Christmas Eve Table 2016

hi friends!! i hope you had a wonderful christmas, hanukah, or whatever it is you celebrate! somehow a week - more than a week! - has passed and i haven't checked back in here. tis the season. the holidays always get me. it also hasn't helped that i went out too much the past couple of weeks and never got over the stupid sickness. trying to focus on getting better finally.

i thought i'd share a few more snaps of our christmas eve table in addition to the one that i posted on instagram. this is the overhead shot i posted. the funny thing is there are no napkins which i didn't realize until everyone sat down so no nice linen napkins this year! 🙈

i got the flowers at whole foods again this year which is a total deal - $3/stem. i added some birch candles and raw wood garland to keep everything looking natural. the vases are recycled glass from pottery barn and i absolutely love them. they can be used in so many places. great purchase!

i put on a linen table cloth from crate and barrel (that i should have ironed!) to protect the table from wine and food spills. i layered a runner on top to keep it from all blending together. i wish i could have left the wood exposed but this table is so fragile. i'm considering having it sealed now.

one good thing about the new table is that it extends and i took advantage and added one leaf so we could all have some more elbow room and the boys easily fit at the corners. i had mini white lights wrapped around the length of the centerpiece and with the overhead lights down, it was really pretty. i love eating by candlelight!

so that's it! it was a fun night filled with good food and good laughs. and now i'm ready to pack it all away 😜😜

Take The Mint Out!!

like immediately. my total lack of knowledge in the garden is showing! a friend of mine texted me at 8:15 yesterday morning and said "take the mint out of your planter!!" so thankful she read my post! apparently mint is very strong and will take over the whole bed. so i ran out and got a smaller pot where it can live happily without killing it's neighbors. (thank you for the tip LB!!)

now i'm almost afraid to show what i did in the planters - but here goes! (last year's here)

the tall purple flowers are actually perennials which i now know means that they are meant to be planted in the ground and come up every year. so after this summer i can give them a new home somewhere in one of our beds. most importantly i was looking for flowers that can take full sun and all of these claim to.

in other news the woodpecker was back at our bedroom wall, this time before 6am. and the kids slept through the night so it's not like i was not awake anyway which is doubly infuriating. drilling a hole into the side of our house is one thing but messing with our sleep is a totally different story. beware woodpecker.

Flowers

hey y'all!! it's cold. no, cold doesn't even begin to describe it. it's becoming unbearable; i don't do well in temps in the teens much less single digit and negative numbers. but it's days like these that i walk into our well-insulated house and literally feel so thankful that it's warm and not drafty (like our old one).

if you follow me on instagram you have seen that i've been working on our entry and also paint colors for our kitchen and family room. the kitchen facelift project is still in progress and ridding ourselves of the yellow walls is another step in that plan!  once i find time to snap some photos i'll share the details of how everything is shaping up!

but for today i'm thinking about flowers. (this is the most random post!) probably because they remind me of spring which really can't come fast enough. i saw this arrangement on my pinterest feed and really fell hard and fast. i love the symmetry.

when i planning my wedding and meeting with florists, i told them all that i wanted one huge blue hydrangea encircled by white roses. i wanted it to look very tailored. my tastes have since changed a bit (i didn't even like peonies back then - imagine!!) but i remember the florist who i ultimately chose said, "i've never done that before but let's try." i knew she was the one :)  oh but i still love love love hydrangeas - that will never change!