The painting in the nursery.

I wish I could say the nursery is all the way done. But I am happy to say it's MOST of the way done. There are only a few more things to hang. But Emerson only sleeps in there for naps so I think it's okay that since it's only partly his main room that it's only partly finished.

When I started nesting mode and was brainstorming what I wanted to do for the nursery. I KNEW I didn't want to do any particular BRIGHT color palette or anything too baby-ish like mickey the freaking mouse or whatever the hell. Cause that ain't my thing. ANYWAY.

One weekend early in my pregnancy, we went to my grandma's in Bear Lake and she pulled out this painting and told me how my mom had found in an old abandoned house in Idaho near Bear Lake. (That was a thing my mom was into, going into old abandoned houses and finding cool things, and somehow she was really good at it.) She asked if I wanted it. When I saw it I immediately knew that it had to go into the nursery and that I would work my decor around this painting.

Luckily, the painting isn't the only sentimental thing in my little mountain man's nursery.

this is the painting up close, and the frame that came with it. love.

Eye spy a little Emer man.
Also, the painting isn't crooked-- it's just my sub-par photography skills.

This rocking chair used to belong to my great-grandparents, and I was VERY close to them. When I was little my grandpa would come inside from working in the yard he would sit in this chair to take off his shoes and I'd climb in his lap and tell him about my day. I miss them both so much everyday. I am so glad I get to rock my baby in this chair now.

DON'T MIND MY EXCESSIVE BABY SHOE COLLECTION.
 I'm not much for hunting, but when we first moved to Idaho I wanted to paint some antlers and my grandpa is an avid hunter so I asked him if had any that I could have, he did. But I never got around to the craft so I decided to hang them as is in the nursery. It's fun to have a little piece of Emerson's great grandpa (still alive though, btw) in there.

After we decided to name him Emerson, I was downstairs looking through Tayl's books for pretty books to display on our bookshelves in the living room and I found this Ralph Waldo Emerson book. I felt like it was a sign. So I had to put the book in the nursery too. If you can't see it, it's "Emerson on man and God." ALSO, my BFF Jen gave us those cute little moccs. But they won't fit him for awhile so right now they are part of the decor.
And if anyone asks what the fox says, I'll find you and punch you in the throat.

My aunt gave me this bible while I was pregnant,
which just so happened to be my mom's from when she was little,
it even had her name engraved on the front. 

This is the adorable mobile that my BFF Jen made
which I have yet to hang over the crib but I WILL do it.
Just one of the things I still need to do.

she bes domestic.

I have been working on living room decor since we moved in. The search for throw pillows/fabric to make throw pillows has been nothing short of a nightmare. Until recently. I found some fabric at Ikea when we stopped there on our way out of Atlanta. (I didn't even know they had fabric) and then I found some mustard throw pillows at world market for only 10 bucks. Then I found some aqua-ish damask-ish fabric at Joann for the long pillow.

Using my sewing machine has been a little bit of a nightmare cause my presser foot lifter broke in half (even after we glued it.) so even though making pillows should be a simple task, even for a sewing noob like me, it took like 3 days and a couple of cut up fingers. BUT ALAS, I have finished.

the color isn't very good cause this is a cell phone picture.

the pink a little bit darker than that.

I won't lie to you though, those pillows look like a 5 year old made them. but they work for now so it's fine.

in other household news, we finally got our crock pot which I may have already mentioned, and so I went a little crazy with the whole "LET'S SLOW COOK!" kind of thing.  I've made pulled pork BBQ sandwiches, chili (from scratch!), a Sunday roast, and the list will continue on. Tomorrow I am making this http://pinterest.com/pin/82542605640025936/

And I actually really love using the Crock Pot. It's been fun. Especially since we don't have a dishwasher and there are less dishes to wash. I'm not going to go into super detail but I just wanted to share a recipe with you if you ever feel like slow cooking. Cause that is what my life is now, getting excited about crock pot recipes.

This one is Taylor's Faaaavorite

Crock Pot Chicken

In the bottom of a crock pot melt 1/2 cube butter

Add 4 chicken breasts, thawed.

2 packets dried italian dressing mix

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

Garlic as desired

Let it cook for anywhere from 4 to 5 hours, and about an hour before serving add 1 pkg of cream cheese and 1 regular sized sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over rice or noodles.

I know I should have taken a picture of it but it looked like vomit, it was delicious though.

Also, just as an added bonus, I would like to share with you the most simple recipe of all time. Whenever I would tell people about this they were like, "yeah, I already knew that" so I think it was one of those things that everyone knew but me, but I'm gonna share it on the off chance that someone out there was like me. And apparently this is a weight watcher recipe, just what I heard.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

In a mixing bowl combine the following:

1 package spice cake mix

1 package chocolate chips

1 15 oz can of pumpkin

Preheat oven to 375. Drop spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. bake 8-10 minutes.

Keep an eye on these because they look pretty much the same in dough form as they do cooked. Since they are so cake-like you can stick a toothpick or a fork in them to check if they're done. That's what I do.

party central.

Well well well, look who has a couch, THESE GUYS!

Please ignore that rug. It's not staying. I just like having A rug in here until I pick colors.

So I would like to make some throw pillows and curtains. But I have NOOO idea what I want to do with this grey couch. I mean, yeah I have an idea. Yellow. Obviously I love yellow and grey. But I feel like I'd be overdoing it with the yellow and grey combo. Even the bathroom in this house came in yellow and grey tile. Serendipitous.

I'm not a pink person, but I feel like some pink pillows would be fun (like a blush). I DON'T KNOW. I'm lost here. Help. Help me please. I'm serious, help.

Anyway not much has happened since the couch story so here is some stuff.

Is it so wrong that maybe deep down the driving force behind choosing to live in this house was because I wanted to have a fireplace mantle at Christmas time?

I can't stop daydreaming about how pretty my Christmas tree is gonna be in that corner.  This is the first year in a long time that I have been really excited for Christmas time. I guess it's just aided by having my own little family and our own place.

We got our couch on Friday night and it had CAT HAIR ALL OVER IT. I was kinda hoping they would TRY to clean it off before they handed it over, but they didn't. I have never hated and resented cats more than I did when I tried everything to clean it off. Not only are we both allergic to cats, but I did NOT like looking at it, and getting it all over our clothes. Plus, I didn't want anyone to think that Lux sheds. CAUSE SHE DOESN'T. Anyway, the point to this story is that on Saturday morning we decided to go buy some giant lint rollers to try and get the remaining hair off of the couch. So, on the way to Target we saw a sign for a garage sale down the street and decided to see if we could find any treasures like, rugs, desk chairs or a china hutch for our dining room.

Well, we did find some treasures, just none of the things I just listed.

This vintage suitcase set.

Taylor saw them from the street and knew that he wanted them. "Can I get them?!" He asked me. Yes, I allowed him to spend the money that he worked for on this dope suitcase set. ;) My favorite part of this set is the little make up/vanity case, which Taylor so graciously gave me full use of.

A little mirror and everything! Isn't it awesome?

It was at this point that I believe Tay began to turn into a Garage Sale addict. He wanted to find more and look for more THINGS. We stopped at one other and had no luck, it was pretty picked over, as it was pretty late in the afternoon already. Maybe next Saturday though...

Hmm, let's seeee what else? Oh, we got a TV. It's on it's way to us. I didn't want to have to search for a TV stand on top of everything else so I was just trying to get creative and find something we already had or something cheap. and that's when I thought, HEY how about that Ikea bookshelf? and I think it's actually gonna work out pretty good:

Ha, that's not our TV though, that's just Tay's desktop screen which is our TV screen substitute for now.

Also, you probably don't remember but we (mostly Taylor) like to refer to things as "party central" like that time we were at Cardiff Bay in Wales. and there was also this house (which I haven't blogged about)  that we would drive by all the time when we were in Oxford and they had a bunch of Christmas lights hung up flashing all the time that we could see through the window and we referred to that place also, as party central.

So anyway, as I was meandering through hell (aka WalMart) trying to find cheap plastic drawers. I found this doormat for 2 bucks and HAD to get it because I knew it would make Tay smile when he came home from work.

ISN'T IT AWESOME?

Okay I need some suggestions for color combos... aaaaand GO!