Once again, we enjoyed another Birthday celebration at the Eliya home but this time it was for my cousin Meghan and we were able to pull off a couple surprises. Surprises are one of my most favorite things {surprising people and being surprised} so I had a complete blast! This is how everything went down... we had set everything up for me and Peter to cook dinner for Meghan, her mom & my mom but we also invited Katie and Jocie over to surprise the Birthday gal. Katie came before dinner and Jocie came during dinner, it was like BAM & wait for it, BAM! Double surprise making the night full of excitement. Yes, I may be exagerating a little bit but seeing Meghan’s face light up with the two surprise guests made my heart so happy. I’m so thankful for this new friendship that I have found this year and I’m also very thankful that she has connected with my sweet friends too. It is a true blessing to see friendships form between people you love. It makes me smile.

^^^ when you don't have birthday candles you substitute with a yummy smelling candle. 

^^^ so glad this handsome guy was around for some girl time!

Meghan, I am so glad that we were able to celebrate your Birthday with you 

& I can’t wait to see what this new year has in store. xoxo

ps. Mom, I know you were here but I sadly have no proof of it. please forgive me. :-)

a not so surprise Birthday Dinner....

Like I mentioned last week we welcomed some family and friends into our home for a little birthday fun and on Monday we celebrated my grandmother’s birthday. Even if we couldn't pull off the surprise we were hoping for we still had a a great time while we ate way too many tacos. I realized that the obsession with Mexican food is definitely hereditary because any kind of chip, salsa, taco, nacho etc is our weakness.  And apparently asking too many questions is my grandmothers weakness… that woman can’t stand surprises.

It was a fun night with family and I’m so happy we could have everyone over

.....especially those sweet kiddos!! I can't get enough of those smiles! 

that time we had a Halloween party.

Our first party was a great one, even if it took me waaaaay too long to blog about it. Halloween was a perfect way to invite a lot of friends over to enjoy some food, left over drinks from our wedding and our unfurnished formal living room turned dance floor. I had a lot of fun decorating the house for the first time and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I have ever decorated for Halloween. I really loved throwing in some scary details in our every day style and putting some spider webs on everything. 

^^^ my big bad wolf!

^^^ the cutest Mary Poppins and chimney sweap I've ever seen.

^^^ Mom was the evil queen. She did an awesome job on her makeup!!

^^^ the dj and his sidekick.

It was a fun night... don't let the delay in blog post fool you!

thanks to our friends who came... we love you! 

welcome.

Twice this week we have had family over for dinner. The first was for my grandmother’s birthday and the second was for my cousin’s birthday so yes, a lot of Birthday fun was had in the Eliya house. With that being said it has been a busy week. Cleaning, preparing, cooking, entertaining and loving every second of it.

I honestly can’t think of a better way to use our home. I absolutely love it when it is filled with family and friends and memories are made. That is what a home is for. To be loved in and crammed so full of fun that you end up saying three goodbyes because your guests start to leave several times before they actually make their way out the front door. And then I’m left with that moment that I love most of all. That moment when I am closing the front door with a smile on my face because the walls that surround me day and night are filled with a little bit more love than before we opened them. That welcome mat is more than true. We really do enjoy welcoming our loved ones into our home. 

Where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes



Master Bedroom Re-Do // Part Two

Like I said yesterday, we didn't have much to do to the actual room but there was plenty of work for the furniture. We also were super blessed with all the furniture being given to us which made us so happy. The only money spent in our Master was on the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and the new lamps/vanity mirror. When we first saw the house I fell in love with the beautiful vanity in one of the girls bedrooms so when we put an offer on the house we asked for that also. Once again, we were blessed when they said yes! 

This was the before furniture except for the vanity was painted red.... 

and after a lot of painting, waxing and sweating I am happy to share the below photos.

^^^ the paint color was ASCP Paris Grey and the ASCP clear wax.

^^^ new necklace from my sweet mom. It says Mrs. cause I'm a Mrs. and all...

^^^ my necklace from the wedding day and some special jewelry that Peter has given me.

I really love it and I'm so happy with the outcome. Definitely have some more ideas in my head and once those are completed I will share more!!