April Showers....

Happy Monday!  Today I'm blog hoppin' with my pals from The Blended Blog for our new Spring Series. If you've landed here from Leslie's blog, thanks for stopping by today to get a peek into my world!


 The first prompt, April Showers can be a post about anything we like.  Today I thought I'd share my favorite rainy day activities.  And since it feels like it's been raining forever, this is just the perfect prompt for these days!  Now if I HAVE TO go out on rainy days I don't mind rocking my leggings and super cute rain boots...

but rainy days are just better when they are spent indoors!

Rainy days and no plans mean...pjs all day!!  If rainy days land on a Saturday or Sunday...this is a must!  And these are my top three favorite things to do...solitary life style!  And for a girl that doesn't drive I love using rainy days as an excuse to stay home and stay in.

Binge watch my favorite shows!
Isn't this just the best??  I love binging on episodes of my favorite shows or clearing out the DVR on rainy days!  I've watched full seasons of shows on rainy days. I am not ashamed to admit I spent a day re-watching the entire Sex and the City series one rainy weekend not too long ago!

Shop online!
I shop online all the time!  But I feel like rainy days give me the perfect excuse to to shop and purchase some of my favorite things online....and not feel guilty about it.  I mean...what else is there to do on rainy days!??!

This may have been the result of  a weekend of rainy day online shopping last Spring!!  

Read!
As a teacher-librarian, how could I not say reading is one of my favorite things to do.  There is NOTHING better than sitting on my couch with a hot chocolate,  all cozy under a blanket, spending hours reading a great book while the spring rain falls outside!  It's pretty much what I did this past Saturday!!

What are some of your favorite things to do on rainy days??  Let me know in the comments below!  And don't forget to hop on over to Sarah's blog at Foxy's Domestic Side to see what April fun she has in store for you!!  Check it out here!!  

Link up your April posts with us too!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Christmas Home Tour with The Blended Blog!

Happy Monday!

How is it that we are less than two weeks away from Christmas!  That is just crazy!  My presence on the blog has been less and less as the year comes to a close but I am happy to be back today sharing a glimpse of my home at Christmas time with some of my favorite Blended Blog buddies! If you're stopping by from Sheila's blog and you've made it this far in the Hop, I thank you!  :)  I've really enjoyed getting to peek into everyone's homes today!

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you've seen my little home.  I love my home, but no more so than at Christmas!  I can't wait to show you the few new touches I put on this year!  Come on in....

My mom made this snowman last year at Christmas for each of my sister's and I!

This year I got a new tree and I'm so happy with it!  It's a foot and a half taller and really fits in the space well.  My tree is the first thing you see when you walk in the door.

I'm loving the new bow pillow I got at Pier 1, too...there are tons of cute ones!

My tree skirt and matching stocking were made by my mom.  She gave me the tree skirt the first year I had my own tree in my first apartment and then she gave me the matching stocking my first Christmas in my condo.  I know how much time they took her, but I love them and know I'll have them forever!  Just like my mom still has her handmade tree skirt form the year she was married in 1971.

Living in a condo, my place is basically one big great room!  This is the living area...

My mom made me my handmade stocking but this is my original stocking from my first Christmas in 1980.  This Christmas pillow I got on super sale last year from Primitives by Kathy.  Actually a number of my Christmas decorations are from her site, either given to me as gifts or bought on sale at the end of the season!

My nativity is really special to me, too.  It was passed down to me from my grandmother.  It is a Hummel nativity from the 1950's.  I know it might be a little unorthodox, but I believe it fits really well on my wine table!

Now that my TV is on the wall, I use my TV stand as a display place.  I switch this up a little bit every year!  This is this year's Christmas version!

The WANTED sign stays up there year round!  

Here's a close-up!

The kitchen is pretty Christmassy as well.

My corner nook!

My mom claims she worries about my wine consumption, but then she buys me awesome wine tags like that one!  HA!!  I also enjoy running my diffuser this time of year with Christmas Spirit! 

Last but not least is my Christmas card holder, which is just a ribbon hanging from my pantry!  I really like this simple, easy idea.  And it's really a great way to showcase the cards I receive.

I hope you've enjoyed my home at Christmas and loved seeing all of our TBB Homes!!  Wishing you the happiest of holidays...

  Thanks for stopping by today!

If you missed my previous years' tours, you can check out 2015{here} and 2014 {here}!

What a Day!!

A Day in My Life!

Well...not really!  Or if I’m being quite honest...it has been!  HA!  

Thanks for hopping on over from Deena's blog!! Happy to have you here! So excited to be participating in The Blended Blog’s blog hop today, sharing a Day in my Life.  

The day we all chose to document was Saturday, January 23rd.  Before the day arrived I wondered what I would do, made plans with a friend (so I would not be boring) and looked forward to taking pictures all day, of my day, for the blog!

Then this happened...  

Blizzard Jonas dumped two feet of snow on these parts.  And arrived way sooner than expected. The timeline of the storm was changing all week and when I went to bed on Friday night, I thought that I’d at least able to venture out to breakfast in town before the storm came, so I’d have something to show of my day before being cooped up!

No such luck!  I actually ended up sleeping in and when I woke up at 9:30 (!!!!) There was already more than 6 inches on the ground and it was in full-on Blizzard mode!!

So you get a day of me...in the house, doing house things, watching a marathon of The Affair season 2 and….drinking!  Because really, why not!!

My mornings, always start with coffee!!  It’s a must for me!!  On a normal work day, I just have one cup and go!  On the weekends I like to have two.  One regular...one spiked!!  Who doesn’t like a little rum chatta in their coffee?!?  And if you haven’t tried it, you should!  So, so good!!

And because it was a Saturday morning, I ate breakfast!  Something quick and easy.  An English muffin.  I splurged and put Jelly on it.  This was the first time I had gotten the Honey Wheat english muffins and thought they were really good!  

After breakfast I threw in a load of laundry then set out to make dinner. 

Exciting I Know!!!

For dinner I threw a meal in the crockpot! I thought the blizzard was a great time to have it because I was home while it cooked all day!! Which I really must say is just the best!  I made a super easy pot roast recipe that a friend at work told me about!  Just three ingredients…

-the roast

-one can of cream of mushroom soup

-one envelope of beefy onion mix

Really, so easy I thought I might be doing something wrong!  But that was it!  I actually ended up using two cans of mushroom soup, so that the roast was covered in the crockpot.  

It came out really, really great! The meat was cooked perfectly...just fell apart!!

The rest of the day, as the snow was falling,  I did some cleaning, more laundry and watched almost all of the second season of The Affair.  I like it well enough!!  And was not too surprised by the finale.  

Love me some Pacey on The Affair!!  :)

Honestly, most of the day was spent on my couch, under a blanket like this…

with a wine glass in hand!!  :)

There may or may not have been a few Bloody Marys thrown in there for good measure, too!!

I headed to my room for the night, by about 10, showered, got into bed and read a bit before heading to bed by 11ish. It's true what they say, doing nothing makes you tired! HA!!

A few more pics of the snow later on that night as it was winding down!!

Out my front door...

My backyard...

Here’s hoping my next Day in the Life post is more exciting!  But hey...such is life and Mother Nature!!

Head on over to Lana’s blog now, to see how her Saturday was!

My Home at the Holidays!!

Christmastime is here!   The halls have been decked!  Decorating for Christmas is one of my favorite things to do.  So I'm super excited to be participating in today's blog hop with the ladies of The Blended Blog!  If you're visiting from Christy's blog, WELCOME! Thanks for stopping by!

Come on in...to my home at Christmas!

This year my tree was up before Thanksgiving, November16th to be exact!  But I didn't start decorating it, or the rest of the house, until the day after Thanksgiving.   Being such a small place, there's not much to decorate, but I do what I can!!  I actually feel like I've decorated less this year...like I'm missing a box or something!

My tree all decorated and lit up!  It right in the corner, when you walk in the front door.

 This is the front window in the entry way.  This year I added some poinsettia swag above the window.

My house is the lower level of a condo. So it's basically one great room.  This is the TV stand in my living room!  With the TV on the wall, I have plenty of room to display things during the year.

The Living Area

The WANTED {Jolly Men Bearing Gifts} sign stays up all year! HA!

Doesn't everyone put their Nativity on the Wine Table?

This stocking was mine from my first Christmas in 1980.

The Kitchen has a few Christmassy touches as well.

My new thing is displaying things on the cabinets above my microwave!  I like this sentiment!

I display the cards I receive on a ribbon on the pantry. Last year I feel like I had a ton more cards!  I haven't gotten many cards yet!!

One last thing I want to share is the door of my guest room.  This room houses all of my gifts, boxes and wrapping stuff! When I was little my Nana would put the same sign on her guest room door at Christmas time, to let us know to stay out!  Even though I don't have anyone to keep out of the room, I thought the sign was a great idea!  And is a little something that when I pass it, I smile thinking of my grandma!

It's was so much fun sharing my decorations with you!  Now hop on over to Shaunacey's blog at Confessions of a Frumpy Mommy to see all her beautiful decor!!

 Wishing you all a Happy Holiday!!

*Play a little game of "Spot the Differences" from this year and last here!*

Like The Blended Blog on Facebook!

Transitioning a summer dress to Fall

I'm so excited to be participating in The Blended Blog's very first Blog Hop today!  Every Monday throughout the fall, we will be highlighting how to transition summer clothes to fall, with all sorts of items.  Those of you who "hopped" on over from Shaunacey's  blog, Welcome!  I'm so happy to have you! Today I'm sharing how to transition a summer staple, the striped dress, to fall.

So many people I know are packing away their summer clothes to get ready for these colder months.  I don't do that.  I try to buy clothes that I can wear across the seasons.  It saves money and allows me to do some mixing and matching...which is half the fun.

I wore my striped dress all summer long with sandals and my cons!

 I have a few looks in mind for fall!

First up, I'm pairing this dress with a leopard infinity scarf and riding boots. Love leopard and stripes together. This is a good "wear now" look.   I'd bring with me a mustard or maroon cardigan and throw it on if I got chilly as day turned to night.  I like this look a lot...this might have to be a fall go-to!

Next, I thought I'd wear this with my military jacket, a long necklace, and booties.

This dress is a bit on the shorter side...I'm thinking this would look cute with a cropped military jacket, too!

I am so ready for FALL!!  I hope you've gotten some great ideas about how to transition your striped dress this fall!  I'd love for you to share with me a look you might try or how you'd transition this dress in the comments below!  

And don't forget to hop on back to The Blended Blog next week to see what Sarah, Leslie, and Alison are styling!  We'll have you all set this season!

Have a great week!

Katie