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Monthly Archives: December 2008

SNOWY WEEKEND

21 December 2008
Food and Drink, Lifestyle, North Shore, Photography
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It has been snowing all weekend! It’s beautiful and we have had a wonderful Sunday.

We probably have close to a foot and a half of the stuff. Today’s snow was a little wetter than Friday’s and yesterday’s, so it made for spectacular snowman construction! This is our jolly ol’ fellow:

His eyes are frozen blueberries, his lips and cheeks are stained with raspberry, and his ‘stache and eyebrows are stained with BBQ sauce. Our fingers and toes were freezing by the time we were all done, so we came inside for some delicious Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa:

And lest you doubt me, of course we made a Christmas Pandora Station based on Bing’s “Silver Bells” (let me know if that doesn’t work… you might need to sign in).

And Alex made some delicious chocolate chip cookies.

What a wonderful weekend!!

BROWN PAPER PACKAGES TIED UP WITH STRINGS

17 December 2008
DIY, Home Design, Lifestyle, Photography
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According to my boyfriend, there are two parts of the year: the half where you’re basking in the glow of the Christmas that just happened, and the other half where you’re getting all excited for the Christmas that is coming up next. This is what it’s like for him:

Before you start calling me Scrooge, I want to point out that I love Christmas, too. My whole year doesn’t exactly revolve around it, but I think that it’s a wonderful time. It can also be stressful (especially financially) and busy, but I still get excited for all the decorations and the music and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

This year, we have a place to decorate together, but I’m still hesitant to go all out. Neither of us will be here for Christmas Day, so what’s the point of getting a real tree? We aren’t having a holiday party, either. I’ve done a few things to bring some holiday cheer into our apartment, but I’m saving all the good stuff for years to come. Here’s a glimpse of our festive decor.

I made these pipe cleaner and bead snowflakes with the kids at work. I think they are awesome. I was probably more excited about them than the kids were.

Alex‘s mom gave him these a year or so ago. He made them for his grandparents when he was a little one:

Adorable.

I’ve been doing the brown paper wrapping for a few years now. Painstakingly hand-printing the Desdemona font from Word, however, is a new addition. I thought it might add something. We’ll see how I feel about it next year.

And last, but not least, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

Our mini (fake) tree! I received the ribbon at the top in a package from my mother (wrapped around a chocolate chip cookie birthday cake) and the garlands are tiny gold bells on gold wrapped wire. I found them at Michael’s for $1.99 a strand on sale. I got two, and bam! A beautifully decorated tree. The little red “berries” and the gold pot are part of the original tree package.

And that’s it! I haven’t found the little crocheted Lillian Vernon snowflakes that Alex‘s mom gave me two years ago, but when I do, they will be hanging in all of our windows.

I hope to be able to update before Christmas. If I don’t get a chance to do so, you can also find snippets from me at Twitter and Tumblr.

As I sit here, wishing it was a snow day for me, I wish you the happiest of holidays… whichever of them you celebrate

COLOR INTERVENTION

10 December 2008
Home Design, Lifestyle, North Shore, Photography
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I love color. It is fascinating, it brings life to lifeless things and it is essential for cheering up a living environment. I should be more specific: it is essential for cheering up my living environment on dreary winter New England days.  Let’s extrapolate… this probably means that I have a home filled with color in the most beautiful of ways and it makes every day a better day.

NOPE. Untrue. Yes, there is some color, but it’s nothing like that of the apartments and homes that I see every day when I scan the blogosphere. Here are some of the interiors that I admire so much that they have been cemented in my mind:

(all from Design*Sponge Sneak Peaks, click through to the tours)

Our apartment has so much less color than these beautiful places. A mere fraction. Granted, it’s a rental, so I cannot go whole hog and paint the place however I want it every three months. I just walked through our home and tried to pick out the most colorful areas in it- the ones I am proud of. I’d rather not show the parts that are totally void of color. But let’s start with how this all translates into my everyday life, in and out of the home. This is my closet:

Don’t be fooled by the sweatshirt hanging up on the curtain rod (no curtain yet!), it’s there because I  just wore it the other day (only around the house!), and it’s probably one of the most colorful things I wear. You can see pops of color, here and there (mostly red…) but the majority of my outfits are in the black/white/gray/blue/brown family. Nothing thrilling.

And here we have the mantle that serves as our headboard. I love the paint color we chose, but let’s face it, it’s a neutral. That little teal creamer is the brightest thing we have in the room (aside from live plants). The one on the other side is a hunter green. NEUTRALS EVERYWHERE. Why am I such a chicken when it comes to bold color??

This is a piece of upholstery from the living room my parents had before I was born (I think?). It has traveled with me to each of the 10 (TEN!??) rooms/apartments I have lived in over the past 7 years. It is one of the more colorful pieces I own, and one of my favorite things. I probably wouldn’t think of it if the house caught on fire (knock on wood), but when I realized it was gone, I would cry about it. The yellow planter was a whim-of-a-purchase I made even before I decided yellow was my favorite color.

And this pegboard that holds my jewelry, hair tools, and other accessories is my crowning glory of newly introduced color. I was inspired by that bright green pegboard you see above, and the owner of that pegboard was even gracious enough to send me right to the tutorial I needed to do my own (although I still have not gotten around to mounting it. Ha!) I try to buy jewelry in exciting colors to jazz up my plain colored wardrobe. The color I picked out on a whim at Home Depot, and as soon as I had that gut instinct, I took it over… before I knew it, the guy was mixing it up and I had no choice! I had to do it!

Maybe I should force myself to be that gung-ho about all color in my home? If I see something, I should just buy it! I asked for bright yellow salt and pepper grinders for Christmas, at least. I gave up on the yellow trashcan I’ve been dreaming of for months- I just can’t conceive of spending that much money on a trashcan, or letting anyone else do it for me. I know I can’t force it if it’s not meant to be. Maybe my brain can’t handle that much color? But then why do I admire other people’s color so much? I’m trying to give myself a color intervention. I just hope I can pull it off.

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