Apartment tour...Christmas edition

I don't think I have given a full apartment tour yet but I did snap some pictures of all my Christmas decorations that I wanted to share. It's not much since  1. I don't like spending full price on decorations (the best time to buy them is after the holiday and I forgot last year...) 2. Even if I had remembered, I have a one bedroom so it's not like I have tons of space...but I like that, so it's okay! I really only decorated my living room and some of kitchen.   Living room

You'll just have to excuse that workout machine, I didn't want to knock my tree over trying to move it out of the picture lol.

 

I found those cute small Christmas pillows in Targets dollar section last year!

 

One year I made an ornament wreath with cheap plastic ornaments from dollar tree but it got all bent out of shape when I packed it up and some of the ornaments broke so I took them off and just put them in a cute Christmas box my mom had left over as a centerpiece for my coffee.

 

My Christmas tree! It's kinda plain but it'll do! I wanted to make a bow to put at the top but just didn't ever get around to it.

 

 

I found these cute metal presents at Hobby Lobby on major sale and just couldn't pass them up!! I think they would look so darn cute in front of a fire place but for now under the tree works, too!

 

These blankets from Old Navy are the BEST. I got one last year when they went on sale for $5 and I found this one this year and loved it!! They are so soft and have the cutest Christmas designs. So I draped them over my couches to add a little more color in there. Those pillows don't match it at all lol

 

My mom had an extra frame laying around so I found a cute print and hung it up over one of my end-tables.

 

Kitchen

 My new placemats! I think I shared these pictures a couple of weeks ago but
I just love them!

 

I made this plate a couple of years ago and put it in place of my little chalkboard for Christmas time.

 

 My mom got me this adorable apron last year for Christmas, I think it makes a cute decoration when it's not being used...which is always. I'll take it home to use while we are cooking for Christmas dinner ;)

I hung up a few canvases I made a couple of years ago just to add a little more to my kitchen!

 

Outside my apartment

My dad made this ADORABLE sign to stick out there and I absolutely LOVE it! He did such a good job. I bought some cute poinsettias to set out there with it! That is my Christmas wreath I made last year. I was never a big fan of it but it was cheap to make so it worked. Some of the mesh was still smashed from being packed up. My mom made me a new one and it's MUCH better! I just forgot to take a new picture.

 

And that's it!! I love it!!!!

I feel like I haven't had my decorations up long at all and I don't want to take them down anytime soon, but I will probably take them down before I go home for Christmas so I don't have to worry about that when I get back.

I don't know if I have mentioned it before but I LOVE CHRISTMAS! 

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

Apartment tour...Christmas edition

Christmas Cards

My goal this year was to have my Christmas cards mailed off by December 1st....I missed that by about 15 days lol but they are out! I did purchase them before December 1st this year so that's somewhat better than last year, right?   I didn't want to spend a lot of money on them and TJ Maxx came to the rescue! I found some that were plain so I could do my calligraphy on the front and write my own message on the inside. Fun!     The front

 

 The envelopes

Better late than never, right?! ;)

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

Christmas Cards

Christmas time // Pinterest addition

I love this time of the year and I love decorating for it. I often spend too much time on Pinterest looking up gorgeous decorations I can't afford right now lol.   Here is what I'm currently pinning/day dreaming of...

{Source}  

{Source}  

{Source}  

{Source}

 

{Source}  

{Source}  

{Source}      It really is the best time of the year! Monday night we had free s'mores at the SOC house and last night we had pancakes as a study break for all the students taking finals. We had great crowds and all the food was gone very quickly!   3 days until Matthew graduates!

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

Christmas time // Pinterest addition

December goals

Because I'm always late about posting my goals... ;)     November goals   - Start blogging more  I think I did pretty well until last week ;) -Work on Christmas shopping  I have almost everything finished, just need to grab a couple of things online! -Continue working hard on something that I have coming up! YES I can't wait to share with y'all what I have been up to! -DOLLYWOOD  We went. We conquered. I didn't throw up ;) We had a lot of fun! You can read about it here -SOC formal   Formal was a lot of fun. Getting dressed up, Christmas decorations, best friends and good food. Couldn't ask for a better night! You can read about it here! -Enjoy the moment  We have been just going with the flow. We usually don't have plans we just hang out with friends each night at the SOC house. It's a joy to be with your best friends all the time.     December goals   Celebrate Matthew It's graduation week...he graduates in FOUR days! He picked up his cap and gown a few weeks ago and it came with that pretty hood ;) He took his last final yesterday and has 2 more papers and then he is DONE (for this semester). He actually has to take one online class next semester but they are letting him walk in the December graduation since he is starting work next month. Which is great because his twin brother, Nathan, is graduating this Saturday as well. I am so glad they get to walk together one last time! We are going to dinner Friday night and maybe a movie, to celebrate just the two of us. Saturday after graduation we will celebrate with our families!   Completely finish Christmas shopping and wrap everything I have a couple of things I need to order online and then I am completely finished! Now I just need to wrap everything. I found some wrapping paper and boxes that I bought last year that I had forgotten about...score!   Take pictures of my apartment decorated for Christmas and share I blog a lot for myself, selfish? Maybe. but I want to be able to come back here and remember the small things that I blogged about. Even now I go back and look at some of my first posts and love it. I mean a lot has happened since I started blogging. I also blog for friends and family that don't live close. It's a great way to share what's going on. And we ALL know how much I love my little apartment so of course I want to share it with you, especially now that it's decorated for Christmas :)   Purge I promised myself when I moved out of my old apartment that I wouldn't keep as much stuff and sale/donate throughout the year, so that when it comes time to move again I don't spend DAYS packing stuff that I don't even need. Well, I need to sale/donate some stuff now lol. I honestly don't know how I end up with all this stuff but it has got to go! I love my little one bedroom apartment but I can't wait to have more storage space one day. Seriously, I have extra dishes up under my bed because I don't have a lot of  cabinet space lol working with what I have!   Enjoy this time of the year It's so easy to get caught up in the busy day to day activities with this time of the year but I want to slow down and enjoy it. Everyone is leaving throughout this week to go home for Christmas break and won't be back until the middle of January so that means all SOC activities are basically over after this week until we start getting ready for next semester. We already have the schedule for next semester planned and it's just as full as this semester. So I am wanting to really take advantage of some down time. Watch all the Christmas movies that we can, drive around and look at Christmas lights and just enjoy the last few weeks Matthew has here in Cookeville. We made a Cookeville bucket list at the beginning of this semester and we haven't been able to cross much of it off so maybe we can work on that lol.   Share what I have been working on I shared last month that I have been working on something for awhile now and this month I get to share it with y'all! I am so excited I just can't stand it!!     Since it's so late to share monthly goals I have already read most of y'all's lol. Happy Tuesday!   4 days until Matthew's graduation 16 days until Christmas Day 23 days until the New Year!

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

December goals

Catching up // a week of lasts

I'm alive ;) I took an unexpected week off from blogging. I still read all of yours, I just didn't blog myself. Thanksgiving was good! I am very lucky the company that I work for is off Thursday and Friday. As soon as 3:30 rolled around on Wednesday afternoon I was homeward bound. I packed my car that morning so I could head straight home.   Matthew's family does lunch for Thanksgiving and my family (on my moms side) does dinner so it works out perfect. My dad's side of the family does Thanksgiving on Friday afternoon. We had three Thanksgivings and it was great! My sister and I went shopping on Black Friday. We left our house around 5:00 and went straight to Old Navy. We didn't have to search for a place to park or wait in line to checkout, which was a HUGE surprise. Since stores open on Thanksgiving night now everyone had already been through. They still had plenty to look through. I ended up with a new pair of boots and a cute dress and comfy shoes! After we eat dinner at my mema's on Friday we all load up and go shopping to see if we can find anymore deals, without the crowds. This year we went to Mt. Juliet to shop...and that's where I was introduced to Home Goods. I don't know how I have never been there before but it was wonderful.  

This week is a week of lasts. Matthew graduates THIS Saturday! He is going to be back and forth between Cookeville and home until he starts his job in early January, but everyone else will be going home for Christmas break throughout this week. When they come back in January he will be living back at home and working. Sure he'll come up on the weekends some but it won't be the same. So we are going to try and make the most of it. We usually spend every afternoon/night with everyone at the SOC house and we usually find something to do. This past year and a half up here in Cookeville with Matthew has been so much fun. I only wish I had moved up here sooner. As much as I don't want him to go, I know it's what's best and the next phase in life. It just came so soon. We had our last tacky Christmas sweater party with the SOC last Thursday. It was a lot of fun and there was good food!

    Matthew got his new car! His brother works at Volkswagen so he is able to lease it through him. He put his car on Craigslist and other various websites to sell to locals and had talked with a lot of people. It blew my mind how many people tried to drop the price so low...as in almost $1000 less than he was asking for. He finally had someone look at it the Saturday after Thanksgiving and they bought it. He called the following Monday and his car was ready. What a blessing that was! So proud of him, he deserves his new car and he looks good in it too ;)   This weekend was very calm and relaxed. Matthew had to work a little bit of the TSSAA football tournament that was held here in Cookeville, just for a little bit for his econ class. We hung out at the SOC house most of Friday night. Saturday I wanted to clean my apartment and finish any Christmas decorations. I slept in until 9:00 which is SO unusual for me and then laid around until 10:00, I don't even know who I am anymore. I got up and started cleaning finally and then I heard a knock on my door. Matthew was standing there with a pizza and my favorite drink from Starbucks. He is so thoughtful and sweet!

We ate lunch and started Prison Break...oh my goodness we are hooked. We watched 4 episodes. He left to go to the SOC house and I finished cleaning and then headed over to the SOC house.   I finally hung up the clock Matthew got me a little bit ago. We found it at Essex's for $20! I found a similar one at Hobby Lobby for $80. So we were more than happy with the $20. I also picked up some Christmas placemats!

 

 

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

Catching up // a week of lasts

Short week = fun week

Matthew has been working on a project that was a pretty big deal. He worked on it most of last week and all weekend also while working on two other big projects. All of them were due this past Monday. Poor thing has been hit hard with school work right here at the very end. He graduates in 17 days y'all, 17 days! I had asked Matthew a couple of weeks ago that if he was able to finish his project in time if he would like to help me decorate my apartment for Christmas. I may or may not have told him that I would make sausage balls, too. So he definitely agreed ;)   Sunday night he told me if he finishes his project in time then he wants to go see the new Hunger Game movie. Date night on a Monday night? I'LL TAKE IT! He finished early Monday afternoon and we were able to make the 4:30 showing of Mocking Jay part 1. We only go to the movies between 4:00-5:30 since the tickets are cheaper ;) We really just can't justify paying full price lol. We had planned on coming back to my apartment and making the sausage balls but we realized we wouldn't be able to eat until later because it's a pretty long movie + we still had to make them. So we went to Sam's after. Most people would probably think that we are crazy for going to Sam's on our date night but we honestly love their pizza and love that it's so cheap. AND it is right by the movie theater ;)   We got back to my apartment and I started decorating. I mentioned to Matthew that I wish I had a fireplace in my apartment (I have probably said that a thousand times since I moved out lol). One of the things I really miss about living at home is my fireplace and mantel!! I love having the fire going when it's cold outside and I love decorating the mantel, I just grew up with one so it's weird not having it. I love the look of it, the sound of it and obviously the heat it puts off. Well, I was digging decorations out of a box and started hearing the sound of a fire. I turned around and saw this on my TV. Matthew found some option on my TV that has a fake fire. It seriously sounds like a fire and every couple of minutes "someone" adds more logs to keep it going. I may have teared up a little bit lol. He is SO thoughtful!

 I don't have many decorations nor do I want to buy any so I usually just work with what I have for now. It's plenty for my little one bedroom apartment :)

I bought this 6ft tree last year on sale at Target and love it.

A lot of my decorations are from my parents and my mema. They buy new decorations and I get the old decorations. Really, it's a win-win situation in my book ;)

 

 Here's my living room! Please ignore the ugly stepper by the couch. It's the only place it will fit in my apt lol. I am wanting to make something to add to that closet door and I need to find my tree skirt at home and bring it back up with me.

My end tables are decorated with all things from the Target dollar section from last year.

It was cheap, small and perfect for my apartment :)

and yes, I know that picture is sideways, I have to print out a new one to put in there. That one is working for now though lol.

Last night Matthew had a guys night with his dad and brother. They went to a hockey game in Nashville. From what I heard it was a pretty good game! I stayed in Cookeville because I have to work today. So I did what any girl would do. I had some ME time. It was great.

After I got off work yesterday I went to TJ Maxx and found my Christmas cards and a cute sweater to wear for Thanksgiving. After that I headed to my apt for the night. I got into the most comfiest clothes and cleaned a little, made dinner and caught up on my show. I absolutely LOVE the show Revenge but haven't been able to watch any of this season. One of my friends let me borrow her Hulu account so I could catch up on it. So from about 5:00 yesterday afternoon to about 11:30 last night I watched Revenge. I caught up and finally know what's going on!

While I watched Revenge I worked on my Christmas cards!! I always wait until the last minute to send them out and then they get there late so I am determined to get them sent out on December 1st this year!

At 3:30 today I am homeward bound! So so excited to be home until Sunday. We get Thursday and Friday off and I am so grateful for that.

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

Short week = fun week