Two thousand eleven.

 

We're back! It's always bittersweet, but I'm excited to be back and start planning for the new year.

2011 was not completely horrible. But I'm more than ready for 2012. The new year always feels so full of possibility and opportunity. I love the feeling of starting fresh with a blank slate and that feeling always comes with the start of a new year. I wanted to make and share a list of our resolutions, but things have been really looking up in recent weeks, and I've been feeling really positive, and I just want to focus on riding that momentum into the new year. I don't want to forget to celebrate the accomplishments of the past year, but I anticipate 2012 being full of more laughter, more travel, more relaxation, more peace, more productivity, more creativity, and more time to enjoy simple moments with people I love.

Tonight we're planning on staying in, I think for the first time ever, and I couldn't be looking forward to it more. 

Happy golden days.

We can't wait to get home to spend Christmas with our families for the holidays. We wish you and yours the merriest and brightest holiday!

Wishlisted.

Giving gifts is actually probably my favorite part of the holiday season. And we actually already exchanged gifts. We kind of have to do an early Christmas just the two of us every year because it's not worth the effort to travel with all our gifts across the country. But I like seeing others' wishlists on their blogs so I thought I'd share ours anyway! Have any guesses on what we got and what we didn't?

Mine:

 

1. Glacier National Park Pendleton blanket, 2. Gorjana leather wrap bracelet, 3. Banana leaf picnic basket (@ Target), 4. Canon Rebel T2i, 5. Jennifer Zeuner monogram necklace, 6. Lululemon running leggings, 7. Michael Kors watch, 8. Sperry Top-Sider Bahama Boat Shoes, 9. Steve Madden "Tblanket" boots

Matt's:

 

1. Makita circular saw, 2. Ray-Ban Wayfarers, 3. Brown Carhartt hoodie, 4. J. Crew camp socks, 5. Leather toolbelt, 6. Red Wing 1907 boots, 7. Kettlebell, 8. J. Crew cognac leather wallet, 9. Bosch impact driver

What's on your wishlist this holiday season?

'Tis the season.

It took me a long time to get into the holiday spirit this year. I didn't even put out all my decorations. But there are two yearly traditions of ours I would never pass up: picking out a nutcracker and ornaments.

This is the new addition to our nutcracker family this year. I love that he's short and stubby. That brings our total up to 4.

And our ornaments this year:

Matt's is the toolbelt. Mine is the fortune cookie. I love fortune cookie fortunes (as you guys might have picked up on, since I always post my fortunes) and I like to think the ornament symbolizes hope and good fortune for 2012.

Our tree still looks the same. I like that from far away it looks all traditional but if you look up close, there's lots of quirky personal ornaments all in there. Check out some other ornaments we love here.

One of my favorite thing about this time of year is relaxing in the glow of the Christmas tree.
  

I think Jack agrees.

What's your favorite holiday tradition?

Since September.

We saw three of our favorite bands ever.

 

(Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, City and Colour)

We drove to LA two of those three times on weeknights. It was totally worth it. 

We went to Disney during Halloween time.

We dressed up as Olive Oyl and Popeye for Halloween.

Jack wasn't Sweet Pea, which would have made sense. He was a pirate. We called him Captain Jack. At least we stuck with the nautical theme.

We went apple picking in Julian which was not very successful. There were only teeny tiny apples left. Matt tried one, as you can see. It wasn't good.
 

We went to Vegas for the Marine Corps ball. We had too much fun the next night.

And we spent Thanksgiving in Big Bear.

Which made me want to stay in the mountains forever. Being in the mountains does that to me every. single. time.

We spent the month of December going to Christmas parties and working and shopping our little behinds off. 

Aaaand you're all caught up. 

I promise not to get this behind ever again.

Hemnes hack.

One of my New Year's resolutions from last year was to finish the house. It's not even close to done. Fail. Projects pretty much came to a halt, like, back in June. Life is so busy! Anyway, we are finally getting back to work on the spare room. The first project I did was my filing cabinet. Then I tackled this Hemnes dresser from Ikea.

I really wanted to get rid of my Hemnes and pick up a vintage piece with some interesting details, but anyone that owns a Hemnes knows they are pretty solid pieces of furniture (for Ikea furniture, I mean), so I decided to hold onto it and add some details myself. 

My Hemnes before:

My Hemnes now:

I didn't take any progress pictures, because I was l-a-z-y. Matt kept asking, aren't you going to take any pictures? I just shook my head no. Sorry, folks. I'll be better next time. I will give you a run down of what we did though and if you have any questions please ask!

So, I completely took apart the dresser because the inside has super cute yellow striped drawer liners, see:

and I didn't want to chance messing them up at all. And I didn't want to deal with tape. Tape is the worst. 

I used a coat of Zinsser Cover Stain. Then two coats of paint. On the drawers is Allen and Roth paintable wallpaper from Lowes. I attached it with light spray adhesive, and the wallpaper needed two coats of paint because it was absoooorbent. Then we attached the molding (that I primed and spray painted white) that we bought from a local woodworking shop with Gorilla super glue (make sure you don't get the one that dries white). Then I added two coats of this Minwax Polycrylic to the whole piece. Since it's water based it's easy to use and clean up. And I used satin finish because I didn't want this piece too shiny. The Anthro-esque nobs I got off eBay for a lot less cheese than they're sold for at Anthro. 

Here's a side by side:

We want to find some wood appliques for the top drawers that mimic the pattern in the wallpaper but as of now I'm pretty stoked about it. What do you guys think?

Tidbits.

Saturday in iPhone pictures.

Matt's wrapped gifts. Gifting my addiction to others. Jack guarding his Christmas present with his life. One of my Christmas presents (Fleet Foxes' self-titled album on vinyl, I love the album art). My hippie boots, another Christmas gift from my love. Hershey mint truffle kisses, orrr the most addictive candy on the planet. My fortune which I hope my boss thinks is true. Wearing nothing but glitter on my nails until 2012. A sneak peak at a REALLY exciting project we will be showing you tomorrow!

I know, how random of me to show up out of nowhere! Basically me and Matt looked back at the blog and realized how awesome it is to have a record of all the things we do and a place to share our fun. So we should be around these parts much more often. Which I know I said before. I promise to try my hardest to stick to it this time!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!