Some Pics From "Hometown"

Hello everyone!

Remember me telling you about the new show on HGTV called Hometown?  It's hosted by Ben and Erin Napier in Laurel, Mississippi.

Well several of you said that you didn't get a chance to see the pilot episode last Sunday.  So, since I recorded it, I thought I would snap some pics to share with you today!  I heard that they will be re-running it again, but the network doesn't have a date set yet.  

Anyway, my pics don't do it justice.  If you get to watch the show, you can see everything more clearly and hear the interesting stories behind everything that they did to the home.  I'm only sharing the after pics.  They are the pretty ones, after all!

Share Your Style Party #50

Hello everyone!

Welcome to this week's Share Your Style party!  I hope that you are having a good week so far.  Are you still covered up in snow?  Ours melted long ago and we're expecting warmer temps this weekend.  I'm hoping that I can finally get outside and clean up our yard.  The gusty winds, last weekend, blew down a lot of limbs everywhere!  I can't wait to see what you all have to share this week.  Barbara from 21 Rosemary Lane is your host.

Hi everyone and welcome back to another Share Your Style Link Party. This one is number 50 and I am your host this week Barbara from 21 Rosemary Lane.

Barbara @ 21 Rosemary Lane

Lynn @ The Vintage Nest

Kelly @ The Essence Of Home

Did you Survive the Blizzard of 2016?

Hello everyone!

I hope that if you're reading this, that means that you're inside a warm house with the power working.  I know so many of you in the Northeast have had a rocky weekend.  Hopefully, the worst is behind you now.

Here in my neck of the woods, we just got a light dusting of snow but we endured extremely cold temps and gusting winds.

Some Pretty New Things

Hello everyone!

I wanted to share some things that I purchased with my Christmas money recently.  I have a thing for fur this year.  Faux fur, not real fur!  So, when I found this fur covered stool at World Market, I grabbed it up.  It was on sale, which helped me afford it.  It is only available online though.  

  

Share Your Style Party #49

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the 49th Share Your Style party!  I'm Kelly with The Essence of Home and will be your host this week.  

Barbara @ 21 Rosemary Lane

Lynn @ The Vintage Nest

Kelly @ The Essence Of Home

Martina @ Northern Nesting

Decisions Have Been Made - Finally!

Hello everyone!

I feel like I've been "over sharing" so much of what's going on in my life lately.  It has been therapeutic for me though, actually.  So, I hope that you don't mind.  I hope it's nice to see that real life does happen behind all the "staged" photos I share on this blog!  

My husband and I have been on a decision journey for a while now and I'm happy to say that a decision has finally been reached about some things that affect our future.  We have decided to hold off moving for a while since our son is starting high school this year and we don't want to have him change schools.  He doesn't deal with change very well and gets extra help at school, so keeping him where he knows his friends is probably the best thing we can do for him right now.  

Also, since my husband is retiring from the fire dept., he will be in a transition with his next line of work.  With moving, it will be too much stress to deal with a new job AND trying to sell our house and find a new one.  Moving is stressful all by itself!

We will re-evaluate things in a year.

So..............you know what I'm trying to say????  

We will be staying here and making LOTS of changes to our house so we can enjoy it while we're here a little longer.  We hope to increase the value of our home while we're at it too.  

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My Life Through Someone Else's Eyes

Hello everyone!

I guess this post is more of a philosophical one rather than a decor related one.  This week has been extremely busy and somewhat stressful.  But, I'm now learning to take a breath and "turn the page".  

The first thing that happened, was I went to my GI doctor to discuss going on a biologic medicine.  I had some tests run and have slowly been getting the results back.  It seems that my inflammation levels have gone way down since last month but are still elevated.  I expected that.  Now, I have to decide between which biologic medicine to go with based on the info we received.  So, my question to you is, do you take one of these types of medicines?  Do you like it?  Has it changed your life? I am considering either Remicade or Humira.  

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Share Your Style Party #48

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the 48th Share Your Style party!  I'm so glad you're here.  Are you finding ways to keep warm this week?  I think everyone has felt the chill of old man Winter finally!  We've been enjoying our fireplace alot more lately.  I look forward to seeing what you all will be sharing with us this week.  Lynn from the Vintage Nest is your host this week.

Barbara @ 21 Rosemary Lane

Lynn @ The Vintage Nest

Kelly @ The Essence Of Home

Martina @ Northern Nesting

Out with the Old and In with the New

Hello everyone!

My husband and I are planning on making some major improvements to our house this year.  Besides some painting projects that we have planned for our garage, and son's room, we are also replacing some worn out things in our house.  One of those includes kitchen appliances.  We've been in our house for 20 years and have only replaced the dishwasher so far.  Although they are still functional, they are not in the best shape.  Our microwave frame is cracking and the vent above it is taped in place to keep it from falling off.  Our dishwasher is super loud and has a piece broken off on the top rack.  Our range has a crack in the lower drawer handle, and some paint chipped off from something that fell on it along with permanent grease stains on the oven door from a self cleaning setting that allowed the inside grease to escape out onto the oven door and is now baked on and I can't remove it. 

 So.......................

We went shopping this weekend and looked at some new appliances.  We want to replace everything with stainless steel.  That will also increase the value of our house (for when we move in the future).  Stainless steel (whether you like it or not) is what is going in all of the new houses in our area.  When we eventually sell our house, we will be competing with many new homes in our area.  So, everything we do to our house needs to be something that will add value to our house.  

We looked at refrigerators and decided that we don't want the large freezer drawer on the bottom.  We will most likely go with this one.  The LG brand came highly recommended.  

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Hello Everyone!

How is your Friday going so far?  It is rainy and dreary here in North Ga.  So, I thought I would share the perfect comfort food for a day like this.  

I made this back in the Fall but never shared it with you.  It is a recipe from Rachael Ray.  I will share the complete recipe with you at the end of this post.

Share Your Style Party #47

Hello everyone!

How has your first week of the new year been so far?  Unfortunately, I'm dealing with allergies (I think).  Ugh!  I think all of the warm air and rain we had last week jump started it for me.  It has been a busy time taking down my Christmas decor and getting my youngest back into school.  His teachers have already been sending home papers to sign and new homework assignments.  They didn't waste any time since school started back yesterday!  

I'm  looking forward to seeing all of your inspiring projects and other fun things you share this week.  Barbara from 21 Rosemary Lane is your host.

10 New Exciting Design Trends for 2016

Hello everyone!

I hope that you all enjoyed bringing in 2016!  We went over to our neighbors house and had a nice time with good food, drinks and laughter.  I love local parties in the neighborhood where you don't have to get out and drive!

With a brand new year upon us, I always enjoy finding out what the newest design trends are going to be.  Now, of course, you can choose to incorporate these into your house or not. It's no big deal if you don't! Trends are just that......"trends".    Some of these I KNOW I will not be doing because they don't fit with my lifestyle or location.  But I thought you might enjoy seeing what they are and deciding for yourself.  I also will give MY personal opinion about each one as well. 

1.  Black Stainless Steel in the Kitchen

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Happy New Year - Year of Change

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm so glad to say goodbye to 2015.  The new year will hopefully bring some much needed change for me and my family.