NumberNineteen

Minnie Mouse Birthday Party!

My little girl turned a big 6 years old this month & she wanted a Mickey & Minnie Mouse birthday party. Thanks to Pinterest, Mama was able to make it happen with style!

To give myself a little credit, I did think up some of the ideas -- the snack area, the decorated treat bags & the cake.  Actually, Hope is a big fan of Cake Boss & she saw a cake on the show which had cupcakes on top of the cake.  She had to have that for her party. 

It's amazing how easy it is to make such cute things with a little borrowed creativity...thank you Pinterest! 

(You can find the links with ideas & instructions for the party ideas on the Pinterest link above -- they are on my "birthday party" board)

My Little Sewing Project

This post has absolutely nothing to do with decorating or the new house, but I've been meaning to post about it for literally months.  On my short break in between classes this summer, I pulled out my sewing maching & finished up this project:

(oh my gosh, I hate my camera -- every photo turns out dark & grainy!  Arrggg)

I'm loving how it turned out -- I really love the mis-matchy fabric & layers.  I got the idea & directions from an old issue of Mary Jane's Farm.  I'd share, but, quite frankly, the directions are terrible and overly complicated.  I sorta followed them & sorta made it up as I went along.  :)

The New House!

I'm so sorry for not posting in so long, but I've been a bit busy moving into our new house!!!!  :)

Come on in, I'll show you around!

First, you'll see the dining room...on the other side of the hall is the study...no photos yet.

Then, it opens to the family room -- excuse the weird photo -- there was no light & then I fiddled with it in picnik....Here is another, with better light, taken from the kitchen:

The centerpiece of the house, the kitchen:

Oh my gosh, I'm so in love with our kitchen.  It's just what I've dreamed of -- we hang around the island (it's become the homework space for Hope & I), have loads of room to cook and loads of room to store everything.  Speaking of storing everything, the pantry:

I've always wanted a pantry where I can keep everything and not have to run from place to place to get the things that I need for a recipe.  I used to have extra & seldom used items in the basement -- there was a lot of running up & down the steps!

Another feature that I've always wanted is a mudroom. 

After the last several years of muddy boots & miscellaneous winter gear being dumped directly from the garage door into my kitchen, I'm so excited about this.

Going upstairs...

I can't wait to decorate the railings with greens & red ribbons at Christmas.

Our room...it looks remarkably like our old room, right?  We painted it the same color.

I am so happy with the white subway tile that we chose for this room.  And, let me tell you, a bath in this tub is DIVINE. 

There are also 3 other bedrooms, one of which is Hope's & another which is my craft/study room, and a bathroom on this floor.  The basement is partially finished as well.  Photos to come....

As you can tell, we are so happy in the new house & are so thankful for it!

It's been about a month since we moved in & we are pretty much unpacked.  Now, I will move on to fluffing things and making it a home.  It's going to be a slow process, as the equation of one income + me in grad school + new mortgage = one small project at a time.  Regard these photos as the "before" pictures & watch this space for the process of getting to "after"!