Where have you been?

Well....around.

Work. Home. Christmas shopping and decorating. You know, trying to make merry and all that.

Going through the motions. Everywhere and nowhere.

Truth is, I have been more inside myself than any physical place I could possibly say.

With the year ending I have been contemplating lots of things. Re-evaluating. Taking a good look at certain aspects of my life and the those around me.

I think it's only natural.

To have times of less certainty only brings to light how many blessings we typically overlook. Every day.

I am healthy (ish)...need to get myself back in the gym.

I am loved. By my husband, parents, friends and dog.

I have a warm, dry home.

I have a car. That runs.

I have job.

I am able to love.

I know the Jesus.

Probably the most simple thing I have ever been taught is to "count your blessings." It seems as though until I just typed some out, I hadn't truly thought about them. It is truly amazing how doing this can quickly bring an attitude of humility.

I want to spend this Christmas sitting back and reflecting on all that God has blessed me with.

Have you counted your blessings today?

Liv

our mantel and simple fall decor

I have been waiting for a month to write a post about the project Daniel and I have been working on. And now that it is COMPLETELY finished, it's time to share!

Since we moved to Sassafras, we have done very few changes to our sweet little abode. I always felt as if the living room was well, lacking in some way. First of all, the room has to serve many purposes. It has to be an entryway for the front door, and it is the only living/family space in the house. It can't be a formal sitting area because it has to house the tv, which I've been not so lovingly calling, the 3rd member of our family.

We don't have a fireplace in the house and for a while now I have been really wanting a mantel for many reasons: 1. To give the room character. 2. To have a focal point when you walk in the door. 3. To have another element to decorate with. 4. To have a place to put my stockings at Christmas.....let's be honest, this should be number 1. I had this great idea that I was going to buy an old mantel at a yard sell and re-do it to match our trim. After I thought about it for a while, I realized my mom and dad had one that they weren't using and was just sitting on the back porch. I just knew it was what our room needed. It was originally my great great aunt's mantel. It was passed down to my grandmother who didn't have a use for it so she gave it to my grandfather's mother (my great-grandmother) who used it for many years. I assume after she passed, it went back to my grandmother who still didn't have a space for it, so it ended up at my parents house. My parents were more than happy to give it to me and so started this ongoing project.

Here is the mantel before the re-do.

The first thing I had to do was to see where the mantel would fit best in our house and as much as I HATED IT, I came to the conclusion that the tv MUST hang above it. There was just no space for the large piece of furniture that the tv previously sat on. We bought a wall mount and after the scariest moments of my life, the third member of the family was proudly displayed for all (ugh) to see. There goes my decorating ideas...

Don't get me wrong, I love the flat screen as much as the hubs, but it's JUST SO LARGE! And then there is a pesky problem that surely I'm not the only one that has found: WHERE THE CAT HAIR DO YOU PUT THE CABLE BOX???

As I was saying, until now, we have had the television, on it's stand, on top of a piece of furniture that matches our bedroom. It had two media cubbies that housed the DVD/VCR (...yes I said VCR) and the cable box (By the way, those things are huge! Couldn't they make them smaller?). But if you mount a tv on the wall, you are forced to leave all the cable cords hanging out all over the place. UGLY! Of course I immediately used my internet savvy to seek out solutions from people who I'd never met and have no clout whatsoever. Enter Google.

What we decided to do was cut a hole through the wall (YIKES) and run the cords through walls, up into the attic, or down underneath the house as needed, and into the closet in the hallway where we could easily store the cable box. The only problem with that is we need this thing called a remote extender, that is over 300$, so that our remote signal will shoot through the closet door and wall. Not happening. So for now, when we watch tv we are keeping the closet door cracked so the remote can "see" the box. Whew...

I got to work right away sanding, priming (with oil base) and painting. I had to wait for Daniel to find some time to actually put the mantel on the wall which led to many other little projects (bless his heart), and of course in the meantime I made something to decorate with.

Mantle after paint! I love it!!

Because it isn't a real fireplace, we filled the hole with bead board. I wasn't sure about it at first, but I really like the way it turned out.

I couldn't have lots of height on the mantel because of the all mighty tv, so I settled for very simple fall decor. I strung pinecones on a piece of twine to make a runner for the top. And got a stalk of wheat and tied a ribbon around it to add a little something else. I would love to add a burlap pennant banner to the front by Thanksgiving.

Other than that I have been fairly low key with fall decorating. I replaced the birds nests I had lying around the house with pinecones and put "fall-ish" pictures up.

I finally got some pumpkins and a mum! We didn't carve them last year and they lasted for so long! I may or may not this year. My friend Amber has some really cute painted ones and I'm dying to do one!

Another thing I added is a printout from Dear Lillie. Love this quote and love her blog!

I do want to get a more fall friendly pillow for the bench (also from my parents haha). It's not been first on my list because the colors are still appropriate. Maybe I could make some burlap ones?

Hope everyone is having as much fun as I am decorating for fall!

Liv

Rainy Disney Magic

Just wanted to put a few pictures up of our quick trip to Disney! The girls invited me to go for Fall Break and it was a whirlwind. We stayed at The Boardwalk which was really fun. It has a great atmosphere and although we didn't really get to do anything but sleep at the resort, I would definitely stay there again if I got the chance. We rode every big ride in Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom, and opened and closed both parks! It was so fun to see the kids faces light up in the most magical place on earth! You'll have to excuse the phone pics. I'm so glad I didn't bring my big camera because it rained the entire time and I would've hated carrying around all wet.

Disney's Boardwalk Resort

Look at all the pretty Halloween decorations on Main Street! They were so pretty all lit up at night!

We won't let a little water keep us away!

Still magical in the rain!

Alice! The teacups make me incredibly sick, but I'll ride anything once!

SEE YA REAL SOON!!

I MUST go on a grown up trip with friends someday! You just can't outgrow this place!

Liv

Autumn Wreath

Well, here it is in all it's glory! I was trying to think of a cute way to incorporate UT orange into our Autumn wreath using what I already had on hand. I was walking through the fabric department and holy hob lob there it was...ORANGE BURLAP! How is it that I have never seen this before? I did a simple ruffle with the brown burlap and cute little flowers with the orange. I made a quick sign and, bam, you've got a wreath. I originally had this on a HUGE wreath form because I typically operate on the "bigger is better" moto. In this case I'm sorry to say, it was just too much. Luckily I had tied everything with twine so I just untied and re-tied to another form.

I think it turned out pretty cute! And I can just add or take away to decorate for another Fall theme.

In other news, I spent way too much on a way too cute cell phone cover. But I figured hey, I use the thing EVERY day right? I know it looks black in the picture, but it's actually navy with pink. I think it was totally worth it! If you are interested, I got it at Charlotte's Web. The company name is Clairebella, and you can customize many different ways. I've also seen them on etsy.

Just wanted to brag on the hubby a minute. This is what I woke up to this morning...

He is so presh...

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week! I have a project in the works so stay tuned...

Liv

vol puppy

Move over, Smokey!! Kiwi is ready for her close-up on game day!

V-O-L-S, GO VOLS GO!!

It's football time in TENNESSEE!!

so long sweet summer

August has been such a blur! I have been working like crazy and Daniel is gearing up for another semester of nursing school. Only two more left! Way to go babe! The beginning of the end of summer always starts with Daniel's birthday. He is a pretty low key guy, so we just went out to eat with the family and had them over for cake and ice cream. It was so nice to have everyone together, except my brother who spent the last half of the summer in Kenya.

One thing Daniel and I love about warm weather is driving around with the windows down seeing the beautiful land that surrounds where we live. One weekend we found a horse farm we had never seen before. As we pulled up, the horses came right up to us. We could tell they were very sweet animals.

Of course we had Kiwi in tow. I can't say she was as excited as we were to see the friendly horses. She thought she was big stuff (all safe in the car) and barked her wee little head off at them until she scared them off...or we drove away, I forget.

Beautiful farmland thrives in Soddy Daisy. Seeing places like this makes me want to own land one day. Although there is no way I would ever mow that much grass. Ok you caught me, I have never mowed a blade of grass in my life.

Now that summer is ending I have finally gotten my little garden to produce regularly. We eat about as much as we give away, which is just fine with me. I have found the secret to remembering to water it: I have to do it right after I get home from work. No sitting down and getting comfy. I have found it is a very relaxing way to wind down and have some time to think about the day. My mums (which I thought were dead as a door nail and I transplanted from the front to the side of our house on a whim of hope) have even started to bloom! Eee! Just thinking of fall makes me excited!

Had to put one more of our Kiwi posing in the evening August sunlight.

Although I love the summer sun, I am so looking forward to fall creeping its way in over the next few months. Pumpkins, football, warm harvest colors, that cool nip in the air, and of course, pumpkin spice lattes!! But, is there any way winter could hold off for another year or two?

Picture of the Day

My little Punkin...

Happy Weekend!

Liv

It's been a while...LOVING Lately

It has been a while since I last updated the blog! Since our Anniversary trip we have been busy bees. We went on a family vacation to St. Augustine and had the best time. I brought my camera but didn't manage to get ONE PICTURE! I can't believe myself. The only memories I captured were on my phone...

We also saw my boss get married! The wedding was beautiful and the girls looked gorgeous, of course!

Ok so here is what I've been LOVING Lately:

1. Shakira.

I have been going to ZUMBA at the SPORTS BARN recently and they play lots of fun music there, including latin dance music. It is soooo much fun. I have been loving listening to Shakira in particular. It makes me feel so sassy. haha :)

Plus, look how pretty she is! Did you know that she learned English to write English songs? She thought just translating the words wasn't enough, she wanted her music to mean more than that. I think thats pretty cool.

2. Instagram.

As you can probably already tell, I have been taking lots of pictures on my phone and Instagram is one of my favorite apps for that. You can take pictures directly from the app or upload and tweak them from your photo folder. They have different effects you can use to make your image look brighter, antiqued, ect. I can act like I'm all artsy fartsy, see?

3. Summertime Activities.

The girls and I have been filling our days together with lots of swimming, reading and fun little projects at "Camp Livvy."

Dr. Seuss are among some of our favorites. Camilla can read them to me now!

They did a great job on the t-shirts we made!

4. Pool Hair.

Since we have been swimming so much lately, I have had pool hair almost every day. Wish I could pull it off for every place I went!

5. Hiking-

Excuse my face in this picture...NAST. We love hiking and have made use of the Cumberland Trail near our house a few times. It's pretty much an 8 mile climb which is why I was sooo sweaty. But nothing is better then some quality time with my love.

6. Pinterest.

Haven't you heard? I'm obsessed. Every spare minute is spent looking at things I can pin! I'm loving looking at what my friends are pinning also. It's great for getting ideas for outfits, the home, crafts, ect.

If you haven't checked it out, do it here.

What is everyone else loving??

Have a great week everyone!

Liv

Our Anniversary Trip

This year for our anniversary, thanks to my parents, we took a few days off and went down to Georgia to Barnsley Gardens. I have been eyeing this resort since we looked at it as a potential wedding venue. It was just as beautiful as all the pictures I've seen and there was something for everyone to do there.

When we arrived to our room, there were anniversary balloons with a note from the "Fairy Godmother!" The Fairy Godmother is a feature that the resort offers as a way to make magical things just happen during a stay or a special night on the property. I so want that job!

That night we went to the Woodlands Grill, which is one of the restaurants at Barnsley. Even though it was HOT, we sat on the beautiful veranda looking over the golf course and had a wonderful second anniversary dinner! All the staff seemed to just know it was our anniversary and we even got a free dessert...the BEST pecan pie in the world! We were in Georgia after all. Note: my hair looked a lot cuter before dinner outside in the GA heat!

The next morning after breakfast we went horseback riding. Our guide was really nice and told us little known facts about the property. The trails we rode on were once the same trails that civil war era stage coaches used to warn the Barnsley family of invaders. Very cool.

Next we went canoeing! We need to do this more often as it is definitely a team building activity. :) We saw the resorts very own swan family while we were paddling along!

The pool looked over the beautiful golf course. Everything was so lush and green!

Throughout the resort, there are perfect little guest houses with fire pits for roasting marshmallows and pretty adirondack chairs. If you can't already tell, this is the perfect southern experience!

There are beautiful flowers that bloom all over the place at Barnsley. This is a gorgeous rose tunnel. Only some of the roses were in full bloom though.

And finally, we were able to squeeze in some pictures of the actual gardens and mansion ruins. I can't express how beautiful this place is! These pictures don't do it justice because it is absolutely breathtaking!

So, here is the story of Barnsley Gardens:

Godfrey Barnsley was a very wealthy cotton trader who married a woman named Julia, who was from Savannah, in the mid-1800's. Julia was sick and in an effort to get her away from the Savannah heat, Barnsley bought thousands of acres in North Georgia. He was in the midst of building her a mansion on the property when the mother of six died, halting the construction of the home.

After a few years of working overseas, Barnsley returned and (as the story goes) saw his wife's image in the fountain in the front gardens. She told him to finish the estate for their children, which he did. The finished product included indoor plumbing, which of course was unusual for that time.

As the civil war breaks out, the house is caught in battle and is stripped of everything including valuables, food and its beautiful gardens. Barnsley's daughter and her two sons were left to live in the kitchen wing of the house while they attempted to rebuild their lives, literally scavenging for food on their own property. Later, one of her sons won money prize fighting and sent it, on many occasions, back to his brother to fix the mansion. Upon his return, he realized that his brother had squandered the money and the house was still in shambles. In anger he shot his brother. In the early 1900's a tornado came through and ripped everything that was left of the estate into shreds.

This story is so sad because within 100 years the Barnsley family went from being one of the most prominent families of the south, to nothing. The house was finally auctioned off in the 1980's and began the transformation into Barnsley Gardens.

It was so incredible to walk through the gardens and the mansion just imagining everything that it once was. The experience was one that I will never forget. I love love LOVED it and would highly recommend it to anyone.

This is one last shot of the incredible wildflower garden outside of the ruins. I had a wonderful second anniversary with my love! I couldn't ask for a greater guy to go through life and explore all of God's great creations with. I can't believe it's already been 2 years!!

Thanks for enduring the looooong post! See ya soon!

Liv