Miscellany Monday 11/28/11

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

I'm linking up here to share some randomness about the week.

Our Thanksgiving was...boring. 

No cooking, no hosting, just relaxing.

And I was totally ok with that.

We started the day with a tradition we've loved for the past 20 years...Thanksgiving breakfast with faux-family. It's been a highlight of my life. My parents and their friends go to mass in the morning and then enjoy a meal together, parting ways in the afternoon to head to family gatherings. We always take a group photo and this may be one of the best we've ever captured.

Dinner was with my husband's family and was quiet and lovely.

 I'm not a big fan of Thanksgiving food (gasp, I didn't have more than a mouthful of turkey, no potatoes and no dessert), but I enjoyed being with family. After years of forcing my husband to take tons of photos on holidays, I've been putting the camera away and letting others take shots, so I'll have them once they get shared on the Facebook.

Our highlight of the week was decorating our church for Christmas.

Since we rent, we don't decorate big time or outside.

I've gotten very sad about this in the past.

This little decorating adventure lifted my spirits and filled that need to decorate a big space.

Somehow I got roped into decorating the

 'it belongs in a department store' tree.

Seriously. 

I've always wondered how those trees get so beautiful.

By shoving tons of glittering stuff into it.

Now you know too. 

 My job was handing the decorations to someone, so I had little to do with this gorgeous tree.

But it was totally awesome to be with new friends the night before Thanksgiving.

I hope we do this every year.

I've already said that I'm not looking forward to being part of the de-decorating committee!

This week I'll be writing out my Christmas cards and doing some shopping. We've decided to really downsize this year - one decent gift for each person. It's not so much a money thing (welp, it kinda is, but that wasn't the motivating factor) but a desire to appreciate time spent with others. We pretty much had a calm Christmas last year, so we'd like to keep that simplicity going.

Oh, and I may finally get to make these this week.

Source: bhg.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

Pique Your Interest Week 14

This week on Pinterest I loved:

Beautifying a file cabinet:

Source: blogs.babble.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

Maybe I can convince my mom to do this with her milk glass chandelier.

Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

Cute ornament idea:

Source: skiptomylou.org via Kathleen on Pinterest

I love mustard colored items (you so already know that) but never thought of pairing it with grey before:

Source: polyvore.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

Feel free to link up your Pinterest related posts.

<a border="0" href="http://simplesillylife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6189/6056573420_51472e5424_m.jpg" width="200" height="200" alt="pinterest party button" /></a>

Pique Your Interest Week 13

Hi all!

Feel free to link up your faves of anything that you found on Pinterest.

<a border="0" href="http://simplesillylife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6189/6056573420_51472e5424_m.jpg" width="200" height="200" alt="pinterest party button" /></a>

Love this bathroom organization idea:

Source: flickr.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

I've often thought of making a December Daily album. Maybe with printables it would be easier.

Source: creativityprompt.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

I have my Starbucks-inspired wreath and might do this with it for 2011.

Source: etsy.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

Really want to make this in sea foam green.

Source: ravelry.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

We would love to see what delighted you on Pinterest :)

Thrifted - Big and Small

This week I was delighted to find these at my local Savers:

 They are popular milk glass pieces that I've had bookmarked on Ebay and Etsy, but I secretly hoped they would show up during a thrifting adventure.

The large one is huge! I love that it holds large bouquets (even faux ones) perfectly.

 Maybe one day my table will look like this:

Source: perpetuallyengaged.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

And this darling bud vase was needed too.

for this:

Source: craftily-ever-after.blogspot.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

I love bright colors against the stark white.

Miscellany Monday 11/7/11

After months of not participating, I'm linking up to join in the fun of Miscellany Monday.

I noticed that I haven't posted anything personal or shared any life updates in a long time, so this is my chance to do just that.

I went to San Diego last week for a work conference.

And watched the sun rise before my eyes.

I haven't seen a sunrise in 6 years.

Although I didn't see much more of San Diego than this, it was glorious.

Perfect view, perfect weather, great food.

 My little knitting hobby is becoming the most wonderful hobby I've ever embraced.

my 'knitting bag' is from Watermelon Wishes

 It kept me semi-sane during the bumpy flights and it's stress-free.

I'm sad that scrapbooking, the hobby I loved and spent mucho bucks on for the past 8 years is being faded out of my life, but to be honest, I'm becoming ok with that.

Although knitting can be expensive (merino wool, cashmere, etc), it's very rewarding and people actually appreciate the creations. With scrapbooking, I've never felt that many people understand the time/money/attention to detail/taking over of space that occurs. It had its perks for sure - I take more photos now and have some supplies that I use for way more than intended, but it was taking over our apartment. 

Oh, and if I had a project I became a psycho mean chick. Like my husband would need to calm me down because I became so overwhelmed.  

But knitting, oh it's just wonderful! 

I'm knitting when I fly, when we go on longer car trips, when I listen to my audio book, when I watch tv...really, it's such a fun thing to do. And I've always been tactical, so it satisfies that need to do something with my hands. And I don't bite my nails during tense episodes of Law and Order.

 I just knit faster.

 Realized recently that I've never shared my severe love for Vera Bradley over here. It's a problem. For  the past couple of seasons I passed on patterns and bags and then *wham* I fell in love with the recent pattern releases and with some coupons and gift cards have stocked up once again on some paisley, floral goodness.

Yeah, some people think they're frumpy and uncool. I love 'em because they're lightweight and well-organized. I still adore handmade items (like my knitting bag), but I just love me some Vera.

Pique Your Interest Week 12

Welcome to Pique Your Interest. Link up to share your fave finds on Pinterest.

<a border="0" href="http://simplesillylife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6189/6056573420_51472e5424_m.jpg" width="200" height="200" alt="pinterest party button" /></a>

For the past few years I've made gift tags for Christmas presents.

These might look super cute on packages under the tree.

Source: etsy.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

A totally neat plastic bag dispenser tutorial

Source: tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

Love these paint chip bookmarks. Nice way to use some stamps and ribbon.

Source: bellacarta.typepad.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

I just love red and turquoise.

Source: polyvore.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

Thanks for linking up!