After a busy Thanksgiving weekend, I'm glad to be back home and back to normal.  
I'm excited to share a second completed room project in our house.  When we moved into our house, the kitchen was yellow with a brown light fixture and pastel curtains.  Below is a picture of the kitchen after we moved in.  I had already changed the curtains, but had yet to decide what colors to go with. 

{Kitchen before}

After numerous trips to Lowe's, the kitchen is now complete.  We added a gray tone paint, black back splash, and track lighting.  I couldn't be happier that the ugly brown light is gone.  It provided zero light to the kitchen and gave off a very dated look.  While we may eventually add more track lighting, for now I'm happy being able to actually see. 

{Kitchen after}

*Note:  Jason receives credit for the back splash and lighting. *

Our living room originally had yellowish paint on the wall.  I still hate the color of the doors, but that is a project to work on later.  The brown ceiling fan will also have to go.  Below is what the living room looked like the day we closed on the house. 


We added gray toned paint to the walls and new curtains.  Next was to add my own style to this over sized room.  It took me weeks to decide what to do next.  I was so indecisive about decorating this room because of its size and that it is definitely the central location of the whole house.
The living room and dining area stayed like this for weeks until I could commit to a design scheme.  I finally decided on a vintage antique theme with gray, white, and blue tones.


This is what our living room and dining area look like now (with Thanksgiving decor).  Some of my favorite pieces in this room are the unique items I found.

{This "birds on power lines" piece I found at Gordman's reminds me of my dad.}

{I love lamps.  I found this "George Washington" lamp at an antique shop in Kennett.}

{This piece is my favorite.  It is a framed quilt from the Civil War.  I love history, especially the Civil War.  Blame it all on Gone with the Wind.}

I am pleased with how the living room turned out.  Jason doesn't understand my taste and style, but he just goes with it.

I’m very embarrassed to say that I haven’t been to the eye doctor since I was in the 5th grade. Don’t judge. I’ve been busy.

I also have a fear of putting things in my eyes. I don’t do it. I don’t put things in my eye. I get completely grossed out when anyone puts contacts in. I can’t even put drops in my eyes.

One time I had a reaction to some eye makeup remover I was using. My eyes turned red and bloodshot. Jason got me some eye drops to help with the irritation. I refused to use the drops so Jason had to hold me down on the floor and drop them into my eyes. After several minutes, my face was soaked and only a little bit of the drops actually got into my eyes.

This past week, when Jason made his eye appointment to get new contacts, he made me an appointment as well. I was a little apprehensive, but figured I’d read the eye chart and get the hell out of there. When he explained what they would do to my eyes during the appointment I completely freaked out. I’ve been eating carrots by the pound my whole life to avoid this exact situation.

Jason was not going to make this appointment easy on me.  As we pulled out of the drive way he said, "This is the last time you'll see our house....."  As we filled out our paper work he said, "That's for when they shoot the laser in your eye." 

Once in the exam room, I sailed through the eye exam until the doctor attempted to look into my eyes with this long pointy light thing.  I jerked back so fast.  When he tried to look again, I again jerked back.  He decided to hold my eye lid open, holding me in place.  It was literally like the episode of Friends where Rachel goes to the eye doctor and won't let the doctor look at her eyes. 

In the end, all of my worries were for nothing.  The optometrist said my eyes were "perfect."  He told me that I wouldn't need his help until I was in forty. 

So me and my perfect eyes are going to be glasses/contacts free for while.  I should probably go to the dentist next.  The last time I went to the dentist?  Let's see, I got my braces off in 1998.........

When I was very young, my mother and grandmother took my two older cousins and myself to Opryland. We spent the day enjoying all that the former Nashville amusement park had to offer. Before we left at the end of the day we each got to pick out a souvenir to take home. No one really remembers what my cousins picked out, but everyone would remember what I selected.


That night as we lay in our hotel beds, my grandmother asked us what our favorite part of the day was. Each of my cousins mentioned their favorite rides and attractions from the park. Then I was asked what my favorite part of the day was.  My mother says (because I don’t really remember this story) that out of the darkness my little voice said, “my new bee-fohd” (aka billfold...I couldn't say  my "L's"). That day an obsession was born.

I didn’t realize how many billfolds and wallets I had until I was changing my cards from my current Marc Jacobs wallet into my new Marc Jacobs wallet that I got for my birthday (my Marc Jacobs addiction is a whole other issue).   After looking through my wallet drawer only to find that I owned more than I thought, I decided I would thin out the herd by consigning or donating some of them.

In addition to it being my birthday weekend, this past weekend was also one of many very infrequent family reunions.  I met my mom in Kennett where we then traveled down to Arkansas, out in the middle of the country for a time-honored tradition.

{My mom, brother, me, and my grandmother}

I was also surprised with a birthday cake at the reunion.


After reuniting, I had a small birthday celebration at my parents' house before coming back home.  My birthday back in St. Louis included trick-or-treaters at my new house and a bonfire (or two) in the yard.


Overall, it was a good weekend and birthday.