Two amazing women

I am incredibly lucky to have two amazing women in my life that I get to call family- my mom and sister!

First off, I want to wish my sister, Robyn, a Happy Birthday- the big 3-0! :)

(Sorry Malena, this was a great picture of Robyn!)

I am so proud of my sister and all she has accomplished over the past few years. She is a wonderful mother and Cassidy is a lucky little girl! She and I share a love for all things Twilight, which I love! Her birthday gift was an awesome Team Edward water bottle and I hope she finally gets to see New Moon for her birthday. And she is so creative- I think she got a majority of the creative genes in our family, because I certainly didn't! :)

This year Robyn bought her very first house and we got a chance to see it at the end of October- I can't believe all the great things she did to make the house her home.

It looks incredible and here is proof!

The decorating gene runs in our family- it ran straight from my mom to my sister, skipping right over me! My mom is just remarkable when it comes to decorating, she has such a gift! Her own houses have all been done so beautifully and she's also had the opportunity to help others transform their spaces into something more functional and aesthetically pleasing- including Rick and I. I've posted previously about some of the decorating she's done around our current house, you can see those pictures here. Those pictures show our bedroom and family room, but she has done much more than those rooms over the years. She also helped us stage the house for selling (which you can see here), driving up for less than 24 hours to help and the house looked fabulous!

Well, earlier this year, my mom and stepdad's house was picked to be a part of the Tri-Cities annual Christmas Home Tour. It's a one-day charity event that benefits the Children's Hospital of Seattle. She's been gathering things all year and creating new decor' to prepare and apparently she made quite an impression! The women in charge of the event, which is being held today (Saturday, December 5th), came by a couple of weeks ago to preview the house for the big day. They were so impressed with what she had done, she was recommended to be showcased for a story in the Tri-City Herald to promote the Christmas Home Tour. You can read the article here if you are interested. Although they got a few facts wrong and didn't use any of the pictures they took of the house for the article, I still think it's great they picked her to highlight! I can't wait to see photos of the house and all the detail she put into each room, she truly is talented! If I get some photos from her of the house, I'll be sure to post them! I really think she should start her own blog with decorating tips and ideas.

All of this bragging about my mom and sister brings me to today and our preparations to move into the new house next Wednesday. I would truly feel lost with all of those beautiful walls to fill and was really hoping they would be able to come and help out with getting our home looking beautiful- OK, maybe more like DO the decorating, not really "help out". We have figured out they'll be able to come into town next Saturday morning, bringing with them a couch we're buying from my mom and Jim and an SUV filled with tons of things they have already purchased for the house. Yep, they were given a budget to work with and armed with photos of the new house and I think they were in decorators heaven today! I can imagine it's way more fun to shop with other people's money, especially when it's on things you enjoy looking at anyways! I'm so anxious to see what they will do to help get our house feeling more cozy and home-like in record time. If anyone can do it, they can! I look forward to being able to post some blank-wall before pictures and stunning after pictures in the weeks following our move.

So, December 5th will be a big day for two amazing women in my life: my little sister will be celebrating her birthday and joining me in the land of the 30's and my mom's hard work will pay off with many oohs and aahs from the Christmas Home Tour. It is sometimes hard not living closer to them. I would give anything to see my mom's hard work in person, but with the move and so much to get done, a trip to the Tri-Cities will not be possible this holiday season. And I would LOVE to see New Moon with Robyn and be there to celebrate such a milestone birthday with her. I think they both know how much I love them and that I'll be thinking of them a ton today!

Happy 30th Birthday Robyn!!