feeling a little nostalgic about some of the cauuute projects I’ve worked on this year.

I will do another recap of the year like I did last December (probably tomorrow?) but I couldn’t pass up sharing a few of my favorite crafty projects that may not make the cut (I determine the recap by posts with the most comments).

Looking back through the blog is like looking at old photo albums. Some of you have seen all of these, but it’s fun to reminisce, eh?

First project I loved – Squishy’s gumball machine casa! I don’t know if this is really considered a craft, but it involves glue and fish, and what craft project would be complete without fish? I mean, really…

To see how I made the gumball fishbowl, click here.

Next up, my placemat and table runner pillows:

Umkay, again, maybe not so crafty. But easy and cheap and WOW, these have held up GREAT!! I’m so pleasantly surprised. To see how I made them, go here and here.

My jute lurve started when I saw something I had. to. have. in the Ballard Designs catalog (shocker) and knew I could recreate something similar for cheap:

The vase was a project from the spring. I love the natural look of these jute items. Usually I crave more color but they are a great accent, and they are perfect for this time of year – fresh and simple. Want to know how I made them? Huh? Do ya? Go here and here.

I had a ton of fun working on my son’s playroom this year. I used paper to create fun, functional storage. I also took an old tool box from Goodwill and made it into a cute art caddy:

To see more of these project, go here. Or here for the whole look at the playroom.

I’m all about trying to figure out how to fill wall space in inexpensive ways. Inspired by Ballard Designs yet again, I made this wall art for very little cash. I think it was $20?:

To make your own Ballard Designs art, check it out here.

And I can’t forget the holidays. A couple of my favorites are from the past few months. I love the little ghouly votive holders for Halloween, and the Santa craft still makes me giddy when I walk past it!:

To see the votive holders, go here. For the Santa cones, go here.

Did I forget anything fun?

OH MY GOODNESS, I am soooo itching to get moving on new projects! I have a few lined up, and a list a mile long written down, so there should be plenty of content for 2010. I actually wonder sometimes if I’ll run out of things to blog about! Ha! That’s crazy talk.

Packing up Christmas

My second favorite time of the year is fast approaching Squeezies!! I’m so excited cause I get to harass you again soon about THROWING OUT YOUR CRAP!!

Hooty hoo!! If you just found this blog over the past few months, you probably don’t know my issues love of organizing and decluttering. I give myself a pass during the holidays. I have to admit, I’m starting to twitch ever so slightly over the past few days though.

I want all the Christmas decor packed up in bins, pronto. Usually I’m fine to wait till around January 1st, but I’m really feeling the need to start fresh sooner than later this year. The hubs wants me to wait for a few more days, but I showed him my hives and started hyperventilating just a little and he left me alone.

It will take about a week to get it all packed up, but with my “method,” putting it away takes way less time then getting it out. I decided to work on the dining room first since there wasn’t too much to take down.

I start by vacuuming out each bin as I pull them out, because I am a special kind of crazy and it makes me feel better. (It’s not crazy if I’m aware of my issues, right?) Then I pack everything away by room. Every bin is labeled with my BFF – the DYMO. Hello lovah…

You know all that stuff I put in my garland – ribbon, pics, crap, beady things? Well it all stays. I just take it all down and store it away as is. I’m going to refluff next year anyway, no need to waste my time taking it off. I even keep the cord covers and extension cords attached. Then I use zip lock bags and plastic bags for all the filler stuff:

I had the dining room packed up in about 30 minutes. Ahhhhh yes. I can breathe!

I even put the place settings away for now. I just need a clean slate for a bit. This is the first time the centerpiece has been completely empty since I made it back in September.

I’m already thinking up fun ideas for Valentine’s Day and spring though! ;)

So when do you start packing up the Christmas decor? I have had it up for more than five weeks, so I'm really ready to have everything back to normal earlier than usual. I have a feeling this is more of an emotional thing this year than anything. I need FRESH and simple right now. ;)

I have some GREAT bloggy events for the new year to tell you about soon. I won’t be doing another Decluttering and Organizing Party this year, but you can click to last year’s party to get some inspiration. Don’t worry, I’m still going to annoy the crap out of you to get. rid. of. your. stuff. (you don’t use).

P.S. If you are going to try the ornament wreath next year, look what happens if you don’t follow my warnings and then drop your wreath:

HALF of the ornaments popped off. Gah. I almost cried. May have cursed. Maybe. Thank God for shatterproof. ;)

Great expectations

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! It feels like ages since I’ve done a post! I haven’t even been on the computer once since my sicky post Wednesday night. (Thank you all so much by the way!!) It was kind of nice to not be online. But I’m soooo ready to get back!

If you are anything like me, you have grand expectations for certain holidays. My biggie used to be New Years Eve. When I was younger I had these images in my head of attending or throwing fabulous, swank parties. Hubs and I would clink our beautiful champagne glasses as midnight came, and share a perfect kiss as music played, everyone cheered and confetti rained down around us.

(Record scratches…)

Well, there were many years we didn’t do anything. Or we’d go out to dinner or just go hang with friends. There have been many, many fantastic parties. But the champagne is usually served in a plastic cups. ;) And in recent years, we’ll just get together with friends and (SHOCK!) head home before midnight!

And you know what? Now, as long as I’m with my husband, I love whatever we do. As I’ve grown up I’ve learned that’s what’s most important. Good friends and my family. If hubs and I just sat on the sofa next to each other and clinked Pepsi cans, I would be happy.

Well, before this year, nothing had come in the way of my expectations for Christmas Eve. Since the Bub has been born, (and before!) it’s always low key. It usually involves snacking, lounging, making some great food, finishing up wrapping and generally just spending time at home.

This year, I got a lesson in rolling with what comes, even during the holidays. You all know what we’ve dealt with in the past month. I guess that’s why -- more than ever -- I wanted, I expected, our regular routine for the night before Christmas.

Well, it wasn’t that. I will spare you details, but it involved shopping for last minute gifts, getting over sickness, cleaning the house, grocery shopping and other activities. Although we did spend some lovely time with my parents that night, the whole day just didn’t feel like Christmas. It ended with us getting in the door at 9:30 p.m., popping some cookies in the oven for Santa, and after the Bub was down for the night, wrapping gifts till about 1 a.m. (Did I mention we hadn’t wrapped ONE gift?)

Every. single. year. I plan to spend a few evenings in our living room, in front of the tree, just reflecting. Every single year, I lose track of time and don’t get to it. But that night, at 1:30 a.m., I was determined. I turned off all the lights except the tree and just stopped. And breathed. And thought. I was overwhelmed with our month and what we had been dealt.

I took the camera and shot some pictures of the tree with all of the gifts underneath, and then as I looked at the shots I came across pictures from our Fiesta earlier this week. And I cried. I did.

We are SO LUCKY.

For great friends who helped prepare and cook food for hours with my father-in-law:

For a chance to watch my father-in-law in action:

FANTASTIC food and drink:

And amazing family and friends, who throughout this month said, “Let me know what I can do.” And really, really meant it.

That group is TROUBLE right there. ;)

Only hubby’s closest friends and family attended this fiesta. We wanted to keep it small and “old school” – for those his father has cooked for over the past 20 years or so. It was their chance to get together and thank his Dad.

Sitting in front of our tree Christmas Eve, I was overwhelmed by the friendship and love we have felt from everyone we know over this past month, and always. (Including YOU!) We are so fortunate to be surrounded by these lovely people. So THANK YOU, from us:

I love to see my Hubby smile. :)

I do have to say…I am looking forward to the New Year. Whew.

I hope your holidays were all you expected and more!!