Love Is All You Need

Today I am thankful for this. Two toothbrushes instead of one this year. My first Valentine's day as Mrs. Davis, and it's a very good feeling. Many of you think Valentine's Day is overrated. A Hallmark holiday. Too commercial. Well, I went for 37 years without a proper Valentine, so now that I have one, I'm going to enjoy it. Darn it! I do think that you don't need a holiday to tell someone you love them. HOWEVER, isn't it kinda nice to have one day to celebrate love? And I had a grand time getting ready for Valentine's Day this year. I decorated - the mantel, the entrance, the front door. I baked - cookies and treats for Tom to take to work. I crafted - special, cheesy Valentine's Day crafts for my hubs. I shopped - for goodies for my family and for my love. And it was fun. Today has been an especially lazy day. It's cold outside, and we're having the carpets cleaned, so I have to stay downstairs and off of the carpets for a few more hours. What a great excuse to spend some time on Pinterest. And get caught up on my 700+ page book club book, which I am determined to finish by next Friday. Ack! Next Friday! Mollie agrees with me and curled up on the chair closet to the fireplace.

And here he is again after I woke him up snapping pictures:

Doesn't he look like he's saying, "Bitch, please!"? I also started planning my St. Patrick's day decor and moved some things around in the living room. Remember these from last week's thriftin?

I wasn't quite sure what to do with them, so I put some bit & baubles on top and displayed them on a table in the living room. I didn't have three pillar candles, so I used what I had. I'm sure I'll change my mind, and maybe even paint the silver parts off white someday. But until then, I like the way they look.

And now I've exerted myself way too much and need to get back to napping on the sofa in front of the fire. Happy Valentine's Day, my friends. I'll leave you with this quote from "Love Actually", my sister's favorite movie: “Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.”

Thrifty Thursday

Andy Williams fans take note: There are a million Andy Williams albums at the thrift store on West Broad Street. A. Freakin'. Million. And my DH just happens to be an Andy Williams fan. Seriously. No, he's not 70. I tell him all the time that I married the oldest 42 year old around. He's just a good old fashioned, small town guy. And I love that about him. So I found these today for $.90 each at the thrift store and thought they would make a good V-Day gift for my man. It will make him happy, and it cost less than $4. I also scored some Julie Andrew albums! I snatched those up quicker than you can say "My Fair Lady Soundtrack"! Love Julie Andrews. I also picked up these beauties at the Volunteers of America shop:

They are super heavy. Don't they look oh-so-shabby-chic? I thought so. I'm not sure if I'm going to leave them as is or paint them white. At first I thought they were silver, but they are stamed "made in China" on the bottom and I couldn't find any type of silver marking, so I don't think they are. Not sure what I'm going to do with them, but I love them! I found a few other goodies while thrifting with Shannon, like a cool wood picture frame that I'm going to paint off white and put chicken wire behind. Yes, chicken wire. I happen to have some leftover from when I had to keep a bunny out of my garden last summer! And I scored a couple of cool milk glass items for super cheap. And I found a couple of milk glass pieces that rocked. I'm trying to listen to Shannon's advice when she says not to go crazy at thrift stores. Her point is that, even though it's cheap, you don't want to end up with a bunch of stuff that you don't do anything with "just because". But it's tough. You also have to consider the real cost, or final price, of an item. If it costs you more after you buy the craft supplies (paint, etc...) to pimp something out, it may have made more sense to just buy it from etsy. So I try to think of what I have at home to fix things up as I'm considering my purchases. The real fun of Thrify Thursdays, though, is spending time with my friend, Shannon. She's so smart and funny and we always have a great time together! Thank you, Shannon, for introducing me to the fabulous world of thrifting!

Thrifty Thursday

I meant to post this yesterday, but was a little busy chasing a puppy around the house. Yikes! They require sooo much attention! Yesterday was a great day. I discovered thrift shops. Honestly, I've never been a big fan of them. Never been to one, and never thought I'd like them. (Used stuff? Yuk! No thanks!) But, during breakfast with my friend, Shannon, I convinced her to take me. We had time to swing by one and guess what??? I LOVED IT! I scored a great punch bowl set (with 12 super cute little glasses). Shannon and I are on a 2-woman quest to bring the punch bowl back into style. I'll post a picture of it when I get it all cleaned up. I'm thinking the next bookclub that I host needs punch. I also picked up this rug for a couple of bucks:

It reminds me of my grandma, and I needed a rug at the back door. Doesn't really go with the decor in that room, but it's cute. And I also got this mail sorter for the office. It had a few marks on the front of it, but I liked it because 1) it kinda goes with the shabby chic feel I like and 2) I love me some organizing tools!

But I didn't like the pen marks, and I wanted to jazz it up a little, so I did this:

I had some of this map scrapbook paper, which I thought coordinated with my (very small) globe collection. I am not thrilled with the result, but I showed Tom 2 other options (both floral), and he thought I should stick with the map paper. And, since it's his house too, I kept it. Shannon got some really cool things as well. She picked up a cheese plate and dome and a doily. She loves doilies. I would have purchased the cheese dome, but I have several and really just couldn't justify it. Even if it was practically a steal! So I'm all for thriftin' now! We're going again next week. Can't wait!