29 November 2009

merry and bright

I am literally sooooo motivated to turn my home into the cutest little Christmas village ever. I was on weheartit for about 45 minutes searching "Christmas" and now I am soooo full of Christmas Cheer it's ridiculous :)
Here are the images the I pulled for my style file for Style School:
Enjoy!!












how could you not be inspired by those?!? love love love them :)
Did you see that gingerbread camera? too cute!
My mom collects vintage aluminum trees (the silver ones with the color wheels that are to die for) and she gave me one this year so I can't wait to put it up! My place is way too tiny for all of the decor ideas and multiple trees for sure. Ha!! Oh well :)
Alright friends, keep signing up for the give-a-way below. It will obviously be a good one since it's coming from RVA.
What are some cutie things that you are doing with your holiday decor this year??

28 November 2009

new blog look!

How about a give-a-way to celebrate the fact that after 50,000 years, I have learned to do my OWN blog make over??
I mean, you have no idea how excited I am about that <3
I know it's not the coolest blog banner ever but I am stoaked!
Plus I made those tabs at the top! eeek!
Ok, so as you know, this weekend I am going to Springfield for crafty goodness with my friends.

I am going to pick up a little something special while I am at RVA for whoever wins this give-a-way.
I will vlog the winner this coming up weekend while I am in Springfield.
That way there may even be some guest appearances during the vlog by some really cute ladies!!
Ok, so:
1. leave me a comment
2. tweet about my give-a-way
3. blog about my give-a-way
4. Become a follower of my blog, if you aren't already.
That is FOUR entries :)
Just leave 4 seperate comments if you do each of them so that it's real easy for me when I print out the comments and choose. The winner will be drawn on Saturday, December 5.

27 November 2009

me too!!

So, I am totally copying Jamie's blog post about next weekend because I am BEYOND excited!!!
And Jamie is sooo cool, who wouldn't want to copy her, right??
Next weekend, my sister and I are traveling down to Springfield for the RVA Christmas party and some serious "girl time."
Not only will we be hanging out with our most favorite RVA girls (Erin, Elsie, and Rachel), we will also be hanging out with these AWESOME ladies as well:










Seriously, it is going to be sooooooo much fun. I love all of these girls so much, some I have met before and some I have been dying to meet. (I was telling Jamie a couple months ago that I totally hoped to be Kat's friend someday. I will be such a geek meeting her, she is one of my blog heros :D)
All of these ladies have the same love and passion for craft as I do and I can't wait to hang out and be crafty with all of them.
Speaking of....Chelsey!!! you should totally meet up with us too!!!! :)
You'll have to check out Jamie's post though, she says it better than me. PLUS she has names and blog links with all of her pictures. She's awesome. Oh and speaking of how awesome she is, check out her new blog button on my sidebar. You need one. It is my most favorite picture of hers!! I have it hanging in my home :)
love love,
Ok, I am off to sleep it's been a looooong day.
xoxo
janel

sparkle, twinkle, and shine

Those are the three words that describe how I am feeling today. They popped in my head immediately when I woke up so I immediately did an image search for all three on weheartit to really get inspired by my feeling. I want to wall paper my house with twinkle lights now and carpet it with glitter ;)
I'm pretty sure that wouldn't fly with Indie but a girl can dream right?














Today, my heart is bursting with love, gratitude, peace, grace, everything that is good :)
I kind of wish that today was't jam packed with a million things to do because I want to create, create, create!!
I love you all sooooo much!
I feel a really good give-a-way coming soon <3
Be watching for it!
xoxo
janel

26 November 2009

11-26-09


This morning, my grandma died.
Her name was Edeltraut but everyone called her Eddie <3
She was 100% a BFF as well as a grandma.
Although I'm totally at peace knowing that my grandma is in a much better place, my heart still aches for her tonight.
I guess it's selfish but oh well.
After my grandpa died, she down-sized to a condo in my neighborhood. We lived on the same street for about 4 years.
She would call me every night to go out to dinner. We ate out soooo much that I literally was sick of eating out. I never knew that was possible. People at the restaurants around where I live still ask about her :)
We played cards with two of her girlfriends on Thursday.
Bible Study on Wednesday nights.
Church, Penn Station, and Target every Sunday.
Most Saturdays I would go to garage sales with her and my dad.
We spent a lot of time together.
2 years ago she had a stroke which affected a lot of her memory which meant she had to get moved to an assisted living facility. She still knew all of us and was still herself. She was able to get around just fine and eat about 4 ice cream bars a day :)
Last night my dad and I visited her and sat with her around her bed for a couple of hours, holding her hands, playing with her hair, talking to her.
She is soooo stinkin cute!!
Out of no where she would say John (my dad), I love you :)
When we left, I went to give her a hug and kiss.
I said , "Ill see you tomorrow Grandma, it's Thanksgiving."
She said "See you tomorrow"
I said, "I love you grandma"
nothing.
"I love you grandma. Do you love me?"
"Double." she said with a smile.
Our last conversation ever.
She was an amazing grandma.
AMAZING.
Creative, loving, giving, kind, funny, and sweet.
She never got sick and she never complained.
I can be completely honest in saying that she is the strongest woman that I have ever met.
I've never been a huge fan of Thanksgiving, to be honest, but after today it will always be a holiday for remembering her and I think that's pretty cool.
I will miss her sooooooo much but Im happy that she is perfect right now and having Thanksgiving with my grandpa <3
So for number 26 on my thankful thirty, I have to say that I am truly blessed and thankful for the special time I was able to spend with my grandma last night. It's a memory I will always treasure. I am also thankful for the 29 years of memories and advice, and help, and love, and kindness that she gave to me as well:)

I love you grandma!!!

25 November 2009

a peek inside

My journal and I have been best friends lately.
I have had sooo many ideas and lists and thoughts and emotions lately and I love having my big black journal to go to for all of this.
Here is a little peek inside my journal :)
shhhh! It's a secret :)












Do you keep a journal?
___ check here for yes
___ check here for no
xoxo
janel