January flew by like a whirlwind! We went full organizational mode on our home. We discarded or donated all the things we no longer needed or no longer fit our style. I still have a bit more to go, but I am happy with my progress. Also.. I broke out of my end-of-the-year funk and started ordering new products to try in our home. I found so many new items that have warmed our home. This month has been a refreshing new start which is what, I feel, we all hope and long for with a new year.
If you didn’t jump head first into the new year like we did, that is okay! Some of you may just be dipping your toes in the water still, no worries- this year is just getting started and you have plenty of time to define how this year will go for you. If you haven’t found your motivation yet, let me recap everything we did this month and maybe I can help you find your spark!
Towards the end of 2o23, I was in a major funk, mostly because of my hair loss. You can read about that here: Hair Loss After Covid. I was so stressed that I couldn’t focus on adding joy to my life; I was in survival mode. Now that my hair is growing back nicely and we have started a new year, I am back to doing some of the things I love, and one of those things is trying new products that I can share with all of my followers! Let me show you a few of my top-selling finds for the month of January!
Jamaican Black Castor Oil for Skin Care
One product that I added to my daily routine is this Jamaican Black Castor Oil. I started adding this oil to my moisturizer to help with discoloration of my skin. Deb even noticed that my skin tone looked much more even, so she added this to her skincare routine as well. As far as skincare products go, this is so affordable as well as easy to use.
Bloomingville Mango Wood Heart Shaped Bowl
I went all in on Valentine’s Day decor this year. Valentine’s Day is all about love, and it just made me feel warm and happy. Instead of the normal reds and pinks, though, I shared some great selections for adding this holiday into your home using neutral tones. This Mango Wood Heart Shaped Bowl was one of those items. I love the texture and color of the wood, and if you just like hearts in general, you could leave this out all year long.
Our second most popular blog post of the month was a recap of our Neutral Valentine’s Day Home Decor. See everything we added to our home to add a small taste of Valentine’s Day to our decor as we transitioned out of Christmas and winter decor.
Faux Stems Artificial Branches for Vase
There were a lot of areas in our new-build home that I hadn’t yet got around to decorating. The space between our kitchen and laundry room was one of them. I added these faux stems to a tall basket on top of an old step stool to add some height to to the blank wall. The previously blank white wall is now adorned with a beadboard wallpaper, a pegboard shelf, and a variety of textures from the different items we displayed.
7-Inch 4 Piece Flower Spoon Coffee Teaspoon Set
An area that we completely redesigned and redecorated in January was our pantry. We redesigned the storage of the pantry for our small appliances and added a beautiful coffee bar setup. One of the new items that we added were these Flower Coffee Spoons. I love that each spoon has a different design and adds so much more interest than the standard teaspoon. See a few of our other favorite coffee-bar items here.
Click here to see the complete makeover of our pantry and coffee bar addition! This happened to be our most read blog post of the month which makes us very happy because we put a lot of work into this space. From transforming an antique piece of furniture, building new shelves, and selecting a mixture of new and antique items to decorate the space while also making it functional, this project was time consuming but so worth it in the end. We love of this turned out.
Women’s Valentine Shirt Love Heart Graphic T Shirt
When I saw this t-shirt with the neutral-shaded hearts, I couldn’t resist. It is so soft and I loved the capped sleeves for a little added interest. This is one of those shirts that I can wear all the time as I work around the house because it is so comfortable. If you like shirts that fit a little looser and don’t eat into your batwings, tummy tits, or six pack of jelly rolls, then I would recommend sizing up one size.
Heart Shaped Decorative Throw Giving Pillow
I ordered this as a neutral decorative pillow and didn’t think much about it, but after I received it I realized that it was soooo much more than that. This giving heart pillow is weighted to give you the feel of receiving a hug when you hold it. This would be an amazing gift to anyone you love as well as for someone who is feeling the loss of someone dear right now. I love everything about this pillow; it is a special, well-made item that anyone would love.
Ling’s Moment Ranunculus Artificial Flower
When I mentioned adding a bunch of faux flowers to my home, I add one person comment, no- faux flowers have to go! But, I don’t agree!! Not only are the faux flowers I added great quality, but they also give a sense of Spring and the upcoming warm weather. Flowers add so much beauty, warmth, and life, whether they are inside or outside your home. These faux ranunculus are no exception. They are great quality and are stunning. There are also seven color choices to suit your own individual style.
Deb and I both enjoy thrifting. We have a few local antique stores and thrift stores, and the hunt for the perfect treasures is one of our favorite things. It gets your adrenaline flowing when you stumble upon an item that fits perfectly into a collection you already have.
We also love finding items that are easily overlooked by so many people, whether they are the wrong color or the wrong style, that we know we can transform into something special. I love giving new life and new purpose to an old, discarded item. Deb and I don’t get out of the house much, but these little adventures to the thrift stores has been a nice change for the month of January.
A Small Antique Haul: Watt Apple Pottery
Read about the pieces I added to my Watt Apple Pottery collection this month. This is a collection I started years ago, so it was so exciting to stumble upon a few new pieces to add. And, the price I got these for was unbeatable, but for a different reason than you might guess. Read about it here.
Our Small Antique Haul This Week
Not long after finding our Watt Apple Pottery, we visited a thrift store and came away with a unique owl cutting board. There was also an old silverware drawer that I really wished I had bought. Well, I ended up getting it after all, and I completely transformed it and gave it a new life. See the full transformation here.
Like many of you, I’m guessing, we ate a disgusting amount of food during the holidays. We splurged on all the favorites: ham, devilled eggs, noodles, casseroles, and desserts, of course. We ate all of the things we shouldn’t have, but oh, it was so good!! After the holidays, Deb and I decided to jump back on something similar to the Whole 30 diet to detox our bodies of all the crap we ate a few weeks before. If you have never heard of Whole 30, read all about it in our previous post when we first tried this “diet” back in 2017.
After we completed a few weeks of Whole 30, we transitioned our eating habits again. Healthy eating can be so hard, but we feel so much better and have way more energy when we are eating right.
Deb really enjoys cooking, and she is really good at it! She sometimes has to get create with recipes to suit our dietary restrictions, such as me being gluten intolerant (my face swells up like a balloon; it’s fun…).
One of the recipes we tried this month was the Blue Cheese Stuffed Buffalo Chicken Meatballs, and you all seemed to really love it! Read the full recipe here. If you are looking for a healthy and flavorful dish for an upcoming Super Bowl party, you will want to check this one out!
I hope you enjoyed reflecting back on the month of January with me. We have so much coming for the month of February. We will be starting a new series called Where Did you Get That. More coming on that soon. We will have a new Spotify playlist coming your way soon. I am still working diligently to wallpaper our dining room, so I am hoping to share the finished product of that soon. We will also continue to transform our home for Spring, because honestly I cannot wait for the warm weather and everything it brings!
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