Happy New Year!!!!

Well, it is now 2012…actually it has been for 8 days now but who’s counting right?  I wanted to start my first “real” post of the New Year by actually posting my goals for the year here, out in the blogisphere where I can be held accountable.  This is that post.  I have been thinking about my goals for this year and subdividing them into categories.  These are subject to change at any time though due to unforeseen circumstances but at least I will have them documented.   Oh, and these goals all pertain to what will be shared here on the blog.  These do not necessarily encompass all of my goals as some things I want to keep private.  So, here goes…

1.  One of my main goals this year is to really watch expenses.  I have been OOC as my husband has deemed it.  OOC stands for Out of Control!  He is right in some respects so in order to get things back under control my goal this year is to spend NO money on myself for the entire year.  This is going to be super difficult for me as anyone that knows me knows I do love clothes, and shoes, and handbags, and jewelry…but none of those will be purchased this year.  This leads to my next goal.

2.  I have been seriously neglecting my fashion posts so I am going to do one post a week with a picture of every outfit I’ve worn that week to work.  In addition to this, I will NOT wear the same thing twice to work all year.  I have a few addendums to this one.  First of all this doesn’t mean that I won’t wear the same thing twice, it just means I won’t wear the EXACT same thing twice.  And, an outfit must vary by more than just jewelry to count as a new outfit.  This also does not apply to after work or weekend wear.  Make sense?  So, I am obviously going to wear the same pair of pants more than once but I won’t wear the same pants, blouse, sweater, scarf, shoes, and jewelry.  I will change up at least 1 thing and that 1 thing must be more than just the jewelry.  As time marches on this is going to be harder and harder to do so I think that is when the blog posts will become more interesting as I struggle to figure out something that I haven’t worn before while not buying anything new.  Stay tuned!  I think these posts are going to be fun.  I will be posting the weeks worth of clothes on either Saturday or Sunday of every week.  This will also mean that at a minimum I will have at least one post a week this entire year.

3.  I will redecorate the guest room to create a truly inviting space that welcomes guests in our home.  This room is the next on our agenda and I want to get it finished by the end of the first quarter of the year.  The project will include:  re-texturing the ceiling, painting, installing hard wood floors, updating furniture, replacing linens, and decorating and accessorizing the space. 

4.  I will clean and re-organize my scrapbook room to make it a much more functional easy to work in space.  I do not want to spend any money on this project though. This room is going to have to wait until later to get it’s turn at a full makeover.

5.  Clean out the laundry room – organize.  My laundry room is really a great room but you could never tell that by looking at it now.  It’s a giant bundle of mess!  I want to change that this year along with the storage room to organize both spaces to maximize the usefulness of both rooms.  This will be another no money spent room.  It also has to wait its turn for a full makeover.

6.  Redecorate/redesign the gameroom/bar.  This is going to be one of our biggest projects of the year I believe.  I want to completely redo the entire room.  I want to build a custom bar, remove the pool table, purchase a new sectional, purchase a big screen TV and mount to the wall, paint, remove the popcorn ceiling, and do some sort of concrete treatment for the floor.

7.  Redecorate the living room.  Our living room is really lacking identity right now.  I just recently threw away our area rug and I just purchased a new one online and I’m waiting for it to come in.  Once that rug comes in I plan on building the room around the rug.  Projects will include removing the popcorn from the ceiling, repainting the ceiling to accentuate the different levels of the design we have in the ceiling, repainting the walls, installing a large crown molding, replacing all curtains, and redesigning all accessories.

So, that is it for now.  I’m sure there will be other things that come up over the course of the year but for now these are my goals.  I just need this shoulder of mine to heal so I can get started and boy howdy am I ready for that to happen.

In the meantime though, I’ve removed all of my Christmas décor and I’m trying to redecorate my living areas by replacing my non-Christmas stuff but trying to change it all up and put things together differently while not buying anything new.    Here is one of my new arrangements.  I had all of this but I never put them all together like this before.  I’m really into cloches right now so I “made” this one.

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The glass part of this cloche is actually an upside down candle holder I had that used to sit in an iron stand.  The base is a lazy susan that I bought at the Salvation Army Thrift Store for $2.00.  It started like this:

I spray painted it in heirloom white and just set the dome on top of it.  For the insides, I used a fleur-de-lis that I had already.  It came in a set of 3 little doo-dads from one of those discount catalogs (LTD Commodities) about 5 or more years ago.  The ball is from a set of 3 that I bought at Target I think about 3 or so years ago.  The block with our initial I got at an Estate Sale for $2.00.  The key I got at another Estate Sale a few months ago as well.  Together I think they make a great little vignette.  Here it is again, all put together.

I have this sitting on my coffee table in my living room.  I’ll post some more of my other new vignette arrangements soon.  I’m still working on most of them and doing all of them without buying anything new.  Like I said, this OOC Chick is getting her groove on and making do with what I have!  So, what are your project goals for the coming year?  Please share with everyone in the comments!  I would love to hear what everyone else wants to get done in 2012!