My NEW CAMERA!!!

Yup, that's right...this girl asked Santa for a NEW camera and he delivered!!! Well, at least in the form of my in-laws that is. (I have awesome in-laws, what can I say.) :)

So guess who's in the mood to take more photos with her handy dandy new camera? Just call me the next Peter Lindbergh except without all the mad skills and celebrity clients. So I bet you want me to dish all about my nifty new piece of equipment, well it's a Nikon Coolpix S1100pj 14 MP Digital Camera. It has 5x Wide Angle Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) Zoom and 3-Inch LCD and Built-in Projector...that's right a projector built in!! Pretty badass if you ask me. What camera has a PROJECTOR in it! May seem excessive, and in a way it is, but I LOVE it.

Since I can't very well take pictures of my new camera, I've decided to let the Amazon listing showcase its splendor...

It's pretty light weight, weighing less than 2 pounds. But let's get back to the badass accessory it comes with...the projector. This camera allows for instant sharing of both photos and movies! Photos can be projected up to 7 feet 10 inches at an image size of up to 47 inches diagonally. It also has business functionality as you can use the remote to flip through the images or movies. Not sure I'll need that in a presentation anytime soon...but who know, might spice up a meeting here or there! ;)

Again, it's not a necessity for a camera (and certainly one I didn't think I'd love so much) but  I'd like to share a personal story. On Christmas Day while opening up my gift, I immediately began taking pictures. My lovely sister-in-law decided to hold up a finger of hers in my direction disguised as picking her nose.... I was a good 5 ft or so away from her, so an original camera would be able to zoom in on it but then I'd have to pass it around the family for the evidence to be seen. However, with my Nikon that was not the case. A simple click of a button allowed me to project the photo on the wall for all to see. And with simple zoom, everyone could see exactly what finger she was holding up...clear as day!! Not going to lie, it was pretty awesome to catch her in that and we all had a huge laugh at her expense.

I really love this Christmas gift and can't wait to show off all the pictures I've been taking. Watch out Peter Lindbergh, there's a new photographer in town!  

Thanksgiving Prep

I'm pretty excited about Thanksgiving this year. Not only will we be hosting the wonderful feast at my home and seeing as I enjoy hosting that is already a bonus for me, but we'll also be having my in-laws coming into town!! They don't live in the area at the moment and this will be the first year in 7 years that they'll be having Thanksgiving in Virginia!

So like any traditional hostess I'm already starting to make the preparations for the family gathering. This past week I did the necessary fix-it items that would help make the place perfect for their arrival. I painted my hallway a vintage gray to mimic my wonderful friend Shelley over at The House of Smiths color palette. I also painted the side wall in my dining area. It was covered in wood-not paneling-like from the 70s and it needed an update bad! So again, taking inspiration from my friend I painted it a light blue to go with the rest of the house. I've also started the "big" cleaning projects. You know the ones, where you scrub the window panes type stuff. Things most people don't really look at, but if you're having guests for a week you think "why not?" And finally (yes, I'm an overachiever) I rearranged the furniture to give the space a whole new look. :)

This upcoming week I'll be preparing the house in other ways including some little decor items. Now, I'm not a person who decorates for every holiday. I just don't. But since we'll be having a larger crowd this year (and when I say larger, I mean like 8-10), I thought it would be nice to have a few decor items to remind us of why we're eating the amazing food. lol. I took to the Intranet and looked for easy items that I could assemble to give the place a little holiday feel. Here's what I've come up with...

I'm going to print and frame this printable, from Remodelaholic.com, for all to see:

And finally, I'm going to follow the instructions that TheEnglishPea provided for a Thanksgiving Banner to go over the dinner table!

I wish everyone a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving! While I only talked about the trivial things leading up to Thanksgiving in this blog, I'll be posting what Thanksgiving really means to me, I'm truly thankful for, this upcoming week! <3

My Yarn Wreath

So after posting the idea to create the yarn wreath, I went home and started on my creation. I was tweaked the instructions slightly to make do with what Michaels had. I'm sad to say they did not have a straw wreath and given my intense desire to start working on the project I opted for a foam circle instead. It was a little more straight with the edges, but I took sandpaper and sanded it to be round like a wreath.

Given that this was my first wreath I didn't want to assign it for a specific idea. So I selected colors that I liked just to see the combination. Here is my progress (remember, this is using the instructions from Take Heart which were really easy)....

Cut the felt according to the instructions to start the roses

The final product! The yarn part was easy, sat in front of the tv & did.

The pretty roses! After gluing I felt they needed something so I
bought pins w/pearls on the end. Sweet & perfect!

I am super happy with the final result and already have another order. My mom, of course she loves my "work", said she'd like for me to make her one. Plus, now I know how to do it I'm thinking a holiday one will be perfect for my front door!!

So what do you think....don't quit your day job, or not too shabby? :)