Happy Halloween!!

And a big Happy Birthday to my Dad! We had a great time seeing everyone this past weekend (more on that to come)! I just wish we got to visit more!

The Lamp Post Exhibit at the LACMA

When Winter Comes

You can't have too much light! One of the only things I don't love about Seattle is the darkness. Winter is ramping up here and the darkness is closing in. For those of you unfamiliar with the Northern latitudes this means that in the dead of winter the sun rises at 7:55 am and sets at 4:21 pm giving us all of 8 hours of daylight. I know others have it worse but sheesh!

End rant.

The point is, we can use all of the light we can get. This one, in particular, is all about the kitchen (though I'm still pretty smitten with our new Dining room light). With the new layout the end of the kitchen by the door wasn't getting enough light. It's been something we have been planning on fixing for a while now (like since this July 9th post) and we finally got it done.

Here's our little nook with it's brand new light.

Amazon still offers it for a mere $43.29, such a steal! It compliments the light over the sink as well as the track lighting we put in perfectly. All, in all, I'm a happy camper.

In other kitchen news. We finally started installing the rest of our molding in the kitchen.

 It still needs a few touch ups and some caulk but we are rounding the bend on the last few minute details. I'll tell you all about our process and plans when we get it finished. Until then!

Cheers!

Dining Room Bling

I love my little chandelier but I have always dreamed of something more. Something like this in fact.

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Every time I'm out and about I always swing by my local ReStore hoping to get lucky. I've seen a few but they are always sold by the time I get to them. Not this time. I jumped on that baby and now she is mine.

What do you think?

It was really heavy so we thought we'd let it hang for a while with some pillows underneath just in case it fell. 

Norman thought we were making the floor particularly comfortable just for him. In the end we abandoned the pillows and trusted that we used the right hardware. So far thing thing is staying up.

Here are some close up shots.

I love the pineapples.  Apparently they are a symbol of hospitality so you should all feel very welcome looking at my dining room. 

It adds such a nice presence to the room. I also got the chance to finally get a picture of our dining room rug.

$40 at Goodwill. Don't you just love that place? It is in really good shape and the colors are just right for the house. 

My mind is whirling on all of the seating options that might work better though so this room still needs some loving before it is complete.

Anyone else stumble upon something wonderful? I just learned we have HomeGoods in our state so Daniel might have cause to be afraid.

Cheers!

It's Pumpkin Patch Time!

This has been one of my favorite traditions since moving to Seattle. There is just something inherently amazing about stomping through a muddy field hunting for that perfect pumpkin. Carlton Farms did not disappoint.

It took forever, but I found the perfect one.

My little pumpkin baby...

Little did it know it was going to soon become a gruesome monster.

Obligatory fire shot.

We just plopped down in front of our fire and carved away. I just love how they glow.

Spooky!

I also finally bit the bullet and cleaned up the office. Remember this?

Much better now.

Of course no matter what you are cleaning you always end up finding something and starting a new project right? I took some pinspiration from this picture and created a little card for Daniel using the scrap paper I had in the closet.

My monster brings flowers. How cute is that?

Anyone else love fall? The leaves are falling and everything just smells good. I think this just may be my favorite time of year.

Cheers!

The Wicked Web we Weave

I've been eyeing Halloween door decorations for a while now (say since we moved in) and there are some pretty cute ones out there.

This one would be awesome if you had a way to cut out all those bats

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And I've always loved this one. It is just too cute!

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So I thought to myself, what can I make that will look good and be entirely free? Spiderweb!

This project was super easy and very quick. Just grab some black electrical tape, some scissors and go to town. 

I went for the classic design. First you start with the spokes (look at all that light now that the trees are gone!)

Then cut pieces to make the "webbing". My only advice is to put the tape on the outside of your door or window. The backside of the tape looks a little different, so it is more dramatic to your guests on the outside.

There you have it. Simple, quick, and spooky. As to why I only went part way? I like the unfinished look and it does block the light, which I am loving right now, so I stopped when it felt right. You could even add a dangling spider to really top it off!

We still need to get pumpkins to carve but at least I'm finally getting in the spirit!

Cheers!

Spooky Mantle- 2012 Edition

I've actually had the mantle decorated since mid-September (weird I know but it was a matter of convenience). I basically reused what I had last year and mixed in a few things that were already there.

Here is 2011's version

Now for 2012

I didn't go quite as crazy with the spider webs this year because it turns out Daniel was right, they do make it hard to have a fire (and it certainly has been cold enough for them)

I filled my egg jar with skeleton heads which I thought was a nice nod to the macabre (get it? Nod?)

The book page pumpkins got a second showing. They were just so cute last year I was glad they held up in the decoration box.

Just simple changes. I'm trying to settle on a mantle that just needs little tweaks to become festive instead of tearing the whole thing down every time there is a holiday. So far it has been much less stressful, which is key. 

I've got lots of wood to stack today but I have to say I am loving my new open yard. Can't wait to show you more!

Cheers!

I Spy With My Little Eye...

 Our house! I told you I had a big reveal. In case you don't remember, this was the view from the street when I left for work Monday morning.

Can you believe the difference? Check this out.

Inside before

Inside after.

The amount of light in our front room is unreal.

I wasn't home to see the action but Daniel got a few shots. Apparently they climbed up the tree removing the branches as they went

And then came back down the tree removing the trunk.

As you can see they aren't quite done yet.

How much do my neighbors love me right now? Of course the yard looks like a few trees exploded, but, well, they kind of did.

Norman has been pretty skeptical about the whole thing so far.

But that is his usual attitude. I do feel a smidgen bad for Honey Bunch. The Cedar was her favorite play toy. (here she is playing in it just hours before they started bringing it all down)

I promised her I'd get her a new tree though.

More to follow once things get a bit more in order around here but I wanted to show the world our cute little house.

Cheers!

Jumping Junipers!

One of my resolutions this year was to give my house a bit of curb appeal. Boy was that a bigger can of worms than I thought. We started out with this

I swear there is a house in there somewhere. Of course it hasn't helped that I have been ignoring the problem for the last year, but I digress.

 First thing that had to go was that awful fence. It was completely rusted through in some parts. While Daniel did the removal I started on the mass of juniper. We got to about here before I gave up.

Can you see my path of destruction? I managed to bag and tag about half of the juniper while Daniel got out the entire fence.

After taking a few weeks off to recover (that stuff itches!) we finally got back out there and decided this would be the weekend. Everything must go!!

 Not too shabby right?

We were pretty lucky that some guy pulled up and asked to take away our fence (saves us the trip) so we managed to get everything pretty clean.

I did unearth some interesting artifacts hiding in the deep recesses of the Juniper Jungle.

Whomever lived here before must have had quite the menagerie of plastic animals. I have also found a giant beetle and a Lego shark. I'm starting a collection.

We are inching closer to our clean slate... I should have a pretty big reveal for tomorrow so stay tuned!

Cheers!

Falling

I went for a run and noticed that Fall is suddenly in the air...

Just thought I'd share that.

Cheers!