Take 32

So this year, we wanted to take a Christmas picture to send out with our Christmas cards. Mostly because a good portion of our family and friends haven't seen Bindi since she was a puppy (and other family members it's been since our wedding since they've seen us last). It took us a good two hours to get a couple of pictures that we were happy with.



And the out takes:



And our e-card from last year:



Goodness, she was a cute puppy! :)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Mr. Moosey Moose

Meet Mr. Moosey Moose.



He's Bindi's favorite toy. And I mean Favorite! Bindi received Mr. Moosey Moose as a Christmas gift from us last year. She was three months old at the time and to make the gift special, we kept it in our bed for a few days so it would have our scent on it (this was when Bindi was crate training and was not allowed on the bed, but she was so small she couldn't jumped up anyway). It worked and Mr. Moosey Moose quickly became her favorite. I rotate her toys but Moosey Moose was never put away. Until September.

Over the summer, Bindi learned the joys of de-stuffing her animals.



But she was always very gingerly with Mr. Moosey Moose. But then one day she ran out of toys to de-stuff and all that was left was Moosey. We didn't think she would do it. She was so gentle with him, surely she wouldn't do it (could she?)!

It started out as a ripped seam, so I put Mr. Moose in a drawer intending on stitching him back up. But I never got around to it. So I pulled him back out in October and Bindi and Mr. Moose were re-united.

Here's Mr. Moosey Moose today--a mere three months later.

She still loves him to pieces (literally). When we find discarded pieces of him and we pick it up, Bindi rushes over and starts begging for the scrap of fabric. He's still her favorite. When Bryan comes home, she greets him at the door holding Mr. Moose in her mouth.



So this year, I thought I'd try it again. We found this cute guy at Petsmart (where Bindi attends training class).



The only problem is that she is now allowed on the bed and when we pull Mr. (no name yet) out of the drawer to put on the bed she goes C-R-A-Z-Y! It's been five days now and she is only getting more and more excited when she sees him. We're going to give him to her before we leave to visit our family for Christmas. But I'm afraid that all she sees in Mr. No-name is a challenge in de-stuffing (he's pretty big) and I don't think he stands a chance.

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With Strings...

The presents are finally under the tree! It's loosely a snowflake theme--I had some Christmas paper left over from previous years that I wanted to use up (different color schemes, but both have snowflakes). I used Kraft paper as fill in and to unify the snowflake theme, snowflake ornaments were used as gift tags (from Hobby Lobby). Notice my doodles on the Kraft paper? Inspiration found from Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog. Super easy and so cute!



Here's my favorite out of the group:



It's for my mother in law. She loves to watch birds and so the theme was easy. Bird ornament purchased at the Biltmore Christmas shop. Bird book mark downloaded from here. We are out of colored ink so I colored it in myself using colored pencils. Inside is a container of fair trade/organic tea (obviously she is not a reader of this blog...yet).

Have you all finished your gift wrapping? Or are you still shopping? I will probably venture out tomorrow morning to pick up a few last minute things but for the most part I am done!

Cuteness

I can't resist this furry face...



It's like she just knew she was being cute (and she may have gotten a treat for it). Ahhh, I'm a sucker and she knows it.

Room by Room: Office

Boy, there's nothing like a give away to spur me into action! I have been avoiding showing you all my office because...well because I don't like it. And I'm stumped with what to do with it. I have ideas, but I'm just not sure if they'll work. So, when I saw that Camila over at High Heeled Foot in the Door was hosting a give away for her design services, I entered immediately! And as a bonus, if I post it on my blog, I will receive an extra entry?! Heck yeah! So, here I am about to show you my atrocious office. But first, check out Camila's fabulous blog if you haven't before.

Here's the only before I have...



Don't you hate it when your before doesn't look bad at all?! You just have to trust me on this one--it is one dark room. The door and window lead out to the covered back porch so the room receives very little natural light.

I wanted to lighten the room up and my first vision for the room was to paint it a pale blue/gray and have accents of black and silver. It was so posh in my head. But the paint I picked out turned out to be more blue than gray. I'm not happy with the color but I like it better than the orange/red.



I changed my vision and decided to go with a blue/orange/brown color scheme inspired by this print that my husband "borrowed" from his grandmother's house.



We're currantly using this room as an office/guest bedroom but in April we're adding an extra bedroom to our house (more on that later) so we no longer need it to be a guest room. I bought some orange vases and made an headboard (that never got hung) with some blue/orange/brown fabric but it just wasn't coming together.





I hate it! One side of the room is super cluttered and the other side is empty. Grrr...I need help.

I've really been thinking about what I want in the room and how we use it. We have to have two desks in the room--one for our home computer and one for Bryan's work laptop (he's an IT guy and works on call a lot and needs a dedicated place to work from). I'd like for the laptop desk to double as a craft/project desk. Plus we need storage for all our books, office supplies, craft supplies and computer parts and equipment (Bryan also builds computers for friends and family which the tiny closet is currently holding that kind of stuff). We also use this room to watch TV from time to time so we need a comfortable seating arrangement.

I think the biggest challenge is how to arrange the furniture with two doors leading into the room diagonally across from each other(one from the hallway and one from the porch). See why we need Camila's help? I need professional advice! I've got my fingers crossed but in the likely event that I do not win, you can rest assured knowing that I will be putting out a cry for help when I'm ready to tackle this room. Blog readers get ready to dole it out!

Nosy Neighbors

On Sunday, Bryan and I were peeping toms.





Thanks to The 21st Annual Historic Old North Knoxville Victorian Holiday Home Tour, we weren't breaking the law by barging in the doors and having a look around. There were eleven homes featured on the tour. Some of the houses featured on this post were not on the tour--I just can't stop myself from taking pictures of pretty houses. Click here to view all the houses on the tour.







We've been calling Knoxville home for two and a half years now and this was one of the first neighborhoods we fell in love with while house hunting. Old North Knoxville is an historic neighborhood that was developed as a street car suburb from 1880-1940. Therefore, it was designed for pedestrians instead of cars, which is apparent by the plentiful sidewalks, cute shops and eateries within walking distance. You can read more about the rich history of the area here.

I read somewhere that houses were designed back then for the enjoyment of pedestrians. Since people would meander down your street, curb appeal was especially important and one wanted their house to stand out (and possibly show off their wealth). Which explains why so many older houses have such beautiful architectural elements and interesting details on the exterior--they were built specifically to take in slowly.



I love old houses. they give me a warm, cozy feeling. I don't know if it's because of the sense of history I feel in them or if it's because of all the interesting and unique elements of the houses that I can't peel my eyes away from. Most likely it's a combination of both. I don't have any pictures of the interiors (how I wish I did--talk about inspiration!) but one element that I was continually drawn to were the hardwood floors. Oh, to hear the stories those floors would tell if they could. It was a wonderful reminder that I shouldn't worry about my floors looking flawless because it's the flaws that make them warm and interesting.

I love old neighborhoods, too. They're full of personality. No two houses the same. Some houses had been loved and renovated and others were in need of a little love.

Isn't this such a sweet house? Talk about details!



How many people have a house like this in their neighborhood?





And if I could move into this house tomorrow, I would. Notice the blue paint on the porch ceiling--it's traditional color called haint blue. I plan on using the color on our porch ceiling once we have one.



Another interesting house in the neighborhood. We loved the round porch. This house is one that wasn't on the tour, but we had a chance to peek inside last year when we were house hunting. Obviously, it's not the house we bought, but still a lovely home.



This house is a survivor.



It was featured in a "Save This Old House" article in This Old House magazine. Back in 2005, the house was standing in the way of a proposed on-ramp to Interstate 40. In an effort to save the house, the owner (who also grew up there) sold it to Knox Heritage, a local preservationist group with the means to save it. They moved the house to an adjacent lot and got to work on improvements. It was sold again in 2007 to the current owners who have been busy restoring and updating the interiors making it a beautiful home. It was just as beautiful on the inside as the outside.

Before:

Picture courtesy of This Old House

After:

Picture courtesy of This Old House

Oh, and since this was a holiday home tour, here are some porch decorating inspirations. Please, somebody do this so I can live vicariously through you (if you recall, I don't have a porch to decorate).



I love the burlap wrapped around this porch railing.



Anybody else love home tours? Please share your favorites, I'd love to check them out (even if it's via Internet).

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

This morning, we woke up to this:





Trust me folks, this is rare! We've lived in Knoxville for two years and the first year it didn't snow at all and last year I think it snowed once. Something makes me think it's going to be a cold and snowy winter. Brrrr!

We (scratch that I) also put up our tree last week.



Now I just need to crank up some Christmas tunes and simmer some cinnamon for a full on Christmas sensory experience.