Ornaments

For some reason something suddenly came to me. When I was young we had these crystal reindeer ornaments that I really liked. Someone my mom worked with gave them to her one year. I think it was her boss. They came from Godchaux's, which incidentally, I still miss. We knew where they came from because the price was left on them. That's what happens when a man buys a gift & wraps it himself. I  need to see if I can get those from her. Anyway, here are a few of my favorite ornaments.

B is for Blanchard (our last name if you didn't know). I got this one at a gift shop last year.

I've noticed that I have a thing for reindeer. I don't remember where this one came from but I love it. It's all glittery & sparkles.

If you've been reading along for awhile you'll know I'm having some issues with birds but I LOVE hummingbirds. I love to watch them. Maybe I'm getting old. It's gold & glittery.

There are lots of Fleur de Lis on the tree. As well as throughout my house. This one is gold & glittery. Sense a theme??

LOVE this one!!

I just threw this one in because I like it. I know it's blurry but I like it that way!

I'm joining the party at It's So Very Cheri

Toodles!

WOOOO HOOOOO!!!

Why am I so excited?? WE HAVE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK TICKETS!!! WOOO HOOOO! You'd think with this being the 8th time I've seen them live in person I wouldn't be so excited. You would be wrong. I'm so excited! When we saw them a few years ago I thought it was the last time I'd ever see them & now BOOM touring with Back Street Boys. I don't care so much about the BSB. I like their songs but as for seeing them in concert, I could take them or leave them. I'm all about NKOTB. It's just like back in the day when I was in high school, we got the tickets & then we had to wait 6 months for the show. June 24, 2011 me & my peeps will be in Lafayette!!!

If you were behind me in line today at Hob Lob I do apologize. I might have been there returning a few things. Well, maybe more than just a few. See, I had all of those wreaths to make so I had to buy a bunch of stuff. I have a hard time visualizing just how much stuff I need so I figured it would be better to buy more & return later. I may have over estimated just a tad. Like $55 worth & that was with half off!

I was planning on doing my Christmas cards today. That's not going to happen. Why you ask???

This is why. See those doors? That would be where the cards are. I'm not thinking Dean will be too inclined to move all that stuff just for cards. We will see. Generally after I do the Christmas decorating all the boxes go back in the attic. We decided that it's a lot easier to put them in the LSU room because nobody goes in there anyway. If you don't get a card from us, don't be offended. Just keeping it real here!

Toodles!!

More Holiday Decor

I'm linking to Hooked On Houses, Savvy Southern Style, Between Naps on the Porch, Thrifty Decor Chick, Home Tour Tuesday, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia.

I finished my decorating. At least I think I did. I find myself adding things & tweeking things daily. I must stop that.

 I bought this Nativity Set a few years ago at Sam's. I think it's so pretty. It sits in the center of the server/buffet in my kitchen. I have lights under the "snow". Friday at  Vanessa's blog she had an "Inspiration Friday" post that did indeed inspire me....for next year. She has her nativity set on her mantel. I never thought about doing that but I think mine would look good. You can't tell from the pictures but each piece of the nativity is big.  I think it would show up really pretty.

 I have my Noel tree on one end of the server. I bought it after Christmas one year at a store that is now going out of business.

This is the other end of the server. You're not going to believe where I bought the tree! Bass Pro! I really don't care for that store at all. I bought it a few years ago when Dean was shopping there. It was before Christmas & on sale. Santa & the reindeer both came from the same little store as the Noel tree.

These came from Sam's. Y'all know I love Sam's!! This thing was like $20. It's really full & I think the planter that it's in would cost $20 alone. I wish I would've bought more than one. It's home moves from year to year. Sometimes it's on the hearth, this year it's next to the fridge.

This is the "big tree" in the living room. I decorate it in burgundy & gold every year. I love the size of this tree. It is also a Sam's purchase! This is the 7th Christmas we've had it. I love that it's pre lit.

Here it is again using a different setting on my camera. I swear the tree isn't crooked. Apparently, I am when taking pictures!!! Excuse that yellow thing in the left of the picture. That's what the lights are plugged into to. It's hidden by gifts but I took the picture before the gifts made it under.

Some of my favorite ornaments.

 My topper.

Speaking of tweaking things. This is one of those things. I added some icicle & snowflakes.

I think that's pretty much it for the inside!

Toodles!

What I did for $1.00 Ornaments!!!

So here's the thing, I HATE Walmart. Like really hate. Hate so much that I haven't been to one in several years. I don't count Walmart Neighborhood Market as Walmart. We do our grocery shopping there. I know it's technically Walmart but it's not the same as walking in a huge Walmart Super Center. I was perusing blogs Friday & was drooling over Sarah's Christmas decor. Imagine my surprise when I saw that she bought those adorable ornaments at Walmart. For a DOLLAR!!!! UGGGHH, what a quandry. I NEEDED that Church. I have about a zillion different ornaments but I don't have any churches. So what's a non Walmart shopping girl to do???? Yep, I called my mom. HA! She went to her Walmart & found the ornaments but sadly there were no churches left. She picked up some of the others for me. Yesterday, when we went shopping my mom convinced me that we should try another Walmart. She said we could go in through the garden center, which is where all the Christmas stuff is, and we wouldn't have to go into the actual store.  I sucked it up & off we went. I found this. 

YAY the Church!!! The only problem is they only had it in lime green & blue. The blue was BEAUTIFUL but I don't have another blue thing in my house. I mean, like, NOTHING. I don't have any lime green either but the tree in my kitchen is a mixture of ornaments & it has some regular green. I wasn't leaving without one so I figured the green would be the better choice. I was right. It blends in fine.  

After Mass yesterday I met my friend Vicki & her little boy Lane at Chimes to eat. Lane is our Godchild. We had a good time. We hadn't been out together in awhile.

Lane & I took a picture in front the tree at the Chimes. I came home afterwards & got some gifts wrapped.

This morning when I went out to get the paper I saw this.

Yes, that would be toilet paper. Then I noticed that my neighbors house was rolled. Ours was not but the wind was blowing about 250 mph.

This is the neighbors tree. Needless to say I was outside in the freezing 47 degree weather picking toilet paper up because it had blown pretty much everything from their trees into my yard. I thought it would be a good idea to get it all up before it blew into the pool & we really had a mess. This is the kinda stuff that happens when Dean goes out of town. Annoying.

I'm trying to decide what to do now. Wrap more gift or take a nap????

Toodles!

We do more before second breakfast....

Then you do all day!! That, my friends, is our Disney motto. We leave on the 16th for a week at Universal & Disney. Everyone is soooo excited. We have a group of 24 making the trip this time. We always have several "planning" meetings before we leave for Disney. Yes, we may be a bit crazy, but it's fun! Last night was our last "Pre Disney Pow Wow" as I've named it. We had homemade salsa, guacamole, gumbo, salad, bread & dessert. Of course there was wine too. How cute is this??

It tasted as good as it looked. It says 3900 Krewe & more. The last Disney trip we dubbed ourselves "the 3900 Krewe" because 7 of 8 houses on our street went & all of our addresses start with 39. The "And More" comes in because an additional family is going this time but they live around the corner.

The presentation begins....

 Yes that is a dry erase board. All the hours for all of the parks are noted.

Cliff aka "The Disney Nazi" is trying to make a point regarding wake up times & catching the bus. His 5:48 am plan wasn't going over so well with some. I can't wait to leave!!!

So it's Saturday afternoon now. Me & my mom went shopping today. I didn't buy a ton of stuff but I picked up a few things & we had lunch at Five Guys. We tried to go awhile back but the line was out the door. They just opened in Baton Rouge a couple of months ago. We were in the area so we decided to try again. We were in luck that it was 11:30. We were able to order & get our food before the line was well out of the door. The burger was great!!

Now I'm on my way to Mass & then to dinner with my friend Vicki & my Godchild Lane.

Toodles!!!

The Foyer & Dining Room

I'm linking up to Kelly's blog again for Show Us Your Life. I skipped laundry room week because there is absolutely nothing to look at in mine. So here's the foyer from the dining room.

This is the view from the front door. I like how you can see the reflection of our tree in the mirror. I didn't notice that when I took the picture.

This is a nativity set that I bought in Guatemala when we were there in January. It's all hand made. I'm not sure why all the people are women. I guess I should do some research on that huh??

Santa Claus is a tree topper that I got on sale after Christmas at Louisiana one year. He was $80 but I think I paid $20 for him.  The poinsettia topiary's you see in the mirror actually belong on the porch. We had bad weather the other night with awful wind so we brought them in & they haven't made their way back out.

I was trying to take a picture of the mirror without having me in the picture because I have on my footy pj's!! The reflection is the dining room.

I'm going to share the dining room while I'm at it. This is the view from the foyer.

The centerpiece is an iron 5 candle holder that I got on sale at Hob Lob several years ago. I added greenery & picks.

 Here's another nativity scene & reindeer.

 A bowl of fruit & some random ornaments.

I bought 2 of these crystals after Christmas last year & then I bought 2 more at a gift shop in town that was going out of business. I hung them from the chandelier.

 I took this one with the lights off. I'm still learning about the different settings on my camera & I thought this one was pretty.

So that's my foyer & dining room. Thanks for visiting!

Toodles!

The Mantel

I spent a ridiculous amount of time working on my mantel Sunday. I don't know what the problem was but I couldn't get it right. I gave up & went back to it later. I finished it today. This is how it ended up.

It's just garland, poinsettia's, gold netting & a few ornaments. I really wanted a couple of big gold reindeer that I saw at Michael's but when I went yesterday they were sold out. That was a bummer. You'd think I would've learned by now when I see something to buy it. I needed something tall so I ended up with these gold thingys.

  This is what they looked like when I bought them. They're over 4 ft. tall.

I attached some berries & greenery & some other gold thingys. Here's another picture.

I see now that the bead garland I have doesn't show up well in the picture. I used a strand of gold & a strand of burgundy & gold. Like I said, it's not what I wanted but considering what I went through to get it done I think it turned out ok.

I'm linking to the Holiday Home party at the The Lettered Cottage, Kim's Boring to Better party at Savvy Southern Style, Hooked on Houses Hooked on Holiday House Tours & Vanessa's Inspiration Friday party at Southern In My Heart.

Toodles!