31 Before 32

I know, I know...I have already broken one of my resolutions, and we are only one month in!  I am going to try my best to be a better blogger going forward.

This past weekend I was in glorious La Jolla, California visiting my cousin (who is more like a sister) and her precious family.  She told me that each year she creates a list of things she would like to accomplish before her next birthday.  I was really moved to do one too, so we created our lists together.  Before showing you my list, I want to point out that some of these things are rather easy to accomplish.  Each month, I will go through this list to see how I am doing and give you all an update.  Here is my list...

1. Go on a trip with Mr. HSH
2. Complete RCIA 
3. Read one book a month (reading I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg)
4. Enjoy one bottle from our "reserve" collection
5. Finish 3 house projects (buy additional seating for family room; update bar area; have bed skirt made)
6. Continue to get manicures regularily
7. Get I-Phone
8. Put together (and stick to) a budget
9. Be grateful everyday for the blessings in my life
10. Walk dogs regularily
11. Do Clean diet in February
12. Watch less TV; play more games with Mr. HSH during the week
13. Find a new perfume
14. Buy DVD player for den
15. Make effort to do more with friends
16. Have slumber party
17. Go on a date night twice a month
18. Take a cooking class
19. Go to lunch with my brothers.  We all work relatively close to each other!
20. Grow a plant or some herbs
21. Ask for help
22. Have a quiet time in the morning with God
23. Subscribe to Southern Living and Better Homes and Gardens
24. Respect my husband
25. Enjoy the small things in life
26. Blog more and put blog out there to friends and family to read
27. Buy a new work purse
28. Move dog kennels out of breakfast room
29. Be less judgemental
30. Accept what I can't change
31. Go see more movies

Winter Treat

Living in Houston, our winters are cold on some days, hot on other days, but are normally pretty mild.  It drives some people nuts because just when you think you are finished with your short sleeved clothing, it goes up to eighty-five degrees.  I love it because I can still enjoy ice cream pretty much year-round. 

One of my favorite winter indulgences (which truthfully isn't that bad) is my own version of peppermint ice cream.  Remember all of those candy canes I used as decoration for Christmas? When the holidays are over, I put them in a ziplock bag and freeze them and use them throughout the year.  My favorite thing to do is to crush a few up at a time and use as a topping on fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt.  It is the BEST treat!  I forgot to snap a picture of my "ice cream" last night, but trust me, it was delicious.  I'm sure it would be even better topped with hot fudge.  Hmmm...maybe I'll try that next time. 

I hope you will try this yummy winter indulgence! 

Happy weekend friends. 

XO-Home Sweet Home

Changes Around Casa Sears

Over the past few months leading up to Christmas, I have made some tweaks to my my family room.  I recovered some chairs and added more pillows to my sofa.  A girl can never have too many pillows, right? 
First up are my much improved Berge chairs.  They were previously orange. See this post for the before, and here they are now:

I absolutely love the blue velvet fabric.  The pillows on the chairs are a bit hard to see, so here is a close-up.

The fabric on this pillow is: Neviz Glacier.  My cousin is an interior decorator.  She helped me pick fabrics...didn't she do a good job?  I also had some additional pillows made for my sofa out of the same blue velvet fabric.

I love the greek key trim that was added to give the pillows some additional interest.  Here is how they look with the other two pillows on the sofa.

Lastly, I swapped out the black frames on some bird sketches I picked up in Round Top many years ago.  I found some gold frames at Michael's for next to nothing, so it was much easier than sanding, priming, and spray painting the frames.  What do you think of the gold frames?



All in all, I am very happy with how everything turned out.  The room is still not quite complete.  At the back of the room, we have a bar area that I would like to revamp.  Look for that in the coming month or so. 

XO-Mary Catherine 

Resolutions?

Happy New Year my friends!  I hope your 2011 is off to a great start!

Do any of you have resolutions?  Mine resolutions are to blog more often and to put my blog out there.  I would like to get up to blogging three times a week.  Since I only blog about twice a month, this is a huge leap!  Wish me luck.

This year I am going to work on some small projects around my home.  A few will be DIY and others will require a professional.  Stay tuned.

Have a great week!