2016 Christmas Festivities

I didn’t take any pictures on Friday when we hosted Christmas at our house but I took two on Christmas Eve night, some on Christmas Day, and tons of Hank so I thought I would throw them up on the blog to document the 2016 Christmas festivities. (Mostly I just wanted to share a bunch of photos of Hank in his Santa suit.) 

Practicing his take offs in case santa needed an extra reindeer to help fly the sleigh! 

This poor dog is going to wear this outfit around Christmas for the rest of his life! 

These pictures were all from Christmas Eve. We spent the morning making breakfast, sipping coffee, and chatting around the table before David’s family headed off to their next destinations. In the afternoon I dressed Hank up and had a photoshoot while David rolled his eyes and felt bad for the dog! 

We celebrated Christmas Eve with my Dad to have dinner and open gifts. 

On Christmas morning we took santa paws over to my mom’s and let him run crazy to wake everyone up! David’s mom and my aunt also came over to open gifts and for breakfast! 

Then we came home to drop Hank off. He enjoyed testing out his new bed on the way home from grandma’s house. 

We snapped a couple selfies before heading out again.

Next we headed to my grandparent’s house on my dad’s side for can you guess…?! Presents and lunch! Are you sensing a pattern here. 😉 

Posing with my dad and my sister.

For our final stop we went to my grandparents house on my mom’s side for presents and dinner! 

Cuddling with mom under my new blanket with our matching coffee mugs. 

My cousin, Caitlin and I posing by the fire. We both got new throw blankets for Christmas! 

Then we finally made our way back home. My cousin, her fiancé and there two kids stayed with us. When we were younger  she would always spend Christmas night with me while her parents and brothers would stay at my grandparents because they live out of town. I love that we have carried on this tradition while growing up now I own a house and she has her very own family to bring home for the holidays. Here’s her littlest guy, Gavin he’s two, loving on Hank Christmas night. 

I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our lives the past couple days. I’m sure you noticed the trend, gifts and food, on repeat but what makes this holiday so special is the people I shared it with. 90% of them weren’t pictured here but I love my family. I’m so blessed and so thankful. Merry Christmas everyone. Thanks for stopping by! ❤️ 

– Jocelyn 

Wintery Master Bedroom

I got a burst of energy and decided to pull more Christmas decor out on Saturday! What in the world was I thinking?! That just means I have more to put away. But I’ve decided this is my winter bedroom and it will probably stick around through all of January too! 

Back when I got this flocked tree from Walmart I was thrilled with the 30 dollar price tag so instead of grabbing one tree and keeping my money… I decided to buy two! I really had no plan for the other tree I was just excited about the price and thought I needed two! I thought about putting the other tree up in the opposite corner of our dining room but we are hosting Christmas this year and I didn’t want to take up anymore space in the dining room. 

I did consider putting the tree in our bedroom a couple times but we didn’t have anymore lights and I didn’t want to decorate it. The tree ended up sitting in the dining for a couple weeks and then made its way down to the basement. Me being the crazy Christmas freak I am decided to pull it out a week before Christmas and just leave it as is in our bedroom by the electric fireplace David built me last year for Christmas! 

This is the first year I’ve gotten to decorate the mantle for Christmas and I’m loving it! 

For the bed I just used pillows and blankets we had but I bought these flannel sheets from target. I used the cartwheel app and purchased them while they were on sale so I only paid 16 dollars! I’m a huge fan of there flannel sheets. They are so warm and extra cute! 

Here’s the view from bed. 

With the bedroom this cozy, it makes it extra hard to get up in the morning! 

Here’s the guy who gets to use the bed the most often. I think he’s really enjoying the new look. 

I think we will have a Christmas tree in our bedroom every year from now on! 

And one last picture…. 

Me trying to enjoy some coffee on a chilly morning in my newly styled bedroom. David and Hank had other plans and decided to “keep me company” by rough housing on the bed. They are lucky I love them! 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Let me know what you think. 

Merry Christmas. 

Xo Jocelyn ❤️

Cozy Holiday Home Tour

Hello! Thanks for stopping by my blog if you came from Jennifer’s site Delightfully Noted thanks for following the link! I’m so happy to have you; this is my first home tour. I’m so thankful these other 11 wonderful women invited me to be apart of the holiday blog hop! So without further ado continue your scrolling and make sure to check out Kelly’s home tour over at The Tattered Pew when you’re done here!

I love decking the halls for Christmas time. My style is more traditional when it comes to Christmas. I’m all about red, green, and twinkle lights. I was challenged a little bit this year because our puppy Mr. Hank likes to steal things! We tried to keep it simple and extra cozy. I hope you enjoy the tour. 

We will start with the coffee bar. Maybe this photo in the beginning will persuade you to get yourself a warm cup of cozy and continue the scrolling. 

Moving from the kitchen to the dining room we have our first set of twinkly lights! There’s just something so magical about the glow of Christmas lights in the house. 

Edit

From here we will move on the living room. This is where we spend most of our time as a family when it’s bitter cold outside. We spend the mornings chatting with coffee and the evenings winding down watching Christmas movies or Red Wings hockey games. 

I prefer to sit in those big white comfy chairs because if I look to my left I can see the dining room tree and if I look straight I can see our real tree at the other end of the living room. As you can see someone else thinks these chairs are pretty comfy as well….! 

Meanwhile Huck prefers to lay under the tree glaring at the dog. 

The coffee table tray is where I have to keep it extra simple and use sturdy pieces. This cute little truck didn’t last here very long, but while it was here we loved it! 

Here’s the gallery wall around our tv. 

The opposite side of the wall holds my Letter Folk board. It’s one of my favorite things to change up with the seasons. 

Hopefully that picture above of my sweet pup sleeping isn’t an indication this tour has gotten boring! We are almost done! I’ll just show you the Christmas tree and wrap it up! 

Now one last cozy view and a sleeping puppy under the tree. What better way to wrap up the tour. Thanks so much for stopping by. Leave me a comment below or in Instagram to let me know what you thought about my first home tour! 

Also be sure to stop by blog for her amazing holiday home tour! 

With love and joy this magical season, 

Jocelyn

Home For The Holidays Bloggers: 

Noting Grace
A Cottage Girl
Vanessa’s Modern Vintage Home
Farmhouse On Elder Hill
The Homemaking Momma

Uniquely Taylor Made

The Auburn Fox
This Rustic Cottage
The Tattered Pew

The Rustic Pig
Delightfully Noted

I started a bullet journal!

It’s November 1st!!! While everyone else is busy decking the halls today I was busy making a bullet journal. A bullet journal you ask “what is that?” Well up until Sunday I didn’t know what it was either. I was scrolling through Pinterest when I stumbled upon a picture of this little journal with pretty calligraphy writing. I was intrigued so I clicked on the photo and learned it’s like a planner except you make your own and you can include anything you want!

As most of you know I finished nursing school a month ago from tomorrow! All through school I religiously used my planner, but lately it just hasn’t been working for me. I don’t have a ton of deadlines or a ton of places to be all in the same day. I actually have felt like a bum the last month. I finished up an online class, interviewed for a job, and got the job! Now we are just waiting on paperwork and logistics like a background check and all that jazz. So October wasn’t a flop but it sure felt like it. I have always had a million things going on like sports, school, a job, a boyfriend. Lately, I’ve just been cleaning my house, drinking coffee, watching Netflix, and cooking dinner. Yesterday I decided to stop being a bum and study for the NCLEX.

That brings me back to this bullet journal. They recommend you get a journal with dots in it and special writing utensils. I just used a blank journal I had laying around that I paid two bucks for and a ball point pen I found at the bottom of my backpack. I jotted down some pages I wanted to make and started getting creative.

I’m going to make:

1. A Key/ Index
2. All Months
3. Month of November
4. Gratitude Page
5. Goals
6. November Tracker
7. Blog/ Project Ideas
8. Workout Page

So far I’ve only made the goals page and the tracker page. I was most excited about the daily tracker page. On this page you pick some daily tasks you want to focus on getting accomplished then you simply fill in the box each day one the task is completed. It will help you track your progress. Hence the word tracker! I’ll be sure to share more as I go along and how well I like it!

XO Joc!! 

Holiday Wrapping Paper DIY

Heys guys!! I haven’t blogged in forever. This semester took all of my free time but now that it’s over I’m going to bring you back up to speed on my life! 

As soon as I woke up I got ready to go do some Christmas shopping with my mom, my aunt and my cousin! We were gone all day but I found a ton of good deals so that was a bonus! When I got home I put the finishing touches on the laundry hamper David built me (which is the topic of my next post). After that I still wasn’t tired so I threw together a quick DIY in twenty minutes!!   Ya know those things you have to have and then never use….? Welp for me it was this green antique window. When I found it this past summer with the handle and hinges intact I just knew I had to have it so this pretty baby made its way into the truck with David rolling his eyes the whole time saying, “what are we going to do with this?” Well… I didn’t have an answer for him at the time so down to the basement to collect spider webs it went! Until tonight when a lightbulb went off in my head! LizMarieBlog.com did this not too long ago so I decided to give it a whirl.     It literally took me twenty minutes to throw this together and I absolutely love it!! And the green window finally has a purpose! All I did was cut this super cute wrapping paper the width I wanted then in half! The length could be a little longer but I was trying to minimize my cuts so all the edges weren’t jagged. Then I just taped it in place and wal-lah!!    I picked up the wrapping paper at TJ Maxx today and as I said earlier it wasn’t my idea I got it from LizMarieBlog.com but I’m here to tell you it was just as cheap, quick and easy as she described! Check out her blog for other greats ideas too!! 

Thanks for reading along!! I’ll be back tomorrow with another DIY projects and some better quality photos taken in the day light!!    

XO Joc!  

Crock styling-Fall edition

Hey friends, happy Friday!!!!

 

I decided to drop by the blog and give a few tips to how I styled my crock today!! It’s been sitting empty in the living room since August and it’s now October… It sounds silly but I have honestly been so scared to style it. I was afraid I would ruin how much I already loved. Some things are hard to put into words I already feel like I sound dumb but bear with me and hear me out.  

David and I were on our way home from camping way back in July. I convinced him to stop at my favorite antique store which is about 45 minutes from our house and way out of the way from where we were. But with a few “please babes” and extra sweet smiles sent his way we were on the road to happiness!! 

Once we were there I spotted this crock waiting right outside for me to come along and pick it up! 😍😍 I immediately went over to it to check the price! I couldn’t find it… I walked through the rest of the store which is like four giant rooms and two outdoor sections so it took me awhile all with the crock on my mind. He got a knife and a mug so it wasn’t a wasted trip but I kept going back to that crock. I just had to have it. I had been admiring other people’s crocks in photos but never really wanted one until I laid eyes on this giant beauty. I had never seen one so big!!!! It’s also extra heavy so when I asked David to pick it up to see if the price was on the bottom I definitely got an eye roll but he did and still no price tag… I asked the front desk and they tried to get ahold of the vendor but she didn’t answer. We waited like 20 minutes and I think they called her 20 times opps sorry miss! 

They couldn’t give us a price so for the first time in my life I walked away from the antique store with nothing! 

For the next week I talked about how that was the coolest crock I had ever seen, how I’d never find another like it, and how I would regret not having it for the rest of my life! (Yes I’m a bit dramatic.)  

But a couple weeks later, the day before my birthday David called while I was on my way home from school. He said he was really sorry but he wasn’t gunna be able to get out of work in time to pick up my birthday present and asked if I would pick it up. I said, “sure where is it?” And he said drive to your favorite antique store and tell them you’re there to pick up the crock that’s prepaid for under the name Dave. I was screaming with excitement how he was the best thing ever and I was so lucky and I loved him soooo much! Then I think I drove 100 mph to the store and manhandled the giant thing into my car before anyone else could even think about touching it.

Then David meet me in Frankemuth a cute little German town and we had dinner and walked hand in hand. I was in scrubs and he was in dirty work clothes but it was pure perfection and probably my favorite birthday ever. But blah blah you’re not here to hear about my love life so back to the crock! 
David carried it in and sat in the living room and I stared at it all googlely eyed so happy it was mine! Then it continued to sit there all empty and lonely for two months because I was afraid I would make it ugly and I wouldn’t have butterflies of happiness every time I looked at it anymore.

Today I finally bit the bullet and decided to play around with it! First, I stuffed it with two pillows. )It’s great for storage!)

Then I draped a new plaid scarf I just picked up at target on Tuesday over the pillows to look like a blanket because I don’t have any cute fall colored ones. (Maybe I should shop more! 😉) Then I ran into the same problem when I wanted to put a fall pillow in the crock so I wrapped a pillow I already had in my green sweater that was laying on the couch. Then I topped the whole thing off with a big white pumpkin I picked up at Home Goods a few weeks back. It still was missing something so I added a couple real multicolored pumpkins from a farmers stand down the road a few days ago and ta-da the crock is all ready for fall and I’m loving it! It was silly to wait this long.

I also added a new fall scented candle and some s’mores fixings on the floor for easy access to head to the bonfire!! And a few more pumpkins because… Well I’m obsessed this year! Last year we were just moving in at this time so I was focused on getting actually stuff moved in like the bed and dresser and I didn’t play around with fall decor much but it just might be my favorite season to decorate!  

 

Thanks for stopping by my blog!!

XX Jocelyn ☺️

My first year as a homeowner!! 🏡

Helllllllo friends and happy Tuesday!  
I’VE BEEN A HOMEOWNER FOR ONE WHOLE YEAR AND TWO WHOLE DAYS!!!! 

Sorry I didn’t mean to start off by yelling at you but I’m just so excited!! It has been the best and most exciting thing I’ve ever done. I’ve also leave a lot along the way so I thought I would share some of the things I’ve learned!!! 

1. The number one thing I heard from people when we were looking at houses was “They are so much work to take care of and its so expensive.” Honestly I enjoy paying my house payment (I know sounds silly right?!) but it’s so fufilling to know you work so hard to keep a good thing!! I’m head over heels in love with my house. 

2. Whatever you don’t know… You’ll figure out. Before I bought a house I think I scrubbed the toilet maybe twice… Now I do it all the time! We didn’t know how to open and run a pool either but hey we figured it out!! 

 

3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help! Going back to the pool… David and I are both super stubborn so we opened the pool all alone pretending we knew what we were doing. Really we didn’t but we only broke one thing that was easily fixable!

4. Remember to spend time with your roommate (that’s what I call David and it makes him mad 😂) not worrying about the house or your to-do list. When we first got the house we were so infatuated it’s all we talked about and we spent all of our time at the new house. Sometimes you just need to step away from everything and focus on each other though! ❤️

 

5. Create a home you absolutely love! I got into decorating when we moved in. I would look at magazines and pinterest and try to duplicate them. Find your own style and make it work. I go to random antique stores and buy things I like then find a place for them in the house. 90 percent of my buys are spontaneous items I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT!! It doesn’t always need to be well thought out and planned and all find the same theme just find items you’ll like to look at everyday! 

 
6. Another decor tip: don’t be afraid to wait for the right item to come along. It took me five months to find a TV console for our living room and it drove David nuts but I finally found the right one with a killer price tag!!! 

7. Always clean the kitchen before you go to bed. Nothing makes me happier than walking downstairs to find a clean house. Especially all the dishes put away and the counters sparkling! 

 
8. Find a routine that works for you. Many people say do one load of laundry a day…. Well I hate that. I prefer to do alllll the laundry in one day to get it over with. Then I let it pile up and do it all over again. Just make it work for you! 

9. Be organized. This is especially helpful when it comes to paying bills auto-pay is always a good option or write them on a calendar! If I don’t write it in my planner it’s not happening. That’s goes for anything in my life homework, babysitting, even hanging out with friends! Must. Be. Organized! 

10. Do whatever you want! It’s your house sometimes David and I have food fights, most of the time I sit on the kitchen counter and I always stand on the furniture (all things my mom taught me not to do). Sorry Mom! 

 
But ya know what it’s my house so I can do what I want!!! 😁

These are just a few tidbits I thought I would share to celebrate one year of being a homeowner with the love of my life!! I hope you enjoyed if you have any fun stories or tips feel free to leave them in the comments section below or on my Instagram!! 

Thanks for stopping by!!

❤️ Jocelyn ❤️

Sink Epoxy Finish In Guest Bath

 
Twenty three weeks ago while David was at work I was preparing for our house warming party (that happened back in June). I wanted to spruce up the downstairs bathroom because that’s the one our guests would be using. It didn’t need much work the vanity looked new and white but the sink was an outdated yellow marble design with rust and lots of grime.

 

That’s when I discovered epoxy! I got in the car and drove to Lowe’s bought this stuff 👇. Then patiently waited at the door for David to get home. 

  
   

Okay that’s a lie I’m not patient at all 🙈 I read the directions and set up the garage where I was going to paint it so he could carry it out as soon as he got home! I even called him and asked how to unhook the facet but he told me to wait. 😒 By the time he got home a few hours later I was jumping with joy. He unhooked the facet and then it was dark… So I decided to paint it in the morning! 

 
The next morning was really cold so… I couldn’t paint it. The directions say it needs to be 72 degrees F and needs to dry in those conditions for 72 hours. 

I started nursing school the next week and never got around painting the sink. Our guest had to use hand sanitizer and then wash their hands in the kitchen sink. Ew! My bad. If I would have left it alone in the first place at least we would have had running water in the bathroom! David couldn’t even put the old fixture back on because it was rusty and broke when he unhooked it. 

 

Here we are months later though and we have a crispy white clean sink!!! 

 

The product was very easy to use and the process was very quick! All I had to do was scrub the sink with a special cleaner that came with the paint and then rough the surface slightly with steel wool also provided. I repeated this process three times. After the surface was completely dry I sprayed the first coat on the sink. 

 

It had nice coverage but it was the second coat that really transformed the sink! It turned out even better than I thought! I’m so happy I decided to paint the sink instead of buying a new one. 

 

Of course David had dirty hands when he reinstalled the sink so I’ve also cleaned it a few times and it cleans up quite nicely! 

The only problem I had was the paint can tended to drop after a few swipes so I kept paper towel with me and wiped the nozzle frequently!

 

All in all I’m very happy with my choice and happy we ones again have running water in the guest bathroom sink!! ☺️

Here’s some more photos through the process!  

    
    
        
    
   

Always choose adventures over studying

Hey guys,

 

So I’m way behind on my blogging I was planning to blog once a week…. and here I am seven weeks later with the next post. Opps. Well this semester was going along just fine and then one day it just turned crazy, hectic and demanding! That’s what I’ve been doing in my free time I do homework, study, do a couple more assignments, read a few more things and still free like I have tons of things to learn. Any who i just finished my final exam for the summer semester and only a practice board exam stands between me and two weeks on freedom and soaking up the last of the summer sun! 

 

This weekend I did a pretty good job at soaking up the summer sun with my love. It was a totally unplanned adventure (like most of the trips we take.) I was super hesitant to even leave my house because I had tons of studying to do but David doesn’t get many weekends off in the summer because it’s their busy season. David got home from work around 5:15 pm on Friday night. He said, “Well babe, what’s the plan?” It didn’t take me long to decide we were defiantly going somewhere but my textbooks and flashcards were coming along for the ride. I said, “I don’t have one but let’s start packing!!” After forty-five minutes of running around the house throwing snack foods into a bag, clothes into a duffel bag, and blankets into a laundry basket I established we were ready to leave. David packed the camper up and camping chairs. I sent my mom a picture of the truck, kayaks, and camper. Then, I called her and asked the her to check on the little fluff ball and the pool! By 6 o’clock we were down the road kickin’ stones! 

 

We ended up in Port Austin but… the Cheeseburger festival was going on in Caseville so we drove to the next campground out of town. David thought the campground too crowded and there weren’t trees so onward we went… The next campground was right on Lake Huron AND it had trees so we set up shop at 9 pm only to find we rushed out of the house and didn’t have a lighter but there was a gas station right up the road so no worries we had a bonfire, spent some quality time chatting and went to bed!

 

The next morning I woke up to David rustling around a plastic bag. I woke up all sleepy and grumpily said, “what time is it?” He being all bright-eyed bushy tailed and alert quickly respond 7!!!! (Ugh that’s the time I agreed to get up… better than 6 am right?!) I am not a morning person but man of man was the sunrise gorgeous and peaceful!!! 

 

This started the day off perfect. We got coffee and drove around for the morning until the rest of the world woke up. It was perfect! We walked on the beach and the board walk and found a lighthouse tour in Harbor Beach. 

  
 

Then, we made our way to Port Austin and surprise, surprise there was farmer’s market. Bonus my day just got even better!!! We walked through the farmer’s market hand in hand, had lunch, and then we found my long lost friend Beth!!! We lived next to each other in college! We found a sweet antique shop (would you expect anything less from me 😉 Next, we took a little tour of her adorable house and I finally meet her fiance who I’ve only heard about for the last three years! 

 

After that we headed back to the campground for some kayaking and studying!! 

  

Beth and Mike came over and brought a whole bunch of food we ate, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, shish kabobs and corn on the cob! It was so nice to hang out with them and finally getting to know Mike!! We will be back to visit again for sure!!!! Good times, good friends and the great lakes. 🙂 

   

Custom Clearance Picture Frame

 Welp gunna start this one off saying… I BROKE MY BLOG!!!!! So I just wanted to change the name but I think I created a whole new blog and now they are attached or something…? If you have a suggestions or are techy… help a sista out! I’m just gunna keep typing and hope this ends up somewhere out there on the internet and someone reads it. This blog thing is like super cool its kinda like writing in a diary or something but eventually I hope it helps someone out by teaching them a DIY or give life advice i don’t know. You’ll learn too if you keep reading along i’m totally a babbler so i’ll get to the point and reveal my super duper ever so cheap awesomely quick DIY as promised today! BRACE YOURSELF…. it’s a picture frame!!! Um yup bet you gathered that already. I haven’t decided where to put it yet but I’m totally in love with it. This was my first time distressing something. I wanted to start small but eventually I want to paint and distress a giant hutch that lives in our living room. Anyways getting to the point I found this super cute little watercolor piece at Liz Marie’s booth inside the Painted Farmgirl near Grand Rapids (I know this is the part where I put the link up so you can find her… but I don’t know how so click on my instagram and she’s tagged) I swear I’ll figure this out someday!!! Her friend actually painted it and I wanted something in the house that said “Our Nest” I was looking for a pillow until I found this and knew I had to take it home!! I shopped around for the perfect frame but I just couldn’t find it. I wanted a simple black frame maybe with a matte but nothing looked right. I even bought this super cute frame that had black and burlap but it wasn’t the right fit then I tried a baby blue frame that had chicken wire on it that was distressed but it still wasn’t quite right.

One day I was shopping at TJ Maxx my absolute favorite store and I was getting frustrated I couldn’t find a frame that was until I was browsing the clearance section and stumbled across similar to what I had in mind except it wasn’t distressed it was just banged up and marked down toooooo TWO DOLLARS!!! In my head I thought, “SCORE I get to test out distressing and i’ll have a super cute frame for cheap orrr I’ll only waste two bucks if I screw it up. So I bought it, rushed home put the sign in it and told myself I had a winner it just needed some TLC. I was nervous to mess it up though so it sat on the shelf untouched with the price tag on it for a couple weeks until tonight when I finally decided to go for it and i’m loving how it turned out!!! I just sanded it across one direction and then the other direction so it created an design all the way down then I wiped it down with a wet paper towel to determine where I needed to sand a little rougher but I thought it was missing a little something so I went to the drawer and found a piece of white chalk I scraped chalk over the whole thing and then wiped some in and some off with my fingertips and boom a super cute and cheap DIY that my sign can live in now I just have to find it a permanent place in the house!!

Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed my babbles and my first distressing project more to come until next time!!

Love Joc 🙂