what does your home say about you?

You know, you walk into someones house and there are a few things that you notice off the bat. 

1. the smell - every house, in my opinion at least, has a smell. Could smell like yummy candles, or fresh baked cookies, or your pets, or laundry [like my parents] 

2. the mess[or lack there of] - Listen, if any of you were to ever come to my house, you may see 1 and/or 3 things. Clean laundry, because I always put off folding it. Dirty dishes that are soaking, because I hate scrubbing pans right after dinner.

3. the atmosphere - whether it is the photos and/or decals, the movie/book shelves, the general home-yness.

These are past contenders that I absolutely fell in love with, especially the third one:

and just recently I found this one:

so within the next month or so, the challenge to myself and to my readers friends to decide for yourself and your family:

What does your home say about you?

I'd love to check back in a couple weeks to see what you guys have thought of and share with you our home's 'mission statement'.

I hope you all had a fabulous week!

Finally Bryan and I are both getting over our colds and our house is becoming a sick free zone once again. Remember how I talked about smells? I think if someone walked into our home this week it would smell like Vicks, cough drops, and hot peach tea! :)

Happy weekend loves!

XOXO

The house that built me

The House that Built Me

There once was a house that built a woman.

It kept her safe and her secrets.

It held family dinners at the kitchen table and deep conversations in the living room.


It listened to her favorite songs on repeat.

It saw many tears and even more laughter.

It helped raised three children and an orange and black kitty.

It was always the place for her to come and be herself.

It's front porch witnessed her many kisses and a few heartaches.

It helepd her get ready for dances, Friday night football games and her wedding.

It had a bedroom and soft place to lay her head at night.

It stayed warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

It's where she spent endless hours on the phone giggling.

It's where she came home from a hard day at school to her mom sitting at the kitchen table waiting to give her a hug.

It's the house where she realized she'd met her soul mate and where that soul mate came to ask her parents for her hand in marriage - four years later.

It is still and will always be home. I'm thankful.

Is there a house/home/apartment/condo that built you?

PS - thank you to Miranda Lambert's Grammy performance for the inspiration to write this post

Nook of goodness and love

While reading my regular blog roll last week, I came across this one - from one of my new favorite bloggers- seriously if you haven't checked her out yet, you're missing out!

Anywhoo, it got me thinking about my 'nook of love'.

Do you have that one spot in your house/couch/bed that you can just melt into after a really long day? That one spot that's always smushed in just the right position? That one fluffy blanket that always provides just the right amount of warmth and cuddlieness?

I do, it's the corner seat in our sectional and it's simply divine. It's pretty much my favorite spot in the house right now since it's freezing-your-buns-off cold a lot of the time. If you don't feel immediately comfortable, don't worry, you will soon. Add said fluffy brown blanket, an extra fluffy kitty and you've got yourself a pretty nice little set up.

[You've gotta be careful or it will eat you right up!]

Do you have a favorite 'nook of love'? Or just a favorite spot in your house? I'd love to hear about it, or even better see it! :)

I'm BAAACK!

GOOD MORNING BLOGGING WORLD!

Ahhhhhh yes, it feels good to be back, I may still be hacking up a lung, but I feel 100x better!

I wanted to update you all on my Papa, he's doing better, they had to rehyrdrate him in the hospital and the next day as well, but he is home with my Granny now :) Thank you all SO incredibly much for your prayers, it made my heart burst.

In case you didn't see my Hot Sweaty Mess post, here's a recap:

Tuesday night: came home with a low grade fever

Wednesday morning: woke up with a 101.4 fever - went to the doctor, he diagnosed me with the flu and put me on Tamiflu and an inhaler for chest tightness

Wednesday evening: woke up after taking a nap with a 103.1 fever - highest fever I have ever remembered having in my life, I was so scared. I jumped in a tempid bath, took some more ibuprofen and sweated it out.

Thursday & Friday: Struggled with a fever in the low 100's and started coughing, like bad, like so hard I felt like I was going to throw up

Saturday: Felt like I was getting worse so I went to urgent care in the afternoon - the doctor there put me on cough syrup (with coediene - the good stuff) and prednizone (to help with the swelling in my throat)

So, how am I now?

Five days, four prescriptions, three days of eating nothing but soup and saltines, two doctor's visits & a partridge in a pear tree later, and I am doing MUCH better, still have a yucky cough, but it's under control. Still taking it easy though.

Which brings me to our MOVE!

I never thought it would happen, and it finally did. It went off with a few miniscule hitches, but other than that, I have to brag on my family a little before I share some photos. Bryan, & his step-dad, mom and sister loaded up 3 cars, a truck and a trailer full of our stuff, from one home to the other in a matter of hours and my mom and sister came and cleaned our apartment from top to bottom - we have an AMAZING family. Just sayin.

Ok, now I will try to get more pictures soon, but these are a few I took on my phone right after we got things moved in:

view from our backyard

my personal favorite feature of the house

just imagine candles everywhere!

yessss :)

the kitchen - and Harley

breakfast nook :)

view from our front room

Ahhhh, it feels SO good to finally be DONE with apartment living. However,  I have to say that the apartment's we've lived in have been good to us, and for that I am grateful :)

I can't wait to catch up on your blogs and see what's been going on in your lives! I've missed you! Thank you again for all your well wishes and prayers for me and my family this past week, it was definitely trying at times, but we pulled through it, together.

PS - Don't forget! Today is the last day to enter the giveaway, tomorrow morning I will be choosing a winner via random.org. Good luck everyone!