my first {november blog giveaway}

49 Comments

Here we go!

My first ever blog giveaway!

Here is what I have for you…

I want to let you all know that I am thankful for you, and this giveaway revolves around giving thanks.

1. happy harvest wood block set;  2. wooden “N” I found thrifting; 3. turkey dessert plate; 4. paper pennant banner (these will be in my etsy shop);  5. glass hobnail votive candle holders;  6. gratitude journal;   7. silpada designs turquoise necklace

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks in advance, for checking out my Etsy shop once it is up and running!

I am hoping to get colton+cadence up and running in early 2012. This giveaway, and (if all goes well) future giveaways, will showcase some of the things I will be selling in my shop.

colton+cadence will be a little bit of everything…a little bit handmade, a little bit found, and a little bit vintage; it will be a little bit for you, a little bit for those you love, and a little bit for your home.

To enter please do the following:

Answer the following question as a comment on this post.

What are you thankful for?

For (4) additional entries you can:

{to be official, please mention each additional entry in a separate comment to count}

Deadline is Tuesday, November 8th at 9pm pst.

Winner will be announced on Wednesday, November 9th!

home is…having a lot to be thankful for.

thankful

4 Comments

So, this month we celebrate Thanksgiving.

There are countless ways to show gratitude.

I see friends and family members posting each day on Facebook, some have a special place to write it down and display thanks in their home during this month, and some write it in a journal everyday.

I have decided that I am going to let people know that I am thankful for them with a handwritten note that they will receive in their mailbox from the USPS!

I used to be good at writing thank you notes.

I used to love to pick up a special card for friends or family at a specialty card shop or the grocery store.

I’ve lost my touch.

So, I am going to write one note a day to a friend or family member to let them know how I am thankful for them.

I have already put 3 notes in the mail this week, so I am on my way…27 more to go!

By the way, how are you choosing to be thankful this month?

{Please share your ideas in a comment on this post}

One last thing…check back tomorrow for my 1st blog giveaway!

THANKS!!

home is…a handwritten thank you note.

too much candy

1 Comment

I’m done with my detox.

I’ll write my thoughts about it soon.

All I can say right now is…get the halloween candy out of my house!

I just made myself sick eating candy…UGH!

I’m dropping the rest of the stash of here this afternoon.

Also, I am aware that I have a giveaway that I teased you about last week and did not post about.

Stay tuned on Friday…I promise it will be here!

home is…a tummy ache.

fall, football, and friends

1 Comment

We enjoyed a fall weekend of football and friends.

On Friday we celebrated our 11 year anniversary by taking the kids to the local high school homecoming game. We met our neighbors there and the kids had a great time!

Saturday was filled with friends at our house to watch the Oregon vs Colorado game. There was a lot more fun going on outside than football watching going on inside.

Check back this week for the 1st giveaway on my blog!

Also, I hope to update you on the changes we made to our yard now that they are final…until we add more next spring!

Stay tuned…

home is…fall, my favorite season of all.

some catch up and a couple of firsts

Leave a comment

The week before our landscaping project started my wonderful mother-in-law came for a visit, and along with doing some of the fun things on our fall list, I was also able to get some work done around the house and do some things for myself.

It was awesome!

Here are some of the things we did…

I was able to go to the little guys Tae Kwon Do class and actually WATCH him in action rather than try to keep baby girl amused.

We had a fall campfire and roasted marshmallows.

We took a trip to a nearby pumpkin patch…check that one off the fall list!

Ryan and I had a date night…dinner and a movie (the first movie that we have seen together in a theater in over 10 years)!

We also made a stop at a local apple farm and had some more fall harvest fun.

I attended the first of four Adult Beginning Sewing classes that I will be taking this month.

I was able to run lots of errands without kids in tow…I went to JoAnn Fabric 3 times!

I finished painting the little guys ceiling so that I can finally get his bedroom redesign finished.

I made some rose hairclips, a headband, and a “baby tutu” for our new niece in New York.

I also tried some new recipes since I was able to cook without kids pulling on me in the kitchen!

*******

After my mother-in-law left to fly back to New York the kids and I went to get their first full season ski passes! For $20 a piece I couldn’t pass it up.

I am inspired, invigorated, and excited for the fall season…the upcoming holidays, the chill in the air, and some new projects!

So inspired, in fact, that I will be having my first giveaway on my blog!

It will give you a taste of some of the projects that I worked on last week and a little taste of fall here in the Pacific Northwest!

Check back early next week!

home is…feeling inspired by the change of seasons.

{in our garden} the big dig…and move, and build, and fill, and plant

6 Comments

Last week we had a big project done at our house.

It all started about 3 years ago after we moved into this house. We loved the yard, but knew that there were changes that we would eventually like to make. We had a landscape architect draw up a plan and it hid in a closet for over 2 years.

At our house we are always trying to figure out which project needs to take priority. You see, when we moved in to this house we knew we would have some upgrades to make, but we were working with a “clean slate”. By this I mean that there had been little to NO upgrades made in this house since it was built about 20 years ago. Slowly, but surely we have made some changes. Some paint here and there, new appliances, new furnace, new water heater, and new carpet. Unfortunately, most of these things were replaced because they stopped working and we had to replace them!

So, this spring we decided that we should bite the bullet and finally make a big project happen around here.

We got multiple bids from contractors. We made site visits to some of their work. And, eventually chose one that was referred by a painter who we got a quote from.

We gave him our plans, he made a few changes and suggestions, and we agreed on the work that would be done. Then we waited…through the summer…until the work could be done.

Last week, it was done.

Realistically, it couldn’t be better timing. It’s a great time to plant, we can let everything settle in over the winter, and we can see what we want to add in the spring!

So, here are some progress photos…

Day One…

Day Two…

Day Three…

Day Four…

I will try to find some “before” photos as we forgot to take some. In a separate post I will show the final product and detail some of the changes that were made.

By the way, I am headed outside right now to plant some more things with the kids. Nothing like a sunny mid-October 70 degree day in the Pacific Northwest!

home is…making big changes.

feeling a bit like claire on modern family

4 Comments

There are things that I choose not to write about on this blog that I sometimes wish I could.

{I guess I should start a new anonymous blog for those things, right?!}

This is one of those things, but it is almost too funny for me to not write about.

First of all, this is how I am writing this blog post.

It has nothing to do with what I am writing about, but I thought it was funny (and cute).

If I am “working” on the computer and baby girl is awake this is where she wants to be…”momma lap”.

Anyway, this morning I am totally feeling like Claire on Modern Family.

You know the episode where Phil goes to the basketball game with Luke, Manny, and Gloria. Claire sees them on TV and tries to call him. He gets his phone out of his pocket, looks at it, and he sends her to voicemail…all while she watches it on TV.

Yeah, that one.

Ryan has been out of town since Tuesday morning.

And, he is working on a Saturday.

I was cranky and not feeling well on Thursday night when we last talked and we did not get a chance to talk at all on Friday.

So, this morning I texted him on both of his phones, left him a voicemail, and then got on Facebook.

And, there I see that he has made a new friend.

So, he’s making new friends on Facebook, but can’t reply to texts and voicemails from his wife?!

I messaged him that sentiment on Facebook.

And, here is his reply.

I guess he’s been having some technical difficulties.

At least he wasn’t kissing Gloria, right?!

And, we did get to iChat.

home is…technical difficulties.

the little guy said

2 Comments

As we drove by REI tonight the little guy said, “That’s the coolest store in the world!”

I asked him why and he replied, “Because they have soooo many bikes that I can buy!”

Then he added, “It’s even as cool as the Batmobile!”

Now that’s cool!