happy holidays

happy holidays. this house is a pleasure to decorate any time of the year, but christmas is especially fun. and we have room for a tree, which we didn't have room for the past couple of years at our old house. i didn't realize how much i missed having one. 

 lights are my favorite part of christmas.

a succulent arrangement we got as a house warming gift that i've somehow managed to keep alive. i have to say i am doing much better at keeping plants alive in this house, because it gets a lot more sunlight. i believe i am up to a survival rate of about 60%.

 a little wreath action above the new bench.

 hallway nook which desperately needs artwork hung on it.

dining room. 

 and more dining room.

 hallway with mozzie bear.

 and my sewing room.

happy holidays!

a wooden bench

so it started out that we needed a piece of furniture for a little nook off of the kitchen. we decided on a bench and i had been trying to find one for months. luckily in early october i saw a sign on the side of the road about the highland craft show and decided to check it out. that is where met john from JC Sterling and he had a table and bench set that was just what i wanted. he made one just for our nook and delivered it this weekend. look at this thing! it's so beautiful i don't even want to sit on it. 

and it turns out the original nook we had planned it for just didn't work. it seemed too hidden away. dave had the bright idea to switch places with the credenza in the living room and it works out perfectly. 

 i never thought a bench could be sexy, but just look at it.

now we are on a mission to find some cool lights to hang over it and i need to paint the radiator cover behind it the same as the wall color. 

below is the credenza in the space at thanksgiving. 

and here it is in it's new spot off the kitchen.

and here is the view from where you would be sitting on the bench if you actually sat on it. i prefer to look at it. 

and just because. here is a pic from fall, with the sun setting behind the japanese maple, which turned orange. it was gorgeous. 

winter wreath

i watched this video on etsy and it made me very excited to make a wreath. so i went to the craft store and the back yard and whipped up this moss, pine cone and bird wreath. 

supplies: 

straw wreath

moss (i bought a bag of the regular kind and a bag of a mixture of different kinds)

pine cones

optional bird or knickknack of your choice

 step 1: get out the glue gun, heat it up and start gluing the moss to the wreath form.

step 2: use glue gun and fill in with other types of moss, or use just one kind of moss.

step 3: glue on pine cones

 step 4: glue bird to wreath and voila.

the door i hung the wreath on was too dark to get a decent picture. and the door is all banged up and in need of some new paint. soooo i just bought some, and i'm sure you'll be seeing how that turns out soon!

happy thanksgiving

i am so thrilled to be having thanksgiving this year in our home. we have been having it for the past several years, but this will be the first time in our new house, which has a dining room large enough to accomodate all of us in one room. how exciting!

decorating for holidays is one of my favorite things to do and i started early so that i am not as rushed tomorrow. i grabbed some branches from some trees and leaves and added them to some store bought flowers to make some arrangements for the table.

i also bought some hand dipped candles in a fall color palette. they are gorgeous. 

it's so neat to see how the landscape around our house changes with the seasons. you can also see our crazy shed in this pic. it looks as if it's about to take off.

moz loves this house, there is so much for him to explore.

 this japanese maple turned ORANGE this fall. it is so gorgeous, i can't believe it. all the ones i've had before changed red, so this is pretty sweet. especially since it's my favorite color and tree on our property.

 dave and i bought this little guy on our trip to the berkshires. i feel like he should have a name, what should we name him?

sandy

as my sister said, couldn't they come up with a better name? i agree, sandy has to be one of the lamest names for a hurricane, but this was no lame storm. the winds ripped through our area and sounded like a freight train. luckily we didn't get much rain, just wind which knocked down trees all over the place. luckily we only lost a small one or two and nothing was damaged. we were without power mon-thur and i am so happy to have heat and electricity back!

this was moz, unphased by the storm. although, in his defense it wasn't too crazy yet when this was taken. 

our fireplace got lots of use while we were without power. and i finally made it through a pack of ikea candles. and lots of red wine...

it wasn't until yesterday when we finally were back "online" that i realized the real impact of the storm in places like NY and NJ. it made me realize how lucky were were and i hope they recover quickly. 

another trip to the berkshires

this past august we took a short trip to the berkshires. you may remember last time where we visited the hancock shaker village, which was amazing.

we stayed at the old inn on the green again and it was just as wonderful as we remembered. i wish i had pictures of the food, but sometimes you just don't want to be the idiot taking out their camera at dinner. just know that it is incredible.

this time we took this dummy with us. i think he enjoyed himself. 

 we made sure to remember to bring bar and snack items since the closest store is quite a hike away.

 we took went on a hike around a lake in beartown state forest. unfortunately we didn't see any actual real bears, just our own mozzie bear.

 i could get used to waking up to this spread every morning.

with this view. 

and they even have their own chocolate lab. moz wouldn't have been this well behaved, so he didn't get to go to breakfast. 

lunch at the southfield store is also always a treat.