(I'm always looking for excuses to get my two fellas under that mistletoe!)This turquoise bowl was a wedding gift, and I love using it to hold ornaments.
An angel stands watch over it.
I know the Little People Nativity set is for kids, but we're having fun with it this year. Bear can play with it next year. :) 
We don't eat many cookies, so our Santa cookie jar fills his bag with pretty ornaments instead. 
One of my favorite corners of our kitchen holds this cheese plate with our last-name initial. I like it so much I might just leave it up all year! 
Our sweet Bear's room has his very own Nativity!
Full disclosure time: Our living room is not quite as neat and put-together as it might appear in the other photos. I love a good macro shot! If you were to come over most days, this is what you would see. Life with a boy is the messiest and most fun thing in the world!
But forget the mess and just let our Elf on a Shelf wish you a very Merry Christmas!
It's not too late to do this if you want to. Just find a journal and start writing. Your decorations haven't been up too long, so snap a few pictures of them and write about the experience. Did one of your kids break a pretty glass ornament? Write about it! Have you tucked into the eggnog already? Journal it! is there an awfully gaudy house in your neighborhood? Sneak out at night and take its picture! If you're not a scrapbooker, who cares? Just have fun.
Be present this Christmas. Remember it all.
I'm kind of tickled about this. I took a heavy crystal cake plate (read: useless but pretty wedding gift) and turned it upside down. On the base I set this happy little pumpkin, which I think was originally purchased at Hobby Lobby for my classroom a few years ago. It needed a little something else, so I pulled out some pretty picks I got last year and arranged them around the upturned plate. Voila!
Is a pineapple a summer thing? Don't tell me. I don't care if it is. My mom gave her to me when we bought our house, and she usually sits on the mantle. The hurricane is filled with little pinecones I picked up on the playground of the church where I work. I'd be some kind of fool to pay $5.00 for a bag of pinecones when I can spend a few minutes picking them up, dumping them in a Walmart bag, and washing them off at home for free. I am cheap, y'all.
Yes. I like pineapples. This is usually on my mantle, too. The pitcher is Gail Pittman (any self-respecting Southern girl knows who Gail Pittman is) from my days as a Southern Living at HOME rep. My mom got the little bird for her yard but never used it, so she gave it to me. It has a friend around here somewhere.
I know they're awfully trendy, but I love me some white pumpkins. This one came from Hobby Lobby. Of course. I hear the Dollar Tree has some cute ones, so I might get a few and spray-paint them white. I need more pumpkins!
What, you've never seen a little bird in a compote bowl before? Well, here you go. I got him on clearance at the end of spring this year at Pier 1, and the bowl is also from Southern Living At HOME. It would appear I have a thing for birds, too. Hmm.
You don't have to spend a lot of money to have cute things, nor do you have to decorate the same way every year. My autumn decor was completely different last year, using mostly the same stuff. I haven't spent a penny out of pocket this year, but everything feels fresh and new to me. I love making our home comfortable and pretty on tiny or non-existent budgets. That's much more satisfying to me than spending big dollars on high-ticket items. Where's the fun in that?
Anyone reading who's decorated, leave your links here! I love looking at other people's homes and need to do a better job of showing mine off here!
Happy fall!!
All the materials gathered together. Don't you love my sassy summer tablecloth and Wilton bowl full of baby toys? We do it fancy around here, y'all. 
Dacey the cat. At this point, I still wasn't sure whether she'd really fit with the overall color scheme I was shooting for, but I was willing to give it a chance. She nestled herself in there so sweetly, after all.
Tearing apart the picks was awfully satisfying. And of course, I had to give in to my compulsive need to organize things and arrange it all by type. Stop looking at me with such a judgmental glare. I can stop organizing whenever I want.
More bits. Notice the real feather. One of my sweet baby girls at the church where I work Mothers' Morning Out gave that to me. I told her I'd put it in my fall wreath, and I keep my promises! The yellow "feathers" were just 50 cents each when half off and added a fun pop of color.
I hate that phrase, "pop of color". But there's no better way to put it. It's color. That pops. Got something better? Let me know so I can start using it and eventually grow to hate it, too.
And here's the finished product! Please pretend my front door is black. It will be someday, because of the confused dog incident. Things will pop (argh) so much better on a black door. I think the wreath is pretty good, for my first attempt. Let's just pretend the wreath doesn't have a slight egg shape. Who knows, you might see it again in the spring covered in plastic Easter eggs! There's no telling what I might get up to.
Ack! I promise I haven't stopped being happy! I decided not to post Saturday and Sunday and then completely forgot about the happiness challenge! So here are the past few days in one post.
Saturday - Michael Phelps and his amazing skills as a swimmer make me happy. How could I not be thrilled watching him?
Sunday - An afternoon of rest and quiet with my favorite fellas made me so happy Sunday. After church, we rested and were lazy all day. It was great.
Monday - Rain, rain, rain! I'm a girl who loves a rainy day. It's been raining steadily since Sunday, and that makes me happy. The dark sky and cooler temperatures can almost convince me it's October!
Tuesday - I don't know anything about whitewater rafting other than just looking at it exhausts me, but watching Togo win its first Olympic medal ever? That's got to make anybody happy!
I'm just tickled for this guy!
Joshua Allen's win last night on So You Think You Can Dance made me so happy! I'd been rooting for him from the start, so I was all claps and happy tears when he won. All season long he's been consistently excellent, able to do anything the choreographers throw at him. He's untrained in every style, yet he looks like he's been dancing all these complicated styles his entire life. All I know about dance is how it makes me feel when I watch it. Watching Joshua makes me feel great. He seems to be a total sweetheart, and he credits his third grade teacher with encouraging him to try dancing. She was in the audience with his family, watching him win, and was absolutely sobbing! Gotta love that. I hope he has a bright future!
I get so happy when I discover new music! Lately I've been listening to three really talented young ladies. Two things are remarkable about this. The first is that they're all considerably younger than I am - by a lot! And the second is that I rarely listen to female artists. My favorite has to be Imogen Heap, and she was pretty much alone in the female artist category for me until recently. Below are links to the MySpace pages of the three girls making me happy lately. Oh, as with most artists on MySpace, their music starts playing when you go to the page, so be ready if your speakers are turned up!
Today's been a long day full of traveling a total of three hours, helping my mom set up her classroom, trying to placate a sleepy and fussy baby, so the thing that will make me happiest just a few minutes from now is... sleep! ;)
My sweet baby boy who is always a joy in public made me so happy today! We went to Hobby Lobby, just to walk around and get out of the house for a little while, and he babbled and cooed in his stroller the whole time. He never gets cranky or fussy (unless he's hungry!) when we're out together, and he always flirts with every lady he meets. He's just such an easy baby and we're so blessed by him. You make your mama proud and happy, Bear!
The door. Voila. Our brick is red, roof shingles are black, vinyl siding is a dark taupe and garage door/trim are cream. I know I don't want the door and shutters to be black. I'm thinking a forest green. Thoughts? (Oh, and all the planters and plants are not standing up or hanging because of last night's storm. I didn't put them back up before taking photos! We are classy around here!)
And the shutters. I'd like the door and shutters to be the same color, because they're so close together. And yes, we'll fix the dented window screen. We had a tornado in April and a piece of our porch furniture hit it and knocked it out of place.
So tell me what you think about my forest green idea, please! Or let me know if you have a better idea. I'm looking forward to seeing if anybody's reading! I mean. Seeing what you have to say!
What makes me happy today is rain! We had a lovely, booming thunderstorm Friday morning that lasted over two hours. It was hot and sunny Saturday, but today, Sunday, has been another day of rain. It's gray and overcast, and I can almost pretend it's November or December when I look out the windows. I love what the rain is doing for my yard, too. I put my hanging potted plants from the front porch out Friday and let them soak it all up! My periwinkles, seen in the photo below, are just goin' to town. Rain always makes me happy, but especially when we haven't had enough and it's been hot enough to fry an egg on the driveway!
What makes me happy today?
YAY! I just started reading Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books in June, but I can see why fans have been impatiently waiting for this fourth book. These books are so much fun and so well-written. I highly recommend them!
I reserved a copy at Borders last month, so I'll be there to pick it up as soon as the store opens this morning! I guess I could've gone to the midnight release party, but I'm a girl who values her sleep. Today, Edward Cullen and Breaking Dawn make me HAPPY!
Today's Works for Me Wednesday is all about recipes using five ingredients or fewer. I'm all about fast, healthy and flavorful meals, so this is one I cook often. I found this originally a long time ago in Southern Living but have seen similar versions posted elsewhere online. Enjoy!Directions:
1. Brown the chicken on both sides, about 2-3 minutes per side
2. Add the tomatoes, olives, basil and vinegar and stir
3. Reduce heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through
4. Serve chicken with tomato and olive mixture on top
See those beautiful Ziploc Twist 'N Loc things? I am obsessed with those! About a month ago I tossed all of our random storage cartons in the trash and bought some of these babies. I got two sets of the small ones and one of the large. Well, now I have three sets of the small ones! Humor me, for I am easily amused! These are from the Clean Home Journal. I've requested it so many times and finally got it. I think this is one I requested back in April. There's also a free Glade Plug-In and a booklet full of coupons from Johnson (when did they drop '& Johnson'?).
Ooh, check it out, interwebs! Our headboard isn't even attached to the bed, for one thing! My husband brought it into the marriage, and I do hope he doesn't miss it when it finds its way to Craigslist soon and he finds himself at Miskelly's buying us a new one. Also, please note the baby poo brown walls. This must have been the default color for the house, because when we moved in, all but the kitchen was swimming in this unappealing color. And the kitchen had black prison stripes. Don't ask. Also, please note the beautiful splodge of blue paint next to the window. We got a pint (thankfully only that) of what we were sure was THE color. As you can see, it is definitely not. And doesn't any room look better with absolutely no pictures on the walls? I thought so, too, which is why it's been this way for a year. Gah.
Here's another view, looking into the bathroom/closet.
Don't you just love the lack of personal touches, and another splodge of light blue paint? Me, too.
Next we move into the bathroom. Control your excitement!
In a word: yawn. I don't even have the energy to snark it. Seriously, though, I adore our house. It's perfect for us and we've had lots of fun decorating and settling in. It'll be even better once these rooms are fixed!
