As a designer-slash-organization enthusiast, I’ve been coveting the Just Organize Your Stuff (JOYS) system since the day I saw it. It’s productivity porn at it’s finest. And it’s so very lovely looking. Forget those plain-jane Franklin Covey binders with a calendar and some notepads. This thing is much more functional (and lovely. did I mention [...]

There’s no escaping work here at Fixer-Upper. Even if you’re a guest. And a baby. This beautiful babe visited us last night, and managed to find every single safety hazard in our backyard in a matter of minutes. Garden spade… ladder… big hunk of wood resting against the shed.. yep, she found them all. I [...]

Note to those thinking of buying a fixer-upper: it takes a toll on your outward appearance. I was the proud owner of some really beautiful shapely fingernails for about 24 hours. My sister-in-law’s bachelorette party was on Saturday, and we hit a local spa for some serious pampering. (Soooo much fun, so very needed.) I [...]

Judging by the deafening silence over here at Fixer-Upper, you probably think we’re whiling away the summer hours making s’mores and drinking cold beers out on the porch. I won’t lie – we’ve had a few s’mores. Some of us *cough*Teague*cough* have had more than others. But we’ve been working HARD on the house lately. [...]

Teague and I are very house-obsessed people. We can’t walk down the street without critiquing the entire neighborhood while simultaneously taking mental notes on the features we want to emulate. So we spend a good portion of our TV time flipping between remodeling shows on HGTV and TLC – especially now that Grey’s and The [...]

Gary over at This Old Crackhouse lovingly passed along what he refers to as “Houseblogger Herpes” – the internet meme that requires I share 8 random facts about me. 8! That’s a lot, especially since I already gave you 5 a while back. But I love any opportunity to talk about myself at length (obviously) [...]

Too cute not to share…. We don’t have many social gatherings at our house – I think we forget it’s not a hellhole anymore! But if we did, I’d totally want to serve dessert using this cake server from Uncommon Goods : Have a DIYer in need of a gift? You can buy it on [...]

My entire reason for living is to check things off of to-do lists; I’m a David Allen groupie, and I recently stuck a mini whiteboard to my car’s dashboard so that I can write lists on the move. (I know, not the safest addition – but it beats searching for a pen and a slip [...]

I took a break from house projects this morning to run my first road race – a 15K called “The Boilermaker” in Utica, NY – with my friend Katherine. It’s the largest 15k in the nation, with over 12,000 runners this year. The race ends at the Matt’s Brewery, where they hand out free Saranac [...]

Somewhere around Sunday afternoon on our drive back from camping in the mountains of West Virginia, I got hit with a huge surge of energy and motivation. With a week of vacation in front of me, and literally nothing planned, I suddenly saw a sea of possibility. I could hardly wait to dive in to [...]