Last weekend I celebrated my first Mother's Day. I've spent years waiting to be a mother... to have a precious baby filling the house with laughter, screams and so much love the cup continues to overflow at the end of the day... even after a long day. Ania is truly such a blessing and being her mother, teaching her, loving her and watching her grow brings so much happiness and joy. A mother's love is powerful... and unending. On my first Mother's Day, Ania and Todd surprised me with a beautiful gift... a meaningful gift that brought tears to my eyes; the copper jam pan. The Copper Jam Pan Admittedly, I am a sentimentalist. There are several things that have a deep tug on my ...
Life
TGI-Friday: Behind The Scenes, What’s Coming Soon & More
It's been a little while since I've shared a TGI-Friday post and today felt like a good day to change that! We have so much going on right now and I can't wait to fill you in on all of the little details. Hard to believe, but Ania turned nine months old this week. She's growing and changing and hard to keep up with. She doesn't want to sit still for one second, really loves her momma and is always looking for a new adventure. We spend our days playing, learning what the word "no" means and playing some more. She loves to help me in the kitchen, making sure she is always right by my side, and we're getting a good handle on how to dress a moving baby. We love her so much. She's ...
TGI-Friday: Three Months With Our Girl
It's been a while since I've shared a TGI-Friday, but they're still one of my favorite posts to write. They always give a more personal look into our lives and I enjoy sharing fun things I've ran across and what we've been busy working on. And boy have we been busy! I blinked, and our sweet girl is already three months old! How is that even possible? It's true what everyone says... the time is fleeting! We've been soaking up every second with her, but my heart still hurts knowing time continues to go way too fast. As far as babies go, we couldn't have asked for a happier girl. Ania loves to smile and her happiness shines. She loves to talk and coo and she makes new sounds ...
Introducing Our Sweet Girl
I've been so excited to share the happy, wonderful, truly joyful news that our sweet baby girl has arrived! I've waited so long to become a mother, and now that our sweet girl is here, Todd and I are both overwhelmed with so much love for this precious gift from God. Ania Nichelle was born July 13th at 2:43 am. A perfect 8 lbs, 14.9 ounces and 21 inches long. We didn't have the easiest birth, for her or I, but the important thing is we're both healthy and doing wonderful after some much needed rest. She's a true momma's girl, loving to cuddle and sleep on my chest and we've been enjoying our time together, spending most of our days snuggling and staring at each other. She's ...
Our Sweetest Gift
We've been keeping a secret... a really big secret. Throughout these last several months, since November really, I've been under the weather... and all for good reason. We have our sweetest gift, a precious baby girl, who will be joining our family in July!! Todd and I are both so very excited, and we can't wait to meet this sweet baby. We've both had our own unique story of arriving where we are today, but looking back now, all the timing makes perfect sense... after all, it's never really in our time frame, is it? All I know, is this moment was the best day of my life... and now it's leading up to the birth of our most precious gift. (Wedding pictures ...
What We’ve Been Up To
Holy cow... it feels like I blinked and we're well into February. It's hard to believe the last time I posted was right before Christmas, but that's how it's gone these past few months. Because I haven't posted in a little while, I thought I'd share what we've been up to and catch you up before we dive head first into new projects! And boy, do we have new projects lined up for the year... Honestly, the main reason I haven't been very active here on the blog or social media, is because I spent nearly the entire month of December, and the first few weeks of January, sick with two terrible colds that I got back to back. It wasn't very fun, but we made it through and I'm so happy to have the ...
TGI-Friday: Hawaii Trip Recap
Happy TGI-Friday! We're officially back from Hawaii and as much fun as we had, it's so nice to be home! There's something so comforting about coming home to a place you love! One of the first things I told Todd as we were rolling our bags up to the house was how cute our front porch looks decorated for fall. I shared all about that last week, but it's still looking just as beautiful today. One thing I can say for sure, fall is in full swing in Colorado and we were able to see the colors changing from the airplane. It was such a beautiful sight! We traded beaches and ocean air for crisp nights and changing trees. Both are lovely, but this is home. We had so much fun in Hawaii, ...
TGI-FRIDAY: Scone of the Month, What I’m Taking To Hawaii, Fire Pit Search & More
This week has been so incredibly busy! Next week we're we sneaking away to Hawaii, so I've been doing my best to get ready for our trip, and making sure the blog has new content for you to enjoy while we're away! I'm also in the middle of working on two big projects we'll be launching in October. I can't wait to share more, but sooo many of you have been asking for one of them, and I can't wait to bring it to you! My lips are sealed for a little while longer, but get ready! In case you missed my blog post earlier this week, I shared a fun new series I'm introducing on the blog: Scone of the Month. I can't even tell you how much I love scones. They're one of my absolute favorite ...
TGI-Friday: Patio Demo, Landscaping & House Video’s
It's time for another TGI-Friday! We've had so much going on these past few weeks, it's been hard to keep up with everything! A proper update is definitely due! If you follow me on Instagram, and if you watched my Stories, you saw that last week we worked on demo'ing our back patio for the new patio installation. We were scheduled to have the work done this week, we just weren't sure when they'd be here, but they started all the prep work today! Needless to say, it's an exciting day around here! They should be finished next week... we're both so excited to have a new patio! In all honesty, demo'ing the patio went much easier than we were expecting. It was still a full day, ...
TGI-Friday: Our Weekend Trip To Denver & What We Bought At Ikea
Like I mentioned in our laundry room update post this week, we set out on a quick trip to Ikea a few weekends ago, and decided to spend some much needed "down time" in Denver while we were visiting. Even though we've both lived there (ages ago), we'd never really stayed downtown and took in the sites. This was finally the weekend though, and we had so much fun walking 16th Street Mall, shopping and visiting a few local restaurants from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. We both love watching the show, so we planned ahead and picked where we wanted to go. After a few long months of work, it's exactly what we needed. On one of our walks back from breakfast one morning, we stopped and admired ...
Saying Goodbye To The Original Wood Grain Cottage
With all of the changes that happened over the last few years, one of the hardest parts of it was letting go and moving out of my home. I dreaded that day. Often though, the thing we don't want to do the most, is exactly what we need to do... and what leads us on a new journey. Today, I wanted to say goodbye to the original Wood Grain Cottage... the house that not only built this blog... but built me. As many of you may know, it can be incredibly hard and emotional to sell a home you've so lovingly cared for. When I first built the original Wood Grain Cottage, I had no idea what would happen, but I certainly didn't expect for it to change my entire path. Without even knowing it, the ...
Back To Blogging!
It's been no secret that I've had a hard time keeping the blog updated and current with all of our house projects these last few months. It feels like I blinked, and the last blog post I published is now over two months old! That honestly wasn't my intention, and I've been trying to make my way back to blogging. Remodeling the house has come to a pretty slow roll as we've both been overwhelmed with a very busy and demanding work schedule. When I moved out of my home last year, the blog was forced to take a back seat, and I started a full time job that left little to no time for writing new blog posts. Like anything, blogging takes time, energy and creativity. All of those things ...
A House Update: We Moved In!
I figured since I've been MIA lately, a house update was definitely due. All I can say, is time sure does fly by when you're having fun, doesn't it? I feel like I blinked and the month of February is over and we're already into March. It's been busy. Really busy. Needless to say, we didn't move into the Willow House on February 1st. We could have, but there were so many different things that had us hesitating. We really didn't want to move in having so many major projects still left to finish... the floors being one of them. Ultimately, we both knew we didn't have to move in by February 1st, but it sure would have been nice. Instead, we decided to pay an extra month of rent and ...
Introducing The Willow House
If ever there was a true fixer upper of a house that needed TLC, remodeling and updating, it'd be this one. But even with all the popcorn ceilings, stained and utterly gross carpet, water leaks, and outdated heating and A/C, we knew this house had so much potential to be an incredible home. It would need time, money and lots of hard work, but the outcome would be entirely worth it. And I haven't ever been afraid of a house challenge, so... bring it on! I'm so happy to introduce you to The Willow House! The backyard has a beautiful and huge Willow tree, so we've fondly named the house after it. Easily the worst home on the block, we are so looking forwarding to bringing this ...
Moving Forward
I'm always amazed at how much things change... a year ago I was so unsure of what my future would look like, I could hardly move. For the longest time I sat there, frozen in fear... afraid to make a move, and worried that whatever step I took next, would be the wrong one. Fear nearly ate me alive. Today though, I'm looking back at last year in disbelief of how much everything has changed. In my last post I shared why I've been silent for so long, and all the hardship I've been through. And it was hard... the hardest time of my life. I didn't have a clue what was going to come from it, or how God could possibly bring me out of it and into a fresh new start, but He did. He's truly in the ...
The Start of A New Chapter
What can I say... I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. And to be completely honest, I needed the time and space. I've had so much to catch you up on, but I've never felt like the words would flow, or that I'd know exactly what to say. I've sat at my computer more times than I could count, staring at the keyboard, begging the words to come, but they never would. I'd push it off for another day, hoping that one day soon that feeling would change. A few days ago, I finally woke up missing my blog. I've missed sharing my heart, my projects and my life. But there's something I need to tell you... and it's harder than I ever imagined. Finally though, I'm ready, and it's the ...
Life Lately
I wanted to stop by today to share a little bit about life lately. We've been working on several things behind the scenes, and then other things (like office progress) have come to a halt... And all because Anthony and I both caught the nasty bug that's been going around. Anthony got it first, and then had sciatica problems which left him in severe pain. We were making trips to the chiropractor a few times a week to try and get him back up and running. He's always had back issues (and 4 knee surgeries!), so we had to get him back up and walking. He spent about a week down and out on the couch, poor guy, and I felt really, really bad for him. Just when he couldn't take it any longer, he ...
15 Random Facts About Me
I think basically everyone has their "quirks". Be that something strange, or specific things you must do every day. I'm certainly not immune to that, so today I thought I'd share 15 random fact about myself. It'll also help you get to know more about the girl behind the blog a little bit better too. :) It's a win, win! Please note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which allows us to make a small commission from your purchase, but your purchase price stays the same. Thank you for helping support our blog! We greatly appreciate it! So, let's take a peek at the odd person I am... 1. If I need to get house work done, a project finished, or bake something, ...
What We’ve Been Up To
Happy Friday! I've been wanting to share more of "us" on the blog. I know I primarily write about our home, projects and decorating, but there's so much more to us than those things. Albeit, those are basically what keeps my creativity going, but I thought it would be fun to share more about the "unseen" side of our life. Things we work on that don't make it on the blog, what Anthony's been up to, the farm, the yard, the shop, the kitchen, and even projects that are in the works! So, here's what we've been up to! Right now, Anthony has been busy on the tractor. It's a family operation, so Anthony, my dad, my brother and several other workers have been logging long hours ...
Your Questions, Answered!
Thank you all so very much for adding your questions to our Q & A post. I loved reading your questions, and I have listed my answers below. :) There were several similar questions, so I bundled them together in one big answer. Question: How do you decide what materials and/or colors to use in your home? Do you just try to picture it in your head, or do you sketch it out? Answer: This is such a great question! I know how hard it can be to decide on a color scheme, or a flow of items throughout your home. I think my best answer, would be to follow your gut and to use colors, furniture, etc. that you love. No matter what anyone else says, your home is yours. Fill it ...
The View From Our Home
First, I want to thank you all for the amazing comments about my goals for 2016. Your support is such a wonderful, powerful, and beautiful thing. From the bottom of my heart, thank you! Today, I wanted to share the view from our home. The other night, I walked out of my office from a long day of work, and froze at the view from our breakfast nook window. The sun was setting, the cows were grazing, and in that moment, an incredible peace washed over me. And then I grabbed my camera to capture it. :) I am constantly amazed at how incredibly beautiful our surroundings are. In the summer, I love to take long walks just soaking in the beauty of it all. Some love the scenes of a ...
