Lights, Lights, and more Lights!

It's no secret how much I adore tiny white lights, especially on Christmas trees. I heard once that the ratio of height to lights is supposed to be one strand for every foot of tree. Unfortunately, I must disagree. We got a 6-7 foot tree this year and that would mean only 600-700 lights=NOT GOOD ENOUGH! Care to guess how many lights are adorning our sparkling beaut this year?

And the winner is...SIXTEEN HUNDRED!!!

Whoop!

Aim

Stripey Stripes

I'm obsessed with stripes. 

I've enlisted Quiddie to go on my current stripe mission with me tomorrow and I'm uber excited about it! We are going to pick up this:

Meet the Eikor throw from Ikea. It's lightweight, gorgeous and the best part? It's $19.99 people!!!

Holla!

Aim

Living Room Upgrade

Blane and I have had this rug in our living room ever since we moved into our house.

We loved the color and how it softened the room with its fluffy presence. Unfortunately, it was also the source of a never-ending stream of dust bunnies that somehow wafted off of it every. single. day. The rug fibers were long and matted and no amount of vacuuming could get that rug clean! It was aggravating to say the least. 

So with baby incoming in less than a couple months, we were on the prowl for a rug replacement. The qualifications were simple: no long, shaggy hairs; a darker color better to hide spills and baby stains; at least an 8x11' size and this all had to be found at a decent price.

From several design blogs that I peruse, I found an online rug source: Rugs USA. Their quality and customer service seemed to be good and I liked that they had customer reviews for a lot of their rugs. I signed up to receive their e-mails and over the course of a few weeks I looked and stalked out a few rugs that caught my eye. Over the Memorial Day weekend, I received an e-mail from Rugs USA announcing a big 80% off sale that weekend only. 

So we dove in and purchased this new guy. (Hi Mom :)

We love it. It fits our space (check), is made of wool so no straggly hairs (check), and it's a charcoal grey color (check). The best part was that it was listed for a whopping $1100 and we got it for under $250-Score!!! That's a bargain for a big 8'x11' rug for those of you unfamiliar with the world of home decor :).

The best part is that our new rug looks fabulous with pink peonies. Did I mention that requirement too? :D 

Happy Tuesday!

Aim

Nursery 1.3

Nursery big item #3 has arrived!!!

Yesterday, J and I were home to welcome our newest (and last big purchase) item to the nursery. Drumroll please...

Welcome to our glider chair! It looks exactly like this picture (because I chose the all white slipcover) so what you're seeing is what we got. The scale of it is humongous. It's the biggest item in the room now, easily. J and I laughed but we both agreed that it's also going to be one of the most used and therefore, the "bigness" of it is a necessity since it is so comfortable.

Here it is in our nursery! (excuse the wrinkled slipcovers-J and I quickly remedied that issue with our handy dandy steamer) I'm not sure if you can tell how huge it is from this shot, but I invite you to come over and see it for yourself...maybe curl up in it for a nap or to read a good book. Mmmm....sounds delicious doesn't it? :)

Now on to the final touches, a tweak or two and some little details. Stay tuned!

Aim

December, D.Fir+Carrie

Today is December First. The official start of the Christmas season. I love Christmas. I love the smell of trees, the lights, the cold weather, the candles, the celebrations, the birth of Jesus.

The day after Thanksgiving marks the first day of decorating for me and my family. It always has, always will. We don't cheat Thanksgiving around here like all these big name stores that bust out their holiday decor in August. No way Jose. A shout out to Nordstrom for waiting to put their Christmas decor up until the Black Friday as well. They had a sign and everything about respecting Thanksgiving. Wish I had a photo of it. Kudos Nordies!

So on Black Friday, while the rest of the world was recovering from shopping with the masses at insane hours, Blane and I were at Home Depot, picking out our first Christmas tree. We went prepared, with gloves and knife in hand, because we have learned from past experience that if one does not have these tools, then the buying-the-tree business is a lot more difficult than it needs to be. 

I love my husband. One of the reasons is because he goes along with what is important to me. No, we didn't buy the first tree that he opened for me; nor did we buy the second, or the third. I know it's not the most fun thing he's ever done, and it gets monotonous, but he lets me do my tree thing and continually opens tree after tree, shaking them down until we find "the one." 

This year's tree is a winner! We always go with a Douglas Fir (because anyone who really knows tree decorating knows that the firs are the best for hanging lights and ornaments) because that's what J and I always grew up getting. It's not Christmas without a D. Fir!

Meliss and J were on hand as we brought her home, made a space in our living room and figured out the exact tilt that she needed to be in the tree stand. Important matters at hand-we take tree setting up seriously.

Our tree has affectionately been named "Carrie" by Blane. And yes, he named her after Carrie Underwood. I don't know what to tell you-at least he took an interest in our tree right? :D

1500 lights (Yes, you read that right-we have over one thousand lights on this baby and she's only 6-7' tall. The general rule is 100 lights per foot so technically we only needed to put 700 lights on the tree but by the time I finished putting the lights on we had double that number-it looks ah-maz-ing!!!), one $5 garland (also from Home Depot-steal!), a handful of candles, our stockings and some ornaments later Christmas had officially come to our house. :)

I am beyond excited to celebrate my favorite season with my new husband in our new home. I feel so blessed! As we all enter December today, I hope that we all will think to spread some Christmas cheer~and some Christ!~with those we encounter this season.

Merry Christmas!

Aim

P.S. Again, my apologies on the lack of pics in this post. This time my blackberry has failed me and it has somehow stopped e-mailing my pics even though it says that they have gone through :(
Come over and see the tree in person instead!