Cheerleading cookies [part two]...

About forever ago now, I mentioned that I was going to make cheerleading cookies as an end of the season treat for the squad of little girls I coached this basketball season. Well, as I was going through my camera recently, I realized I never posted the pictures of the final product. So, here they are...

I ended up making sugar cookies with green and white frosting (our squad colors) in clear bags with green poms and a little note. The girls loved them!

[P.S. If you want to see the cutie little girls in action, check out this video. And for the adorable video Mr. W made for his basketball team, check out this video.]

Baby shower invitation...

Last but certainly not least in the series of invitations are the invitations for my sister's baby shower...

The theme for the nursery is jungle animals and the parents-to-be particularly love giraffes. Again, this invitation was actually three pieces of paper - the white with the words, the green and then the blue.  The invitations were mailed in white envelopes with these wrap labels...

I had never made [or used] wrap labels before and am now completely obsessed. They are so simple, but look really classy and fun. It's a good thing Mr. W generally handles the bills in our house, or I am quite sure I'd be mailing them all in with cute wrap labels. ;) If I can, I'll try someday to post a template for easily making your own wrap labels. You can also look forward to some coordinating paper products from this shower in the future.  :)

Graduation party invitation...

Next up in the series of invitations is the invitation for the surprise graduation party for my husband...

Mr. W just got his Masters in Public Administration from the University of Kansas [hence the colors]. :) The invitations were mailed in bright red envelopes with these labels...

Couples' shower invitation...

Tons of exciting stuff is going on in our family right now, which means...tons of fun parties! Today I'll share the invitations I made for three parties over the past couple of months. And soon[ish], I'll be back to share more fun pictures from each of them.

First up is the invitation for a couples' shower / BBQ for my brother-in-law and his fiance... 

The invitation was actually three separate pieces of paper - the brown with the words, a white/cream paper, and then the green background. Their wedding colors are green and brown, which were really easy inspiration colors for a mostly outdoor shower. Stay tuned for lots of photos...

Backdrop genius...

Isn't this backdrop gorgeous?

[from Holamama; found via Celebrations at Home]

It definitely proves that by spending a little time crafting you can make a huge impact with very little money. We all know how to make paper chains. And who doesn't have colored paper around their house already?

Why I sleep on airplanes...

So, I travel a lot for work. And when I do, I always sleep on the airplane. Professional, huh?

Last week I was actually traveling with coworkers though, so I decided to be social and stay awake on the plane. All week long, I had been reading an issue of Better Homes & Gardens and had flagged tons of great ideas. Since I was awake, I thought it seemed like a great time to finish reading the magazine. Awwww, more great ideas and amazingness...

And then I got off the plane and left the magazine in the seat pocket!!! I stopped dead in my tracks when I realized it. And, honestly, if I had been traveling alone, I might have tried to push backwards and wait to go back on the plane to retrieve it. But I didn't want to look like a total magazine-crazed maniac to my coworkers. So, now all of the great ideas and amazingness are living with some very lucky passenger who sat in my seat next. And as much as I love sharing great ideas, this is why I sleep on airplanes.

The worst part? I actually had grand plans of sharing the ideas with all of you...Since I am in fact a total magazine-crazed maniac, I subscribe to a somewhat abnormal amount of magazines. And I am planning to start posting some of the great ideas here to prove that sometimes I actually did "read it in a magazine." :)

I tried to look online to find the BHG ideas I had flagged, but had no such luck. In the meantime, please enjoy some of my favorite Elle Decor highlight posts here. Including my favorite...

I read it in a magazine...

The show Cougar Town absolutely cracks me up. I literally laugh out loud during pretty much the whole episode.

Tonight I was catching up on a few episodes on Hulu and heard the funniest thing yet...

"Let's play the admission game. That's when friends admit stuff and it brings everyone much closer...I read it in a magazine." - Laurie

"What magazine?" - Ellie

"Fine! It's just I feel like people respect my ideas more when they think that they came out of magazines." - Laurie

Um...I totally do that! Not very often, but I have been known to blurt out "I read it in a magazine" when I am trying to convince Mr. W that one of my ideas is cool. This usually happens with home decor items, like the "magazine holder" in our office. Yep, Mr. W still thinks I read the idea somewhere, but really it was just from my head! [Note to self: Take a picture of said "magazine holder" this weekend when I'm back at home.]

Some questions about me...

I've been enjoying this little Q & A here, here and here, so now it's my turn...

1) When do you feel happiest?
Without a doubt, anytime I am just relaxing with Mr. W and our families. My favorite is when a casual family dinner turns into hours and hours of talking, laughing and just enjoying each other.

2) How do you take care of yourself?
I keep my DVR fully stocked with lots of silly girly shows...America's Next Top Model, 90210, Project Runway, Melrose Place, Days of Our Lives and even a little Hannah Montana :)

3) Are you internally [by yourself] or externally [by others] motivated?
Internally, externally or both, depending on the situation. [Sorry for the lame-o answer there, but it's true.]

4) What do you do for fun?
Toast marshmallows around our firepit, summer nights watching ballgames at the K, hotel stays with Mr. W, spray paint all sorts of things, read [books, magazines, blogs], craft...

5) What intimidates you?
Things I can't change/control...

6) What is something you're proud of?
My family and making my family proud. I truly admire my grandparents, parents and sister. They have all been great examples of being a loving spouse, working hard, caring for others and just being the kind of person I want to be.

7) Finish this sentence. I never ____________.
I never stop singing Christmas songs. Seriously, whenever it is quiet in our house for more than a few minutes, I start singing Jingle Bells or Oh Christmas Tree. It's pretty much uncontrollable and happens year-round.

8) Favorite vacation spot.
Anywhere a cruise takes me :)

9) Today is a (rate from 1 - 10).
Probably about a seven. It's a Monday, I woke up at 3 a.m., left the house at 4 a.m., had a 6 a.m. flight, then had to drive two hours in the rain, went to the wrong building for work [long story] and I'm gone until Friday night. [Eek...I feel like that's a really negative answer and I hate being negative.]

10) Finish this sentence. If you knew me really well you'd know ____________.
I love, love, love hosting parties and showers for people. I love working on all the little details to make it perfect for the guest-of-honor and then watching them enjoy the party. I also never pass up an opportunity for some Martha Stewart-style creativity. :)

Restor-A-Mazing...

Restor-A-Finish is quite possibly my favorite product ever. Seriously, it is a miracle in a tin. [Or a genie in a bottle for wood.]

I picked up my first can of Restor-A-Finish a few months ago during a trip to Home Depot. [Sorry for the delay, I was being a major blog slacker.] We had some massive scratches on our woodwork that were in desperate need of assistance. I really had no clue what product to use, but this one sounded good from the description and was pretty inexpensive.

Holy moly - the first swipe of this stuff and I was completely hooked. It was crazy easy to use...

1. Dab on rag.
2. Rub on wood.
3. Wipe off wood.

See, it was so easy to use that it only took nine words to tell you how to do it yourself! And the results....A-Mazing!

This is seriously embarrassing to show, but check out these nasty scratches...

This is the door leading from our family room to the garage. Sick!

But, check it out after some Restor-A-Finish...

It's like a whole new door! I couldn't believe the results. I didn't stop until I had restored all of the wood in our family room, laundry room, first floor bath and all our stairways. If you've seen our house, you know that is a lotttt of wood.

Now I just need a little free time so I can do the kitchen and rest of the house. I honestly cannot wait.

[I was not compensated for this post in any way by Restor-A-Finish; I just love it. But...if Restor-A-Finish would like to compensate me, I'll take a whole bunch of golden oak and a few cans of mahogany finish. :)]

Computer pretties...

When you look at your computer all day, sometimes it needs a little prettification.

Maybe a Spring background like this...

Or a screensaver like this...

Both are fun, yet completely work appropriate. 

Mood Board Monday - PATCH NYC pillow inspired sunroom...

Pewter + Sage is hosting a special Mood Board Monday today. It's a collaboration with West Elm, so the inspiration items are some amazing PATCH NYC items. Looove them all.

Today, I picked the PATCH NYC pillow covers for my inspiration. So beautiful.

Actually, they were so beautiful and inspiring that I couldn't even fit everything in one "mood board." So, first up is the furniture...

1 - In my imaginary sunroom, the overlapping squares daybed in chocolate would face the large windows. [And, of course, the windows have a view of a luscious green garden.]

2 - On one side of the daybed, this sunflower bird bath would be used as a side table. The top would be fitted with a piece of glass to make it perfect for holding a drink as you lounge in the sun reading a book.

3 - No sunroom is complete without plants, so this topiary tree would be right at home.

4 - Two off white flip-top ottomans would serve as storage and a coffee table in front of the daybed.

5 - The sunroom would be grounded by this hand-tufted olive green wool rug.

6 - The sunroom is mixture of many different textures to help bring the outdoors in. This weathered wood floor lamp is the perfect fit for providing additional light in the evening hours.

7 - The large windows will be flanked on both sides by the Apex tower in chocolate.

8 - The seating area in the room will also include two modern weave armchairs.

9 - To bring a dramatic texture to the area, the coconut strips pendant will be hung above the seating area.

10 - For privacy, the windows will have bamboo blinds and rustic leather-top window panels.

11 - To wrap up the furniture, a side wall in the room will be home to this two-tier plant stand. The stand will also be fitted with glass to become a drink cart.

Next, the accessories...

Daybed - The daybed will be accessorized with three of the PATCH NYC pillows [in pear thistle, ivory rose and flax butterfly] and a bamboo/cotton plum throw. Above the daybed, there will be a collection of stepping stones from Home Depot. The stones will be arranged haphazardly, similar to a plate wall, but with a more rustic outdoorsy feel.

Chairs & Ottomans - The chairs will feature the slate pigeon PATCH NYC pillow, while the ottomans will hold a tray of lattice spheres.

Shelves - The shelves will feature a variety of items, from books to summer glass vases to volcanic ash sculptures.

"Drink Cart" - This beautiful yellow skies canvas will be hung above the newly fashioned drink cart. The cart will hold bottles of wine, water and other beverages to be served in the hammered acrylic drinkware in clover.

Considering the last item is a turtle garden statue, I probably didn't even need to label it as "random." But it would be a cute little accent to the sunroom to really bring home the ideas of nature and varying textures.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of my imaginary sunroom. Don't forget to check out the rest of the rooms at Mood Board Monday. [And if you want to check out my previous mood boards, click here and here.]

How I met my house...

Our Suburban Cottage is hosting a “How I Met My House” party today and I had to join in, because Mr. W and I closed on our house exactly one year ago today. :) So, here is how we met our first house…

About six months after getting married, Mr. W and I started to toss around the idea of buying a house. We spent hours looking at houses online, went to a few open houses here and there, and visited some beautiful new developments. After looking around a little, we knew we definitely wanted to buy our first home and that we definitely needed to get more realistic with our budget [thank you, mortgage calculator!]. So, we got a little more serious about it and contacted the real estate agents Mr. W’s parents had used.

We arranged a date to go see about six houses one Saturday. When the day came, it was a horrible, ridiculous blizzard and a few of the homeowners canceled the showings. The real estate agents said we could reschedule, but I insisted we go ahead as planned. So Mr. W, Mr. W’s mom, stepdad, and sister, my mom, my mom’s friend, and I all piled into our cars and off we went. Turns out we should have stayed inside where it was warm...

The houses we saw included one that I was terrified to go into the basement and one that gave Mr. W’s mom motion sickness because it was so crooked. As you walked around, the floor was seriously so tilted you felt like one leg was longer than the other. There were a few that were okay…I kind of liked one even though it smelled funny, had pictures hung right below the ceiling, and had a couple other weird things going on. Mostly I liked the big closets though [and that the floor was level]. Mr. W kind of liked one even though it had essentially no storage at all. Seriously, did the cold make him forget how much stuff I own!? I think he just liked that they had hot chocolate waiting for us. Anyways, moral of the story – we finished the day knowing that we would be looking again.

After that, our house hunt got better. Much better...

We had a trip to Dallas planned to visit my sister and brother-in-law and arranged to see six more houses before we left town. We were much more selective in choosing the houses for this day and all of them turned out to be a drastic improvement over the others we had seen. Our real estate agent even tossed one more house into the mix that just happened to have been listed that very morning. When she showed us the listing, we weren’t overly impressed by the picture on the flyer, but wanted to see it anyway.

[front view]

When we pulled up, the house greatly exceeded our expectations from the picture. And when we went inside, we were in complete awe. It was like our budget had magically increased by $30,000. We double-checked the listing and sure enough it was actually priced lower than some of the other houses we were looking at. Wowza! We loved it and knew we had to have it.

[family room]

In talking to our agent, we found out the house would be part of a huge open house tour over the weekend. We knew if we didn’t act fast, we would miss our chance. So, we drove to the closest office to fill out the paperwork to make an offer before we left town. This was at about 1:00 p.m. We made our offer for exactly the asking price. Yes, I know some of you probably think we were stupid. But it was the first day on the market and a grrreat deal. We finished up the papers, hopped in the car, and off to Dallas we went.

[kitchen & eat-in dining]

At about 6:00 p.m., we stopped at a Wal-Mart somewhere in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma and got one of the most important phone calls to date. The homeowners had accepted our offer! Hurray!!!

[master bedroom]

The whole process of buying our house went so smoothly it was almost crazy. We had no problems at all with the appraisal, inspections or negotiations with the homeowners. Everyone [and their dog] has warned us that buying a house will never, ever be this easy again. What can I say? It was truly just meant to be. It turns out the previous homeowner had a serious health problem and wanted to move closer to the hospital and his parents so they could help with the family’s two young kids. The couple was so relieved to have one less thing to worry about that they never even considered haggling about things like if we could keep the refrigerator or who should pay for the roof repairs. And we were so in love with the house that we probably wouldn’t have argued much anyway.

[was dining room, now living room]

So, there it is – our first home. The past year has been full of fun home projects and firsts – first night in our house, first birthday celebration in our house, first Christmas in our house, first everything. It has been a year of wonderful memories that will never be forgotten.

[bedroom]

[All pictures are from the real estate listing when we bought our house, because this is how it looked when we met. :)]

[was office, now basement rec room]