So. Many. Projects.

Friends, we are T-minus 3 weeks away from me being done with a major work project that has basically consumed my life for the last 8 months. So, I guess I am starting to prematurely celebrate by planning a hundred projects around the house. Here are a few quick sneak peaks to the fun new projects coming to the Blackmon home. 

Giant crack in our front door...

Suburb paint job :)

The coolest barn door around...

Old barn wood and my partner in crime (and craft)

On the Backburner

So, as of November, we have been in the Blackmon abode for 3 years! That seems crazy to me! One of the first major projects we took on was the dining room. This was the very first room we painted, just a day or two after we moved in. Then, we sanded and painted all the dining room furniture and moved it in (total pain). You can see the progress here, here and here. And yes, I realize the last post was from 2012 and I am just now finalizing what to put in my hutch. What can I say, I put it on the backburner? 

Here was my clean slate quite a while back. 

I started with some plates my mother in law gave me to see if they would work in the space. I love them! 

Add in some cookbooks, some Mason jars, some TJ Maxx finds, some 'oldie but goodie' decorations, and some new presents, and its finally done!

My MIL just gave me this for my birthday. It says "And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord". I love this sweet reminder in our dining room. 

This is one of my favorite little decor pieces because of the story behind it. My dad gave this to me before Will and I got married. He thought that this verse captured what we were going through and how we felt about each other. 

A recent birthday present from Aunt Marcia! "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." - Hebrews 11:6 

And this awesome frame that my sweet boss Abby gave me for Christmas. I thought surely I had a spare 5x7 of Will and I to put in that, but apparently not. So...off to shutterfly I go to get one ordered! :)

Much better!

It feels so good to finally have this project completed! (minus the picture haha!)

Christmas Recap!

Christmas is always busy around the Blackmon house. This year, we had 8 separate Christmas family events we attended! One of my favorite times around Christmas (and maybe the only one that I remembered my camera for this year...) is spending time with my cousins at Nana and Papa's house. We typically do a Christmas Eve brunch and then open presents and play!

First, Papa always reads the Christmas story. 

Then, the present opening begins!

Dad watching the kiddos.

Mom with her annual cousin Christmas calendar that Carey makes us each year. 

Macrae with the keyboard. 

Sweet Macrae opening presents with "un-ca daw-wa"

G putting on a concert for us with his new drums and microphone. 

Unknowingly, almost everyone gave Gatlin or Macrae some sort of musical instrument for Christmas. They got drums, a microphone, a keyboard, a tambourine, and a recorder. It was quite a musical Christmas!

I was shocked that Gatlin knew exactly what to do with the drums. He would even start off his song by hitting his drumsticks together and kept tapping his foot like he was using a foot pedal. 

Macrae rocking out!

And Campbell getting in a set on the drums!

Then come the concerts!

Love this little man!

Of course Campbell knows how to really get into a performance :)

It's always so fun to see these kiddos, and even more fun during Christmas where we can spoil them just a little and see Christmas through their eyes. 

2015 Goals

Yup, the beginning of the year is the perfect time for goal setting, and I love a good list :) Like I said, 2014 was just a crazy crazy year in my life, and a lot of aspects of my life have been on the back burner, so I look at 2015 as a 'getting back on track' kinda year. So, here we go!

Projects in the Blackmon Home

• Get new attic stairs and new front door. Let's not even talk about how feeble our current attic stairs are. I feel like I'm rolling the dice every time I need to store something in the attic.
• Paint shutters (oh my goodness even I am tired of seeing this goal year after year...I have to do this in 2015)
• Keep on keeping on with painting the trim. I have two bedrooms and 1 bathroom done....and seemingly a million more square inches of stupid trim in my house.
• Paint and (finally) finish the 3rd bedroom.  This will require selecting a paint color,  so it's likely to take forever.
• Finish off our master bed. We got a king sized bed at the end of last year, and we have sheets, a comforter, and a lot of pillows. We even got some new euro pillows and shams for Christmas this year that are a perfect match with the other decor. We do not, however, have things like a bed skirt or a headboard.
• Finish some super cute crafts I have planned with some awesome old windows I got from one of my co-workers

Life Stuff

• Continue to be more engaged in our local church. We still host small group at our house weekly, so I want to continue doing that and being involved at TCC.  
• Read more! I only read like 5-6 books last year, which is horrible for me! I'm looking to get back to the 40-50 that I was at in previous years. 
• Better work-life balance. This is such a struggle for me. I love my job, and I love my co-workers, and I honestly have fun at work, so it is difficult to set that aside after work time, but I have to.
• Cook more! I do love cooking, just not the cleaning up part. We have eaten out entirely too much this year, and I need to get back in the kitchen more and try some new recipes. 
• Spend more time with this guy. He's pretty awesome if you didn't know. :)

What about you friends?  

2014

So....absolutely no blogging in 2014. Not exactly what I had planned, but it ended up working out. For a variety of reasons (mostly work related, but some computer issues as well), I just needed to simplify, so I didn't do it.

Now, that's not to say that 2014 didn't have its highlights. It was a great year!

I had TONS of fun with my co-workers

The winning team at the Professional retreat!

A look my boss probably gives Daniel a lot :) 

My sweet best friend Kristi got married in May! :)

College roomies!

All the roomies and all their husbands!

And, the whole Blackmon clan took a vacation to the Pacific Northwest. It was a one of a kind trip to a beautiful part of the country!

The family at Mt. Hood

Will and I at Hurricane Ridge :)

One of my many goals for 2015 is to do a better job documenting it. So, back to blogging I go!