A little Saturday yardening

Saturday was a fun day. We went to the swapmeet with the Andersons, then lunch at Wahoos, and in non Sarah style, skipped shopping at South Coast to come home with Dave and do some yardening. Yes, i think i've used my new word here before. Yardening. Not quite yard work, not exactly gardening.

Back in July for my birthday, Dave gave me a gift card to work on a section of our front yard that needed love. Well, alot of it needs love, but we decided to start with the patch in front of the front door. It needed some shrubbery, something to add a little privacy, seeing as how we're a corner lot. It was sprinkling a little, but we grabbed a cart and got familiar with the "boxwood" section.

Before

After!

We had a good time, the weather was great, and now our front yard is looking much improved! Oh, there's much more to do, but it's all about baby steps!

Now bring on the Holidays!!

Thankful

Thanksgiving is done. The dinner has been eaten, we've hugged & kissed my family goodbye, we're home now, and I wanted to reflect on some things that I'm thankful for.

1. My family. Mom & Dad. Small in numbers, but perfect for me.
2. My husband Dave.
3. The Gospel, and the peace it brings me.
4. A home of our own.
5. Nasal spray, and it's amazing ability to take away my allergy stuffed nose.
6. My Aunt Chrissy, and the tradition of The 24 days of Christmas.
7. In-Laws that have always made me feel more than comfortable and loved.
8. Christmas music as soon as Thanksgiving is done.
9. My niece Raegan, and how stinkin cute she is!
10. Family who are not just family, but friends.
11. Office night Thursdays, Wipeout Wednesdays...etc.
12. Katie & Randy. And the girls. They're like family.
13. Pedicures. Especially the part where they scrub all the dead icky stuff away.
14. Sweat pants on a chilly night.
15. A husband who is very handy around the house.
16. Down. Down sofa cushions, down pillows, down comforters...
17. A mom who listens and listens....and listens even more.
18. Our safe neighborhood and city.
19. Friends from the ward, and those we've met because of them.
20. Getting snail mail from Mom & Chrissy.
21. A husband who vacuums, really well.
22. Coupons. In any money saving form.
23. How my family says "Shut Up". Alot. (noticed that today. very funny!)
24. The blessings of tithing.
25. Days off of work to spend with loved ones.

I'll end it for now. But know that I could go ON and ON!
I hope everyone enjoyed their day, took time to be thankful, and are as excited for the Holiday season as me!!

xoxo

Happy Turkey Day

It's almost 6pm, and I'm still at work, but my mind is not :)
Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to be employed! But... I am totally looking forward to the next 4 days off!

Tomorrow Dave & I head to Whittier, ooops, I mean La Mirada now, to spend time with my family. I'm SO looking forward to good food, time to relax, some sleeping in this weekend, and maybe some Christmas shopping. Maybe. (We've never done Black Friday, and to be honest i'm not sure if I want to start.)
And in the meantime, i hope that these "allergies" that have left me battling a sinus headache, scratchy throat, and now an oncoming cough, go away! Wouldn't that be nice?!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

dilemma...

I've been thinking, or maybe I should say, dreaming. The focus of my daydreams?

This.

I want to really tackle this room, but i'm coming upon some issues.
A. $$ (there's none to be found around here for decorating and purchases)
2. The perfect design.

So, in light of #A's reasoning, i'll continue with my "dreams".

Today, i came upon this site. And found these!

I've seen the fabrics many times, but for some reason, i haven't ever gone to the Schumacher site. SILLY ME!! Now i'm thinking fabrics, chairs, upholstery, drapes, area rugs, lamps...it's kind of how Dave describes how his mind works when he starts thinking about cars...overload!

So, fellow friends, some of which are very decorating saavy, any ideas on what to do with this pretty much blank slate of a room?

what happened?

to my motivation? three hours ago it was noon. and i had already had an hour long conversation with my bestie Katie, taken a long mile or 2 walk around our neighborhood, done a load of laundry AND watched my DVR-ed episode of Real Housewives of OC (which im so excited has begun its new season!)....now, three hours later, all i've managed to do is shower and do my hair, pull on some sweats and eat a PB & J sandwich. the dusting that i was going to do has not been done and the other loads of laundry have yet to make their way into the washer. but...i did manage to stumble across this beauty of a home, aka 11 Bonita, via urban grace interiors.

It is gorgeous! I love the spanish revival look, and apparently there are so many of them in this Alabama neighborhood! How fun! So if you have a minute or 5, go check it out.

Happy Weekend!

Happy Halloween!

I'm really glad it lands on a Saturday today. Not that Dave and I are doing anything over the top, but still, it's nice. Well, Saturdays are nice anyway you slice it! I took Friday off of work, spent the morning doing some baking, met Dave and family at Moreno's (my favorite Mexican food place in Orange), stopped by and dropped off goodie bags to some of the girls in my ward, got a manicure, spent a few hours at Leslies, and then got some dinner at 'Bad to the Bone' in San Juan with the Brady's. Phew. Long day, but totally fun!

Today we slept in. AHHH. So nice. And Dave's friend Aaron is moving back to Cali as I type. So around 2 we're going over so Dave can move some heavy stuff and say WELCOME! Tonight is a family party at Leslie and Davids. I'm excited to see all the cute trick or treaters, spend time with family, and especially see our favorite niece, who will debut her trick or treating as a bee. SO CUTE!

So whatever you do, enjoy!

Ashley Turner, this one's for you!

*Please read the email correspondence below for the highlight of my day, and a not-so-gentle reminder that I do indeed, still have a blog, and it needed a new post!*

Dear Sarah....
Your blog is feeling neglected as it has not been updated since the beginning of the month. In turn, your friend Ashley has also been feeling neglected because she regularly checks your blog and is no longer satisfied with the cool Halloween door mat you found at Target and would like to know what else you have been up to. If you could remedy the situation at hand, we will all be delighted!

Thanks for your time,
Ashley
_______________________________________________________________________________


Dear Ms. Turner,


Your request has been received. In light of my busy schedule and lack of photographic evidence, I have not posted in a while. I was unaware of such a demand for my lifes happenings, but given your sincere email, I will do my part to remedy this situation. Please be advised that my schedule is full the next three nights, but i hope to carve out time this evening to fulfill your request for something other than my skull doormat to be the top post on my blog! I do hope this response is satisfactory, and look forward to your kind comments on my upcoming post!


Best,
Sarah
_______________________________________________________________________________

Now on to the simple, yet hopefully satisfactory, post!

We just got back from "FHE" at the Schillings. We had a great time, met a few new couples, and enjoyed seeing their new/remodeled home! (Looks great you two!) I'll post picks from last weekend and our sushi night after Chelsea posts and I steal them from her page!

Can October seriously be coming to an end?! We have added a few new things besides our "cool Halloween doormat we found at Target".

The spiderwebs are up...

The lights are strung....

and the candy's ready to be handed out!

In non-holiday updates, Dave got in the mood to "re-do" his workbench area in the garage. I thought I had a 'before', but apparently I don't. So here's the 'almost done'.

More black paint is needed for the upper cabinets. And of course there still aren't any craftsman red tool chests...But it's most definitely a fabulous improvement!! I love when Dave gets in the moods to just take on a new project, and finish it. (eh-hem, upstairs bathroom needs some final TLC...)

Well, that's all for tonight. You're welcome Ash :)

xoxo