Vacation, A Birthday Party and A New Blog Design

Hey guys! I hope you all are having a great week, we have been busy the last couple weeks with our vacation to Chicago and Jackson's 2nd Birthday. Here are some photos from our trip, I have only ever been to Chicago when it's ridiculously cold, so it was a lot of fun to see everything. My husband's parents moved to Barrington, Illinois a suburb of Chicago, they live about an hour or so away from the city. Here are some pictures of our trip. 

***Warning lots of pictures!!!***

The first day we got there we went to my husband's aunt and uncles house to grill and celebrate Jackson's birthday early. Here he is playing with Adam's cousin Megan.

Opening presents.

*** Downtown Chicago***

Here is Grandma and Jackson on his first train ride into the city.

He loved it so much he fell asleep :)

***Skydeck***

We went to the skydeck at the Willis tower, it was so crazy to step out on to the plexi glass box extended from the building. It is 103 floors up it goes so fast!

Adam and Jackson sitting out on the ledge!

 We went and saw the bean.

Then we walked through navy pier and took a boat ride back to the train to go home.

Jackson and Grandma on the boat.

 ***The Lincolon Park Zoo***

Jackson loved the carousel ride, he was so cute every time it would come around he couldn't figure out why they were moving and we were still in the same spot.

This gorilla enjoyed staring at all of us.

*** Rockford***

We took a boat ride on a long time friend of the family's boat. His house backs up to the river.

This was Adam's great grandparents house.

Jackson wasn't too sure about the boat ride at first.

I actually got him to smile for some pictures, his favorite word is NO ugh! 

***Jackson Turns 2!***

His party was Toy Story themed so I created a banner to match.

I cannot believe it has already been two years! Crazy how time flies! Here are some pictures of Jackson when he was born.

He is finally starting to smile for pictures! I took him two weeks ago to get his pictures taken and he didn't like the lady and ran fast around the corner and ran right into the corner of the wall and smacked his forehead.. Needless to say we didn't get his pictures taken then. I am afraid to go back!

Singing to him he has no idea what is going on haha!

He got a bike for his birthday which is daddy powered for now.. 

And this car which he calls "ze car". We love this picture when he gets really excited he shakes his arms like crazy. So cute! My husband thinks we should send this picture in to the people that make the car to have them put his picture on the front. LOL

Lastly, as you may have noticed I have a new blog design. I would love for you to grab my new button. Thanks!! Sorry for the long post!! I hope you all enjoyed it, I will be back soon with a decorating post. 

Have a great rest of the week!

~Allyson~

*Always Tweaking*

Hey guys!! I am so sorry I haven't posted in forever! I couldn't find my camera charger for a few weeks, I finally found it today so I will start posting regularly again. I have changed around some accessories on my desk, so I thought I would share it with you all.

***Desk Changes***

I kept the top mainly the same, I just moved the big initial P up there and removed a topiary.

I found this tuscan plate at Big Lots for 6.99, I love it!! I showed you the last time I posted this small little arrangement I made.

Here's an up close picture of the plate. If you haven't been to Big Lots to check out their decor you must go especially if you like Tuscan decor.

I was having a problem with this small shelf, I didn't really like anything I had put on it, so I just used one of my little boxes and added some ivy to it. I felt the bookcase needed some greenery. I am happy with it now.

 I moved my leopard trunk that I had in the kitchen to here. I love having book boxes and trunks around for storage.

I left this arrangement the same, love fleur de lis! :)

Here's a closer picture of the top of the desk. Of course I had to bring a roo in here. :) For some reason the wall color is showing up pink, I assure you it is not pink! It is the same neutral I have used throughout the house must be the lighting..

Well that's it for today guys, I know this was a short post! I will be back in a few days to show you my kitchen changes. Thanks for sticking around! 

I hope you all have a great week.

*Allyson*

Hobby Lobby & Ross finds

Hey guys! I haven't done in a post in awhile on the things I have bought over the last month or so. Here are some photos of all my finds and prices. I hope you enjoy!

I got these pictures from Ross, they were 14.99 each. I love them! 

The roo is from Ross it was 7.99, the next three things are from Hobby Lobby's clearance sale. The zebra vase was 7, the chippy red container was 7 and the finial was 3. Our Hobby Lobby didn't have too many things on clearance the times that I went, but  I am so glad I found the things I did!

 The fleur de lis book boxes were 5.99 and 7.99, I am loving book boxes I have so many now! :) Thanks Liz for getting me addicted!! While I was at Hobby Lobby I saw this container and these bushes of flowers, so I just bent the big stems at the end and shoved them in the container. It was around 15 dollars.

These were all from Ross, the tray was 5.99, napkin holder 2.99 and paper towel holder was 3.99! I just cant find anyone that can beat those prices! To say I love Ross is an understatement lol.

I have been looking for pillows for my couch for a long time, I have either found the ones I liked and they were too expensive or just haven't been happy with the ones I think I like and then don't look good on the couch. The two on the ends I got for 9.99 a piece at Ross ofcourse! The one in the middle was on clearance at Ross for 6.99! I love feather down pillows they fluff up so nicely!

Here is a picture of the other two pillows I already had on the couch. This room is a work in progress I dont know if you guys remember but whenever we first moved in I had a big mirror break? Well I did find a replacement for it I just haven't had a chance to replace it. I will soon! It seems like I work on a project for awhile and then jump to something else and the one I was working on doesn't get finished for awhile. But I really wanna get this room done its the only one downstairs that isn't finished and it's the first one you see! 

Well that's it for today guys. I will be back soon! Sorry I haven't been around much it is so hot here I hardly do anything. 

Have a great week!!

***Living Room Revealed***

Hey guys! Sorry I have been such a bad blogger lately, we have been so busy! We installed a doggy door a few weeks ago and found out that we have termites.. GRRRR. So, we had some companies come out and we got some quotes and picked one. We had to move everything in our garage to the center, mind you we still didn't have all of our stuff inside that needed to come in so that all got shoved everywhere inside. They are here right now, they have been drilling holes into the base of the house for two hours. No fun!! Anyways, enough with all of that. I wanted to share with you our main living room, this is where we spend most of our time. I would say that this is 90 percent finished, so I thought I would share.

Here is a before picture of what this room used to look like before.

***Living Room***

Here is what it looks like now.

Here is where my baker's rack sits that I showed you a few weeks ago. I have had these sticks for a long time, they were in a glass vase but one morning we woke up and I came downstairs to the vase tipped over and shattered everywhere. Truth is I never really liked the glass but just never changed it. So I headed to Ross and picked up this one for 14.99! Yay! Love it!

Ofcourse, I was drawn to the fleur de lis I also liked that it's metal so if it tips over again for some odd reason it wont break.

 I bought this picture last year and never really fell in love with it, but when I tried to go exchange it at Kirkland's it was on clearance for 25 dollars so that's all they would give me. So I decided to keep it and now I really like it in this room.

I pulled some of the green from the picture out and painted this accent wall along the fireplace. The color is from Valspar called Churchill Hotel Olive. I really like the color, I think I am going to paint my laundry room this color.

I love fleur de lis! :) 

I love my big clock it looks so pretty on this fireplace, don't mind Walter this is his favorite spot.

I purchase this floral arrangement from Kristen last year, it looks so pretty on the fireplace too.

These fireplace tools were my husband's great grandma's.

You will never guess what I did with these curtains. I had two standard panels from Target that I bought a few years ago that I had in my room. So all I did was cut them up the middle and hemmed the raw edge with the glue gun and wala! I now have 4 panels for the price of two. 

Here's a close up of the panels, below is Jackson's toy box. I bought this storage ottoman from Target it is functional and pretty!

Love these feather down pillows from Ross. They have the best deals on pillows!

My in laws gave us this coffee table that I cannot decide if I want to paint, stain or spray with oil rubbed bronze spray paint. I have seen this done on wood and it looks so pretty! I will be figuring that out soon. I am not a big fan of light wood.

Well that's all for today guys. I hope you enjoyed our living room. I will be back next week. 

Have a great weekend!!