It's Not Goodbye...It's See You Later

By now I'm sure you've heard the news, but in case you haven't - here it is:

Josh recently accepted a great job offer with Dick's Sporting Goods in their corporate office as Senior Packaging Designer for their golf division. We're so excited and grateful for this opportunity and new adventure! It is, however, going to bring major changes to our lives.

Yes, we did just buy our sweet little blue bungalow in Greenville and there are not enough words to say how sad we are to leave it behind. I'm still trying to devise a plan to somehow take it with us, but it looks like it's going to be for sale soon. (Sad, I know!) So, if you're interested in an awesome two bedroom/ one bathroom home in the heart of Downtown Greenville...CALL ME! ;)

In three weeks and some change, we're going to be saying goodbye to Greenville and all of the wonderful people we love so much! It's not going to be easy, especially not for Josh - he's really going to need all the help he can get on moving day - prying my little paws off the blue bungalow's door frame is going to be quite the challenge for one man!

I keep telling myself that it's not goodbye, it's just see you later. And with that in the forefront of my mind, our new adventure is taking us to the frigid tundra (truly seems that way) of Pittsburgh! We've already heard great things about this city (despite the snow) and we're very excited to start this new chapter! We're also setting out to purchase large, puffy parkas!
(Picture the kid from the movie A Christmas Story)

Yep - that's totally going to be me! 

And this will be Lola! 

Hahahaa! I'm laughing now, but I can tell you I will not be laughing once we're there! Anyway - I'm still planning to keep the blog going so we can share things with you as we go along our merry way in Pittsburrrr, I mean -burgh! We're going to need to re-title the blog and I need suggestions! Feel free to comment or email your blog title ideas to me at leslieawhiteside@gmail.com. 

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Christmas is always my favorite time of year! I love all the fun and joy there is to have during this wonderful holiday!

For me, the past few years have become increasingly meaningful because of my job.
Along with a co-worker (and help from Josh near the end) - we coordinate Christmas at the children's shelter I work for.

In the coming weeks I will be going to work early and leaving super late (I'm talking 7am-12am here people), up to my knees in wrapping paper, ribbon & bows, I'll have tape in places people shouldn't, I'll fight the crowds in the busiest stores for each of the children's special Christmas wishes and in the end - all the credit still goes to Santa Claus! I would be lying if I said I didn't love doing it - for in the end there are smiles on the faces of children who have suffered enough and that makes it all worth it.

Along with coordinating Christmas, this year I was also put in charge of decorations for our employee Christmas party! Yay! (slight sarcasm there) But of course, I can't help myself - I think I live for this sort of thing!

Working with a tight budget, I decided to scour my favorite website (Pinterest) for some great, inexpensive ideas. I found one idea that I love and wanted to share with you! I call them whimsical Christmas trees and plan to use them as centerpieces on the tables, but they would also make great holiday decor for your home!

What you'll need: 

• Foam Craft Cone (I bought the ones with out a point - I recommend getting the cones with a point...just makes it look a bit more like a tree.)
• Holiday Cupcake Liners
• Hot Glue Gun and the Glue ;) 
• Scissors 

Here are the foam cones. I bought small and large cones. 

Festive Cupcake Liners! 

Fold the cupcake liner in half and cut the middle out.

 All you want is the ruffle part.  

(I took a picture of this step, but can't get the photo to upload!) 

Then cut the liner so you get the letter 'C'.

Glue the liner to the cone, stacking each layer as you go. 

You may have to use multiple liners to go all the way around the cone.

That's ok - it won't matter in the end.  

Once you get to the top of the cone, take a small piece of the liner and glue it to cover the end.

 

 

And voila my loves! You have a whimsical tree to decorate your home! 

The toppers on the trees came with some of my cupcake liners. 

Guessing those are called cupcake toppers?

Merry Christmas!  

A Wonderful Wedding Weekend! (Two Weeks Ago!)

Ok, so I've totally neglected the blog! Let's get back into it, shall we!?

We'll have to travel back in time (just a little) to Friday, November 4th - Josh & I both took a full day off from work (sigh - how nice!) and made our way (along with Lola) to the beautiful town of Dahlonega, Georgia for the wedding of our good friends Danny & Allison.

We rented a condo with some friends and when we arrived, we were greeted by our dear friends, Matt & Stephanie. Josh & Matt were groomsmen, so Stephanie & I had some really great girl time while the boys were busy doing their groomsmen duties! We went into town, shopped, got a pedicure, and just enjoyed the sights of Dahlonega.

The (very little) town of Dahlonega was so gorgeous that I felt like I was looking at a movie set. The leaves on all of the trees were brilliant fall colors - orange, yellow, and red lined the streets and made for the perfect setting for a fantastic fall wedding!

The wedding was held that Saturday at 5:30pm at the Montaluce Winery and Vineyard - there could not have been a more perfect venue. Guests sat in the wine cellar filled with glowing candles and the enchanting sound of a string quartet - with the 20 foot wooden doors opened and giving way to a flamming orange tree in the vineyard - the color spilled into the cellar and made the backdrop truly unforgettable. The bride & groom were breathtaking and unmistakably so happy in love! We couldn't be happier for these two!

Congratulations! 

The alter - gorgeous! 

View of the vineyard! 

Us with Stephanie & Matt

We had such an awesome time at the wedding and really enjoyed getting to spend some time with great friends. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

We left Sunday morning and our anticipation to get home was only fueled by the eagerness to see if our cat, Tank, survived his first weekend alone! We hadn't left him alone for even a night. Poor guy is such a baby, we didn't think he could handle it!

We returned home to find him obviously loney and very needy, but perfectly fine. However, he did eat all but a small handful of the ginormous bowl of cat food Josh left for him - he even ate Lola's dog food. We may need to work on portion control! :)

Family, Fun, & Furniture!

We've been having SO much fun the past two weeks! It's been busy, but awesome! In the last blog, Busy Little Bees, we left off with us at the charity event on a Sunday night. My mom, Mary, came in that same night to attend the event and stay the week. If any of you know my mom, then you know how much fun she is! We had a great week with her (and are trying our best to convince her to move to Greenville)! We went shopping, out for drinks, and (of course) to Fall for Greenville. It's like the Taste of the Town, but a bit bigger. Restaraunts have delicious samplings of their food, there are bake-offs, cooking demos, music, and tons of people! It's a must when you live in Greenville. Here are some pics of us at the event!

After Mom left, the house was quiet and empty, but we knew a few more visitors would be on their way once the weekend arrived. My brother-in-law, Jessie, and sister-in-law,Stephanie, came up along with the newest addition to our family, Baby Carter - he's 10 weeks old and absolutely adorable! (I wish we would have really thought to take pictures while they were here.)

On Saturday, while the other Whiteside family went to the Clemson football game and since it was a bye week for our beloved Gamecocks, our Whiteside duo hit a yard sale, some antique stores, and Target!! (What would a weekend be if there weren't TARGET!?) We did awesome at the yard sale! I've been dying to attempt a go at yard selling, but couldn't find a Saturday that I had time to go or (truthfully) wanted to wake up early for. This was a good Saturday to go though.

High schools in Greenville have spirit week (just like schools everywhere), but these schools do something truly amazing during their spirit week! Each school picks a charity to rally behind and then works to raise money during spirit week by hosting car washes, profit share nights with local restaurants, silent auctions, and all sorts of events and activities during and after school that will help add to the funds. And I'm not just talking like $500 bucks - I mean like $200,000! That's a lot of money and can really help an organization. It's really big here and each school uses it for braging rights against their rivals, but most importantly - the charity they pick seems to really make an impact on the students!

This is the second year the organization I work for has been picked by a high school - it's been two different schools, but I am always so impressed by what these kids do and the passion they have for the charity they're helping.

This high school hosted a huge yard sale as one of their events. So to show our support - we headed over to the yard sale and snagged a really nice piece of furniture. It was such a great deal and all of the money went back to our charity - double win!

 BEFORE

You will NOT believe what I turned this piece into.....

 AFTER!

If you guessed a cat litter box - then you were right!! I found this idea on Pinterest.com (a true obsession full of genius ideas - if you're not on it....you should be). I hate litter boxes and with a small two bedroom home, it's hard to find a spot where the box isn't in the way or out in plain sight. I've been searching for an answer to this problem since we before we even bought the house. When I saw this great idea, I had to act fast! With Josh's help - I bought, sanded, primed, painted, and repurposed in 3 days. I think Tank is happy with his new space too!

I also found a little bit of time to redo this awesome chair! It turned out so much better than I even imagined! Now if I could only sell the furniture I paint instead of wanting to keep everything I do for myself!

BEFORE

 AFTER! 

I just LOVE this chair! 

Busy Little Bees

So, it's been a while since I've blogged. My apologies to those of you who have been left with nothing to read/do while at work...you know who you are and I'm not judging! Hahaha! I definitely intended on blogging sooner than later, but time slipped away from me.

Let's see, where to begin. YES, I know - last Thursday the furniture Gods smiled upon us and blessed us with our new couch! We were lucky to have only waited six weeks instead of the original eight we were told! And it was a looong six weeks at that. 

It had been so long, we forgot exactly the color of the couch or maybe we just thought the color we ordered was actually totally different than what had arrived. Either way - when we purchased the couch, we had an 86 year old sales lady (bless her heart) who argued that since the color of the fabric swatch was titled "steel" - that meant that it was the grey we were looking for. 

We took the swatch outside the store, we held it up to the light inside the store, we put it next to other colors, we stood close to it, we stood far away from it - we did everything we could to try to see the grey, but we swore it looked more on the side of green to us. 

Our little sales lady told us it only looked green because of the olive stitching used on the side of the fabric swatch - all of the swatches had the olive stitching. So, we folded the stitching back and repeated all of the outside, inside, close, and faraway tests we did the first go round. By the end of it - we thought we saw grey. Right?? Truth be told, it's just super difficult to know what a fabric swatch will end up looking like on the entire couch.

When the couch arrived, there was no denying it. Instead of a grey couch, we own a green one! Why, oh why is this house insisting that I like the color green??? It's not that I think green is ugly, it's just that green is not really my thing. But of course it seems that everything in our house is green.

Our kitchen cabinets are green.....

....and although it's hard to tell in this picture, the bathroom is painted green - and there's no changing the paint color - there are little tiles in the bathroom that are a lovely shade of green and they match the walls perfectly. 

Needless to say, that the green couch matches the house and I'm learning to love the color green. At this point I don't think I have a choice!  Here's a picture of our new couch. The animals are extremely happy to have a couch! (And no...we didn't get a new dog. The little white one is my mom's.) Now, we need to find a coffee table. We sold the one we had in our yard sale before we moved. The trunk is subbing in for now.

The Friday after the couch arrived, we had another special delivery! My dad came to visit and brought with him the makings of what would be our new shed. Pa (my dad's dad) builds them and when we bought the house, we knew we would want one of his sheds. My dad and Josh worked on this shed all weekend. It turned out AMAZING! Thank you Pa for the shed and thank you Dad for your hard work putting it together! It fits perfectly in our back yard!

Here's a picture of our shed. We'll paint it in a few months to match the little blue bungalow!

Even though the shed was completed Sunday afternoon, there was still  a lot of work to be done. We said bye to my dad and headed over to help with registration and celebrity check-in at a big charity event that the organization I work for benefits from.

I know Josh was tired, but he was acting like a kid on Christmas Eve. There was a bit of anticipation in his eyes. Every year George Rogers attends this event and this year, Josh was ready - he brought a mini Gamecock helmet for George to sign. There was word going around that George wasn't going to be able to make it this year, and I watched disappointment come over my sweet husband's face. (All together now- "aaawwwww") 

But when a black SUV pulled up late that evening - hope was restored! Even though George had spent all day signing a number of autographs and had more to go for this event, he was still SO very kind and took pictures with us and even signed Josh's mini helmet! We absolutely love George! He's such a nice guy! 

Here's a picture of us with George and Josh's autographed helmet.

And here I am the next day at the golf tournament for the same event. I sat next to George's trophy all morning. P.S. It's super heavy!

Making Ugly Beautiful!

I have definitely found a knack for refinishing old furniture. It's amazing to me that with a little paint, you can turn an unattractive (ugly even) piece of furniture into a gorgeous piece you'll fall in love with.

Most of the furniture I find comes from Craigslist - you can find some really awesome deals there! Although I haven't ventured into the world of yard sales, I know there are treasures to be found! I'll have to try my hand at yard selling soon.

Here's a dresser I found on Craigslist for $40 bucks. (Our camera is not the best!)

It was a great find, but needed a little work . It was missing a knob - so I knew I would have to replace those (you can find those anywhere - Hobby Lobby has some really great ones to choose from and they often go on sale for 50% off).

I took off all the knobs and sanded the entire piece. Add a little paint and voila! Josh has a new dresser!

I'm trying to get better at taking pictures during the process. I just get so excited as I go along, I have a hard time remembering to stop for pictures! :)  I totally forgot to take any before pictures of the dresser below. But I did the same steps: took off the existing pulls, sanded, painted and added new pulls - only this time....I got my first power tool - a Dewalt Sander! It makes this whole thing so much easier! Never thought I would be so excited about a power tool!

I'm picking up a pair of chairs tonight that I just purchased off Craigslist! I can't wait to make them beautiful!

It's Our Anniversary?!

Yep - it sure is! Well, not until Monday at least, but it will be our second anniversary!

When Kim (my MIL) came to stay with us and help us in the new house a few weeks back, she asked us what our plans were for our upcoming anniversary. She got a look of surprise from the two of us - and it was probably pretty clear that we had forgotten about our own anniversary! Sad - I know! But we had been so wrapped up in the excitement of buying and moving into our little blue bungalow - that it just simply slipped our minds.

Since our reminder, we've had to make a conscious effort to keep our anniversary in the forefront of our minds. With all the little projects around the house, yard work, shopping trips for items to help us get organized, painting furniture, and selling furniture (yes - we're still getting rid of stuff!) it's been hard to keep things on the calendar straight!

Last year, we used our anniversary as an excuse to take a trip to New York. I absolutely fell in love with the city and beg Josh on a very regular basis to take me back! (Josh, if you're reading this - TAKE ME BACK!)

This anniversary, it looks like our gift to each other is a brand new house! (Best gift ever!) And on our very special anniversary weekend I'm sure that we'll watch some football, knock a few things off the honey do list, and maybe even go out for a bite to eat. The truth is that no matter how we celebrate our anniversary, we're just so happy to be together and actually remember to acknowledge it! :)

It's so important to make your anniversary a priority in your marriage and remember to celebrate it in whatever way you can. While we've only been married for two years, it seems that the years are already flying by - I wish that I could stop the hands of time.....take it all in and remind myself to enjoy the memories that we are making along the way, the love that we share, and the friendship that we have with each other. (A bit too cheesy?? Yes, but so true!) An anniversary serves as the reminder to slow things down and reflect on what you've been through and the growth of your marriage over time.

When I think of our wedding, I will always see the two of us on that gorgeous day - hand in hand in the park, in our beautiful hometown - infront of God, family, and friends as we outwardly admitted our love for one another. We stood there, so wildly optimistic (like all brides and grooms) and put all of our hopes, dreams, and faith into each other. And each day thereafter, we strive to always support each other and make the hopes and dreams of the other a reality. Love is truly selfless.

I can't imagine a better way to celebrate our second anniversary than to simply live in the moment with my best friend by my side. 

In honor of the upcoming anniversary, I've put in some pics of our wedding day! And since we never posted all of the pictures from our wedding, you can click on this link to view the entire album. Our Wedding - 9/19/09