My Crazed, Not-Perfectly-Planned Christmas Tree!

Soooooooo… I have really been enjoying all the holiday posts by other bloggers (read: real - "I write on my
blog consistently" - bloggers!). I love to see all the fun and creative ways they decorate their homes. All perfectly
color-coordinated and precisely planned. Right down to their amazing trees that are themed and amazingly
matched to the rooms they sit in!

Then we have my Christmas tree. Ah, yes. It is adorned with the most chaotic, tacky, odd selection of
ornaments you have ever seen! It pretty much looks like a blind and drunk orangutan decorated it!

We have a very wide variety of baubles adorning our tree:
Lets start with a couple of our many versions of Santa doing various things! Santa in a car:

And Santa riding a cat:

Santa napping in a chair. "Born to snooze"? Uh… okay…?

Not so strange. Lets move on to 13 years of hand made ornaments from my children. 

I am pretty sure this looks JUST like a snowflake… or a "F" project?! Pretty stingy with the glitter I'd say!

Gingerbread Man… with a tracheotomy?

 Teachers can fashion a handprint into ANYthing. Apparently...

 Keep in mind that I have 3 boys so I have all these lovely ornaments in sets of 3! My mother also decided I needed ornaments with pictures for each boy every Christmas. 3 boys + 16 Christmases = TOO MANY! Uncle!

 And onward to randomness - a football helmet ornament for the hubs:

 And I am sure you all have a Christmas whale on your tree! Right?

  Pink elephants? Actually this one is a personal favorite!

And Christmas Dinosaurs:

And ornaments for the dogs of course (of course!).

That just a whole lotta' everything on that tree, right? Sadly it represents our family SO well I just can't change a thing. It's really just best viewed from afar though...

Hope you all had a great holiday! Happy New Year!

Christmas Decorating Morphing Out of Control

Well, I do it every year. I say I am going to keep it all simple. It starts out that way. I do just the mantle.
Then the tree. And the staircase. Then the buffet and the tree in the kitchen. That is plenty I tell myself!
Less is more! Sparse is sophisticated. Then I start adding. And adding. Then our holiday party is looming.
Then I panic and really get things going! I just can't help myself.

I will, of course, be cursing myself on January 1 when I just want it all down and put away!

Lets just get right into some pictures…

 We have a LOT of ornaments on our tree. They don't match. There is no fabulous, perfectly planned color scheme
like those other "professional" bloggers do. We have pretty, tacky, homemade, hand-me-down, photos,
and just plain odd… There is actually a Christmas spiderweb ornament in there somewhere!
I will do a separate post on them! Some are just hideous but I keep putting them on year after year
because, well... sadly, it really represents our family well!

View from the hall (yup, I did not even bother to move the dog beds!)

I changed the colors in the family room last summer so I made a new wreath to incorporate the blue.
Now I just need to bring the new colors into the mantle as well!

 Here is the sign I printed out on old book pages last year.

 I made a bunch of these cute christmas tree carting cars after seeing them at ALL the barn sales! So cute!

 I have a lot of random Santa figurines I have been gifted over the years. They just get stuck in among
my usual accessories on shelves and wherever I feel like putting them!

 Then there is the fun of trying to disguise the DirecTv box. Those things are so a-nnoy-ing!

 I am still working on these Ball jar votives to put outside on the walkway during my party...

And more of my boys old matchbox cars with trees...

 Things get really out of hand in the dining room. I really LOVE decorating my buffet!

 Is that too much? It might be to much…?

 Aren't those trees the cutest!? I bought those at the Chicks Picks sale. If you live in the Northern VA area
you really have to check out her sales. Hillary sells the cutest jewelry, accessories and home decor
out of her house once a month! It is crazy the amount of stuff she crams in there!

Birch wood, greens and old wine bottles! Re-use, re-use, re-use!

Thant's it for now!

Once I get everything finished and the house cleaned up I will do a nice cohesive post room to room!
Until then, well… I have just a few more things I need to do! Really. Just one or two...

Happy decorating to you!

A peek at my Holiday Decor

Wow. Really having a hard time getting back on track! I have been decorating up a storm in anticipation of
Christmas, of course, but also our holiday party in a week!

So just some pictures today and I all post more when I am more finished (and the house is clean!).

A little peek outside first...

My $10 sled my lovely friend Jen picked up for me through Craigslist!

And lots going on inside…

My card holders all ready to be stocked!

Some new railing decor...

And bringing out the blue in the family room I redecorated over the summer!

I'll post more pictures in a couple days after I finish!

Helllloooooo!!!!

Yes! I am still here and so is my blog. I am so sorry but I was severely distracted by the summer! Then the start of school. Then hanging out with my awesome group of girlfriends! And enjoying the gorgeous Virginia wineries and scenery! I feel so lucky to have landscapes like this just minutes from my home.

But now it is time to get back on track and yesterday I returned to my old routine! It was off to the barn sales with
two of my gal-pals and boy, oh boy, was it fun!

And of course, the wine just happens to follow us wherever we go! (note the dixie cup!)

The weather was so crazy that day. I had changed out of a sweater into that cute tee because it was getting warm in Virginia that afternoon. By the time we got up to Maryland (only a hour away mind you!) it was about 20 degrees cooler. Brrr! I basically looked like a idiot as everyone else there had on coats and warm clothes except me! Durrr…
It was a great trip though. We started out at Chartreuse in Frederick, MD. This sale just keeps getting better! They have brought in some new vendors and the place was just packed with goodies. They had a nice fire going outside and the beginnings of Christmas decorations. It really got me in the mood for the holiday season! I came home with some fun, new ideas as well! Like these cute Mason jars - just fill with a little epsom salt for snow and a glittery snowflake! I will add a tea light and use them as cute path lighting at my holiday party! And the little matchbox car with the tree tied to it - so simple and cute!

I really like this idea as well. Any decorating project that incorporates recycled wine bottles is a winner as far as I am concerned! I already have a cute burlap sack that one of my awesome friends gifted me, and those signs look easy enough to make!

And then my favorite find - this guy:

I LOVE him! And the color goes perfectly with my new family room colors - see changes here.

Isn't he just fun and adorable?!
Now, I did break one of my rules and went to this sale with something specific in mind that I wanted to buy. I
typically never do this because when you are looking for a particular item you will almost never find it!
But recently I have been coveting these Pottery Barn Pillows. Just the cover alone is $69.50:

They look so cozy for winter though. I was so shocked and excited when I actually found a pair - the ONLY pair there!

The best part was these were only $39 each and that included the pillow inside!

I would have been happy if that was the only thing I had walked away with!

After Chartreuse we made our way over to Sweet Clover which is only about a 15 minute drive. We were running low on time so we had to be speedy! Sweet Clover has really ramped rings up since I was there last spring! The barn is now 2 levels and filled with so much great stuff! Traer Loves is now there - check out her blog. She has the cutest stuff and I am so excited she is there now! I bought a yummy Pumpkin Latte candle by Misty Blue Candles. And a cute flying pig chime that I plan to use in the kitchen as a dinner bell. I'll share that after I figure out where I am going to hang it!

Hope everyone else is enjoying their Fall!

Why oh why does it have to end...?

Oh summer! You were fabulous as always! I will miss you so. Take care and come again next year!

I swear I had like, 27 posts from this summer! What the heck. Clearly, through no fault of mine they have been deleted. Or vanished. Or something. Because I have NOT been lazy this summer. Oh no. Never. I have NOT been just going to the pool with my kids. Or reading outside in the hammock. Or catching up on episodes of Real Housewives. Or eating entire bags of BBQ potato chips. I have been utterly, insanely productive and busy!

I'm sure of it ...

Well. Today I was! I went out and got started washer/dryer shopping. Or washer/dryer confusion. I hate shopping
for appliances. Someone just tell me which one to buy. And each brand should only have one model. Why so many choices? My tiny brain can only handle so much useless information. And while my intentions are honorable AND ambitious, I think we all know that I will probably only ever use the "normal" cycle. Maybe the "gentle" once a week.
I definitely will never read the manuals. And I will promptly lose the "no tumble shelf" and any other miscellaneous accessories. So really, what is the point!? So I am now armed with a sheets worth of information!
I thought I knew what I wanted but now my mind is pudding!

Next on my list was my happy place: HomeGoods! I got to meet with my friend/realtor/employer Shannon to do a
little shopping for their new real estate company and office space. If you live in Northern Virginia and need a great realty group check out Washington Street Realty! There aren't many things I like better than helping someone else spend their money! And doing some decorating as opposed to just staging for sale. So strolling through the aisles of HomeGoods was like a cleansing after the washer/dryer browsing. I just love that store. Like a sister. And she never fails. We found
a rug, a garden stool type end table, a couple baskets and a wicker trash can. We just needed some accessories.
And we found them. And all was right with the afternoon!

Next stop - field of sunshine and happiness! The sunflower field. The best idea ever (this week). There is a little farm
just outside the entrance of my neighborhood. They run a small farmers market and sell seasonal plants, veggies and such. They have a smallish field (as fields go anyway) and they are always growing something. Rotating pumpkins, tulips, sunflowers, etc... Pick your own! Or have a photo shoot. Or skip through the rows of flowers like Anne of Green Gables. Or picnic - seriously. There was a mom there today with her 2 little girls, and actual picnic basket and big pink quilt! Lucky mom of girls! My boys would have none of that. Unless there were pigs. Or a playstation. Or ice cream. Boys! Regardless. I love it! And all the girlie, wish-I-lived-on-a-farm feelings it gives me!

See! You smiled right? Sunflowers make everyone smile! I took some to my neighbor (her birthday was yesterday!)

And took one big momma one to my other neighbor

And then made myself a pitcher full!

And those lemons were already there! My innate blogger abilities are heightening so now I just have things like
bowls of lemons and fresh eggs and cutting boards with hand-picked-from-my-garden basil laying on them
all over the kitchen! HA! So there!
So that was my day. A lovely day. I promise to write more. And I will look for those lost posts too! You wait here! :)