house dreamin'

Hope you enjoyed yesterday's second tour [non-culinary] around Columbia. Are you planning your visit yet? Are you tired of me demanding you come visit?

So I may not be able to stop thinking about the nesting/decorating that is to come when we move into this little house of ours. I've even transitioned from a "Nesting Dreams" board to a "Realistic House Planning" board on Pinterest. Because, let's be honest, most of those magazine-worthy photos are exactly how they were originally categorized: dreams. Also, my name is Meagan and I am an over-pinner. There. I said it.

And even though I am an over-pinner, I sometimes feel a little bit of bitterness towards the beloved Pinterest. Mainly in those moments that the inspiration excitement turns into fogged-out inspiration overload which leads to a total personal breakdown where I sit rocking back and forth in a dark corner for hours asking myself if I really do like chevron prints or are all the pins just getting to me.

That's not totally true. I don't normally rock back and forth.

This is an effort to filter through all of that inspiration and excavate my true taste in the world of interiors [which comes from growing up surrounded by estate sale finds and pink roses printed on something in every room].

[via, via, aaaad via]

[grain sacks, lamp, loveseat, topiary, fabric, mirror, sofa, rug, print, candle, map]

And I don't think I'm a fan of the basic chevron print. See how deep I can be sometimes? Know thyself, people.

homecoming

I have discovered that where my priorities lie is easily perceivable. When I can wake up without an alarm in time to get coffee with a big group of some of my favorite females, it is clear. This is in stark contrast to my frequent frantic mornings of alarm punching and eating out of a 48 ounce jar of applesauce with a plastic fork on the way to work.

And as thankful as I am for a provisional job, days like today are dearly preferred. Days like today remind me how much I love being privileged to the lives of friends. How I love to know their back stories. How I love that homecoming holidays provide opportunities to ask a million questions about their futures and get an eye-to-eye report on their jobs and travels and parents and siblings and grandparents and roommates. And sometimes even their cousins. 

I relish in watching friends file through our living room and settle around the kitchen table for hours of retelling those old favorite stories. And I'm a big fan of cramming lots of voices in a grouping of comfy chairs at the local coffee shop [except we really really missed our Savannah-dwelling, new grandmother and aunt friends]. 

I'm also a big believer in fireplace-staring and ritual cookie-making. All good things making it a blessed start to the Christmas weekend. Tomorrow, I hope this Christmas Eve is your favorite and most memorable and incredibly picture-worthy. Soak it up, folks!

christmas on hillside

Mom's house is all things merry and bright. This is where we will eat way too much and see what Santa brought and curl up on comfy chairs and bask in the light of their pretty pretty Christmas tree and laugh a lot and watch Muppet Family Christmas.

wishing on a Tuesday

[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,9]

What are you busy with on this annoyingly warm Tuesday evening? I'm thankful for both nights spent with others [last night] and nights that provide rest and some holiday prep time [tonight]. The Lord has provided both of those this week while my other half has a very full work schedule. These are the scenes of my post-work night at the 235:

Staring at pretty peonies from a very nice boy.
Finishing Christmas cards [no photos this year - there have been enough of those featuring the two of us for 2011].
Basking in the light of our merry little tree and finishing some wrapping.
Inhaling whole wheat pasta with roasted garlic, lemon zest, basil, and parm. It never even made it out of the mixing bowl.

Happy 12-days-until! WHOA.

homeward

At the last minute, i decided to make the trip home to visit with the fam. Because I was still in camp world for Audrey's birthday, we had a mini morning celebration complete with princess packaging. 

She's three. But if feels like this was, well, yesterday:

My old dollhouse made its way out of the attic. There's something cool about seeing your old toys. Especially those that you spent hours playing with. Nostalgia - I love it.
I also realized that I'm old and the wallpaper in my dollhouse is peeling off. I'll get over it.

I love those moments when I feel like my Southerner Points sky rocket. This morning, I woke up to my family sitting and swinging on our front porch, enjoying the surprisingly beautiful weather, waving at the neighbors as they drive by.

I revamped my trusty jorts. By the end of the summer, the button had fallen off and the safety pin just wasn't cutting it any more.

Going to the park with my fam and bestie. Wearing my jorts, of course.

What makes you feel Southern?