I'm baaaack!

Ohhhh-kay so the title might sound a little like a creepy thriller movie, but it's true!  I'm back!  After a long break from posting on this blog I am ready to get writing again.  I just was so caught up in work and life and then Thanksgiving hit...you guys know how crazy life gets, that I just didn't have any time to write.  And to be honest, I just wasn't feeling very inspired.  But have no fear my loves, I am full of inspiration and I have a better posting schedule in mind.  Besides, Christmas is fast approaching and that means decorating!  And decorate I did.

No I mean really, I did.  Like two days before Thanksgiving.  Can ya tell I love the holidays?

It's ok.  I can admit I am a freak.

To start I pulled out all our Christmas stuff out and spread it all out over the living room.  (Isn't it always a little like Christmas when you unpack decorations?  I always forget what I have each year.  I feel like it's always a surprise.)  That's when I noticed a few things.  First, I thought we had wayyy more decorations to being with.  I guess I was just used to decorating smaller spaces and now I had a whole place to fill.  And second, a lot of it was hand-me-downs from our parents and quite frankly, it didn't match or scream "Put me out!" at all.  That may sound like a weird, obessive totally normal thing to some of you, but I just wasn't happy with what we had.

And so, my mission to decorate our place for the holidays for cheap was set in motion.  I mean this is our first Christmas together in our own place, so it had to look good.  Of course, nothing says Christmas like the tree.  Luckily, we upgraded to two trees this year.  One is a three foot tree that Matt has owned for years and one is a six foot tree my Mom had laying around in storage. 

The six footer is just big enough for our apartment, and even though it's got Charlie Brown style branches, I still think it's magical all lit up.

It's filled with Disney and Star Wars ornaments. It's so us.  But I also have always wanted a fancy tree.  You know, like the ones in the department stores with color themed ornaments and lights?  But ornaments can be expensive.  Enter: a trip to Ikea.  They had the most amazing ornaments that were all red and white and so friggin cheap.  Perfect for our little three foot three.  I popped that baby in a corner on an extra side table and covered her with the new decorations.  It looks so cozy and old school and Swedish.  I really love it.

The moose ornaments really kill me. And you guys can't even see the little men with beards and red felt hats.  So adorable.  Pair them with the three Fair isle candles I picked up, and it's a regular traditional Christmas up in here.

The pine cones were all free from my grandfather's backyard and the two apothecary jars that I have wanted for forever, I got at Home Goods for $10 each.  I just about died of happiness when I brought them home.  Mixed in with the red potpourri and some fun characters, these two vignettes make our bookcases look so Christmas-y.  It makes me almost sad to think about what will go up in their place after the holidays. 

Speaking of pine cones, I had some extras left over that I decided to spray paint silver to display in my awesome pottery barn dish I picked up from Goodwill.  I think they turned out lovely.

They really look like they're made of silver from far away. 

I also have a small vignette in our kitchen corner, complete with some handmade felt lollipops. 

The last thing I did to decorate our place was to put out some shatterproof ornaments in bowls and vases we already had. 

There's some small touches here and there of some things we had and a few dollar store finds, but overall I love our new decorations.  And the best part was it all cost under $100.  You really don't have to spend a fortune to decorate a whole house.  Sometimes the best stuff really is homemade.

And those apothecary jars were so, so worth it.