Top 10 Posts of 2016

I love yearly recap posts, so I thought I'd share my 10 most viewed posts from 2016:

1. New Name & New Look!

I changed the name of my blog and got a new blog design in April. And I still love it!

2. Fall Photos

3. Chalk School

I hosted a chalk school party at my house and it was a blast!

4. Custom House Portrait

I had a custom drawing done of our house and wanted to share it with everyone. Such a great gift idea.

5. Breast Cancer Awareness with Tree Classics

I decorated a tree from Tree Classics all pink for Breast Cancer Awareness month.

6. Birthday Weekend

Recap of my 29th birthday weekend.

7. 4th of July Weekend

Apparently July posts were popular with my readers!

8. Father's Day Gift Guide

I love gift guides. This one is perfect for the dad in your life.

9. Three Years

Celebrated our three year wedding anniversary this year.

10. Louisiana Vacation Recap Part 1

I went to Baton Rouge and New Orleans (Mardi Gras) in February and had a blast!

Holiday Home Tour 2016

Just like yesterday's Christmas card post, I know this is late, but I wanted to share it anyway. I love being able to go back and look at my old posts to see how my decor and style has changed, so at least I'll have it to look back on. You may have seen some of these if you follow me on Instagram, because I participated in the 12 days of decor, which made me take pics on a daily basis. I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking.

wine bottle vase made by my sister

This little shelf used to hold our DVDs and Blu Rays, but I got sick of looking at them, so I boxed them up and put them in containers in our TV stand. So now I get to decorate all the little shelves and I kind of love it. I also want to paint this thing white at some point...

joy wood sign from Kate's Crafty Heart

tree wood sign from Kate's Crafty Heart

deer hoop made by my mom

I LOVE seeing holiday home tours, so I hope you enjoy this little glance in to our home all decorate for Christmas. This weekend I'll be taking it all down and replacing it with some simple winter decor, which I'm kind of excited about. As much as I love decorating for Christmas, by the time the holidays are over, I'm kind of ready for a little simplicity. Anyone else feel that way?

Our Christmas Card 2016

I'm only only four days late, but I'm finally sharing our Christmas card. This is the first year I've done a photo Christmas card. I usually print a photo and include it with our card to our families, but this year I did the actual photo card. I actually got ours from Costco, and I was very happy with them. And even happier with the cost. You guys, it was only $15 for 50 of them! With envelopes! And there was a $5 coupon when I got ours, so it only cost me $10 for 50 cards! You design and order them online and pick them up in the store. So easy. I will definitely be using Costco for our future Christmas cards. Here's how ours turned out this year:

I used a couple photos from our fall photos that Mckensie anne Photography took. It was so hard narrowing it down to just a couple photos, but these were two of my favorites. I hope our family and friends liked them too!

12 in 12

In 2016, I ran 12 races. It wasn't a goal of mine when I started the year, but around August, I realized it was going to happen and I was kind of proud of it. And even though I titled this post "12 in 12" it was actually 12 races in 10 months. 

7: 5ks (3.1 miles)

1: Marathon Relay (5 miles)

2: 10ks (6.2 miles)

1: 10 Miler

1: Half Marathon (13.1 miles)

When I started running about four years ago, I never even dreamt about running a half-marathon. Three miles was more than enough for me. But once I reached my time goal for my 5k (under 30 minutes), I decided to try a 10k. And then I thought it wasn't so bad, so I tried the 10 mile race. And then I figured what the heck, what's three more miles? And I did it. I ran 13.1 miles. Sometimes I still can't believe I was able to do it. I'm definitely not fast, but that isn't my goal. My goal is just to get out there and do it.

source

So what's next? Well, I might be losing my mind, but I am planning to run a marathon in 2017! 26.2 miles. I can't even comprehend that right now. I am signed up for a half-marathon in April, and a 25k (15.5 miles) in May, so I'm preparing for an October marathon. 

But do you know the best part? Kevin (my husband) is going to run it with me! As much as I never thought I'd attempt it, I never x100 thought Kevin would. He never understood why I ran or did races, but now that he's been running, I think he's getting addicted too. And I'm not mad about it.

As of right now, my only goal is to finish. As I train, I hope to come up with a time goal to try and beat. Wish me luck! And if you have any tips for a first-time marathoner, send 'em my way!

Fall Photos (FINALLY!)

The last weekend in October we had a little photoshoot with Mckensie anne Photography (same photographer that did our wedding photos and other fall photos). We hadn't had "professional" photos done in a couple of years, so I wanted to get some done this year. We also used a couple of them for our Christmas cards, which I'll try and share later this week. But for now, here is photo overload of some of my favorites!

 And I have to share this one. It basically sums us up perfectly. Admiral going crazy at 100 mph and we just laugh and follow along :)

If you are in the West Michigan area and need a photographer, I HIGHLY recommend Mckensie anne Photography. She is so easy to work with and always gets us super great photos. 

Life Lately

I can definitely tell the holidays are approaching...things are getting busy. And I know I'm not alone on this. I'm sure you are all feeling the hustle and bustle that comes with this time of year. However, we've been lucky enough to sneak in some fun. A couple of weeks ago my sister-in-law scored great seats to the Detroit Red Wings game and asked us if we wanted to go with her and my brother-in-law. It was my first professional hockey game and it's the last year the Red Wings will play in their current arena, so I was excited to go. The Red Wings lost, but we had a blast!

We've also been busy trying to keep up with the falling leaves, but the fact that it's basically dark by the time we get home from work, and our weekends are packed with plans, doesn't leave us much tine to get them done. We recently bought a trailer, that has made the whole process way easier. Where we live, we don't have any woods that we can just blow our leaves into (I'm super jealous of those who can do that). And the city doesn't come pick them up, so we can't just blow them to the edge of the street. We have to physically get rid of them. Luckily, our city has a free yard waste facility that is pretty close to our house. So we've been loading up the trailer and dumping them there every chance we get. We still have several more trailer loads to take in our future, but we're getting there.

See all the leaves on the ground? This pic was taken on a Friday. We had just cleaned up ALL of the leaves on Monday. It never ends!

Last Friday I went on a little shopping trip with my mom and her friend. We went to The Found Cottage, where I picked up a super cute Christmas pillow, and Lost & Found-Treasures of Old and New, where I found quite a few vintage decor items. My favorite was an old wood sled. I can't wait to decorate it for Christmas! Also, it was only $12. I couldn't believe it. I felt like I hit the jackpot of deals haha

We have another busy weekend coming up and then it will be Thanksgiving. Time flies when you're having fun!