Christmas 2013: gift recap

I hope everyone reading had a merry Christmas or some time off well spent with your families! 

Mark had all week off and I had to work only Monday, so we have been soaking up lots of time together and with our families, who both live close enough for day trips. We spent Christmas eve with my family in Arlington and had a yummy dinner of beef tenderloin and sides prepared by the women (me, my mom, and my sister). Wednesday we headed up to McKinney for Christmas with Mark's side of the family. We spent all day opening gifts, talking, napping (some of us) and then ended the evening with a delicious traditional turkey meal.

Since then, we've split our time between dinner with friends, surprise birthday dinners for Mark, family weddings, and my extended family Christmas on Sunday. All of the time off has been great, but it goes by so fast when we are so busy! I'm crossing my fingers for a somewhat slow week this week before we start going back to our normal lives. I'll be back later this week to blog more about the time off... 

First, I wanted to share the spoils of my holiday! Here are a few favorite gifts I received:

The elves paid attention this year and went to 'my wish list' board on Pinterest. Best idea I've ever had! ;)

Mark got me this cast metal jewelry tree (in gold, not finding it online) from West Elm. I've been asking for something of the sort for YEARS!

I have recently gotten more into wearing necklaces (I'm weird and not much of a jewelry person) and pined over the popular J. Crew necklaces for most of last year. My mom and sister each got me a necklace from my Pinterest. Not finding them there or online anymore, but they were from J. Crew Factory and I've already worn them both twice! :) Here is one that I wore at Stephanie's wedding on Saturday.

Mark's sister Andrea got me this cute burlap pillow with our name and wedding year on it. Love!

Mark got me the two bowls above from anthropologie for some added flair in our new kitchen. I just love little things like that!

Mark's mom put together a fun little gift basket that included this sweet owl mug from anthropologie. You can never have too many mugs, especially when they are this cute! ;)

Those are just a few fun things that I received. What did you get for Christmas?

Happy Monday! :)

Christmas at our house 2013

It's finally Christmas at our house!

Here was the snippet I posted the other night:

And here is our beautiful REAL tree in all it's glory:

I really like the placement and the tree itself this year!

I finally joined the cool kids with 'christmas mesh' or whatever it's called and I like it! I am a major failure at making it look good, but I like it!

Mark put the star on the tree after chopping off the abnormally long tallest branch. 

Of course I'm already done with my shopping so the presents are tucked nicely in, hiding the fact that I don't have a tree skirt. Shh!!

Some of my favorite ornaments:

Our first ornaments as a married couple...his and hers!

Mark's soccer ball and baby me in the background (with major glare. Sorry!)

I have a BUNCH of dollar store ornaments so I just fill mason jars and random vases with them. It's easy and festive! This is the half wall behind the tree.

We also have our countdown sign and look, more ornaments! 

I found this sign and switched it out for the "B" on my wreath to make the complete transformation to a Christmas wreath.

I'm still missing a lot of decor that will go in the kitchen (can't wait to reveal that this week!!!) and also a bag of decor was left at my parent's house so that has yet to be set up. Cross your fingers we get our Christmas lights up this year! I can't believe we're so late to the game! I guess it's all worth it for a new kitchen, though. :)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas cheer

My sister in law probably won't be able to cope with this information, but it's December 4th and I have yet to put up my Christmas decorations.

Things have been a little cray-cray at my house, what with the kitchen remodel and all, so I have vowed to wait to bring down the Christmas chaos until the kitchen is done and cleaned up.

There have been some lulls in the work where we are waiting for something to dry, etc., so I've taken out a few things that weren't packed and also added some new things to the mix!

We made these fun chalkboard signs at a friend's bachelorette party and I thought it was appropriate to put a little Christmas message up on it. 

I've added it to my gallery wall (in my rearranged living room that I have yet to document) and I love the charm it brings!

These amber colored mercury glass balls are my favorite but they were just rolling around in my closet so I just placed them in a basket.

I had some random holly berries laying around and I thought they would be the perfect addition to my ever changing front door wreath! I like how subtle they are. 

It's nice to have a little Christmas cheer around the house while we finish the remodel.

Have you started decorating for Christmas?

Target Tuesday : Christmas Edition

It's Tuesday, so that means it's TARGET Tuesday! I've got some special Christmas or Holiday items to share today. Target has a unique way of approaching the holidays and I really like their products!

I had to seriously fight the urge to buy one of these warm mulled cider candles. They smelled SO good. The packaging was super cute and reminded me of what you would see in a fancy boutique. Way to go, Target!

I thought these bags were super cute! They weren't exactly in a Christmas theme, but they coordinated with some other Christmas items that were brightly colored. I'd love to get a gift in one of these bags!

These bowls were super cute, and they were dog and cat bowls! I bet someone out there is using them creatively for candy or something!

I also really wanted to buy the origami ornaments for Motley this year but at $7.99 I decided they were a little too steep for an ornament...for a dog. Regardless, they are super cute!

I love this rustic / campy theme that Target has going on. I could see all of this stuff in a woodsy lodge!

These were really cute, festive, but still simple.

I probably wouldn't buy these, but they reminded me so much of some homemade felt ornaments and decorations that my mom had while we were growing up. Too funny!

I like this twist on the snow globe! Who says it has to be round?

I saw these in the Target AD and I reallllly love these red baskets. If I had a wood fireplace, I would have totally snatched one up to put my logs in. 

That's it for today! Do you buy your holiday decorations at Target? Share if you do!