The Holidays are Upon Us

The stocking are finally hung, the candles are up in the windows, the tree is lit and decorated with presents busting out the bottom........ ornaments are spread around the house in tall glass cylinders for additional decoration along with cinnamon scented pine cones and candles......... candy dishes are filled with chocolate and candy canes........ snow is falling outside and firewood is stacked by the fireplace ready to burn brightly....... the dining table is set with holiday dishes while the kitchen and bath towels have been exchanged for those with red and green patterns of ornaments.......

We are lucky enough to have all our family close enough that we get to see everyone! Christmas will be with my husbands family and then we'll be hosting my family at New Years'. So until the New Year, I wish you all nothing but the BEST holiday wishes and hope you'll be spending your days filled with family, friends, delicious foods and lots of laughter and hugs!

Birthday Reflections

This past Saturday I was thrown a wonderful surprise birthday party by my husband and best friend (who traveled from Baltimore!) A great time was had by all and I'm so appreciative of all the work that went into planning and putting everything together. I was thrilled by those that came from all over to our home for the event. A total bonus is my visiting brother up from Texas :-) Thank you All!

Today, is the calendar day of my 30th year and as I was driving to work this morning I started thinking about where I had thought/ planned to be at 30yrs when I was 18yrs. Let me share with you what I can remember:

First off, I thought 30 was a total adult and meant having life completely in order and planned out. I dreamed about a business career, a fancy apartment with the accouterments, 2 cars (yes! 2!!!) a classic black sedan and a green truck. I had planned a career first and a family second getting married at 32yrs and adopting children before 40yrs. I wanted a career that had the traditional 9 - 5 suit and briefcase look. (oiy!)

I honestly think I read too many books and watched waaaaay too many movies!!!! because as I look around now at my actual life with an incredible husband, close friends, family - there are no people in that 18yr olds plan!!! In addition to all the people I love and that care about me, I have a goofy dog, a beautiful home, a job, a car, food in the fridge, etc. I don't have my life planned out: it's messy and crazy and wonderful and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I'm so glad my life didn't turn out the way I had planned at 18.

So. I'm now 30yrs old. And while the number doesn't thrill me, I can hear my husband in my head telling me that I'm only as old as I feel - and I don't feel 30! I don't feel grown-up all the time! As Kel and I have agreed many times, sometimes it feels like I'm a little kid and I wake up and WHOA! I'm married??? I have a house? A Job? Bills to pay? when the heck did this happen?? But then, you look around and you recognise people who have been there all along and you know that you are still you and it's just time passing. Clearly, if time is passing this fast we must be having a blast!!

So here's to 30! May time continue to fly by filled with people I love & new adventures.



PS - To Aunt Vicki: no, I do not feel any different than I did yesterday at 29 :-)

Christmas Decorations in Progress

So this year is Matt's Tree. For those of you who don't know, Matt and I trade off who decides the decor for the Christmas Tree. On years Matt is in charge, the tree is covered in multi-colored lights and every ornament we own. On years I'm in charge, there is usually white lights and some sort of colored theme. In past years it's been red, or silver and blue, or antique ornaments.

This year is Matt's year. So multicolored lights and all the ornaments we own, it is! This means that the rest of the house will be more subdued with red and silver colors. Below are some examples of works in progress :-) I'm using a lot of candles this year along with ornaments in tall glass cylinders.

The couch is currently covered just in case Reese jumps up - we're trying to get him to not be on the furniture. His foster mom allowed him on beds, couches, large chairs, etc. It's a work in progress, so in the meantime, the couch is covered :) And a fun Gingerbread man!

The mantel has a bit of decoration with candles and a mini village.

This is one of the taller glass cylinders with candles in front. Pardon the TV cable wires!

Other end of the mantel with more candles. The large pine cones are for hanging stockings - which I haven't unpacked yet :)

Almost all our windows now have candles in them and extra festive pillows make every corner x-mas-y!

X-mas candy in crystal bowls with candles and little silver sparkly sticks? tree branches? twigs? :)

Cinnamon pinecones waiting to spread around the house, another glass cylinder filled with traditional candy canes and a sparkly reminder sign a-top the bookcase!

Tomorrow we are off to pick out the Christmas Tree & a Wreath for the front door and maybe, maaaayyyybe some extra greenery for the house!

More coming soon!

New Pics of Reese

Matt took these photos with the tagline: after a long day chasing the elusive rope cow, every good dog deserves a nap.

This is Reese and his ever-favorite rawhide bone.

He is slowly settling in but still trying to determine if we are for real and if we are going to leave him somewhere....... he's a great guy though with lots of puppy energy and loves (and licks) everyone he meets!

Reese

For those of you who don't know - we've been going through the process of adopting a dog from a rescue league in our area. We met this guy in Maine - where he was staying with his foster family - and totally fell in love with him! Matt will tell you that I've been going a bit happy-crazy to get the house ready to bring this guy home. I can't help it! I'm just so excited :-)


These are old pictures of Nero (whose new name will be Reese) . His coloring has changed to all black except for his paws and the two brown dots on his eyebrows have stayed. Even the brown has darkened. He has also gained some good muscle weight and has widened through his head, nose and chest.

I didn't even think to take photos when we met him - I should have though. There was this great moment when he sat on Matt's boot and looked straight up at him. Or when he decided I was ok and put his head on my knee and hung out for a while.

We are bringing him home this weekend :-) and hope to get him settled in a bit before visitors, but then we'd LOVE to see you!!! We know you'll love him like we do!

School House Studio Open House - RI

HI All!

For those of you in RI or near RI this weekend, there is an Open House event at Lorraine Mill. I highly encourage you to stop by and visit!

School House Studios
The Weave Shed at Lorraine Mill
558 Mineral Spring Ave
Pawtucket, RI

School House Studios is a sewing school where students age 4 to 94 can come and learn something new or just enjoy classes together! One of my personal favs is the Grandparents class where one grandparent and a grandchild come and build projects together - like the popular teddy bear and coordinating blanket!

Older students have been known to build Halloween props and costumes, prom dresses, gifts for family and friends as well as those working on home dec, quilts and embroidery. Please note that you can choose to come and create your own project or have them commissioned by the talented Mr & Mrs Love (founders & teachers of the Studio).

Dream it. Draw it. Make it.

Hope to see you there!

Latest Projects

So I can't really take credit for all these projects because I had SERIOUS help on all of them. Some of them I just said I, yes, a little higher, etc to Matt and his tools who really did the work. In any case, I though you'd might like to see the end results :-)



Up first is our newly completed composter (thanks to Jenny who sat on our cold garage floor to help me figure it out!) now sitting happily out in the yard instead of in pieces in the garage:





Here is our lovely housewarming gift finally gracing our front door (thank you Kel!) All that is missing now is a big holiday wreath!





And last but not least, our new bathroom cabinet over the toilet. We were totally spoiled by our last loft apt master bath which had a HUGE amount of storage and counter space. As a result, we got VERY lazy. I had no clue how much shampoo was hiding under the sink until we moved! But now we are finally close to the end of that (8 months later) and with the help of this cabinet, the closet will finally go back to being for towels!





I had wanted to get some painting done before the holidays, but realistically? yeah. Not gonna happen. Sooooooo, up next will be holiday decorating!

Thanksgiving 2010

I was driving home from the gym today and suddenly this feeling of 'thanks-giving-ness' came over me. I've been running around trying to make sure the house is ready for guests, the grocery shopping and laundry are done, etc etc. But driving home today, it hit me smack in the face.

I feel so incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful (large) family and a tight circle of friends that I can call my family because we have chosen to see each other that way. I've heard it so many times, that friends are the family we get to chose.

I chose to be thankful this year for ALL my family, near and far - I would not be me without you and I cherish every single one of you and wish you were closer to share this holiday in person.

You in my thoughts & prayers. HUGE hugs & all my love ~

Found: Our New Living Room Couch

Granted, I have been looking for a new couch for quite a while and I thought I had found it. A Traditional 3 cushion sofa with a chaise on one end. I wanted it in a brushed twill red color.
However, on a whim, walking through Crate & Barrel, I completely fell in love with this Shelter Couch. While it comes in 5 colors and is shown in a cream in the store, I like the mushroom color best for the house.
Here's what Crate & Barrel says about it
"The original design that defined '70s modern seems more relevant now than ever. This iconic statement piece, a 1971 collaboration between the visionary designer Milo Baughman and modern pioneer Thayer Coggin, features a dramatic high back and sheltering sides that cocoon in deep comfort for hours of media, reading and conversation. Innovative two-piece design—the sofa deck lifts out of the shelter frame—was originally configured to allow for easy New York City apartment deliveries through narrow doorways, halls and corner turns and is still ingenious for today. Beautifully tailored in a nubby, linen-y natural subtle herringbone that's casually luxe, it's a piece meant to be filled with good company and pillows (five included). The Shelter Sofa is crafted for Crate and Barrel to the original specifications at the original Thayer Coggin workshop in North Carolina. Almost a half-century later, the only change is a green one—it's now eco-friendly. Milo and Thayer would like that."
Now, the best part about all this? Matt likes the sofa too! Gotta love that! So now, we are just waiting to make the purchase!

Adopting a Dog

I'm SO excited! I have to share the news!!

We have been approved!!!!!

So, I finally found a shelter that I liked and would allow first time dog owners a chance - I had looked into several before I found one that was supportive of new owners.
I excitedly filled out the application and after 2 weeks of review, talking to our wonderful references (thank you!) and a home visit and interview, we are approved!!
We are currently reviewing a few dogs and will hopefully meet them within the next few weeks!!

A dog for the holidays..... I think it's best present ever!!!

Happy Halloween!

Trees

We had some dead (or close to it) trees near the house. The condo assoc decided to have them taken down before the winter in case we have another bad winter. Last year, during our negotiation, 2 large trees across the driveway came down fairly close to the house. They blocked the driveway for a few days and were a huge loss as they were very old.

Here are some pictures of the yard and house now that the trees have been taken down. I'm thinking we'll need to put in some younger, smaller trees in the spring, (a japanese maple? dogwood?) but let me know your thoughts!

Update

Well, I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't been doing much updating here. The house is staying as is for right now. We have a few touches on the front porch for Halloween which you'll see in a below photo, but mostly we've been dealing with a family loss. Matt's Grandfather passed away a few weeks ago and so his family has been packing up the old apt in NJ as well as dealing with all the paperwork, etc.

Matt also recently had ASA eye surgery which is a laser correction but not Lasik. I'm still learning about the differences but mostly there's a longer healing time, more variety of eye drops, the vision is not immediately repaired but takes days to heal. This is where we are now.

So in addition to all that, has anyone noticed all the Holiday decor already in stores????? It's not even Halloween!!! I haven't purchased a thing, but I do have to tell you that the gears are working and I'm happily thinking of all the options we have this year. The one downside, which Matt pointed out, is that without our previous 17ft ceilings, we are limited in the size of our tree. 8ft ceilings means a 7ft tree, which is the smallest tree we've had in...(counting back apts).... 7 yrs? WOW! that would be back to my very first apt, a little basement studio where Matt surprised me with a Charlie Brown style tree. I had thrown out my back and thought I wouldn't be able to get one that year. It still makes me smile!!!!

OK. Enough with Holiday talk. Let's get back to Halloween!



The pumpkin was a gift from Oliver & Melissa when they dropped by earlier this month on their way back to Texas (they came up for a friends wedding in Maine).



My fab Halloween wreath doesn't show up as well on our darker door. I'm seriously wondering about backing it with an orange or white color to bring back the black design.



This is Matt on day 2 - feeling better and up and dressed. We are now on day 3 and he's not so great - doing a LOT of sleeping which should help. We also have a follow-up for tonight.

Stay tuned for our tree clean-up!

Happy Birthday to a Dear Friend

This is a belated happy birthday to a dear friend of mine who is currently spending time with the Peace Corp. in Africa.

Happy Birthday dearest BB!!!!!!

Baltimore Pics: pt 2

Breakfast!

My skills in the kitchen have been coming back a bit as I have more time to cook and revisit trusty recipies! Friends of ours, Dave & Jenny, were able to taste my French Toast over the summer and Dave's enthusiastic claim that it rivaled the best he's ever had thrilled me beyond belief! And thus, having conquered French Toast, I have moved on to perfecting waffles. Below is a shot of my second and lastest try - better than the first, but I still say there's room for improvement!


Bless my husband, who continues to eat whatever I put on his plate!!

Long Overdue Baltimore Trip!

I say it's long overdue because it is. I took this trip Sept 10 - 12. Looking back, flying on that particular weekend, was not a good choice, but the trip and the friends were well worth the waits in the airports and delayed layovers!

I went down for the main purpose of seeing a friend and past roomie in a community theatre production of (The Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee). It was great fun and awesome to see her on stage in all her singing glory once again! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of HER, as no pictures were allowed. I do however, have pictures of the set, the historical Opera House where it was performed and a bit of a walking tour of the streets close to the playhouse. The pics are a bit out of order, but all the same.... Enjoy!