taking down Christmas

Two weeks ago, we finally took down the tree and decorations. I need to find a large tub of some sort to store the decorations and tree stand for next Christmas.

soup, strands, and shelving

It's finally beginning to feel a little more like winter this week. I put some soup together to warm up one evening. The above soup includes veggies with gimme lean sausage and baby kale. Yum yum! I've also started to think about Valentine's Day for my home and the shop. A while ago, I had ordered some hearts and stars cut out from vintage dictionaries and music sheets. For months I have seen great paper garlands and decided to make some of my own with the hearts and stars I ordered. I finished a few strands of them. Unfortunately, my sewing machine decided to crap out on me again and until it is fixed, I am stranded (no pun intended) without a machine to complete them.

I am a fan of using free items whenever I can. I had picked up these black shelves from a free pile in our building a few months ago and just couldn't decide where to put them. This week I decided to add them to my collage above the dresser. This is how it turned out! The drawing in the blond frame was done by one of my friends for Ryan and I one year anniversary. I love the collection of all of these items.

christmas tree decorations

 

Our pile of presents under the tree, mostly courtesy of our parents. Plaid tree skirt made by me.

 

Star ornament from Ten Thousand Villages

 

One of the Polish Star/Porcupine Ball/Sea Urchin ornaments. I made four of them. 

They are made from upcycled catalog pages.

Nestled.

Looking at all of it together, it looks like I have a rustic Christmas theme.

Peeking out.

These ornaments have been fun to make. I may continue to make them for gifts and continued use throughout the year.

nyc for thanksgiving

I will write a larger post another day, but I wanted to post that via train and bus we went to NYC for Thanksgiving weekend. We had a fabulous time with Ryan's mom Sue and family. In lieu of the typical thanksgiving dinner, we ate at an Italian restaurant, where the food listed was written in Italian and the food tasted just as authentic. A day of being tourists, we left the following day. I would love to go back another time to soak more culture in.

happy halloween!

Tater says, "Happy Halloween!" She is wearing a bandana from Ryan's mom.

the Cape and 4th of July Weekend

We got up early on Saturday morning to drive to Chatham, Cape Cod to visit some friends. We had just invited ourselves over a couple of nights before, but travel went fairly smoothly. After preparing lunches and comforting a toddler, we drove to the slip to enjoy a boat ride, lunch and some Atlantic Ocean. In the above image, we are getting back onto the boat after enjoying a sandy walk to the Atlantic Side of Cape Cod.



Susan, being fabulous on the boat, while holding the Beedle.


When we arrived back to the boat, we were informed that the Beedle had let go of his kite when excited by the return of his parents. Luckily it could be found. Pops steered the boat near the shallow end and Susan got out and swam/walked to retrieve the kite. Beedle was cheered.

When we returned, Beedle showed me how to be a Jedi:


It's a very intense process.



Later on in the evening, we enjoyed some Old Fashioneds, made by Matt.


Father and son.



Before dinner, we took a walk down to the end of the street, snapping pictures of the view and ourselves.



Susan made a fabulous blackened tofu with salsa, and grilled squash and asparagus for dinner. Once stuffed, we set about to our own devices. Before bed, we walked down the street to view the "planetarium" (it was so dark we could see many stars and the Milky Way). We slept hard.

In the morning, we got ready for the day and packed. Ryan and I went into downtown Chatham to see the different stores and drive to the lighthouse. There were some great places to go into and later on you will see the mirror that I purchased. We drove to Provincetown, which seemed like a fabulous place, except that we could not find any parking. We stopped once at a natural foods store, but could not park there to wander into the town. Vowing to try to go again, we started our drive back home.



When we got there, we found the hallway repainted. Now will they replace the carpet?



This is the mosaic mirror I purchased at Yankee Ingenuity in Chatham.



Brunch I made this morning: tofu, edamamme, broccoli and a whole bunch of spices. Today is for relaxing and doing naught. We do not feel like fighting traffic or finding a parking spot for the fireworks in town, so we will stay put. Happy Fourth, people!