The Best Christmas Songs Ever

Dolly and Kenny's Christmas album is my favorite ever. I grew up listening to it and still faithfully listen every Christmas. This summer, I found the vinyl in Nashville, Indiana for $2 which felt like a Christmas-In-July miracle. :)

I just can't even express HOW much I love these songs. They make my heart so happy and take me on such a journey of emotions.

Dolly wrote "Once Upon A Christmas" and I think it's SUCH a powerful song about the birth of Jesus. The dancers get a little weird in this performance toward the end, but the song is so beautiful. If you've never heard it, you should definitely listen now!

My favorite lyrics:

All the world rejoiced because the King was born at last / A savior had been promised, now it had come to pass / And the joyful news that He was born spread quickly far and wide / Once upon a Christmas was the birth of Jesus Christ

Aaaaand, so sappy, but I can appreciate this song so much more now as a newlywed. :)

"The Greatest Gift Of All:"


Love, love, love them.

Merry Christmas, y'all!

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

Silent Night

I really have no words for Newtown, just grief. My heart aches and I can barely process what happened.

Saturday Night Live honored the victims this weekend during the cold open. Watch the New York Children's Choir sing "Silent Night" below. Within this context, the song takes on a whole new meaning.

Sleep in heavenly peace.

New Roof + Old Living Room

Our roof was looking REALLY rough but we weren't sure if it had actual hail damage. I called our insurance company and sure enough, we did have damage and we were approved for a new roof... which is awesome, since I think ours might have been around 20 years old.

Look at the before (yikes! very embarrassing to post this!):


Sooo bad.

But, here's the happy after!


The roofer recommended a multi-colored roof for our gray house and I like it! It gives it some interest.

It's just another step toward listing our house in the spring! We actually have some people coming to look at our house on Saturday... I guess they really want to buy in the neighborhood and their agent contacted the realtor we will list with in the spring, and we said "sure!" so they're coming by. Our house is definitely not ready to be shown based on all the stuff we still have here, but I bought the house when it was a disaster, so maybe they will too. :)

I want to do a post about the stages of our house - what it looked like when I bought it, when I went through my Pottery Barn stage, what it looks like now, and what it looks like when it's for sale. For now, here's a preview! This is a photo of the living room from the listing when I bought it:

Wow, right??? Loved the brick paneling that doesn't even match... It gives me hope that our house isn't as hopeless as it seems. :)

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

Vintage Bloggers and Re-sellers Facebook Group

On a whim (I am pretty impulsive), I created a Facebook group for Vintage Bloggers and re-sellers. I invited my Facebook friends who fall into that category and from there, it has grown into a nice little community!

I am not as active as I would like to be due to time constraints, but I love that there are so many friendly re-sellers connecting and discussing their strategies, the items they find, and more. Everyone is so helpful and so nice!

If you are a Vintage Blogger or Re-seller, feel free to join by clicking this link!

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

Recent Finds (Thanksgiving Edition)

I hadn't had a chance to post about my Thanksgiving finds yet! I'm sooo behind.

Just a few things to add to my booth...


I really like ceramic horse figurines right now! Horses and fawns, those are my go-to's right now. And of course, it's hard to pass by a paint-by-number! Love this little cardinal (is that what it is? I'm so bad with birds).

This mosaic clock caught my eye - it has a little stand so it can sit up or be hung. The colors are really beachy, which I don't typically like, but the shape makes it look more retro-cool than beach house. And finally, a ceramic Christmas boot. I can't stay away from handmade vintage Christmas ceramics!!

Just a few things - nothing TOO exciting, but it's always good to add new things to the booth!

And a note on the booth - it was so jam-packed that every time I visited, I swore that nothing had sold. In fact, I did sell merchandise last month and even made a tiny bit. I thought for sure I would owe! I was very thankful to receive my check!

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

A Few New Heirlooms

I'm not sure if "heirloom" is the right word, but these are things I was recently given that were in my family.

The birds were in my granny's house but she downsized recently and I got the birds and Andy got 45s. She knows us so well! :)

I actually bought a bird like these off etsy years ago and then found 2 more that are in my booth. These are so special since they hung in her house! I love them!

The key holder might be hard to see - I was taking photos in terrible lighting! It's a little wooden paddle with 3 hooks and was handpainted by my mammaw. 


So excited to find a home for these - if not now, then in our next house. Our goal is to list our house in the spring and hopefully find a new house in the same neighborhood but with more room. Very exciting!

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

Roostered

I've had a one track mind the past 2 weeks and that's been... THE ROOSTER.

I got an email tonight that the story was cut from This American Life, but I'm actually relieved. I was nervous about the owners finding out that I was actively trying to get their rooster re-homed. (They would never see this, but it's feasible that someone that knows them could hear the story and then tell them.)

In any case, it was a blast talking to Ira so much this week and having that experience.

The rooster has been re-homed. We can actually sleep tonight. I'm so thankful!

I'll blog about real things next week. It's been a crazy two weeks. I've been pretty grumpy from a lack of sleep.

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

Really??

Our Tiny Christmas Tree (And This American Life Update)

Last year, we put our Christmas tree in front of our dining room window because we had a tiny little dining room table and it could fit. In January, we replaced our dining room table with this awesome Craigslist find and now we don't have room for our tree!

So, we bought a very tiny itsy bitsy tree.


It's tiny. But, I love it! My mom sent us home from Thanksgiving with a small box of special ornaments from my granny's* house including ornaments that my mammaw and great-grandmother made.


I love them! I grew up with some of these types of ornaments and now I love having my own!

I've also been hanging on to a needlepoint ornament from Andy's family. It's so special to have a tree that is strictly sentimental!

*My granny is my great-aunt who "adopted" me after my mammaw passed away. She's amazing!

---

Roostergate update! I talked to Ira twice yesterday and we'll talk again today. As a former interviewer, it is so fun to be interviewed by someone I admire so much!

Before I knew where the rooster lived, it was easy to think, "I'll call animal control since there's a rooster running loose," but it feels more human and more personal now that we know which house he belongs to.

Ira convinced me that we should go talk to our neighbors rather than calling animal control on them. I had been feeling really conflicted - I don't want anything bad to happen to the rooster, but he needs to live elsewhere for his safety and my sanity. It's just not safe to have a rooster running loose on a busy, residential street!

We tried talking to our neighbors last night but they wouldn't answer their door the three times we knocked, even though someone was clearly home. We talk to Ira at 11 today and I'm afraid the story has been roadblocked by the fact they won't answer their door to talk to us. I might try this morning before I go to work. Wish us luck!

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

Roostergate and Contributing to This American Life

I have so many blog posts I need to write but I'm foregoing them all right now for an exciting story!

Last Monday morning, I dreamed that I was hearing a rooster. The crowing sound persisted, though, and when my eyes opened, I still heard it.

I thought maybe Andy had accidentally set his alarm and that it had a crazy rooster setting. Cockadoodle doo over and over and over again. I woke him up to ask if I was hearing a REAL rooster and he confirmed that I was.

We don't live in the country; we live in metro Nashville where it's illegal to have a rooster. You can have chickens but NO roosters.

Every morning between 5 and 7am, the rooster crows and crows and crows. Sometimes, it sounds like it's right outside our window... because it IS right outside our window.

Our neighbor lets his illegal rooster roam around the neighborhood. On Friday, I saw the rooster walking through my neighbors' front yards, dangerously close to the street!

The whole situation leaves me feeling frustrated... and sleep-deprived!

When I read that This American Life was accepting listener-submitted stories, I felt like this "illegal urban rooster" (the subject of my email to them!) would be an interesting tale. I received an email from the producer a few hours later which led me to begin documenting Roostergate.

I have had SO much fun recording audio and interviewing neighbors about the rooster. Working on this has helped me get back in touch with my roots as an interviewer (that's the bulk of what I did for 7 years up until a few months ago!). I submitted my audio files last night and I think Ira Glass will be calling today to record with me.

I'm pinching myself!

I love This American Life so much. It's my go-to podcast in the car for long drives. I have been so inspired, so moved, and so entertained throughout the years by it. I met Ira at a signing (there are few people I would stand in line in Nashville [a too cool for school town] to meet and Ira is at the top of that list along with Glen Hansard!) and he was so nice and so gracious. I am so excited to hopefully be able to speak with him today and to contribute to one of my favorite programs.

I am so giddy and so thankful!

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)