Cheers in a Box - DIY.

Since I'm pregnant my New Year's Eve will consist of the following:

Sparkling Cider

A date with the sofa

A huge pile of pillows to keep my feet up

Watching the various NYE television specials

& if I can manage to stay awake watching the ball drop in Times Square...

Anywho, I have sparkling cider on the brain  & I just stumbled upon this 

lil' party in a box DIY via Dandee Designs, fell in love & wanted to share... 

Isn't it just darling?

For the full tutorial head on over to Dandee Designs.

It may be a bit late to do it for New Years but I think it would 

be a cute just because or Birthday package to receive!

xoxo

Tootles 2010.

Well 2010 was definitely an eventful year for us!

We endured some of the biggest snow storms the Philadelphia area has ever seen 

& have lots of photographs to prove it- here, here, here & here

We searched & searched for a home & officially bought our first place...

We re-painted & remodeled our new place & have lots of before & after posts to go along...

{The bathroom: before & after}  {The living room: before & after}   {The kitchen: before & after}

We discovered we were expecting our first baby & we prepared for Baby Fry by painting the nursery...

We celebrated our second wedding anniversary...

I turned 26 & The Husband turned 28...

Whew! 

What a year & a very good one you were 2010, if I must say!

So thank you & cheers 2010 & welcome 2011...

 I'm very excited to see what you have in store for us 

but mostly I'm excited that ringing you in means Baby Fry 

is only a little more than a month away!

Yay!

xoxo

2011 Mini Calendar.

Umm how ridiculously cute is this mini calendar by Kitty Rogers?

Oh, I just love, love, LOVE it!

I've been looking for a great 2011 calendar 

or two, this is going on the list for sure.

For more from Kitty Rogers 

be sure to check out her shop.
(I also really love her vintage love set)

xoxo

Snow Baby Bump.

Chances are unless you live under a rock, you've heard we 

got a lot of snow here in the northeast yesterday & today.

So here is my baby bump in the snow- out of focus & in focus...

I guess we can technically count this as Baby Fry's first blizzard?

I just hope & pray there is no funny business with weather conditions like this when 

Baby Fry decides to make her entrance in to the world in roughly 60 days...

Perhaps I do really need to convince The Husband to buy a 

sled just incase he'd have to drag me to the hospital on it? 

Tee hee hee

xoxo

Married Two Years.

Today we are celebrating our second anniversary... Huzzah!

It is so crazy to think that two years ago we were saying

 "I do", kissing, dancing & preparing for a deployment. 

(Have I ever mentioned how blessed & grateful I am that he made it home in one piece!?)

All I can say is, I absolutely love this man 

& I am so privileged to be his & to call him mine...

Oh & just in case you couldn't tell, he is, hands down, my favorite person in the entire world!

Happy Anniversary, Lovie! 

xoxo

{ Photographs courtesy of Isabel March Photography }

Merry Christmas!

Piper Dog says,

"Is it time to open gifts now? Or eat cookies?

 I'm not picky just tell me which I can do... Preferably both!"

Merry Christmas 

from our house to yours!

xoxo

Peppermint Mocha - DIY.

This year I knew I wanted our Christmas gifts 

& cards to have more of a handmade feel. 

(see our Christmas Postcard) 

I'm also kind of a weirdo & I save every empty spaghetti jar in the hopes that I will use 

them for something at some point. Thus the idea to gift homemade hot chocolate mix was born...

I searched & searched for a good recipe & decided on this one because of the peppermint element.

Pssst - If you've ever had a peppermint mocha at Starbucks it tastes very similar - yum, yum!

After a few taste tests, I whipped up the hot chocolate mix, created some tags with directions on how to prepare it for the recipients, bought some new lids for my recycled jars & ta-da... 

Homemade Peppermint Mocha Hot Chocolate!

It is really yummy if I must say... 

I'm definitely whipping up an extra batch or so to have on hand.

Oh & If you want to give it a try or have any questions,

 please feel free to email me, I'd love to help you out!

How bout you? 

What are you giving this year?

xoxo

Somebody is 28.

The Husband turns the big 2-8 today! 

There was no way I was attempting 28 candles so there are 2 white & 8 colored - tee hee hee. 

I don't know what is more crazy... the fact that he is almost 30 

or the fact that we've known each other for over 10 years.

 (we're high school sweeties)

I love you, lovie!

 Happy, Happy Birthday!

xoxo

Our Lil' Brick House Christmas.

Yesterday I snapped a few photographs of our Christmas decor to give you 

an idea of what Christmas at our lil' brick house is like...

It is kinda tacky but the nativity scene is one of my fave ornaments... I've had it since I was a kiddo. 

I love the way the mantel turned out with all the silver, candlelight 

& berries- exactly as I envisioned it, actually!

 I really love the lil' reindeer silhouettes ornaments I picked up at Ikea too... 

They made their way all over the house in various parts of our decor.

The Gingerbread man has been caught! 

Oh & the mosaic hurricanes were our wedding centerpieces...

 I smile every time I light them. 

If I could invite you all over for a cookie swap & tea party this is where 

we'd have it & we'd use my miniature Spode tea set too...

What does Christmas look like at your house?

Do you have a theme or a color scheme for your tree? 

Whatever it is, I hope you are enjoying your decor.

Merry Christmas!

xoxo

Christmas Postcards - DIY.

It took me a pretty decent amount of time to figure out Christmas cards this year. 

You see getting a family photograph of all three of us, is pretty darn difficult round here. 

So I figured that option was out...

 Messing around one day I snapped a fairly decent photograph of Piper Dog 

& while everyone else may not love & appreciate her as much as we do, 

I figured using her as a representative of The Fry family this year was better than nothing! 

Enter Amy Moss over at Eat Drink Chic. 

Amy designed these super cute downloadable holiday tags this year. 

I fell in love with the "Love & Whimsy" version & knew I had to

 incorporate it into our Christmas card design someway, somehow... 

At first I just figured I'd do Christmas photo-cards with Amy's tags as the label at the bottom. 

I had the blank cards printed & picked up the paper & craft paper tapes at the local craft store. 

Then, I thought of doing a postcard because (a) they are a lil' something different & (b) they'd save on postage. 

While waiting for my photos to be printed I lucked out & Amy came up with yet another

DIY/Free printable that just so happened to be a postcard. Lucky me, right?!

It took a lot of cutting, gluing, taping & patience but when all was said 

& done I have to say I am pretty pleased with the results... 

I love the decorative tape & kraft paper... I feel like both really add to the homemade look

 which was just what I was going for. I just hope they make it to all their recipients. 

That is the only problem with postcards, no room for a return address!

xoxo

Santa's Workshop (kinda).

My apologies for neglecting the blog this week...

 I've been a very busy lady working in Santa's or should I say my workshop; baking cookies, 

making hot chocolate mix, wrapping presents, you know the usual Christmas fan fare. 

Here is what my "workshop" (aka kitchen) currently looks like... 

Poor Olivia (the goldfish) she is surrounded by Christmas cookies & can't even have one!

I hope you are having a wonderful day... 

I'm off to make some more things & watch Breakfast at Tiffany's while I do so. 

 Stay tuned if you'd like, I plan on sharing how I made our Christmas card 

& what Christmas around our house looks like this year, either later today or tomorrow!

PS - special thanks to my fab SIL for helping me bake off several batches of cookies yesterday... 

Plus she decorated the gingerbread men & women very well which was a HUGE help.

xoxo

Blogoversary!

Oh hey, with all the excitement of preparing for Christmas & Baby Fry

 I totally forgot that yesterday was Oh What Fun's one year blogoversary! 

Woot! Woot!

{ Via } 

Yep that is right, I started this lil' blog-o-mine one year ago, yesterday.

I can hardly believe it has been a whole year! 

Thanks SO much for tagging along in this journey with me, 

I adore all of you, my lovely readers & followers! 

*muah!*

Huzzah to a new year of blogging... 

I'm proud to say I hit my personal goal of at 

least 365 blog posts for the first year (417 to be exact).

I'll be setting the same goal of 365 for the upcoming year too 

as well as the goal of acquiring at least 100 more followers & 5 advertisers.

(Interested in advertising? Email me for rates & info) 

Thanks again for tuning in, 

I couldn't (& wouldn't) do it without you! 

xoxo

Bookshelves.

I'm officially in love with this bookshelf wall I just spotted...

Wouldn't it be fabulous for Baby Fry? 

Well it'd be fabulous for any child now that I think about it!

Oh my, swoooon!

 Unfortunately we don't have quite enough space to have one so big but maybe someday. 

We love books & combined with my momma being a teacher/book lover 

I just know Baby Fry will have an extensive library. 

Plus since children's book covers are so awesome, 

displaying them like so is practically instant art!

xoxo

Thought Of You.

I just spotted this lil' animated video by Ryan J. Woodward over on The Rockstar Diaries. 

I LOVE it. I'd be a liar if I said it didn't make me cry... it did. 

I think that is mainly because the song, "World Spins Madly On" 

by The Weepies was one I sent to The Husband while he was deployed. 

I used to listen to it at home & hope he was listening too
 (a la Fievel & Tanya mouse singing "Somewhere out there")

so this video just really hit me right where it counts. 

It truly is beautiful... enjoy! 

Beautiful right?

For a behind the scenes video about the making, head on over here. 

Oh & Ryan, if you are listening I'd say you hit your goal 
of having a piece that really creates an emotional experience for the viewer... 
Ding! Ding! Ding! Thank you, I loved it. 

xoxo

Paper Tweet.

Ha! Leave it to Knock Knock to come up with the Paper Tweet...

Hilarious. 

A perfect stocking stuffer for your favorite tweeter.

I also dig the High Five nifty note.

xoxo

28 (& 1/2) Weeks.

Well here I am, 28 (&1/2) weeks & officially in the third trimester now...

{ Clearly I love my new red hat... Thanks Laura!} 

I felt absolutely fabulous for the whole second trimester 

but now entering the third I'm definitely starting to feel pregnant.

Let's just say bending over has become quite a chore as has keeping my balance 

& getting comfortable in bed at night. But I know it will all be worth it when we meet our lil' girl... 

T- minus 12 weeks! Eeek!

To compare my other bump photos head on 

over here (24 weeks) or here (19 weeks) 

... my, oh my how far we've come or I should say, grown!

xoxo

O'Clock.

I recently discovered O'Clock watches via Daily Grommet & just had to share!

I'm in love with how super simple & clean looking they are...

 Plus I think it is pretty sweet that they are made out of silicone 

& made to fit like a bangle bracelet- oh what fun!

Did I mention they are available in tons of colors?! 

I choose the three colors above just to get you in the Christmas spirit because 

I think there are lots of people out there who'd be pleasantly surprised to open such a 

cool gift this holiday season & at only $36 each they are super affordable.

I know I'd be very excited to get one myself. 

How about you?

xoxo

"I'm mad at you."

{ Me today, in the mirror. Long winded explanation below... }

The Husband came home the other night & told me a story he had heard on the

 radio of a song writer who was "Doing what she loved & it didn't even appear like work to anyone around her..." 

He then told me, "I'm mad at you." This shocked me, The Husband never says he is mad at me. 

Puzzled I asked him why... To which he replied, 

"I'm mad at you because that is like you. You are creative, you have dreams of this & 

that which involve your creativity, why aren't you doing anything about it?! 

Why aren't you doing something you love to do?

Just DO it! What is holding you back? What are you afraid of?!"

I smiled & got very giddy as well as a bit sad & frustrated with myself. 

It was amazing to feel so supported but at the same time I felt like a big loser that someone 

(especially my husband) noticed my lack of drive & called me out. 

But that is what loving husbands are for, right? 

So, what has been holding me back are a few things, a few typical things we all worry about..

Like most, I naturally fear failure. I also am my own worst critic. 

Both of which, I realize lead to a rather unhealthy paralysis of doing nothing 

about following my dreams. Hence why The Husband was mad. 

I don't blame him, I'm mad at myself because there really is no excuse 

& what is there to loose? Nothing. 

So I'm proud to say that I took the first step of following my dreams

 that I've been talking about for months, if not years... 

I bought my fancy camera that I've been waiting for. Next up is to teach myself how to use it. 

Then to start taking some hopefully really stellar photographs. Then to open a print shop 

& fingers crossed it will be a fruitful venture. 

Then who knows... 

But I do know one thing, I am excited to find out where taking 

this first step & the subsequent steps to follow lead.

Welcome to the my new journey of sorts. I hope it won't bore you to tag along 

& I also hope that when I ask, you'll be really good & honest critics. 

xoxo