Sunday, December 5, 2010

Deck The Halls with Susan!



Hello, hello! I'm sooo happy to see all of you here! This meme that Susan at Between Naps on the Porch got me going on decorating for Christmas even though we are still in between projects so thanks a bunch, Susan!

Still no tree though as we're waiting for our eldest to come home from college soon enough and buy a tree that all of us can decorate. Each year, a child has a theme that we build up on. This year, it's the college girl's theme: Poinsettia and Gold. Well... guess what? I don't have much poinsettias! LOL

The fresh ones I got are dying from the yo-yo temp outside that's messing with our temp inside so they are getting a nice soaking right now and could not make any appearances in time for today.

So enjoy and I'll be by yours, gleaning great ideas, soon enough!

Here's the FAMILY ROOM:

Not much going on here since we are training puppies, but at least I have some of my Nativity sets up. This one is 14 years old...


We got this set at Costco as our very first family gift for Christmas. It doesn't come with a star so we try to make the angel look like it's looking down from heaven and the manger all lit up, just like in the story in Luke.
Love the expression on this angel...
While watching the baby Jesus from her heavenly perch.
The manger is only about5-6 years old. We found it in Target during our Clearance raids. LOL I love this diorama scene with the holy family and the little shepherd looking in.
Our mantle is one of my favorite places to decorate and I really went out on this one, but guess what again... I literally ran out of decorations! We've lived in apartments, almost a third smaller of this house, so between no time and no decorations, I'm quite surprised that we were able to pull this off. :-)
Back in 2008, we found a box barely noticeable among all the pickin's, this PEACE stocking holders. Perfect as we have 5 in our family! And to sweeten the deal, it was 75% off! The candles were a find last year at Jo-Ann's. The last five for less than $1 each! I love using big pinecones no matter how elegant or rustic my theme is. It defines the season for me...
Here's the banister leading upstairs. Most of my garlands are older than my youngest, and I'm quite impressed that despite several moves, they've all survived! The lightball on the table, also 14 years old. My hubby and FIL made them together the first Christmas we were married. Yes, the light-strings are that old!
For about three Decembers now, we loan out our little trees and nativity sets to our community Nativity Exhibit so these are one of the last ones to be included in the decor.
Many of my wire ribbons were muted enough to work year after year. So cool!



My village! Finally out after 3 years of being left out from lack of space... This one's in the DR. Nope, not done there yet...
And this is the foyer... I placed a mirror to reflect the front door and give my little amount of decor a bigger impact.
Oh look, poinsettias and gold sprays! LOL I love this Nativity interpretation and the muted colors go well with all the colors we use each year. This is 2 years old.

Sometimes, when inspiration hits, it hits big! The effect was much more than I was expecting! How awesome is that?!

So... what do you think? Did I deck my halls? Thank you and glad to join in! See ya later!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Catching Up!

I again am playing catch up to all of you with all these household business we're attending to right now. So I thought I'd bundle up Halloween and Thanksgiving for you beautiful ladies!

Thanks again to our wonderful hosts, Susan of Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday and Tablescape Thursday, Marty of A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday, Leigh of Tales of Bloggeritaville for Thrifty Thursday and Michael Lee of Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday. So glad to be participating this week!

Alright, let's move on to the catching up part... Susan, these transformations certainly fit Met Monday.

Fall came, September 22, and we quickly dressed up our newly painted old door with Halloween and Autumn colors.

The foyer table (for Marty) had a temporary dressing as well...
Eventually after much rummaging, I managed to find my other Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving items from the newly carved out storage, and officially welcomed the season for the second time. This shadow box done back in 2005, cost me a total of $1.50! Pretty thrifty, huh, Leigh?
Halloween this year, since it was on Sunday, meant only giving out candies, and using up our 2009 clearance finds! Still thrifty, Leigh!
Then, Susan, the foyer turned into something more sinister... Boo!
Even the candy table had its own party going on! Two tables for Marty over here! LOL
Then Thanksgiving was in the air and again the same table took on another face-just for Susan and Marty...
I emphasized Harvest time this time around...
Before the actual T-dinner, we also had another dinner we hosted. It wasn't fancy, but we had to make sure that we made the table lovely...
(The leaves, from our trees in the front yard, the floating candles, Garden Ridge, 2008, 50 cents each) Gotta love that, Leigh!
Lovely for both our guests and Susan, of course! I call this table, "A New Fall" since we are in our very own house and we can't be more excited to start the season cozy inside...
On the big day, I made sure that all were taken care of, but not over the top. I was so excited when the hubs pulled out all of my dishes from the storage and I got to see all of my choices for this year's table!

This one is called, "Thanksgiving, In and Out" because our gratitude extends to the wonderful property we purchased. Despite the wear&tear happenings, it is ours to change, update and upgrade!

To save money, I simply used flowers to dress the table and didn't fuss over the vases either, whatever was around did the trick.
I think it worked out beautifully, don't you, Susan, Leigh, Marty? How about you ladies?
We started with this beautiful Autumn soup made with butternut squash, potatoes, leek and coconut milk. It was divine! I think a Foodie like Michael Lee can appreciate this, right?

Plates-Embossed Leaves (Linens & Things, 2005, 75% off); Harvest Cinnamon (Harvest Home, Kroger, 2009, 50 cents each); Earthenware Bowl (Ikea, 2010, 79 cents each)
Utensils-Oneida-Katrina (Sears, 1995) / Napkins- Linen Beige (Kroger, 2010-80 cents each) / Drinkware-Anchor Smoke (Target, 2009)

We also dressed the naturally overwhelming wall of mirrors in the dining room to look like a panoramic window seeing the tumbled leaves falling...
This year so far, we were blessed with momentous occasions: Great New Year, Valentine's was spent looking for a house, March was spent buying and closing on this house, April & May were spent on moving in, organizing and settling in, June was a double graduation time, July & August were spent on planning out college life and more renovations, and September was well, spent in Hawaii and with friends staying with us. We are blessed, happy and grateful...

Hope you all have been having a great year, or at least a great Fall season. We all have much to be thankful for and it's not even December yet!

TABLESCAPING IDEAS: (Brain is very happy with herself) No money for a centerpiece, use what's around you. Just like I did, I gathered leaves with varying colors and floated them in an oval roaster with my floating candles. I used more of the same leaves to cover the above big serving tray that only held a few things. (Ooooppps... I left the candlestick I used to light the round ones, lol) It filled up the tray and it looks like a deliberate choice! Didn't cost me a thing!

Thanks for peeking! Now I'm off to see yours!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Pink Trees!

Now that it's Autumn and Saturday, what a great day to participate in Pink Saturday with Beverly at How Sweet the Sound!

Autumn comes around and the bright colors turn muted, cozy and a different stage of awe inspiring sighs... But it never hurts to recall how wonderful it is to stare up and see a cloud of PINK between branches. Here are some of the more beautiful ones I saw online... Enjoy!





Glad to see you here. I'll see you at your blog!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Anniversary Dinner

Hello to all again! I'm excited to be able to participate in 3 memes again today: Tablescape Thursday with Susan, Foodie Friday with Michael Lee, and Some of my Favorite Things Saturday with Laurie. Yay!

THEME:
"Over The Years"

INSPIRATION:
Our family and each other

Back in October 26th, 1996, Mr. Man and I entered our LDS temple in Oakland, CA and "sealed" a covenant with Heavenly Father that we will love and cherish each other for all eternity...

Well, this year, yesterday, was our 14th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. We didn't bungee jump off any cliffside or bridge, didn't seek out a fancy restaurant, no expensive gifts bought and no parties thrown. For this anniversary, we reflected on the success of our marriage and our family as well as another pledge to make it to 7 more years of happiness. At least...

Now, we enjoy life with our three children- 1 in Hawaii, 2 at home.

But before we had all three, we had our memories and possessions that reminded us of our union and all the ups and downs we endured. So this table is reflective of that...
Card table-1997, Flowers 2002, Autumn Dinnerware- 2005, Tablecloth, Birds and Flatware-2009, Glasses, Napkins, candles and holder- 2010.
We ate in our family room after the kiddos went to bed. We listened to Michael Buble and reflected on how much we still love each other and the life we are building in our new home.

Our menu and dinnerware were also a mix of old and new: The plates, 2005 and 2007; The solid red plate (Home Trend "Siena") was a gift from a young couple family friends. They were relocating and reducing so they gave us the whole set for 4!
The food- a FAVE of ours since 1996; Crabcakes, but my own recipe this year. The couscous, only tried and loved it this year. Broccoli, a staple family veggie since childhood for Mr. Man and 1987 for me. The dessert of Cream Puffs with chocolate ganache has been an anniversary staple since 2002. Homemade ganache, totally only started 2008.
So there you are, our marital journey for your enjoyment. One thing that's still and will always be... How much we are totally crazy about each other! Everyone, meet Mr. Man. My dream man... (Max's of Manila in Honolulu, Hawaii, September 2010)
and our children L-Infinity (17), J-Pony(11) and I-Dude(8). Our pure source of joy. When we look at them, they remind us how lucky we are to have found each other.


I love my life and wouldn't trade it for anything. How about you?

Thanks for peeking! Now I'm off to see your post!

Niceties first

HELLO AND WELCOME to this blog dedicated to my obsession of tablescapes, and ONLY TABLESCAPES!
That means that whatever I post will be redirected to tablescapes or you will see tablescapes or the dishes and glassware that I used AND wish to use.
I hope you like you what you see; but you can't do that unless you take the tour- the TABLESCAPE TOUR that's on the side bar! I'd also love to take you on my adventures on finding great dinnerwares to display and use while leaving some serious change in your pocket, so stay a while and see all of my great deals!
Wanna know the reason behind the madness, too? Then make sure to read, Why this blog for my philosophy.