Pink Roses

Happy Thanksgiving...

I have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving...health, family, friends, and true happiness.  These four smiling faces will be at my table on Thursday, and I am most thankful for that.  And then Katie's 21st birthday is on Friday...another reason to celebrate.  I have much to do to prepare for their arrival (Christopher and Katie arrive tonight!), but I will do it with joy in my heart :) I hope Thanksgiving finds you with the ones you love, creating memories and counting your blessings.  With love from my home to yours...xo

my favorite people...

My parents arrived on Monday for a week long visit, and Christopher and Katie are coming home from college tonight for Fall Break.  For the next 4 days I'm going to have all my favorite people in my house {E is here too}!  I'm SO happy! I'll be back next week...

all time favorites…

Two of my all time favorite things are this tiny Santa that belonged to my grandmother, and Christopher’s black and white leather baby shoes from his first Christmas.  I keep the Santa out year round in my china cabinet, and his shoes sit on a table in the family room.  Every Christmas I put them together and it makes me super happy…

(Christmas 1990-Elizabeth age 3-Christopher 9 months)

And speaking of happy…my parents will be happy tonight , as the kids and I are flying to the great white north this evening to spend a few days at their home in Pennsylvania.  Yesterdays storm has them blanketed in snow…it always feels like Christmas with snow!  My brother and sister along with their families will be there too…nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents…my family is my greatest gift EVERY day, but to be with everyone at Christmas time is such a joy! 

Wishing each and every one of you the most Merry Christmas of all!

soft and shabby…

“JOY” banner I made a few years ago in a class taught by Pam Garrison…

a beautiful embroidered piece by Rebecca Sower…

 

a tussie mussie made in a class taught by Jennifer Paganelli…

the perfect pale pink satin Christmas stocking trimmed with sequins and netting…a flea market find…

strands of wired pearls draped across the mirror in the dining room…

I love all the colors of Christmas!

 

merry and bright…

 

entry table…

white and blue and silver…this tiny chair ornament with a wee flower frog and little vintage ball…

mercury glass votives and a plastic angel…

flea market felt angel {love her}…

a bottle brush forest…

this is what’s on the table in the entry…

dining details…

 

The house is clean today, so I snapped a few pictures of everything decorated.  Minimal decorating this year, but because we pulled out our very favorite things, I am quite content.  First stop, the dining room…

pretty much the same as last year…a little more pink…

 

extra jewels on the mannequin…a new (vintage) flower…

and a new (vintage) pink crinoline layered over the white one…I bought the pink crinoline at Second Chance Antiques last month in Omaha ($15.00)

 

The cupcake stand and cloche are new, from Anthropologie…

 

and the silver metal tree is from Walgreens Drug Store (99 cents!)… it also comes in gold

 

more to come…

enjoying the season…

Lather, Rinse, Repeat.  Those are the directions on the side of my shampoo bottle.  Well, if my life had directions right now, it would say: Clean, Cook, Entertain, Repeat.  I am not complaining, just saying life has been full and busy, but we are enjoying the season.  Holiday and Football :)  Thanksgiving was at our house, and Christopher and Katie came home for 6 days…

I am grateful to her parents that they let us have her for Thanksgiving, and her 20th birthday.  We do love this girl!

(and yes, he has shaved off the “no shave November” face…the hair remains)

We got the tree up, and the house (simply) decorated the day after Thanksgiving, and hosted a party.  Had another party this past weekend for the SEC & ACC College Football Championship games, and the kids came home again.  Our team won…Roll Tide!  Clean, Cook, Entertain, Repeat…

We are enjoying the season, and the house, and our friends and family…

some of us are really enjoying the tree!

I’ve got more Christmas decorations IN boxes, than on display, but that’s OK for this year.  I give myself permission to relax and enjoy and not be a perfectionist.  I give you permission too…

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Wishing you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving!  

anthropologie-ish...

The other day I mentioned that I was a little bit lost without my usual decorate-by-numbers scheme I have been using in the dining room for the past 12 years.  This past spring I changed the walls from red to linen white, the furniture went from cherry to various shades of chipping white, and the table went from rectangle to round.  Everything is different, so I had to re-think my whole decorating plan.  I was determined not to buy anything new, and be creative with stuff I already had.  Every year I use this silver champagne bucket in the center of the table with poinsettias in it...(click here to see last year)

This year I wanted to change it up a bit, and so I thought...what would they do at Anthropologie?  The answer was: use something ordinary and common, but use it in a way you would never expect.  Sticking with the cream, pink and silver theme, I looked around the house to find something in those colors.  I found what I needed in my knitting stash....

I stuck a silver tinsel tree in the center of the bowl, and wrapped it in a pale pink scarf that I knitted last winter.  Then I placed various balls of pink and cream yarn on top of the scarf...

It's quirky, but I'm kinda loving it...not quite sure if it's a hit or a miss.

I'm using silver chargers with creamware plates and the napkin holders came from Anthropologie's after Christmas sale a few years ago.  I did have to buy a new tablecloth because I didn't have a round one.

Little damask votive's from Michael's, 40% off last spring...

Here's the finished table...

 

and the sideboard...

 

 

I keep switching things around, but I am going to stop now...there's a 10 foot naked tree in the sunroom calling my name...