Pathological picture taker.....

This Christmas I became the proud owner of this fabulous Nikon Coolpix S70 camera.

I was already a pathological picture taker before, but now I'm not sure if anyone will be able to pry this little red beauty out of my fingers for quite awhile. I have been dreaming for a long time about a Canon Rebel XTi, but this will certainly do for now :) It has far more features than I thought, and it allows me to have the control that I was always looking for. You can certainly expect even more pictures to show up in my wee little space here...so get ready!

I have been so enjoying this break from work, loving on my friends that have come from all around the country, loving on my husband who also has the same break from work (we are lucky ducks!), loving on all of the beautiful little babies that surround us, loving having the time to do anything or nothing at all.....

We all had a lovely dinner out at the Northstar Cafe the other night and then brought the group back to our house to enjoy some wine, leftover christmas goodies, and an impromptu jam session. This group of people all together certainly brings out the music in me. My heart was so filled to the brim being surrounding by such beautiful souls...

Happy life....

I am enjoying a wonderful week and a half break from work and loving every second. It all began wednesday when I picked up Tim and Erika from the airport and had a beautiful Rootdown family christmas gathering. It is so rare these days that we have all of these amazing friends in one room. It is one reason that the holidays are so wonderful....it truly brings people together again.

{Erika, myself, Michelle, and baby Juniper}

Christmas Eve was time in Cincinnati with my family. My mom's house is always so gorgeously decorated for every season. Christmas is no exception. In fact...it is her favorite time to decorate. Dad helps her put up the tree, and then she pretty much goes nuts after that.

And of course mom made beautiful and delicious goodies galore....

{mini cheesecakes and sugar cookies}

{kiffles, rugola, lebchuchen...}

{coconut cake}

{opening gifts on christmas eve}

On Christmas morning, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with my family before making the drive back to Columbus to spend the rest of the day with Z's family. Instead of a white christmas, we had lots of rain. But it was still a beautiful day.

Now, I am off to enjoy the rest of this wonderful break, on this snowy day, with these beautiful friends that are visiting. I am a very happy girl with very few responsibilities this week :)

Peace and Joy.....

I finally finished my last Christmas craft project...a painting for my sister. She is a lover of reggae music to the extreme, and Ziggy Marley is one of her absolute favorites. The words are lyrics off of one of his most recent albums. Dragonfly's are also one of her favorite things. So put the two together, and she's a happy girl :)

"Dragonfly, I see you look at me with your beautiful eyes...

You must be wonderin', what type of creature am I?"

-ZM-

Well, I just have this last day of work, and then a wonderful Rootdown family reunion this evening after I pick up Tim and Erika from the airport. Then it will be off to Cincinnati tomorrow for Z and I to hang out with my family, and then back to Columbus on Christmas Day. Busy...but I would not have it any other way.

Wishing you all a beautiful and joyous holiday!!

Welcome....

I just wanted to share this wonderful gift we received last night from our friends Philip and Rebecca. Phil does a lot of wood work (as a hobby) and his soon-to-be wife did the beautiful painting. I absolutely adore this beautiful sign, and for the moment, we have chosen to display it in our living room rather than on the front door so that we can look at it many times a day. I love how rustic it is, and it really fits in the room perfectly. We are blessed with so many creative and talented friends.

Only 2 more days left of work before a fabulous week and a half long break. I am so excited to spend that time with friends and family that I could just burst! :)

Tis the Season....

The holiday is so quickly approaching...I can hardly believe it! Part of me is screaming "come on and get here already!"..while another part of me is screaming "hold on...i'm not ready yet!" In any case...Christmas always brings out my inner child and I get giddy with excitement about all of the festivities to come! I feel so blessed to have a loving family to go home to every year, and I pray each and every day for those who are not so lucky. I am excited that my bestie, Erika...and many other dear friends will soon be here. I am feeling blessed to be spending my first "married" Christmas with my adoring husband. We are blessed with a roof over our heads, food on the table, and jobs that we love. So much to be thankful for...how could I possibly even begin to list it all here? 

While I still have a few last minute gifts to gather over the weekend, most are wrapped and sitting patiently under the tree. I wish I never had to take the tree down....I just love the smell of pine that takes over the house, and the overall feeling it gives me when it's all lit up and twinkling away.

Inspired by miss Lori over at Elvie Studio, I wanted to share a few of my favorite ornaments that adorn our tree....

{A handmade ornament by our talented and artistic friend, Kara. The other side has a

footprint of their baby girl, Zora from right after she was born. Creative and beautiful.}

{A wedding cake ornament given to us last Christmas by my mom so that

we could put in on our first "married" tree}

{This one is from the trip we took to the Bahamas a couple of years ago with

Z's family. The trip was in celebration of the finish of his cancer treatments.}

{Of course, I have a plethora of ladybug ornaments that have been

given to me over the years. A girl can never have enough ladybugs!}

{I collect Willow Tree figurines, and I gave this ornament to Z on the last

day of his treatments as a reminder of his beautiful child-like spirit,

and a testament to his heart of gold}

So many stories and memories rest in the tree every year, and our collection is truly only beginning...

Music to my ears...

So, the very next day after I wrote my last blog post griping about the frustration of painting the craft room, I came home from work to find that Z (and a friend) had finished the rest of the paint job (2nd coat) for me. He said he did not want me to have to go without my craft space for one more day. A million more points to him. What a guy! I was just so elated to see the walls covered in dazzling bright yellow. It really made me smile. But...we have yet to actually move all of the furniture and things back into the room. I am figuring out how I want to place everything this time around so that I can get maximum use of the space. This will hopefully happen today, and as soon as it does I will finally put those before and after pictures up!

Yesterday was a lovely and relaxing day. I slept in a bit, and then went to meet my friend Kathy for a deeeelicious brunch at the Zen Cha Tea Salon. I ordered Indian masala spiced waffles, with fresh whipped cream, and nutty carmelized banana's. Oh my. Heaven! For my tea selection, I chose the Safari blend which was infused with lots of yummy fruits and a touch of cappucino! Oh my.

Then we walked around a couple of vintage shops and the North Market looking for a few holiday gifts. Then in the evening, I was off to sing with a friend's jazz band for his 30th birthday celebration (he is the one playing the accordian). It is the same band I sang with on valentines day this year, and so we just did a couple of songs that we had done then. I sang "At Last" by Etta James and "Black Coffee" as performed by Ella Fitzgerald. Such a blast! I get up on that stage and get that microphone in my hand and I just feel like a different version of myself. My nerves melt away almost instantly and I feel incredibly comfortable and happy. I wish I would have been able to do 20 more songs. I got so many amazing compliments from people and it just really makes my soul smile to know that people have connected with my singing.

I spend so much time worrying about the condition of my voice (because it tends to just go in and out sometimes), but then I just have these moments where I realize that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Getting up there with a microphone (and perhaps a guitar) and just letting my soul shine.

There were 3 more bands that performed after the Boki Quartet and 2 of them were lead by these incredible strong women musicians. I just felt this wave of envy and inspiration come over me. It made we want to just grab my guitar and a tamborine and just have at it. They perform with absolutely no inhibitions. Such strength and confidence. and it is amazing what that can do to a crowd. It's really powerful. I see live music all the time, but for some reason this really just hit me like a ton of bricks. This need to let all of my fears go.

So, today...to round out the weekend, Z and I spent a lazy morning at home before making a trip to the grocery store. And then we spent this evening with some friends at the Zoo Light display at the Columbus Zoo. It was really beautiful, and perfect weather. All in all....a lovely weekend.

Oh...and I must mention that I won my very first blog giveaway over at Graceful Hope! I was very excited :)If you have not visited her yet....you definitely need to head on over. Abigail's stories and pictures are just so beautiful and inspiring...

Craft room pictures to come soon...I promise!

Out of sorts.....

It is a terribly cold and winnnnndy day in Ohio! My porch chairs were strewn all over the driveway this morning, the wreath on the front door was starting to unravel and was quickly brought inside, and more siding has peeled off of the side of the house where it was starting to come off already. I just pray that our brand new roof stands the test! We needed a new roof in the first place due to the damage from the insane windstorm we had last year. Ohio....you and your weather are just crazy.

A craft room update:

I woke up early on Saturday morning and moved everything out of the room into the empty room across the hall. I never realized how much stuff I had jam packed in there until I had to move it all out! Whew! So I got my drop cloths all laid out, and the paint brushes were all ready to go. I went to work getting the walls covered in tinted yellow primer. Since the walls were such a dark color, the guy at Home Depot said it would help to have the tinted primer so the dark color wouldn't peek through later. After the primer was finally finished (with the help of my wonderful husband who does paint work on the side sometimes...he really knows what he's doing), we waited for it to dry to decide if we were going to start with the actual paint yet. It was evening already, and very dark and cold outside and the motivation quickly slipped out of my body as I snuggled up on the couch with husband and dog. But a second wind eventually came as I really wanted to just get the project finished so I could adore my new yellow walls in their final state. So I poured out the yellow paint, and started on the trim. Hmph. This was a lot harder than I thought. The primer was easy because you don't have to be so meticulous about it. But the actual paint proved to not want to cover easily and became quickly frustrating. I had painted most of the rooms in my house when we first moved in, so why was this so difficult all of the sudden? Zach came to help rescue me from my temporary insanity and discovered that this paint was not of very high quality as it was super drippy. We decided to just put down the paint brushes for the night.

So on Sunday, I left the project alone and opted for holiday shopping with my brother.

Then on Monday, by the time I came home from work that evening, Zach had already finished an entire coat of the yellow paint. A million points for him. Unfortunately, we realized the room would indeed need a second coat which meant we would have to go buy another gallon since we didn't have enough left. So, as of now...we have not bought that 2nd gallon yet and the room remains unfinished. But the plan is to finish it off this weekend. We'll get there...slowly but surely. Let's just say I don't think I have a career in house painting anywhere in my future :)

Baby, it's cold outside....

...and this picture reminds me of warm summer days...making music with friends. Oh, how I am already longing for days of sunshine and long flowing skirts....and it is only the beginning of December!

Our new roof will be finished in the morning, and tomorrow also begins the great craft room makeover! I bought the loveliest shade of yellow..(actually *dazzling daffodil*) and cannot wait to brighten that space up!

Green with Envy....

Well...we are {almost} out of limbo. We are officially buying the house we have already called home for over 2 years now. It sure does need a lot of TLC though. I am finding myself green with house/decorating envy more and more these days. I must stop my little fingers from visiting so many design blogs as it is making my green turn even greener! I get frustrated because I am such a creative and artistic person at heart, so why can I cannot seem to get it to translate into my home decorating?! Hmmm...a dilemma indeed! Unfortunately, money is an issue to tackle some of the larger projects (replacing grimy, drafty, old windows...and things of that nature), but I feel as though I should be able to summon my creative spirit to decorate on a dime. Perhaps I have bombarded myself with far too many ideas and it's making me feel a bit stuck. Yes...that must be it.

Well, the good news is that we had a contractor and an a guy from the insurance company come a few weeks ago, and we found out they will be covering $15,000 worth of repairs because they deemed it was all damage from the terrible windstorm last year, and apparently people are still making claims. Great news, indeed! This is when we decided we would actually buy the house. Starting Friday, we will be getting a brand spankin' new roof, a new awning on the side of the house (the one that fell off after the windstorm and totalled my car that was parked underneath it in the driveway...), new gutters, a partly new roof on the garage, and then they will also be fixing the gnarly water damage in our dining room as a result of having a shoddy roof and no gutters for awhile. Yes, our house in in major need of some TLC and this is all going to be a great and welcomed start!

Soon after all of that is finished, we will be getting a new furnace and some other smaller fixes around the house that need taken care of. These things are getting worked into the price of the house. When all is said and done...we will still be paying less per month than we are paying in rent at the moment. Score.

As for the decorating....I feel as if we deserve a home that feels more like a sanctuary. A home that better reflects our funky style. A home that celebrates our eclectic tastes. A home that inspires us. I just need to remember that it all comes one step at a time and we can make it happen for very little money as long as we are smart and creative about it. So, I am thinking about starting this weekend on the craft room. It could definitely use a new cheery paint color and some fun bright curtains. Perhaps an old window refashioned into a chalkboard.

Perhaps a rug, and some built in shelves. Of course...this weekend I'll probably only get as far as the painting, but hey it's a start!

Would you like to see some of the sites that have brought on my insane design envy?

(If they can do it, so can I....right?!)

Young House Love

Desire to Inspire

Lake Jane

Nesting Place

My Marrakesh

There are even more where those came from...but you get the idea :)

Spreading the cheer...

The first round of holiday cards should be ready go out by tomorrow....

I love making greeting cards. I love adding those special personal touches that let the person know that you are truly thinking about them and hope that what you send is making them smile. Hoping it makes their day a little bit brighter. I usually do some sort of a theme...but this year I kind of just went for a mish mash of ideas. I tore up a lot of old Christmas cards that I had saved and used pieces to make them into new ones. Recycling of sorts. Some I just made completely from scratch.

It's really all about spreading the cheer.....