Greed has its downfalls...

This is what happens...

...when greed gets the better of you.

And you just can't quite resist what is in the bottom of the trashcan.

KO

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom!

See this lady? She is MY mama!

Today is her birthday and this post is dedicated to her

and

all her

wonderfulness!

See her jazzy smile?

I get that from her.

See how she is still smokin' hot for her age?

I hope to be that smooth as I grow more mature.

Notice how she dutifully posed for me for this picture last Christmas so I could have something to scrapbook?

Just one of many examples of how she has enduring patience, endless kindness, warmth of heart, and character of steel.

She is the only mom I know that picks out her jewelry by shouting over to me:

"Will you wear this when I die?"

Hah!

She is a mom that even when you are 30+ will bake and send you cookies so that you have something to bring to your cookie exchange

(I kept them, because they are my favorite and well...I am selfish).

I can't wait to get to San Diego and wish her happy birthday in person.

Have a happy birthday Mom!

I will see you soon!

KO

special post - for my peeps on the social committee

Here is the sign for the cookie exchange table...what do you think?

Here are the bags for folks to take home their cookies in...I think they turned out super cute, if I do say so myself!

Lookin' forward to Friday!

KO

Oh no...Bentley! Bad dog!

So...this is what happens when you have to race home, snarfle down some dinner, race off to Michael's because you are on the social committee for work, and have to leave your dogs alone (including the one who eats EVERYTHING).

Notice how things are strewn about?

Hmmm...

Bentley....ate...my...Christmas...decorations!

Remember my previous post about my jazzy coffee table? (see previous post)

This is what remains. I can't even comment. I have too much to do.
KO

Coffee-colored Christmas reveal...

Grab yourself some cookies...

...'cause here are the pics from the big deco job from yesterday.

So, there is so much to post, including the kitchen reveal, but alas, I am posting coffee-colored Christmas. I did indeed spend 8 hours cleaning and decorating various rooms under the influence of one...eggnog latte. Love.

Below is the display from our bedroom sofa table. I love our new print by Sarah Faulkner. We got it at the Woolworth Walk while down in Asheville, NC. The folksy ribbon is actually webbing for chairs. I bought it for pennies at WalMart. I love it.

Detour back to the main room....home-made puff.

buffett display - notice new wainscott

buffett display - no flash, much more true to life

view from kitchen door by tv

Tried to use natural, light colored, inexpensive items. I snuggled the candles in barely that I bought in bulk at Whole Foods.

Below is one of my little wreaths on the tree. These make fantastic napkin holders, too.

Coffee table and tree.

Behind the couch ...

Used some sprigs from our tree. I finally got to pull out my giant spools from England which I got at REfind - an awesome consignment shop that just opened up. I love it. I just bought Betty there. I will introduce you to Betty (our new tv stand in the bedroom) and Ralph (our bed from the trash) on another day.

aaahhhhh...my beside table - soooo Christmasy

Brent's bedside table - notice matching Starbucks ornaments.

On a final note...if you are decorating with 'natural elements' (ie barley rice, beans, coffee beans, etc.) make sure that bear like creatures cannot forage through your decorations and eat them.
KO

Coffee-colored Christmas...a teaser.

Here's a teaser until after dinner...

A 'coffee-colored Christmas'...

Image from Starbucks...

So, it has been a long, long time since I 'blogged in' - hah!

Soon, I will be posting all the good stuff that has been happening at 601 Echols - including the aptly named 'coffee colored Christmas' - which I have decided is going to be the color scheme for Christmas this year.

Rather than pull out all of the deco from storage, I grabbed some yarn from AC Moore and various other coffee-colored items and will be using that as our holiday theme for 2009. I figured that I would go simple, home-made, find-around-the-house, country (as in Pottery Barn, not fake-geese) Christmas.

I can't wait to post the pics (I suppose this would require the completion of the decorating and a whip around the house with a vacuum...hmmm).

But wait - there's more!

We bought....wait for it....hold on to your seats:

A....REAL.....CHRISTMAS.....TREE!

It actually requires water.

Oh yea...a true Christmas miracle.

KO

"Isn't it a breakthrough that I'm a sailor? I sail? I sail now?"

So, I am officially sailing into blogdom. Very, very slowly. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get breaks in between certain sentences, so be patient.

Brent flew out to SD today, so I have been having a ball today.

Here are a few things that have been happening at :

Last night while we tried to give these away (we had maybe 7 kids...)...

Brent put up these:

Delish! Now the public school bus that parks outside our house every morning won't ever see me in my skiivies as I dash downstairs to feed the dogs.

So, while Brent put up our luxious new faux wood blinds (we will not be revealing where they came from and yes the drapes are temporary - I realize they are a bit obnoxious.) I played with this:

...my new camera. Yes, the box contained a graduate course's worth of information for the operation of my newest pal - my Cannon Rebel. Finally took it out of the box after a month.

Thanks Brent - one of my all time greatest birthday presents. I plan to bring it everywhere with me. At first I could only find the manual in spanish. Nice. Especially since the manual is about 4" x 4" and it is printed in 2 point font. Then I remembered I had been intending to read the manual for a month and scavenged it from a pile in my bedroom.

After an hour:
15 minutes to attached the strap

10 minutes to put in the mini disc

20 minutes to work up the courage to attach the lens

10 minutes of handwashing

5 minutes to take off the lens cap

... I discovered you can be a total inept bobo and still take a semi-interesting picture like this:

This a sham decoration I have in our living room - and, yes, those are spray painted branches from the yard (I heart spray paint) and old coffee beans.

Or, you can take a picture of a sad little creature, banned-from-the-living-room-so-he-doesn't-scare-little-trick-or-treaters like this. Bentley was barricaded in the basement. His level of naughty warrants two levels of barricades.

So once I realized that this camera is actually a very fancy point-and-shoot I took some pics of what we/I've been up to lately.

This is a little dresser from Unique I bought for $14.99, threw into the Focus and hauled home. Last weekend I spray painted it and antiqued it.

Notice how jazzy it looks (I know, it needs different handles). Look below at the lovely details, such as the antiqued knobs.

This will house our computer bags, my purse, etc. in a more fashionable way.

"A vacation...from my problems."

An apt way to lead you into what I was up to today (thusfar). Lucky Brent. He will get to see the wierd stuff I have been doing all day while he was gone.

I decided a vacation from my own problems was needed so here is what I did:

By the way, that little item in the front is a scrapper's best friend. Probably the greatest hand-held scrapping tool of all time. A mini-sander.

I created this (note I had a bit of a barn fetish today):

Please know it looks better in real life - that is if you like scrap book paper barn creations framed in thrift store picture frames.

And next...the 'piece de resistance'

I hired a 5th grade neighbor girl to paint this:

Actually - I painted that. As I hung it up and stood back to look at it, I realized that it did not quite have the 'look' I had intended and it indeed looks like a 5th grader painted it. And, I as sit here, I realize it it going to be quite the shock for Brent as this is now hanging above the bed in our bedroom.

What a lucky man that I am such a talented artist and so precise when hanging things.

At least I did a good job with this:

A scrap page of our first Thanksgiving here at Echols (picture is flipped - awesome).

Below is proof that I am caring for our dogs - Oscar prefers the cool stream of 'fresh' water fromt the bathtub.

Check out that tongue.

Oh, and he says 'hello' to all his fans out there. He is having his own personal lickfest '09 right next to me while I blog. Mmmmm - licking sounds.

Brent - you better have had a margarita for me.

Hello family!!!!!!!!

"Oh, it's the fam!"

Hey y'all - miss you lots. See you soon - hopefully at Christmas. That is, if we don't have to mortgage the house in order to buy tickets to fly out there.

- KO

procrastination = large price reduction

So, I have been wanting these babies for a looooooong time now. Yes. I heart all things denim and believe wholeheartedly that demin is a neutral - on the bod or in your living room (you should see the number of denim suit coats I have in my closet). Well, after some delish pizza and a pumpkin muffin, I hopped on the internet while Big B watched Parks & Recreation (pee-in-your-pants funny last night, right?) and figured I would just take a look at these beauties again. Well, much to my pure joy and happiness, these denim divas were on major clearance (like such a good deal that the reduction on the sofa paid for the chair). Awesome. So, there you have it. Our major delay in decision making has resulted in a huge savings. ...oh yea, I bought the pearl slipcovers, too.

Pottery Barn?

oh no my friends...guess again.

JCPenny.com - that's right. Not even the store. JCPenny.com

Going to enjoy the rest of my Punkin Ale. Dogfish Head = delicious

KO

Baby steps...

I'm a blogger!

I blog, I am blogging!

I imagine me saying this just a "Bob" did in What About Bob? when he went saaaiiilllling. You imagine me however you want (and yes, that is a photo from the movie I took from Google images - perhaps the naughtiest thing I have done in a long while. Yawn.).

So, cyberspace nerdies out there, I am determined to be a blogger. Aren't I so jazzy?

I could entertain you to pieces with stories from work, but that part of my life shall remain a mystery on this blog. I've decided that I need a hobby to get my mind off work because 99.9% of my life seems consumed by work.

(I had a great picture to insert here. But, alas, I cannot figure out how to get it here. Urg.)

I love, love, love, love, heart, reading my daily decorating blogs from all of the lovely ladies (The Nester - who got me hooked, Flowerpatch Farmgirl - who brings me home each time I read her blog, and Shanty2Chic - those two sisses have great taste), so I figured that I should post my shabby attempts at crafting fun/fiascos as well. Because if nothing else, I have one friend (K8e) who I think may read this blog and be entertained by it.

Okay, I have a tendency to be too wordy, so here it goes: some pics and a mini-craft I recently accomplished:

...hey, where are the pictures, you say? Well, as with awesome photo above I cannot get it to insert in the correct place. So, they will be in the next post. I have to go get a snack now.

"Mashed potatoes and gravy, Marie."