food coma

 Tommy's twice baked potatoes.  ohmygod.

I was oncall the night before Thanksgiving and was up allllllllllllllllllllllllllll night - stumbled in around 4am-ish.  My husband let me sleep as long as I wanted on Thanksgiving Day and he did all the cooking.  He made us a mini feast...everything from scratch...everything delicious.  Since it's only the two of us, we have loads of left-overs...we will be in food comas for the next few days.

Lil magnificent pumpkin pie idea: we made our pumpkin pie this year - it was the first time either of us ever made a pumpkin pie  (I helped!)  Tommy suggested we sprinkle the top of the pie with chopped honey roasted pecans.  I tend to be a pumpkin pie purest, but decided to go with his fun idea...and it ROCKED.  We just sprinkled them on with 15 minutes left of baking time and it was a glorious addition.

 Tommy's famous mac 'n cheese

 Our cute lil turkey with a orange cranberry glaze Tommy whipped up.  delish.

I grew up eating the cranberry sauce out of the can (and I love it!) but Tommy makes it from real cranberries...and it's way better :-)

Can you tell I'm wicked thankful for my husband?

shutterfly christmas cards

Bright Merry Cheer Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

I made these Christmas cards for my mom to send out this Christmas.  Collectively my sisters and I had to select a picture that we approved up (that's hard with three girls...so last year my mom ended up selecting one that only a mother could love - my sisters and I all looked like garbage.)  I LOVE this picture...all of our smiles are genuine...this is how I think of my family...big bright smiles :-)

I miss them this time of year.

seeing stars

Saw these somewhere on a blog - but I keep looking at them because they are sooooo lovely! Handcrafted glass star ornaments...pretty for a Christmas tree or perfect for a windowsill... by Kurt Knudsun.

tall tall boots

I love boots in the fall and winter.  I think these knee high boots are super sexy!!  Go enter to win $100 towards sweet shoewear at Chic 'n Cheap Living!

alphabet art

The Alphabet Garden - sugarfresh

I posted a couple days ago about a world map print that I was nutso over...but at roughly $200, it's a serious no-go for us.   Found these sweet lil finds on Etsy and now I'm thinking maybe something celebrating letters would be nice too!  Like alphabet art.  Oh...and nothing is over $30.  Sa-weet.

 Letterpress ABC poster - starshapedpress

  sugarfresh

Ode to Helvetica - ModernPop

tree toppers

Mosaic Star of Lights Christmas Tree Topper - Glass Gallery Girls

Would you believe me if I told you that we started decorating for Christmas?  I'm not kidding.  Not crazy decorating yet...no ornaments are hung, no stockings, no twinkle lights....yet.  But we busted out some of my little Christmas trees and placed them next to some of our autumn decorations...all while sipping hot cocoa and watching our fave Christmas flicks.

While sifting through my lil box of Christmas cheer, it has become clear that there are holiday items we will eventually need - this comes from being a newlywed and never having a "real" Christmas tree before!

1.  Christmas tree topper
2.  Christmas tree skirt
3.  holiday linens (like a table runner or placemats or napkins or something!)
4.  holiday dishes (though I think I may be inheriting a set!!)
5.  advent calender
6.  ornaments!! (yes I have a few from my travels and adventures...but we need some more actually decorate a tree!!)

I'll explore these over the next couple of weeks...see what I can find :-)  Obviously, this search isn't about finding one right now... this year we will certainly make due with sparkly cheap dollar store finds.

 lovin' on this Frank Lloyd Wright Luxfur Plated topper

yea - if money wasn't an object, I'm pretty sure I would snatch this up right now.

Moravian Star - Old Salem Museum & Gardens

Red Paper Christmas Tree Topper - kissadesign
this is so uber cool...(however...what happens if a red star doesn't "work" with the decor that year?)

thought this one was classic and beautiful...even though rather fancy...

and then I saw the $118 price tag... and I didn't like it anymore.
by Baldwin

Decor to Adore

what about this pretty bird/nesting/wreath topper?  Very pretty, and unusual...but not quite the classic look I'd want for our family tree topper.

cutest world map

I saw this posted on DesignMom last week and found it entirely charming.  What a great addition to a baby nursery...it would transition so beautifully to a toddler, and a growing child...it could be used and adored for so long!!  I can just imagine looking at it with our little girl - pointing out the different places, animals, and adventures that our glorious planet contains. 

The price was kinda steep so I did some additional searches for charming world map art and didn't come up with anything quite so lovely.  Is 99 pounds (how much IS that in American money!?) too much for child-room art?? I don't know these things yet. 

baby bedding

Now that we are nearly all settled and moved into our new apartment, we've realized that our furniture choices aren't exactly baby friendly....kinda like the hip and cool extra tall bar stools at our kitchen table.  That's what high chairs are for I suppose. 

But now we can have some real fun.  Nesting.  Decorating and preparing a space for our baby.  I've been browsing around on CSN.com, the online shopping source of over 200 stores - which has an enormous baby bedding selection.

Tommy and I have already decided that a hyper pink motif isn't in the cards for our little girl - as her room will clearly be a space that we will be spending lots of time in too and neither of us are big pink fans.  Thankfully there are a few sweet sweet choices that aren't Barbie inspired!  Now.  How do we pick!!??

Well - and then I saw the pink ruffles and I melted a little bit inside.  This is probably the definition of Barbie-esque bedding.  It's so pretty for a little baby girl.  Oh man.  This is going to be harder than I thought.

raddest rolex

Tommy is a "watch" guy.  He's also a practical man, thankfully, and doesn't spend loads of money on lavish watches.  He's got great taste...and has a couple classy watches at home that he can switch out.  But I see him spying time pieces when we go shopping and I always wish we could afford to buy a frivolous luxury every now and then.

It would be so fun to surprise him with badass boy bling someday.  I doubt I could ever handle spending over 2 grand on a watch, it sounds so ridiculous.  But if I won a gazillion dollars in the lottery I would buy my love one of these amazing vintage Rolex watches.   I like the orange one the most. 

toy portraits

With a little one on the way in our household, my thoughts revolve around babies and kiddos and my own childhood.  (I can't help it!)  So you can imagine the size of my smile when I saw these precious commissioned custom toy portraits.  Oh how I love this.  The artist, Jennifer Maher, paints these little treasures for as low as $60 for a 5x7!!  Hello amazing Christmas gift!!  Check out her website here.

I actually didn't grow up with a stuffed animal that comforted me when I went to bed - I had a soft yellow "blanky" that I was rather smitten with.   My husband had a little stuffed dog - PupPup.  I've met little PupPup - I think he was either missing an eye or missing an ear, and has been hugged within an inch of his life as he longer has any "stuffing" to help keep his shape.   But PupPup is just perfect.   I love that Tommy's mother kept  him all these years.

Did you have a favorite childhood toy? 

the table is set

My life has been consumed with residency lately...CONSUMED.  I barely get to snuggle with my love - I get home and collapse.  Seriously.  If he doesn't make me a healthy dinner, I down a bowl of cereal and fall asleep before I'm done.  On top of my insane schedule (I'm doing General Surgery right now), we have been moving into our new apartment.   Obviously, Tommy has done 90% of the moving - thank goodness!  

I smiled so big when I came home and saw that he had moved our table and chairs and set the table all pretty with our wedding gifts.   We've actually never fully set the table with our wedding dishes before...and he had to go hunting to find our pretty linens.  He really is the sweetest.