Dreaming of a White Christmas

Tomorrow is the day!  The day we are finally leaving to go home!  Hooray! I cant wait for big hugs, lots of relaxing by the tree, and snow snow snow!!  I wont be blogging while I am gone but I will back in the New Year, until then I leave you with some Christmas eye candy!

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 Happy holidays

A Homemade Christmas

In this house, we are huge advocates of homemade and Christmas time is the best time to create!  I have been a busy elf the past couple of days making gifts and wrapping!

I am super excited that we get to, not only, go home to Indiana to see family, we get to travel to Ohio to see even more family!  Family that Sky has never even met before!  Yay!  When my aunt was putting up my great grandma's tree some of her ornaments were so old they were falling apart, so she requested that all of the grandchildren make her new ornaments for her tree.  A little paper, lots of ribbon and some stickers, all picked up from the scrapbook section at Michael's and these amazing ornaments were born! They may be one of my favorites this season!

I think I might have seen these serving trays painted with chalkboard paint floating around on Pinterest recently but I have had these on the mind for awhile!  I picked up these trays at a yard sale over the summer and painted them with two coats of chalkboard paint I had stowed away.  They turned out exactly how I envisioned!

I am seriously stocked on ribbon. I have already gone through about 4 rolls that missed the picture. Sigh. Christmas ribbon is my favorite. Speaking of my favorite, this nutella hot chocolate. Make it!

If you are still buying your taco seasoning in those little packets, I HIGHLY recommend that you stop that. Make this seasoning.  Its way healthier, you know exactly what is in it, and you can make it in large quantities. I forgo on the red pepper flakes because of evil heartburn, but if heat is your things, go for it.  Here is the recipe!

 A couple days ago, Jessica Garvin from Little Baby Garvin opened her Etsy shop up for half off prints and donated all earnings toward The Sandy Hook Elementary Relief Fund. There was no way I could pass up the opportunity to give to a much needed cause. If you are interested in donating please follow the link above.

Professional Pictures

One of the drawbacks to having such a quick wedding is that we didn't have time to get any engagement or professional pictures done! In fact, almost 2 years later, we still hadn't made the time to get any pictures made and that makes me crazy!  I am a huge believer in documenting life through pictures.  I want to forever home to be covered in photos from important times in our lives.  Before we expand our family I wanted to make sure that we had a shoot done for just us. Here are some of my favorites!

I took my time in choosing a photographer and I am so so glad I did!  Reshma, with Blue Silk Photography was amazing to work with and if we are still in this area in the future I hope to work with her again!  You can find her blog and contact information here. These pictures were taken at Isle of Palms in Charleston, SC at dawn. Oh, how the beach is beautiful that early in the morning! It was the perfect time of day to capture these! If you live in the Columbia, SC or Charleston, SC area, I HIGHLY recommend her!

{Linking Up Here}

It's the Little Things

Sometimes, in life, we forget to stop and appreciate the little things in life that make us happy, even if they seem a bit trivial. Today I am linking up with Lindsey at Hello Hue for my first ever link up! I have been following along with Lindsey's blog for a couple months so I am super excited!

I just got a ton of my Instagram (@karakieran) pictures printed out the other day and decided they would be the perfect wall art for a cozy reading nook.  Now to find a big comfy chair!

My recent Birchbox came today and oh my it may be one of my favorites!  It was full of skin quenching goodness, just in the nick of time!

This picture seems a bit bland now that Ive added it in here but I am going to leave it.  Simply because as I was driving to watch some of the cutest babies I have ever met, I came around a bend and saw this. Beautiful blue sky, warm weather and trees with leaves and I smiled. It might be the first time in a long time that I have felt happy and content living in SC, and that, in itself, is remarkable.

If you would like to follow along and link in with that little things that are making you happy, the linky party can be found here.

Gift Guide Vol 2

Gift Guide for Him

1. Savages DVD- This has been one of our favorites movies this year!  I think we went to see it 3 times in the theater!

2. Fossil Leather Travel Bag- Sky has been needing one of these for awhile, but we havnt found the perfect one...until now!

3. Oregon Ducks Iphone 5 Case- Huge Ducks fan in this house who just happens to have a new phone.

4. Bulova Watch- Sshh...I heard Santa already has this for Mr. Kieran

Gift Guide Vol 1

Gift guide for me

1. Minnetonka 3 Layer Fringe Boots- I am dying for these!  They are so bohemian and would look so dang cute with a lil summer dress!

2. Wood & Faulk Bag- Is this not the perfect carry on bag or what?! 

3. J. Crew Printed Back-Up Iphone Battery- The convienience! I am terrible about charging my phone, this seems like the perfect solution...much better than charging my phone ;)

4. Chalk Ink Chalkboard Pens- I am obsessed with the homemade chalkboard that I made (via this tutorial) but hate all the dustiness that the chalk leaves. I am intrigued to try these!

5. ILY Couture Pave Bracelet- This looks identical to the J. Crew bracelet but a waaay better price!

6. Lisa B. for Madewell Fair Isle Socks- I can never seems to have enough chunky wool socks when the temperatures get cold. These are too cute to pass up!

           

Rockin Around the Christmas Tree

Christmas Playlist

“All I Want for Christmas is You” 

           Mariah Carey

“Sleigh Ride” Ella Fitzgerald

“baby its cold outside” 

leon redding & zooey deschanel

“winter wonderland” tony bennett

“where are you christmas” 

faith hill

“santa baby” Marilyn monroe

“jingle bell rock” bobby helms

“so this is christmas” John lennon

And pretty much this whole CD!

buy it here! 

ps i got this free font from here

Oh Christmas Tree

Oh Christmas Tree

We finally got a tree!  I am so stinkin excited!  We went to pick one up the day after Thanksgiving but by the time we got to the lot they were all gone! Since then we have been on the hunt for the perfect tree, short and fat with strong branches and healthy needles!  (i'm not picky at all baha) Well surprisingly, we found our tree at Kroger!  Went to get some dinner and got a Christmas tree instead!

Emmett was not sure at all!  Lots of parking and jumping around. It was HILARIOUS!  He eventually came around and now he just stands and stares which is precious.  um and there might be some nibbling on branches : )

This is our first Christmas tree together! Last year we decided not to spend the money since we were going to be gone for Christmas but it was so sad!  Living in the south, we don't get much of a winter so when Christmas rolls around we have to make up for warm weather with no snow!  I think I could leave this beauty up all year!

I am linking up with Ginny at Chasing Sunshine to show off my beautiful tree!

Life Lately

1. Finally jumped on the bandwagon and tried my first Lush bath bar. I wish I hadn't waited so long!

2. A crappy day had me out thrifting and finding hidden Pyrex gems.

3. Play?

4. Won this gorgeous Ann Taylor handbag from Mix and Match Fashion.  Its even more beautiful in person!

5. Couch snuggles. He can never get close enough.

6.  This book.  Oh my, I just can not put it down.

7. Making tiny rosettes, from this tutorial, for a new wreath.

8. Evening walks with a boy who is recently leash trained. Heaven.

9. Coffee. Coffee. and some more coffee.