Small Planet, Big Dreams.

Liz posted a Small Planet picture the other day, and I am officially obsessed. After finding my house, I started searching for places to call my home someday. Here are a few of my favorites:


{my house: fair oaks, ca}

{middle of nowhere, oregon}

{dream home in ireland}



Now go download the app yourself and let the daydreaming begin. And don't forget to enter my giveaway for a Shabby Apple dress.

Happy Monday!

Les Champignons.

I bought these four prints at a little gift/antique shop in Sutter Creek the other week. I love them so much, I almost squeeled when I first saw them. It was even more perfect, because the owner of the store was out and her 10-year-old son was running shop. He was so adorable, and so professional, it made me giggle.




My favorite is the carrot one, but I do love the mushrooms. It's actually quite funny because I despise eating mushrooms, but I love looking at them.

Also, are any of you doing a 365 project? My sister and I both are {which I'll be blogging once a week}, and I wanted to see if anyone else is.

At A Glance.

To celebrate the new year, I put up my 2011 letterpress calendar from Ilee Papergoods. I bought this recently at Renegade & have been anxious to put it up ever since. I used Katie's technique of using clothespins to hang them on the wall in our little entrance.





Also, yesterday for my mom's birthday we went up to Jackson County area to do a little antique store hunting. We stopped at that creepy, yet ridiculously amazing, antique store I blogged about awhile back and this time the owner was actually around. He was exactly as I had imagined, and can be summed up with this conversation we overhead him having with a fellow shopper:

Owner: "Somedays I just wish a big ol' earthquake would hit"
Shopper: "Why because you have insurance?"
Owner: "Nope, I just wanna go fishin'"

He was adorable, and so are the three flowered tins I bought from him, which are now sitting in the entry way under the calendar.

PS Happy New Year! Have a fun & safe night. As my yoga instructor said, "be careful, what you do on New Year's Eve is a good indicator how you will be spending the rest of the year".

A Gray Christmas.

Have I mentioned lately how excited I am for Christmas? Oh yeah, sorry- but I just can't help it. I love this time of year so much. And it doesn't help that I'm teaching Kindergarten, being around 25 five-year-olds all day makes the excitement that much more intense. Seriously, we sing "Mommasita, donde esta Santa Claus" and do the Reindeer Pokey all day.

Here are a few more pictures of all the holiday-ness in the Gray house. I tried to take pictures of the pendant banner Hannah and I made (I glued on the letters backwards three times before she took over), but I couldn't get a good shot. It's my favorite thing right now- it says "Happy Birthday Jesus"! Actually, you can kind of see it in the first picture.



I spy an Iris:








So, how excited are you for Christmas? Do you have your paper chains and advent calendars ready?

Holiday Wreath DIY.

My new Christmas wreath:



It was so easy to make this wreath:

1. Cut a bunch of strips of fabric.
2. Wrap the strips around a foam wreath and pin them into place.
3. Pinch and twist the remaining fabric pieces into little flowers and pin them around the wreath.
4. Hot glue some moss, a mushroom, and a deer on the inside bottom.
5. Tie a ribbon around the top & you're done!
6. Smile.

Oh, Christmas Tree.

We put up our tree this weekend, and I'm loving it. Here are a few pictures.







{The little terrarium ornaments that didn't quite turn out how I wanted them.}




So, is your Christmas tree up yet?

My Dream Neighborhood.

Someday I want to live somewhere with a view, a dirt road, and an apple orchard down the street. I love Apple Hill, and plan on moving there someday. Okay, I may not actually live in Apple Hill but I at least want to move to Placerville, which is close enough for me. On Sunday Jordan and I drove up there for lunch. We bought a bunch of apples, saw two beautiful wolves, and ate the most delicious pumpkin pie cheesecake in the world. I let myself slide on the whole no eating sugar thing, I just couldn't resist. But honestly, who wouldn't want to live somewhere like this? I think it's magical.













P.S. Only 54 days until Christmas!

Fly Away.

I think the middle child in me came out after my last post, and I just had to make something to show off. I finished my origami crane mobile, and I love it. Here are a couple pictures & a sneak peek of my newandimproved living room, which we're almost done with.

Welcome Home.

While I love my new job, between working and trying to have a semi-normal life, I just haven't had time for the internet. I've finally been able to fill my non-working hours with productiveness and as much fun as possible. I have so much to tell you about, but for now here are a few pictures of my backyard, which Jordan and I have been working on a lot lately.











We even bought a 4-foot pool and fire pit. Nothing beats laying around in my pool and roasting marshmallows for dessert. Well, maybe doing yoga by fire light. Yeah, that is pretty amazing as well.

Show & Tell

Well, hello again. Sorry for the short absence. I went out of town this weekend to visit one of my best friends, Katie. We went to Sequoia National Park on Saturday and played in the snow all day, it was fabulous. We spent the weekend talking, exercising, and eating lots of chocolate. I will post pictures soon. But, now it's back to reality. Today was the first day of my second semester of grad school. I have class Monday-Thursday from 4-10P. Ouch. Plus I have to teaching/tutoring hours for four of my classes.

Before I left on Friday I stopped by the new Goodwill in Sacramento. And it was ahhh-mazing. I can't wait to go back with Liz on Saturday. I only had a few minutes, and I was with one of my students, so I couldn't look at everything. But look at what I did find!



Floral Fabric- $.50
Green Thermos- $1.99
Holly Hobby Print- $1.99
Glass Owl Cup- $.50
Zippers (For a headband!)- $.99/piece
Jesus Christ Superstar Album (For Jordan)- $1.99

Also, my lovely sister just spend the last two weeks in Hawaii and came back with the most ridiculous tan that made me want to smack her (out of jealousy). But, she did get me presents!!! Oh, how I love presents. And how perfect is this- it's all plumeria stuff! Very appropriate I would say.



She got me a beautiful plumeria vase. I wooden plumeria bookmark. A plumeria root/stick/thing that I get to plant and grow (with help because I manage to kill even cactus). Annnnddddd, she even gave me a pearl- you know the kind that are still in the oyster and you get to open it up! I was so excited. I am taking it to a jeweler on Thursday to have it set in a silver ring.

Okay, Okay, that's enough show and tell for one night.

Crafts, Carbs, and Project Runway

Style School started and I'm having so much fun with it! The other night we had a great girl's night at Ashlee's (grown-up) house. Liz and Iris are also in Style School so we worked on our wreaths- the first project. We also had way too many carbs and screamed at the TV during Project Runway.



Here is my wreath. I finally learned how to make these adorable fabric yo-yo/flowers. I also tried to learn how to finger knit- but failed miserably. I swear I'm going to figure that out this week, or I'll go crazy.



I have been having so much fun crafting and hanging out with my kids. Yeah, when I say kids I mean my dogs & husband- he is definitely still a kid. But school starts next Monday and I'm dreading it. I do love school, but grad school is so overwhelming. I have class Monday-Thursday from around 4-9P. I also have to do a lot of "lab" hours in different elementary classrooms. Oh well, I promise not to neglect this blog... I am loving it way too much.

Chi Chi Fever Love

Last night Liz and Glenn came over for dinner, movies, and crafts (well, crafts for the girls). Liz and I went shopping for Style School, but decided to embroider instead. The craft store up the street had Sublime Stitching patterns. Even though I already have a book full of their patterns, I about died when I saw Chi Chi Fever! I love this little guy so much. Just like my Horton, dreaming of bones.









Speaking of crazy Chihuahuas. I gave Horton one of those BegginStrips (sp?) yesterday and he swallowed it whole! Such a little fat kid.

Fly Away.

Hello internet world. So I had to post this picture because I think it's hilarious. Okay, maybe I just like laughing at myself. But first of all, who wears Members Only anymore? Me, that's who. And why oh why are my eyes so flipping far apart?! I have a gap in between my front teeth and my eyes are abnormally far apart so I always say someone pulled on my ears when I was a baby. Everything just kinda got stretched out! Okay, enough about that.



I just finished this painting and I love it. I'm by no means an artist (or very creative), so don't poke fun. I just bought two canvases and flipped them over. I painted the wood border black to make it look like they are framed. I then painted the girl and the balloons. The balloon string connects the two canvases and is attached with hot glue. Pretty simple, huh?




"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15

HandMeDown Christmas

I absolutely adore Christmas. The only problem is that it usually sneaks up on me & I don't really have time to enjoy this time of the year. This is my first Christmas being married, so it's pretty darn special. One of the most specialest (yes, I realize that isn't a word) parts is that my mom gave me a few of our family decorations. & if you know me, you know how much I LOVE handmedowns. (Again, I realize that isn't a word- thank you spell check)

Here are a couple of the things she's given me so far:



The nativity scene we've had since as long as I can remember. Minus Mary. Her head fell off and I still haven't gotten super glue. I really need to get on that.



The ceramic santa cookie jar and mugs that my great-grandmother made.



The angel we had on top of our tree when I was little.

In other news, I went with Liz, Hannah (my sister), and Shawni to see the Nutcracker last weekend. It was ah-mazing! What more could you ask for- best friends, pretty dresses, ballerinas, and wine. Oh, that's right you could ask the male ballerinas to put some pants on. Seriously not a good idea to drink wine before going to see men prance around in tights. Apparently it's not appropriate to laugh at the ballet.









One more thing- I finished my first semester of grad school! I can't believe I made it out alive.

Okay, goodnight.