this precious life.

We have 18 people staying at our house this weekend {to make a total of 30 people sleeping here} and currently the house holds 37 people. To say we like big crowds is kind of an understatement! haha But I just had to sneak away for two minutes to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope 2012 is just as full of blessings for you as 2011 was for me:) xoxo, Em {p.s. 200 posts by 2012? check. it's been a fantastic journey so far!}

10,0001 pageviews!!! Y'all beat me to 200 posts:) yay! thanks!!

One of the huge blessings of our current house is having 3 1/2 baths. The house we lived in previously had 1 1/2 baths for *everyone* to use {imagine Sunday morning showers!} until we added another one the year before we moved. So moving here and 6 of us girls having our own spacious bathroom to share was/is a huge deal!  It's rather sad that our bathroom is better decorated and put together than my bedroom though. Sometimes I feel like I'd rather work on projects or edit in there... but no worries- I don't.  Anyway, I thought now was as good a time as any to give a quick tour of the girls bathroom since the decor is always evolving and never really "complete". At one time {like 5 years ago} I may have had "before" pictures of this bathroom... but I have no idea where they are now. Just picture yellow walls and Winnie the Pooh border. Cute but not for us.  Deciding on decor that 6 girls would like posed a difficulty when we first set out. But ...

do you ever go to bed super antsy for tomorrow to arrive just so you can wear the outfit you just put together? no? only i do that? well that's okay. i'm sure you have your quirks too:) haha but that's just what i did with this outfit. i love the colors.patterns.textures.details... and the overall simpleness of everything.. the dress is a summer weight dress i found a few weeks ago but i just couldn't wait until spring to wear it! perfect example of summer to winter clothes! {it kinda helps that it's been 50 degrees here lately}  dress: Goodwill/Target | cardigan: Goodwill/Target | belt: vintage | ring: gift | tights: Kohls | shoes: Target thanks to Ellyn for taking the pictures

Just this week I realized that I am only a handful of posts away from my 200th post and roughly 250 page views away from 10,000!  I know those numbers are incredibly small when it comes to the blogging world... mainstream blogs receive that much traffic and more each *day*! but since I've only promoted this blog through my Facebook, kept things fairly small and have only used it for 17 months.... it's pretty exciting! My goal is to get those last four posts done in 2 days-- before the beginning of the new year! {amidst shooting a basketball tourney, shooting my first wedding & helping to host a major New Years party!} And if any part of my blog encourages, inspires or challenges you in any way, I'd love it if you would share it with a friend or two:) xoxo, Em

so we laugh. but it's true. how often do we just sing and feel those emotions & songs without meaning the words? and it's the same for hymns or any other musical worship-- not just praise songs.  all of those songs have meaningful content...WE just don't always have meaningful hearts. is our heart really in sync with our lips? i'm not intending to preach- this video just really got my attention. 

I can't even remember where I found this sweater dress. I did try to wear it but found it wasn't flattering in the least. And probably not flattering on any one else either.  Thus I came up with some better uses for it:) My favorite kind of projects are those that involve upcycling anyway so it was a win/win.  Still trying to figure out what to do with the top/bust portion that I have left over. Any ideas?!

sometimes i'll need inspiration or encouragement...  and i'll end up reading old blog posts. or reading through old journals. funny what i'll end up learning all over again. do you ever find yourself learning... from yourself? happy new year!

the older I get,  the more I would give up  every single present  under the Christmas tree  just to have a united & peaceful family.   but today,  I am attempting to grasp this verse:  "Peace I leave with you,  my peace I give unto you:  not as the world gives,  give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled,  neither let it be afraid."  John 14:27

Hey y'all! Funny how this post came about, and I'll get to that in a moment but I just want to say that this whole "7 Days of ____" might just become a series! You see, I've had an idea for a particular 7 days post floating around in my head for too long...and just haven't put it together. But when Hannah emailed this to me in a 7 day format I realized it's time I got on with my own post! And hopefully I can pull in some more guests for those posts! Speaking of guests on the blog, this is the first time I've had an official guest on the blog which is super exciting! Let me introduce Hannah to y'all! Hannah is the epitome of a southern belle. truly. from her hospitality to the way she calls everyone darlin'. Seriously one of the sweetest people I have ever met {am I making you blush Hannah?! love you!} and she's also one of the dear people from TN that I have met & grown close to *since* moving north! I love how I keep meetin...

well 'ello. Christmas is only 4 days away!!! are you rushing to finish everything? are you a rockstar and are totally done & relaxing enjoying everything to the fullest? or are you're like me- only about halfway done but deciding to forget the stress, enjoy the season & let some of those gifts be a few days {or weeks if i have to mail them} late.  needless to say, i have some pretty awesome family & friends to be okay with that:) we are definitely hoping for a white christmas instead of all this soggy rain!! though the warmer temps have been nice:) and can i take a minute to say how blessed i am? various things have been stressful lately... & because of that i've not always rested well. but today when i *finally* stepped back and *really* looked at the bigger picture- all i could see was how much God has blessed me & those around me. like wow. so much. i have so very much to learn, and i fail in so many areas each day but Jesus continues to pour ...

I don't typically pay a whole lot of attention to the catalogues we get in the mail {with the exception of a certain few} but I was sitting at the table one day and picked up Crate & Barrel's christmas one. The first time I kinda flipped through it...just glancing at things. Then a few days later I picked it up again and as I was looking at it, three project ideas popped out at me! Hot Chocolate Spoons was the first one, inspired by their Peppermint Spoons .  The wine glass cluster for hanging was the second and inspired by a teeny tiny image in the corner of one of the pages! And then lastly was this pillow-- inspired by their Merrie Pillow.   At first I wasn't going to try this pillow project because typically at this time of year, I'm barely finishing gifts much less making decor! But the ideas kept nudging me and so I finally put them out on paper, asked Mama to pick up the supplies while she was out and then set to work. So here's the...

when the Kinfolk magazine first debuted earlier this year i was instantly captivated. all about easy & comfortable entertaining and great recipes, it stood out a mile to me in comparison to all food & entertaining magazines i had ever seen. marvelous! but the first issue was available solely online-- still beautiful but not the same as a bound magazine with real pages to turn. then they announced that issue 2 would be available in print! and not only that but they had made issue 1 available in print as well!  talk about hard copy goodness you can curl up with ... drinking in the imagery and ideas... planning your own special gatherings with friends. this is it! so yeah. that's my love story with this magazine. issue 2 came out two days ago and is definitely on my wish list;) a splurge for sure. but hey, splurges every now & then are fine! take a peek at these videos or find your own copy here . brew me a cup for winter's night for the wind howls loud...

I've seen images printed on dictionary pages or newsprint but since I didn't have either available to me, I thought I would try printing on some brown paper bags. It worked wonderfully so I want to share how I did it! 1} Edit & save your image  {keep in mind that when printed, colors & contrast won't be as vibrant as you see them on your screen} 2} Open your image in Pages {or Word if you use Windows}. 3} Drag the arrows {at the corners & sides of the image} to resize the image.        {I sized mine within a standard sheet of printing paper {8 1/2" x 11"} and then cut my brown paper to the same dimensions. 4} If you are using Pages, right click on the image. Hover over "Align Objects" & select "Center". This will align your image proportionally within the size of your paper. 5} Cut an 8 1\2" x 11" sheet from a brown paper bag. 6} Insert into your printer with the printed side {name of the store} ...

Two years ago I completely gave up on the local Christmas radio station. Same arrangements every year sung by the same people. They may be classics but even classics sung by the same people give out when overplayed. Last year we used Pandora for a fresh mix of Christmas songs and loved it! {well yeah. they were many of the same songs but sung by fresh & different voices. you know what I mean}. Pandora is great about introducing you to artists you haven't heard before  and expanding your music taste a bit. We might use it again this year but so far I've been absolutely loving the Christmas playlist I've compiled on Spotify! {which I'd love to share but you do have to install Spotify... so if you haven't done so- take a moment and do it! It's fabulous & free!} Here are some of my favorites. Maybe you've heard them all before or maybe they'll freshen up *your* Christmas playlist. Either way, they're worth a listen:) {I wanted to link all t...