It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas . . .

And I mean a LOT!

I think I went a little Christmas crazy this year--and I could totally buy more if it was in the budget.

Thought I'd share a little of what I have turned our home into, much to B's dismay.

Living Room:

Fireplace with stockings (yes, that is 5 stockings for a 2-person household--one for Dash and Raspy and the middle is our angel furbaby's); table behind the couch, view from the front door in the dark, and chair by the tree.

Entertainment center. I went all-out this year here and took down all my usual decor and decorated for Christmas. I even put lit garland along the top. The bears are no longer there. We had to move the center for AT&T u-Verse to be installed and I put the bears in the chair (in the pic. above) during the move. B said he liked them there and the babies haven't tried to eat them, so I think they are staying. Lights are still up and I'll probably add more floral stuff next year.

Close-ups of the entertainment center: left and right bookcases with my tin "collection" (I don't throw a lot of things away, so the tins and purses have become decoration over the years), candles, and a couple of projects for the year.

I was having a hard time deciding what to put on that top shelf. It needed to be something that would work with the light and not block it at the same time as the shelf is glass, so the light filters down. I finally decided I wanted to do a vase or bowl with balls. I put this together myself:  vase with ornament balls from the dollar store and a greenery around the bottom to dress it up. I also dressed up the fake flickering candle with some ribbon garland. I didn't like that the stand was gold, so I covered it up.

Dining Room:

The dining room is my favorite room in the house anyway, but I really love the table. I'm pretty proud of the centerpiece. I made it myself a two years ago out of a lasagna dish and some flowers from Garden Ridge. I have to put it together every year, but I love it.

Next year, I want another small tree to go on top of the wine rack. I think it just needs something. I have my eye on a black pre-lit at Walmart. I also need to get a Christmas platter for the top of the china cabinet.

Kitchen:

This is also new this year. This is the bar between the kitchen and dining room. I have always put lights up and covered it with fake snow (it was the tree skirt for my first tree in my first apartment). I've always wanted a little village but hadn't gotten around to purchasing anything, so I usually just put up my small tree and just some little knick knacks. But, when I was at the dollar store, I found these little buildings and people for a dollar each (the people were three for a dollar plus trees two for a dollar). So, for around $12, I got my little village. I already had Santa and Santa's workshop (the lit house). And B has already pointed out that not only will Santa not fit into those houses, but the tree is too big too--I say it is the town Christmas tree. It's called an imagination.

I don't have any other pics of the kitchen. I don't have much going on it there aside from a tablescape. Next year's project!

Bathroom:

Yes, I decorate my bathroom. This was last year's project. It started with the monogrammed towels from my mom and the candles in the corner of the counter that I've had for years. The snowflakes on the shower curtain are ornaments and I love the vase. The bathroom's normal theme is ocean/beach, so it's kind of cool to turn it into snow and ice for the season. I probably a few things to add next year, but I love it--I actually kep it up through February last year.

And the tree:

Oh, how I love my tree. Probably more than a person should love their tree. I thought I had gone a bit overboard on the lights, but my friend Tracie assured me that I have the perfectly lit tree. Apparently, you should have 100 light for every foot of tree. I have a 7-foot tree and approximately 700 lights. No, I do not have a pre-lit. Yes, I will buy a pre-lit next time we buy a tree. Because it is ridiculous to put all those damn lights on.

It may not be as obvious by the way they are spread out in the picture, but I do have a lot of bears--my tree topper is even an angel bear. I have collected teddy bears forever, but they all reside in our spare bedroom. I insist, however, that my Christmas bears be displayed every year. For many years, my mom bought me a Christmas bear every Christmas, which is where most of the came from. They are probably a bit much, but I love them. And B tolerates them, bless his heart.

Happy Decorating!

Playing Hooky

Well, it's probably not playing hooky if you ask for the day off and everybody at work not only knows that you won't be there and where you are going. But, whatever. It felt like playing.

We went to the great State Fair of Texas last Thursday, per my request (Blogger didn't want to upload pictures then, so just now getting to post). We had been a few years back with Scotty P. and our friend John:

Four people, one camera, idiocy ensues.

Beyond that, I'd only been one other time as a kid. I was ready to go again. We've got a busy weekend and the other weekends had been too crazy with football games, and that's just too many people for me. So, we decided a weekday was it. The great thing about going on a weekday, besides smaller crowds, is that there are lots of deals to get in cheaper. A regular ticket is $15, but on Thursday with an empty 20oz. bottle Coke product you get in for $4. Combine that with $10 each to ride the TRE from Fort Worth to Dallas, not only avoiding $15 to park but also the traffic, and we had a date.

I printed up schedules and wrote down all the cool things I thought we'd like to do or see. We barely hit any of them, but still had lots of fun!

We found our new vehicles:

And I just thought this was cool:

Love the car show.

Took silly pictures:

Walked around the cool marsh/swamp outside the Nature Museum:

These African Acrobat were really cool and apparently a pretty big draw this year:

People watched. Oh the people you see:

Posed with Big Tex:

Clearly, I am the better picture taker.

Photo Op:

We wanted to go to the History of Football/Tom Landry exhibit, but this:

prevented that. We walked by three times and that line never went down--all the way around the building. Disappointing.

Attempt to recreate a picture from the last time we here:

It would have been better if we had had someone to take the picture for us.

And, then of course, there was the food:

I wanted three things to eat at the Fair:

Corny Dog.

 

Funnel Cake. 

Fried Frito Pie.

Gotta love Texas and our love for all things deep fried!

And, last, this is why we took the train:

See that bumper to bumper? Yeah, one of us would not have made it home alive!

Oh, wait, one more 'cause I think he's cute:

Thanks for a great day, babe, and for buying me all the food!

Monthly Rewind: October

I thought I'd try something new. I was inspired my yesterday's post where I posted a picture taken a couple of years ago. Each month, I'm going to post some pictures taken in that month in past years. This might make more sense to start in January, odds are I'll forget by then and October is fitting since that is when we met, so that's the beginning of our pictures!


October 2003:

In Colorado for our second dating anniversary. This was our "nice" dinner out in Colorado Springs. I wish I remembered the name of the place, but it was an Italian place. Good food!

A at Garden of the Gods.

B at Garden of the Gods.

Man, we need to go back there!

October 2006:

Heading up in the hot air balloon. B surprised me with a hot air balloon ride for our 5th anniversary. It was such a cool experience. We went up at sunrise out of Plano. At the end, the people did a champagne toast and gave us the bottle to keep with the date and such written on it.

Really cool fog over a small lake.

The balloon.

October 2008:

Awesome shower at work thrown by my fabulous friends/co-workers.

And that's just some of October. October is a good month!

How to Spend a Saturday Afternoon?

Helping survey the Barnett Shale?

 

Making tornadoes?

 

 

 

 

Playing in the mirror?

 

Car shopping?
B: What? No sub-woffers

                                                                              Spying on the neighbors?

 

 Making new friends?

        Catching up with old friends?

       (Pic. 2, 2008)

Meeting the local wildlife?

Or, just a fun afternoon at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History?

Trying to think of something fun to do on a Saturday afternoon to get us out of the house, B suggested a trip to the Science and History Museum and a show at the Omni. When checking out show times for the Omni, I got to looking at shows at Noble Planetarium.

B has been watching all kinds of documentaries and such on stars and planets and space lately, so I thought he might enjoy the Planetarium more, plus we've done the Omni multiple times. Boy was I right!

We did have lots of fun exlporing the museum, first time since it's complete makeover, though B was hoping for more history and less science. But, on the science side, he did deepen his love for the stars by getting to look at the telescope and trying to talk me into buying one.

It was great fun acting like kids for the afternoon, and we'll be going back to catch more shows at the Planetarium, I'm sure!