decorating for Christmas

"This is the best tree we've ever had!"  It's the same thing we say every year.  I think it has to be true this year, though.  Steve picks out the nicest trees.  It's perfect.

This evening was especially pretty.  I don't know why.  I tried not to spend anything on decorations this year.  So, I got creative.  I took my short strings of lights (25 bulbs) and put them under my white milk glass dishes.  They are lined up on the piano.

The dishes I chose have a scalloped edge so the string of lights can run under the edge.  I wouldn't want the dish to be uneven!  That would drive me crazy.  There is a power strip under the garland.

Pretty ornaments...

Ben's log cabin...

I like to wrap as early as possible so I can enjoy the pretty packages.

Ok.  I can't say that this was a success, but I learned what not to do for next year!  I have a collection of bird ornaments and I like the idea of a 'stick tree'.  Hmmm...not exactly what I was after but it's kinda cute. 

I love decorating with strings of lights.  I'm always looking for containers that have holes or cut-outs so I can run a string of lights out of it and to an outlet.

I have not mastered taking pictures in the dark!  I took the boughs that Steve cut from the bottom of our tree and put together little greenery arrangements. Simple.

Steve does such a good job with the lights outside.  Simple and pretty.  He decorated another evergreen this year.  It's very very pretty.

Amanita Design

I was on an excellent academic website at work today with my kids in speech therapy.  BBC bitesize has some interesting and entertaining activities targeting specific academic skills.  The UK has excellent educational sites and most are free.

As I was waiting for a group of kids to arrive for their session, I clicked on the game, Questionaut, at the bottom of the homepage. I'm always on the lookout for games that: elicit lots of talking, target specific skills, are entertaining, creative, and lovely. That last one is for me. They are not easy to come by. For every 20 websites/activities I review I bookmark maybe one.

I was lifted out of my seat by the graphics and design of this particular game. Not only is it intriguing for kids, but the images are striking and the music lovely. After only a few minutes, I googled Amanita Design, creator of the game. I will be exploring this independent design studio a lot more in the future. 

Amanita Design blog  

Instagram

Cool free app for the iphone... Instagram

Wish I had an iphone...

It’s a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures.

Snap a photo with your iPhone, choose a filter to transform the look and feel, send to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr – it’s all as easy as pie. It’s photo sharing, reinvented.

Oh yeah, did we mention it’s free?

our place

I'm attempting the daunting task of organizing HUNDREDS of photos.  I don't think I have a good system for storing and organizing photos because whenever I go looking for a particular shot, I end up feeling very frustrated!  As I was sorting through some recent photos, I found these that I had taken of our place on a beautiful fall day.  Although they weren't the photos I was looking for, I couldn't help but stop and linger over these photos of our home.  Soooo thankful for our 3 acres....

The combination of blue, black, gray, and white was striking.

Our driveway.  You can see our barn peeking out through the trees.  Look at the sky!

Our address...17004 152nd St NE.

funny puppy...lounging on the warm patio bricks.  He loves us so much.

pretty kitty....

I hope this barn outlives me.  I really can't imagine this place without it.

a little closer look...

Heaven on earth.

Happy Thanksgiving

I looked through my favorite blogs trying to find a beautiful Thanksgiving quote or an amazing image to share.  Didn't find what I was looking for.  So, I'm sharing an amazing image from our yard.  This rose, "Hope for Humanity", grows near our patio.  I have to admit that it isn't my favorite and I've considered moving this plant to another location as it takes up a prime spot!  But it's a lot of work to properly move a mature plant (it's about 5 years old) and so my laziness earned this rose another season in it's current location.  As the summer progressed, this rose grew at a surprising rate.  By Fall, it had doubled in size from the previous summer!  The stem in the photo is almost 6' tall and was covered with blooms--amazing!  It continued to bloom into November!   On the morning that I took this photo, frost covered our yard and the roses as they continued to bloom and thrive.  So, "Hope for Humanity" may get to stay right where it is.  Moral of the story?  ...be lazy (just kidding) ...be patient :)

I'm thankful for our beautiful world that is endlessly mysterious...

*Happy Thanksgiving*

Quote of the Week

Love this.

Found it when I was reading through Key Lime Digital Designs blog.  I'm a sucker for inspirational quotes in 10 words or less.  :)

Two Door Cinema Club

This is the cool song I was blogging about a couple of days ago.  Now that my Mumfords, and Crash Kings are properly archived, I will share this group and song!  I love it.

Don't know A THING about these guys but I've listened to a few of their other songs and they are really good.  I created a "Two Door Cinema Club" station on Pandora and the music selection was really interesting.  Lots of groups that I hadn't heard of but I really like their sound.