Happy New Year!

I hope you had a great Christmas, I definitely did. It was exhausting though. Before we had Nathan I remember spending our holidays binge-watching shows like LOST, Sons of Anarchy and Dexter until 4am but now it is much different… Come home from spending the day with family and then just crashing. We did manage to watch 4 seasons of Game of Thrones but it took 4 weeks. Definitely enjoying all the family time, and extra time being at home with Nathan.

I can’t believe we are saying goodbye to 2014… It’s been an amazing year, and I am looking forward to starting fresh in January!

Here’s a quick look back over the past year…

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Being part of this wonderful (and crazy) world of motherhood, I’ve found some things that have helped make my life easier as a new mom, shared some toys that are perfect for 6 to 12 months. I plan on sharing more next year…. Particularly, how to organize all of these toys!! I can’t believe how much we got for Christmas. We are actually thinking of putting off building our deck, and renovating our basement instead.

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Nathan turned 1, so we threw a fun picnic themed first birthday party. I also shared how to throw a nautical baby shower.

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I finally shared the our kitchen renovation! A big thank you to Jen, from Rambling Renovators for including it on her love list! It was a huge project but it was worth it. Look for our living room reveal in January.  I also shared my friends cheerful and calm nursery.

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I managed to share a few DIY projects around the house this year like building our own sliding barn door, how to personalize your kitchen with window treatments, and how to make a changing table topper for a nursery If you don’t feel like making one, have a look at our Etsy shop, we can build one for you!

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We took our first family trip to Naples, Florida. We even drove!! I look back, and I am pretty proud that we did it. Driving through the night was the key to making it work. I think next time we go somewhere we are flying.

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At the beginning of the year I shared with you my experience of picking out the perfect stool for our kitchen with the help of Natalie Hodgins from Sarah Richardson Design. The stools even held up when Nathan threw up on them last month (I almost cried).

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I started sharing recent purchases of mine. They included everything from pajamas, to my favourite watch, to tickets to the Toronto Film Festival… which this year, included a ticket to The Theory of Everything, which is looking very good for award season, already has 4 Golden Globe nominations!

Plans for 2015….

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We started a new project last spring, renovating this cape cod style house. The plan is to renovate top to bottom, and then sell. I posted the existing and proposed floor plans. Matt and his uncle were the ones who decided to take on this project, pretty much building a new house. It’s going to be quite the transformation!! I can’t wait.

There is so much going on with this home, it was a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom home and will be sold as a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom home. I promise to fill you in on the progress and all the design details very soon.  I am currently painting the new front door… in our dining room!

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Since our main floor renovation cost enough money… our plans for 2015 is to save, save, save and save some more. I am starting January with sticking to a budget, including saving for Christmas 2015. This means, no credit card for me. The plan for summer 2015 was to build a deck in our backyard, but we are thinking our basement should be priority to give some extra space for Nathan.  I plan on redecorating our master bedroom in January/February, there will be a lot of DIYs and garage sale finds to make this project cheap. I looked at Minted to help with inspiration for the room.

Thank you so much for following along this year! Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year!