Home Beautiful

I'm so excited - I just finalized my order on Amazon and soon the next two beautiful books will be in my hands! Home Decor has become more and more interesting to me in the past few weeks and thanks to the Nesting Place I decided this was a resource I just couldn't live with out. Barnes&Noble & Amazon had it for about $1.50 difference, so I decided to just head over to the B&N in town and pick it up...so after the doctor & the credit union yesterday morning, I ventured into B&N with both kiddos...by far my most adventuresome outing with the two...except I'm then super disappointed to find out that in the store they want $39.99 not $26 for the book - are you kidding me? I was more than happy to let them keep it and come home and order it myself...craziness! My whole point in going to the real store was so that I could use my $100 giftcard that I won in a Tackle it Tuesday challenge awhile back (still doing happy dance), but then Brad reminded me Amazon would probably take it too, and sure enough, they did!

While I was looking around at Amazon, I decided to go on and pickup the cookbook that my friend Meg is constantly raving about...only to find out that a new edition is being released in May and that they have it on mega-pre-release sale - love it! So I decided to treat myself to it too, as it seems to be a great cooking resource (and heaven knows I could always use those!) So technically I won't get my hands on it until probably May, but what a nice treat & surprise it will be when it magically shows up!

And while we're at it - does this next book not also look oh so delicious? The author has a major giveaway going on over at her blog and this is but one of the beautiful prizes...so take a few minutes and hop on over and enter...and the exciting thing is that she's giving away 2 copies of the book, so maybe we can both win, right? ;-)

Bless this Nest

Have you been to the Nesting Place yet? I hope so - but if not, boy are you in for a treat! I have always wished that I had the decorating gene, but alas I do not. Periodically I am able to pull together a look that I like...

but more often than not, I end up at a loss. Enter Nester- her motto is it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful...that's been very liberating for me! Several weeks back, Nester started a 10 minute challenge - small things that you can do to spruce up a room without spending a lot of time or $$ - now that is right up my alley! I've still got a long way to go, but am loving implementing some of what I've been learning from her. I've been working in my den...on top of our TV armoire...

and on one of our big walls...
this one definitely still needs some work - a few more hanging picture frames, some other odds & ends for the top shelf & I need to get that W painted, for sure - but it's been fun to play with nonetheless! Head on over to the Nesting Place & check out other great 10 minute spruce-ups!!


edited to add: this is the top of our armoire @ night...we used an extra strand of Christmas lights up on top, so it gives off a nice glow and makes the display even more homey and enjoyable! Love it!! Thanks Nester for encouragement in the right direction!!