Hodge podge.

Hi everyone! I can't believe we only have a few more days left in 2012! I hope everyone has a nice Christmas. I made the decision to postpone my Portland trip to visit family until February when airfare was about 1/4 the cost! Round trip from LGB to PDX - $126!! I couldn't pass that up so that meant that I spent Christmas here in So Cal.

 

I am blessed with some amazing friends who welcomed me into their families (you all know who you are!) so my Christmas festivities didn't suffer in the least. I even managed to see Les Miserables on Christmas Day! 

I am such a fan and I could not have been more thrilled with the movie!!! Loved. It. Hello, Hugh Jackman!

 

Anyhow, looking back, 2012 has been really great! I became debt free, I've been able to work on my photography, do a few design consultations and, of course, still paint and sell furniture.

 

But there's one really special project that I began working on earlier this month that I can't wait to share with everyone!!  I'll be working on it in more depth in January and February  It's my biggest design project to date and I am so excited! Not only is it a design/decorating project, but it's for a local Christian non-profit community group! So stay tuned...I promise to share more soon!

Let's see...what else?? I bought an IKEA RAST dresser off Craigslist for just $20 (they are $35 new...so saving 15 bucks + skipping the whole assembling part = awesome!) I plan on doing a little hacking as soon as the hardware I ordered arrives!

And I also did a little after Christmas shopping today and found this cute little wooden ball marked down a whopping 90%!!!! It was just $2 so I had to get it. Thank you, Kohls!

Oh, here's a tip for you! There were actually three balls on the shelf and the first one I picked up was only marked down 70% to $5.99. At six dollars, I wasn't going to get it but I decided to look at the others just to see if they were the same and what to do you know... the one I picked up was the only one not marked down to 90% off! So the takeaway is always look at all the clearance prices, you never know what they might have missed :-)

And finally, has anyone been to Target the last few days? I stopped by tonight and there is a ton of new home decor stuff out!

 Loved these coral lamps and fun shades! They kind of look like mine!

 This was a cute jar on an end cap full of silver, yellow and white items...but a little pricey. I'll wait for clearance, thank you.

I also noticed a few natural wood accessories like this octagon mirror...

 And these trays...which I loved!

 Here's a shot of the aisle and all the bright colors...looks like Spring!

I managed to resist the temptation of getting any of those new items but did pick up this cute little milk glass coffee cup! It was all by itself by other mugs so I figured I'd give it a home.

 Plus, I scored some Christmas stuff on clearance that will get packed away for me to discover anew next December!

 

I guess that's all for now. Until next time!