House Beautiful

So Long, 2011, Helloooo 2012!

A wise person once said: Like sand through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.  I mean, not to sound like a broken record but seriously, are we the only ones who felt this last year whoosh right on by in warp speed?

2011 was both the best of times, and sometimes, well, the worst of times.  It had unbelievable highs for us here at Covet Living, and it also had major lows.  But, as is the case with anything the two of us are put through, we took it all in, tried to learn a little, and worked on appreciating the lesson given to us.

Below are some of the highlights from both of us this past year:

1. Our big girl Steph landed herself a brand, spankin new job. Aka, Stella Got Her Groove Back.  Translation = consistent paychecks for Steph to spend on vacations with her blogette better half!  I smell a springtime reunion…

2. With both of us having fancy jobs, we got to travel more for work as well as for play.

(Karrie’s 36-hour jaunt to Paris.  This pic taken after her 11th crepe of the day)

(Charleston, SC.  Literally Steph’s other home)

(Kitzbuhel, Austria for Karrie)

(Dallas for Steph)

3. Karrie ended a 6-month stay in San Diego and headed on back to Santa Monica, this time with her handsome fiance in tow.

4. Steph turned the big 3-0!

She rallied through her celebration weekend with friends, her mom, and with nothing but style and grace:

5. Like last year, we lost some people very dear to us, including Steph’s grandmother Ruthie, a feisty, wise woman who bestowed a mischievous spirit onto her granddaughter, as well as an ardent love of life and family.

*Side note: Ruthie is known as the grandma who never, and we mean never, missed one second of Steph’s hundreds of v-ball matches growing up, or the basketball games to watch her cheer.

6. Our babies really started to grow up! Ok not our babies, mind you, but our loved ones’ bundles of joy, who are becoming sweet little ladies:

(On the top: Little Miss Halie, who has no idea just how pampered she will be during the next, oh, 18+ years.  On the bottom: Steph’s adorable niece Rainer)

7. We continued to dish on gorgeous, drool-worthy design – our true passion.  We managed to spotlight a few designers, including Nate Turner:

(Classic-meets-Boho glam)

And Kristen Buckingham:

(With her hubby, Lindsay)

8. We added a couple new guest bloggers to the site: Jess, our food blogger, with a penchant for scrumptious and healthy meals, and Cory, who had words of advice and a killer smile which got our lady readers completely swooning:

9. Reunions! We got to see each other five (!) times this year.  With busy lives, the price of plane tickets and thousands of miles between us, we think our track record this year was pretty stellar.

(First, a February trip for Steph out West to Saaaan Diaaago)

(Next, Chi-town for Memorial Day misbehavin’)

(Lake time in July, for boating, bonding and epic Marky Mark dance-offs)

(Palm Springs for Karrie’s bachelorette party in September)…

…(Cause we’re the three best friends that anyone could have)

…(Pretty sure a couple of these girls were on a ’99 video of Girls Gone Wild)

(And in November, there was THIS occasion..)

10. Karrie and Tim got hitched! After 10 years since they’d last seen each other, a reunion thanks to Facebook, and 3 years after their first date.

Steph was on hand for late night pre-wedding house parties, the most endearing and hilarious rehearsal speech, and for wedding day laughs/event planning skills/post-wedding dance parties.  Hearts.

So that’s our year in a nutshell, friends.  We’ll take it, all of it.  Thank you for continuing to read our little blog, for commenting on our posts, and for tips on ways to make it better.

(via)

“New Year’s Day… now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” – Mark Twain

xoxo,

and  

5 Responses to “So Long, 2011, Helloooo 2012!”


  • Ohhhh this might just be my favorite post!! i LOVE IT!! and halie got a shout-out!!! you girls are so lovely. you helped some people get through the year…and never ever ever will I forget it. mwah mwah mwah.

  • Love it! Awesome wrap up of a year that came and left way too quickly. Thanks for allowing us loyal readers to follow you both on an amazing journey.

  • “With style and grace” – bahahhaa. You are a hoot, Kare Bear. Thank you for including the nice words about Ruthie 🙂 PS: look how BALD Halie was last year! That little sweet pea has grown up so fast! PPS: how cool is Rainer!?

  • How lovely…just NOW reading…Can you guess, one “effort” (not resolution…) was to be more WEB-SAVY????? Thanks for the photos of Halie…Right about that pamper stuff…Love to you fab gals…Marge

Leave a Reply