It’s that time of year again, Christmas cheer, parties, trees, overeating, lots of drinking…you know the drill. We’ve had our tree up since the Saturday after Thanksgiving (it actually fell on our nephew, making us go out and buy a new tree stand).
My dad happens to grow Christmas trees as a hobby, and so we get a real tree every year. This year we managed to get one of his largest, at around 8 feet tall. My husband aspires to have a larger tree, but we will see when that happens.
As far as other decorations, I don’t go too overboard. I would, but we have cats, and I have a husband who can only take so much. We have a few stockings, but never fill them, as we don’t really do Christmas presents to one another anymore. We’re not good with the gift giving, we usually end up exchanging as soon as we have both done our shopping. And what’s the fun in that?
So instead we just host a party, have yankee swaps, and exchange gifts with our families. And this year we won’t be doing too much of that either, as we are going to Mexico in the new year with my family. Which happens to be infinitely better than material things that I want but would never actually buy for myself.
I won’t make you empty promises of pictures from our party, but darn it, I’m going to try. It looks like it’s going to be smaller this year than average, which will make for a nice intimate holiday party with way too much food. But that’s how I roll, I like to be prepared. I feel it’s better to have too much than to run out of food. And besides, who doesn’t like leftover beef stew or mac and cheese? And not to mention all the lovely desserts…
…was a total success. We had tons of food (of course), lots of wine, and great company. Here are a few shots from the day. I hope to update my other blog soon with more recipes of things we ate, but for now here is the table.
So as promised I’m actually sharing a sneak peek at the tablescape BEFORE Thanksgiving. Amazing, I know. Anyway, I happened to spend at least an hour in Home Goods the other day, in search of something to adorn my table.
The husband and I actually spent about half an hour there the day before (how I managed THAT I don’t really know), and left without purchasing anything. We had picked out some interesting pieces, but didn’t want to spend a lot, nor were we totally convinced. He made a valid point that we didn’t want things that were too tall and would make it hard to see the people across the table from you.
So I came home with these candlestick holders (the fact that I got enough matching ones is a miracle in itself).
All in all I spent around $56 on 5 candle holders, and 3 sets of candles. Not too shabby for a Thanksgiving tablescape, and one that I can keep up for much of the year. Especially since everywhere else I looked was much more expensive. I have a few other things to add before it’s done, and unfortunately you’re going to have to wait until AFTER Thanksgiving to see how it all looks. But I’m hoping to actually take pictures of the finished product. I feel like I need to, since it’s my first Thanksgiving in my new place, with my pretty new table.
The husband and I just returned from a nice long weekend in Charleston, SC. We got married down there and haven’t been back since. The weather wasn’t exactly what we were hoping for, although it was beautiful on our last day.
Besides reading a lot (and yes, I read some trashy romance novels while on vacation), we ate a LOT of fabulous food (more reviews on my other blog), saw a movie, and went to the aquarium for the first time ever. Well, the first time being at that aquarium.
I am trying desperately to come up with a great tablescape to go with my table, and I’ll be sharing that once it starts to come together. I had a bit of a failed trip to both Christmas Tree Shops and Home Goods, but there are other options out there for me.
Eek!
Um, so I know Halloween was ages ago at this point. But I forgot I had some pictures my brother in law had taken, so I thought I would finally share them.
I didn’t do too much on Halloween, as usual we went to my sister in law’s to help hand out candy and do a little trick or treating with my nephew. Here he is as an adorable giraffe, which was appropriate, seeing as he loves animals right now.
We like to hi five, because we are awesome like that.
And finally, me. I went to a BU (Boston University for those of you not in the know) hockey game dressed as a BU girl, circa 2003. I’m pretty sure no one had any idea what I was going for, but it was fun regardless. I had to borrow Uggs, as I am fundamentally against them, and that was my own sweatshirt, as I am a big college hockey fan, even though I didn’t go to BU (husband, sister in law, and her husband all did).
I know I have been slacking lately, life has been busy, and things are sort of just starting to calm down. I have some new posts in the pipeline, like my coffee table, what I happened to do this weekend, and more. I just have to get my pictures off my camera so I can properly share with you. We also upgraded to Windows 7, so that’s been slowing things down a bit as well.
Tomorrow I am off to the beautiful city of Charleston, where I promise to take lots of pictures and share many stories with you. For the time being, here is a picture of a fun apple pie I made. Random, yes, but also fun. I had gotten a new pie kit, and it came with cookie cutters, so naturally I went with the stars. Because I’m a 12 year old girl.
Yesterday my husband asked me “are the chairs on the site?” Not knowing exactly what he meant, I deduced that he was referring to pictures of my now complete table being on my blog.
I did a whole lot of research, and managed to find the chairs I really wanted, at a halfway decent place. Lots of restaurant supply stores had them, but they wanted you to order at least 12. And I really only wanted 8. We will be seating 10 for thanksgiving, but that will be a bit tighter, and we have extra chairs that don’t need to sit at the table every single day.
So now my table area is complete, for now. Some day I hope to get some rugs up in this place, but they are expensive and difficult to choose. For right now I’ll live with just this.
You guys don’t even know how excited I am for Thanksgiving. I have so many table scape ideas, you might as well call me Sandra Lee or something.
I love Halloween. I have an extreme sweet tooth, and can consume those mini candy bars like no ones business. I also happen to love to dress up, so it’s no surprise that Halloween is one of my very favorite holidays. You dress up, and people give you candy? For FREE?! Sign me up.
When I was a senior in high school I went trick or treating for the last time. My mom told me my friends and I had to go to peoples houses we knew, and we still made out like bandits. I don’t think I could get away with that now.
The mini pumpkins I picked up at my local orchard. I know it’s nothing much, and not nearly as cheap as some of my faves out there, but it’s my little slice of Halloween fun. I also got a carving pumpkin, which I have yet to carve. I actually won’t be home on Halloween, I’ll be at a hockey game (and I want to try and dress up for it, we’ll see), so my pumpkin will just have to sit in the window by its lonesome.
I know I’m late in posting this one, we did meet about 2 weeks ago to discuss the book. But it’s ok, I’m pretty sure no one is keeping track….I hope.
This past month we read David Sedaris’ “When You are Engulfed in Flames.” I’m not going to lie, I read this book when it first came out, so I didn’t re-read it for book club. Not to mention the fact that my lovely friend Kelley had borrowed the book and I wouldn’t have had a chance to read it anyway (I lent her many David Sedaris books, even before this one came onto the book list).
I don’t really remember anything standing out about it, as when you read David Sedaris, or any other memoir, sometimes the stories run into one another. I’ve read almost all of his books (“Me Talk Pretty One Day” being my absolute favorite), and normally love them. I also love his family, especially his sister Amy and his brother Paul, aka the Rooster.
One problem I can sometimes have is that I will mix him up with Augusten Burroughs, who I have also read the complete collection of (minus his latest book, I should pick that one up sometime). It’s funny how there are so many parallels to both of their lives, quirky families, they are both gay males living in NYC with a house somewhere else in “the country” (Sedaris in Provence, Burroughs in Western MA), somewhat strange childhoods (although Burroughs takes the cake on that one, for sure).
One thing that I love about both of them is that they are the kind of people who just move somewhere and do something. I have always envied that quality in people, the ability to pick up and go wherever the wind takes them, and they’ll generally find some sort of job or livelihood to make ends meet. I’m too used to my comfort zone, I own too much stuff, and since college there has always been another person and/or pet that I would need to take into consideration. I crave stability and despise change, while they seem to embrace both.
I know this now has nothing to do with the actual book, but if you like David Sedaris, pick it up and read it. You won’t be disappointed, and everyone loves a short story now and then to break up a big long novel. Next month we’re reading a much heavier book, which still has yet to arrive from the library. Here’s hoping I will finish it in time.
I can’t really say dining ROOM table, as all the rooms are open to each other. So it’s the dining area table, but that implies that it’s small and undefined. And this table is anything but.
When we bought our condo (actually, before we had finally closed) I somehow came up with the idea that we should get a giant farm table for our dining space. The space could handle it, we like to entertain, we “called” Thanksgiving AGES ago, and we had previously been using my awesome 50’s retro kitchen table, but it was time to change it up a bit. That table didn’t really fit in the space all that well to begin with, and didn’t go with my chandelier so much. It was more of a kitchen table, not a dining table.
I set out upon a journey, starting with craigslist. Now I normally love craigslist, but I don’t know what it was lately, hard economic times, people just being crazy, but everyone wanted top dollar for their old and outdated dining sets. I’m not really a set kind of girl, so it took me a long time to weed through all the ads that didn’t apply to me. And people, if you paid $5,000 10 years ago, there is no way I should be paying $2,500 now. That doesn’t work out so well when you sit down and think about it.
I was like Goldilocks, no table was just right. This one was too small, I hated the finish on that one, this one was far too expensive, etc. People would give us suggestions, but nothing worked out quite right. So I resigned myself to the possibility that we would not have our table in time for Thanksgiving. Far worse things are going on in the world, but that made me pretty sad.
And then, one day, Apartment Therapy stepped in. I follow them on my reader, and normally just look at the pictures for design inspiration. But one day I actually read an article, an article about a man in RI who makes farm tables. Well, I happen to live in Boston, and since RI is super tiny, that’s not very far away. I checked out his site, and that was it. He was reasonable. REASONABLE rates for a custom built farm table? What?! What alter-universe was I living in?
I contacted him, we went to see his workshop, and next thing you know, we had commissioned a custom built farm table. The man who made our newest member of the family is David Ellison, of the Lorimer Workshop. He is incredibly friendly and welcoming, he’ll show you around his workshop, help you pick stains and finishes, and make the table to the size that you want. And he delivers. Well, I assume just in the “local” area. I’ve never had something custom built before, and also never been so excited about a piece of furniture before.
We will be getting new chairs (and updates on that when we do), and plan to host many, many dinner parties around this new beauty. In the process I also somehow was able to convince my husband to let me paint the coffee table teal, so I can’t wait to share that when it’s finished!
14 Foot Ceilings 