Anchors Aweigh

Hefty Sea Obsessions

I have been bitten by the anchor bug.  I keep pinning anchors and as we design the Gummy Bear's nursery, I am searching for a way to incorporate a couple of anchors into our motif.  Here are the two templates I have decided to go with.  I'm going to have the Hubs cut them out of a lightweight wood and I can paint or stain them to fit into the flow.

I love LayBabyLay's Mermaid themed nursery and plan to use it as inspiration for some of the pieces.  We'll be doing the Gummy Bear's nursery on a budget so let's see how hard these anchors are!

S.A.D.

Otherwise known as Surviving After December

And y'all, it's depressing.  We've made it through the holiday hustle and bustle and now it's cold and dreary and rainy and we have so much more winter before we make it to beach season!  I heard on the radio that this is the most depressing week of the year because of this.  But never fear - Monday was the most depressing day of the ENTIRE YEAR and WE MADE IT THROUGH MONDAY!!  So it's gotta go up from here, right?  

Hey, at least we have a long weekend coming up!  To get us through the next few days, here are Five Reasons to Be Happy Even Though It's Cold and Dark and the Holidays Are Over (to borrow a bit from a fellow blogger Valerie Burn.)

1 - The days are getting longer.  The shortest day of the year (Winter Solstice) was December 21.  From here on out our days are getting longer.  In just a few weeks we'll wake up and it will be light outside.

2 - It's a great time to snuggle.  It's cold and dark so use that excuse to snuggle on your couch with your honey or dog or whoever!  Soon enough it will be summer and you'll be outside all the time.

3 - It's okay to gain a little weight.  Again, it's cold outside.  Don't quote me on this, but we need to add a couple of lbs to keep the chill away and what better way to do that than with comfort food and hot chocolate!  And sweaters cover those extra pounds till February when you need to start losing them.

4 - Electric mattress pads.  There is not enough room to explain how in love I am with my dual control (crucial if you share a bed) electric mattress pad.  If you put it on  a timer, the bed is warm for you when you get in and you stay the perfect temperature all night.  LOVE.

5 - Valentine's Day is just around the corner.  Now I know that some people think this is a very depressing holiday and it is made up by the candy companies.  But why not put a smile on and grab a bag of candy hearts and embrace the season.  Pink and red and flowers and all the chocolate you can eat and LOVE.  Think of it as a last hurrah before you get in shape for bathing suit season.

So listen up, y'all.  Enough of the Seasonal Affective Disorder.  Enjoy this little bit of winter we get here in the Sultry South.  Turn up your space heater, wrap up in a cute new scarf (things are on sale in January!), and buy some pink hearts because pedicure season is on it's way!

Happy New Year!

Hope and anticipation

Each passing day brings us further from the holiday season and closer to the New Year.  2012 was a bear of a year with several life changes that built quite a bit of character.  There were the deaths of several dear friends, both people and dogs.  There were also weddings and babies and among all these trials and tribulations, there was Love.  

Dear Silhouette Cameo, I need you.

A Wish List for Santa

So it is my goal in life to win (yes, win, not buy) a Silhouette Cameo and starter pack.  I enter every contest that I find on Facebook and Twitter.  I stalk the Silhouette website.  I've even started stalking other brands of cutting machines' websites!  

But I want a Cameo.  

I pin pictures of it.  I read blogs about the amazing things it can do.  I drool over the free shape of the week.  

I've never actually used one, but I can only imagine the incredible crafts I could create if I had ten minutes with a Silhouette machine.  I've even started downloading fonts for the cuttings I would make.

So Dear Santa . . . all I want for Christmas (after world peace and no starving children and a every dog to have a loving home, of course) is a Silhouette Cameo.

I've been an angel all year!

Spooktacular Decoration

Fall festival fun

I love Halloween.  And Fall.  But mostly Halloween.  There are so many crafts and decorations and some of them carry you through to Thanksgiving.  I enjoy dressing my house up for each season and changing the place mats and settings on the dining room table to reflect the time of year.  This month, I somehow missed the window of Halloween decor, but my sweet mother in law brought over some mums and Fall-ish items to make our house more festive.

Leaf Peepers

The color of Fall

There's a chill in the air.  Most likely, it will only last today and then tomorrow will be sunny and 75 degrees.  But maybe Fall is here to stay.  Either way, the leaves are changing and the states have issued their Fall Foliage Reports.  Couples are planning weekend getaways up the Blue Ridge Parkway and here in the Sultry city we're unpacking sweaters.  With leaves of burnt sienna and chestnut, from bittersweet to scarlet, and sunglow and goldenrod, our Southern skyline and hilltops are turning to luscious colors right out of a Crayola crayon box.

Photo by James Demetrious

This Little Light of Mine

Chandeliers warm it up

It's been a long week with travel up north and work going crazy, but it's Monday night again and the world is waiting for a Sultry South update!  So we need to think happy, warm thoughts and I have just the beautiful thing: Chandeliers!

Who doesn't love a gorgeous, over the top, completely Southern light fixture?  You can hang a chandelier anywhere and it adds a touch of class.