I love blogs.  Most of you should already know that.

And if you know me well, or read this blog,  then you know my all-time favorite bloggers are John and Sherry, from Young House Love.

If you’ve never read their blog, do it.  Do.it.now.

Anywho, John and Sherry recently released a book (which made it to the NY Times bestseller list) that shares a ton of DIY ideas for home projects.  It’s a great book, filled with unique ideas and beautiful pictures.  I, of course, pre-ordered the book as soon as it was available on Amazon.  #big fan

So when I found out they were adding additional stops to their book tour, and CA was on the list (!!!), and not too far from home, I about fell out of my chair from pure excitement 

I invited my BFF, Melissa, along for the adventure.  She’s gotten to know John and Sherry, too, since I talk about/show her stuff on their blog all the time.  And thank goodness I brought her along for company.  We got to the West Elm where it was being hosted about an hour early and there was already a line creeping along the building.  We ended up being really lucky and were fairly close to the beginning of the line.

I felt like a star struck teenager, waiting in line and feeling totally nervous/excited.  Haha.  Like I said, #big fan.

Here I am anxiously waiting in line:

While there were still a couple of people ahead of us, I snagged a picture

Finally it was my turn, and I was so nervous! What a dork I am.  John and Sherry were, of course, super friendly and welcoming.

I brought along a mat from one of my picture frames for them to sign so that I could use it to frame my picture with them.  While John signed it, he asked me what picture the frame was going to hold.  I said something along the lines of, “A picture of all of us” while gesturing to themselves and me.  Pretty sure that was followed up with John and I both saying “Duh” at about the same time.  Haha.

After leaving the store, Melissa snapped a picture of me with all my signed goodies:

When I got home, the first thing I did was run to CVS to get a print of my photo with John and Sherry.

Love it!

So there’s the story of “meeting my blogging idols”, haha.

I’m so happy that I had the opportunity to meet John and Sherry.  I started reading their blog while I was in college and have been hooked ever since.  Their stories of home renovations helped give me the confidence to follow my gut and buy a home that needed some “TLC”, and encouraged me to DIY as much as possible.  And of course, inspired me to start my own blog

I hope you all have an INSPIRED Monday!

Better late than never, right?!

“Friendsmas” has become an annual tradition for me and some of my lovely gal pals.

Friendsmas 2011 was fun, but I think that this year’s celebration kicked last year’s butt.

Friendsmas tradition always includes a potluck, ornament exchange, and Christmas light tour.   This year we decided to mix it up by getting a limo to take us around town to look at the lights.  Limo = awesome sauce.

I think I speak for all the girls when I say we had a great time this year.  And I know it’s like a year away, but I can’t wait for Friendsmas 2013

Of course, plenty of pictures were taken.  Here’s a few:

My living room was, of course, decorated for Christmas. (I wish I had taken more of the house decorated.)

All of us girls.

This is the ornament Melissa had made for the exchange.  So cute!  I had picked it, but it got swiped by one of the girls.  Dang it.

The sweater club. (All the cool kids are in it.)

We’re big fans of group pictures.

Some of us girls in the limo.

Part of the lights tour took us to a famous court that everyone walks around to view.  We probably took 502634 pictures during that walk

This house had a Margaritaville-themed decor.  LOVE it!

Another house was devoted to The Grinch.

What can I say?  I love snowmen.  Enough said.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, Friendsmas 2012 was awesome and way too much fun.

I love my friends.  And I love the holidays.  Mix the two together and it’s bound to be a good time

I hope you all have a JOLLY Friday and weekend ahead!

Wow… Another year coming to an end.

I’m going to sound like an elderly person when I say this, but really guys, every year seems to be going by faster than the last.

But since it is the end of the year, I’ve been taking some time to reflect on it.  And one of the lovely things about having a blog is that it becomes, literally, a diary of your life.  So I can look back through all my posts this year and remember all the great, and also the not so great, things that have happened.

Around this time last year,  I reflected on 2011 and set myself some goals to achieve.  Mostly house projects, along with some personal goals.  I may not have stuck to all my personal goals like walking every day or eating out only once a week, but I accomplished all of my house goals.

Gosh, it feels good to say that.  I ACCOMPLISHED all my house goals for 2012!

I finished my bedroom.

I gave the master bathroom a facelift.

I painted the exterior of my house (with help, of course).

I didn’t get the brick patio that I wanted, but I did spruce up the front yard planter bed.

And I got an AWESOME backyard patio that turned out to be more than I ever could’ve asked for.

I also transformed my backyard into the perfect spot for Cindy and Andy’s 25th wedding anniversary/vow renewal.

There were a lot of memories made in my house this year.  The biggest event was of course, the vow renewal ceremony hosted here this summer.

I also hosted my first-ever Thanksgiving and it was perfect (if I do say so myself)

I also had my annual “Friendsmas”, which I still owe ya’ll a post about.  (I promise, it’ll come!)

I took an awesome vacation during the Spring and got to visit family & friends.

It wasn’t planned, but I adopted a sweet little dog and named her Millie.  Best.decision.ever.

And of course, there was so much more in between.  It was a busy and productive year, for sure.

While there were a lot of good times and a lot of happy memories made, I have to be honest and say there was room for improvement, too.

If you’re a regular reader, then you already know that my blogging slowed down, a lot, after August.  Over the last couple of months, my blogging schedule was irregular and I didn’t do a whole lot of house projects.

As far as house projects go, I just kinda slowed down after the summer.  I guess because I was burnt-out after all the huge projects we tackled earlier in the year.

And as far as blogging goes, the only excuse is the honest one – I fell into a “personal rut”, if you will.  If you’re human, then I’m sure you can relate.  We all go through them at times.  My rut has just lasted a bit longer then I hoped for.

Looking back on all that I achieved during 2012 is a good self-reminder that I can accomplish anything I put my mind to.  And it’s an inspiration to make 2013 just as good, if not better.

I’ve been disappointed in myself for letting my blogging slack off.  That being said, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get back into the swing of things.

Then I opened my email last night to find an email from WordPress, entitled “Your 2012 year in blogging”.  It was a personalized report showing how my blog did over the year.  I had no idea what to expect, but was curious to see the stats.  Here’s what I found:

This blog got 5,200 views in 2012.  That is amazing!  Well to me anyways. 

There were 70 new posts, and 568 photos uploaded.

The busiest day of the year was September 25th, with 160 views.  The most-viewed post on my blog was actually not a post, but my “House Tour” link at the top of the blog.

These stats blow my mind!  It means that people are actually reading what I write, (besides just my mom)    Love ya, Mom.

And that in itself is inspiring to me.  As long as I know that people are reading and enjoying, then that makes it worth it.

I’m not going to set a rigid blogging schedule for myself like I did last year.  But I will try to stick to the Monday/Friday schedule as much as possible.

I’m also not going to set house goals.  I have some projects in mind, and I’m confident they will get done, as time/budget allows.

What I am going to set is some personal goals.  Things to strive towards to make 2013 a happy and successful year.

1) Live healthy and happy.

To me, this means getting out of my “rut” and focusing on doing what makes me happy.  And focusing on living a healthy life.

One of my “health” goals this year is to really tackle a home-grown garden (my Winter garden was a time of experimentation)

2) Work on current relationships and create new ones.

I’ve let some relationships go over time and I want to work on re-building those relationships to be the best they can be.  I also want to build new friendships and meet new people whenever possible.

3) I want to get involved with a volunteer organization. 

I’m hoping to start volunteering with a nearby hospice program in the Spring.  My life was forever changed when I went through the program with my dad in 2010, and again with my grandma in 2011.

4) Learn to appreciate what I have, and not worry about what I don’t have. 

I tend to be a worrier.  It’s my worst personality trait, if you ask me.  Often times I find myself getting anxious over things what haven’t/may never happen.

I covet for things others have that I do not.  Jealousy is a terrible, ugly thing.  So I’m going to be focusing on being grateful for what I have, because really, when I stop and look at my life, I have all that I could’ve ever imagined.

5)  Be myself. 

Enough said.

As 2012 wraps up, I want to thank each and every one of you that reads this blog and sticks with my through the ups and downs.

Your support and love make life worth living.

Wishing you all a HAPPY, HEALTHY, and SAFE New Year!

XO, Al