Christmas Tea For Two

Happy Holidays, Sweet Friends!

The other day my friend Lisa and I went over to the beautiful city of San Francisco to take in the Christmas magic. Well, we were not disappointed! S.F. is such a beautiful city, and at Christmas it's even more magical. The homes display sparklie Christmas trees in their front windows, cable cars are dressed for the season with garlands and bows (and hosting partying passengers dressed like elves and Santa singing Christmas carols!), and the shops are adorned with beautiful displays.

Lisa and I have wanted to visit The Crown and Crumpet for Christmas Tea for a while now, so we made our way over to Ghirardelli Square for a lovely afternoon tea. The C&C didn't disappoint. It was decked out in all it's sparklie, whimsical glory!

Unfortunately, I'm having difficulty loading photos from the fun day onto my computer... but fortunately, I can link you over to Lisa's Blog to view her amazing photos and let her tell you about our wonderful day! Click on over to HERE, my friends!

Hugs,

PS: I purchased the ornament above at The Crown and Crumpet to remember the special day. My photo loading issues must be related to the memory card. This photo was taken with a new memory card and loaded just fine. Ah, technology...

A Cozy Christmas Cottage

Okay, so my home is not a "real cottage", but it's little, and it's cozy. I find that if I refer to it as a cottage it makes me feel like this 1044 sq. ft. home is small-but-charming, not just... well, small. (Did that even begin to sound like it makes sense?!)
Today I'm joining Claudia over at Mockingbird Hill Cottage for "Defending The Small House, No. 5: Christmas Decorating in a Small House". Please click on over to her blog to check out her beautiful cottage and some fun links to more!

First of all, I've got to tell you... these are not very good photos. These were my "practice photos". I'm having trouble loading the final photos that I shot today. I've taken multiple photos all over the house, at several different times of the day because I've got such strange lighting and angles to contend with here.

Above is my dining room, which shares a double-sided (hello, 1988) fireplace with the living room. My house is kind of funny... if you were to stand at that window in the back of the photo and look toward the fireplace, you would be able to see the living room, dining room, kitchen, entry, and hallway... all at the same time. Oh, and if the door is open in the hallway, you could see into the guest room also!

I've made some changes since the time I took these photos. The chairs around the table now have pine boughs tied to them with red ribbon. Oh, how I wish I could load those photos!

I really haven't purchased any new decorations this year except that little jar of flowers on the left, and the fresh cut pine garlands and wreaths. The house smells soooo good! Don't you love the smell of fresh cut pine?! Oh-- and I know... the table runner and topper need to be pressed. Meh...I don't feel like it, and I have other things I'd rather do. And I have too much stuff piled on my ironing board anyway.

This little snow scene jar is one of my favorite little decorations! I've had it for years, and it's been displayed in my 680 sq.ft. apartment, the duplex, and now my little home. I have a little thing for snow scenes with little white churches or cottages in them. This sweet scene was created by the amazing Ruth at The Homestead, in Old Town Elk Grove. She hand created the little glittery white paper church, and embellished the vintage jar with vintage findings. I actually purchased this from her long before she even had her own store. Ruth is one of the most creative people I know. Her store is so darling--and so is she and her husband (of over 50 years!)Bob. Cute cute cute!

This is my fireplace mantle. The silver and red mercury glass is back this year. The silver never really left. I just add red pieces for Christmas/Valentine's, and aqua for Spring/Summer. This year I added the pine garland. I think it would be really pretty with some snow on it, don't you? Maybe next year...

This is a view from the living room side of the fireplace. I absolutely love this bunting and table runner (on coffee table) made from vintage Christmas tablecloths by the fabulous Amy from Into Vintage. Don't you just love the candy stripe binding?!

This photo was taken from my favorite cozy spot on the sofa. The chair in the corner was discovered at a consignment store and slip covered by moi. The coffee table was purchased at a garage sale. I wanted something that's not fussy... and that I could put my feet on. I'm all about cozy comfort here.

Okay, check out the pillows here... the snowman pillow was purchased in San Diego (actually, on Coronado) years ago when I vacationed with girlfriends one Christmas. Oh, the fun and crazy memories we made there... don't you love things that bring back fun or special memories?

Okay, now check out the red snowflake pillow. It use to have pom pom trim around all of the edges... until I adopted a little fluffy puppy about four years ago. The dog-who-shall-not-be-named nibbled the pom pom trim down to nubs. For some reason, I just can't part with that pillow though, or even repair it. At least I didn't save his baby teeth, eh?

Well, thanks so much for stopping by to visit! I've enjoyed sharing a little bit of the Christmas cheer around here. Hopefully I'll be able to download more photos soon. Yes, there's more... the kitchen, the bathroom (yes, that is what I said), the entry, and the front courtyard. I do love a little bit of merry Christmas around here. Now that I'm pretty much finished decorating, I'm looking forward to having family over this weekend-- and hopefully finishing my Christmas shopping! I hope that you, too, are enjoying this fun and festive season! Merry! Merry!

Hugs,

Giggle

One for him...
One for me...

One for him...

One for me... ((giggle))

Am I the only one that sees the funny in this??

Hugs,

I Am Thankful For...

... you!

Wishing you many, many sweet blessings this Thanksgiving Day.

Hugs,

Are You Going?

Meg seems to be anticipating the opening of the film "Breaking Dawn, Part I" these days. It looks like she's been reading all her Twilight books to refresh her memory of the stories.

She loves her Twilight books... they're usually sitting on her bedside table. I didn't have time to reread the books, and they haven't been sitting on my bedside table...

But, they've been sitting on my "Twilight Shrine"! Is this funny, or what? I just thought that I would get some extra use out of my white pumpkins before I pack them away for the year. The candy boxes crack me up... they're so hokey I just had to put them in there. Hey, do you notice anything that reminds you of "Where's Waldo"? Haggie just had to get in this shot. He's for Team Jacob, of course!
Hugs,

It's My Day...

... and I love cake!

Hugs,

For Me?! Squeeeeeee!

Have you ever received a gift-- a really special gift-- from a very special friend? You know that friend. She's the one that just knows you so well that the gift touches your heart from the first glance?

My friend Joyce is that friend. We've been friends for about twenty years. We made it through our 20's together, our 30's together... and now we're navigating our 40's. We've been there for each other through thick and thin, joys and silliness, loves and losses. She's that kind of friend.

We met each other through one of our loves... paper crafting. Through the years we've seen each other's creative styles grow and change. From the early years of the rubber stamping craze, we've stretched our creative wings through various style and color combo obsessions. Through crazy pop-up dimensional creations... to simply elegant. This gift box would be in that simply elegant category. Don't you love it? My favorite color and details... lovelovelove.

This month is my birthday. Yes, I said month. My friends know that I do not object to celebrating all month long. He he. Well, my month kicked off to a start yesterday with my favorite sushi dinner, and an early surprise birthday gift! My dear friend Joyce created the beautiful gift box above, and gave me this absolutely beautiful necklace.

The moment I opened the box my breath was taken away...

A beautiful dragonfly... the keeper of dreams... created with vintage silver spoons. Joyce has always known of my affinity for dragonflies. She's also always known how selective (a nice word for "picky") I am about dragonflies. My house is not full of them. I don't tell people I have a thing for them for a good reason. Years ago, a friend of mine use to (past tense) love black & white cows. Needless to say, she was inundated with black & white cows, lovingly presented to her by her dear, well-meaning friends. So basically, only a few of my close friends know about my dragonfly thing. I have always wanted to keep my love for them special.

Well, this beautiful dragonfly is special. Super special. It's the perfect combination of my favorites: dragonfly, silver, and vintage. Looooooove this. So much.

Thank you so much, Joyce... I love this special gift, from first glance to forever. Just like our friendship. xox

Hugs,