Summer As a Feeling

I love Summer.  The heat can be so brutal here in Arizona, but monsoon season is upon us and then come the dwindling days of the tail end of the season.  And then, my friends, Fall comes sweeping in.  I love Summertime for its inherent calmness; I love it for the anticipation I feel for what is to come.

Each season I love to put together these posts full of photos of what a particular season feels like to me.  This Summer I am fully embracing blue and white color palettes, tons of texture, coastal nods, and anything light and breezy.  This is what Summer feels like to me…

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Amber Interiors

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Sarah Bartholomew

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Studio McGee

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Jennifer Robin Interiors

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Jenkins Interiors

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Ginger Barber

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

The Lily Pad Cottage

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Pratt & Larson

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Studio Lifestyle

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Jenny Wolf Interiors

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Erin Gates Design

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

A Thoughtful Place

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Studio Lifestyle

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Jennifer Worts

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Erin Gates Design

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Erin Gates Design

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Architectural Digest

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Annie Selke

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Sims Hilditch

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Mark D. Sikes

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Kara Rosenlund

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Juniper Home

Summer As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Roolee

What does Summer feel like to you?

Welcome to Summer :-)

It’s been a joyful season of growth, opportunity, and real happiness since the start of the New Year.  Not every day has been great, of course, but there is a new peace that I have come to know that I am reveling in.  There has been a slower pace in the projects around the house and even my typical abundant-decorating for each season has come to a pause.  It’s been a wonderful thing to bring out Spring eggs and Summer seashells sparingly this year because I am truly enjoying simpler nods to each season — namely lots of plants that I have been taking really good care of and lots of good texture.

This is the perfect time for nesting rituals that make you feel mindful of the season because they allow you to really experience it!  For me, this can be as simple as tucking away our Limoges china that I pull out each Spring and shining up our Summer glassware.  🙂

Welcome to Summer :-) {Details Blog}

A Sentimental Spring Table Setting

Welcome to Summer :-) {Details Blog}

With all of the fresh fruit in abundance this time of year, I’ve felt inspired to do a little bit of early-morning baking.  This blueberry cake recipe from Ina Garten is delicious and super easy to make — and quick enough for a weekday morning.

Welcome to Summer :-) {Details Blog}

Textural table runners and baskets, happy plants thriving in sunshine, the occasional seashell or two… this is what Summer feels like to me this year.

Welcome to Summer :-) {Details Blog}

This little wreath took no time at all — I just wrapped wire around the starfish and the wreath, tucked the wire in the greenery so that you can’t see it, and called it good.  Our front door makes me so happy.  We recently added some wind chimes and our planter is filled with bright green potato vine that is spilling out in the most graceful way.  I love going outside to give it a little water at the start of my day each morning.

Welcome to Summer :-) {Details Blog}

Welcome to Summer :-) {Details Blog}

So far, there have been lots of Summer snoozes for this guy, too.  I’ve been filling all of his spots with all the cozy textures I can and he seems to love them!

How do you nest for Summer?  What feels like Summer to you?  Let me know in the comments!  🙂

Welcoming Spring

Spring is off to a steady start in our home with amazing new work opportunities, lots of inspiration, a mix of fast and slow pace, and squeezing in as much time together as we can in the midst of all of the business.  We are hanging in there, people!

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I’ve pared down a lot of the decor in our house for now (pretty much since after Christmas) and I am loving having less out.  Usually this time of year I have so many decorations for Spring and I just felt like doing things a lot simpler this year.  I’ve become a plant lady!  We have lots of thriving plants throughout our house now and I don’t know what took me so long!  Flowers die… our plants are ALIVE!

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That fiddle leaf in the corner is fake, by the way.  I’m not that good…yet.  😉 I pull out the Limoges when my Spring mood strikes each year.  An amazing friend of mine gave this to me several years ago and I treasure it so much.  It was her mother’s.  ❤ I don’t take out all service for twelve, and I don’t take out every type of plate or bowl — just the basics.  We like to eat off of the dishes while sitting on the sofa at our coffee table.  I usually light some candles and we eat on our laps.  And with a slipcovered sofa we don’t even have to worry about pasta sauce.  🙂

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The copper pot for our stovetop scents has been put away until Fall, and out comes my Spring teapot.  😉  I’m ready for some fresh dish towels, too.  We’ll see what I find in the coming weeks.  It’s been fun to nest in this way for the season… Not feeling like I need to add eggs to every corner of our house or bunny banners.  I’ve just been decluttering, organizing, puttering…simplifying.

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This guy has my heart.  I love to see him find and enjoy all of the cozy spots around our little house.

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Sniffing the camera.  🙂

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Just a little update…  Wishing you a Happy Easter!

A Bedroom Design Evolution Story

Hi, friends!  How is your Wednesday going?  I’m looking forward to Valentine’s Day tomorrow with my sweetie.  Do you celebrate the day?  We just like to make it a day to remember how grateful we are for one another.  We keep it very simple.

It’s been a hot minute since I shared anything about our bedroom!  I will admit that I have taken a bunch of photos of that space but the lighting in there is so tricky and there has been a time or two that I have had to re-take all of the photos.  Made me a little bit crazy!  But I was determined and I finally have a bedroom update for you today.

A Bedroom Design Evolution Story {Details Blog}

This is the bedroom design we have been enjoying for the past many months.  I have to say…it feels like a dream.  I feel like I constantly have to pinch myself because this is mine.  It’s nothing fancy at all, but it is the prettiest bedroom I have ever had.  Grey and I have lived together for nine years total, and our bedroom was never decorated while we lived in apartments before this.  We lived with his parents for a couple of years while we saved up for this house, so of course our spaces were pretty.  But this is the first bedroom that we have ever had that is all ours that is a true retreat.  You know how it is…  When you’re super young and just starting out, newly married, you don’t have anything!  Rooms get neglected.  And too often that room is your bedroom!  But let’s take a look back at where we started…

A Bedroom Design Evolution Story {Details Blog}

This was how our bedroom looked when we moved in, and it stayed like this for about six months.  Our mattress was just on the ground.  We did not care!  We had a home of our own and I truly wanted to make this space just the way that we wanted so I was willing to wait for the things that I thought were perfect.  A really wise friend of mine advised me to do that, and I’m so glad that I did.  See Grey’s phone charging cord on his side of the bed?  Yes, no nightstands, lol!  We would bring coasters in here and put our water on the floor.  It didn’t matter.  🙂

A Bedroom Design Evolution Story {Details Blog}

In May of 2017, we finally bought a bed.  I blogged about that here.  We bought some pillows, a white duvet cover, a pair of lamps, and some lucite nesting tables.  We hung drapes.  Now we were getting somewhere!  But the lucite nesting tables quickly became a catch-all for clutter (and dust!  oh, the dust!).  The table lamps didn’t feel right to me — they were nowhere near tall enough.  This is when I realized we are rarely happy with things that we buy on impulse because we feel an urge to “finish” something.  It’s always better when things find us.  I bought a quilt that matched the pillows nicely — it became a pretty room.  But I started feeling the urge to make it more of a neutral space — more textural, less of a commitment to a certain color.  So I sold some of the pillows on OfferUp, relocated some of the others, sent my husband off to work with the lucite nesting tables, and we lived with less again.

A Bedroom Design Evolution Story {Details Blog}

These pillows got me excited.  The shaggy grey pillow with silver lurex strands; the hair on hide metallic pillow… they made me smile.  They’re whimsical!  I found the quilt many weeks later on a random trip to HomeGoods.  We bought a pair of vintage nightstands that had been painted and refurbished on OfferUp for $100 — a lucky find.  They are cream-colored and just so lovely.  We switched out the hardware to make them more ‘us.’

A Bedroom Design Evolution Story {Details Blog}

The lamps are huge!  They’re actually buffet lamps and didn’t work out for a client because we found something better for them.  They match perfectly with the fabric on the bed.  🙂  See what I mean about waiting?!  It truly is an evolution.  Hanging above our bed is a print that was in every single apartment and home that my Gramma lived in that I can remember.  It’s a 1920’s-style jazz club scene and there is a swanky lady by a piano — she always told me that when she died, she would be that lady in the picture, and that she wanted me to have it.  I treasure it so much!

A Bedroom Design Evolution Story {Details Blog}

I get so much joy seeing how much this little guy loves this room so much, too.  It makes me feel like we did good.  This is where he hangs out most of the day.  He loves to bury his face in the covers; I love to wrap him up in the furry “blankie.”

We don’t have anything on the walls except for the print above our bed.  Hopefully someday some art will find me!  I’m not someone who likes to go and seek out art for our home.  Our spaces are all pretty eclectic and I like it that way.  Let go and let things find you!  If there’s one thing I’ve learned throughout the process of furnishing and decorating our home, it’s that I am always happier and completely content with how a space looks when I wait for the perfect thing.  100% of the time.  Let your home be an evolution and you will always enjoy the process of creating it.

A Bedroom Design Evolution Story {Details Blog}

Simple Winter Gathering

Good morning, friends!  I am so excited to have started a new Instagram account just for the blog.  This is going to be fun!  I’m putting my personal Instagram to rest (more on that here) in order to focus on creating more original content and pursuing my actual dreams and goals — not just watching everyone else achieve theirs!  There’s enough success to go around for everyone, and I am venturing out to find mine.  Thanks for being along for the ride.  🙂  Oh, and my new Instagram can be found here.

We had my parents over for a little winter dinner get-together last weekend and it was so much fun.  It was a super cold night so I just put on a pot of chili and whipped up some Jiffy cornbread last-minute.  My mom made a really beautiful charcuterie board so my part was easy — just had the dinner simmering on the stove and it was ready when we were!

Simple Winter Gathering {Details Blog}

I always like to set a pretty table.  We all have different gifts that we give to our guests.  Some of us love to cook elaborate meals.  Some of us love to clean up a storm!  Some of us love to set a table and make pretty.  That’s me.  🙂  I get anxiety sometimes about the food prep and the cleaning prep.  But the table prep?  For me that’s the best part.

Simple Winter Gathering {Details Blog}

This table setting was so simple.  I posted about the centerpiece a little bit last week.  When all else fails, apothecary jars (inexpensive ones from HomeGoods are my favorite), fake “snow” (Hobby Lobby), and Target Dollar Spot trees always look really pretty.  I was inspired by some eucalyptus leaves at Trader Joe’s when I was prepping for the dinner and I knew just how I wanted to use them!  I always like to peruse flowers when I’m preparing for a party or get-together to get my creative juices flowing.  I guess you could say it’s my “starting point.”  One bunch of these was $2.99.

Simple Winter Gathering {Details Blog}

The red charges are from the Dollar Store, and the “napkins” are actually dish towels from IKEA.  I was walking from our hall closet where we keep our linens to our kitchen and I was just lightly twisting the towels, which is what inspired the casual twist on the table.  Happy accidents!  I used my Spode as the base plate and then a large white soup bowl on top so everyone could grab their bowl and load up with chili and toppings, and then rest their cornbread on the plate.  Which brings me to the buffet…

Simple Winter Gathering {Details Blog}

I recently bought an inexpensive rectangular card table from Target that has been such an awesome investment even in this short period of time.  I used it a ton during my Christmas baking season, and I’ve just found another use for it — a buffet station!

Simple Winter Gathering {Details Blog}

I draped a couple yards of fabric that I had on hand over the table and then used a kraft paper “runner” that comes in a roll from the Target Dollar Spot — I think they still have it!  I saw some recently.  I also used my mom’s trick to set out all of my bowls and serving dishes that I want to use and put little paper labels in each.  My sweet Gramma used to do this, too.

Simple Winter Gathering {Details Blog}

I love the simple greenery running the length of the table.  I put candles in a bunch of mismatched glassware that I have.  It was fun — when we were ready to eat, we turned the lights down a little low and had the glow of the candlelight next to the table, too.  The stove was directly adjacent to this table so the flow was very easy and simple.

Simple Winter Gathering {Details Blog}

I miss my Gramma something awful when I do things like this.  But it’s during those times of nesting and arranging that I feel her most.  I feel her cheering me on, I feel her getting excited with an idea, and I really just feel her smile shining upon me.

We have a very tiny house, a very cozy house — hosting in our small space can be a challenge sometimes but I am starting out the year with an intention of doing it more so that I can get more comfortable.  The together time is priceless and I love making memories in our space and filling it with love.  I want to use my house for hospitality.  I want you to do that, too!

For dessert, it was a store-bought Costco cheesecake with homemade blueberry sauce, which was so darn good.  Grey and I have a saying in our house that “no one is too good for a store-bought pie” so I will never ever feel bad about serving something that was pre-made.  Allow yourself to make those memories in your space with as little stress put upon yourself as possible!

Winter As a Feeling

Good morning!  Each season I love to put together a collection of photos that I have found that hold the essence of what that particular season feels like to me.  But I don’t think I have ever done a Winter As a Feeling post!  Most likely because in years’ past, after Christmas I have been ready to put our tree and all of the decorations away by January 1st and swing right into Spring.  I’m finding myself in a much more mindful state this year and I’ll be letting things go little by little.  So much of the reason why I would rip our decorations down in such a hurry is because I was just jonesing to decorate for the next season.  My mind is working so differently now — slower, more intentional.  I’ll be enjoying Winter.  This year there will be a Winter for me.  It feels good.

Our Christmas decorations will probably come down in the next week or so.  But that cozy feeling won’t leave.  It won’t be a mad rush to take everything down at once.  It will be a process.  A gentle letting-go and packing away.  Until next year…

These photos feel like Winter to me.  I can feel all of the cozy textures when I look at these pictures — the blankets and pillows, the metals, the warm fires.  I can also feel the cold floors!  😉  I love a good, cold floor with the heater on in the Wintertime.  I love faux fur blankets, and pom poms, and a splash of greenery, and yes — cold January floors.  This is what Winter feels like to me…

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

This Is Glamorous

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

House Beautiful

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Coco Kelley

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Giles & Pike Architects

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Studio80 Interior Design

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Charleston Magazine

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Essential Home

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Traditional Home

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Cantley & Company

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Town & Country

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Unique Home Stays

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Coco Kelley

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

The Yellow Note

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

The Inspired Room

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Apartment Therapy

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

The Inspired Room

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Crystalin Marie

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Sunday Suppers

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

The Fashion Tag Blog

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

SF Girl

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Apartment Therapy

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Peter Dunham

Winter As a Feeling {Details Blog}

Susan Burns Design

What feels like Winter to you?

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House

Happy New Year!  It’s officially 2019.  I think this is going to be an amazing year.  For some thoughts on how I’m approaching the new year, head here

Last night it was just me and Kuma at home — Grey was working.  It was a relaxed night puttering around my house and reading.  I read ‘A Christmas Carol’ and I think that was the perfect story for a night like that.  Have you read it?

I wanted to post some of our Christmas decorations that I took photos of at night.  It’s magical at night — I am going to miss this!  The greenery is crispy and it took me a million matches to light all of the candles because I am afraid of matches and fire in general, but this is my favorite Christmas house ever in the history of Christmas houses.  I feel cozy here.  I feel special here.  I feel at home here.

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

True story: the pillows are covered in Kuma fur.  😉  The snowball candle is a nod to Greyson’s Grandmom.  The beads were my Gramma’s.  I loved to play with them when I was little.

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

I improvised Kuma’s stocking holder — treats in a jar, with twinkle lights, of course.  Also a true story — I never filled his stocking because I forgot where I put his presents…  I just found them last night.  Sometimes it goes like that!

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Our tree makes me so happy.  It’s a hodge-podge.  Ornaments that are old, some new, some from my Gramma’s old tree, some that I made, and some paper chains I made when I was feeling sad.  Because making paper chains makes me feel happy.

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

I have had these frames for three years and have been meaning to do just this with them.  I’m not sure why it took me so long, but I love them so much.  Our boy is everything.  ❤

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

I hung some pictures up this year.  Some featured events include — our wedding, the day we signed our mortgage, past Christmases, Grey and Kuma snuggling in our bed…  Just the best days.  🙂

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

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Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

I’ll share this stovetop scent recipe soon.  It smells so good!

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

Happy New Year! + Our Christmas House {Details Blog}

I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season.  I learned a lot.  I felt a lot.  I figured some things out.  I still have things to figure out.  I felt happy.  I felt sad.  I was content.  I was anxious.  I loved.  I got angry.  I felt grateful.  I feel grateful.

Heading into 2019 with perspective.  Goals.  Appreciation.  Love in my heart.

2019, I welcome You.

Here’s To a New Year

I’ve been away for a month, and I wasn’t sure I was coming back.  That’s the truth of it.

As of today, I have been off of social media completely since the day after Christmas, and I honestly am making an intention not to return to it.  Some realizations

-Feelings of “not good enough” and comparison creeping in far too often

-Content that I didn’t wish to see and then could not unsee

-Seeing things that people would post that I found offensive or insensitive and then I would get mad, and it might make me feel angry or sad on a day that I was otherwise feeling happy before

-I am not a parent, but if I saw one more picture of a baby crying or screaming on Santa’s lap, I was going to lose my mind

-Too much time spent scrolling and looking at all the things; not enough time spent doing the creative work

It feels vulnerable to put this list out here for all to see.

And then with a self-imposed social media ban, what about the blog?  Can I still write the blog and not promote it on social media?  I honestly still am not sure.  But as it stands this morning, I am going to try.  Writing this blog brings me joy.  That is my reason for writing and posting.  I have some friends and family members who lovingly follow me and I am really appreciative of that.  I am creative and therefore I must create.  I aim to focus on the content I am creating and less on how many people see it.

We live in a world of Pinterest Perfection.  It is really hard.  People all over the internet are completing grand and expensive projects and I’m over here like Look!  I put flowers in a teapot!  Which is cute and fun… and a huge room reveal it is not.  For me, the reason I wanted to start a blog was because I saw a couple of other bloggers who were sharing ideas that were simple and attainable.  Things I could do with what I had in my own house or apartment already.  Ways that I could love the space I was in by shopping my house.  It was all so simple.

It’s so different now.  But I don’t want to be.  I have a little corner of the internet where I plan on sharing my usual simple, little things that I do when I putter around our humble home.  I’m always discovering things about our house.  Things I love.  I love the home I have and I don’t need anything fancy or anything grand to feel that way.  And I want to inspire anyone who comes by my little blog to not have to go out and spend a fortune just to “keep up” with me.

I’ve never been a New Year’s Resolution kind of person.  I think a few years back I began the year saying I wanted to go to the gym more, which is a fine goal for a new beginning but like most people who make resolutions, it didn’t stick.  This year I have a sentence, I have a word, and I have an intention.

My sentence is: “And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” – John Steinbeck

My word is: Hospitality

And my intention is: Be Maria

Here's To a New Year {Details Blog}

Some goals — to declutter, “need” less…

Here's To a New Year {Details Blog}

Here's To a New Year {Details Blog}

Here's To a New Year {Details Blog}

Take care of people; love on people; consider people; host more… I want to become less afraid of last-minute plans…

Here's To a New Year {Details Blog}

Read more.  Create more time for mindfulness activities — coloring, painting rocks.

Here's To a New Year {Details Blog}

Get better, more consistent sleep.  Try to stick to a schedule, but don’t be too rigid about it.

Here's To a New Year {Details Blog}

Simplify.  Let fresh flowers and plants be all I need to nest most times.  And twinkle lights never hurt.

Here's To a New Year {Details Blog}

More stovetop home scents.  Discover new recipes.

Here's To a New Year {Details Blog}

Next Holiday season — do more to feel present; do less things with more intention.

Here's To a New Year {Details Blog}

Savor this guy.  More snuggles, more pets, more love.

Here's To a New Year {Details Blog}

And this guy.  My protector.  My dream.  My wish.  My heart.  Just looking at this picture brings tears to my eyes.  Spend more time cuddled up on the sofa with him.  Simple coffee dates.  Just be with him.  That will always be enough for me.

Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Good morning!  I was at the grocery store at 5 o’clock this morning.  Anyone else doing any last-minute shopping?  That’s the time to go!  Before the pandemonium begins…  Just me, my coffee, and my sanity.  😉

Grey and I ran out to a few places last night in search of some of the finishing touches I wanted for our Christmas decorations.  It’s so fun to be out and about together this time of the year!  I mean, it’s fun all year, but especially right now.  I’m so excited to put up our tree on Friday…  we are doing something kind of different with the lights on it this year so I will keep you posted about that!  Looking forward to sharing our decorations soon.

Happy Thanksgiving! {Details Blog}

There have been lots of changes going on around here behind the scenes!  More on that in the next couple of weeks or so.  I have been busy working on creating more intentional spaces all around our humble home.  I’m getting really excited about a project that I hope to be embarking upon soon — our current office (aka dumping ground – ha! Just keeping it real…), which we plan to turn in to our “cozy room.”  Stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving! {Details Blog}

We have been feeling especially blessed to live in this little nest lately.  We both agree that we need to take more time out of our daily life to really give thanks to God and revel in that gratefulness.  Last Monday was our second year anniversary in our house.  This time of the year is so special for so many reasons — and that anniversary is one of them!  This was the house that waited for us, the house that we waited for.  This is the house where we have experienced some really hard things, and some really magical things.  The real ebbs and flows of life.

Happy Thanksgiving! {Details Blog}

This Thanksgiving, I am definitely going to be actively giving pause to the joy in my heart and noticing all of the beauty we are surrounded by.  Our little pup, our families, our friends, more than enough, food in our kitchen, dreams in our souls, love and forgiveness, new beginnings, opportunity, hope, faith, beliefs, goals, the Lord, and the love of an incredible man — these are the things I am thankful for this year.

Happiest Thanksgiving to you!  I will see you back here next week!

I’m Breakin’ Out the Spode

Hey there!  Thanks for finding your way here today.  🙂  I have a confession to make… I put up our Christmas decorations last night!  Grey and I will do the tree together on Friday, but the other decor is mostly finished.  I have a few things that I want to add.  It was so fun to work on it last night, with the Christmas music blaring and all of the inspiration flowing.  I kept my promise to myself this year, which was that whenever the mood struck me, I would decorate the house — not before, and not holding myself to a day on the calendar that I deemed “appropriate.”

I am a firm believer that you can celebrate Thanksgiving and all that is wonderful about it and still have your Christmas decorations up.  Both holidays are about love, joy, family, creating memories…  This is the first year I have had our decorations up before Thanksgiving and they are already making me feel so happy.

I'm Breakin' Out the Spode {Details Blog}

Back in May, we started organizing our house a bit and we purchased this hook set from IKEA.  Even then I was so looking forward to hanging up our little Spode mugs.

I'm Breakin' Out the Spode {Details Blog}

Spode is a big deal in our family.  Every Christmas Eve, my whole (huge!) family gathers at my Grammie and Gramps’ house and we have a big dinner and celebrate together.  There are Spode dinner plates for every person.  We even have clip-on candles that get lit so everyone has a tiny candlelit dinner plate.  I remember as a little kid I felt like this was super special — a very sweet way to make the place setting feel extra personal.  Christmas Eve is truly the best night of my entire year because of my incredible grandparents and the traditions that they have instilled in all of us.  It’s a night I will never take for granted.

I'm Breakin' Out the Spode {Details Blog}

Grey and I have two larger cafe mugs that we keep in the cupboard for morning coffee and, of course, hot cocoa.  We like to buy one container of specialty hot chocolate each year that we savor.  We make it over the stovetop and I make homemade whipped cream, and then sometimes we even shave chocolate on top!  Gotta thoroughly enjoy the good stuff.  😉 The rest of the time it is just Swiss Miss around here, which, let’s be honest, is so good, too!

I’m working on my Spode collection little by little each year.  Our families have been so sweet to gift us so much already!  When we bought our first home two years ago, I received some Spode as a housewarming gift, and then more for Christmas.  Some of it is vintage, too!  I love that.

I'm Breakin' Out the Spode {Details Blog}

My mom has Christmas dishes that she pulls out each season, and I love them so much.  Christmas morning brunch is always served on her special dishes and it’s part of the tradition that warms my heart!  I love collecting the Spode dishes in hopes that someday when we have kids, I can keep the tradition of special dishes this time of year alive and help to create some more wonderful family memories.

Do you have any seasonal traditions?  What are they?  Do you collect holiday dishes, too?