happy vday: valentine decor and a new blog design

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope someone does something nice for you today, or that you've decided just to do something for yourself.  I'm doing a little bit of both today, spreading the love and giving a little to myself.  Tonight, my family of three is going out for a laid back dinner and maybe a Redbox movie after.  R got a little goodie bag with bath toys, M&M's and a dinosaur sandwich cutter.  I ordered my husband a Hoodie Pillow, which he's been talking about since seeing it on Shark Tank.  They're back ordered due to high demand, but J was pretty excited when he pulled the picture I printed out of his card this morning.

Ridic, I know.  He will actually use this thing.  I'm not kidding.

As a gift to myself, I had this old blog redecorated.  I worked with Grey Loves Design on etsy and she was fab.  I had to email her with a cry for help and she solved all my problems.  If you visited in the last month, you may have seen a different blog name but 'the story so far' is back and (hopefully) better than ever.  I liked the name I temporarily changed to, but paying for two domains and dealing with all of that was just not worth it.  I think it will make a perfect name for my business (which is what, I still don't know) so I'm just going to keep it in my back pocket for now.

Today is also my amazing sister's birthday.  She has HATED sharing her bday with vday forever, so we try to gloss over the red hearts and whatnots in favor of all things birthday.  She just had a sweet baby boy a week and a half ago so I wished her lots of naps and a super happy baby.  Happy 26th, sister!  Bet you never thought you'd be celebrating it with a little guy of your own!

After the Christmas decorations came down and while recovering from the two parties I hosted during holiday season, I just didn't have it in me to go full out with my valentine decor.  I started to decorate my weird mantel (you can see most of it here), but I'm so over that thing.  Some might think that two mantels mean more decorations, but it just meant headaches for me.  Do I decorate the top or the bottom shelf?  Both?  Here's the answer: NEITHER.  Instead, I focused on my family/vintage china cabinet.  

Forgive the lighting.  The cabinet is in the worst spot to photograph with no natural light getting anywhere near it.  It doesn't help that I snapped this at 5:30 am with my phone and the living room, hallway, and guest bath lights on to try and brighten it.  Pic FAIL. 

When I decorate this cabinet, I just pull from my reserves which I conveniently store inside.  This time, I pulled all the red and pink I could find. I always have pictures of my little guy and a combination of DIYs, gifts and clearance finds.  The little R on the bottom shelf is the most recent purchase - clearance from Michaels.  It's actually a Christmas ornament!  Use whatcha got, girl.

(Holy hell cats these pictures are terrible.  Scout's honor they will not be this bad again!)  

Up top is more of the same.  My DIY chalkboard, an antique candy dish from my grandma and a DIY tip jar from our wedding make a great mix of old and new.  Decorating this cabinet is so much easier and more fun than my mantel!  No stress and really, I could leave this up past V-Day and no one would think twice.  If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know I can't leave this up because it needs to be packed away... for moving... again...

How did you decorate for the holiday for love?  Do you have big plans tonight?  What do you think of the new blog design?  If you follow me on Instagram, you could have helped pick the design...

I'm using the italics like subliminal advertising... You're following me on Instagram now, aren't you?