weekending

 

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you had a good weekend! Mine was super laid back and absolutely wonderful as I concentrated on my home and putting it back together after taking the Christmas down. I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's post. 

 

I'm picking up from Thursday; I woke up early and enjoyed one last morning with the Christmas tree being up before taking it down the next day. It was up the next morning, but I didn't sit to enjoy it on the other mornings like I'd been doing. I am always sad when I take the Christmas down, but I'm also always ready for it all to be put away after the day of Christmas. I love this season so much, but the minute the day is over, I'm done with it for the next ten months. I read a book and watched a show on Netflix while I did blog stuff on my laptop; it felt good to be at home and to have a leisurely morning. 

I ended up getting dressed and going to get my nails done eventually, because the red was on my last nerve. I had a gift certificate from my birthday, so because of that I decided to give the chrome a try for the first time! It's the perfect time to do that kind of thing and all the money I was out was $5. For that reason I won't do the chrome again, because I can't justify the extra money that it costs. On that note, I'm contemplating changing up how I do my nails and am considering purchasing something to do them at home. I have a friend who does this with gel polish and hers always look great; I am starting to research some of the best at home nail kits. I think it sounds nice to not have to schedule a whole outing just to get my nails done, and it will be nice to be able to change the colors more often than once a month, which is what I do just to save money. 

I've loved having all the baby dogs at my house this week! I know it's nice to have a break from them, and that Graham has enjoyed having a clean house for more than a day or two; he'll come and get them today at some point. I insisted that I didn't mind them staying longer when his weekend started filling up with plans. I know sweet Crash loves being here, and it makes me feel better about sending him to live with Graham. 

See? He also loves living with Graham, don't get me wrong. He is living his best life going back and forth between us! He just loves being with people in general and is such a happy buddy. 

That night all my guys came over for dinner. Noah's roommate ate dinner with us, and Marilyn came as well! I made twelve sirloin steaks, tater tots, air fried broccoli, and garlic bread made from my sourdough. It was delicious!  

The guys all eventually left, and Marilyn and I hung out there for a while before going to check out the after Christmas sales at Target. It was a fun night, and I'm glad she joined us for dinner.

I spent Friday between my house and work. I got started with the process of undecorating the house, then I paused to work for a couple of hours, then I came home and got back to undoing Christmas. That afternoon, Jonah and Noah helped me get it all packed away and put back upstairs. I'm so grateful they were both here to help! My back is almost one hundred percent better now, but I still can't do the stairs too many times in a row, and I can't do a ton of stretching and reaching above my head. Here's the house put back to normal.

I love this light tree that Mom and Bill got me for Christmas!

My mantel and hearth that took me a minute to get it to where I liked it again. 

I cleared the counter tops of clutter, and I'm loving how it turned out. 

This is a little bench that becomes a catch-all for everything. I spent some time Saturday morning cleaning out mail, and reclaimed the space to make it mine. The mail gets put in the baskets, but for now, it's clean again. I sent mail with Jonah when he and his brothers joined their dad at the paternal grandparents' house for their Christmas celebration on Saturday. (Everything about that sentence was weird to say.)

I still plan on using this mug for my coffee, because it's adorable. 

I cleaned up this desk area and rearranged some of the things to make it more visibly appealing to me. Something that I love to use as decor in my home are the things that I love; I love coffee, books, writing, and touches of green throughout. Because of that, I like to prominently display those items. 

Here's a close up of the tree that Mom and Bill got for me. I love it so much! Here's a link to the one I picked. Mine is the four foot tall one. It was very easy to assemble! 

Have I mentioned that I love quirky home decor items? I consider this owl just that, but I love him. 

I pulled out some of my pink books and decided to use them more this time around. 

Ignore how stuffed this shelf is; I have plans to start majorly decluttering this week. I got a big start on Saturday and plan to do more while I'm off this week before I go back to work on Thursday. Wish me luck! 

I've decided that in my next home, I want a coffee table so I can display my coffee table books.

 

Chloe plays with her toys all over the house; I went around and collected them Saturday afternoon and put them all right there together for her. She loved having several in one spot!

I browsed Pinterest to look for future smaller home inspiration (I'm going to go with a cottage style), and I found this image for my phone's wallpaper and lock screen. I was back at church on Sunday and home for the rest of the afternoon. I was going to leave, but I decided to stay in for the night. I will be around this week, so come back and visit! Because the first Wednesday is a holiday this week, I'm postponing Currently until the following Wednesday, the 8th. We'll talk about what we're currently loving, doing to stay warm, resolving, organizing, and wearing.

Here's a new graphic for you to use if you want! If not, no worries. I'll see you back here tomorrow, friends. Thanks for being here today to read; love to all!