Sandy

As I sit here typing this, I'm still kind of in shock. Other than a serious hurricane in Hawaii when I was in elementary school, I don't think I've ever experienced a disaster this intense.

This tree, snapped like a twig, is only a tiny indication of the tree damage in our area. A house only a few blocks away from us had a tree come straight through the upper floor. 

In the days after the storm, we didn't know the extent of the damage, since we had no power, access to internet, or even cell phone reception. Two days after the storm, our local Dunkin Donuts opened and we spent the day there, warming up in the heat and charging our gadgets.

As I watched the local news there, I was shocked at how bad things were in other areas.

My grandparent's neighborhood was devastated and is still without power, almost two weeks later. Our power is thankfully back, but we have friends still out and another storm is expected to hit today.

Not to mention that Dunkin Donuts was completely out of donuts.  Just to compound the disaster:)

We spent our days trying to stay warm in the house (but cute at the same time!)

And thankfully, my new scented candle obsession came in handy.

Things are still not back to normal (just for one, a utility broke on the New Jersey turnpike last night, causing me a 3 hour commute!) but are hopefully getting better, one day at a time.

In the meantime, I'm so glad I have this blog and Project Life.  This storm reminded me of all the things I take for granted, and I don't want to forget that so easily.

Here's to new beginnings!  Have YOU been affected by Sandy?

Posting with Sandy

I have to say, this storm took me by surprise. I didn't believe all the hype, but it was definitely justified. We are still out of power, trees are down everywhere (including one that fell onto a house nearby), the traffic lights are all out, and there are lines of cars miles long for gas.  My grandparent's area, Manhattan Beach, was hit especially hard and many of the homes were flooded. We are thankful that we are all ok and hoping to have the power (and heat!) back on soon.  

Looking forward to updating you all shortly.

These are a few of my favorite things......

I have a little habit---I like pretty things. Very much. But my budget? Not as expansive:) So I tend to pin, email myself, and even email the hubby things I have my eye on (if you want to be getting better anniversary gifts it's a good idea--you should try it)

Here are a few of the things on my wishlist right now...


This fabulous Lisa Leonard necklace---now gold!

Kind of weird that gold is making such a comeback. But I like it!

How cute is this Tarte makeup set? (And it includes EIGHT of my very favorite lip glosses ever.)

Speaking of makeup, I picked up this palette recently after a lot of blog recommendations and I love it. Love.

Now that we're gearing up for winter, these fun boots are begging to jump into my cart....

And I've been eyeing these pretty earrings for months now!  (Hubby: take note!)

On a less favorite note, our date night, which was already rescheduled once, is getting canceled AGAIN due to Frankenstorm. Does the universe just not want me to dress up, put on a little makeup  and have a nice dinner with S? Unclear. But hopefully the power will stay on for a date night at home:)

House Progress--Upstairs!

So....the thing no one told me about buying a house was HOW DARN LONG it would take to get settled!  I was waiting to share house photos until I had some "finished" rooms, but now that I realized that might keep y'all waiting for several years, I'm jumping the gun a bit:)

Everything is still very much "in progress," but at least I'm having fun in the meantime!

Upstairs we have a giant bedroom that we decided to make into a master bedroom/scraproom for now (the room assignments may change down the road;)).

Initially the room looked like this:

The far edge of the room has become my scrappy nook, like so:

It still needs a lot of cleaning up (and some lighting), but at least the Expedit is up and running:

In the corner, you can see my new beloved, an IKEA Raskog cart. Here's an up-close view of my beauty!

Ahhh.....this was a major pain to track down, but I love love love it.

The color on the wall is Benjamin Moore, color-matched to a Home Depot color I used on my old scraproom in the apartment. I loved it so much I had to bring it with me!

The other side of the room is our bedroom. To say this room needs a lot of work would be a gross understatement, so I won't torture you with photos:)

The Expedit shelves and some dressers serve as a divider, and it's been working really well (I was worried about feeling like I lived in my scraproom, but we're in the clear!)

Don't mind my line-up of wigs. They have a home, which they will get put in. Eventually.

I've been experimenting with some new forms of jewelry storage. A ceramic egg crate I found in Montreal has been a fun place to keep earrings:

And the Jenni Bowlin keyholder has been a fabulous necklace sorter!

In the pretty jewelry holder vein, I also have my eye on this lovely from World Market.

So that's some upstairs projects so far!  

What's YOUR favorite way to store jewelry?

Lately....

A major highlight from the past few weeks was building our own sukkah for the very first time! Here's our beauty:

And a peek at the inside:

As part of our Sukkot extravaganza, we flew to Ohio to spend a few days with my family.  It was our first time taking Ellie on a plane and she was a trooper! Mostly chewed of our noses chillaxed and looked out the window. We had a fantastic few days with family and friends and enjoying one of my favorite holidays, Simchas Torah. I don't want to give away ll the fun but let's just say a Good Humor ice cream cart was involved.

Since we've gotten home, I've spent a lot of time looking at this view:

and rescuing the munchkin from difficult situations:

(is it mean that I had to snap a photo first?)

Elie is now officially a crawler so I am trying to finish babyproofing like a madwoman. 

And the rest of time, I've been enjoying fall treats, like a pumpkin latte while working from home.

Mmmm.  I have grand plans to make these this weekend, so I'll let you know how they come out!

What's YOUR favorite thing for fall?

House Progress: Kitchen and Dining Room

Hello! Remember me?

I am finally coming out of crazy holiday mode and look forward to lots of blogging, scrapping, and catching up with Project Life. Which I'm two weeks behind on (not to mention the 6 week hole I'm still trying to catch up). Ahem.

Today, I'm popping in to share some progress we've made on the house. We still have a LOT to do (hello, putting hardware on kitchen cabinets!) but I think things are coming together, although s-l-o-w-l-y.

First, up the kitchen. If you recall, when we bought the house, the kitchen looked like this:

There were good bones, but I was not a fan of: the cabinets, the dark wood color, the curtains, the carpet, and the wallpaper. Oh, and the backsplash.

Since we were on a tight budget, we avoided most big changes, keeping the cabinets, appliances and countertops. We did change out the backsplash, install floor where the carpet was, and paint the cabinets, trim and walls. It made a huge difference!

Here's the kitchen now (still in progress, of course):

I chose Benjamin Moore's Antiguan Sky for the walls and Dove Wing for the cabinets and trim. I had LONG inner debates about Dove Wing vs. White Dove and even woke Steve up one night to discuss it. He didn't seem to understand.

I picked up the farmhouse table from Target, surprisingly. I would like to have more farm-y chairs, but these work for now.

The butler's pantry has been SO nice to have in this house. It holds all of my important life items, including the coffee machine:)

Here it is before:

And now after:

Oh, paint. Best thing ever.

The dining room changes are less dramatic, but I know it will come together wonderfully in the end!  Here is the before:

The room was a bit dark to me, and I didn't like the wallpaper.

Again, not terribly different, but brightened up a lot. For the walls I used Benjamin Moore's Moonshine on top and a softer teal below the chair rail. I have grand plans for this room, but it's a bit "blah" for my liking right now.

So tell me, what house projects are YOU working on right now?

A Real Live......

LAYOUT!!

Yes, it's true. This scrapbooking blog finally has some actual, honest-to-goodness, real live scrapbooking on it!  I have been scrapping a fair bit between Project Life and layouts, so I can't wait to share!

I whipped up this layout a few weeks ago, when I was feeling nostalgic over pregnancy photos:

Just some basic math on this one:)  I used bits and pieces of Studio Calico's City of Lights kit and had a blast making this!

Here are some close-ups:

I love the girly colors.  And I used up a kit, which is always good news:)

In other news, 3 holidays have passed but there's one more coming up. So excuse me again while I continue to sit in my hut (see my last post) and have some holiday fun!

Tell me, have YOU had time to scrapbook lately?