Ahh the Holidays

So in case you haven't noticed, I've been MIA lately from this blog.

Again.

Anyway, I thought I'd just make it official for a second and say I probably won't be posting again until after the new year. I do have some fun projects up my sleeve though, and when they're done you'll be in for some really cool before and after shots. I just need to focus on getting those projects done AND getting everything ready for Christmas.

BTW, I do NOT recommend remodeling your house in the months of November / December. It's just too crazy.

Anyway, I hope you all are reaching your goals, and learning and growing, and staying warm wherever you are! Until then Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and I'll see you in 2012!!

Grateful

I don't know how many of you are on facebook, but a lot of my friends are doing a status update every day saying something else they're thankful for in honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow. Ever the procrastinator, I decided to lump mine all together for this blog post. So here we go; 24 things I'm thankful for. In no particular order:

1. My family. Husband, daughter, mom, dad, in-laws, siblings, cousins, the whole kit'n'kaboodle. I love them all and am so grateful to have them in my life. 
2. My cat. He's fuzzy and crazy. 
3. My home
4. A working furnace in this cold weather
5. Chapstick
6. Doctors and ultrasounds and medicine in general. We live in an amazing age. 
7. My computers...yes plural. We currently have more computers than people in this house...
8. My wonderful job. Seriously got my dream job and am so lucky I get to do what I love everyday. Especially since most days I get to do it from home. Woot!
9. My education.
10. My faith and knowledge of our purpose here. 
11. Good books. Feel free to recommend some in the comments. I've hit kind of a dry spell.
12. The internet and the ability to meet and make friends with people I would never otherwise even meet.
13. My freedom. True, America's got problems, but at the end of the day I'm free, and that's an incredible blessing. 
14. Glasses. Otherwise this blog post would be riddled with errors, because I couldn't see what I was typing. 
15. Maternity pants. Genius. 
16. A Home Depot only 3 minutes from my house. I've been there many times in the last week and I'm so glad I don't have to drive farther to get there. Of course, maybe if I did, I would plan better. hmm. 
17. Lists. I love making lists. They help declutter my mind. 
18. Inspiration from others. I love being creative and seeing creativity abound (aka Pinterest and blogs)
19. My hubby's job and insurance. Yay for not having to worry about having this baby. 
20. Travel. I haven't been able to in awhile, but how amazing is it that we can hop on this huge hunk of metal that flies us through the air? I mean, it's pretty crazy if you think about it. 
21. (Which reminds me) My car. I love that I don't have to be trapped in the house all day every day. 
22. My vocabulary. I love words. 
23. My daughter's curly hair. I always wanted curly hair and hers is so beautiful. Thank you genetics. 
24. Good food. And isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about anyway? 

So there you have it, 24 things to be thankful for. I know this time of year gratitude can sound cliche, but I try to say thank you every day of the year. I always try to keep in mind that even though sometimes things are hard, and sometimes I get discouraged, I have it SO GOOD. And most of us do. Isn't that wonderful? 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you have plenty to be thankful for as well! 

Write On Wednesday: Epic Fail

NaNo word count: 10.
Literally. And then I deleted them. So technically...0.

How embarrassing. I think I'm giving up. Unless I pull some magic out of thin air and conjure up some inspiration worth 50k words.

As usual, I'm full of excuses. Pregnancy brain is number 1. I seriously cannot focus or make decisions on anything. If I can't decide what to eat for lunch, how am I supposed to decide what words to put onto the page? My second excuse is the remodel. I should take a picture of my "office" right now. It's literally in ruins. Wires running everywhere, boxes strewn about, paint cans waiting to be opened...it's a disaster. And I am not the type of person who can work in a messy atmosphere. This is why I became an Interior Designer; my environment affects me a LOT.

But I don't feel bad. I really have tried a couple times, and it's not working. That's fine. I'll move on and try again later. Maybe when the whole house is in order I'll be able to make up my own month of marathon writing. But either way, I know I have an idea and I know I'll eventually get it out. No big deal.

But as for this month: NaNo is a NoGo.

How about you guys? Any progress? Finding it easy or hard to come up with the words?

Happy Wednesday!

Interior Thursday: Some Pretty Pictures

I've been lurking around Pinterest a lot lately, and boy is it inspiring! I've been racking my brain for creative design ideas for our office / craft / bedroom / nursery transformations and after just a few searches on Pinterest I have tons of ideas! Just look at these beauties for office organization:

I'm dying for some ghost chairs of my own. One day. 

And look at these gorgeous ideas for an amazing craft space:

Granted, I don't have THAT much room for my scrapbook area, but I just love seeing what other people have done and what works for different spaces. I love feeling inspired, and I'm so excited to add my pictures to these lovelies. 

All sources can be found on my Pinterest Boards. 

Happy Thursday!

November = The Month I Write My Third Novel

So I'm doing it. I'm signed up officially and everything.
NANOWRIMO! This is the first time I've ever done this and I'm nervous / excited.
I've been neglecting all things writing for awhile now, so I'm excited to get back into the creative process with my shiny new idea. Who cares that I still have to edit book 2? That can wait until December. Right? :)

Anyway, just wanted to put that out there. Anyone else NaNo-ing? My user name is KadieK23 if you want to find me on the official website and be my writing buddy!

Meanwhile, how was everyone's Halloween? Mine was way fun. First time I've gone trick-or-treating since I was 13. And this was way cuter.

Anyway, off to work I go. Happy Tuesday!

Interior Thursday: TGFI

As in Thank Goodness For Ikea. My husband and I made the trek down South to our Ikea store (Not complaining. I’m so glad there’s an Ikea within a half hour from here!) and we ended up getting furniture for the many many MANY renovations that are coming up. I’m ecstatic!

Let me just say, the life of an Interior Designer is not an easy one. At least the home decorating life. It’s never over. And even when I think I’m done…I’m so not. But there’s nothing like the arrival of a new baby looming over the horizon to motivate some home improvements. The funny thing about this time is that I’m not simply re-doing a nursery. I’m doing a nursery, a big girl room, a new office, and a new craft area. So I have four spaces floating around in my head all the time. My poor hubby gets so confused. I talk about bedding for this room, pillows for that room, the color palette for the other room and by the time I’m done I just see his head spinning. Luckily, he learned long ago to just trust me.

So the actual ASSEMBLY of all these Ikea pieces won’t be happening for awhile, but just knowing those eleven boxes are sitting here, ready and waiting for me makes me happy.

Here’s a sneak peek of what we got:

That’s just a small sampling. The only problem is the way we’re doing these rooms is a total chain of events, which started with cleaning out the garage. (We had to clean out the garage, to move the stuff from our office closets outside, to move our office into our storage room, to move our daughter into the office, to make room for baby in the nursery…etc.) But I’m confident we’ll get there. We’ve still got four months.

Oh crap.

I’d better get painting.

Can’t wait to show the after pictures! Anyone else have great Ikea finds? Or any projects on the horizon?

Happy Thursday!

Write On Wednesday: To WriMo or Not to WriMo?

So November’s coming up which means the official NaNoWriMo and I cannot decide if I should set this goal for myself or not? I did it in June and my second book came out of it. But it still needs edits and I haven’t had ANY mental energy lately to write much at all. But I do have a shiny new idea.

Here’s a hint:

Molten Lava…muahahahah!

I really enjoyed the experience last time and I think I could do it again…if my body cooperates and lets me get through a day without a nap. We’ll see.

How about you? Who’s planning on participating this time? Shiny new ideas?

Happy Wednesday!