Christmas Festivities

Hello Everyone! We have a dinner every Christmas with some close friends. This year our friends Katy and Tim hosted. I had to take a picture of their pretty table. I didn't take the picture with a flash, (the flash makes everything look garish to me!) hence the yellow looking walls. Here's Katy below:
They are such a fun couple - we always have lots of laughs.

Instead of seeing Santa this year, we took a picture by the side of his cabin. None of us had the patience to wait in line:
I think I'm pretty much ready for Christmas. The baking and cards have all gone out. I just need to wrap gifts and clean the house for Christmas brunch with family here at our house. Are you all ready?

Holiday Parties

We're going to my husband's company party this weekend. So, of course the first thing I think of when I heard of the event was, what to wear? It's cocktail attire. Instead of buying a new dress, I'm going to wear something out of the closet. Something simple and black. The problem is I've gained 5 pounds since I wore the dresses I have and everything is a bit tight. :( On a 5 ft frame, every pound counts! Maybe if I accessorized with a pretty purse, it will be a nice distration from my mid-section?

"Choices" for sale on Etsy. Click here to view.

Have a great and safe weekend everyone!

Semi-homemade Donuts

"Donuts on a Saturday Morning" in my shop. Click here to view

A few Saturdays ago, my husband, who loves breakfast and grew up with a mom who actually prepared breakfast every single day, decided to prepare a smorgasbord of breakfast items. I don't know what got into him. Really. There was soooo much food! His spread included biscuits and gravy, sausage, scrambled eggs, and donuts. He enlisted the help of these two:

My son did not help, but wanted to be in the picture:


The donuts were semi-homemade, made from a Paula Deen recipe using refrigerated biscuits. They were fried in peanut oil, which smelled the house and made me sick the whole day. The kids had fun, and memories were made.

Have a great weekend everyone! (I don't think donuts are on the menu this weekend. Not homemade anyway! )

A Wintery Mantle

This year, I decided to go for a more Wintery scene for the fireplace mantel. I painted a mountain aspen scene, with lots of texture. I pulled some of the chartreuse and blue colors from the painting and purchased some velvet chartreuse colored pillows ($10 each at Cost Plus), and used some silvery-blue pillows that I already had.

To go with the Winter theme, I used some leftover crystals from the chandelier project on some branches I cut from our trees. Here’s our mantle last year:

It’s a completely different look this year. It’s a nice change from my traditional red that I’ve always used. Here’s a closer up of the mantle this year:

I’ll probably teak it some more as the month goes by. For now, I like the more simple look. By the way, I’ve linked this post up to Layla’s mantle party. Click here for some more holiday mantles!