It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

Hey there! Looks like it's about to start snowing any minute (har har har). Come on in!

 

This was the result of my nerdy project. I (with a bit of help) cut all of these out after seeing someone do something similar. Then I ran a string of white lights along the floor to light them up at night:

 

Take a look at my sweet tree set-up, the centerpiece of the decor:

 

One of my favorite ornaments, a UFO my mom gave me when I was in high school.

 

Another nerdy relic, hung prominently front and center. Also, the bow I picked up at Target. I love it so much. I've always been a star girl, but now I may never go back.

 

The stockings all hung on the bar with care. Also featuring Rodney the Reindeer and Max, the Grinch's woebegone pup, a gift from a college roommate. Check out Jason's sweet Lego Man stocking and awesome glitter-writing done by me.

 

Coffee table centerpiece:

 

 

Dining room tablescape, dressed up for Christmas:

 

Christmas cards and my little Avonlea Presbyterian Church set up:

 

 

And, finally, for fun, I received this scorpion paperweight from my secret santa and named him Sergio. Sergio promptly got loose and terrorized Avonlea. A tragedy!

 

Happy holidays, all!

Resolutions

Here's my big one. I am terrible about letting clean laundry build up in a basket and I basically live like pull things out of clean basket, get dressed, throw in dirty basket. Sometimes if I do a small load, I'll fold and put stuff away, but after awhile, the majority of my clothes are out of the drawers. Every few months I get fed up, wash everything whether it needs it or not, and reorganize. I always feel so much better when everything is properly put away and I realize when it's all done that it's really not that bad to put things away. I get really hung up on small details like where to put things away and how they'll fit and how to organize that I can't see the big picture and just DO it. But the truth is I have a lot of storage space now. More drawer space than I've probably ever had in my life. I have one 6-drawer MALM chest and one 4-drawer MALM all to myself. There is no need to stress myself out anymore about trying to jam things in.

So I'm going to make an effort to just put laundry away like a normal person and be less of a slob in general. I've also found I've felt so much more motivated and productive these past couple of weeks because I cleaned the hell out of my apt for my friend's visit last weekend, then I made an effort to keep it that way (company ready) knowing another friend was coming over this past weekend and it's been really cool to know every day that I don't have a cluttered living room or bedroom or kitchen to deal with. When I sit down and watch TV, I truly have nothing else to do. I want to keep that feeling going.

SO. 2011. Less slob, more daily picking up. I know myself and I know I can handle little things. Hell, even when I finally get around to conquering the mountain of laundry, I wind up dividing it into piles (t-shirts, short sleeved shirts, long sleeved shirts, sweaters, jeans, pants, skirts) based on how they're organized in my drawers and it's much less overwhelming. I need to remember this and make it stick this time.

Fits and Starts III: Teal and Orange!

Where were we? Ah, right. Crafting. Now it's time for more of the apartment!

First, the kitchen. The kitchen is pretty small and narrow. However, it's surprisingly functional as well. I love all the counter and cabinet space and how the cabinets on the left hold dishes and glasses and the ones on the right hold food and I can basically stand in one place and rotate from sink to stove.

After going for a red/black motif for my last two kitchens (or trying to. MAN can blue wallpaper really kill that), I wanted something totally new. I started seeing a lot of brightly colored accessories and linens around late 2008/early 2009 and finally, this year, had a chance to make it happen.

It works especially well with my Fiestaware love. Over there on the right, serving as a utensil crock is my beloved peacock disc pitcher, in fact! Not many links to include here unfortunately, as the plates up on the wall came from TJ Maxx and the sun and moon were bought in Mexico. Potholders were from Target and I hate their lack of thumbs. Apron was also from TJ Maxx.

The other view isn't too exciting. Orange platter from TJ Maxx. Dishtowel from Target. Canisters on clearance from Pier 1.

NOW. Finally. At long last. The plate collage. Tada!

Now here's the whole dining/bar area. The bar is made of LACK shelves from, surprise! Ikea. The poster is from AllPosters. It needs a frame, but I was so excited to have something to put up and we were having people over, so I just stuck it up there with white tacks. How dorm room of me, I know.

To the left of the bar is a huge open space where our Christmas tree will go. Then, after Christmas, we'll finally get some bookshelves! Hooray!

Fits and Starts II: Crafting!

Awhile ago, I talkked about making some artwork for above the bed. I finally got around to it a few weeks ago!

First, I painted some tree branches on the canvas:

Then I made the flowers using 4 little squares of Sculpey III in some sort of shimmery pink color and a flower cutter I got at Michael's in the cake section (Sculpey is sort of like fondant, right?):

That was the first batch, all made with the medium cutter. I then arranged them on the canvas to get an idea for how they'd look:

At the time, it seemed kind of bare, so I made some more flowers, this time with the large cutter. Now I go back and forth between loving it and thinking it's now too cluttered. Oh well.

I googled and researched and tried to find the best glue for bonding Sculpey to canvas. In the end, I wound up just grabbing a bottle of Weldbond at Michael's and it's worked perfectly. I left the canvas leaning against the wall for awhile and none of the flowers fell so I'm reasonably (fingers crossed!) sure none will be bouncing off my head in the middle of the night.

Ta-daaaa!

And, while we're at it, my exceedingly girly dresser. The frame has always been a bit of a sticking point because I love it, but it has no wall hanger, only an easel back, so I'm forever searching for places to put it with enough room for a sizeable 8x10 frame. Turns out it makes a perfect backdrop for my perfume bottles! Right now that's just an old Revlon ad, but I plan to either order an 8x10 vintage cosmetic/perfume ad off the internet or perhaps find and old Vespa ad.

The pink bottle and dresser are from Ikea (dresser is the 6-drawer Malm chest in black-brown). We also have two four-drawer Malm chests right next to it and I love the sleek effect.

Fits and Starts: Thanksgiving

That's been the case for both my blogging and my decorating.

But now I have a slew-lette of pictures to share! It's been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks. We spent 5 days in lovely, fun, kid-tastic Disney World where I was free to be my usual child self. I insisted on waiting in lines to meet characters. I skipped. I grinned like an idiot. I ate chicken nuggets for dinner. I had a blast.

And then two days after we came home (today) my lifelong BFF and her husband were stopping by on their last pre-baby getaway to Boston so things had to be not only clean but NEAT and also decorated to the best of my ability. That's where the blog benefits! I will warn in advance that I have been too lazy to take "real" pictures and have been instead relying on my phone. HOWEVER, the iPhone 4's camera is vastly superior to the 3G's so they shouldn't be too offensively pixely.

Wait, maybe I should start with Thanksgiving. Yeah, I'll do that. Plans changed and it wound up being just the two of us.

Here's the table all set:

These are the Lenox "Chirp" placemats and napkins from this post, with some Ikea Salong vases, these birdie S&P shakers I picked up at Pier 1 awhile ago (an awesome bargain!), and my great-grandmother's silver candlesticks (loved getting to use them, especially on Thanksgiving), all on this basketweave placemat from CB2.

Here's another shot of the "tablescape." Sandra Lee would be so proud!

But unlike Aunt Sandy, I also focused on some damn tasty food!

 

   

Okay, that's enough blogging for now! Stay tuned for Fits and Starts 2 & 3, coming soon to a theater near you.