Happy New Year!

I'm going to try something for the month of January, not quite a New Year's Resolution, just something new for the new year!

Inspired by Erin Napier's Daily Journal (one of my fave "blogs"), I am going to try and write or at least post something every day. For the past seven years now, Erin (HGTV's newest rising star!) has written only about the good things that happen to her every single day. It's proof positive that even on your worst day, something good still happens! I think that is a great way to start out the new year!

My posts may not always be long or involved - maybe just a picture - but I am seriously going to give this a try! Now that I'm thinking about this though, maybe I should have waited until February to start this endeavor. You know, since there are only 28 days in that month!

Hope everyone out there has a safe and wonderful New Year's Eve whether it be sitting on your couch (what I want to do!) or partying it up with a champagne toast at midnight.

Happy New Year!

Birds of a feather...

I love birds of any kind and I love to feed them and watch them play. Just like any other animal, birds have their own personalities and are just fascinating to sit and watch. My grandpa has birds that actually come and knock (with their beaks) on his patio door when they want fed! They are amazing creatures!

The other day, before all the snow melted away, I looked out my kitchen window and saw several different kinds of birds having their dinner at my feeders. There were four cardinals, several juncos and sparrows, a woodpecker, and two giant blue jays. All in one day!

I had never seen so many different species of birds in my yard just chillin together so I grabbed my camera and ran back to the window to snap some pics, which scared some off of course, but most of them came right back and I was able to get a few good pictures of them.

The woodpecker likes to hang every which way and eat the suet cakes while the juncos seem to prefer to eat what falls to the ground-or what we throw on the ground.

Here's a rather grainy close up of one of the cardinals - the state bird of Indiana! The males are the bright red, pretty ones. The females are more of a reddish brown color.

Here's a male cardinal sitting in my bird feeder. I love this thing! It looks like those cute vintage chairs I want for myself! I couldn't afford the original so my husband bought me one for my birds.

These Blue Jays were so huge compared to the other birds I normally see at the feeders. They were the first Blue Jays I had seen in years so I was pretty excited to see them.

Looking rather regal sitting in the tree!

Merry Christmas to all!

Waiting for Santa!

Candy Cane Vodka!

On my husband's side of the family we all do homemade gifts for Christmas to save money. Last year we gave the adults homemade Candy Cane Vodka and it was such a hit that we were requested to do it again this year!

It's a fairly cheap gift when you do the math and a super easy and fun process. You could even do it as a fun group activity on Christmas!

We wanted to kick it up a notch this year and really add some festiveness with a second flavor to go along with the more traditional red peppermint candy cane flavor. And what goes better with red for Christmas than green? Wint-O-Green to be exact!

First, we broke up six candy canes per pint-sized jar.

Then we simply poured in the vodka! One large bottle of vodka made five pint-sized jars.

The candy canes start dissolving pretty immediately. Just give it a shake right away and keep on shaking every once in a while to help the process along.

The candy canes should be completely dissolved within a day's time.

We repeated the process with the green candy canes, although we used half-pint jelly jars for these ones. We only used three candy canes for the smaller jars.

The green candy cane vodka ended up a little light so we added a drop of green food coloring to make it more of a "Christmasy" green. It also tastes a bit like mouthwash, but some people are into that sort of thing.

The finished product! There will be a bit of white "residue" from the candy so just shake it up before you drink it!

A very Merry Christmas indeed!

A Busy and Wonderful Weekend!

This was one of those busy weekends when you get a ton of stuff done - some unexpected, some you've been meaning to do forever and just hadn't gotten around to. And, to top it all off, we still had time to celebrate! It was wonderful!

My husband called and asked me on Friday how I felt about putting down some new flooring in our bathroom this weekend. Uh, yeah! The best part was that it was free! This set off a chain reaction of fixing some paint spots on the ceiling and repainting some areas of the walls that needed it. Then it spilled over into some other rooms in the house. Once I start I just can't stop!

Much better than the old! We've been eyeing this sample of flooring ever since he got it in his shop and it was just the perfect size for our bathroom! I'll do a true before and after pic when it's completely finished (and clean!)

While we were at Menards getting some supplies to finish our floor I ran across these real wreaths on sale for only $2.00! I've been wanting one of these so I was super excited!

I got my stockings hung by my staircase with care.

And still had time to make some of my famous spritz tree cookies! I decided to "branch" out this year and try making some wreaths. I like the trees best.

Tonight we went to Takaoka, a Japanese Steakhouse (and the best restaurant EVER!) for a very special celebration!

Where they sing a Japanese version of Happy Birthday to you! It was a wonderful weekend!

O Christmas Tree!

I discovered while decorating for Christmas last year that apparently I have a thing for Christmas Trees. So naturally, I decided to go all in and start collecting them! Here are a few of my favorite trees to get you in the mood for Christmas!

This is the newest tree in my collection. I am obsessed with bottle brush trees and now I finally have one!

I love green and red for Christmas. It's so classic.

 But, I also love the multi-colored Christmas decor as well. I got this ornament tree at Target half off the day after Christmas! Gotta love when that happens!

I wish I would have bought another one of these trees to make a cluster of three. They always say to do uneven numbers in design.

Someone made my husband this tree a long time ago. When you get married sometimes you "inherit" some really hideous stuff you then have to incorporate into your home, but I really love this tree!

My mom made this tree out of cookies like three years ago and we just store it in a ziploc baggie every year and bust it out again. It's got a few areas where it has broken, but overall it still looks great!

These were my first tree purchases when I moved into my first apartment.

This is my most special tree ~ a vintage light up Christmas Tree that was my great-grandma's!

A Day Away!

Sometimes all you need is one day in a different place, doing something completely different from your everyday life to give you a total reset on your perspective.

Yesterday, my mom and I went down to Indianapolis and I must say, I was very impressed with the all the updates since my last trip down there! Indy is really starting to grow into itself! I mean, we're getting an IKEA next year so you know we're on the right track! 

By the way, I just learned that today - December 11, 2016 - is the 200th Birthday of the statehood of Indiana. All year long there have been bicentennial celebrations for Indiana, so it is only fitting that today we here at Sweet Home Indiana are celebrating our state capital! (Even if it is mostly about shopping!)

Yesterday was purely a shopping excursion! We started off at the Macy's in Castleton Mall where I was surprised at how much more of a better selection they had than our Macy's store. I found a new favorite clothing line called Maison Jules. These are just a few of the cute items they had for sale at 40% off! I ended up ordering two new shirts and a cute sweater that they didn't have in my size at the store.

We stumbled upon a really cool home/furniture store called Urban Styles Furniture and Gypsy Market behind Castleton Mall. They had some very unique pieces you don't see in a typical furniture store.

I was on the fence about going into Urban Styles/Gypsy Market until I saw this display of faux Jadeite, milk glass, and whatever that gorgeous blue color is called. I want it all!!! I just wish it was a little cheaper! I would have loved a cake stand in every color!

I loved this floor mat that is made to look like vintage tile!

I literally am obsessed with dishes.

Then it was time for lunch at one of my faves - The Cheesecake Factory! We split the Chicken Madeira and a slice of Cherry Cheesecake.

Absolute Heaven.

After lunch it was off to the Crate and Barrel in The Fashion Mall at Keystone where almost all their Christmas stock was on sale! I found these super cute reindeer cookie jars I would like to have.

And this beautiful aqua blue tea kettle! I think this may be my most favorite color. I have such an issue with my tea kettles turning on the inside I hated to spend this much money on one.

I regret not buying one of these trees! I LOVE trees wrapped in burlap like this and have been really wanting one to add to my Christmas Tree Collection.

Speaking of Christmas Trees! This display in Tiffany's window was really cool.

And...speaking of Tiffany's! If anyone needs any gift ideas for me I want this 50th anniversary companion for Breakfast at Tiffany's I found at Papyrus of all stores!

I loved this tin that held gift tags at the Pottery Barn. I wanted to buy it just for the picture on it! I love vintage-y anything, especially vintage Christmas.

Had to check out my "alma mater" J. Crew!

I am obsessed with these Williams-Sonoma Snowman salt and pepper shakers!

A girl can dream, right?

The perfect gift...

Several years ago, my friend Katie gave me a Christmas ornament as a "Going Away" present when I left her behind at my previous job. It was a glass Hallmark Snowflake that states "One of a kind...Once in a lifetime...Friends."  She said every year I hang it on my tree to think of her. And I do. 

If you're having a hard time coming up with a great gift to give to someone - especially someone that "has everything," an ornament is the perfect gift. There are so many different ones out there you can be sure to find something to fit your friend/family member's personality. It doesn't have to be expensive or fancy. Just something that will make them think of you fondly every year when they hang it on their tree.

Katie and I don't talk every day. We don't talk once a month. In fact, maybe not even for several months to a year. But that doesn't mean I don't think of her almost everyday and wonder how she is doing. It also doesn't mean that we are any less of friends than we were when we saw each other everyday.

That snowflake ornament may not look like much to some people, but to me, it is very special. It is a reminder of what a wonderful friend I have and it makes me smile every time I look it.

"Cookie Fest" 2016

Last night was the annual "Cookie Fest" at my aunt's house. We made 600 sugar cookies between four of us girls! It took about 8 hours just to bake them all. They have yet to even be frosted.

A Cookie Fest is a great way to get together for the Holidays that doesn't involve making a big meal or really a lot of "entertaining." All you need is just some cookie dough and a couple bottles of wine! It's hard work making that many cookies, but it's fun work (and yummy work!). We came up with a little assembly line of sorts with two people rolling the dough and cutting the cookies out and two people doing the actual baking.

I am the first to admit, my aunt takes this to the extreme! There is really no need to make 600 cookies in one night for most people. If I was doing it myself, I would definitely cut down on the amount and save time for decorating! In fact, you can buy cookies that are already pre-baked and just do a decorating party! That's where the real fun happens anyways!

I took home about 100 cookies for myself (I'm going to freeze them and eat them "as needed" - not all at once!) and tonight my husband and I will frost them with the most delicious cream cheese frosting and decorate until our hearts content. Or he gets sick of it, most likely.

The final count! This was already minus about 120 cookies someone snagged early on in the night!