Making My List...

The new year is rapidly approaching, and I don't know about you, but I'm a total resolutions kind of girl!  I have been thinking about them since mid-October so that I could get real clear on my intentions of what I want to accomplish this year.  I usually make my resolutions with a theme that tries to embody everything into one little word.

In 2010 it was...health

In 2011 it was...peace

This year it will be ...

{drumroll please}

CLEAN!

Clean?  What does that even mean in regards to my resolutions you wonder?  Well a lot of things really.  This year I want to clean up my act in a lot of ways:

I need to clean up around my house.  

Well, this one seems like an obvious one, right?  Things have started to get a little out of hand as I've lost my focus on cleaning and organizing around here lately.  I intend to get things back under control.  It makes me happy, my family happy, and my house happy when it's clean and organized around here!

I want to clean up my diet even more.  

I'm already pretty good about not eating a ton of processed foods and getting rid of processed sugars from my diet but I'm ready to take it up a notch.  Now I'm getting serious about how my meat is raised.  I want grass fed, free range, happy animals that got to live the life they were supposed to live rather than pumped full of steroids and growth hormones and bla, bla, bla!  I also want to get rid of the amount of my exposure to pesticides on fruits and veggies.   I also really want to start making my own sourdough breads and get more of the good bugs into my diet through homemade yogurts and kefirs.

Clean up my style

This means further refining my style to more accurately reflect who I am inside.  I feel like I made some huge leaps in this area this last year but there is still more I can do and learn.  A few of the items I would really like to do is to keep editing and upgrading my wardrobe, find an awesome pair of jeans and to play with scarves more to name a few things.

Cleaning up my spirit.

Aww! David Archuleta is such a cutie {with a dreamy voice}! And I'm a sucker for a good song and this one illustrates this aspect of my goals perfectly!  This is an ongoing goal as I try more and more to become more Christlike.


So there you have it!  Some of my goals for 2012.  How about you?  Do you make resolutions?  Care to share any of yours?

Linking to The Lettered Cottage

spray bottle, and cow via sxc

A Quick Christmas Recap

Well, the remodel still isn't done but we are on the home stretch.  The kids did get a small Christmas tree {finally} about a week before Christmas which promptly came down yesterday so we could finish painting in the room. 

Despite the remodeling mayhem, we had a lovely Christmas together.  I loved watching the kids open their presents and seeing the smiles on their faces!  We had to open presents in two parts though because church started at nine and the kids were still sleeping in at eight ~ we ended up having to wake them up!  {We are definitely not a family of morning people!  LOL!}

Just before heading out the door, my son gave me this fabulous red, sparkly present which required a quick change on my part because hello!  That is a totally fun red top!!!  How can you resist???

Earlier this month I had said I wanted something sparkly and this is it!  I may, or may not, have really stood out in the choir in this outfit though!  ~wink~wink~

Anyway!  

We had a lovely day being with family!  

I hope yours was just as wonderful! 

Merry Christmas!

I hope you have a fabulous holiday with your loved ones!

Enjoy this latest version of 

Where Are You Christmas?

by The Piano Guys!

Merry Christmas! 

However you celebrate,

I hope you have a safe and happy holiday 

wherever you may be!

Danger! Danger!

Today I found myself in a dangerous part of town.

I entered the world of Tony Caputo's Market & Deli.

A place offering dangerous regional, Italian and 

Southern European culinary delights

I found myself taste testing so many fabulous olive oils 

and balsamic vinegars!  

Oh my gosh!  

The flavors of good oils and vinegars are unbelievable!

You will never go back to the regular ol' supermarket varieties again!

I had to stop myself before buying the small,

perfectly aged {for 12 years!} bottle of $75 balsamic vinegar!

Someday I will go back for it!

So we ran away to another part of the store 

to buy some grass fed beef that

Canyon Meadows Ranch was offering.  

But along the way we found...

Chocolates!!!

From Chocolatier Blue.

The pictures do not do these chocolates justice.

They sparkle like jewels!

And taste divine!!!

Someday I will learn to make my chocolates

look and taste as fabulous as those!

I had the kids with me and they each bought

some special treats.  

I'm wishing we would have bought some of the

specialty hot chocolates to sip.

Guess I'll just have to go back!

Bummer.

Stores like this make me want to go to culinary school.

I absolutely adore fabulous foods!

If you were to go to a culinary school,

what type would you attend and where?

Look Kids! A Christmas Tree!

Sadly, it's not my own Christmas tree!  My kids are still sad we don't have our tree up!  But I found them one at our hotel we stayed at during our family medical crisis this week!

I ended up on kid duty while all the siblings attended to their mother in the ICU.  As a result, I found myself paying attention to the hotel decorations a lot. 

We stayed at my favorite budget friendly hotel in St. George.  Once they found out the reason we were there, they upgraded us to a suite so that we would be more comfortable.  Isn't that nice???

It's a beautiful little hotel with great rates and a really nice hot breakfast buffet where you can dine on eggs, omelettes, waffles {with a selection of tasty fruit syrups as well as your standard maple}, oatmeal, fresh fruits and more! 

One of my favorite things about St. George is that they have palm trees!  Yes!  In the hot, dry Utah desert!  They're not native, but they somehow survive down in that climate.  In fact, when I was a kid we used to drive down to California to visit my grandparents and we always looked forward to seeing our first palm tree because we thought we were getting close to grandma's.  Now I realize those first trees were in Utah and we still had a loooong ways to go to get to Pasadena!  Hey, I guess whatever helps make a long trip shorter then GREAT, I guess!  LOL!

If you ever need to make a stay in St. George, 

I highly recommend our favorite hotel:

Best Western, Abbey Inn

Christmas Miracles!

I eluded to this in my last post, but a few days ago we were rushing to Southern Utah to say our goodbyes and begin planning a funeral as my sweet mother-in-law was in respiratory failure.

But she's one tough cookie.

We were able to pull her off the ventilator 

and now we're discussing long term care!

It's a Christmas miracle!  

We're not out of the woods yet, 

but we have her here with us 

for just a little bit longer!

Sing with me now!

Let's hear the Hallelujah chorus!

{image via)

Where My Heart Is . . .

On this beautiful Sunday I'm

listening to the soulful tunes of the cello:

and enjoying the breathtaking 

scenery from my home state!

My heart is here today:

Some of my favorite people are in

Southern Utah right now and I

wish I could be with them today.

~ ~ ~

Check out The Piano Guys on YouTube.  

They are amazing!  You will be so glad you did!

Leg Warmers

At this time of year, there is nothing cozier than a pair of nice warm tights. I absolutely adore them! But tights AND stockings together? Even cozier! And if done right, I think they look tres chic!

{via This Is Glamorous}

I am now on the hunt for the perfect combination for my own individual style! It's hard to find boots and tights that aren't of the black, grey or brown variety right now.  I just want something a little happier ~ I'm trying to lift my spirits out of the dull colors of the winter landscape, remember? 

In my mind I keep imagining the most dreamy pair of buttercup yellow boots.  I'm not sure what the rest of my outfit would look like, but those boots won't leave my mind!  ~dreamy sigh~  I wonder if it would be easier to find buttery yellow stockings instead?  I mean, the layered effect kind of mimics a boot effect and looks ever so cozy and fashionable!

How do you plan to keep your legs warm?

Seen any fun colors anywhere?

When Christmas Comes To Town!

My poor little guy has been dying that we don't have our tree up or Christmas decorations out yet, so I decided I needed to get out at least a few things.  Our carpet is supposed to be in next week sometime {which is freaking me out because we are behind schedule now with the things we needed to get done around here first before it comes! {~gulp~} so once that is in we can get everything put back into place and get the tree out finally!

So in the meantime, here are a few things we have brought out to try and bring a little Christmas cheer to the remodeling mayhem, I mean, um, house:

These fresh evergreens were saved from the big storm cleanup.  They were smelling so festive and delicious that I stowed a few away in the car to bring home.  My little guy thinks the tall one looks like a tall tree, so we decided to use it like one and placed one of our nativity sets underneath it.
 

I created this little vignette for the piano:

The quote in the frame is a printable from Dear Lillie.

I also gussied up the light in the kitchen a bit:

The Santa hats and the bells for the doors

that I showed last year are out again too.

Last year I had decided to switch the Christmas decor to a chocolate, green and cream color scheme.  In fact, I even picked up a bunch of things for it on clearance after the holiday but I honestly just can't help myself ... I love the traditional reds and greens!  Plus I think the kids might revolt if I got rid of the door bells or Santa hats.  They love them!  Maybe next year, when I'm not in the thick of remodeling,  I will put the chocolatey stuff to use in a different part of the house!

Merry Christmas

from our house to yours! 

~ ~ ~ 

Want some more holiday cheer?  

Visit the following linky parties to 
ooh and aah and a fa-la-la with us!

A Thoughtful Place
The Inspired Room's Christmas Home Tours
Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes 2011

Baby It's Cold Outside!

This will be my first full fledged winter since learning to Dress My Truth and this year it will be a lot more colorful.  I never realized how much color impacted my moods before.  Every winter I have a tendency to get a little down because let's face it, it gets kinda dreary out there. I have vowed this year to wear more color and let it cheer me up!

Here are a few coats I have picked up for the season:

A cute blue trench coat with a little bit of brightness to it.  This year I have found some cute pink leather gloves and a fun polka dot scarf to wear with my different coats.

This is what I wore for storm cleanup the other day.  A basic chocolate brown coat with my pink garden work gloves.  Chocolate + pink is always a classic combination!

A fun light green trench coat with my new pink accessories!  This is the coat I am wearing in my new profile picture and header here on the blog. It is my favorite one of the bunch and I wear it almost daily whenever I go out!

The weather hasn't turned completely frigid yet {though the last two mornings have been in the teens so it is definitely on its way!}, and I still need to get a new coat for those really cold winter days.  I would love to get something fun like this:

 via pinterest

That looks pretty warm, cozy and bright, right?  I just need to find a super thin {and super warm} down coat.  I really don't like the puffy looking ones because they always make me feel kinda fat.

I also wouldn't mind finding a coat

that would go with this amazing scarf:

via Etsy

Yep!  Now wouldn't that scarf just brighten your day? 

~ ~ ~

What are you wearing to keep warm this winter?

Have you found any fun winter accessories?

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful!

I feel bad for saying I wanted to go out and play in the wind the other day because I apparently live in a neighborhood who the storm seemed to skip over, while all the surrounding communities look like a hurricane ripped through it, {which apparently the winds we sustained could have been considered  hurricane force 2 winds}.

There is a lot of damage everywhere.  The cities have been re-landscaped by Mother Nature.  Fences have been ripped apart.  Roofs blown off.  Beautiful 100+ year old trees ripped out.  Sidewalks torn up.  So many golf courses lost 200-400 or so trees!  It is astounding!  Thursday was not a good day to be a tree.  :(

The neighbors house near a property we own had a huge old tree ripped out which subsequently took out the power with it. 

This is not uncommon.  Thousands have been without power.  This afternoon, our tenants finally got their power turned back on, three days later.

And driving down the streets is incredibly sobering.  We have spent the past few days helping clean up trees and putting sections of the roof back on at our place.

Tonight round 2 is supposed to hit.  Another high wind advisory.  Not as strong as the last one but made more dangerous because of the potential flying debris.  The governor advised everyone to stay home tonight to avoid the dangerous conditions and to secure as much debris as we could before the storm hits.

Lots of churches cancelled their services today in order to help with the storm clean up before the next one hits.  I am amazed at the kindness and goodwill of people during times like these!  Everyone is so willing to help.  There were even thoughtful neighbors driving around handing out cookies and hot chocolate to all the helpers.  {And btw, the lady that stopped by to offer us cookies was a fellow Type 1!  Woot!  High five girl!  I love you and had no idea you lived so near me!}

We even had a bunch of young kids we didn't even know help us unload at the cities drop off zone.

Look how amazing they are!

It warms my heart to see such kindness!

Now that's Christlike service in action!

High five to the youth!!!

Sights like this going down the road

are all too common right now!

Even the army is out in force helping out!

It has been quite sobering.  We don't live in an area that Mother Nature beats up very often.  We don't live in Tornado Alley, or where hurricanes happen.  I live in a landlocked state out in the West.  I guess I am just grateful that we are safe, that no one died in the storm and that my own house didn't sustain any damage so that we could be out helping others.

Stay safe everyone!

Mwah!

December Flowers

I can't believe it is December 1st and I still have flowers in my yard!  These babies are in a fairly protected spot up against the house and they just keep hanging on ~ which I truly don't mind ~ it's fun to look out my windows and see happy, bright colors still! 

Last night and today we have had some pretty crazy winds.  Some areas have hit up to 85-100+ mph winds!  Luckily, our house, yard and neighborhood haven't been hit too hard.  In fact, the sun is shining and the wind actually feels so fresh and invigorating out there!  I just want to go outside and play in it!

Unfortunately it looks like a windstorm has hit the inside of my house too and I really need to get things straightened back up.  I am living in chaos!  I can't wait until the mini-remodel is finished!  I haven't put out Christmas decorations yet {which is driving the kids nuts!} because we are just going to have to move things all around again to finish painting and to get the new carpets put in. ~sigh~

At least we still have those pretty flowers to look at!