Fall!

Even though we're going to be traveling over Thanksgiving, I still wanted to decorate. Like I've said before- I blog these pictures so I can look back next year and see what I did!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I've always loved Valentine's Day-- when I was a little kid, when I was single and especially now that I'm married. We're going low key this year: Mike volunteered to cook dinner and I made cupcakes for dessert. Amazing vegan cupcakes from a new cookbook. I guarantee you wouldn't be able to tell they were vegan. Insanely good! 

 our table set, ready for Mike to cook dinner!

I got Mike a few nerdy gifts he's been wanting and I have no idea what he got me--- but he's in his office right  now wrapping it! haha! Hope everyone is having a great Valentine's Day!

Party like it's 2011

We decided to avoid all the going out drama--- the driving, the over priced drinks, etc and threw a small NYE party at our house. IT WAS SO FUN!! A few friends from Tulsa came up and got to meet some of our local peeps for copious amounts of food, cigars, booze and Rock Band playing:

 some pics of setting up--- we got a chocolate fountain as a wedding gift and used it for the first time ever-- so good!!

 Mike dancing before the guests even arrived. ;-)

 Amy & Mike were opening the champagne bottles and pointing them down the hall-- makes for a bizarre couple of pictures!

 This is the 3rd NYE that Amy & I have spent together-- so much fun! 

Ornament-aholic

Our tree is eclectic, with lots of different ornaments. Some are ornaments from childhood, some are vintage I've collected over the years and the rest are from local boutiques, Hobby Lobby, Target, Pottery Barn etc. Here are some of my favorite this year:

When I saw this ornament at a local boutique I had to have it! It's tough to find black dogs-- this is our Jack Bauer ornament!

My lion & lamb (I realize it's classic Christian imagery, but it's also a great Twilight reference!!)  

 a fun ice cream sundae & a cupcake from Pier One-- I have tons of Pier One ornaments:

 I had to represent my home state-- Boomer Sooner!

 But Mike has two degrees from Oklahoma State, we don't discriminate in our house:

 I have a growing collection of fairy tale themed ornaments, here are a few:

 this one represents our Hawaii honeymoon:

 Mike's favorite ornament on the tree!

 a giant NYC taxi cab to represent my favorite city. I'm hoping we'll head that way on one of our next vacations. 

coming to a mailbox near you

I'm typically the kind of person that can make a decision. I'm not saying it's always the right decision, but I usually don't have a problem pulling the trigger... except when it came to our Christmas cards this year! My good friend Allison designed our cards again this year and I truly loved every design she made! So I had 3 of them printed and just did an "eeny meeny miney mo" and put them in the envelopes. :-)

So you should be getting one of these in the next few days!

Christmas Cats!

just goofing around this afternoon. ;-)

Christmas Exploded All Over Our House

that's the text message my dear husband got last week while I was decorating for Christmas. I had tupperware containers everywhere with all kinds of ornaments, garland, wrapping paper and odds & ends. I guess I went a little wild at the after Christmas sales last year-- remind me that I don't need to buy anything when the sales roll around in January, okay? ;-) I tried to go a little bit more modern and fun this year. I packed away all of my gold and went with more of a red & white candy theme.

I'll start with the entryway:

The candy dish is from Kirkland's and the little Christmas sign is from a local craft fair:

 I believe I got the "ho ho ho" letters at Pier One last year. The tin tray was a Hobby Lobby find last week and the candle is from B&BW. Mike picked out the scent this weekend-- Homemade Cookies. Heavenly!!

The mantel-- the wreath is from Pier One. I put the garland together with greenery from Wal~Mart, & mesh ribbon, decorative picks, and ribbon from Hobby Lobby. The stockings are also from Hobby Lobby-- can you tell it's my favorite place?! 

 

 I always add ribbon and a decorative pick to my lamps-- I went with a completely different color scheme this year-- red & white:

  

 The tree! 

I plan on making a proper Christmas tree skirt but the temporary fix is just a big piece of red burlap.

 I made my tree topper this year-- I used styrofoam disks, red felt, wooden dowel rods and cellophane to make "candy". I really like the way it turned out.

   

 The chargers are from Target, the glasses are from Pottery Barn, and I've had the Santa teapot for years. You can't see them but I have some adorable jingle bell napkin rings that I got at Pier One last year. I can't wait to set the table and use everything for Christmas dinner this year!