A Review of 2016

Hello Lovelys!

I hope you had a fabulous Christmas surrounded by family and friends!

I was sad to see Christmas go, but it’s time to ring in the New Year and I couldn’t be more ready!

What do you do to celebrate New Years?

Do you make resolutions?

Do you look back on memories of the previous year?

Do you declutter your home?

Do you take a trip?

Do you set goals as a family?

I do all of the above (minus the trip) plus eat a lot of black eyed peas, ham, and cabbage. The eating and the decluttering are probably my favorite. I’m not big on resolutions because I know that I will only stick to them for the first few months and then some extenuating circumstance will come along and I’ll lose my focus. But I do like to set goals and talk about what I would like to accomplish in the next year going forward.

It never fails, around this time of year I start feeling the need to organize, declutter, clean, purge, and organize some more. I’m not sure what it is but I wake up the day after Christmas and I start thinking about where I’m going to put all the new stuff we got and my mind starts racing. (this sounds like I’m complaining about a problem, I’m really not, this is actually not a problem at all, it’s just the way my mind works)

2017 is still a few days away and so far I’ve cleaned out the console of my car (while I was driving, I know, I know I just couldn’t help it) the medicine closet, and my son’s book shelf. We’ve only been home for 4 days and I’ve already taken 1 load to Goodwill. AHHHHH insert emoji hands with the hash marks in between them. (what are those called by the way?)

Anyways, in addition to purging junk and organizing, I like to look back on the previous year so I thought I would do a review of 2016 by month. Hopefully one of this years blog posts will spark an idea in you for 2017…

January 2016

In January I completed a little bathroom makeover in our master bathroom. I say “little” because there was no demo-ing involved or anything like that. Just some fresh paint, a DIY frame for the mirror, and some new light fixtures. Just doing those 3 things (all by myself, except for when my husband installed the lights) made it look like a completely new and updated space! If you missed that post you can read it by clicking here…

February 2016

In February I showed you how a friend of mine turned some ordinary deer antlers into really cool wall decor for her son’s bedroom. If you missed that post you can read about it by clicking here…

During Mardi Gras my husband and I took our first real vacation without our son to Palm Springs, CA! It was THE MOST amazing trip and I came back totally in love with a new city I didn’t even know existed, right here in the US. I didn’t have a chance to edit my photos or blog about it but wanted to share a few pictures of the house where we stayed and some fun moments from our trip. I plan to do a full blog post about this soon. If you are curious in the mean time and looking for a fun vacation rental, here is the link to the house where we stayed …

March 2016

March was Cancer Prevention Month so I shared with you some information from the MAA Center on how to keep your environment cancer free. In case you missed it, we discussed how research shows that cancer is less than 10% genetic (certain types of breast cancer and colon cancer), leaving the remaining 90% to toxins in our environment. I gave a few examples of how to detoxify your home and shared with you a wonderful company that I love that makes toxin free products and sells them in their online grocery store called Melaleuca.com. If you missed this post you can read it by clicking here….

April 2016

In April, I posted a tutorial on how to make decorative rosary beads to give as the perfect end of the year teacher gift. If you missed that post you can read about it by clicking here…

This was the month I also created my first free printable: a Declutter Organizer to help you make a master plan for decluttering your home. If you missed this post you can read it by clicking here. You can also download and print our free printables at anytime by visiting the “Printables” page on the top menu bar…

May 2016

In March we went to a friend’s hunting camp to celebrate a birthday for one of our mutual friends. It was one of the most amazing hunting camps I’ve ever been to. The decor was something straight out of a Pottery Barn catalogue. I did a blog post about the dinner table my friend’s and I created and shared it with you in May. If you missed that post you can read it by clicking here…

In May I also shared a recipe with you for Taco Cupcakes that I found on the-girl-who-ate-everything.com and a free meal planning printable from Ninahendrick.com. If you missed this post you can read it by clicking here…

June 2016

June was a busy month!

I found a recipe for Lemon Butter Chicken on Juliasalbum.com that I now make atleast once a month. OMG my mouth is watering. If you missed that post you can read about it by clicking here…

Then I shared my $40 DIY Kitchen Helper with you, including plans on how to build one yourself! If you missed that post you can read it by clicking here…

To wrap up the month, I designed a mood board for Douglas Elliman Real Estate about my Florida Dream Home. This was a fun project! If you missed that post you can read about it by clicking here…

July 2016

This was a tough month for me personally as we had our first miscarriage. It was during this time that I realized how thankful I am to have this blog and my tight knit community of followers and friends to give me a productive outlet of distraction and will me back to a cheerful state of mind. I will never forget the summer of 2016 because it was then that I realized how much I really love blogging, DIY projects, and helping people decorate their homes. This summer was a season of reflection on what is really important to me, how I want to spend my time going forward, what my purpose is in life outside of being a wife and a mother (that was a tough one), and how to truly trust in God’s timing. I am a planner and a list checker but I learned that the very first thing on my list should always be “Be Still…Psalm 46:10”. (kind of funny that a pillow with this very verse on it from a new sponsor would end up at my house in just a few short months. See our Instagram if you missed that post)

In July I managed to squeeze in 1 very fun project that was different from my ordinary home decor DIY’s. I shared with you a tutorial on how to make a Princess & The Pea Play Set for $26 that usually retails for $130! If you missed this post you can read about it by clicking here…

August 2016

In August, I learned how to spell “mantel” as in fireplace M-A-N-T-E-L because when I shared our Summer Fireplace Mantel, my husband pointed out that I spelled it wrong in my already edited photo with graphics! Oh well. If you missed this post, and to see my boo boo, you can read about it by clicking here…

September 2016

In mid September, I styled a photoshoot for a friend of mine who is an artist. I haven’t gotten around to blogging about it yet, but it was SO fun! I got to meet and work with some really great ladies, one of whom I now consider a new friend! Here is a sneak peak of some of the photos from the shoot. Full blog post and details coming soon. All photos were taken by sarahallemanphotography.com …

Picnic scene styled by the lovely ladies at Five Seasons Cooking

In late September, I took you on a tour of our home decorated for the Fall. If you missed that post you can see it by clicking here…

October 2016

In early October I decided to also decorate our back Patio For Fall. I was able to get everything I needed for this space from Homegoods which made it super easy! If you missed that post you can read it by clicking here…

In mid October I was beyond thrilled to add CeCe Caldwells as a sponsor and completed a sideboard makeover with her amazing chalk paint!! If you missed that post you can read it by clicking here…

November 2016

At the beginning of November I decided to take a leap of faith and start advertising my holiday decorating services to people in our area. If you missed that post you can read about it by clicking here…

Around this same time, Lemons to Lovelys became an official dot com!!!! The website got a makeover by the amazingly talented Sara Duckett from Sadie Olive and we switched from being hosted by Blogspot to WordPress. Confused? If you didn’t notice the change that’s because you were automatically rerouted to the new site from the old address. Why the change? Lots of technical reasons, but mainly so that it’s easier to search Lemons to Lovelys in Google. I hope to add some new features to the site in 2017. I’m still learning my way around this very technical world of blogging.

December 2016

Last but not least, December 2016 was my favorite blogging month to date! I hosted my very first Holiday Home Tour with 7 other bloggers and absolutely loved ALL of the ladies who participated with me. I really went all out this year decorating our home for Christmas. It was a great way to close out 2016! If you missed that post you can read it by clicking here…