Our Closet's Coming Out Party

Our closet has a dirty little secret that it's been trying to keep locked up inside. It can't keep this to itself anymore, it needs to come clean and everyone will be better for it.

Our closet is ugly, y'all.

Not like Cameron-Diaz-as-Ms.-Hannigan ugly (and, who are they kidding?!). We're talking, first-page-of-Google-search-results-for-the-word-ugly ugly.

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I bet Skinny Hitler snapped that selfie cause he felt cute that day.

Take a look for yourself:

Our closet is a good size, slightly above the American average for a walk-in closet. The down side is it just has wire shelving that runs the perimeter, with tons of wasted space above and below. "Ugh, we can't use our 7'x10' closet efficiently..." #firstworldproblems

For me, the worst part is that the part you hang the clothes on is divided every foot or so. You can't shift anything left or right at all! Something so small makes me so angry every single day. #morefirstworldproblems

I've been nagging Pato for a while now, but explaining how much closets cost has been a bit of an obstacle. Not just for Pat; I'm not even sure why I custom closet costs as much as a small kitchen reno. I wanted something that felt nice (not cheap), organized efficiently, and didn't require our firstborn child as a down payment.

I looked at The Container Store, Closet Maid, and any other out-of-box solution I could think of. I had purposefully been avoiding IKEA, because I did not want a closet full of Billy bookcases. Plus the thought of piecing all the components together then assembling it sounds like a nightmare.

But then I broke down and decided to give them a shot.

Much to my surprise, they had some really nice solutions. IKEA's Pax System (what all those beautiful wardrobes are) look more solid and custom than Container Store's Elfa system, but for literally less than half the price. Sure, the nice bits (glass shelves, pull out trays) are all at the higher end, but IKEA's higher end was surprisingly affordable.

What really sold me, was the Pax System Planner, which allows you to build the closet (or wardrobe) of your dreams while it keeps tabs of all the parts. Then, I can either take the itemized list (with self-serve locations for my store) and pick it all up in store, or just purchase it online. It was like playing the Sims and coming out with a closet design. SOLD!

(Also, sorry if this is sounding like an IKEA endorsement, it's not. I'm just really stinking excited.)

I toiled and labored and finally worked out all the kinks. I double and triple checked my measurements. I printed out a pamphlet for Pat so he could make an informed decision.

The next morning, before I even had the chance to discuss it with him, I found this:

It's on like Donkey Kong! Our new closet arrives January 12th!

Merry Christmas 2014

Just wanted to pop in for a minute to tell everyone MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

And because you've been good this year, I'm leaving a little gift in your stocking: our 2014 Christmas card!

May your day be merry and bright!

Have Yourself A Rainy Little Christmas

Well friends, tonight is the night. Christmas Eve. So much prep has gone into this moment.

Nope, still not the Christmas card...

This year, my family celebrated Christmas a day early because my brother, the valiant fire fighter, has to work on Christmas Day. (Someone has to be there when you drink too much wine, scorch your ham, and almost burn the house down.) That means I'm living in the aftermath, while everyone else is still waiting.

There's nothing like the mess you make on Christmas Day.

I figure since I have barely talked about The Most Wonderful Time of the Year this year, now is as good a time as any to show you around our festooned home.

Yes, we live here. This is what things look like after a night of five people eating and laughing into the wee hours. No time to clean up stockings or extra giftbags after that chill sesh.

One of my favorite Christmas decorations was the garland on top of the cabinets. Not too gimicky, but it fills the space and add some merriment to an otherwise normal area.

Looking at these messy, late-night, noisy photos, I'm reminded that life isn't about stopping everything to get the perfect picture. It doesn't matter if your IG isn't always beautiful because if you're present in the moment, your memories will be more magical than any picture could capture.

I hope everyone is loving the last bit of the Christmas season.

Tree Pickin'

December is a busy time for any retail worker, so it's no wonder I've been playing blog-hooky lately. With any luck, I'll show some Christmas decor before the big day next week.

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I've haven't been procrastinating in every way; our tree has been up since just after Thanksgiving. Continuing our little tradition, we packed up Boone and his scarf and took a day trip to...wait for it...Boone!

Choose and Cut is like the No.1 way to get in the Christmas spirit and is practically a religion in western North Carolina. We planned on taking Christmas card pics here, but the sun was really harsh and we ended up with a lot of weird shadows.

This is the best we got, and we're both pretty squinty, Pat looks bald, I look lopsided/chubby, and Boone looks startled. Look out next week for the (awesome) picture that made the Christmas-Card-cut.

And of course, we picked a tree farm with a Dood, since I'm trying to win the "what breed should the next puppy be?" debate. He latched on to Mr. Boone right away.

We also picked out what looked like the smallest tree on the lot. Then we got home where we discovered it is friggin' enormous. We even had to rearrange our living room furniture.

Any-(Cindy-Lou)-hoo, that's a recap of our weekend, three weekends too late. Hope everyone else is getting in the Christmas spirit. Save me a cookie.

Foyer Art Project

Ahhh. I bet you thought I forgot. That's assuming you even remember.

I mentioned over a year ago that I was putting together a small gallery of our house's construction. Since it was basically all I thought about in 2013, it only seems right to commemorate not just the end result, but the process. The three shot set features a pic from just after our foundation was poured, a pic from when it was framed, and a look at the final thing.

It hangs in our foyer (hence the name...) kinda behind our coat rack. Construction pics are not Glamor Shots by any measure, so I wanted it somewhere that I would regularly see, but wouldn't be a huge focal point.

To me, it's such a cute little memento of a really big part of our lives. It's something that feels distinctly ours, not bought at HomeGoods or made off someone else's brilliant Pinterest idea.

Plus, I always love a good Boone photobomb.