Your state = how happy you are?!

http://www.livescience.com/culture/091217-happy-state-list.html

Check out the link above I saw on a blog friend's blog! Apparently your state dictates your well being, lol. I live in VA - we are #28, so not too bad, but not great. Where are you? I'd love to hear from you!

Big master bath reveal!!

Ok, so I know it's been a WHILE since I posted the sneak peek of the Master Bath. We had a little bit of technical difficulty with the over toilet storage nook we got from Overstock (read: we were missing one of the required parts). Once we finally got the part, it took the hubbs a little while to actually get around to putting it together. Enough about the hold up - it's FINALLY done...yippie. I know you have all been anxiously the big reveal (or maybe that's just in my mind?), so here are a few reminders of the before:

It wasn't bad, it was just plain. I really, really loved my shower curtain, but since we took everything out of the bathroom while we were redoing it, I washed it & guess what? I faded my like $50 shower curtain - FAIL. So I looked around online & finally found one I liked from Kohls. And without further adieu, I give you the afters:

 

We painted the room in Granite Dust by Valspar & re-painted the trim white, replaced the old faucets, changed the outlet & register covers, changed the knobs on the doors (from brass to brushed nickel), framed the mirror, painted the vanity & added knobs to the cabinet doors, changed the lighting fixture.

Changed out the shower curtain, added a new double towel bar, changed out the robe hook on the back of the door (from brass to silver) & added the inspirational quote art on the wall.

Put up the over toilet storage unit & replaced the toilet paper roll holder.

Close up of the detail on the candle on the storage unit shelf - it has changeable screens for the different seasons, so right now I have the winter screen on it!

What do you think? Do you like it? I think it looks awesome. I love it! It is a close second as my favorite room in the house to the Master Bedroom!! I do think that I am going to move the inspirational quote wall art over the storage unit & add floating shelves on the wall it's currently on, then put knick knacks & framed art/photos on the shelves. And I will mostly cover the glass doors on the storage unit with frosted glass stick on's you can get from hardware stores. Besides those two things - it's done & I'm so happy. Next up is the mancave (basement), and that is going to take a while, b/c the hubbs wants A LOT & it's gonna cost $$. So yeah, definitely not doing much more than painting until after the new year.

On an unrelated note, can you believe Christmas is next week?!?!? Whaaaa. Again, how did the time fly by so quickly. We are staying around here for the holidays, no big plans yet...in fact, we may be having Chinese food for Christmas dinner, lol. Oh & last but definitely not least, today is the hubbs & I are celebrating our 7 year dating anniversary today! How did we celebrate you ask? We went to happy hour, lol. Hubby says now that we are married, we can't celebrate this anniversary too big (if at all)!

Conclusion of the table runner saga...

So, IDK if you remember the saga of my monogrammed table runner?! Well, I ended up canceling my order with SD Gifts & they issued me a full refund. The lady even said I will still receive my order, but yeah...still.have.not.received.it. I digress. I got over the fact that they have horrible customer service & just ordered the Linden Street Hemstitch Table Runner in white from JCP. And guess what? They monogrammed it & shipped it two days later (ahem, SD Gifts) & it was on sale & I had a $10 off coupon, so I got it for HALF the price of the other table runner, including shipping!

I am sooo happy we finally got the runner (sorry it's still wrinkled in these pics - I just wanted to see how it looked on the table...I promise I will iron it ASAP), b/c now I can debut my DIY Centerpiece:

 

 

(please excuse the disorder of my kitchen in the background - EMBARRASSING! :o/)

This was my inspiration from BHG:

I followed these directions on the BHG website & it was pretty easy! I got the ribbon ($3.99 on sale), boxes  (about $1.99-$3.99) depending on the size & the scrapbook paper from Michaels, and got the cake platter from HomeGoods for $16! Making the bow stay how I wanted it was the hardest part of this project, but it was worth the effort - I think it makes my table look so festive & pretty!

I also added somegingerbread men towels (also from HomeGoods) for just a touch more Christmas int he room!

 

What do you think of my DIY  centerpiece? Does it even look remotely close to the BHG version?! Hope you like it & try it out - it's really easy!

Linking Up to the DIY Show Off Holiday Highlights blog party & Somewhat Simple's Strut Your Stuff Thursday!

Pretty homemade gift tags!

If you are anything like me, you probably have lots of these laying around your house:

Greeting cards from past Christmases, birthdays, house warmings, engagement/bridal showers,  graduations, wedding, etc. They just pile up & pile up! So, one day, while wasting time at work during a break at work, I asked the talented ladies on the D&R Board on The Nest, I asked what people did with their old greeting cards...and one Nestie said she made them into homemade gift tags. I thought that was an excellent idea, so when wrapping up gifts for Christmas this year, I got out my tools to make the tags.

Old greeting cards (I used only the part that was not written on), a hole punch, ribbon (not pictured) & decorative scissors.

Then, I just cut out the tags, hole punched them & cut a piece of ribbon to use to attach the tag to the gifts. I tried to mix up the colors a bit to make the gifts look original. Then I made out the tag, taped the ribbon to the wrapped gift & then put a bow on top to hide the taped ribbon. Look at a few of the gifts I wrapped (click any photo to enlarge):

 

 

And all together now:

I they they look wonderful & just like my wishing jar, they were The Dennifer's favorite price - FREE!! Thank you Nestie for giving me such a cute, creative & thrifty idea, I am going to do this from now on with any gift I give & it's something my future children will hopefully be able to do with me!

Try this out, you will get addicted! Linking this project up to Frugalicious Friday over at Finding Fabulous & hopefully I win the awesome giveaway being sponsored by Embellished Bayou:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!! LOTS of pics!

Woot! My favorite holiday of the year is in less than 3 weeks & lay an eye on what we had today:

Snow, snow, snow & lots of it! Woo hoo...Dizz loves snow, lol. He even likes to dig his nose in it & try to bite the snow & catch it in his mouth. He's my fat baby! :o)

We ended up getting more than 5 inches (good thing I went grocery shopping yesterday)! Unfortunately, it made the cancellation of my dinner plans with my BFF, who recently gave birth, sorta out of the question, although I know Stella (my SUV) coulda made it! The hubbs wasn't having it & my friend wasn't really feeling it either. :o(  But the good news is, I got sooo much Christmas decorating & present wrapping done, yay! Here are a few photos of all my hard work from today - this all goes to show that being snowed in is sometimes a GOOD thing!

Front exterior - there are candle lights in each of the windows in the front of the house, but I couldn't get them all in this pic & I was freezin' my booty off!

My DIY wreath...I very happy with the way it came out! And the pine cones are cinnamon scented, so they make right outside the front door smell amazing!

We had to rearrange our furniture to fit the tree - I had reservations @ 1st, but now I'm lovin' the new set up! Oh & I'll be changing out the orange pillows & curtains soon - got the okay from the hubbs yesterday!

Our TREE!! Yipee...we bought a new one this year (it's artificial, but a nice one versus our old cheapo Walmart one from the previous few years)

And all lit up (sorry for the blurriness...I still need to figure out my camera)! We went with a red, green & silver color scheme with clear lights & a white tree skirt with silver detail. I LOVE the way it turned out.

 

 

My coffee table centerpiece lanterns (along with close ups), also inspired by this PB beaut! The center one I filled with pine cones & faux pine tree trimmings & the other two are filled with Pier One red & silver jingle bells.

Entryway table decor! Hubby even thought of the idea with clear lights being draped on the frames, which gave the table that little something extra - I love that man! :o)

Was that enough pics for you?! I told you we (meaning me) got a lot done today. I won't show you the dining room & kitchen just yet, they are not quite done.  Mainly because I ordered this lovely linen hemstitch table runner embroidered with our last initial from Simply Done Gifts on NOVEMBER 14th & it's STILL.NOT.HERE!!! And, I'm sorry, I have to put them out there b/c I am beyond flustered annoyed with them. I sent several messages, which were finally answered this past Wednesday, giving me some BS excuse about having problems with the embroidery & promising that they would be shipping out my table runner that night & that I would receive shipping information later that day. Well, I never did & I was trying to be patient with them, so I didn't email the lady again that day. Well, after finishing up my DR table centerpiece today, it really angered me that my table wasn't completely done b/c of this hang up with my order. So today I sent another email...it was not very nice. I basically told them that I would never order from them again & I would tell everyone I know not to order from the either & that I was very dissatisfied with their company. I told them that this was unprofessional & if I did not receive word that my order was shipped via FedEx overnight delivery at no charge to me by Moday, then I would order my table runner from a more reputable company. I also told them that I would like a full, or at a minimum, a partial refund of my money. I was professional in my message & used a polite tone, but I got the idea across that I was not happy & far from impressed! Whew. So, in getting to my point...I will post these two rooms when my DR table is complete with my table runner. So here is my PSA - never order from this company - they are horrible with order processing & customer service. Who LIES to their customers?!  Ugh.

Sorry for the rant, but REALLYpeople?! Stay tuned for a post soon about my DIY gift tags on hubby's gifts & our Master Bath reveal - it's finally done!!! Just needs a quick cleaning for the big reveal. Hopefully, I will be able to post it tomorrow!  

Linking Up to the DIY Show Off Holiday Highlights blog party!

Is it REALLY Dec. 1st already?!

Wowza...this year has literally FLOWN by! I guess we have had soo much going on what with the wedding preperation, the wedding itself, honeymoon, big time house D&R projects, buying me a new car, etc., etc. I can't believe there is less than 30 days till Christmas & just about a month till 2010! Can we pump the breaks please?!

Usually I would have had the house all decorated by now, but this past weekend of hosting Thanksgiving made me very very lazy! We still have yet to buy a tree - trying to convince the hubbs to go pick up one today! We originally planned to go with a fresh tree this year, but I just think we are going to purchase a nicer artificial now...it'll just be easier with Dizzle & everything. I bought a bunch of blue bulbs to make a bulb wreath, but then decided against doing it because it'll seriously impede the storm door from shutting, so I was planning on using them to decorate the tree. But, I'm doing mostly whites, reds & silvers thru out the decor for the house, so, on second thought, I may try to see if Walmart will let me exchange those blue bulbs for red or silver (I don't think I have the receipt anymore)! I did get over to Michael's this past weekend though & bought some stuff to make a DIY wreath for our front door & bought some goodies to decorate the rest of the house too!

First up on my list of things to get done around the house - finish my wreath. I really, really tried finishing it yesterday, but by the time I completely decided on what I wanted to do, I had to get dinner started, then I lounged out for an hour or so watching TV, then did a little work on the wreath, but got too tired to continue, so I plan on finishing it today after work. I got my loose inspiration for the wreath from this PB beaut:

I say "loose" inspiration b/c mine will not look much like this except the fact that it's faux pine with bulbs. It does not have a name plate, does not have as many bulbs as this one (due to the aforementioned storm door issue) & I added in a few pine cones & a big red bow. Hopefully it turns out okay!

Second on the list - my living room table. It had a nice fall-y colored candy dish with a bunch of candy left over from Halloween, but I took that off & add three of these cute Ikea lanterns:

I got them in white & added some red & silver jingle bells to two of them & the other I added little teeny pine cones & some faux pine twigs from our our Christmas tree (that is getting thrown out today). I may add some of the red tea light holders I bought from Ikea as well.

For the entryway table, which is actually between the LR & DR, I plan on doing something similar to this:

I already have the frames, paper & berry trim, so I just need to put it all together. Again, something I plan on working on/having done sometime between tonight & tomorrow.

I am going to add some faux white poinsettias to the Pier One vase that is displayed on top of our kitchen cabinets. And speaking of Pier One - I stopped in there on Black Friday & bought some cute Santa & snow man figurines & put those up on the fireplace mantle in the basement. And finally, I added some cute gingerbread man dish towels to hang from the oven in the kitchen.

So, that's about it - hopefully I will have some pictures of *completed* projects to share in the next day or two! And I still have to get pmb ALL of my Christmas shopping done! Most wonderful time of year right?!!

Man oh man...Thanksgiving is over!

Wow. That's all I can say is wow. Thanksgiving is over - actually it was over hmmm, 3 days ago. I apologize for JUST now getting around to writing this post, but I have been extremely busy for several reasons...mainly I was cleaning & cooking non-stop until Thursday night at about 10:30pm. I am happy to report that I got all of the things on my Thanksgiving to do list done by the time the big day rolled around, got all the food cooked. And everything was huge success!

My husband's family arrived on Thursday morning about 9:30am & I hadn't started cooking the hot food yet, but I was up soooooo late on Wednesday night finishing up the MBath cleaning & general house cleaning, then the cooking of the sweet potato pie, potato salad & cranberry sauce, so I decided a little sleep in time was in order. Anyways, I got started on that stuff shortly after they left to go check in to their hotel & chill out until it was time for dinner, which I said would be served at 4pm. Guess what?!?! Everything was DONE by 4pm! That never happens in the House of Dennifer! I'm usually a little behind, so that alone makes me very happy. Second thing that makes me happy: everyone LOVED all the food I made, yay!! I was hoping everything would turn out great & I guess it did! Woot. Now, on to my holiday planning/shopping/decorating - much to the chagrin of my hubby! I was at Michaels for about an hour today stocking up on some great crafty stuff for my holiday decor! Inspiration pics coming soon to a blog near you. :o)

The CRAZIEST part of this whole weekend though....Black Friday. Yep, that's right - we braved the stores (well, store) & got my hubby his new lova:

Yep...we are now the proud owners of this lovely new 40" flat screen. The hubbs was soo happy to finally get a TV for his man cave (the basement). It was seriously one of the the craziest things I think I have ever done! We literally got to the Target parking lot @ 11:10pm. We were the only ones there, but more people started showing up by 1am & so at 1:30am, we got out of my warm, comfy Stella (my *new* SUV) & went to sit on the cold pavement in front of Target. It is probably the only thing we will be purchasing for down there for a while. And I also scored a digital photo frame for $30, so it worked out for both of us!

In other news, the master bath is DONE, but we have had a little hold up with the over toilet storage unit - a bag of dowels we needed are missing (& HD/Lowes don't carry the size we need), so we had to contact Overstock for the replacements - takes 2 business days for a response...still waiting to hear back. So, once we figure out everything with that, then the hubbs will put it up & I will finally be able to post some after pics! Worth.the.wait...believe me. My husband is summoning me upstairs since we have to be up in 5 hours for work tomorrow - ugh...the end of long weekends SUCK.