it's time for holiday decorating!

since i've already had one thanksgiving, i am now more than ever ready to decorate the house in holiday attire!! i went a bit crazy this year and bought new stuff at hobby lobby & target!!

here are the initial stages of the house in it's holiday spirit!

i got small ball ornaments at the dollar section in target and tossed them into the jar we keep our wine corks!

festive!

here is all my new purchases for our "mantel." now, we do not have a fireplace, but we have a rather large blank wall and i needed something to hang our stockings on, so we are in the midst of creating a mantel (more on that later)! my theme for the living room mantel is white | silver | gold.

at the bottom of the picture, are the 2 "L" brackets that will hold up our makeshift mantel | as far as decorations go, i bought a 9 ft already-lit garland from target for only $10! the mirror and tall candle holder, i already had. most of the ball ornaments came from hobby lobby (1/2 off central!), and the other stuff came from target! i can't wait to see this finished!

i am SO EXCITED about these cool old style lights. i bought these last year at target on sale, after christmas, so i've not used them yet. i'm thinking about putting them on my artificial tree on our front porch! (we are getting a real tree this year! oh joy oh bliss. i'm so excited!) can you tell i love christmas?

i replaced the pink pillow on the chair with a pillow that i already had - a red paisley from pottery barn!

a fantastic holiday hard back book holds up our cute christmas-y bucket which is now the new home of our remotes!

if you haven't figured it out yet, i love all things vintage. on the bottom is super old sheet music of "rudolph the red-nosed reindeer" that i found at an estate sale a couple of years ago. on top is a copy of "a christmas carol" that was my dad's when he was a little boy. a votive holder now holds candy canes!

ornaments in vases = cheap + festive!

i bought this 2 tiered stand about a month ago at an antique store here in denver and i couldn't wait to use it for christmas! these ball ornaments i bought on sale at target last year at christmas! i knew they would come in handy one day!

check back in for more decorations of our new mantel, plus after thanksgiving, we will be going up to the mountains and cutting down our first tree together!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL!

downtown denver

monday night, mom aric & i went downtown to larimar street to eat dinner {at a fabulous new find called Euclid Hall - amazing food} and walk around. here are some photos from the evening:

mom and i in front of the cutest store front called "posh." too bad it wasn't open. i intend to go there this weekend!

this could maybe be our christmas card photo. thoughts?

or this...

i love downtown denver!

this is just a hat store - probably the coolest thing i've ever seen! now i think i need to add one to my christmas list!

so pretty!

posh

it looks so christmasy!

a denver thanksgiving

this past sunday we did our 2nd annual denver thanksgiving! it was a blast and i really wish we would have taken more photos of the food and everyone that came, but alas - we were too busy socializing + cooking.

menu including:

• turkey (a big 14.3 lb gal who is still sitting in our refrigerator! leftover ideas anybody?)
• cornbread + sausage stuffing (via martha stewart - amazing!!)
• green bean casserole (the traditional and the best - made by my aunt b)
• corn casserole (another standard in our household - made by the lees)
• butternut squash (my first time to make this. it was good, but i think i'll try something new next year)
• traditional mashed potatoes + gravy (yummmmmy)
• cranberries
• pumpkin pie (traditional recipe we've made for years)
• pecan pie (via martha again!)
• pumpkin cheesecake with brown buttered pears (my first cheesecake to make and boy was it delicious via food and wine)

just a side note in case anybody was wondering - this was all HOMEMADE!! yeah to me + momma t!

here are some photos though in case you wanted to see something from the evening.

the dogs really really really wanted all the food! they might have gotten some turkey :)

fin was worn out!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

baby shower for brittany!

this past saturday, me and 4 other girls (sara, nisha, meg & alissa) planned such a fun and unique baby shower for one of my dearest and oldest friends, brittany lee!

color theme was yellow + gray + pink. we also had "bees" as a theme! here are the early stages of the main food table!

you know i'm obsessed with these straws if you read my m.press blog + you know i love gray + white!

i loved the flowers! pink, white & yellow daisies!

love the candy bar!

all of the guests were told to bring their favorite childhood book for baby girl lee!

the table is getting there...

favors were honey stix! i made the tags to attach to it! it reads "baby lee is sweet as honey!"

we had different frames for each section of the shower. "b is for brunch." "b is for beverages...." you get the picture...

these bags were such a fun idea to put the candy in!

woo hoo! table is done. complete with orange juice, punch, homemade cupcakes with bees on top (pic later in post), cinnamon rolls, chicken salad with croissants, mini quiches, molten chocolate cupcakes, cornbread muffins, fruit, rosemary fingerling potatoes + black bean salsa! YUMMMMMY!

more paper that i designed...we each filled out "wishes" for baby lee!

this was such a fun game! we played "who's that baby?" can you find me? can you find momma t? what about brittany + james?

mom is #4 and i'm #7!

really really cute homemade cupcakes! they were lovely!

the hostesses with the momma to be!

from left: alissa, meg, me, brittany, nisha + sara

and again...

she's so pretty pregs!!

momma t and brit!

sara's nephew - adorable!

these were so cute - designed just for baby lee on etsy!

this about made me cry. one of brittany's friends kept the green ribbon from her + james' wedding programs and then added it to the blanket for the baby! so sweet!

LOVE YOU BRIT!!! can't wait to meet the little one!