Bake it. Create it. Love it.: Christmas

Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Thursday, January 9, 2014

A Bathroom for Christmas

So I mentioned last week that one of my favorite things about Christmas this year was the bathroom remodel that we gave my mom for her gift.

The bathroom turned out even more beautiful than I possibly imagined. And for once, one of our projects turned out just as easy as it was supposed to. We painted the room while we were home for Thanksgiving, (the paint job was a belated Mother's Day gift), so everything else only took a day, and one trip to Lowes & one trip to Home Depot to finish.

This is a quick glance at what we started with. Granted, the spackle wasn't there when mom bought her house. We did that before we painted in November. Nothing was in bad shape, it just needed some updating.

The finished bathroom turned out exactly how I hoped. Even before we finished it, I couldn't help but post this photo on Instagram.

I hated mom's shower curtain rod since it was spring loaded. I wanted one that screwed into the wall. So, we replaced that with one from Lowe's for about $13.

The shower curtain (the curtain was on clearance here in my local store), towels, & soap dispenser were from Target. The rug was from my favorite store in the worlds, Homegoods.

My favorite addition to the bathroom was the framed watercolors. Those were free printables from Young House Love that Sherry & Clara painted in honor of an aunt that had passed away. I loved incorporating those into the room. Mother-daughter art work for a gift to a mother from her daughter. They were framed with Ribba frames from Ikea. Graham even matted them himself.

The most expensive change we made was the countertop, which was annoying. We had planned to order a laminate countertop from Lowe's like the one we ordered for our bathroom remodel. In Arkansas, the countertop cost us about $90. The Lowe's here wanted to charge us $221. RIDICULOUS. So, we bought the basic white one from Home Depot.

I also hated the faucet. Ugly, chrome & very builder basic. So, we definitely replaced that with a new one from Lowe's. Super inexpensive fix, and it made a huge difference. The other easy, inexpensive switch we made was switching out the hardware on the vanity (which we painted, instead of replacing and it looks great!). Before it just had knobs, and I hate the look of knobs on doors. So, we replaced them with new stainless handles from Lowe's. It made a huge difference.

My favorite updates that we made were the light fixture & the new mirror. I got the mirror at a GREAT price from Target thanks to coupons & the Cartwheel app. The light fixture was almost free from Lowe's, thanks to Swagbucks.

So... Merry Christmas, mom. Hopefully it still looks beautiful next time we come home =)

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Hope You Had A Very Merry Christmas!

It's my favorite time of the year! Between Christmas, our "anniversary", and New Years Eve, we spend a lot of time in December decorating, baking, having delicious meals and spending a lot of quality time with the people who matter.

And as much as I miss Arkansas, living in Virginia has made the quality time part of that so much easier!

Our Christmas this year was wonderful! Lots of family time, and we received and gave gifts that were loved.

The unseasonal weather kind of put a damper on things for me (it should not be nearly 80 degrees the days leading up to Christmas!!!), but we made the most of it & took Hermione to go see Christmas lights one night.

We were home for two days for Christmas. And we ate. We ate so much. So, so much.

I made the same dessert for both of our families dinners: a white chocolate cheesecake with a cranberry topping. It was completely decadent & delicious.

I didn't take a picture of my 2nd Christmas meal (the one with G's family), but I think it's funny how similar my 1st & 3rd meals are. The first was the one my mom & I made on Christmas Eve & the second was at my cousin's home on Christmas Day. As a child, we always had dinner at my grandmother's house, and we always had the same thing: ham, potato salad, macaroni & cheese, deviled eggs, etc. I found it pretty cool that you can see that tradition in both of our dinners. My grandmother is no longer with us, but I loved that both my cousin & I still do holiday meals the way she did.

Technically, not a holiday meal, but the day after Christmas I met my sweet friend Kelli for lunch at Skyland. LIVERMUSH! Definitely something we both miss not living in NC. It was so great to see her and spend a few hours catching up.

As for the gifts I received... let's just say I'm very, very lucky t have such awesome family & friends. My BFF Britt gave me an adorable dog bone keychain, a locally made candle that smelled AMAZING, an adorable box sign from Primitives by Kathy & chocolate. Another friend, Kelly, gave me a Duck Dynasty cup (as a gag gift...), a beautiful blue pashmina & a ThirtyOne insulated bag. I can't wait to take it to the beach =)

Graham got me the Land's End vest I wanted (funny story, so did his parents =)), the scarf from Paisley I've been coveting & an Etsy giftcard to go towards a camera strap or an iPad case.

Other than the vest, his family also gave us giftcards to Best Buy & PetSmart (although, that was actually to the animals from 'Uncle Garrett'... so cute I could die) and they gave me one of the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks. I already have about ten recipes bookmarked!

My mom's generosity was a little extreme... she gave G & I substantial amounts of money (enough that I was able to finally give in & buy a DSLR!!!), a few sweaters I asked for from Old Navy, an adorable snowflake cake stand and a stocking full of candy =)

I received a lot of amazing stuff, but the gift I was the most excited about was the gift we gave my mom: we're remodeling her bathroom! She moved into her house almost three years ago, but hasn't had the time (or my excellent taste ;) to do much of anything to it. We bought a new light fixture, mirror, counter top, faucet, shower curtain, towels, you name it! We're going to be in town till Saturday and are going to spend a day putting it all together for her. I hope it turns out as beautiful in reality as it is in my head!

I was super excited to send my favorite Arkie, my former boss Frances, a box of cupcakes in jars. I bake cake in jars a lot when Graham is deployed, so I knew these would travel there, and still taste good when they did. She received them quickly & enjoyed them with her family.

The other gift I was excited about were my cute boxes of homemade treats.

Each one contained a cute dishtowel from Homegoods, a jar of homemade strawberry jam, some biscotti & a loaf of cinnamon bread (FYI: If you accidentally leave out two cups of flour, you end up with an equally delicious cinnamon cake...)

I'm still tweaking the recipes, but I'll post them once we're back home next week.

So, I'm leaving you with these adorable pictures of my husband & animals, and my wishes that everyone has a wonderful & safe 2014.

We found that antler while we were out walking. If I could have gotten it to stay on her head, this totally would have been next years Christmas card.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

8 Fabulous Foodie Gifts from Homegoods

Can you believe Christmas is in less than 10 days? CRAZY! This year has gone by so quickly. It doesn't help it's been so crazy for us. Between a bathroom remodel, a kitchen remodel, trying to sell our house, Graham spending two months in Texas, moving to Virginia, a fabulous vacation in Boston & many trips back to Charlotte... Yeah, I'm getting tired just thinking about it all!

Anyways. Back to my point. Christmas is in less than 10 days! I've finished my shopping, but I thought I would help out some of you that haven't finished yet (I know some people haven't even started... my husband for example). Someone tweeted this list of the 50 Worst Foodie Gifts a couple of weeks ago, and I was stunned by some of the ridiculous items featured. As a foodie, I can honestly say nothing on that list appealed to me.

So I decided to spend some time in my absolute FAVORITE store (Homegoods) and put together some gifts that foodies would love! Especially since each of these gift bundles are under $25!

This one is my favorite! It's a gorgeous ceramic serving bowl ($7.99) & I thought this would be a fabulous gift when you fill it with a jar of sauce, a bag of pasta & maybe a jar of spices.

This bundle is just over $20.

I honestly used to feel odd about buying food items from Homegoods/TJ Maxx, until this summer when I bought some spices there. Now I'm obsessed.

My best friend loves to bake, especially at the holidays, and since her little girl is getting older I think this would be great for her (or any mom with young kids). This gift includes a stainless steel mixing bowl filled with cupcake mix, baking cups and these ADORABLE kitchen tools for little ones. If I had children, you better believe I'd have them as my little kitchen assistant and I'd love for us to receive something as cute as this.

This bundle is right at $24.00.

This is less for a foodie & more for the mixologist type, but I really loved these glasses & these infusing bottles. They have different "flavors" for different liquors. Instead of coasters, you could stop by the ABC store and include a small bottle of Vodka (or whichever liquor). Also the two martini glasses are beautiful, and the silver lettering provides the perfect amount of holiday sparkle.

This bundle (as pictured) is just under $24.00.

If your local Homegoods doesn't have these Infusion bottles (they're made by Rokz), you can find them on Amazon.

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I think that is one of the most popular gifts imaginable. Especially for coworkers or neighbors, when you don't want to get too personal. I'd keep it simple with classic white mugs (since they can keep those & use them year round) and then add some interest with a fun coffee blend, and maybe a coordinating syrup & a box of biscotti. I don't drink coffee, but that Christmas blend makes me wish I did!

This bundle is less than $20.

This gift is missing something that Homegoods doesn't sell: a loaf of good bread. But I would love to get this as a gift too! Homegoods has a great selection of oils & vinegars, and of course beautiful cutting boards. I would love to give this pretty bundle as a hostess gift, paired with a loaf of either homemade bread or a loaf from a bakery.

This bundle is just under $23.00.

Graham & I are not coffee drinkers, but we love tea, so we would love this! When I saw this tea pot, I was instantly in love. The lace details are so pretty. I tried to find some mugs that coordinated (again, I'd go for simplicity unless you are very familiar with the recipients decor) and a box of tea that sounded delicious.

This bundle is one of my favorites, and the cheapest at less than $16.00.

Obviously this gift wouldn't be good for an experienced cook (or baker), but it would be great if you have someone just developing an interest in anything culinary related, or maybe getting ready to move out onto their own.

I found a huge Pyrex measuring cup (here's a similar 8 cup one on Amazon), and filled it with some kitchen essentials like KitchenAid measuring cups & spoons, a whisk & a rubber spatula.

This bundle is just under $23.00

And lastly I have a set of four adorable appetizer plates & a beautiful slate serving board. I would absolutely LOVE to give this and a wedge of the recipients favorite fancy cheese. Maybe even include a box of chalk with it, so if they use it as intended (as a cheese board) they could label the different cheeses.

This bundle is just under $21.00.

Hope this helped someone, and I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Oh, and Homegoods didn't pay me or perk me to write this post. During my unemployment I've literally been in the store about three times a week and I never fail to find something amazing there.