The new media center

Ken and I decided to expand our media center by going up. I spent the day monday trying to arrange the accessories on the shelves so they didn't make me crazy... here's what I ended up with.

Christmas with the kids...

We had a wonderful day on Saturday. Christmas with the kids, Meg and Nick hosted us at their apartment and Meg prepared a fantastic brunch. The food was delish, and the company was fantastic. Here's a couple of the gifts I received.. a set a stemless wine glasses from Chris and Melissa. They have little Chalk Boards on each glass so you can write someone's name, or even write the name of the wine someone is drinking. Meg and Nick got me some very handy Martha Stewart kitchen gadgets.. a garlic chopper and a food chopper.. how handy is that? Thank you very much!

The INSANITY!

yes.. it's a bit insane.. but the reality is... it's the same as what we do every year... In past years we would do this same amout of shopping then pay to ship it all..then we shifted to gift cards.. much cheaper to send.. then we shifted to cash.. but where's the thrill of unwrapping a gift? so... here is where we are at this year.. with only a bit more shopping to do.. Ken for me, me for Ken.. we're heading to Indianapolis this Saturday for xmas with the kids.. then will travel to Platteville for xmas with Ken's family on xmas day. It's beginning to look alot like christmas......

North Pole News

G-pa Ken created a very cute North Pole Newsletter for Coy.....

a little sweets...

besides the homemade brownies and fudge I put together a platter of sweets.. from Trader Joes, filled chocolates, Meringues and granola chews.

Roast Beef Crostini

Sliced baguette, arugula, sliced medium rare roast beef, a dollop of horseradish sauce, topped with a 1/2 cherry tomato..

Shrimp shots

I used shot glasses, added 2 cooked, cleaned, tail on shrimp in each class, topped them with cocktail sauce and a lemon slice and you have individual Shrimp Shots... they were delish

Holiday party

last night we had a group of ken's co-workers over for a small gathering.. I had a ball getting everything prepared and pulling out all the party accessories.. the food was great.. the company was fantastic and yes.. I had a slight hangover this morning from the Prosecco..

Coy

Could this little man be any cuter????

The Christmas tree 2009

here's our tree that sits in the den.. the pics show it's transformation ...

Holiday decorations

We went with 3 christmas trees this year.. the two smaller trees in the living room are Barbie specific.. they are only decorated in our Barbie ornament collection...

sheesh! It's been along time....

so lets start with the great finds that I found while in Saugatuck Michigan... Great new holiday platter, stocking hangers and cute christmas decorations...

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

The Honeybaked Ham dinner has been reserved, will pick up the day before Thanksgiving and the new dinnerware arrived today.Usually Ken and I prepare the meal ourselves but we are actually taking dinner up to his Mom's in Wisconsin on Thanksgiving day and then having a second dinner when the kids arrive at our house over the weekend. Aside from making some desserts we are ready to go....

Help! Shark!

With our entire apartment being wood floors with the exception of tile in the bathroom I really hated mopping. But with 2 adults, 2 dogs and a cat it needed to be done frequently.Good bye swiffer, no more wet pads.. I shopped around and had been looking to get either the Bissell or the new Shark steam hard surface cleaners, but they run $120.00 ish. So I went to Big Lots! and found a 1st generation Shark steam cleaner for $55.00. I love it. Steam clean the whole apartment and toss the microfibre pad in the laundry and poof ready to go again.

Revised Gift wrap closet

I changed the way the wrap was hung. I used 2 lenghts of hanging Lamp chain and ran the curtain rods holding the wrap paper through the link in the chains. I used plastic stoppers on the ends to keep them from falling out of the chain. Look for yourself.. Much better I think.

The Den, redone

attached are the pics of our redone den. we added the fireplace and shifted things around a bit.

new shoes

I have found myself leaning seriously into the JCrew world as of late. I do believe it's because of Mickey Drexlers influence on the company's style trends. I worked under Mickey at the GAP in the late 1980's and found him to be very inspirational. I love that JCrew does a separate Men's catalog and has separate Men's stores as well, but I do hate that they always put their men's departments on the second floor when it's a combo store.. I guess that's why shopping is my Cardio. Listed as a must have for fall 2009 is the Stan Smith sneaker by Adidas. Paired with the skinny jeans, and a v neck sweater = awesome. So in my ever creative way and never liking to pay full price I found the Stan Smith sneaker by Adidas on Ebay for get it! $29.99 vs. $60.00 at JCrew. Don't get me wrong.. I love JCrew but don't necessarily like their prices. Behold the must have sneaker....

I just love all things Blue Dog

He reminds me of Korki, my childhood dog. Now mind you Korki wasn't blue.

Gift Wrap center

Gift wrap closet is ready to go.. Bring on the gifts, cuz we're ready to wrap.... Lots of paper, ribbon, extra ribbon, bows and gift tags in the black crate. Tissue paper and boxes easily accessible, and extra gift bags and raffia in the plastic tote below.

Xmas gift idea

How cute is this? and who wouldn't want to get a s'mores kit for christmas?Easy to find pieces too... clear plastis boxes available at Container store, everything else your local market.

dilema resolved...

so the weekend is over and what a beautiful one it was. 70 degrees both days made for a lovely Indian summer weekend here in Chicago.I searched far and wide for the perfect Christmas Dinner Plates and had decided I really would just go with the Christmas Tree pattern from the previous post but I just wasn't sold on the ornate border. I decided to look on Ebay and behold the dinner plates set of 8 that I won for a mere $10.49. I can't wait till they arrive.

hmmmm.. big decision

so this is the biggest decision facing me this week.. which holiday dinnerware do I choose ? I'm leaning towards the xmas tree pattern.

My friend Regena...

The wacky girl I was roommates with during my early 20's until she went off and got married on me.. :-) Regena and I have been friends since probably 1982, We shared many homes and laughs together in Fresno and San Francisco. Regena came for a visit while I was at Mom's last month and while we hadn't seen each other in probably 10-12 years it was like no time had passed at all.. Here's a photo of us (with my Mom) in 1984 and the photo of us in 2009... we're both bigger, I'm balder, she's grayer but life has been good to us both.. It was great to see you Regena!

PS she's still wacky

The grill

I am a huge fan of grilling and although we don't have an outdoor space I found this amazing indoor smokeless grill on Amazon.com by Sanyo. Behold the yummies....