winter

we have had quite a lot of small snow showers this winter, but so far none of them have left anything substantial. here are some pics from a day that it snowed a couple of weeks ago. 

 our neighbors have a very cool house, and it looks even cooler in the snow.

 moz barking about something.

 you see the table set above? well soon there will be something awesome in that spot.

and last but not least, our weird shed. perhaps the weirdest shed ever.

hello again

yes, i've been mia. although some of it was due to laziness, most of it was due to the fact that apple can suck it. i know, everybody LOVES apple and all of their 'hip' products, but in my opinion they suck. maybe i'll go into all of the gory details of why they suck in the future, i just don't have the energy for it now. i will summarize the worst of it with this: if you send your computer to apple to fix (and pay extra for applecare) they believe that your computer is their property and will remove and replace your hard drive and not return your hard drive to you, it's rightful owner. i call bullshit. in fact i should shout it from the mountain tops.

nevertheless, our shitty apple computer is back and now i can blog again.

so back in dec we took a little one night trip to AC and stayed at harrahs. we got a killer week night deal (i think it was $40) and they upgraded us to a suite. it was awesome. although the room would have been greatly improve with a little interior design effort, it was super huge. i think it was bigger than our first house.

the best part was they have a killer pool area, which is perfect when it's below freezing outside and you want to lay by the pool and hot tub and act like it's summer.

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?