Saturday, November 13, 2010

Curtains! Finally!

In our living room we have two windows that flank our fireplace. I love the view they give us of the backyard but still felt that they needed a little window dressing - especially before I finally decorated the mantel. It seemed very blah and blank over on that side of the room. I had been looking for months for the perfect set of drapes or even some material that I wanted to make curtains out of. Todd has seen enough fabric swatches and curtain samples for a lifetime. On more that one occasion I have bought curtains, tried them out, decided I hated them and had to return them.

You know the curtains I used in the dining room? Yep, they were originally living room curtain rejects. I thought the green in the curtain would match the green on the wall. But it didn't. Sometimes, that's what you get for shopping online.



Don't worry, we've replaced that curtain rod by now.
[Do you want to know a secret about those fancy wood blinds? I thought so. I got them at a garage sale for $5! I found out later why they were so cheap, they were miss-marked and are too short. That is as far down as they go. Turns out it's ok with me because the cat requires that we leave him a place to sit on the sill anyway They are the perfect cat height.]


I was on a mission to find the right set of gold/green curtains. Because my living room is green, my dining room and hallway are yellow/gold and I'm not that creative I thought it would tie them together. But after Todd and I found these new pieces of art to put on either side of our TV stand...

 


I began thinking.....Maybe the curtains don't have to be gold. I know many of you realized this long before. I too realized it, but I basically only like the colors green and purple so anything else is a stretch already.

Then one day,  walking through Target, I stopped in the curtain section yet again. But this time I found them. The curtains I have been searching for. I swear I heard angels rejoicing. Todd rejoiced. 

Here they are in all their glory:



These still have the gold and green touches but the major color is a pretty red

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Sunday, November 7, 2010

Pumpkin Carving, Parade and Trunk or Treat - Halloween Events

This year we celebrated Halloween by carving pumpkins with Nick, Benay and Calvin. Then we headed downtown to watch the Ghouls Gone Wild Parade! This was my first time to attend the parade and I am so glad Nick and Benay suggested it, we had a lot of fun!

Our second Halloween celebration took place at church. We had our annual fall carnival, but this year we added something new - Trunk or Treat! I think truck or treat is a relatively new thing, but it seems to be catching on because more and more churches and communities are hosting them. For those of you who are new to the idea, families decorate the trunks of their car with a theme. We got to pick our own theme, but it was suggested that it not be too scary since there are a lot of little ones who come to this event. Since Todd was out of town and I'd be doing this solo, I decided on a Pumpkin Patch theme. I gathered up all of my pumpkins from around the house and all of the pumpkins from my friend Kalei's and piled them in the trunk of my car! I also bought some pumpkin fabric on sale at Hobby Lobby and a pumpkin patch sign I found at the dollar tree. It turned out pretty cute! You usually dress up to match the theme of your car and then sit next to your trunk and pass out candy as the kids say "trunk or treat!"

Below are some pictures of both events:

Not so great picture of Nick and Todd, but hey, at least Benay looks like she's enjoying herself!



Hard at work carving pumpkins



Cute Calvin watching the pumpkin carving



Waiting on the parade to start!



Calvin's first parade! Looks like he's ready to join the march of the flaming skeletons.



The march of 1,000 flaming skeletons! It makes for a pretty impressive sight.



Wayne Coyne and his famous bubble for the parade finale



TRUNK OR TREAT PICTURES
















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Friday, November 5, 2010

Fall touches

I am not a big fan of Halloween decorations, but I love fall colors and pumpkins! I don't have an extensive collection of fall decorations but I hope to add to it a little every year. This year I added a few more mini pumpkins, the fall "urns" I showed you in the last post and some flowers for outside.

Here are some pictures:

A touch of fall with the weil ware



My $1 thrift store find



bookshelf with fall touches



My attempt at growing pumpkins, this picture was taken a while ago, but there are still no pumpkins :(
I'm hoping that there will be some sort of pumpkin before Thanksgiving!



Fall porch



Fall wreath - I got this on sale last year and added some more leaves to fill it out



Trying my hand at flower arranging









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