Hello 2014

We're 3 days into the year, and so far so good!  I'm a little late to put pen to paper and actually write down my resolutions for the year, but better late than never...

I saw this resolution list on Pinterest and thought it was an amazing place to start... some simple, easy, attainable goals (drink more water, which I desperately need) and some aspirational but still easy resolutions (hug the ones I love, find the best in others).

It got me thinking about what I want 2014 to be...

This year, I want to simplify.

Refocus.

Be less stressed.

Enjoy the little moments.

Be happy.

Do something active. Every day...

...and not beat myself up when I miss a day.

Focus on making time for the people I love.  Quality time.  Reaching out.  Being proactive about making the people closest to me know how important they are to me.

I want to get a dog.  I will get a dog.

I want to focus on trying new things...

Try one new restaurant a month. Plan small weekend trips with friends and my honey.

Be Grateful. Every day.

It's going to be a good year... I just know it.
xo

2013 in Review

Happy New Years Eve my friends!!

I know I've been completely absent for the past few weeks, but I have to say... it felt GOOD to completely check out like that.  It's been all about enjoying family, friends, and recovering from the worst cold/flu that is still lingering after almost three full weeks.

While this blog is a little pet project of mine, my favorite thing about it (aside from seeing it grow, and making all sorts of fun blog friends) is the self reflection.  The ability to document our life, and look back at the end of each year.  Without getting all ooey-gooey, I wanted to look back at some of the most popular posts from 2013...

My DIY Roman Shade is at the top of that list... not just for this year but for all time on my little blog.  I still get emails and comments from readers about how I sewed on the loops, or what brackets I used to mount.  I'm happy to say that this little roman shade is still going strong in our hallway, and it's still one of the projects I'm most proud of.

A close runner up was the Dresser turned TV Stand.  And I mean... I can't be surprised!! Who DOESN'T love a good Ikea hack??

We love everything about this dresser - it's super functional, hiding a TON of stuff that hoarders like me can't part with, it has cute little lion heads for the pulls, and the ultra-marine blue paint is so rich and pretty.

Oh yeah... and we can see our TV when we're laying in bed now.  LOVE!

You guys also loved The X-bench Makeover... possibly the easiest and most satisfying DIY I worked on this year because it took me maybe an hour to complete.  There is something to be said for instant gratification my friends!

The benches are super functional and have added additional seating to our living room; they are super solid, and have been holding up well, and I am still absolutely loving the grey chevron fabric I went with.

I'd say that's a win!

If the x-benches were the easiest and least labor intensive DIY of 2013, my next project was just the opposite.  The post I get privately emailed about most often is the Upholstered Headboard with Nailhead Trim which took me and my parents a full weekend, and quite a few curse words to complete.

Regardless of the time it took, it was well worth it to me - it's perhaps my favorite project I've worked on to date.  I am so thrilled with how it turned out, and I think about it every day when we make the bed, or when we lean back against it to read or watch TV at night.

It's mainly laziness that keeps me from writing up the full DIY, but that's a goal I'll be carrying with me into 2014...

I SWEAR... it's coming!

And finally, my Cheap-o Wine Rack Makeover rounds out the list of most popular posts of 2013.

Things got real when I my best friend called me and said that my house showed up on Google as she was searching for a wine rack.

It got even more real when I was on Pinterest and saw my wine rack in our living room "pinned" from some random woman.

I was so excited I just had to screen shot it and send it to everyone I knew...

All in all it's been a really great year, but I'm ready to say goodbye to 2013.

It started out rough with Kris' accident, but got better as it went. It was hard watching my love be hurt and sick - lots of late nights, lots of hospital and ER visits, and lots of stress.  Thankfully he's well again, and the long nights are just memories now.

It was a year of new beginnings... starting a new job, getting out of my comfort zone, and working harder than I knew I could. Again, lots of late nights, travel, and stress... a few tears and weak moments when I feared I'd made the wrong decision, but I've come out stronger and happier than I thought I could be.

This year didn't have any big exciting moments - no huge vacations, or big life changes.  I was talking with girlfriends the other day about 2013, and I think we all agreed that it was a year of transition.  A year with heartache, and new - sometimes scary - beginnings.  My theory is that 2013 was the year to set up 2014... a year that is going to be filled with big changes, like learning to live with my best friend on the other side of the country, a year of making another house our home, and another year with the love of my life.

Sayonara 2013... I'm ready for 2014.

Cheers to a year of health and happiness.  Be safe tonight my loves
xoxo

Glitz and Glam: Holiday Dresses

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Christmas commercials started running before Halloween, and everyone wants to get into the holiday spirit already, but I'm still actually in Thanksgiving mode.  It's feeling like fall and I'm absolutely loving it, BUT like it or not... this is the time when you need to start thinking about holiday dresses.

It's like Murphy's law - when you go shopping the day before an event for a party dress, you'll have a hard time finding anything... so by being prepared, and keeping an eye out for pretty dresses when you're out and about in November means that you'll find THE perfect dress, with plenty of time to spare.

What I really want this year is sparkle.  I said it last year and ended up in a black dress... this year, I'm on the hunt for glitz and glam.  Here are a few that I've rounded up online...

New Years Eve Sparkle by beckyc1923 featuring a vintage sequin dress

Roberto Cavalli strapless dress, $3,975 / Party dress, $105 / Tokyo Doll baby doll dress, $24 / French Connection blue sparkly dress / Steffen Schraut evening dress / Boohoo sequin body con dress / DP Collection gold dress / Sequin one shoulder cocktail dress / Jigsaw vintage sequin dress, $520 / 2b sleeveless dress

Sparkle comes in so many different forms, I had to break these finds into a few separate categories - geometric beading, all over sequins, and Gatsby inspired sparkle.

The geometric beaded dresses were so "cool girl" - they skimmed the body with shift style silhouettes, and in my mind seem a little more transitional... even though they have head to toe sparkle, they seem like something that you could wear even in warmer months...

The all over sequin dresses are so classic for the holiday... the black or deep blue would be amazing for a corporate Christmas party, and the one shoulder and gold sequin dress would be amazing on NYE.

And perhaps my favorite... the Gatsby inspired dresses - so fun!  I LOVE the beaded tassles on the short black strapless number (how fun would that be to dance in??), and the copper beading that has the look of flames is sexy and fun while still being ladylike.

What do you think??  Any favorite dresses in the bunch??

2013 Home Improvement

Now that we are well into the new year, and I am finally getting used to writing "2013" instead of "2012" I've started thinking about goals for our home this year.  Assuming we stay put for a bit, I have quite the laundry list of things I want to check off in our little apartment.

First things first, I have to take our Christmas Tree down (gasp) - yes it's true.  It's brown, and SO DRY it's not even funny, but with Kris out of commission, I haven't been able to take it out yet.  So really... it's not my fault. Once I get the Christmas tree down, and the millions of pine needles swept up, I'll be able to tackle my 2013 list for our house.

Let's start with the Bedroom. Soak in this god awful "before" picture... this one was taken just after we moved in... you can't see the wall of boxes at the foot of the bed... this was the "good" area so you can only imagine what it looks like outside the frame.  With this horrid image in your mind, you'll really be able to appreciate the improvements, as I post some "afters" this year.

A month or so into living here, I hung a few mirrors, replaced the lamps, flipped over the duvet, and added a few new throw pillows.  A slight improvement, but still... blah.

This fall, after making absolutely NO headway on the bedroom, I got some faux fur pillows, and a fuzzy throw to refresh things, and this was pretty much where the room stood before having our new bed delivered last month...  With this image in your mind, here is what is on the list for bedroom updates...

Bedroom Updates:
  - New Bedding
  - New Rug
  - Upholstered Headboard
  - Relocate quatrefoil mirrors
  - Hang something else above the headboard
  - New TV Stand
  - New curtains (possibly move existing silk panels to living room)
  - Rewire and hang chandelier
  - Hang something above armoire
  - Hang something above TV
  - Get rid of gold metal stand

Quite the laundry list, eh? I have a feeling that as the room evolves, the list will get longer, but that's where it stands for now...

Ok moving on to the dining room... so it turns out that I have only one single picture of our dining room, and it's of the window - you can't see the awesome Craigslist table and chairs that I got for $50 total, so I'll have to update you with more photos.  For now, here is the single picture I have...

I love the pale aqua color that I painted it when we moved in - especially paired with the brown silk curtains, but this room still has some updates on the list...

Dining Room
  - Sand and re-paint chairs
  - Sand and re-paint dining room table
  - Reupholster seat cushions
  - Replace Art
  - Re-paint bookshelf

Next up is our hallway - I already have some updates here, but still need to photograph them.  More to come there, but with this most recent photograph in mind, here are the updates on my list:

Hallway:
  - Wire up a lamp (the overhead light is ghastly at night time)
  - Replace dwarfed sunburst mirror
  - Paint walls for greater contrast with the linen closet
  - Organize linen closet

Finally, the living room - this room has definitely gotten the most love in terms of feeling "finished," but again, I have a long list of changes to make.  Some of them small, but some of them big.  I doubt we will get through all these changes in 2013, but it's always nice to dream... here is a reminder of how the living room looks right now...

And here is the list...

Living Room
  - Paint trim white for contrast against creme colored walls
  - Add a new standing lamp
  - Replace lamp on the side table (get rid of faux finished monster)
  - Sort out art on wall behind black love seat (gallery wall, larger pieces, abstract??)
  - New sofas (in my dream world, this would happen immediately)
  - Replace wicker chair
  - Replace / revamp cheap ikea table with something taller

Ok, that is a lot to do, but I think we can make some of these happen for sure.  Some people might think it's crazy to put this much time and energy into a place we don't own, but to see where it started compared to where it is now makes me feel like it's completely worth it.

A New Year and a Clean Slate

Bear with me people... this post is a loonnngggg one.

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One of my favorite movies growing up was Anne of Green Gables, and one of our favorite lines in it was, Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it.  It's just a nice thought that every day is a fresh start, with so many possibilities.  Right?

Yesterday ended up being vastly different from how we'd planned - shortly after posting about our fabulous NYE agenda, I got a frantic call from Kris, saying he needed to go to the emergency room.  One of the worst moments of my life by far.

While surfing in the morning, the fin on the bottom of his board gouged through his wet-suit, leaving him with a really deep cut.  About six hours and 10 stitches later, they released him from the ER, and now he's back at home, on the mend. We are just so thankful that there will be no permanent damage, and that he should be back to normal in a few weeks.

Regardless of how 2012 ended, it was a wonderful year, marking so many milestones for us.  

It was the year we moved in together... and we didn't kill one another in our small one bedroom :-)  Far from it.  Living together has made us closer and stronger, and and it's made us understand one another on a much deeper level.  It's funny to think back now to just over a year ago, before moving in - it's amazing to see how much you change in such a short period of time.   I dug up a few old posts from fall 2011 - I literally laughed out loud while reading through them.  I was so nervous in this one, and so determined to get my way in this one even though it was masked as "compromise". Sneaky girl.  I would day dream about how our life would change, how our apartment would look, and what was to come.  It turns out, it only gets better.  I love Kris more every day, especially when he brings home flowers, puts a fresh roll of toilet paper on the dispenser without me asking, and fluffs (and chops) the pillows, just how I like.  It's the little things, amIright?? He's a keeper.

2012 was also the year I dedicated myself to this blog.  It started out as an outlet for creativity, but it's ended up introducing me to so many other wonderful bloggers, and this awesome, warm community where I've "met" people just like me - who want to talk about shoes or home decor endlessly.  This blog started out as something just for me, and has ballooned into something much larger.  It was back in March where I realized, OMG people actually read this!!  A very surreal moment, but also a really awesome moment.  Aside from using this blog as a forum to talk about the things I'm thinking about, share projects I'm working on, get feedback about ideas I have (those striped walls in the entryway??), this blog is amazing for self preservation.  It's so fun to look back at my life a year ago - or even two years ago - and remember all the little things I've forgetten over time.  Now, more than ever, I am excited to see where Cup Half Full goes in 2013, and how our life continues to change.

2013 is going to be a fabulous year - despite it's ominous start.  I'll be starting a new job in a few weeks (more on that later, but let me just say, it's a hugely wonderful opportunity, and a much needed change).  2013 also might be the year we buy a house.  More on that later as well... I don't want to jinx anything, but it's definitely something we talk about.  A lot.  2013 will be a year for giving thanks.  Being thankful every day, giving back, and striving to be our best selves.

Today, we keep joking that at least the accident happened in 2012, and that 2013 will be fresh with no mistakes in it.  On a fresh foot in 2013, we are looking forward to a great year.