kicking off the holiday season...

Hope everyone was able to celebrate with their families and friends during the holidays.
We headed up to Maine to have Thanksgiving with my new inlaws (and to get our x-mas tree!!).
I'm pretty excited to kick off the holiday season and decided it was time to put some lights up around here....

Have you put up your holiday decorations yet?

On my Reading List...

I haven’t read a lot of ‘the classics’, but I want to.

Especially if they look like this:

Designer Coralie Bickford-Smith created these gorgeous cloth bound book covers for the Penguin Cloth-Bound series and they are now available in the US.

Please add these beauties to my Christmas list.

You know your a fat kid when...

You know your a fat kid when...
...a COWORKER says "I made cupcakes last night and I brought in the extra frosting for you".

True Story.

Snippets from my Life...

I'm so grateful for the invention of camera phones.   I enjoy being able to easily capture a memory without having to haul around my actual camera.  I rarely do anything with all those images I take on my phone, so they will debut here, with clever captions as to why I thought they merited taking up space on my memory card.

These are little gems from the past week:

1. Denim a.k.a. jean Couch (with American flag pillow).

We saw this at one of the open houses we visited.  Seriously, when was it ever okay to cover a couch in denim?  The scary part is that the boy didn't really see anything wrong with it.

2. Recession Pricing

What? You don't see whats funny? 
Due to the current economic environment, Shaws has decided to make the 'sale' price is higher than the regular price.  Come on, they need to make up for their losses somehow :)

3. Signage
I find a lot of signs quiet amusing, but this is by far one of my favorites.  I walk past this several times a week and finally decided to take a picture of it.

Is my mind dirty? Yes.
Do I giggle like a 12 year-old school girl every time I see it? Yes.

Holiday Cards 09

Alright my lovelies, I need your assistance.
Which design should we use for our holiday cards this year?  I made a few options using our wedding pictures a) because I love them and b) I want everyone to see them!

Option 1 : Ornaments

Option 2 : HO HO HO

Option 3 : Peace.Love.Laughter version A

Option 4 : Peace.Love.Laughter version B

Any? Thoughts?

Dear Santa .... Round Two

cont. from previous list :)

A Parking Spot @ Work 

Seriously, this would make me so happy.  I HATE taking the T and bus.  I hate always having a cold because people are always coughing/sneezing on me.  I hate waiting and waiting for them to show up.  I miss listening to the radio and not having other people's sweat drip onto me in the summer.

Medium to Large Puppy with Big Feet or Floppy Ears (preferably both)

and obviously puppy accessories :)

xoxo,
C

P.S. Did you have one of your naughty/nice henchman driving my bus today?  The driver looked very much like your namesake although not as large or as jolly, this leads me to believe that he was maybe a first cousin?  Anyways,  if he doesn't report back to you regarding my naughty/nice status, I always offer open seats to the elderly and injured before I sit down. He just might have had trouble seeing that since the bus was so crowded (ref. gift #1).

A Little Surprise...

I found a delightful little surprise in my mailbox today….from Meredith! Meredith was the amazing 2nd shooter at our wedding in August and she takes absolutely gorgeous photos and if you are getting married in Maine, (or have a puppy) you absolutely MUST look her up.

She sent me this book :

I’m very excited to use it in combination with my C25K plan. I'm pretty flexible already, but my balance is severely lacking.  In a conservative estimate I would say I probably fall over/trip/loose my balance roughly 2-3 times a day.  And really there is nothing that will motivate you better than someone who believes you can do it.

I don’t think I’ve ever received something just out of the blue like that since elementary school when my mom would occasionally leave me notes in my lunchbox, and it completely made my day. Completely made my day.

So, THANKS MEREDITH!

Green with Envy...

I need this:

found here

I picked up a bureau at a recent auction and I'm thinking this is what needs to happen with it....maybe it will go in the dining room?  Its such a refreshing pop of color in a room of neutrals.  It's 'Energy Green' by Behr and its making me want to go to home depot ASAP.

(Also really love the double-wide chair).

Carving Contest...

We had a pumpkin carving contest at work.  My friend 'carved' this:

She totally got robbed of first place.  (Got 3rd).

And yes, those are pumpkins seeds on top.  And also real tomatoes, lettuce and 1 lb. of hamburger.

The Housing Seach Continues...

Housing search update:
I don't think we'll be making offers on any of these houses, but it was definitely not as depressing as our last open house session.  The good news is that there are plans to extend the $8k tax break through till April.


House #4:HALF-FAIL
$395,000; 1350sf; 3bed/1bath

+ Cute neighborhood
+ Partially finished basement
- Small 'master' bedroom and no bath upstairs
+ Large, level backyard
- Small kitchen, no good for entertaining
- Also on Sundays a nearby church lines all the roads with cars - we couldn't find parking!

House #5:FAIL
$387,500; 1400sf; 3bed/2bath

- CARPET IN THE BATHROOM
- $6,300 YEARLY TAXES
+ Great neighborhood
+ Nice deck
+ Has Garage
- Can see neighbors from backyard
- Really awkward layout
- Very small 'bedrooms'


House #6: HALF-FAIL
$370,000; 1400sf; 4bed/2bath

+ Awesome backyard with only one neighbor
+ Bright & sunny
+ Refinished original wide-plank hardwood floors
+ Renovated bathrooms
+ Ability to finish basement
- Small kitchen
- Upstairs needs work (nasty floral wallpaper)
- Taxes are $5k/year
- Almost ON Route 90 (high high high traffic = super noisy)



We really liked house #6, it was the perfect size for us and the layout was great (minus the super small kitchen).  The realtor was rather creepy and told us the old lady had just died.  I think my face must have shown shock/disgust because he quickly clarified 'not in the house'.  He also proceeded to talk to us about possibly showing ID to enter open houses because of serial killers murdering real estate agents....yeah, not sure what that was all about.

* all images from NewEnglandMoves.com