the presents are wrapped ...

... but there's no tree to put them under!

 Thank goodness we're doing Secret Santa this year because there's no way I'd be able to find the time & strength to go shopping for everyone this year.  To give you a little idea of how bad its been ... instead of Christmas decorations, we have boxes and packing material in every nook and cranny ... we don't even have a Christmas Tree this year!  I knew we'd be spending the last couple of weeks packing and fixing up our condo so having a tree would just be an extra headache and more things to pack.  Yeah it's pretty sad ... but lets just say I have BIG plans for next year ... can't wait for after Christmas sales ... I'll be stocking up for sure!

I'll be home for Christmas...

... If only in my dreams ;)

I am soo excited to announce that we finally got the keys to our long awaited dream home! {and by "long awaited" I really do mean Looooooong ... it took us almost 2 years to find a keeper}

It's actually a really interesting story ... we first saw this house in fall 09 and totally and completely fell in love with the gorgeous windows, tall ceilings, and fabulous pool in the backyard ... so obviously we put in an offer over the asking price ... however we still got outbid ... we were completely devastated, well mostly me cuz I really had my heart set on it ... for months and months after I would still go online and check the status of the sale... hoping and praying for a miracle, that somehow things wouldn't work out with the other buyer ... I know funny huh? ... well that miracle came in September when magically the house went back on the market!  I contacted the listing agent early the next morning ... it took months of negotiating back and forth with the banks but our real estate agent has been really great and made it work ... so here we are 3 months later with a brand new home!

Our house was in good condition and move in ready when we bought it ... notice how I'm using "was" in the past tense, because right now it's completely unlivable.  We still had a month left in our condo and have been saving for a while so we naively decided to do a complete overhaul to really make the house our own.  Right now it feels like a big mistake since we only have a week left in our condo and this is what our house currently looks like...

 

Actually I'm lying, because the staircase is not there anymore... I have big plans for that staircase and will have to share more once we actually have some progress.  I gotta keep telling myself that it'll all be worth it in the end to keep myself from going insane ... but at this point it's still kind of hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The painters started today so hopefully by Monday I'll have an update!

Baby if I've got you I don't need a {parachute}

 

I don't need a parachute
Baby, if I've got you
Baby, if I've got you
I don't need a parachute
You're gonna catch me
You're gonna catch if I fall
Down, down, down

 

These aren't just the lyrics to my new favorite song ... I actually went sky diving in Las Vegas for our 3 year anniversary!!!  Yes you heard me right SKY DIVING ... something I've always wanted to do but never thought I'd have the chance!

It was the best experience of my life and definitely will be one of the most memorable.  We went up to 15,000 ft in the air before taking the plunge and free falling for almost a whole minute.  It felt like everything was in slow motion while we were falling, and honestly it felt more like flying even at speeds of 130 mph!  Once the parachute deployed, I finally had a change to get a look at the beautiful view while gliding through the vast Nevada desert ... a feeling that's definitely priceless!

Two Birds of a Feather

As promised, I am finally posting pictures from my cousin Julie's wedding so get ready for a long picture tour!  She had a peacock inspired wedding so to keep with the theme I decided to start off the tour with a foto of these GORGEOUS peacock napkins ... hand-made by non other than Moi {& at least 6 helpers from the wedding party}

Now on to something SWEET ... you guessed it ... heading straight for the cake table ... Looks pretty elegant with the fresh flowers and hand-cut fondant daisies, but believe me it tasted even better than it looks  ... if that's even possible!

The next stop is the head table, I wish I had a full view picture but I was seriously pushed for time & didn't get a chance to take one.  The room had gorgeous full length windows so nothing was even needed in the background except the beautiful auburn scenery and a few columns with flower centerpieces.

Speaking of flowers ... there was a ton covering every square inch of tables, bars, & anywhere else where they would fit ... I stuck with a large variety of yellow roses, white & yellow mums, hydrangeas,  stocks, and orchids!

This little guy was somewhat an after thought but obviously he fits right in.

The centerpieces turned out exactly as planned {very similar to the ones Julie had at her bridal shower}  There was 15 tables to be exact so let's just say I started my Saturday very early but thankfully with the help of my wonderful hubby and the groom's family I got everything done on time.

Kinda hard to tell from the picture but the vases actually had these amazing teal lights inside that reflected against the crystal rocks at the bottom.

I guess I'm kinda doing everything backwards but it's always funner to start with the reception & decor and then get to the sentimental stuff.  It was a very long and somewhat steep walk down the aisle, so lets just say Julie was really a trooper.

It was perfect weather for an outside ceremony .... not a single rain cloud in sight, cuz by this time of year you never know.

She had three bridesmaids, starting from the left my cousin Nelli and my 2 sisters Kristina & Alla {all of whom looked quite ravishing if I might add} ;)

And here we are finally, surprisingly I still had time to get ready and look pretty decent after slaving the whole morning

And many more pics with the bridesmaids...

We celebrated my niece's 3rd birthday last Saturday with a costume themed party! The kids LOVED it! It was all girly with lots of PINK and black & white polka dots everywhere!

It was soo cute and surprisingly not a single kid came in the same costume! We saw all sorts of magical fairies, enchanting princesses, and graceful ballerinas! Even a scary dragon, a buzzing bumblebee, and a funny clown showed up! It was too hilarious ... my nephew was Spiderman and all of the little kids were scared of him ... he totally enjoyed the attention and went out of his way to make sure that every little kid cried at least once! lol

My sis-in-law made a gorgeous cake with ballerina slippers on top ... she is soo creative and her cakes always turn out amazingly delicious!

Here's my hubby and I {and NO I'm not wearing a costume ... although I really wish I did .. it would have been totally fun to dress up}

Not everything is black & white in life and the chic bridal shower that we threw my cousin is definitely no exception. We started off with 2 classic colors {black & white} and decided to add a little sunshine with a bright yellow.

This is my 1st official attempt at a table centerpiece {great practice since I'm designing all of the flowers for Julie's wedding} I started off with a tall clear vase and filled it to the top with lemons. For the top I used white stock, black calla lilies, and yellow roses. We ordered these adorable white lanterns on ebay and finished off the theme with matching dinner plates.

Something Blue

One of my childhood friends got married last month and I had the pleasure of decorating his wedding. I've never done centerpieces for a wedding before so naturally I was little unsure if I could even pull it off ... But overall I think they turned out pretty good & I can't wait for my next project {which is actually coming up in a couple of weeks so stay tuned}

Their wedding colors were blue and ivory so I decided to go with all creams and whites for the flowers.

The {Bride & Grooom} Headtable

I used long-stemmed glass candle holders and filled them with water {I added light blue food coloring to try to incorporate both of the wedding colors} I used simple floating candles in a couple of the glasses and filled the rest with various flowers and greenery.

For this glass I only used Lillies and hanging green Amaranthus. I stringed diamonds amongst the greenery to reflect off the LED lights insides of the glasses.

For the tallest glasses I used white roses, white Albatross Mums, white double stocks, & the hanging green Amaranthus.

I also incorporated gold spray-painted limes to build a pyramid-shaped centerpiece with flowers!

The blue origami flower napkins were somewhat of a last minute idea. The napkins that the bride ordered ended up being the wrong shade of blue so we had to get creative with paper napkins. I found a DIY on youtube for folding napkins and the rest was history. The bright blue definitely gave the table settings an extra pop of color.

When all was said and done, I finally had some time to relax and have a lil fun! The wedding went great ... really entertaining & definitely lots of great memories!

Hubby is matching the wedding .. me not so much {except for my bright blue shoes} I decided to go for a ballerina inspired mini instead!

{Don't even ask lol}

Welcome to my {Closet}

I haven't been around for a while, but work has been soo busy {definitely still not used to working a full 40 hr schedule} It feels like my whole day is gone by the time I get home. But enough complaining ... I'm back so lets get to business!

My sweet hubby decided to finally get our closet organized ... we've been living in our condo for about 3 years and the clutter has only been getting worse .... so instead of paying tons of money to get professional organizers, we found a really cheap and highly effective solution. Walmart was having a clearance sale on white shelving units that came with separate accessories {dividers, shelves, cabinets} I ended up buying 5 units and paired them with 10 dividers for a grand total of 40 shoe cubbies! Now all my shoes are so neatly organized, that it would take a lot of effort to mess it up again!

Baby girl decided to test out the weight limitations on my shoe storage!

They DO

A couple of weeks ago we attending a wedding for two of our very good friends Stand & Irina and to be completely honest I have never had this much fun at a wedding before.

The wedding took place in a beautiful winery with gorgeous scenery and breath taking views. But what really made this wedding special was the LOVE that I could feel and see not only between the happy couple but also through all the wonderful friends and family that came to share this special day with them. There were soo many heart-felt wishes and toasts along with beautiful songs and musical numbers that their friends performed for them. The groom is actually part of a famous Christian choir so it was no surprise at how gifted and talented the guest list ended up being. Overall I had a blast eating good food, sharing many laughs, and enjoying the company of all of our good friends!

Here are some pics from the event that the talented Andrey Perepelitsa took:

{The Gorgeous Bride & Groom}

{The Happy Couple}

{The best of friends}

{My hubby & I with the Bride & Groom}

{Elegant Centerpieces}

A Busy Moment

I haven't been around much ... but I have a perfectly good excuse ... I promise .... I finally started my new job as a tax auditor and just haven't gotten used to working a full time job yet!

I'm sooo excited about starting this new chapter in my life and finally watching all of my hard work and late nights of studying pay off. I've even already gotten my first pay check ... & yes I admit it I did go on a teeny tiny shopping spree, but overall I'm trying to be good and have even already started paying off my student loans!

It's not going to be easy and I know that I still have months and months of training ahead of me but at the moment I'm content and satisfied with what I have accomplished and how far I've come in the past few years!

Happy Easter

I was inspired by a DIY that I found on Southern Living to create my own speckled Robins Eggs just in time for Easter! The project was fairly easy and turned out looking fabulous!

He is Risen!
Happy Easter & have a beautifuL weekend!

Lately I've been completely obsessed with the color Green & moss in particular as house decor!

I decided to freshen up my focal wall in the dining room by adding a little more green to the mix with a couple of new vases and some moss balls that I found at the Dollar Store!

Here's a few more Green inspirations that I found while browsing blogs! Living with Lidsay & Ruffled have fabulous DIY posts that are easy to follow and will brighten up any room! I can't wait to try to them out!

{www.Ruffledblog.com}


{www.goodhousekeeping.com}


{www.livingwithlindsay.com}

Birthdays, Seafood, & more Birthdays!

March has got to be the busiest month for birthdays ... well at least in my circle of friends and family! Everyone, including myself, my hubby, sister, brother, niece, & at least 4 friends share a birthday this month ... pretty much had a birthday party to attend every day of this month!

Since my hubby's b-day is only 1 day apart from my sister's ... we decided to celebrate together and just go out to McCormick & Schmick's Seafood restaurant together ... they had the best food and even made personalized menus for us to keep as souvenirs.

Here's me and the Birthday Boy ... after many attempts to get him to smile for the pic!

And finally the whole crew

First Sign of Spring

I'm finally back after 2 months of not posting ... and no I haven't been sick or anything like that ... just been having a sort of writers block and just no desire to write whatsoever.

So here's the update on my life ... I finally got a job offer to work for the state and have another interview for a better position coming up on April 6th ... yay! And in even better news ... I am going to Cancun, Mexico with my hubby for 1 week right before I start my new job to celebrate! Last month I also turned 22 and celebrated with my hubby in Tahoe ... made me realize how fast time is going and gave me to motivation to start going to the gym and making healthier choices with my eating habits ... ohhh how I dread working out ... but already lost 5lbs and on my way to a new bikini body!!!

Since I haven't been working yet and college is a thing of the past for me ... I've been spending a lot more time outside taking walks with Bella ... we have this gorgeous trail just a couple of minutes from my house and that's of course where I picked those beautiful purple flowers from ... they make my house smell so fresh and Spring-y! Makes me one to go shopping and buy new Spring decor for my home ... but my hubby constantly has to keep reminding me that we're looking for a new house and that I should wait ... I never thought it would be this hard for find a good house that we both love ... but honestly we haven't been having much luck with that yet, but still hoping and praying that God will send us something soon :)

That's pretty much it I guess ... My goal for now is to post more often and quit being sooo lazy about writing.