Project Refresh: Month 4

Hello December, one of my favorite months of the year! I absolutely love Christmas and all that comes with it. Christmas movies, music, decorations, lights, buying gifts, spending time with family... It's even better now with a 19 month old that is curious about everything and so easily excited :)

My goals for month 3 were a bust :( I did 2 or 3 things on my list, but that was it, so I'm moving on. Some unexpected things came up that took up a lot of our time and made it hard to get on task.

For month 4, I know we will be really busy with holiday stuff, so I'm only working towards a few goals this time.

Project Refresh: Month 4

• Try to make the majority of our Christmas gifts this year as we don't have much money to spend.
• Finish up said Christmas gifts earlier than Christmas Eve! haha. I'm the worst when it comes to procrastination.
• Start a holiday tradition with Oliver
• Have a stress-free and fun month :)

Enjoy the holiday season everyone!

I heart Ikea

(Excuse my lack of fitness updates. I was really sick for a week and am finally starting to get my energy back, so the exercising can commence!)

Derek & I spent President's Day up in Portland at one of our favorite places: Ikea. Just walking up to the building makes me giddy and I always get so many great ideas there. The last time we were there, I was big & pregnant and mainly looking for organizing stuff. This time, we went a little crazy in the kid section and wanted to buy every single thing for Oliver. We really had to show some restraint, let me tell you!

We're big into to bright, colorful stuff if you didn't pick up on that already. I love everything, but my favorite item of the day had to be the art cards (2nd from last photo). How fun and playful are those?! I can't wait to frame them and get them up, once we find the perfect spot for them.

Picking out the perfect gift

I have a long history of being a not-so-great gift giver. At first, it was due to a lack of funds. When you're flat broke, it's hard to give good gifts, especially when you aren't crafty OR creative. Another issue? Procrastination! This is mostly true come Christmas time when we're at Target on December 24th hoping that the perfect gift(s) falls right into our laps.

I'd like to think that we've gotten a little better at this in the last few years. We have a little more money now and also start our shopping in November (yay Black Friday!), but that doesn't mean we don't go to countless stores over and over to find the right gift for a friend or family member.

I'm lucky that I have a tiny family and I know all of them really well. My husband's family, on the other hand, is HUGE and he never knows what they want/need, so it makes it impossible for me to help. We usually go the gift card route since everyone loves a gift card, right? :)
Tomorrow is Mother's Day and while giving a gift card was tempting, I wanted to put more thought into my gift for my mom and grandma. We're having brunch at grandma's house tomorrow and I really want them to enjoy what I picked out for them :) (No worries, this won't ruin the surprise as I think only 2 people read this blog and it's not either of them. haha)

We went to Target (I could live there I love it so much!) this morning and after walking the store a few times, I think I finally put together some great gifts for them. For grandma, I got her a black shadowbox frame and added a few photos to it, a big packet of flower seeds for her garden and a cute wood plaque to hang in her house. For mom, I got her favorite tea, a dark chocolate truffle bar, an adorable notecard set and a lemon-scented soy candle in a pretty tin. I apologize for the terrible photos -- I'm taking my lens in to get serviced next week as it isn't focusing right.

I hope everyone tells their mom just how much they love them tomorrow :)