New Save the Date Idea

My new Save the Date idea is incorporating our first family (Lance, Bella and I) Christmas Card as our Save the Date. I will be able to use a picture that we will probably take in November when we visit Lance's parents. Now all I have left to do is figure out what outfit we all should wear for our first family pic. Here's an example of the direction I think I may go. Obviously not this picture and I'll have to incorporate Save the Date touches to the Christmas postcard.

Living Room Buys this Weekend!

I was watching TV yesterday and saw a commercial for Sticks 'N' Stuff. It's a furniture store (more like a huge warehouse!) based out of Alabama near downtown Nashville. I've been obsessed with finding great deals on furniture now that I'm busy trying to decorate my first home on the cheap, so I stopped by this afternoon and bought a couch and ottoman for our living room.

I've been wanting a gray couch for the living room, but I found an olive green modern looking couch at a great price ($299) that I couldn't pass up. They had a matching ottoman, but I passed on the matching olive green ottoman and went with an over-sized brown leather ottoman ($99) to break up all of the olive green. Here are a couple pictures.

Savannah Olive Green Micro-Fiber Sofa with Sleeper Option
$299


Matching Ottoman ($99) that I didn't purchase


Extra Large Bi-cast Ottoman
$99

In my previous post, I bought this bench last weekend that I will place in the living room next to the entry way. (not quite a foyer, but has a great nook for a bench!)

As you can see, our living room color scheme is a light olive green, tan and dark brown. In the living room our carpet is white and the walls are a faint light violet. These current colors are a little earthy for my taste, so I will need to find the perfect ascent chair(s), curtains, rug, end tables and accessories to complete the space.

I've registered for a antique looking clock from Target that we will place above the fireplace. Here's a picture of the space and clock.

Now this space needs a splash of color- I'm liking this chair from Target. I'll take two please! Seriously thinking about putting this chair on my registry. This chair will bring in a new vibrant color and tie everything together. Love...Love...Love!

Avington Slipper Chair - Red Floral
$169


Fabric close up showcasing red, olive green, tan and dark brown

I'll definitely be taking a trip to Ikea, Bed Bath and Beyond and Home Goods for curtains, rugs and accessories. Can't wait!

Designing My Wedding Invitation

I've decided to create my own wedding invitations because...

1. I can't seem to find something I love
2. Hopefully it will safe us some money that I can use in different areas

Here's the first draft of my wedding invitation and response cards. It's definitely bold and the colors are all me.

My Baby Bella

Here's a couple pictures that I took of my Baby Bella. She's so cute!

A Weekend Full of Purchases

After our big shop on Friday at hh gregg, I continued on Saturday with a Mary Kay / Stella & Dot Party at Sarah Elizabeth's and on Sunday with the Phoenix Flea Market (in Old Hickory, TN), Pier 1 Imports and Marshalls. Here are the items that I purchased.

Mary Kay Creme-to-Powder Foundation
$14


Stella & Dot Ava Cupchain Earrings
$22


Stella & Dot Kristin Charm Necklace
$24

This is a little girls necklace, but I loved the sparkling pave ball and the ivory flower. I will probably never wear the pink flower, but for the price who cares! The chain will be a little shorter than normal and I'm curious to see where it lands on me. If it is a little too short I can always use a different silver chain. Here's a picture of just the sparkling pave ball, so cute!

Dark Brown and Tan Suede Bench
@ Phoenix Flea Market for $49


Silver Antique Mirror
@ Phoenix Flea Market for $20

Shopping Trip to hh gregg

We will be closing on our first home on October 28th and the count has begun now that we are in October. 26 days and counting!

To prepare for our move, we did a little shopping this weekend at hh gregg. Here's the list of items that we purchased. Nothing fancy, but decided to go budget-friendly with our first purchases.

Estate Washer by Whirlpool
$296.00


Estate Dryer by Whirlpool
$269.00


Eureka Whirlwind Pet Lover Plus
$99.00

My Bonus Room Ideas

Here are my ideas so far on how I'm going to decorate our bonus room. Right now it's a large blank canvas: white walls and white carpet. Here's what I've got for furniture so far and I'll feature what I'm thinking to add to my new bonus room with wall color, furniture and accessories.

We have a sectional sofa in this color and I'm just trying to figure out which pillows would look better or if I should go with solid pillows.

My coffee table and two end tables look kind of like these except a little bit bigger. The color is almost exact. As you can see, we already have a lot of brown pieces in the space. We are also going to place this table below in the bonus room to use for card games or puzzles. We got table from Ikea below, but we have it with 4 chairs instead of the 2 featured here.

Let's start with the wall color- currently it is white, but it will need some warming up. First, I'd like to split the wall in two and have white on the bottom and a blueish gray color on the top like these two photos below.

I'd like to add this white paneling to the bottom or maybe just put up a chair rail.

I like this blueish gray color or maybe a little bit darker, but this is really close to break up all of the white.

On one wall we have three large windows that will need drapes. I'm thinking about getting these curtains for the middle window and then the solid ones will be placed on the other 2 windows below.

My Middle Curtains from Ikea


My Two End Curtains from Ikea

Here is an example of the carpet I would like to get for the bonus room. I'm thinking that the two pillow options that I have on the tan couches above won't work so I'm on the search for some more pillows.

These pillows are really cute that I found on More Olives Please Blog. It matches the curtains and the rug but I would really like to find a pillow like this with a little bit of tan or brown in it to match all of the wood pieces and coach.

I don't think these will match the curtains, but these are super cute!

You can't go wrong with blue on white damask pillows! I'll definitely have to do some more shopping to find the right pillows, but I think this is a great start so far. Let me know if anyone has any ideas. I'll be decorating room by room when Lance and I move in Oct. 28th!!! Can't wait!!

Kyle & Jenny's Beautiful Wedding

This weekend, Lance and I went to Brevard, North Carolina for a beautiful outdoor wedding. Kyle (Lance's college roommate) and Jenny got married on Saturday and here at some pictures of their wedding.

Kyle and Jenny - Gorgeous Back Drop!


The Bridesmaids...these dresses look familiar?! :)

Four of my eight bridesmaids will be wearing this exact dress, but in Horizon Blue. These dresses looked great for a summer wedding. I loved the pink flowers against the Kelly Green dresses.

Groom and his Groomsman. Lance is 4th from Left to Right.


Pretty Pink Flowers


Matching Pretty Pink Boutonniere


Wedding Cake...Love the Bears!


Close up of the Wedding Bears!


Grooms Cake...Go Tarheels!


Lance and I at the wedding!

My Living Room Wish List

Here's the new living room coach and pillows that I'm going to purchase on homereserve.com. It's a really nice website and I'm excited to pick my own fabrics.

Pulse Smoke Tux Love Seat for $272
2 Kiowa Black 16 Inch Square Pillow for $21 each

Gramercy Off-White Side Chairs (Set of 2) for $342.99
From Overstock.com

I'd love to purchase these to chairs to place across the Tux Love Seat above. I'd then place a circle ascent table between these two chairs with the perfect lamp on the table.

Round Occasion Table - Black for $76.49
From Target.com

The perfect lamp TBD, but I'll probably purchase it from Home Goods because they have the most affordable and largest selection of perfect lamps that I've seen. Before and after pictures of how I decorate each room in my house are still to come. Stay tuned and enjoy!

New Fitness and Tanning Routine!!

I had to find a new fitness and tanning facility because two weeks after I signed up at Anytime Fitness, it unexpectedly closed down. I was so excited about the great price of the gym and tanning at $34.99 a month. When I was notified via email, I was super bummed, but than my search for a new gym and tanning began.

I tried the Hermitage Fitness Center for the free week and I found out quickly that it was not the facility for me. I only worked out there for a day and they were way over priced for such an old facility. I don't remember the price exactly, but I use to have a YMCA membership when I lived in Montgomery, AL and I found myself thinking that I might as well just sign up for the Y again. The older gentleman at the facility kept trying to have me sign up my Fiance for a membership too after I repeatedly said he wouldn't be interested! He never congratulated me either and kept calling him my boyfriend. You could say that he wasn't listening to me!

After that random experience, I decided to try Urban Active because the $14.95 a month sounded like an awesome price to me!! They did have a start up fee that they didn't advertise, but once I got in there and looked at their facility I quickly didn't care and instantly signed up. It's only $14.95 a month for the gym and $17.83 a month for tanning with the first month free on the basic plan. That's ONLY $32.78 a month!! Needless to say I'm very happy with my gym and tanning facility selection and now I'm going at least 3 or 4 times a week.

I'll be looking great and tan for our engagement pictures that we are probably going to schedule for the beginning of November after we move into our new house. I can't wait for all of the new experiences to come!!