The internet is the DEVIL!!!!!

When I was younger, I use to enjoy the experience of walking into a shop and smelling all the newness of things. The overwhelming emotion I got when I saw something I liked was indescribable. Now days, I don't have time for that anymore. Between work and yeah, work- I'm tired and don't like the fuss that crowds bring. I'm a grinch and very uncomfortable if you put me in a claustrophobic setting or lots of traffic. That's why I live in the country.

None the less, I've resulted to the internet. My best friend. However, here recently, I have decided that the internet is the devil! Yes, I'm friends with the devil. I'm addicted to it like a druggie is addicted to crack. Besides coffee, it's my high for the day. And we all know what happens when you have access to your "drug" 24/7... it never ends well.

See, I have these 7 websites that I check daily. Ideeli, HauteLook, OneKingsLane, Ruelala, Guilt, TheFoundary, and Jossandmain. I'm like an accountant checking the time... every 6 minutes is another point. Except with these sites every 24 hours is a new sale. Sometimes 2! Don't get me wrong. I love what I buy, I just buy way to often. I might not have a sink, but doggonit I have a pretty floor lamp and some awesome corbels! :D

So now you understand why I'm friends with the devil. Not every day do I make a deal with him but today I did. Check it out.

Merry Christmas from the Holz's

Cheers!

Christmas time!!!

We love Christmas in our house. It's so full of festivities and family time! Two things that fill my "love tank" (for those Dr. Gary Chapman readers,  you'll know what I'm talking about).

This Christmas should be our last Christmas in our Apt.!!!!!!! I cannot exaggerate how excited that makes us! RP and I both are ready for a HOUSE! 3 years is WAY too long living in 800 sq. feet with 2 people and a dog (which is louder than a human).

We decided this year that we'd get one big joint gift. So, a TV was agreed upon. Russ had pre-reqs for a TV so he knew exactly what he was looking for. Me on the other hand, I did not have anything in mind except a budget. I think spending loads of money on something that will be outdated in 5 months is ridiculous. But I'll drop a fortune on furnishings. So to each their own.

This is what we came home with. If you look closely you'll see a drop of drool on the side of Russell's mouth. :) Excited are we!?!

The Mr. is very persuasive at times...

Very rarely does Russell voice his opinion but when he does, it's normally on something he will not budge on. For instance, our driveway. I really wanted an asphalt driveway. I love the way they look and think they are so much prettier than concrete. This is a war for us. Russell hates the idea.

Another opinion Russell has is this dumb Caribou. He has saved it for years to put in his house one day. I am not much of a "mount your killings and hang them in your house" kinda girl. Don't get me wrong, I've grown up around this stuff my whole life and I appreciate it, I just don't want it hanging in my house. So- let's see who wins this battle!?! Maybe this could be leverage for an asphalt driveway.... just sayin'

Another great find! Last week mom and I went to the Nutcracker Market here in Houston. If you haven't ever been- YOU HAVE TO GO! Even if you don't buy anything, it's still worth the experience and gets you in the holiday spirit. However- I would NEVER go on the weekend. I can't imagine how packed that place gets. Go during the week. Only advice!

I managed to make an entire round with only buying 1 thing. A pair of antlers. Then, we decided it was worthy of a second trip around before we left for the evening. And that is when I found my piece! It made my whole trip! It's our master bedroom ottoman. Vintage and originally from Mississippi I am in love with it's needlepoint stitching on top and velvet pleated sides. Ah! Things like this melt my heart.

Eye Candy!

So since we made the decision to build our house, Russell and I (mainly me) have been collecting pictures of what we want to include. Below are some that I've recently found. Some you might like for your house!

I'm sooo doing this in our laundry room somewhere. I'm notorious for being last minute so that usually puts me in a crunch. This is perfect for grab and go wrapping paper and ribbon.  

And this picture... this is why I want a house period. I CAN'T WAIT to have a yard that we can have all our friends and family over and create all these memories and fun times!

This is par of the eye candy series. How cute is this for a little girls room. I had one when I was little that my grandpa built me. Still have it actually!

AWESOME! How top notch is this!?!

I would love for my nursery to look like this. When the time comes- RP and I think it'd be fun not to find out what were having. This could go either way!

I love this quant back porch. So livable and cozy to me. And I love the clay pots with just greenery in them. So clean and inviting!

This you've seen before in my previous posts. However, I found out this past week that this chandelier was one of 4 used in Miranda Lambert's Wedding. You can read about it HERE. But not I will have it in our home. How cool is that!?! 

Bonjour!

Oh what I would give for this to me be...

If you know me (or at least looked at my blog a few times) than you know for whatever reason I have an obsession with all things French. Style, music, language, food, people, landscape and most of all- FRANCE itself! 

The French don't know how lucky they are to live in such an iconic place. Even the most boring places like court houses and libraries have a classy touch to it like CoCo Chanel came in and designed the space. I mean seriously, it's ridiculous how much good stuff is around them.

Anyway, what I like most about this picture is she's in the middle of all the hustle and bustle however, she's far enough away to just sit and breathe and take it all in. (And she's in a cute dress and hat!)

Have you ever been so caught up in the nonsense that you forget to just breathe and sit in silence and enjoy little things? It's harder than you think. No phone, no computer, no music, nothing. Just sitting on a bench outside, on your porch, in a park, wherever, and just listening to the wind, trees, birds, etc.  

Today I feel like doing just that. Sitting in silence. Too bad I don't have an Eiffel Tower to stare at. Guess the Texas skies will have to do. So today when I get home, I am going to sit there. Outside with a glass of wine and watch the clouds go by. 

The only thing that could make this better is if a storm rolled in. And I somehow magically appeared in Paris. But until then, Houston will have to make due. 

Au revoir!

Progress!!!

I officially am in love with a tree company! Yes, it does happen. Olvera Tree Services out of Tomball is AMAZING! Nino @ (281) 351-5006 or HERE for their website. They will be the first I call for any tree needs!

They have taken a disaster and done a great job, with good prices, and awesome time frame! Not to mention they are all very friendly, educated about the trees, and do GREAT work!!!

Check out the progress!!

This is the stump that is giving us trouble. It is in our foundation so you have to dig it out. Reason being is that if you left the stump and just grind it, eventually it would disintegrate and cause your foundation to shift due to the dirt filling in the stump hole. The drought hasn't helped soften the ground, so we are still 'stumped' on what to do :)

This is some of the many pieces of equipment being used along with some work in progress. 

 Check out the difference from before and after! This looks like a whole new lot! This is from the back of our lot looking at the main street.

As I mention in my last post, I went to Round Top. Well, I went back this Friday to pick up my doors and picked up a few extra things! Thank God the show was over Sunday... because I have no money to go back :)

These are two mahogany ( I think) doors that we will use for a built in entertainment center.

These are two panels that came out of a NY theater! It is fabric that has been nailed to boards for a strong backing. These are going on the theater room walls along with stained mahogany trim around each. They are 10 feet tall so it will be awesome!

This is how ridiculous we looked driving home from trip # 2. Can we say hillbillies??? Yes, that is what we looked like. It will all be worth it in the end... I hope :/

Round Top Baby!!!!

Yesterday, I had this horrible cold {cough cough} so I decided to stay home. Not really, I felt fine and just played hooky! And me, mom, and Jack went to Round Top and Warrenton!

In my most modest voice "I RACKED UP"!!! Check out all my deals I got!

I bought 2 of these light fixtures for my hallways throughout the house. They are antique and originally from France 1800's. Not in perfect condition, but that's what I like most about them. And when turned on, the reflection of light on the rock crystals are beautiful!

This light fixture I bought for the hallway entering into our Master. Just a little different than the others but I fell in love!

And these- these are probably my favorite and best buy of the day! These are our antiqued french front doors. It's hard to see, but the glass is etched with a pond/lake type scene that is beautiful!

This sconce is for the stair way. It's iron with the flowers painted a deep red. 

These, well I got one of them and this was just icing ontop the cake. I am going to put our vintage cake toper from our wedding in this for display in a bedroom or something. IDK I've been wanting one and found a deal I couldn't pass up.

These are possibly one of the coolest things we'll have in our house I think. They are our pantry lights! We didn't get all 3. The swivel shade on the far left is the style we purchased 2 of. I'm very curious to see them hanging!

This is our entry fixture. If you look closely, it has deer heads off the side that the lights hang down from. This one was a little out of my comfort zone but I knew RP would love it. And he did! Then he asked if we could get the antlers/clock you see in the back ground. I told him that was pushing it :)

These are our chimney pots. I bought 2. They sit on top your mortar on top your chimney on top your roof. Very European and now days are just a look-ie not a do-ie. They serve no purpose other than to add design. 

This fixture we had to get pricing from "the genius". That is what his workers called him. Weird- i know, but whatever. This is all rusted out and will go on the front side porch. Hopefully it's not too big. We will see though. 

And this. This is how we ended the day. Some good grub, wine, and laughter! Really a perfect day all around! Praise the Lord, He brought some rain in and cooled it off so we could enjoy the patio for dinner. It was wonderful! 

And P.S. This is also a black mail picture because I've never seen her wear tennis shoes. :)

Daily Dreaming

We are still in the works with our trees and by now I'm sure you are tired of hearing about them. I know I am. I wish I could snap my fingers and have this beautiful lush yard! Like this one... It's hard to think that our mess will someday be long forgotten.

Today I've  been  day dreaming.... There's a blog I follow called Coute De Texas HERE and Jody, the writer, is amazing and inspires me with all her pictures. Here's a few that I found in her recent post that I just love. 

In this photo I love the lush flower collaboration! I think it is very French countryside. It is so interesting and inviting. The colors the vines, everything. It's perfect! And I love the blue/slate color of the window panes. This is similar to the color we are going to do our shutters.

This kitchen picture I love the clean look (and the girls outfit :)) I like how fresh it makes you feel. Notice the stairs out the window. They look so grand, I wonder where they lead to?

In this photo the openness is very attractive with the tall doors leading outside. I LOVE natural light and how you feel if you'd open the doors you'd be indoors/outdoors. Something about this photo makes think of a family on Saturday morning eating a yummy breakfast and playing outdoors. 

Here, the use of wicker furniture indoors is unexpected. I like that about it. The painted wooden ceiling is a very nice detail too. And love the dark floor with white cabinet contrast. Not big on the open shelves for my personal home but I like the look here. Again, I love the doors off to the right. Especially when you have nice groomed landscaping they lead to. 

And last but certainly not least, the beams are what I love most here. I think that adds such warmth to any room. 

Tree Update

So the latest with our trees is all 34 of them are cut down and hauled off! It was 3 full loads for an 18-wheeler!! CRAZY!

The pictures show some of the trunks cut into 16' 6" increments for the mill.

We still have a pretty big mess on the lot to clean. All the limbs and tops of the threes. This was a much bigger process than I thought!

Today's Purchases

We are starting to accumulate furnishings for the house. When we first were married, between Russell and I we had a total of 3 mattress sets and 3 beds.... and that's about it.

Since then, we've purchased several pieces knowing one day we'd have a house. I'm pretty particular with what I wanted so over the years we've been adding to our collection a few pieces at a time. We now have several rooms worth of furnishings but very much so a long way away from what all we need.

Here is what we've accumulated today (minus all the flowers). Thanks Matt for bringing them home from Dallas!!! We owe you a dinner!

This will be a bedside table in one of the guest rooms.

This will either be a liquor cabinet or ??? Open to suggestions for this one!

This will be a bedside table in the master. It matches the bedding. Unless it looks too girly, than it along with the bedding will go in another guest room.

This is our master bedding. Minus the curtains. For our wedding registry we didn't register for bedding because we never could find anything we liked or could agree on. So we waited and slept with a quilt. Worth the wait I think!

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

I FINALLY have my bath tub! I have waited 3 YEARS to have a bath again! Although I can't use it yet, at least it's bought.

Is it weird that I've thought about running a water hose to the tub and just sitting in it with my swim suit on!?! Honestly, this has definitely crossed my mind. If it wasn't in storage and wrapped in plastic, I'm pretty sure it would've already happened. :) The Mr. would kill me if I made him take it out just for that... so I guess I'll wait.

Cheap means cheap

Russell and I tried to save a dollar and go with a cheaper tree "service" and ended up getting exactly what we paid for. Let these pictures be a lesson NOT to use WALKER TREE SERVICE!!!!

This is what our lot was left looking like after we found out the guy was a crook! Trees everywhere, damaged limbs and trees, and brush cleared that was not suppose to be cleared! 

Guess you live you learn....

Know where to get one?

Sometimes I wish I had one of these,  then I could make all my house problems go away!

Today is one of those days. Spend-spend-spend.

I remember in College I could live an entire week on $100. Gas, food, social life, everything. And still have money left over. What happened? You think if I moved back to college it would be the same or is this just part of growing up?

My parents always tell me that money doesn't solve anything. Sometimes it makes things a bit easier but on the flip side, it can also destroy a lot of things. Mom says people with money have "high class problems". Same thing- different dollar amount.

IDK- I could sure use some right about now... :) Maybe I'll go plant a dollar in the back yard and see what happens!

Change of Plans! Literally...

This week has been HORRIBLE with the house plan progress!!

It started off with the changing of plans and ended with a mess on our lot!

SO- we have decided to change house plans. Same architect, same home, just a variation of our previous floor plan.

Here is our new and improved floor plan. Let's hope this one makes it to production :)

As for clearing the lot- we thought we had a great deal on clearing 34! of our big trees. Turns out, the guy's a joke and all he did was create a MESS on our lot and accomplished NOTHING! So we are now in search of a new tree service. This is frustrating beyond my imagination. 

Good news is we will be building soon and I bought a bath tub yesterday :) I have been without a bath tub for almost 3 YEARS now!!! That is an eternity for me. I like my showers, but I love my baths.