Decorating and hanging pictures can sometimes be challenging. I have realized with some recent finds that it doesn't have to be! Purchasing a picture hanging kit will give you help when you are trying to mount pictures in a fashionable manor. Follow this link, Bed Bath and Beyond, to see just one example of a kit that gives you paper templates to use and reuse to create perfect works of art! (Where can you find that table? IKEA)
The many different paper templates allow you to easily see what you like and what you don't like. You can also add in other objects such as these letter "Mr. & Mrs.".
Its easy to hang pictures going up steps using paper templates!
Use some tape to secure the paper to the walls while you decide their best place to go. Once you have decided that all of the paper templates are where you want them, just put screws right through the paper. You can then rip the paper, carefully, off the wall (not all at once!).
Its best not to tear all of the paper off at once. This will make you forget which frame goes where. Doing each picture one by one insures that you will have the right picture in the right spot.
It seems like every year Christmas starts earlier and earlier. This past Christmas season (November 10, 2012) I was able to participate in the tradition with Jackie as she searched for all of her Christmas goodies. I quickly learned Home Goods is a store Jackie loves. This store is very unique, because you can go there twice in the same week and find something different. It is not uncommon to go twice in the same weekend either. During busy times this store can become like Costco or Wegmans on a Saturday afternoon. Make sure you have a cart so you can block other carts. This allows your shopper to examine merchandise. Without this blocking technique it could be very dangerous. Only the strong survive!
Ikea is another store that has seasonal goodies Jackie loves to buy. Although similar to Home Goods, Ikea's larger store spreads out the shoppers for safer shopping. The stick-man was my idea and a great addition to our office. Scroll down to see what the stick man is doing today!
No he didn't fall over. He is just getting his push-ups in.
Gary and Joey introduced Jackie to Crate & Barrel. She had never been there before and we left with lots of things.
+Will Wheeler, +Joey Walker, Gary Bashaw, my mom, and I all went to the Virginia Gold Cup Races on October 20, 2012. It was a great day full of fun, excitement, and wine. The weather was perfect and provided a great atmosphere to watch the horses race. We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch while we had some great "people watching". We were thinking about going but decided to watch one more race. We were glad that we stayed. Early on in the final race that we watched, one of the riders fell of his horse. The horse continued to race without a rider. It was funny to watch the horse go around the jumps and cut corners as it completed the race in its own way. Here are some pictures from that day. Enjoy!
We decided to go on a fall adventure (October 13, 2012) with Sara and +Cory McConnell. Jackie and Sara had always wanted to go apple picking. So Cory and I decided to be good husbands and take them apple picking.
It was an extremely fun adventure roaming the hills searching for fresh fruit. At first it was very hard to catch the apples with the long pole that was given to us. Cory decided it was easier to climb the tree, because most apples were near the trunk. Sara and Jackie started to scream and cover up when the apples began falling from the sky. It was quite a sight.
After we had picked all of the apples we could, we needed to relax and drink some wine! It was a great way to end a fantastic day.
Vintage Ridge Vineyard had amazing views. It had a long gravel road (about 1 mile) that had amazing views of the surrounding hills and mountains.
More pictures from Apple picking.
Sara cheering on Jackie
It was a fun day and we had lots of apples. When we got home we made a bunch of apple sauce!
Checkout the headboard we made via Pinterest! It was a fun project that we build with only $80 worth of wood. The ideas and instruction can be found here: Ana White Homemaker Page. We did not add the "rustic" finish. Instead we simply stained it to match the other furniture. This project was completed February 2012. We are going through some old pictures and thought it would be a cool project to post.
On October 5, 2012 (two days before our wedding) +Lydia Harshbarger, my sister, gave birth to a wonderful baby boy named Owen! I was able to visit Owen in the hospital the day he was born. It was so exciting to hold my first nephew. Such a great addition to our family!
Aunt Jackie and I (Uncle Will) were able to go down a few days following our wedding to visit Owen, Lydia, and +James Harshbarger. Jackie and I had a great time holding Owen. I can't wait until he can run around and play!
We have had a busy few months following the wedding. However, we are both enjoying a much needed day off work thanks to a giant snow storm.
So now a quick recap (in pictures) of the days leading up to our wedding...
1.
+Jacqueline Wheeler and +Esther Walker went on a hunt for baby white pumpkins for the table center pieces. We went to several pumpkin patches within a 10 mile radius and could only get our hands on one baby white pumpkin. When we were just about to give up hope, we stopped at a stand on the side of the road that we had passed in the beginning of our adventure. Lo and behold, it had the biggest selection of baby white pumpkins! Problem solved!
2.
Seating guests at tables is much harder than anyone of us had initially thought. We had all of our sticky notes, color coded, moving them from paper to paper trying to find just the right spot. Just about all of the sticky notes lost their stickiness.We couldn't have done it without the help of +Joey Walker, Gary Bashaw, and +Esther Walker.
3.
Picking up flower center pieces. When going to get flowers for a wedding make sure you have at least 2 SUV's, plastic drop cloths, and a spray bottle full of water. We couldn't have been more happy with the way the flowers turned out! Mom's friends did an AMAZING job! I don't think we have ever driven through Clifton that slow before. We all held our breath hoping not to much water would spill out.
4.
Packing up every little thing that we had put together over the past year and a half. Wow! We don't think we have ever seen the basement bedroom so messy. It was very hard for Mom to deal with the clutter. :-) Ella even assisted with packing up the room...can you spot her in the picture?
5.
Jackie had a slight meltdown leading up to the wedding. The day before our wedding rehearsal Jackie was getting her nails done with her Mom. I called and told her some news that started with "are you sitting down". This is never a good way to start a phone conversation... I told her that we needed a new officiant, because our original officiant was not able to do the ceremony because of a health related issue (Warren is now doing fine and has fully recovered from an emergency surgery). After lots of phone calls, Esther and Bonnie, the wedding coordinator, were able to find a new officiant, Norm. Norm was a great officiant, even though he showed up in scrubs for the rehearsal (he did let us know that he would be coming from work). Everything worked out really well and we were so happy with the ceremony.
In the end, the wedding was wonderful and everything was perfect! Even the little bit of rain waited until we were done with our pictures before it started to fall.
Thanks to all of our family and friends for their support and love. We will always remember October 7, 2012 as a special day!
