Pre-Christmas festivities

I feel sorry for Thanksgiving. It's like the opening act for Christmas. Thanksgiving even has to have Santa end all its parades.

Even though I feel bad for Thanksgiving, I too rush to get in the Christmas spirit. This year, on the day before Thanksgiving, Chris and I shopped at Hobby Lobby. They had all their Christmas items 50% off. It was great!

The weekend before, Chris had worked to hang lights on the outside of our house. This is always very exciting to him, and this year was especially important since it's the first time we've (he has) hung them on our house.

Here are some photos of his handy work:

You'll see that our neighbors still, rightfully, had their Halloween/Thanksgiving pumpkins and hay out, but that's ok. We're comfortable as the first people out of the gate.

Pretty acorn wreath from my grandmother, and it matches our door perfectly.

You can see a little of the glow from the lights. They are LED, and put off a slightly blue hue, but not the crazy bright blue hue that your tacky neighbors use.

With his masterpiece!

Some night shots and interior decorating shots to come.

Happy holidays!

Mirror, Mirror

But not on the wall.

I'm searching for two bedside tables for our master bedroom. To review, you can see our bed here and here.

One option would be to get the tables that match our bed, but I didn't want to do that. I don't want a room full of wood. What you might not be able to tell from the photos, is that on each corner of the bed, there is a silver, metal circle, and the feet of the bed area also shiny silver. That made me start thinking.

What if I got two silver bedside tables? Okay, not really silver, but mirrored. Not crazy Vegas mirrors, but those antiqued, almost mercury glass looking tables?

So the search has begun. Chris has been patient while I shopped and looked around for a good deal, but he really likes things to be finished. So help me out! The photos below are just for inspiration. None of them are completely right, but they are somewhat along the lines of what I'm looking for.

What do you think? Know of any good deals or where I should look for something like this? I hate to order it online due to the shipping, but I would if there wasn't must assembly required, and of course, if I got a good deal ;)

I feel like I want one a little more rounded than these since our bed is rounded? What do you think?

I was born! Let's celebrate!

Last week was my birthday. We like to celebrate birthdays in my family, and this year was no exception. On Friday, my actual day of birthday, Sarah and Charlie came and stayed with us, and we had such a fun time. We miss having them in the same city! We decided to be able to really enjoy seeing each other and hang out, we would cook dinner at the house. No need to try to catch up with good friends while yelling at each other in a loud bar. There's a time and a place for that, of course.

So the guys grilled out, and Sarah and I chatted in the kitchen.

Here's the birthday girl cleaning mustard greens from the farmers' market. Note the outfit. Chris bought me clothes for my birthday, and before all you girls cringe at the thought of your husbands buying you clothes, Chris has better taste than I do, and I wish he would shop for me ALL the time. I had been complaining that I didn't own any "weekend wear." You know, the stuff you put on to run errands that's not quite sleepwear and and more comfortable jeans and a sweater. So he got me this super comfortable, outfit, plus a weekend dress that will be unveiled on the blog soon.

 Here are some of my favorite people about to enjoy dinner!

I was there too.

Birthday Girl and spouse.

As if Friday night wasn't enough celebrating my birth, Saturday brought mom and Jack and Jenny and Thad to come see us. I was so excited that Jenny and Thad were able to come see us because they hadn't seen the house yet. We all had lunch together, did a little driving tour of the city and generally hung out before dinner.

I decided that I wanted to cook dinner for everyone, and I put mom and Jenny to work making a cake. How cute are we all in the kitchen together! Note the apron: it was my birthday gift from Sarah and Charlie, and it came with matching recipe cards. So thoughtful!

Thankfully the guys had some entertainment while the ladies cooked. Did you know my grandfather is a cat guy? Porter was glad someone appreciated his cuteness, and his ability to play/fight.

Chris and Jack were there too, but sorry guys, since you weren't loving on a cat, Thad won out on picture time.

Thank you to everyone who took time out to celebrate my birthday with me. It was such a good excuse to see everyone!