a very swedish christmas

A lovely Swedish home decked out in subtle, pretty Christmas neutrals. I love how clean and soft everything comes across. 

holiday here part 1

I hope everyone had a perfect Thanksgiving holiday! We got tons done around here including picking up our first, real Christmas tree. With the larger house this year we knew we'd need a bigger tree than the one we'd had since our apartment dwelling days. I hadn't had a real tree since I was really little but I just remembered them smelling so, so good so I talked Nick into it. 

The "old" tree found a nice home in our living room and to my delight it gave me a reason to have a "fun tree" one that I can change around year to year and not feel married to it's ornaments. The new, real Fraser Fir family tree went in our 4 seasons room and I love passing through with that tree scent wafting through the air. 

My version of the book wreath also makes it's debut here. For those of you who haven't made one it was almost therapeutic carefully tearing apart the book and methodically putting the wreath together- I highly recommend it. Thanks to Nick for watching Lucy all afternoon Sunday so I could finally make one =)

I also opted for real garland and wreaths (also smells divine) inside this year but I've already learned that I may have pulled the trigger a little early on that so we'll see if it makes it to Christmas. Either way I love it! I'll post again soon with pictures of our holiday bedrooms and foyer.

p.s. - to make the photos larger click on them individually

wings

Have you seen these in the current issue of Country Living? And at only $4.99 a  pair!

creamy buffalo chicken soup

I came across this recipe last week and knew immediately it was meant to be. Anything I can put in the slow cooker is an instant winner in my book, and spicy ta boot. I prepared everything the night before and popped it in the fridge. At lunchtime yesterday I took it out and plugged it in on low. My house smelled so yummy all afternoon and by dinner time I had already stolen a few tastes- hey I had to make sure it was good right? It was an instant hit, we loved it! The recipe is below, I made a few adjustments to the original- I like hot and spicy but I don't like my eyelids to sweat. I would highly recommend this on a Sunday game day! 

1 can cream of chicken soup

   1 can cream of celery soup  

3 can fulls of water 

2 cooked chicken breast or a rotisserie chicken, shredded

8 oz. sour cream

3 Tablespoons hot sauce

Put everything in a crock pot and stir. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Serve it with ciabatta bread.

*recipe source

quick-like felt wreath

On Saturday I set out to make a wreath. Blogland has been saturated lately with fabulous, scrumptious wreaths and so mine was inspired by several different creations I've seen. I simply wrapped a 8'' styrofoam wreath with white felt strips and secured with hot glue. Next I took about 10- 2''x 8'' felt strips and pinched them together and hot glued them individually to form the little ruffle on the bottom right of the wreath. I then took pom-pom string and wrapped it around the form a few times and topped it off with a pretty $2 "Peace" ornament I got from Wal-Mart. Hot glue a felt strip loop to the back and its ready to hang- it only took about 45 minutes. I put mine over my kitchen sink. Happy Monday- yay for short holiday weeks!

the vision

Ever since we moved into our house we've talked about a kitchen remodel down the road. I've always pictured a banquet as there is no seating for a eat-in. Finally the other day I ran across a photo (I don't remember where-oops!) but it's exactly what I've been envisioning- in a someones been in my head sort of way. A remodel is still years away but it's exciting to have a tangible picture to go with the vision I've dreamed up. 

the "vision kitchen"

the current kitchen

The "L" shaped layouts are very similar. The wall with the window on it would get bumped out to accommodate the banquet.

emerson made picks

Who wouldn't love to find one of these sweet little butter yellow boxes under their tree this year! These are my top Emerson Made picks if you're listening Santa... I was pretty nice this year.

11.14.2010

can you believe I found these gorgeous hydrangeas at Costco in November?

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. I just realized it's one of the last "pre holiday" type weekends. It's just about full steam ahead mode so I'm enjoying one of my last Sundays with out any plans for a while.  We had a nice visit from my big brother and his family yesterday. They came down from Detroit and we took them here. Lucy got to meet her cousin Courtney for the first time. It was a blast!

fresh out

Is it totally pathetic it's only 8:20 am and I'm already fresh out out steam. Lord let this day fly by...

*image via style files

kids bath before and after

Since it's not in the budget right now to give this bathroom the huge overhaul it needs we settled for some fresh paint.... everywhere. The walls got a fun cabana stripe feel and the cabinets received a quick update with a slick new coat of high gloss black (color: caviar) and new hardware. I've always loved the striped look but I was always too chicken to try. I figured a kids bathroom was a safe place to experiment.

Next, I removed the double towel bar which was hung really high and replaced it with a long piece of trim and went for towel hooks- i figured they were more kid friendly. Lastly I added a new mirror and as soon as I can figure out how to get that blasted light of the wall, I'll switch it out.

Bathroom Before (previous owners):

After

***

Cream Stripe UPDATE here

As you might remember the fam and I packed up and moved this past summer. Lately as we've been renovating the new house I've had the itch to take it out a bit on this blog too. Nothing drastic, just a new banner and I'm working on some new links on the side bar for a house tour. I figured it's almost holiday time, I've got nothing else to do right? This also keeps me accountable because me officially saying I'm doing the links, means I'll actually have to tie up some projects in order to show them to you.

dear anthro...

Thank you for my new bathroom art. The spray paint is drying on the frames outside and as soon as they're ready I'll be adding these prints from the new November catalog. They were just too cute so I couldn't resist!