Hello!!
Hope you all had a very merry Christmas, complete with tons of family, just enough gifts, and enough food to feed a small army! I know we had all of those! Christmas so often leaves me feeling beyond blessed, a little spoiled, and a lot sad it's over! I love everything about Christmas, and the hubs and I never quite get enough family time. I got some amazing gifts this year from my family - an amazing Kitchen Aid mixer from the best momma in the world (I've named my mixer Lola), and a purse I've been wanting from my mother in law. See? Spoiled! (I prefer suuuuper blessed!)
Anyway, we are gearing up for NYE over here at the Connell house, and that means an annual tradition - the Connell family movie extravaganza!! Four years ago, my husband and I decided that we wanted to save tons of money and a huge headache by staying in on New Year's Eve. We make a TON of food, and rent 5-6 movies from Redbox. We wake up, eat breakfast, shower, put on clean jammies, heat up all the food, and start movie watching by noon! Saves us a lot of money, and protects us from the shit show of drunk drivers and idiots out on New Year's Eve. Typically, my brother comes over, but this year we have a couple of friends coming, so we will probably throw some Fact or Crap and Apples to Apples in the mix.
Our menu for this year includes Texas Caviar (black eyed peas bring prosperity when eaten New Year's Day...setting some back for that!), my famous buffalo chicken dip, ranch bean dip, hot ham and cheese party sandwiches, chili, pigs in a blanket, monster cookie bars, and funfetti cake dip! We will also have champagne over popsicles! I am pumped! Our movie list right now is Silver Linings Playbook, After Earth, The Heat, We Are the Millers, and Now You See Me! Should be a great day/night.
I hope to take some pictures to post after the new year...we will are!
Wishing you a happy new year, full of life's most wonderful blessings, tons of love, and much prosperity. Bring on 2014!!
Monday, December 30, 2013
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Merry Christmas!!!
Wishing you and yours a day filled with laughter, friendship, family, and love! All the best and brightest for the new year, from our hearts to yours! Merry Christmas!
Love,
The Connells
Love,
The Connells
Saturday, December 21, 2013
'Tis the Season...
Well, hello there friends! It has been FOREVER since my last post! Like I said, I'm still figuring out how this whole blog shindig will fit into my life. Right now, I'm obviously not good at time management or prioritizing! I will figure it out eventually...I hope!
There is lots of icy rain falling here in Illinois today! That means the hubby and I have been cooped up in the house since about 8:00 last night when we got home from another Christmas shopping shit show! Why, oh why, do we wait until the last minute to get gifts done?! I swear we aren't doing it next year. I plan to be fully done with my shopping by December 15th! (Yeah, right!)
We snagged some last minute holiday decor at Target, which was 50% off! SCORE! I was able to grab a couple of items I'd had my eye on for quite awhile, but didn't want to drop loads of money on. I also had a $10 gift card from a work function, so extra score! I finished out my red holiday votive holders that looked something like this:
I already had this one since my hubby had gotten it for me about a month ago, so I got its friends "Peace & Joy" and "Noel" for a steal! FYI online shoppers, the prices in store are cheaper than online by almost 50%, but you may find your holiday selection a little picked over. I also grabbed some holiday paper for next year for just $2.50 a roll! Love those deals.
We've I've been going through a redecorating/organizing phase lately, so I also picked up a couple of things to put our bathroom in better order. Up until yesterday, I had been storing my makeup on a shelf in our medicine cabinet. It was in a little clear plastic case that came out of my makeup bag. SO not cute! I decided to change it up a bit, and got one of these bad boys from Target for about $8:
All of my makeup fits in it just PERFECTLY! It's also kind of a decoration in its own way, since it IS a bathroom after all. Can't wait to see how long it takes to get it completely covered in eye shadow...at least I tried!
I will be putting tons of new makeup in it after the holiday, since I just ordered a shit ton of E.L.F. cosmetics, which are supposed to be delivered 12/28. One of my favorite bloggers, the gorgeous Ms. Mandy over at Our Daily Blessing, has me hooked on E.L.F.! Seriously...check out this pretty lady's makeup tutorial using E.L.F., and you will be inspired too! The makeup is sold at Target, but I found an awesome 50% off coupon code to use online, so ordered it there. Their products are already super affordable ($1 for powder before the coupon, say what?!), so the coupon code made it totally worth the shipping costs. You can Google search to find other coupon codes, that's what I did. They are currently offering free shipping on $35+ orders without a code. Check them out here!
I also visited Tuesday Morning with my hubby last night, since it was next to the liquor store where I was picking up some last minute gifts (more about that hopefully tomorrow!). I usually dislike this store pretty strongly. I refer to it as an "indoor garage sale." Sort of like a run-down version of TJ Maxx. Yeesh. But, much to my total surprise, they had some adorable stuff in there this year! I even found a medium sized chalkboard that the hubby will be hanging right outside my kitchen. Of course, shout out to the chalkboard QUEEN, Jessica, over at Little Baby Garvin who has inspired my chalkboard obsession. Here's what I did last night to "test" it while sitting in bed drinking Sprite and watching Now & Then (nest night ever, by the way...that movie is GOLD!):
It's no Garvin, but it's a good place to start! I am getting a larger chalkboard after the holiday from a friend at work, who does custom framing. I'm excited to incorporate it into my decor!
I will leave you with some pictures that have been taking up space in my phone. Some are of my holiday decorating (which is a HUGE passion of mine), including our newly decorated Christmas tree. I wanted to move away from my "grown up" tree to something with a little more whimsy, so we now have a "woodland" themed tree, adorned with mostly felt ornaments, a $5 red felt skirt from Target, and a disgustingly adorable felt popcorn garland from Etsy!
There is lots of icy rain falling here in Illinois today! That means the hubby and I have been cooped up in the house since about 8:00 last night when we got home from another Christmas shopping shit show! Why, oh why, do we wait until the last minute to get gifts done?! I swear we aren't doing it next year. I plan to be fully done with my shopping by December 15th! (Yeah, right!)
We snagged some last minute holiday decor at Target, which was 50% off! SCORE! I was able to grab a couple of items I'd had my eye on for quite awhile, but didn't want to drop loads of money on. I also had a $10 gift card from a work function, so extra score! I finished out my red holiday votive holders that looked something like this:
I already had this one since my hubby had gotten it for me about a month ago, so I got its friends "Peace & Joy" and "Noel" for a steal! FYI online shoppers, the prices in store are cheaper than online by almost 50%, but you may find your holiday selection a little picked over. I also grabbed some holiday paper for next year for just $2.50 a roll! Love those deals.
All of my makeup fits in it just PERFECTLY! It's also kind of a decoration in its own way, since it IS a bathroom after all. Can't wait to see how long it takes to get it completely covered in eye shadow...at least I tried!
I will be putting tons of new makeup in it after the holiday, since I just ordered a shit ton of E.L.F. cosmetics, which are supposed to be delivered 12/28. One of my favorite bloggers, the gorgeous Ms. Mandy over at Our Daily Blessing, has me hooked on E.L.F.! Seriously...check out this pretty lady's makeup tutorial using E.L.F., and you will be inspired too! The makeup is sold at Target, but I found an awesome 50% off coupon code to use online, so ordered it there. Their products are already super affordable ($1 for powder before the coupon, say what?!), so the coupon code made it totally worth the shipping costs. You can Google search to find other coupon codes, that's what I did. They are currently offering free shipping on $35+ orders without a code. Check them out here!
I also visited Tuesday Morning with my hubby last night, since it was next to the liquor store where I was picking up some last minute gifts (more about that hopefully tomorrow!). I usually dislike this store pretty strongly. I refer to it as an "indoor garage sale." Sort of like a run-down version of TJ Maxx. Yeesh. But, much to my total surprise, they had some adorable stuff in there this year! I even found a medium sized chalkboard that the hubby will be hanging right outside my kitchen. Of course, shout out to the chalkboard QUEEN, Jessica, over at Little Baby Garvin who has inspired my chalkboard obsession. Here's what I did last night to "test" it while sitting in bed drinking Sprite and watching Now & Then (nest night ever, by the way...that movie is GOLD!):
It's no Garvin, but it's a good place to start! I am getting a larger chalkboard after the holiday from a friend at work, who does custom framing. I'm excited to incorporate it into my decor!
I will leave you with some pictures that have been taking up space in my phone. Some are of my holiday decorating (which is a HUGE passion of mine), including our newly decorated Christmas tree. I wanted to move away from my "grown up" tree to something with a little more whimsy, so we now have a "woodland" themed tree, adorned with mostly felt ornaments, a $5 red felt skirt from Target, and a disgustingly adorable felt popcorn garland from Etsy!
Isn't my baby boy sweet?! Made him wear a scarf and have a photo shoot. This is what happens when you don't have children!
Love him!
He wasn't impressed! I thought it was ADORABLE!
Someone was snuggling up, right after his haircut! The snowman blanket is from Kohl's!
This is my version of a perfect night!
The inspiration for our new tree! There are 8 of these on our tree now, and I love them! They're from Target!
Up close on our felt popcorn garland. It's from Oh My Deer! on Etsy.
Bad Instagram quality photo...sorry! Loving my West Elm felt ball garland, and chalkboard prints from the lady who inspires so many things...Jessica at Little Baby Garvin! You can find more amazing prints in her Etsy shop, J + Paper.
Chalkboard vinyl on our pantry door!
Our soffee table always has a "tray" on it. Each season has a different one. This one is AMAZING. Love the stag print! I have an apothecary with a stag etched on it from Target last year that fits right in with this! (And it matches our "woodland" tree theme!) The tray is from Target this season, and the mug is a standard from Anthropologie.
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