Yellow Brick House: Christmas Tour 2013

With Christmas taking soooo dang long to get here, I couldn't wait to put our decorations right after Thanksgiving break! We are slowly adding to our Christmas candy-themed decor collection, and I love the life & cheer it brings to our home! {And yes, that is Friends on the tv...we are now on season 6 after staring a week ago from the pilot episode. I know, it's ridiculous}

We are in California for the holidays in my parents Grinch-themed house, so I'll definitely have to take some photos to share with all of you. It is totally decked out! Hope you are all enjoying your families right about now, and counting down the days 'till Christmas :)

Yellow Brick House: Halloween Tour

Halloween is definitely one of my favorite holidays to decorate the house for, plus it's helpful that my birthday is only a few days before October. Which means Halloween decor for birthday presents, SCORE! Here is a mini home tour of my living & dining rooms decked out for Halloween! {Outside pics coming this week}

Happy {almost} Halloween!

*Are you coming to the "Harvest Your Fashion at Francesca's" blogger party? Make sure to RSVP!*

Little Lucy

This past Saturday I went to Emily's baby shower to celebrate her little girl Lucy coming in August! I have grown up with the Fardig girls and have known them for 10+ years, enough time to see them go off to college, get married, and start having kids of their own. It's such a blast to see them whenever I go home to California; and whenever I run into them in Utah, it's nice to see a familiar face that feels like my own family! The shower was in their backyard and it was gorgeously decorated, all the pink & frills & flowers makes me want to have a little girl just so I can dress her in tutus and bows 24/7 :) 

Congrats to Emily & Todd on your new little one! 

i decorate whenever i want

Another holiday I love almost as much as my berf-day?

HALLOWEEN.

I'm so excited for the air to get cooler so I can continue to deck out my house in spooky decor with no judgement, even though I started decorating a week ago...which is no where near October.

Obviously I don't really care about this so-called "right time" to decorate for upcoming holidays.

PSH!

On the birthday party front...

I got a white sheet that will substitute as a projector screen, and have picked up some twinkle lights.

Still trying to figure out where to hang those up, and seeing if I need more...we shall see!

Plus, I'm thinking some kind of cute wooden sign to guide people to the backyard?

If you don't follow me on Pinterest, you should probably start, cause I'm a pinning maniac when I have a goal in mind!

Happy Sunday :)

<3 Bri

Ummm...Hello?

For some reason that's how I always always answer the phone.

Even if I know exactly who's calling.

It's weird, I know this.

Ok people, I finally got a freaking internet connection.

After 3 days of Ryan battling with the internet people to come over and set it up, they finally did and we are finally back to watching Heroes/Mad Men/So you think you can dance :)

First item of business I need to address, is the new house.

We just moved in this last week, and I am totally and utterly in love with it.

I'm sure you're thinking: 'Can you be in love with an inanimate object?'

The answer is YES.

Didn't you just say you loved those Steve Madden's you saw at Ross?

Case & point ;)

Want a tour?

Here is the walkway to our home & the front porch. One day we will be gettin' some seats to put outside so we can drink our lemonade & people watch.

This is the reading nook in our front room. That cabinet to the left is one that my dad found at a garage sale and stained a darker color for us, it's gorgeous :)

This is right by the entryway of the home, that opening to the right is the dining room. 

The dining room was originally a heinous red, so we painted it a light blue which totally complements the space, I'm extremely happy with it!

A piece of hand-me-down furniture that we dolled up with shiny new knobs from Hobby Lobby.

{I had never been to Hobby Lobby before my mom took me. She described it as a "Joann's, Michaels, and Home Goods combined and on crack." Yup, that was pretty spot on!}

The entry way from the dining room, going into the kitchen. The "R" was a gift my creative cousin Zannie made me as a wedding present. That bird thing on the wall, my Mom & I found at a totally rando yard sale around the corner. Totally worth the 2 bucks!

This hutch is built into the home, there is a similar spice cabinet built into a kitchen wall.

It adds to the charm of the home, which I love :)

I realize that I completely missed pictures of our: backyard, bedroom, office, bathroom, and kitchen.

And yes. That is pretty much half the house.

I promise some better pics of those soon!

Well kids, it's time for bed.

I have so much to share with you all!

Work, more home decor pics, stories, my new smile, more outfits. 

This Saturday is my first day at Francesca's and I can't wait to share my "First Day of Work" outfit with you all!

I still do "First Day of School" pictures too.

And yes, I'm going on my senior year of college...

Happy to be back :)

<3 Bri 

The 'Lil Yellow Brick House

Can I just say that I have the nicest blog friends ever?

I was extremely hesitant to publish my last post because it felt very close to my heart.

Your comments & emails touched my heart, and I wanted to thank you all for being such kind people :)

Onto some more fun and exciting news!!!

I briefly mentioned in the last post that Ryan & I are moving.

We currently live in a basement apartment in Orem.
Our landlords {Ryan's friends from back home} have quickly become our best friends, which has made this even more of a difficult decision for us.

We thought and prayed about it a ton, deciding on whether or not to move...because we love the people we live under and have thoroughly enjoyed our time here.

 But, we came to the conclusion that moving to Provo will further help us in the long run. 

Less driving, 15 minute walk to school, less stairs {good for Ryan's busted knees}, and closer to family and friends.

Also, after we happened upon this 'lil yellow brick house, it was love at first sight for me.

I couldn't get my mind off of it.

We NEEDED to live in this house.

If anyone else got to live in what already seemed like my house, I would surely be upset.

So we thought about it...applied for it, then hopped to it and signed the lease!

We will be movin' in next week :)

We have the whole upstairs to ourselves, a front & backyard, a garage, a back patio, garden area, driveway, 2 bedrooms, a dining room, cute kitchen, and nice big living room all to our very own selves.

SCORE.

Everything has just fallen into place, and when that happens you can't help but think that it was meant to be! 

My favorite parts about our new place have to be the kitchen & dining room.

If you can't already tell that I'm excited, you should check out my Pinterest boards and see all the home decor crap I've been pinning for the past couple of days.

That hutch in the corner is built into the house. How cute!

And for anyone who knows me...you know that red is definitely not in my ideal color scheme. 

So this is my inspiration for the dining room:

I love the blue and white which makes the room feel light/airy, but then the look feels very grounded with the dark wood. Looks uber relaxing.

Here is the kitchen, and I am so epicly STOKED to start cookin' in here!

The vision I had in mind for the kitchen came from some inspiration in this pic:

If you can't tell, I'm really digging the aqua/robin's egg blue {haven't decided what shade yet}, yellow, white theme with dark wood and coral accents.

Somethin' like this {except coral instead of orange}:

Anywho, I've been way excited to start painting/decorating and to have my parents up here to help with the move.

I've be literally jumping around for joy like a complete dweeb.

Next up, securing a job :)

<3 Bri

P.S. You got two more days to sign up for the giveaway!

Check out the "Current Giveaway" tab for more info.

CHOP CHOP!

Goin' Home

I've been pretty much in denial that we are heading back to Utah tomorrow.

It has been SO NICE here in So-Cal, why the heck don't I live here?

Oh ya... we got cheap tuition, cheap living, and some awesome possum amigos in Utah.

*Sighhhh*

One day, California or Texas here we come!

I wore this ensemble to my home ward on Sunday for church.

A ward, for all you non-LDS peeps, is when you are divided up by the area you live in, and you go to church with the people who live in your same area.

 I'm in the Lake Elsinore Ward, and my "home ward" is made up of the people who live in the city of Lake Elsinore and some people from Corona.

I've lived in this ward from 8 years old on up!

Meaning that many of the same adults and families have been in my ward for years and years, and have seen me grow up, go to college, and get married.

It's always weird coming home, don't get me wrong, it is always feels good to come home.

But I always feel like it was a different life.

I was a different person, with different thoughts, who made different decisions.

So much different from the person I am today, it's amazing how much you can change in 3 years.

I've since moved on.

Creating my own life up in Utah, with school, responsibilities, and my 'lil family. 

One of my favorite parts though, is coming to my home ward, and meeting/talking with all the adults I grew up with. They tell me how great of a woman I've grown up to be.

Which makes me so happy, knowing that I'm on the road to be the best person I can be.

Plus the fact that other people can just see how happy I am without me having to say it, speaks volumes! {Cause hellooooo, my husby is hot. And fun. Wassup.}

Dress, Necklace: H&M//Sweater: Loft//Shoes: Shoedazzle//Nail Polish: OPI Koala Bear-y

How does it feel when you go home?

<3 Bri

Wanna Get Closer to Your Hubby or BF?

Fix up the bathroom together.

Seriously!

Working together on little projects has proven to promote: conversation, your willingness to serve one another, and the overall quality of your relationship.

How cool is that? 

Ryan meandered Ross with me and picked out the shower curtain, let me pick out the soap dispenser & toothbrush holder, and we decided on the rug and towel racks together!

We deep cleaned everything, drilled in the new towel racks, and installed a new faucet for the sink.

All the while we talked about life, school, each other and just random things.

When life gets busy, it's easy to forget to slow down.

Fun conversation while working together definitely made the time go by faster, and made me feel so excited to see our finished product!

{It's so shiny!}

This was a cheap & easy fix-up that makes the bathroom a nice place to relax and take a bubble bath :)
Next, we are going to conquer the office, together!

Any new projects you and the man have been wanting to work on?
Have fun! 

<3 Bri