christmas is in the air!

after months and months, we finally got the living room curtains hung! i swear they look better in person. 

question: do you say curtains or drapes? i have always thought that the term drapes was overly fussy and formal, so i just say curtains, but is there a difference, or is it just a matter of opinion?

last sunday, i had some lovelies over for a holiday brunch (mcw, mermaid and i do declare, along with miss ax who no longer blogs). we had a blast. yummy food and hours of girltalk. we devoured the crab quiche. it was a hit. highlights from the party: the boy, who does not understand that he is supposed to leave home or stay scarce during a girl party. he kept popping in to eavesdrop and join in on the conversation. mcw did not disappoint him by providing many salacious stories.

here's my table. i love all my holiday tartans

my grandmother brought me the adorable elephant place card holders from a trip to india a few years ago. 

our house is finally decked for christmas. we found a perfect tall and skinny tree. i always get a fraser fir. our space is pretty tight, so a full tree never works. we lucked out this time and didn't have to do any pruning of the tree once we got her inside. she wedged perfectly into place. 

now that my tree is up and i've got my first holiday party of the season under my belt, i am in a christmas spirit!

lately

i took (another) break from blogging. life got busy, work got busy, then my aunt barbara died and i just didn't feel like writing. i'm back, hopefully for good. sometimes a break is a good thing.

the boy and i found the really cool kenyan drum that we decided to use as a side table. not the most practical table, but it is really cool, right? sometimes, he has no idea what sort of shopping adventure we'll get into. this time, he loved our find as much as i did. 

it fits perfectly between these chairs in the living room. 

i added a glass top to make it actually functional as a table. the cowhide, while pretty, probably won't hold up very well to spilled drinks. the bust is a hand carved souvenir from bali. the boy will never let me live down how hard i haggled the artist down to get her for what i felt was a fair price. i won, clearly. and she's my favorite treasure from the trip. 

i started decorating for christmas. this year, i chose a very simple boxwood wreath. last year, i had an evergreen wreath. the needles that fell out every time i opened the door drove me insane. i also prefer the brighter green color of the boxwood. 

my nutcrackers are back! the pirate got a little bit of flair that fell off of the boxwood wreath. 

and my holiday table with nutcracker sentries guarding the baby christmas tree.

hopefully we'll have time to get our real christmas tree sometime this week. 

fun finds for the boy at jc penney

i went to jc penney on a hunt for window shades. i ended up finding a ton of great things for the boy. the best score was this quilted jacket, regularly $40, on sale for $25.  the image online makes it look awful and super shiny, so i made the boy pose for a picture for the blog. i had to crop out his face because he looked crazy. anyone who knows the boy in person knows he is prone to making crazy faces to annoy me. one day, i am going to embarrass him and post the crazy face.

he loves the jacket. we had been looking at many similar items that were a lot more expensive. for a casual, knockaround town jacket, you can't beat $25. the quality seems decent. it is lightweight,  certainly not appropriate for a harsh new england winter. layered with a sweater if it is colder, the jacket is perfect for fall, early winter and spring in this region.  i am thinking about getting one for myself!

here are the other items i loved for men at jcp:

$35 plaid sport shirt. this shirt is just like the trendier ones j crew is selling for $70.

i loved this sweater, only $30

obviously, i like striped sweaters. this one was only $20 and is very soft.

i didn't find as many nice thing for women. everything i checked out for women looked like it only cost $20. i was really surprised by the men's selections. The quality seems surprisingly good for the price. 

the end

yes, i saw entirely too many twilight movies last night. h and i got tickets to the five movie marathon showing. i can't believe the saga is over after all this time. the creeper in me wants to go back and see it again tonight. this is a sickness that i'm not embarrassed to admit.

photo shoot proofs!

so happy with the pictures. here's a peek at what i ended up wearing. happy hump day!

photo shoot help

of course, the boy and i did not take a single picture this year good enough for a christmas card. i'm quite irritated about it. in the childless/pet free set, our christmas card picture must be smashing to compete with all the cute babies, toddlers and puppies that will fill our mailbox this holiday season. shallow? yes. but everyone has their achilles heel. mine just so happens to be christmas cards. 

our card from 2010 is my favorite. we were all made up for a gala.

last year's card had two pictures from vacation and a picture of us on the day we closed on our house.

this is serious business, people. i've resorted to a professional photo shoot. on monday morning,  a photographer is meeting us at home and we will head to a nearby park to try for a christmas card worthy shot and then the boy will head off to work. he is not very happy about that.

what should we wear? i always see so many cute family photo shoots on facebook and blogs, but i am stumped. any colors to avoid? prints are generally not good for pictures, right? argh. of course i didn't seriously start thinking about what we'd wear until today.

tuesday tell all

my brides from last weekend sent me a really thoughtful thank you package and sweet card for coordinating their wedding. i was so tickled. it feels really good to have happy clients!

this was one of the goodies in my package:

here are my thoughts for today:

1. i will be so relieved when the election madness is over. yes, i voted. yes, i care. and yes, i've had to hide approximately 25% of my facebook friends because i can't take their ill-informed rhetoric and "news" about politics. i just want to know who wins and move forward (and hope my guy is the winner). 

2. this morning i tried on 10 different outfits, only to be disgusted by them all and ended up in jeans and a polo shirt with a fleece jacket and puffer vest. so thankful that i work in a super causal environment now and it doesn't matter what i wear. 

3. i ate a pack of halloween candy and gummy vitamins for breakfast. i washed it down with really fancy tea from teavana. 

4. last night, i went to dinner to celebrate babysis turning 29. the fact that my baby sister is almost 30 makes me feel very old. i still look at her and see the little imp who used to follow me everywhere and ask "why?" ten thousand times every day in a very annoying voice. so weird that she is an accomplished, grown up lady. i'm very proud of her. 

5. my shoes are making me happy today. on sale at gap!

wine, anyone?

another monday here, already wishing it was friday again! 

on saturday night, the boy and i went to a casual party at the home of a partner at his law firm. i love casual events with super fancy food. it feels so ina garten, barefoot contessa to me. we had a blast. the host had the most amazing wine cellar in the basement.  

why yes i did take a picture in there when everyone left. 

the host shared the best wines that i've ever tasted in my life. how will i ever go back to two buck chuck after that? 

i also wore some really ridiculous outfits over the weekend. yes, i am wearing faux fur, flannel and leopard print shoes all in one outfit. the boy was not pleased. maybe it was a little over the top...

and a fun target find in the boys' section for my two favorite minis, taylor and kennedy. $12 for this trendy fox sweater

almost at cute as the christopher fischer cashmere version from barney's

and a much better price for the under 6 set. 

and now back to monday at work...boo!