"Inspired"

I went to visit my dearest and longest best friend over Thanksgiving.  Just a little background on that....we met when our oldest children were 4 months and 8 months old.  We were instant best friends.  Soul mates.  She and her family moved five hours away about a year and a half later.  We were both devastated.  However, for the last 5 years we have coffee over the phone almost every morning.  We count on each other to either call or be called at 7:45 am.  We laugh, we share trials, we lift each other up, we are a shoulder to lean on, we are a confidant, we share crazy, silly conversations, we are....in the fullest sense of the word....sisters.

My friend, Malinda, is the most wonderful decorator.  She pulls and puts things together in ways that I can only awe at.  After our visit, I became inspired to finally put something on an empty wall in our living room (for 10 years we have lived here).  I was on the phone and internet with her...taking pictures and emailing them....waiting for her to get the pictures and then making changes she would suggest.  Then more pictures emailed....more suggestions....and this is what we came up with:

I got the idea for the shelves from Pottery Barn as seen the picture below...

These start at $35.00 at pottery barn.  My husband was able to make them out of scrap wood (cherry, walnut, pine...things that were leftovers from other projects).

And here is one last idea...I took a picture of my children's hands in the snow

Put in a sweet frame and it is a different approach to a yearly picture.