Loves

I love this time of year.  I love football.  I love pumpkin spice lattes.  I even love raking leaves (the first couple of times).  But, I especially love the excitement for the holidays.  Maybe it's because I don't have kids so they aren't as busy or stressful for me as they are for others, but I just love them.  I'm so excited we are hosting Thanksgiving again.  And, I'm so excited about my just-ordered holiday cards.

Holiday cards are one of my FAVORITE things about the holidays.  And wrapping paper. 

Not. Even. Kidding.  I LOVE wrapping presents. And decorating for the holidays.  But for sure holiday cards.

Thank you, thank you to Lora and Casey who took our picture and even got Franklin to look in the right direction-ish.


Not the winner because of course I'm not going to give the big reveal away, but still a good contender.  And, I really liked using this quilt - made by my great-grandmother.  Just makes this fun time even more sentimental.

I can hardly contain my excitement!!

Fall in the Yard

I was feeling kind of restless during my lunch hour one day this past week.  Probably because I was sick at the beginning of the week and just hadn't gotten out much since then.  Our afternoon weather has been so nice, and I just didn't want to be inside anymore.  So Frank and I went outside for some fresh air.

Only one of our tree's leaves actually change colors into something besides crunchy brown.  And, it's been beautiful all week just begging for someone to take it's picture.




So I did.  And, I just can't explain these any other way besides they just look dreamy. 


I'm pretty limited when it comes to tree knowledge, but ours produces these funky green dangle-things.


In the fall they dry up and fall off and complete the perfect autumn look, right in my backyard.


We're happy here.

Especially when we have one of these going to cuddle up in front of to finish off the week.












Looking forward to our trick-or-treaters tomorrow night!  Can't wait to see all of the neighborhood kiddos in their costumes.  And get rid of the slowly dwindling bowl of candy. 

Loving another productive weekend...

Flu, Friday, Finished

I haven't posted all week, but that's not because nothing has been happening.  In fact lots of things have been happening.

1. I woke up totally fine on Monday morning, but by 1pm was puking.  A lot.  Turns out I had a 24-hour-ish flu bug that left me lateral in my bed until Tuesday night.  Yuck.  And, no, I am not pregnant.  I had other symptoms that went along with my throwing up parties.  Enough said.

2. We were super busy/super productive last weekend.  Pictures to come as we finally completed the finishing touches on Wednesday/Thursday.  I'm so happy with the results.

Until then...

My (Almost) 15

Boo.  My fifteen minutes of fame have alluded me. 

I submitted my refurbished credenza to one of my favorite blogs, Young House Love, back in July after I got great feedback from all of you.  (P.S. thanks for that - I pretty much live for comments.)  :)

And so the story goes...(and skip to the bottom if you don't feel like reading).

--

Hi John, Sherry, Clara and Burger,

Congrats on your growing family, and thanks for sharing your lives with us.  It's so much fun checking in on the projects you're tackling or just for some baby love with new Clara pictures.  You are very inspiring!

My husband (Andrew) and I bought our first house together just at a year ago and have been busy tackling DIY projects non-stop.  Andrew swears he can make or fix anything, and I've definitely held him to that promise.  :)

We love to entertain, but just don't have enough space for an extra large table or kitchen island for our friends to gather around in our 1963 ranch.  (Got to love those older homes for their charm, but lifestyles and layouts were much different back then!)  I found a $50 credenza in need of lots of love on Craig's List that we intended to use to serve as a dry bar for mixing drinks, but also for a make-shift buffet for large family dinners, a.k.a. Thanksgiving, displaying appetizers, etc.

I love giving furniture a new life by painting it and especially love the crisp white look, but because this piece was mostly laminate, a full paint job wasn't an option.

Enter my online wallpaper search.  I found a contemporary neutral, but not overpowering print from Graham Brown, but didn't want to pay $70 per roll (with a minimum of a two roll order) for one small piece of furniture.  I found the same GB-Symmetry print from the Essence line on wallpaperwholesaler.com cheaper, and bonus - I didn't have to purchase multiple rolls!

Because the legs of this piece were one of the few areas of actual wood, I was able to sand them down and paint them white, and then moved to tackle the flat, front pieces of the credenza.  It took a lot of precision and measuring, but once I got on a roll (no wallpaper pun intended), prepping and adhering it to the furniture was really pretty easy.

My handy hubby adjusted the doors from non-working sliders to more traditional style cabinet doors and affixed the antique bronze hardware from Lowe's.

We finished our bar area between our eat-in kitchen/dining room and family room with a grid of nine white 14x18 frames and love how they pick up the white from the credenza's legs in addition to making our ceilings seem much higher by drawing your attention up to the top row of photos.

Hope you love it as much as we do! 

Best,

Ali Moore

Source List:

1. Credenza - $50 from Craig's List
2. Wallpaper - $67 (with tax and shipping)
3. Drawer and Cabinet Hardware, plus wallpaper paste and roller - approximately $30
4. Paint (Cream Delight from Valspar) - already owned

Total - Less than $150!

--


--

Eeek!  I'm so excited you all liked it.

Yes, absolutely feel free to feature on your blog.  I've written about it on my own, Three's Company (www.aliandandrewmoore.blogspot.com), but that's it.  And, I'm pretty sure my parents are the only people that read it regularly.  :)

Thanks for your interest and have a wonderful week!

Ali

The Knights

I was in Dallas for most of last week and had arranged to take pictures of my friend Rachel and her family.  I had taken their family pictures a couple of years ago when I lived in Dallas for their holiday card so hopefully they feel like they got the upgraded version of me now.

They were great sports, sledging through the mud with me.   Especially while trying to control three furry family members.  
























Meet Joe.  I learned he is almost twice of Franklin's body weight.  Whoa.























Happy parents!

























Happy family!























Such a sweet face.
























And congrats to the newly engaged couple.  Happy planning.
























Oh, Cookie.  So sly.  Your good looks can't escape my camera.























Thanks, Knight family!  It was my pleasure.

Farm Dawg

Just a few pictures from last weekend that turned out great, but weren't part of either of my shoots.

Hiawatha is a town of many things, but most known as the city of beautiful maples.  Ahh, autumn.


And Franklin had one heck of a Sunday.  Swimming in a pond, smelling all over the farm and hanging out in the tractor with Andrew.  Hot dog.







So many things to see and smell (if you're a dog) at the farm. 


But his favorite - Greg, the green eyed cat.  Not so sure the feeling is mutual.

The Spellmans

Some things are just meant to be.

Halley and I became best friends in fifth grade when we planned a Halloween party for our friends.  We spent A LOT of time together at each others houses.  A few years later, my brother and Halley's sister went to the Homecoming dance together...and maybe we had something to do with it.  And the next few years went something like this.

Noel drives me to Halley's.
Hillary drives Halley to my house.
Noel and Hillary hang out at my house.
Hillary and Noel hang out at Halley's house.
Dating.  Dating.  Dating.
Noel graduates from high school.
Hillary graduates from high school.
College, law school, N&H get engaged.
Halley tells everyone during her maid of honor speech at the wedding they can thank us for getting the happy couple together.
Baby Quinn.
Baby Brynann.
And our lives are entwined forever!

The Spellmans are a great family, and I was really pleased when they asked me to take their family photo.


Which just keeps getting more and more fun with more and more little ones!


Pretty proud grandparents, and you can see why.







I hope my future children are as cute as this.





































Aunt Halley can't get enough.


And the big year of two new babies just got bigger - happy engagement, Halley and Ryan!
holy.  blue.  eyes.


Pretty Quinnie!


And the newest edition - Jackson James Lancaster...so going to be a lady killer.
























Thanks, Spell family!  See you all at Christmas.  :)

Leyton Cole

Luke and Lori asked me to take our nephew's six month pictures last Saturday.  And, it was awesome.  Not only did we get to spend time with our little buddy, but I got to take a ton of pictures of him.  Not going to lie, I was kind of nervous.  I mean, six month pictures are pretty important.  His parents are going to look back at these when he's 20 and wonder where the time went.  Talk about pressure.  But, I think they really did turn out great.

Leyton was so intrigued by the leaves, he was just too busy to smile for all of the pictures.  But when you're this cute, it doesn't even matter.  Wouldn't life be better if all babies wore hats, all day, every day?

What the...

























Cute, happy family.  And, I thought they coordinated so well.  























Somebody loves his daddy.  And somebody loves his little boy.


Those eyes!  No wonder Grandma can't say no!






































Absolutely one of my favorites from the day.

























And, would you look at that...Mom got a smile.  





































Thanks for letting Uncle Andy and I be a part of this special day!

Curious Leyton

Sitting in the Wichita airport about to jump on a plane headed to the Big D, but I just couldn't wait to share this sneak peek of Leyton, our nephew who was just not so sure about taking his six month pictures on Saturday morning.

He is such an inquisitive little boy!  And so stinking cute.

Lots, lots, lots more to come.  :)

Nothings are Somethings

I have nothing exciting to post about.  But, I do have exciting things coming up that I can't wait to post about.  Until then - here's the latest from Wichita.

1. K-State vs. Nebraska
Hmm...not sure what to say here.  Everybody was so pumped up before the game and loved these guys coming down from the sky.


I hope this guy made it on TV.


Other than that, I'm glad Nebraska is leaving the Big 12.








































2. SPOILED.  ROTTEN.
Franklin thinks he can do what he wants.  Wherever he wants.  Wherever he wants.  Which usually means sleeping on our bed and/or grabbing pillows from the couches or bed to cuddle with. 

























3. Hey Mambo, Mambo Italiano
Andrew made pizza last night for dinner and it was his best pie yet.  For those of you that don't know, Andrew LOVES pizza.  Yes, LOVES, not loves.  He would eat it everyday if he could.  In fact he did before we got married.  When he was bachelor padding it up in Wichita before I moved from Dallas he ate a one dollar Tony's pizza every night for dinner.  Jello pudding snack pack for dessert.

He got really obsessed with grilling pizza this summer, but has resorted back to the oven after a few mishaps.  I tried to get him to guest post on the blog about his dinner last night, but he said he's just not ready for that.  (Insert eye roll here.)

So instead, I am going to blog as I think Andrew would have:

"Hi.  I made pizza last night.  Yes, Ali, I brought home another bag of flour from work.  It's okay that there are six bags of flour in our freezer and almost nothing else fits.  It was flown in from LA and has a high protein count and is awesome for pizza.  Sorry that some of us can't have cool expensive photography hobbies like you.  My hobby is pizza-making.  Be supportive.  I cook, you clean!"


Or something like that.

I have three photo shoots coming up.  Eek!  And, I can't wait to find some more of these.