PCB giveaway winner!

Oh this weekend has been nutzo. Nutso? Insane. But I promised a giveaway winner and here it is:

Lucky #29 is:

 

And I find this hilarious because I have personally known the winners of the last 3 giveaways I have sponsored!  I swear it's not fixed.  So glad my dear A-dubs is the winner, though!

Oh and we did make it safe and sound to our new house.  Despite a snowstorm and all the little things that could have gone wrong and the stresses of a move, we made it.  My house looks like an explosion of STUFF, but I'm trying to tackle one room/area at a time.  

So. 

Much. 

To. 

Do.  

Breathe....

52 in 1: WEEK 34 - empty house

I'm typing this post on my phone with no wifi, laying on the floor of the living room because every last piece of furniture we own is packed up in a moving truck. Well, other than the lovely air mattress that we will be slumbering on tonight. Yesterday and today was spent totally clearing out the house, packing boxes, and cleaning. Tomorrow we head out around 5am. I had to say some hard goodbyes in the past few days.

This move is so bittersweet.

daybook: moving on the brain edition

Outside my window...

it's clear and chilly.  It hasn't rained/showed for weeks, and we have had sun and clear skies.  Tomorrow it's supposed to rain... the ONE day we will be packing up the moving truck.  I am praying it holds off!

I am thinking...

that perhaps staying up until 5am packing my kitchen will affect/is affecting my productivity today.  

Also, I'm thinking/highly suggesting that you should hop over to Keight's blog and enter her fun giveaways (do I spy a PCB giveaway?!  Oh yes I do!) and don't forget to enter my PCB giveaway this week right HERE!

I am thankful for...

my mom and dad, who are watching the kids this week while we pack.  I truly don't think packing this house would have been possible with my sweet rugrats underfoot.

Also, my love who turned 30 on Sunday!  I had plans for an elaborate birthday post,

but they were squashed.  Wonder why.  Thankful that Ryan is understanding/not needy!

I am learning...

how much STUFF we have... makes me want to chuck everything and live a simpler life.

I am creating...

plans to decorate the new house!  Speaking of creating, check out these.  HILARIOUS!!!

I am going...

out to dinner with friends tonight, and have done so with various friends every night this week.  Part goodbye, part break from packing, part lack of food in the house.

I am hearing...

Us and our Daughters.  Oh, Phil LaRue, you will always be my teenage crush.

Around my house...

there are boxes everywhere.  Duh.

One of my favorite things...

is talking to my sweet B on the phone while we are apart this week... despite the conversations lasting 7 seconds.

A few plans for my week...

do I really need to say it?

A picture...

My mom has been super diligent with sending pics of the kids this week.  Love her and them.

That picture of Brynlee makes me weep.  Miss them so much.

52 in 1: WEEK 33 - movin out and a giveaway

So, guess what?

I've cleared out my dining room/craft (I still shudder at that word, can't we think of something better??) room/sewing room and packed it all up.

This is what it looked like prior/during the pack up:

Embarrassing!

And this is what it looks like now:

Obviously still needing some TLC, but better.

Clearing out and packing up this room was my big project of this week (besides getting and trying to recover from the stomach flu. YUCK). Why?

BECAUSE WE ARE MOVING BACK TO NEW YORK!

Like, next week. So life is going to be crazy(-er) and messy(-er) and (more) chaotic for awhile. We bought a house in Rochester (our home sweet home) a little over a month ago and will be packing up this upcoming week and heading out for good on Friday (Ryan's job is transferring back). I'm so excited and overwhelmed and sad and stressed. I'm so bummed to leave the sweet (now {rest-of-my} lifelong) friends we have made here in MA, but I feel like God has grown and molded me so much during this past year and a half, and I am so ready to follow His plan for me and my family. It's funny, because I felt like I had FINALLY "embraced the space" I had been given here and really, truly felt content. I think He just wanted me to give it up and surrender to His plan.  He's funny.  And amazing.

I'm also pumped to own a house again and my mind is brimming with PROJECTS!  Oh, 52/1, you aren't going to be able to handle the plans I have up my sleeves.  I can't wait to document the fun stuff we do to this house to make it more "us," which is funny because that's the reason I started this blog in the first place, when we bought our first house. 


So, in this next crazy busy week, I will probably be a bit absent from the blog. I had been promising a Poppy Chain giveaway this week, and I won't go back on my word! So here it is: Just for fun and as my way of saying happy new year, one lucky recipient will win a $25 credit to my shop, plus free shipping of whatever the winner picks!

To enter:

Leave a comment telling what you would pick from my shop if you won!

Additional entries:

become a follower (or let me know that you already are) of my blog

"favorite" The Poppy Chain Boutique on Etsy

follow me on Twitter

Leave me comments for each method of entry! I feel kind of silly with all this "follow me" stuff, but I have to start somewhere, right? :)

You have until next Saturday night (the 14th) to enter and I'll pick a winner at random and announce the winner next Sunday, January 15th. Hopefully the dust will be semi-settling by then!

our current crib

I have been itching to remodel and decorate as of late (which is not really new news, so I should say mymotivation has shown back up as of late). We moved (from our beloved 900-square foot fixer-upper whose renovations were the whole reason I started this blog almost four years ago) out of state to a much larger home. A larger RENTAL home. We are only planning on living away from home for a few years and debated buying a house here, but decided to rent for now and see what unfolds. I love having a spacious house (for the first time in our marriage) but this house was built a little over ten years ago and is just begging for updates. Major updates are needed, not just small cosmetic ones. So I am trying to work with the builders-grade kitchen and baths since renovations are out of the question. We have permission to paint, so paint we did (well, my mom painted for us since she is an expert and I was pregnant at the time with neither the energy or will to do so) and added elements (on the cheaper scale) to the house that still make it homey and "us" without major changes. I would just LOVE the chance to totally re-do the whole house and put in new moulding, a new kitchen, and new baths (not to mention totally overhaul the exterior), but I'll save my energy (and Ryan's) for our next homeOWNER adventure.

We added the bookcases (love Ikea) on either side of the fireplace to make it more of the centerpiece of the living room. My mom suggested the paint colors and I just love it. The blue/green was the color I was most afraid of (I am so not a blue walls person) but oddly it has become my favorite color we have done so far. I'd love to wallpaper the back of the bookcases.

Brynlee's big girl bed! Want to know how fun it is to make a bed that's shoved against the wall?

I made this pin/clip holder to show off some of Brynlee's pretty pins and clippies!

Mac's room, which is still a major work in progress. Props to my mom for the paint job!

My little photo crasher, who is my FAVORITE new project since the move!

We added this island to the long, narrow kitchen to make good use of a rather odd space.

The dining room, a.k.a. my sewing/craft room. How embarrassing!

Gotta throw in some of the kiddos for good measure.

Poor sicky girl. She currently has pinkeye and a double ear infection. Our adventures last weekend included three doctor's office visits, two trips to the ER, and an ambulance ride. Who knew a 12 week old with RSV could cause so much excitement! Poor Mac. He's much better now, though, and Brynlee is hopefully on the mend.

checking in

I do believe it's been about 4 months since I have posted! Life has been just so crazy. I am busy chasing an almost 14 month old, being almost 16 weeks pregnant, and we are in the process of packing up and moving to Boston! I promise to update a bit when things slow down (which will probably be awhile) but I really do want to start a new blog when we move and get settled. I need to start fresh! Plus, I started this blog when we bought our house and began renovating it, so I think I need to bring an end to this era, now that we are leaving this house, and just start over. I'll bide my time with a few recent pics of my big girl!

GOODBYE FOREVER...

TO MINER HALL!!!!! Tonight Ryan and I had a last visit/cleaning/pick up the rest of our crap at the good old apartment. I am trying my hardest to refrain from singing the hallelujah chorus in 4 part harmony (not sure how I'd do that, but I'm sure I could)!!! We wanted to do the clean up job before the new RD moved in, not just because we are good people and felt that this was our responsibility (ha) but because I really wanted to be the one to clear every last bit of our DNA from every inch of that place! My vacuum(please please never buy this vacuum and spend a little more on one that won't decide not to work after 2 1/2 measly years), aka "Backfire" decided, as usual, to only suck up what it wanted, not what I wanted, so I refrained from picking it up and throwing it out the front door (along with the sour milk one of the darling boys decided to dump all over the entryway during the last week of classes) and simply retired it to the middle of the lounge, verbally vowing to never even touch the vacuum ever again. Whew. Soooo..... Ryan retrieved me a different vacuum.... it was one of the cleaners'. It was in the form of a backpack (it was something like this and no that's not me)... yeah I was excited at first but the novelty wore off after about 5 minutes when my shoulder muscles began to burn. Fun times. Anyway... we are out. For good. I am ecstatic, yet (sshhhhhh don't tell anyone) a little nostalgic... I mean come on, we did spend 2 years of our married life there, got to spend endless time with our sisters, and hey... got free rent and stuff. I am even more certain now that it's time to move on (especially since this next year would be my 7th and Ryan's 8th year at RWC).... I was asked the other day about what it was like to actually have a HOUSE and be living in it. I answered that it felt completely natural, and that now that we're here I feel like we always have been here, regardless of the piles and boxes and huge amount of work to still be done. I just feel at peace (for once in a long time)... it's funny how God works like that. :)



(How do you like my linkage JK???)