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8.27.2012

Happy Dance

Last week I came home to TWO fun deliveries I had been (not so patiently) waiting for. 
Yes, I documented the whole experience on my iphone so I could share it with you. 
Although I have neglected you recently, I do love you my blog peeps, are you getting excited??
Get your cup of coffee/tea/diet coke and get ready. 
It's that good...
This was the scene outside my front door. 
Not a bad way to come home from the grocery store, right???
(I spy little toes, do you?)
I was excited about all of it and I did in fact *celebrate* with a little happy dance that might have involved some squeals and clapping.  Who doesn't love an Erin Condren box on their doorstep??? 
 Seriously. 
Even the box and the packing inside is ADORABLE!!
These are my 2 new treasures I ordered a few weeks ago!
I had a great voucher from my birthday to spend so I finally redeemed it and got a great deal on these. She doesn't do many deals, but when she does they are usually half-off and I was thrilled to scoop this one up last Spring.
No, this is not the 2012-2013 Life Planner, I don't need a new one yet.  This is their notebook, which is kind of like a mini-planner.  I wanted it for some new design projects I have in the works and already, I love it!
 But THIS item has stolen my heart. 
I do LOVE a good visual form of organization!!  Although our kids are still young and we haven't even begun to schedule lots of activities for them, our schedules are more than enough for us to keep up with.  This Fall is crazy busy at our house and when I saw this online, I knew it would be helpful for us.  One or both of us is always asking the other, "Do you have anything going on tonight??"  Usually we can't remember and we are not electronic calendar people (Yet-we're holding out) but we both appreciate a good paper calendar.  SO, my plan is to fill this out every Sunday and put it on the fridge for us to reference all week. 
 And this is what my fridge looks like this morning! 
I am in love with this product already.  I'm using it for keep track of activities, but also for meal planning.  I ama visual girl and a write-it-down kind of gal, so this speaks my language well.  Plus, it's terribly cute to look at, isn't it??  I love that you can personalize it too, we chose to put Proverbs 16:9 on there, reminding me that no matter what "our plans" are, the Lord's will always prevail!  I can tell you that the 20 minutes I spend filling this out every week will be a happy 20 minutes :)
After I got done rejoicing over the contents of that box, I moved on to these! 
My second order that was a total treat to buy.  I'm in a BIG organizing, de-cluttering, purging mode over here right now and one thing that I've been targeting is my kitchen.  After 9 years of marriage, I have accumulated lots of stuff and I'm realizing how much of it I don't use.  So, those items are on their way out and I'm trying to only keep what I actually like and use regularly.  I am a dish girl, I like to entertain and I've always loved pretty dishes.  I like to mix stuff around and I have a basic set of ivory Mikasa dishes that I registered for when we got married, but I also have several other sets that I've used with them for all kinds of seasons and occasions.  Anyway, they've been great but I'm sick of them.  They aren't amazing dishes, they're from Wal-Mart and Target, but they have been great over the years.  I was online last week reading emails when I stumbled on one, alerting me to an online flash sale from Dayspring.  It was a 4 hour sale and it was a big one.  I decided to browse it and I was THRILLED to see the dishes I've seen before and loved were part of the sale!!
They are so "me" and they go with my stuff beautifully!!  These are the bowls, they say "grateful for his grace, grateful for his goodness, and grateful for simple blessings" and I LOVE that! 
Cute mugs that say "grateful for the gift of hope" inside.  Love the butter color!
 Dessert plates
 Salad plates
All the plates :)
I know, this is riveting stuff!
 I ordered 4 place settings that were 60% off.  It was such a great deal and I was very grateful that Trav gave me the green light when I called him and basically begged him, ha ha!  I sold him on it because they will easily mix and match with my plain ivory dishes and some of my chocolate mugs and serving dishes.  I like to recommend that idea to people, especially new brides.  Invest in some plain, white/ivory dishes (8-12 place settings) that will last you for a long time and then supplement them with cheaper "decorative" dishes (4-6 place settings) that add some color and pattern and allow you to mix and match, but aren't a long term investment that you'll regret in 10 years.  I think the idea of fine china is kind of out the window for a lot of modern couples.  It's just not practical anymore and so many people have fine china that they NEVER use or they have no room to store it, in addition to their every day stuff.  Not everybody cares about dishes, but for those of who like that kind of stuff, I'm always looking for ways to create a look without breaking the bank or always buying new stuff.  It's been 9 years and I'm happy to be swapping out my older blue dishes with these! 
Seriously, aren't they cute??  I like tying gratitude in to our everyday dining and I'm always looking for more ways to incorporate scripture and the Lord around our house.  I liked these the first time I saw them, months ago, but I like them on sale even better!  The surprise bonus is that they match my kitchen perfectly!  They look good with my countertops and my flooring and they make my paint color pop on the walls :) I know, who even notices that stuff??  Someone with an Interior Design degree, that's who!  Ha ha! 
 
So there you go, sorry about the week long teaser on twitter!  My life has not been my own for the last few weeks (read: we have been WAY TOO BUSY.) 
 
In the middle of the chaos, it was fun to get some sunshine delivered to my front door. 
The Fed Ex guy is my new best friend!! 
 
Two fun places for you to check out on this Monday morning:
Hope you have a blessed day!  Enjoy!! 

1 comment:

Bella said...

Those are so cute!!! Love it all! We didn't get china for our wedding but I love completed table settings like that. Some day... :-)