Christmas is over...

Well, we got so busy with holidays, I never posted any Christmas decor we had up..and now its all over! *face palm* It will be taken down soon so I felt the need to least document Christmas 2014 here.

For those interested in seeing what we did with the place.. here ya go! ;)

 

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Tis the Season for Traveling!

Hello All!!

Don't mind me.. just doing my monthly post hahahaha! ;) But for reals, this post has some tips you might appreciate so you may want to keep reading..

First of all, I hope you all had an AMAZING  time with your families for Thanksgiving and Christmas! We sure did and we of course, ate way too much and we headed back to the gym Monday to get back on track. We did a lot of traveling and sitting on our bums that long has motivated us! This whole season is the time we all get our travel on though. Whether it be just up the road to your mamma's house, downtown to a Christmas play or 3 hrs away to visit in laws for a New Years Party, we all travel.

Sometimes travel is messy and can be aggravating. There always seems to be so much stuff to remember to pack and only a certain amount of space to pack it all up in! We know this well since we still drive our high school cars that are tiny!

So, I'm here on behalf of RelayRides to share 5 tips that I use to help me (and the hubs!) stay sane while on the road.

We mainly stay around KY when we travel but this first tip I love for any distance!

1. Put your earrings/small jewelry in a pill box!

I  have a few small pair of earrings I like to wear and switch out with my different outfits. It's always hard keeping up with them when I take them out and sometimes they end up in my makeup bag.. straight to the bottom ! So, along with any vitamins or other pills I need, I add my earrings to the pill box and I always know where they are.

Other things that might fit include: Small hair bands, close pins, pushpins, rings & men's cuff links!

2. Phone Charger(s)

I got this nifty little charger with TWO ports on it from a vendor at work.

It has been awesome to have on our travel adventures!  It's no secret, we all love our phones. We need them charged to look up restaurants in the area, use maps to get us where we are going and also, sound hound that song on the radio so it doesn't drive us nuts not knowing the artist! GUILTY!  This little charger has saved us (we only have one working port in our cars.. joys of an old car) and has helped us  from having to decide who gets their phone charged up first... "I'm at 5%, give me the charger!"  Disaster averted.

3. Roll it up!

I love to save space where I can, so I roll up my camis, sock and underwear and shove them in my winter boots! It's available space so why not? This in turn will free up space for you to pack some gifts back with you annnnnd keeps your boots true to form :)

7 small shirts

Rolled into 1 boot!

4. Rent for cheaper

We don't do a lot of rental cars but if our little high school cars ever broke down (knock on wood) and we needed one, we would like to save some cash doing so! One way is to download rental apps and find the cheapest rate in your travel area. Another way is using TURO (they have an app too!). They have rentals in just about every city you are traveling to and its cheaper than most rentals companies, Plus you are helping someone out by renting their car :) Win/Win
If you are traveling by air, they also have an option to rent at the airport! Check out their airport car rentals to see what they have available for you and your family 

5. Combos, chocolate & a diet coke

'This is my go to snack on most of our trips.. gotta keep me happy! Happy Wife, Happy Life! But honestly, get those snacks ready a head of time so you aren't stopping to much on the way to your destination! Less in and out of the cold in my opinion especially if you have kiddos!

Bonus Tip! (#6)
We are headed south soon to pick up our little pug puppy, Phoebe. I've got my combos ready for the ride! But I heard this tip from a friend that sells oils... If you have a rather anxious pet you are traveling with, Lavender oil really can calm a pup down. A few drops massaged behind their ears and they will relax and more than likely sleep on your car ride. Find that oil here

There ya have it! Some good ol tips for travel. Some of these may be common sense but some people need a little help if they don't travel often. I hope at least one of these keeps your stress levels down this Holiday season.

Cheers to 2015!

Fall @ The Hartland

I know I'm a little late on the fall home decor wagon... but I swear I've been celebrating fall for over a month now! ;)

Here is our fall front porch and a few touches around the house ..

 

Happy Sunday yall!

Blessed

We are super blessed y'all. In every way. but especially this past week. We were featured on 3 blogs for our kitchen makeover!  How cool is that?!

Sometimes I feel like all the hard work isn't paying off till I see that others appreciate what we've done. So, thank you to everyone that has commented/texted and called with kind words about our kitchen. It makes my heart happy!  It might not mean much to some but it exposes us to so many people/ bloggers out there in the blog world and can open up tons of opportunity. Design has always been my passion in one way or another. Eventually, this could turn into a little side business for us and I'm grateful for the possibility of that in the future.

Check out the blogs we were featured on!

Kitchen Reveal!

Hi everyone!!

We finally have the pictures done of our kitchen and are SO ready to show you all! We hope you are ready to see :)

Not many words are needed here other than a HUGE thank you to my mom & dad for helping pull all of this together over last weekend. Also, so many have helped with the house along the way and we never really thanked you all. SO THANK YOU!!!! All of you (you know who you are) have helped make this house a home and that means the world to us! We love you all!

It's been a long road to get to this point and we feel blessed to have stumbled upon this house. We have also loved the opportunity to learn so much about remodeling from my dad, the poo bucket champ!  ;) Ahhh, memories for miles...

Truly this has been the most fun, stressful and interesting process for a first house! Even though there is always more to conquer on this house, the heart of the home is done in our opinion :)

So, anyway, we hope you enjoy what we've done!

This was the beginning of our day...

Everything but the kitchen sink

Mom making a Thanksgiving list already :)

A little before and after action :)

I LOVE my egg basket light!

That's All folks! (yeah, we are all worn out!)

What do you think?

What is your favorite part of the kitchen? 

I've linked up over at the following parties this week.. go check them out! Great blogs, with tons of inspiration! :)

Thanks for checking out our kitchen :)

 

Summer Projects

Well blog world, I'm back! For like 2.5 seconds..

I wanted to update you all on the house stuff before August creeps up on us.. oh wait.. that's already here. Wow, I didn't blog at all in July... my bad yall, my bad.

This month is a busy one for us.. it will be filled with kids birthday parties, the worlds longest yard sale, a bachelorette party, Kings Island, Ikea, a wedding and a wedding shower! So needless to say, I'm jam packed with little time for blogging so, this may be it for a while.. again, my bad yall.

So, on to the projects that have filled our summer!

May:

One weekend in May, I decided it was time to fix our rusty old mailbox. Instead of buying a new one, I had some paint already and stencils so, it got a makeover.

Tyler made a new base for it so it would sit better on the pole. He is so handy :)

I want to start leaving notes and goodies for the mail person once a week under the HELLO. I think that would be fun! :)

June:

A pretty Saturday morning, we decided to take a trip to Bardstown for breakfast at Mammy's Kitchen. Tyler and I were walking through town and saw a cute little sign in a window with the coordinates of Bardstown. Since we got married there, I of course wanted it. Tyler gently reminded me that I could make it for much cheaper. That's why I married him.. smart, cute AND frugal ;) So, that's what I did! Once I painted it, it sat in the living room for a while. I couldn't decide where I wanted to hang it.. which is a daily struggle for me.. ha!

Finally we hung it with the rest of our wedding photos on our gallery wall in our master bedroom along with a shadow box with Tyler's boutonniere in it. It was the perfect size! Still going to add one more thing to that wall.. just gotta go make it! Easier said than done.

July:

Us girls hit up some yard sales in Indiana one weekend and on another weekend, I did a little shopping in Elizabethtown with my mom and sister.. Here are a couple of my finds for the house :)

 I found this type set drawer for $20 in Indiana! Fan courtesy of my MIL :)

The rug I found in E-town (after my unfortunate "pink" rug incident left me looking for something new.. see below)

I found that cute blue pillow for the couch in E-town as well, then came home and decided to put some mason jars on my ugly light. Still trying to sell my original light but this is cute for now.

A few weekends ago, I spotted some old windows on a FB yard sale site, so I snagged those puppies!  That wall was in need of something and those windows were calling my name. I still plan on hanging something under the windows that will hold bath soaps, towels, candles & salts. All the goodies for a bath :)

In late July, our big project has been getting the trim up in the sun room and all the windows in and cleaned! Next up is sanding more holes, dusting everything off and painting! Here is a shot of the house WITHOUT plastic on the back and June enjoying the new trim.

Thank goodness all that plastic is gone. Much better!

Thanks for reading yall! Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the place ;)

Happy August !

I'm linking up with these lovely ladies this week :)