I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!  This december went   ~~~  <- just like that… flew away on a gust of wind so quickly I barely had time to blink.  I realize as I type this that I say that alot!   Where did this month go?  Where did this year go?  Where did the last 13 years go?  That’s where my mind was this past December.  My baby girl turned 13!  uuuhhhh, Yes.  13!  I would say at some point in October it really hit me that I said she could wear makeup when she turned 13.  This girl already looks older than she should… and makeup will not only add even more fictitious years, but wearing makeup AND being thirTEEN…  brings about a certain sassy confidence that I am not ready for.  At all.  In fact, please put me on your prayer lists.

I needed something to get me through it.  To help me process all that was sure to come.

A gift.

One that keeps the hands busy.

If I gave her a place to sit and do her makeup, it would be special for both of us.

It all started with a vanity and dream.

And ended up being a whole new room.

A whole new room right before Christmas.  What in the world was I thinking???

I was all over the web hunting down photos for inspiration.  You see, I had all kinds of things saved for her room but when I looked at them… I saw me.  This room needed to be her.  Glam and Fab.

I made a Pinterest board so I could see ideas all together and figure it out.

Then I created a mood board of how I really wanted it to be.  I planned to use as much of what we already had as possible.  Saved it as A1.3.  And this is only a rough version with some things not included.

Then I went missing.  I banned myself from FB.  From the computer.

I had to hunt down pieces. Fabric. Paint. Sew. Decorate the house for Christmas. Get a tree.

Bake cookies. Gingerbread House.

Shop. Wrap. Pack. Travel.  Plan for AJ’s visit.  And I know I’m missing things in that list.  Oh, like make a wreath!

Hello!  I can’t just leave well enough alone!  Why?  Life was already busy enough.

As you can imagine, I needed the kids to get to bed early most nights, so I slipped some sleeping potion in their hot chocolate.

Okay, not really… but man, I wish.  Mom – see.. I’m using the mugs you bought me!

* Because I added all of this to my life at such a busy time, I decided not to do Christmas cards.  To all of you who sent us cards, Thank You so much!  Each and every one of them warmed my heart. <3

Did I mention that this was a surprise gift?  mmhmm.  All done without her knowing.  Which gave me limited time to work.  Here was the plan.  Get all the pieces done, hidden and ready to place in her room after it was painted.  She flew up to PA on the 17th, so I was going to paint her walls and get everything in there before she came back, but before AJ came down to visit on Christmas day so I could give him my full attention while he was here.  But then we planned to head to MI for a few days and were leaving right after Alycia’s flight on the 17th.  AHHHH!  Still okay.  I could manage.  I planned well enough.  I cleaned out her whole room and pulled out tack after tack and tack from her walls (she used them to hang posters and stuff).  As I was taking everything down, I noticed all the nail pops in the walls.  Such a bummer.  We have a fit and finish warranty  on the house and I had scheduled the guy to come out on Jan 4th to fix all of them in the house.  Did I want to paint only to have them fix those and then have to repaint?  Uh, no.  Again, such a bummer.  At this point I felt defeated.  All of the running around and extra work and stress for nothing.  I put what I had done in her room so she could get a good idea of what it will be like when finished.  She cried when she saw it.  Tears of joy! What more could I ask for?

Tomorrow we’ll talk about her chandelier.

13, sheesh!