Christmas Food...

We were home in our own house for the first time ever and we made our first Turkey ever.  It turned out perfect, thanks to a few phone calls to my mom!

A Christmas of firsts!

Colorado...

In May before we headed out to Australia, we had a vacation planned to go to Colorado - to see some family and do some hiking.  I never posted any photos because we left in a whirlwind for the other side of the world, but I thought I'd share some here - in memory and hope of nice warm weather and hiking...

Merry Christmas...

Wishing you, your families, your friends, and everyone in your life a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I pray that you would know the peace and joy that Jesus promises us; that you would know the truth of his love in your lives.

Come Let Us Adore Him...

Here is a quick look at our home and our decorations.  This year Matt's parents have come to celebrate with us.  It is our first Christmas in our own house.  Very exciting to us...

Before...

 

After...

Christmas Tree...

We went and got our Christmas tree a few weeks ago.  It's been a few years since we cut it down ourselves because normally we are going out of town for Christmas, so we just get a small tree and then enjoy the one at our parents' house.  Our first year after getting married we were broke since I still didn't have a job and we opted for Chinese food as a treat instead of getting a tree that year, ha!

In Vermont, where I grew up, most people cut their own trees and we always cut ours as a family.  We would take turns having the final say on the tree.  I remember it was a ton of work for my dad - we traipsed out in the snow as a big group, picked and chose, argued and coerced to get just the right tree.  After we finally had one, my dad had to get down on the ground and cut it with a hand saw and then he had to drag it back to the car through all the snow and sometimes mud, depending on how cold it was. 

At the place we went to on Saturday, we were a little put off because you got to ride out on a wagon to the trees, then point to the one you wanted, and the workers would cut it for you with a chainsaw, then put it on the wagon for you, take it back to the farm, twine it up and then load it on your car for you. 

WHA????

We opted for our own walking in the trees, choosing and cutting ourselves, then Matt dragged it back, nice and sweaty as Christmas tree hunting should be!!

I will say if I didn't have Matt I would have been super thankful for the wagon option, so I can understand  doing it that way - but I'm thankful that I have Matt and that his back isn't as lousy as mine lately so he could cut and drag.

Upholstered Coffee Table...

We have been doing a ton of projects since we got back to our home.  We haven't had a TV since we moved into our house last June - with Matt working from home it seemed like too big of a distraction and just not what we wanted to spend our time doing for now.  We knew it wouldn't be forever and this year we were blessed enough to have one given to us for Christmas.  We put it in the basement near my studio and we aren't getting cable or even instant Netflix - just movies and watching online.  We hope this will keep us from becoming obsessed with TV.

It has also caused us to take a look at the downstairs space to freshen it up a bit.  I made a few pillows for the couch and a matching curtain for the little window.  Matt had a basic coffee table that we thought we'd freshen up a bit, so I upholstered it.  There are lots of ways to upholster, but I have a favorite go-to version I thought I'd share here.

Here is the table beforehand - simple, nice, but a litte boring.

I cut a piece of foam that I got a JoAnns with a coupon.  This foam stuff is not cheap, so don't freak out when you buy it.  This piece with coupon cost me about $35 for the 2" foam.

I measured out where I wanted the buttons and drew it on the foam first to get a good visual layout, then on the back of the vinyl.

I use marine vinyl for almost everything, since I have tons leftover from grad school when almost all of my work was made of vinyl.  (See art website here).  If you want crazy variations of vinyl to buy, this is my go-to online store.  Also, your local fabric store will have some.  If it's not a chain fabric store, you might find some really funky options.

At the cross sections of my grid on the vinyl, I poked tiny slits so I could find them once I was working on the finished side.

Then I laid it on the floor, lined up the foam on the vinyl and then lined up the table upside down.

This is the hard part - stapling - lots of muscle needed.  I had Matt actually stand on the edge I was stapling for extra weight, although I'm not sure it really added anything.  I generally do one long side in its entirety and then really wrench on the opposite side.  Not much of a science, more of an art...

Once it's looking pretty decent, I flip it back over and prepare to put the buttons on.  I am sure that there are a million places to buy screw on buttons, but I can never seem to find them when I need them (and I usually want to do one of these projects now, not after I order something online), so I have my own method.  I have a load of cheap washers that have the inner hole just big enough that I can fit a screw through it.  So we just took the screws and the washers and screw them into the table through the vinyl and foam.  It takes some force, but pushes it down really nicely - adding security beyond the staples and giving it a really nice upholstered button look.

Then I took the buttons I had made from some old fabric and epoxy-ed them onto the washers.  So when picking the washer size, make sure the outer diameter is something that you can hide behind the pretty button.  Also, pick a button that has a little space in the center so that the head of the screw will have some space and the washer and button will make good contact for the epoxy.

The epoxy doesn't leave a lot of room for re-doing later on or modular taking apart, but I have disabled some upholstery I had made another time and if you give them a good yank, they pull off fairly easily.

So now we have a great red upholstered coffee table to watch movies in front of...

Christmas Wish List...

With Matt still looking for a job, we aren't going to do much for each other this year, just enjoy each other and being home after a lot of traveling this year.  At the beginning of 2012 - we wrote our goals for the year and we had listed 5 dream places to go in 2012 and we hit all but one!  They were San Diego, Colorado, China, Australia and Oregon.  Oregon will have to wait!

But now we are home and waiting on God to find Matt a great job.  We are praying for something that will challenge him, get him back to working with other people and not at home by himself and a job where he can really contribute in a positive way to the company. 

So I am getting used to not shopping and not even looking online as much anymore, but of course there are a few things that have caught my eye...

1-Topshop; 2-Piperlime; 3-Asos; 4-6pm; 5-Nastygal; 6-Shopbop; 7-forwardforward; 8-etsy; 9-Stylebop