Around Here.

... it's beginning to look - and feel* - like Christmas. I took a few photos this afternoon and wanted to share them with y'all (and document for myself so I remember next year).

Here's the entry hall. Just three poinsettias. There was a fourth, but he went into this week's trash. maybe because that splash of sunshine didn't come until just a few days ago. or maybe because I overwatered...

Looking off to the right is the dining room. Those big poinsettias flanking the breakfront and the greens topping it are traditional, but the centerpiece on the table is new this year.

It's fresh greens, crystal, mercury glass and candles. We'll be eating Christmas dinner here this year and I wanted something low and bright.

This little arrangement took the place of the bird tree. I do love it, but I miss the twinkle lights. Next year maybe I'll just put lights on the railings!

Up on the left is the living room. I decorated the mantel with more fresh greens and more mercury glass.

Our Advent Tree sits opposite the mantel. It's a combination of holiday words and beloved photos.  One more photo to go and it's full... of memories, good times and family.

This is the view just past that tree, looking to the right.

and this is the view looking back.

It's all much simpler than in years past and I'm happy with it (well, except for the dead poinsettia). I think next year might see even more simplification...but I haven't quite figured out where. yet. 

Thank you for walking along with me as I made these notes!

Wishing each of you a warm and joyful weekend. xo, Mary

*until you step outside - and realize you don't even need a coat. We're having nearly record warm weather right now. and I'm taking that as a good sign for my mom - who will be moving here from Florida next summer. The last forecast I saw showed 68 degrees and sunshine for Christmas Day. I'm not sure we'll have the windows open, but we will, for sure, not be wearing coats!

2012 favorites.

...inspired by sara to share my favorites for this year. it's a fun way to look back. and it really does make me realize (yet again) what a wonderful year it has been. thank you to everyone who's reading this for being part of it!

of course sara told her story in words, but I'm telling mine in pictures*.

favorite photo of the three of us.

favorite photo of the two of us.

favorite photo of the two of them.

favorite person to hold my hand for a 30-mile walk.

favorite dinner when marc's away.

favorite thing I knitted for a baby.

favorite thing I knitted that surprised me. this one is also a favorite because it's for someone at the nursing home. and knitting with the ladies there on thursday afternoons is one of my favorite blessings of the year.

favorite cocktail party.

favorite thing(s) I knit for someone else.

favorite thing I knitted for myself.

favorite field trip.

favorite recipe I created.

favorite purchase.

favorite long-time documentation habit. (I'm now into year seven and journal #17.)

favorite new documentation habit.

favorite iphone app.

favorite tv show. and how cool that I watched the first two seasons on my laptop. (this was a hard choice... I also considered boardwalk empire, homeland and mad men but DA wins because I share it with all my girlfriends. and because it has maggie smith.)

and one last shout out to my favorite book of 2012, erin morgenstern's night circus. apparently, this one never made it to my flickr feed!

*click the photos to see them in flickr and read a little more about them.

wordless wednesday.

four trees.

...I really had fun with all your comments on my post last thursday - thank you! apparently marc was just tired and cranky that night, because the next day he was most encouraging (we went to lowes and home depot together and then he suggested I try michaels and target on my own) about those five trees.

but in the end, we've ended up with four. that gives us room to grow, right?!

I'll share more details on each of those trees - the ornaments are a very special part of my holiday - in later posts, but for now, I wanted to give you a quick tour of house 2.0 and what it looks like to decorate with (mostly) just trees and poinsettias:

and one wreath (marc's still trying to figure out how to hang the other one - it's big and red, from costco - over the two garage doors).

just inside the front door, three trees and four poinsettias straight ahead. and maybe holly (likely barking if you've rung the bell!)

to your left is my study,

and to your right is the dining room.

the blue & white plate collection is on the wall to the left...that you can't see here!

as you walk into the house, the first tree you see is the bird tree.

and then the word tree (yeah, that rhymes and I do think that's weird)

and then the "big" tree.

turn the corner and there's the family room (with the kitchen off to your right).

if you look straight ahead (which is to the right of that photo just above), you'll see tree #4, the advent calendar tree, now decorated with six of my favorite holiday photos.

you can see a glimpse of the kitchen nook off to your right - here's a better view.

my project life "stuff" is all over the table..some things haven't changed...and if you look closely, on that top shelf of the hutch there's a miniature charlie brown tree (which I'm not calling tree #5).

and if you turn around, you see the kitchen.

the counter top is uncharacteristically cleaned off. I'm typing this post sitting at that right-hand stool...and I've got more stuff spread about me. the slow cooker off to the left has been working hard all day on a mexican chicken soup, which I think is going to be delicious. stay tuned for the recipe!

so there you have it - one wreath, three big poinsettias, four trees, four smaller poinsettias and a few other pieces. quick and easy and now I'm getting back to the knitting!

a look back at november.

images and descriptions are here and here

well, november, you certainly did not disappoint! we settled in, celebrated (a lot!), started a few new routines and even knitted (just a little). I have to say, I enjoyed every minute of it. thank you for the warm welcome to our new home!

project life weeks 24 through 34.

...whoa. I knew it had been a while, but until I took the photos of the finished spreads this morning and saved the slightly edited versions, I had no idea it had been eleven weeks. nearly three months. of course it seems like that long when I look back at each page, but still...

the first four of those weeks had been partially completed back in september; I had the photos in place, and most of the ephemera, but I needed to add a few more details and the journaling. thank goodness for post-it notes to remind me what I'd originally intended.

week 24 (august 26 - september 1)

week 25 

week 26 

week 27

these weeks look like the ones that preceeded them - a mix of photos and "stuff" and a few journaling cards thrown in. I did tweak cathy zielske's life list cards to document things we did specifically for the new house.

 and then I got to the catchup phase. I shared a photo on instagram friday night of the mess of ephemera and notes that I started with.

it got worse before it got better :-)  I decided on two three week spreads, pre-closing/move and post-closing/move with two 6x12 spreads in the middle to document our 2-day walk and my dad's 75th birthday weekend. good thing marc was gone all weekend, because I had all the counters in my kitchen full of project life until about 9pm last night! here's how those six weeks turned out.

weeks 28 - 30 (september 23 - october 12) 

a close-up of the front of the 2-day walk page

and the back - and the front of my dad's birthday page

and the back of the birthday page and the right side of the three-week spread

weeks 31 - 33

and one close-up. my pile of ephemera was impressive! the quotation in the lower right is written on an envelope I'd already embossed with my old address. and of course I LOVE the queen of hearts shopping list. (maybe they do project life, too?!)

and last but not least, in "real" time, week 34.

in addition to everything else I'm loving about this approach to documentation, I now would add "flexibility". really, it was pretty easy to adapt the format to make it work. I am looking forward to staying caught up and hopefully doing more real time entries for december (in place of december daily). we'll see how that goes!