new year's eve!

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I LOVE celebrating the new year. Its a great time to reflect on the past year but also close it out and begin anew. I am always excited to see what a new year will bring and I know that it will be amazing. I hope you all have a great New Year's Eve however you choose to celebrate! Be safe and have fun!

blackeyed pea & cabbage jambalaya

Every new years day we make this yummy jalapeno black eyed pea and cabbage jambalaya! It is an easy and delicious way to get in your peas and cabbage! It is great for a New Years Day party too!

Jalapeno Black eyed Pea Jambalaya

INGREDIENTS

• 1 stick butter
• 1 can jalapeno blackeyed peas (we use trappeys)
• 1 can beef broth
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 1/2 bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1 lb. jalapeno sausage
• 10 green onion tops
• 1/2 cup cabbage, diced
• Tony’s to taste

DIRECTIONS

• 1
  Preheat oven to 350°
• 2
  Saute vegetables and sausage. Add broth and cooked rice in 9x13 baking dish. Bake 25 mins or until warm. (If you have a big enough skillet you can just add the rice to the veggies and sausage and warm together right on the stove.) I also LOVE okra - I think it would be another great addition too :)

Happy happy New Year! 

merry christmas and happy new year!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and were able to spend the holidays with your loved ones. 

If you are like me it took me a while to get our Christmas card out this year! I almost even just decided to do a New Years card, but at the last minute here is what I threw together from outside in our courtyard...my mom took the pic for us! :)

Minted

I don't know if it was the short time between Thanksgiving and Christmas or what, but I feel like many others, like myself, had trouble getting it all together this year. There is still time to get out a cute New Years card and they are all 15% off at Minted right now! 

I will post a yummy New Years Day recipe this weekend you can all enjoy! 

Happy Friday! 

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Decorating for Christmas is one of my most favorite things to do! Below are a few pics from what all has been done inside so far. Enjoy!

Living Room:

little Bets snuck into this one :)

 Dining Room:

Hallway into the Kitchen and Breakfast area:

Breakfast Room:

A new addition this year...

 I put a small tree on our counter in the kitchen and filled it with some of our family's old silver pieces. I love it! 

Here is a close up:

The black and white bow tree in our bedroom:

Thanks for visiting! I will put up some of our outdoor decorations up soon :) 

Happy Saturday and Christmas decorating! 

hostess with the mostess

With all of the holiday parties gearing up I thought I would share some of my favorite hostess gift ideas with you all. 'Tis the Season! :) 

alphabet petite plates
I have loved these little plates since I first saw them! They are a great gift to keep on hand for any occasion really and at such a great price you can order a variety of letters!

calligraphy ornaments
These are just gorgeous! I love them all!

Holiday Candle
These candles are amazing! They just smell like Christmas!

monogrammed soaps
These are always a nice addition to any guest bathroom!

 limited edition gold mugs
These would be cute filled with hot cocoa mix and a peppermint stirer or even fun christmas candy or bark. 

gift tags
How cute are these gift tags!?! They have many different designs and packed in a cute box with a bow I think anyone would love to be able to use these for the next dinner party they attend.





a pretty frame

WITH....

a pretty print inside
This is actually a Christmas card, but It would be so neat to write a little note inside frame it and then when the season is over your host will get a special treat when they change out the print :)






Rosemary Plant
I think this is my favorite! It would be so cute in a galvanized tin with a red bow! You can find these plants everywhere right now too!


I hope this helps ease some of the stress of the season for you by giving you some ideas ahead of time! You can never go wrong with a nice bottle of red in a cute wine bag either! :) Enjoy celebrating the season with your friends and family! 

Happy Thursday! 

happy thanksgiving

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be thankful

I love the tradition of going around the table and sharing what you are most thankful for at Thanksgiving. When I have a large enough family of my own to host I will place a card at each setting, have everyone write what they are most thankful for and then place it on a thankful tree.

 Below are a few free printables that I have found over the years that I love and thought I would share with all of you so that you can use them for your Thanksgiving dinners. 

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Example of pretty "thankful tree"
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I also thought this was a neat idea...print out a "Thankful For" page and then have the family write what they are most thankful for. It would be neat to save the pages through the years and be able to look back at the memories. 

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Although we should be thankful everyday, Thanksgiving is an extra special time to spend with our families and truly be grateful for the many blessings in our lives. 

Have a great weekend! 

southern living idea house 2013

Have you all seen it!? It came out over the summer but I just came across it again and it is just gorgeous!! I also added in some pics of their beautiful Christmas decor via KariAnne who was so lucky to tour it in person. 

at night

herringbone entry door


I LOVE these swags!!!

wood beams

barn doors and bar stools

the back porch

the front porch

my favorite room - the guest house living room

If you are in Nashville or plan to visit make sure a stop here is on your agenda! For more details and a wonderful video tour click here :)

Happy Wednesday!

dining room transformation

When painting a room it is always a struggle to pick the right color - as seen here! But once that is done it is pretty much smooth sailing...most of the time. :) After the ease of painting the living room I decided I was ready to tackle our dining room. 

pre-move in from HAR

I knew I didn't want to paint it all one color so I started looking into wainscoting. 

I knew I wanted it to be white....

it to be chair rail height...

above photos all from Pinterest
...and for the walls above to be gray. 

After looking at a few how-to sites I just went for it - I measured the ceiling height (8' or 96") and divided it by 3 (2.7' or 32") and that is where I taped for the bottom half or really bottom third. (After reading the sites I totally thought this would be too low, but it isn't! Its a great way to decipher where to put the rail and I am so glad that I followed this rule of thumb.) I knew I didn't want to use the panels so I just went ahead and painted the bottom third white including the baseboards.

Next up was the crown molding...this part almost put me over the edge. I had to do FIVE coats of paint to get it to the bright white I wanted. It took FOREVER and a few nights. Oh and then once I taped it to paint the gray it peeled off and I had to paint it again...good times.

Then it was onto the fun part!...the Gray...I chose three colors to pick from - BM Kendall Charcoal, SW Dovetail, and SW Mindful Gray. I wanted it to be darker than the living room and lighter than the kitchen so Kendall Charcoal was immediately out and I thought Mindful Gray looked too much like the living room so we went with Dovetail. It is still a little darker than what I originally wanted, but I still love it's contrast with the white! 

The paint is not totally dry here so it looks a little sloppy. :)

Next we added the chair rail...

and the finished product...

We are so so happy with how it turned out! A little on the darker side, but it adds so much more character and interest to the room! I love it :) I plan to put a white plate collection on the blank wall above...to be continued...

Have a great week!