Anthropologie Ornament Sale

Every year I try to build up our ornament collection a little bit and always love the ornaments at Antropologie. I wait to buy a few after Christmas, though, because they're so much cheaper then. We haven't had our own full size Christmas tree yet, mainly because we don't have enough ornaments to fill a tree. Next year I think we'll have enough ornaments. Here are a few of the really cute ornaments that are on sale at Anthropologie. I just bought a handful and can't wait to see them on our tree next year!

Alicia's Tumbprints

We made some delicious cookies last week--Alicia's mom's thumbprint cookies. My mom often made thumbprint cookies when I was growing up, so I wanted to try this recipe with her because I love thumbprints, and I love Alicia's blog. Oh my gosh, I cannot tell you how good they are! You'll just have to make them yourself to know. Amazing. That's about all I can say. I think the key to getting them right is the butter because some of ours came out a little flat and deflated looking (how you handle the butter can make or break cookies, among other things). And I think what made them taste extra special is the almond extract. If you don't have holiday baking fatigue yet, I highly recommend making these. We left some out for Santa. He liked them too.

Santa Baby

A few days before we headed out of town I took these pictures of Lois in her Santa hat and cute crawlers. Aww, so adorable, right? I was hoping for the same sweet smile for her picture with Santa, but it just didn't turn out that way.

Today we went to see Santa, which was an adventure filled with the oh-so-fun holiday things like traffic, a packed mall parking lot, and a long Santa picture line filed with bored, whiny kids. But I was determined to get a picture of Lois with Santa even if it was a at the very last minute. Lois wore an adorable, tiny red and green polka dot dress that I bought on etsy along with her mary jane socks and her Santa hat. She looked sooo cute. Everything was going well for the first hour that we stood in line. Lois was mostly just smiling and looking around at all the mall action (well, she liked looking at the tree lights nearby at least). I was hopeful for a Gerber baby picture moment for her first Christmas.

Then just as we were getting to the head of the line, she had a meltdown. She was screaming her head off in her Santa picture! Oh well--it's still really cute (I don't have a scanner here so I can't post it to show you). But doesn't every kid have a picture with Santa where they're screaming? I have plenty of adorable pictures of her anyway. I'm sure I'll take quite a few tomorrow--baby's very first Christmas--a special day indeed (even if she doesn't know it). From me and Lois, we hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

The Best Book for Little Ones!

We're in Atlanta now for the holidays and had our Christmas today with Andrew's mom at her house (we go to my mom's next week). Andrew's mom gave Lois the coolest book I could imagine for kids--a personalized My Very Own Name book! It tells the story of Lois' name by spelling her name using animals who tell a little rhyme with each letter until her full name is spelled out. It even has a printed dedication on the cover page. I love this book! I can't wait to order a few as gifts for other little ones. Check out a sample book on their web site. They also have a few other fun personalized books like My Very Own Fairy Tale book and probably my favorite, a custom art book using your kid's artwork. What kid wouldn't want one of these fun books?

The Cutest Hats!

My friend Caroline decided to sell some of her cute knitted hats in her new etsy shop! Lois has had sooo many compliments on her two hats that Caroline made, and we never leave home now without at least one of them. If you need a last minute Christmas gift for any little bundles in your life, one of these would be perfect!

Button Magnets

I wanted to make something little to give Lisa for Christmas and decided to make her some button magnets. Just like me she loves buttons! I tried to pick a variety of styles and sizes from my button jar. I bought the magnets at a fabric store (but I figure most craft stores sell them as well), and I used e6000 epoxy to glue the magnets to the backsides of the buttons. An easy, fun gift, especially for anyone who likes buttons! I wrapped them up in some burlap with an aqua ribbon to match her holiday color scheme and wrote her a note on the Christmas cards I bought last year.

2 Month Birthday

Here's Lois all dressed up for her two month birthday wearing an adorable hat Caroline made and a chenille dress my sister gave her. She's also wearing my favorite socks for baby, Trumpette socks that look like little mary jane's. Too cute! Happy birthday little monkey!

"L" is for Lois!

This week I had tea with my friend Alex who gave Lois the cutest present . . . this framed piece of vintage fabric that she framed herself. I love it! "L" is for lion and for Lois! It will be perfect with all the other colors and vintage things in her room

Alex also wrapped it in the cutest red and aqua floral paper, which reminded me a little of one of my favorite fabrics. Thanks, Alex!

Easy Thank Yous

Lois will need to send Santa a thank you note in a few weeks so I personalized some stationery for her. I just bought some cute note packs and printed her name on them. I especially like the eyelet set. I got them at Michael's. They're part of the Martha Stewart line. The others I got at the Paper Source for free last time I was there. (They were giving away stationery packs with every purchase in the store a few weeks ago.) I like to make these for gifts sometimes too. It's really easy. I just use Word to print the text. It just takes a few tries to make sure the text will line up right where you want it on the card. Voila! You have an inexpensive, personalized gift! I also love Le Pen colored pens and usually choose an ink color that matches a pen I already have. They are thin felt tip pens that come in a range of colors. I chose lighter colored inks for both of these, so click on the pictures if you want to see them larger.

For Itty Bitty Legs

I've been looking around on etsy for some Christmas gifts, and one of my favorite things for kids are these adorable leg warmers--little crawlers from etsy seller fategoddess. I got Lois a few sets, and here she is in a pair of pink and red ones with a onesie Caroline gave her and some knited cowboy boots my sister gave her. Our sassy little cowgirl! If I could just get her this pony for Christmas . . . .

Me

I like this picture Andrew took of me. I think I will make it my new profile picture.

Thanksgiving At Lisa's

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Lisa's house. The company was great, the food delicious, and the decorations festive and warm. And of course Lisa's place is amazing (why wouldn't it be, she owns an antique shop after all)! Here are a few pictures. I was loosing the natural light so I didn't get a whole lot of pictures, but hopefully Lisa will let me come over and take more pictures sometime soon.

Lisa needs no lesson in setting a table--she does it all the time at the shop.

Everything was white and blue with dashes of silver and burgundy.

The new bright look in Lisa's dining room, which used to be a rust color with dark furniture.

Andrew made apple pie, which looked really pretty with all the blue accents.

Lois had her first Thanksgiving!

Lisa always decorates with something unexpected. In her bedroom, which is otherwise all black and ivory, she has this vibrant green painting that takes up one whole wall. I'm not sure if she considers this the unexpected thing in this room, but I did!

Lisa might be the queen of great lighting, from sconces to lamps to chandeliers . . . here are just a few (she has a beautiful chandelier in every room, not just these shown).




Here is Lisa carving the turkey. Thanks, Lisa, for a great Thanksgiving!