Cozy.

On the couch. Happily wearing these.

While watching this! (The Holiday...one of my faves!)

I'm so glad it's the season for this movie, even though I can watch it anytime!

Julie's big birthday bash!

A group of 5 of us girls celebrated Julie's birthday today by doing dinner at Benihana's and then dashed (and by dashed, I MEAN dashed!) to see the Nutcracker Ballet! Dinner was, um, an experience?! Lol. No, really, it was fun to chat with the girls, see the classic "onion volcano" and get free dessert due to a little 'vent condensation' mishap. The ballet was so neat, seeing as how it was my first ballet experience! I still am in awe of how these people stand on their toes and look so darn graceful! If i tried that...well, first of all, i wouldn't. So i'll stop at that! :) Now i'd like to see an even more "professional" ballet and expand my experiences! I even saw two of my little preschoolers during intermission. It was a great evening, with great people, and was happy to have a reason to do it all!

Happy Birthday Julie!!

Deck the halls

It's was pretty late, but we couldn't wait!

Last night we bought our tree with Leslie, David & baby. When we got home tonight we turned on the Sirius 'holly' channel, turned up the heater, and got to trimming the tree!

900 lights, many ornaments and a few yards of ribbon later, ta-da! I love it. It feels great to be getting in the holiday spirit! I hope your holidays are under way too!

{Baby checking out their tree}

{Our tree!}

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

finally fall

ahhh, today has been amazing! besides getting my hair done (always a favorite of mine) the weather has been perfect! last night, on a sarah initiated target trip, dave got into the spirit of halloween. it started with the doormat...and soon i found that dave was totally on board with getting some purple and orange lights to string in the trees, bushes, and outline our front window. i got busy stretching out some spiderwebs this evening, and later we'll finish the light projects. i hope our neighborhood gets into the spirit of things (like les & davids new neighborhood!) i'll post those later tonight or tomorrow.

also, i've been waiting to show you all my new wreath! i found the seller, Two Inspire You, from Etsy via Our Suburban Cottage in an ode to sprucing up front doors. I AM SO PLEASED! i love the one i picked, and may end up grabbing another in red/green christmas colors for some real holiday cheer! ahhh...so in love!

and the inside of the Anderson home is also feeling a bit more fall-ish...

i brought out some decor, and of course, the scents of fall! i found a pumkin pie candle from illuminations, which i believe is no longer in business?! i loved that store SO much. it was a favorite of mine. i loved their smells. so i was stoked to find it at home goods for like 1/3 of the price! love that place!

lately

helllllo.

i kinda don't know what to post about! life has been normal, i guess. haha. last friday night dave and i went to the other rancho (cucamonga) to have dinner with josh & jenn. we had dinner at a new steakhouse, which was ok...but at least we branched out beyond red robin! (right jen?...if you're reading!) we always <3 hanging out with them. it's fabulous to be family & friends at the same time. and on that note...saturday, after a day of yardening, we had les & david over for some steak dinner! and as an added bonus, baby fell asleep on our couches, which gave us extra time to spend with them! we are also excited because they will soon be our within the city neighbors! woo hoo! i'm so excited for them. it's been a long time coming, and they've been more than patient!

oh, and in other moving news, my parents are buying a place! it's bitter sweet for me. (sorry to describe it that way mom). it's sweet, because i KNOW my parents are SUPER happy about this amazing step in their lives and i share in that. bitter because it was the house i grew up in, and that house, and all the memories, will no longer be where i can go "home" to. but i am excited for this change in their lives and how peaceful they are about it!

well friends, since dave has dashed out to bryan cowdells, i think i'll finish up the rachel zoe project, and go read in bed. which was my nightly ritual...until i got married. apparently the light disturbes daves sleep.

xoxo

Well, hello lovely

Can i just start with this...
I am SO excited!

I have been wanting to get a brown leather sofa for our family room since we moved in. I've looked, casually, for one off and on. I was on craigslist this weekend, and happened upon a listing. It was pretty much one line. So I saved the listing. And went back to look at it like 10 times that day and the next. After an email to the owner, and some impulsiveness on my part, Dave and I drove down to Newport Beach. The people's house was totally awesome, modern with dark hardwood floors. Well, short story long...meet my new sofa!

Now i'm going Google crazy. Rugs, pillows, thinking lamps, frames, and coffee tables, but especially pairing the sofa with some chairs. I ideally want to find some wingback chairs and get them re-upholstered. Something like this...

or this...

From Pottery Barn

with some awesome patterned pillows...
Oh my gosh, i have to stop, i'm getting too overwhelmed!!

just what i needed

annicole over at our suburban cottage gave me some needed inspiration tonight! i have been thinking of how to spruce up our front door area, and have been thinking "wreath". but, given this would be my first real wreath experience, i'm wanting to do it right! also, i have an opinionated husband, who said just twenty minutes ago "i hate wreaths". just great.

but wait....introduce the Etsy seller toinspireyou. guess what? in ten minutes time, dave said, " i totally like that" and "what if we painted our front door?" "HELLO! Dave!" i said..." let me show you this blog i JUST read!!" of course, he said "no, no that's ok..." but i persisted, and here we are, with a little inspiration from annicole, we paint shopped our door, just for fun.

our door now

door after (like my hand paint shopped wreath for the finshing touch?)

any other suggestions on door color? i'd love your ideas!
now, i know the front area is a little, sparse, for a nice word. but not to worry, my birthday present from dave was a lowes gift card to plant hedges along the brickwork, in front of those lights, for some added privacy and landscaping. also, i need a potted plant on the step, to the right of the door. something like this maybe?

from ballard designs

i'm seriously so excited to get a wreath and get moving on sprucing up our front entrance!

September 15th

Tuesday marked our 2 year anniversary Two whole years?! Already?! Seriously, time has flown by. And it has been great. I am so gateful for Dave, and all he does for us. We have had alot of things happen in the last two years, and I am glad for where we are because of it all! xoxo

Tuesday we celebrated by going to work, getting off at the normal times, and then catching some dinner at one of our fave's, Cheesecake Factory. I was able to work in a quick trip across the mall to Crate and Barrel, and with true control, left empty handed. We took some delicious cheesecake home, and called it a night! Low key and simple, pretty much. Just what I was looking for, totally!

This weekend we are here, celebrating.

Dave made us chocolate chip pancakes for breafast, and on the agenda today and tomorrow:

*Relaxing

*Some antique-y decor shopping on Del Mar

*A nap

*Homemade mac n' cheese for dinner

*More realxing

*A walk to the pier

*Another nap

*Some manly car shows on Spike

* Some HGTV to counter the manly car shows

could it be? is fall here?!

with the weather cooler, no A/C necessary, and a nice evening breeze coming through our windows, i can't help but be SO excited about FALL! i mean, really, aren't you all totally anxious about all the fun stuff that this season brings?! here's a little taste of what i'm totally ready for!

from emmie cakes

from martha stewart

from thrifty decor chick

who needs order?

Since i've been quite the lagger on posting the rest of Europe, i'll skip to my favorite place. Roma. aka, Rome. Pretty much amazing. I couldn't believe I was standing IN THE colosseum! I couldn't help but want to come home and become a history major! I loved everything about it. We went to St. Peters Bascilica, the Vatican City, and Colosseum. I'll let pictures speak for themselves about the coolness of it all!!

Amazing ceilings at St. Peters

A pope. Yeah, it's really him. Just with a mask covering his face & hands.