Some Scenes from last year.

I'm happy to be linking to:
Table Top Tuesday
All Things Heart & Home
Tablescape Thursday


Since I haven't started decorating for Christmas '10 yet, I thought I'd share some PB (that would be pre-blog) pics from last year.  It will be interesting to see how my style & ideas will change when I do begin
this magical-mystical transformation this year.

This first pic is my dining room table last year.  It was pretty simple, & I liked this look.  But I'm planning something entirely different for this time around.

I love to decorate my kitchen because I'm in here so much.  I don't usually change what I have displayed above the cabinets, but I do add greenery & red berries.  The garden window usually gets lots of items, layered in with the Christmas cactus.  I love the pops of red & green against the white cabinets.

This is a close-up of what you can see hanging above the island.  These are wood cubes (The Man cut them for me) that I painted & added black & white photos.  I try to make ornaments every year for the grandchildren, but these turned into ornament sets for each family, including The Man & I.  They turned out really cute & everyone loved them.  I left mine hanging here thru Valentine's Day.

This is my snowman collection.  I add something new every year, but have been displaying it on my old singer in the entry area for several years now.  I really do like it here.

Well, that's it for today.  I am really getting this strong urge to go ahead & decorate for Christmas instead of waiting until after Thanksgiving.  It's such an overwhelming force & pull, I'm just not sure I can resist.  So, help me Obi-Wan, you are my only hope!  I just love saying that!  Thanks for stopping by & have a great day.

Making Changes

I'm happy to be linking to:
Show and Tell Friday
Inspiration Friday Party

It's been a few days since I posted anything, & I've missed it.  The Man & I were off to Scottsdale to see the "Grands" & attend the Friends & Family opening of the restaurant where our son is the Executive Chef.  Got lots of loving & hugs from 3 of the grands, but have to wait to see the other 2 at our home for Thanksgiving.  We were also celebrating one of our granddaughter's 7th birthday.  Whew, lots going on!

Besides all that, we still managed to get in some shopping.  I'm kind of like a kid in a candy store when we go to Scottsdale/Phoenix.  Let's face it, our little Yuma has the basics (for which we are eternally grateful), but nothing more.  So, when we go to the "Big City", we have to leave some of The Man's hard-earned money at certain stores.  We paid homage to World Market (love that store), Trader Joe's (love that store so much that we went twice), Hobby Lobby (love, love) & Michael's.  Now we have a Michael's store here in Yuma which isn't any smaller area-wise than the one in the big city, but it has less than half the merchandise of the one in Scottsdale.  I could seriously have spent a good half-a-day in there, but The Man's patience & generosity would have worn thin.

Of course the places we were visiting are all decked out for Thanksgiving & Christmas, which started the creative juices flowing.  I decided this morning that since I like to change things in my home really often, there is no reason I can't change up my blog, too.  I was inspired to go for seasonal changes right now.  What do you think of the new look?  I hope the leaves don't bother anyone.  I also thought I would share a few of my recent purchases which will soon be transformed into "holiday wonderfulness."

These beauties are from Trader Joe's.  I just love the texture & shape of the big guy.  The other 2 are pie pumpkins & that's exactly what they will become in time for Thanksgiving.  Behind the pumpkins you can glimpse some mums about to bloom.  Mums are in abundance all over our yard, in the ground & in pots, & are survivors from last year.  Can't believe they survived our 115 degree summer temps.

This photo was taken at a newly opened Fry's Shopping Center.  That doesn't sound very exciting, does it?  Well, let me tell you this was the fanciest grocery store I've ever seen.  The photo is of just part of their huge floral center which was absolutely gorgeous.  This store had movie-set type lighting which was really nice.  The truly high points of this store were: #1 They had covered parking (much appreciated in AZ's heat) and #2 They had Valet Parking!  Totally cracked me up, are you kidding me, Valet Parking at the grocery store?!!!

The next photos are items I picked up at Michael's in the big city & our $ Store.  Good thing I cleaned out my storage closet & the crafting space last week.  I'll be sharing my creations in future blogs.

This little bag of pinecones is cinnamon-scented.  Oh, wow, smells so good!

I'm feeling inspired to do some of this (a table scape from last year) and.....

....a lot of this (also from last year & so much fun to make)!

I'm still holding off on Christmas decorating until after Thanksgiving, but it's soooo hard.  I'm trying to remind myself to savor each day & each day's events & happenings so as not to spoil it with the rush of life.  Does anyone else have this challenge?  Oh, who am I kidding, you all do, right?  Anyway, happy weekend to all my blog-sisters out there.  Thanks for stopping by & please come again soon.

CAS

Just stuff to share & a new tablescape.

I'm happy to be linking to:
Metamorphosis Monday
Make It 4 Monday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays
Marty's Table Top Tuesday
Kim's Before & After Party
Junkin Finds Friday
The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sundays

If you are here from Thrifty Decor Chick & want to check out the link I commented about, go here:
My Little Holiday Book

Last week I did a little thrifting & found a few treasures I thought I'd share, along with a new look for my dining room table.

My first stop was our Hospice Thrift Shop where I found this jar.  It has some interesting details molded into the glass, but have no idea if the markings are anything other than advertisements.  On one side it is stamped :  The General Store Marysville 1882 Kansas.  The other side:  Purveyors of High Class Foods Best Trade Brands.  Then on the bottom: Crownford China Co. Inc. Jar Made in Italy 1971. It was missing the glass lid, but that was okay with me because I'm using it in my linen closet to hold all the little hotel goodies I save &  have available for over-night guests.  It's really hard to get a good pic of this so you can see the design & lettering.  Anyway, it was only $5 & the size & shape are perfect for its intended use.

The next few items I found at GW.  Most of the time, I walk in & back out with nothing, but this particular day was good.  A few items are Christmas-related, so no photos of those at this time. You'll be seeing these items pop up in future blogs.

I was happy to find this hurricane ($1), the little divided silver dish ($1.50), the silver tray ($1), & the small compote ($1).  All the silver pieces cleaned up pretty nicely, with the exception of the small compote, but I'm not minding the very tarnished look of it.

This darling set I found at Tuesday Morning.  I had been watching the candlesticks for a couple of weeks & almost bought them last week when they were marked down from $9.98 to $4.98, but decided to walk away.  When I was in this week, they were marked down to $3.98 & decided I really couldn't pass that up.  Then as I wandered around, I found the matching clock which was marked down from $19  to $7.98.  How cool is that?  They are made out of some kind of heavy resin that should accept paint very easily if and when I decide to change them.

Thanks to so many of my blog-sisters out there, I now scrutinize thrift store items with a better vision of the potential & many possibilities.

This was my dining room table centerpiece as of a few days ago.  I really liked it, but felt it was going to be too big & too high to actually leave on my table for our Thanksgiving dinner.

This is what I came up with yesterday.  Whoever out there used a Pashmina for a tablerunner, I thank you for the idea.  I much prefer to wear it but temps here in AZ are not lending themselves to cozy wraps & such.  I'm not sure whether I really love this look or not.  I did make the faux PB hurricanes that everyone was talking about a few weeks ago & like those a lot;  but maybe not for this table.  What do y'all think?  Does it need more stuff or less.

A close-up of my little turkey that's made out of all organic materials.

Decided to go ahead & set the table for a more casual dinner to see if I like the centerpiece.

Still can't decide.  Yes, no, maybe?

Then I decided to take this piece of tapestry fabric that I have had for years & make a new tablerunner.  I'm also using some of my recent GW finds.  See the little silver divided dish?

The berries & pumpkin are resting on the little silver tray.

A closer look at the divided dish.  It has a cute cherub/angel on top.

I think I like this one, mainly because as pretty as the pashmina is, I couldn't keep my hands off of it.  Kept trying to make the messiness look just so.  Does that mean I'm a control freak?  Please be kind.  I may add a few more items to this look but haven't discovered what those items might be.  Maybe several votives scattered around;  yes, I think I might like that.  I won't bore you with yet another picture, though, because you've been so patient.  

Thank you to all who have posted comments about my closet redo.  You are truly all so nice.  As I've said before, our home is small & storage is at a premium.  To make what I  have, work, it has to be organized.  I will admit, though, that I'm rather addicted to organizing & my label maker is my favorite tool.  Okay, this could be a serious problem & an intervention might be needed.  Another little addiction I have just recently become aware of is this blog.  Thanks everyone for making this so much fun!  Anyhoo, thank you so much for stopping by & come back soon.