Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving ::

[And just so you know, I'm just catching up this week!  Next week, my goal is to be up to date!]

chili at RA and Bob's

family chaos...my favorite

Hammond and his new cousin, Addie!

family photo

the spread

annual family football game

day-after Thanksgiving seafood feast!

Honey + kids on her new day bed

the most amazing shrimp ever

turkey day is over...it's officially time for Christmas!!

shopping for Christmas decor with this cutie-patootie

picking out our Christmas tree

The Nursery

I am finally getting around to posting photos of our finally finished nursery.  Of course, Hammond loves his room, and is constantly telling me how much he appreciates the time and effort that went into it. :)

Of course, we didn't know whether or not we'd be popping out a little boy or a little girl, so we went with pretty neutral tones.  Which, if I'm being honest, is what I would have gone with regardless of whether or not we had known!  The walls were already green when it was the guest room before.  And despite my strong urge to paint them gray (like every other room in our home), I resisted and just used gray as an accent color.  

My older sister has four kids, and was so gracious to save all of their old baby items.  Other than the rug (from West Elm), the baskets (from World Market), and some of the accessories, we either got creative or already had the furniture.  It just took some creative arranging or painting or recovering, and we had ourselves a nursery!

See below for photos...

the view from the door

I decided to go with baskets under the crib for storage purposes, and so that I didn't have to worry about a pricey adjustable bedskirt.  

view from the other side

We turned an old dresser into a changing table by attaching a changing pad (with velcro strips) to the top of it.  I love the antique look.

nursery window

Got the valance idea from Pinterest, and found the wood at a neighbors while Scout and I were out walking.  You should have seen me...big and pregnant, carrying home a large piece of wood.  Then, my crafty husband put it all together and hung it. Oh,and the bamboo shades were another project, referenced here.

above the crib

These are framed excerpts from this precious book, Guess How Much I Love You.  I had a tough time choosing a book, but not only did I love the words, but I thought the colors of the illustrations would go well.  

Robin Anne's precious mother-in-law had this plate painted by her incredibly 

talented sister.  It goes with the Guess How Much I Love You theme. :)

above the changing table

This is one of my favorite pieces that I own.  Such a random story, but a co-worker's step-sister was selling it (along with a dresser I love), and I bought it asap.  It had previously been a headboard, but I think it goes perfectly above the changing table.  Also, see this post for the story of the amazing blocks.  

The beginning of our book collection.

more shelves

This is my favorite DIY project of the nursery.  Our friends, Gavin + Lindsay found this amazing barn wood and they gave us a piece to use as shelves.  Love the rustic look. Also, the brackets we used to hang it were originally silver and too industrial looking.  Our handy, dandy ACE guy told us to soak it in vinegar....and viola!  It worked.  

Love these photos...especially the one on the far right.  That's 

baby Jamie in his old crib.  Wasn't he adorable?!

guest chair, closet, and bookshelf

This bookshelf was originally purchased at Target about 10 years ago, and used in my dorm room, house, apartment, my sister's apartment, and has been painted over a million times.  But, it worked...and it was free!

This sweet car/toy basket came all the way from Madagascar!  Thanks

to Aunt Betsy and Uncle Andy.  Isn't it precious?  

Finally, as much as I love photos, I knew I needed even more space for them.  

So, I created this bulletin board.  Pretty sure it will fill up fast.

For all my indecision and our DIY'ing, I love the way it all came together.  And I can definitely tell that Mr. Hammond loves it too. :)

punkins

I know, I know, every year when October rolls around I go a little pumpkin crazy.  I mean, I've only blogged about it a few times (here, here, and here :).  But, who can resist when the air turns crisp, the leaves start to change, you start pulling out your jackets, and pumpkins are everywhere?!  

It's funny, bc I am not really a warm color person at all (save game day :).  But, somehow, come early October orange pumpkins tend to fill our small home, and I love it.  (However, I'm a sucker for the white, green, and various colored pumpkins.  If only they weren't so expensive!)

A few snapshots of the abode....

love our front porch, and our new foliage

(pardon the flags, but we're trying to deter Scout from eating the plants!)

really, really love the white pumpkins peeking out from the greenery

and winter lettuce.  when I saw them at Pike's, I just couldn't resist.

isn't it un-American to not have a mum by your front door for fall :)

sweet Lindsay made the most delicious pumpkin muffins for us!

if you like pumpkin, you really need to keep up with her blog during this

month, as it's declared all-things-pumpkin!  she even tried out 

pumpkin mac-n-cheese.  and the granola looks heavenly.

Yoforia has finally put pumpkin spice yogurt in their stores,

and it is amazing!  try it w/ graham cracker crumbles and

it tastes like pumpkin pie.  yummm!

For a small group treat, I tried out this pumpkin fluff recipe that I saw on Pinterest

Pumpkin-y things that I have yet to indulge in, but definitely plan on...

- Starbucks' pumpkin spice latte

- pumpkin butter

- pumpkin bread (although, Lindsay did make us some delicious pumpkin swirl bread)

- Devon's pumpkin cookies

- pumpkin pie

- one of my mom's Thanksgiving pumpkin rolls

- Lindsay's pumpkin apple parfait

- this Pumpkin Risotto recipe from Southern Living

- and, of course, some Brach's mellowcream pumpkins!!

Baby H may be deterring me from certain foods, but I'm so thankful the peanut is loving pumpkin as much as I do!

DIY: Pallet Shelves

This was my inspiration for an empty wall space in our bedroom...

Shipping Pallet Shelves

I won't take you through the whole tutorial on here, but you can find a basic one that I followed loosely here.

what I started with (thank you husband for grabbing the pallet!)

Too much time and too much sweat and soreness later, I discovered we had one of these ---->>>>

Made my life, and this project so much easier!

about half way through

The only significant difference b/t the way I did my shelves and the

tutorial I linked to is that I didn't nail the bottom of the shelves into place.

It was just going to be too much. Instead, I measured the bottom pieces

of wood (from the leftover pallet) to exactly match the width of the

opening. Then I used wood glue and a hot glue gun to set in place!

I'd say we're satisfied with the final product!

DIY: Fabric Headboard

Another project that we've had in mind for a long time was to make a head board for our master bedroom. My mom had generously offered to give us yards and yards of some burlap fabric that she had bought, but didn't need. So, we used some for our bed skirt (huge shout out to my amazingly talented Aunt Kathy who made it), and had plenty left over.

While it took us a while to complete, I think the headboard totally makes the room!

BEFORE

AFTER

Making our own headboard saved us at least $300 (more, if we had decided to purchase from somewhere like Ballards), and it was a fun project.

Step 1: We had the folks at Home Depot cut out a piece of plywood to the measurements that we wanted.

Step 2: We started with foam (from JoAnn's), to provide some cushion, rolled it out, and cut it into strips. (We measured the foam to the exact size of the plywood, then wrapped it in batting. We also doubled up on the foam to make it hardier.)

Step 3: We used some spray adhesive to help keep the foam in place, before wrapping it with batting.

Step 4: (This is when we took the project outside!) Wrap the foam in batting, pulling tightly while keeping everything lined up, and staple the batting to the back side of the plywood.

Note: We used a professional grade staple gun (powered by an air compressor...thank you, Gavin!), which made the process bearable. I don't know that we would have completed it with a regular staple gun, as I imagine we used over 1,000 staples total.

Step 5: Wrap the fabric around the batting, pull tightly, and staple away...again.

Step 5: Hang! This was one of the more complicated parts, because we wanted to be thorough. We used a track and slide wall hanger. Measuring, leveling, measuring, leveling...but we only had to do it once!

Below is a close-up side shot. We actually had to have a seamstress add fabric, because our project was too wide. But I like the seam it created on both sides.

Now I just need to invest in some bigger pillows. :)

Home Grown

One of my favorite things about summer is the produce. Jamie and I planted our garden again, and although we've got lots of tomato plants (and herbs!), that was about as far as we ventured with veggies this year. But I'm thinking next year we're going to need to try out some more options! Thankfully our next-door neighbors have a bountiful crop, and are eager to share (yes, these are the same guys who share their eggs too!).

Tomatoes from our porch, and a cucumber from the Bergers

A little S + P, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, and basil later.

Yummy afternoon snack, and it'll go on our fish tonight!

And just because I'm sure you can't get enough of him....

Scout cuddling with his dad (although he's not normally allowed

on the couch....but he's injured)

And Scout curling up on his new bed

Scout update: He's healing just fine, but we let him play a little this weekend, and he was back to limping. So, he's on strict crate-rest, which he is so not loving. If only he could understand that it's because we love him so. :)

Up next...the headboard and shipping palate shelves! Promise.