Week 52 Random Pinehurst

And we love again.

World, meet Ms. Cotton Toes.

Ms. Cotton Toes, meet world.

And even better than her nickname, is her real name.

Her name is Mary.

Or Merry.

Wait for it...

As in Merry Christmas.

Because we are the Merikles.

Welcome home Merry Christmas Merikle.

You are so loved.

*** 

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A year ago: Best Puppy Ever

Hard time of year

Last year, right about now,

I was taking this picture.

It was me,

Robert,

and the best little puppy dog ever.

I miss you so much Ashley.

Crossing into California

Christmas Road trip

2010

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The Giant Dwarf - Why Christmas Tree Farms are Evil

We went back to our fave tree farm this year.







It was sad and we cried.

(we miss that awesome puppy Ashley who picked out the tree last year)

It was far away and so beautiful along the way.

I want to go back out and take more pictures.

I miss taking picture trips.

In the end, most of the trees were ridiculously out of control too big.

Even for our home.

But finally,

we spotted her

and no,

this wasn't her.

This one was it.

Not only did he get up under it

to properly take down the find,

he also used his charm and Boy Scout skills

to get her done

We did manage to get her home.

And in to the house.

We loaded her up with lights

And then my giant husband

had to get on an oversized stepstool

so that he could add the way too teeny tiny star

to the top

And that tiny star was about all that would fit

at the top of the tree

(which may or may not have had to have been trimmed so as not to brush the ceiling)

In the end,

during the day,

she's all white gold and red

with no flocking

 And yes.9 out of 10 presents under the tree are for Merry.
She's just perfect like that.


Out. Of. Control.
More like it. *** 

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Week 51 Random Pinehurst

Just about ready for entertaining.
At least I know where the bottle openers are this year.



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For all things Christmas

Poor thing. She's in my side yard.

Not her fault that I was away for my $5 lowes wreaths.

In the name of Christmas, she will be "trimmed" this weekend.

Amen.

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Week 50 Random Pinehurst

 Man I miss her.
T-minus 8 days...



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Pinehurst Christmas | 2011 | Christmas Tree 2

 Our handmade and vintage tree.

All of the ornaments are either handmade (by Robert and his family)

OR vintage (as in older than dirt collectibles).

We will have to get closer in to show you what I mean eh?

For now, enjoy that

wonky,

crooked,

non-vintage,

non-handmade,

very felty 

handmade looking

star.

Trust me on the rest of it.

Enjoy!

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Pottery Barn Deal of the Day: Wine Stoppers (Bonus Discount Code)

This one was just too good to keep all to myself

I've had my eye on the elephant, mini frame and stag wine stoppers
ever since I got my winter Pottery Barn catalog.

Regularly 16.50
I got it for 8.50 
 48% off

Regularly  19.50
 I got it for 8.50
56% off

Regularly 14.50
I got it for 8.50
41% off


They are the Pottery Barn deal of the day (December 6).
You can get them online or get them at your local store.
Online, they are free shipping.


If you use discount code
QTHV-WQRX-DSGG
today
(code good through December 7)
then you get an additional 15% off.
Yes, even off of other promotions and sale items.

I LOVE when PB has real sales.
And clearance.
Cause they do it right.


While I was going to practice restraint
and just buy the stag at 14.50 regular price,
I ended up getting all three for 27.69 shipped to my door.


There are some lucky hostesses in my life.
Let me tell you.


And yes, thanks for all the birthday wishes!

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Pinehurst Christmas | 2011 | Christmas Tree 1

For some reason,

the decorating bug is just nibbling

around Pinehurst

this year.

Trying to get up the gumption.

The big faux tree was gold, brown and green last year.

It was a sight to see.

This year, it is red, white and silver.

And.

It isn't in my bedroom.

I wish Ashley was still here to nibble at it.

One tree down.

8 more (or so)

to go.

Enjoy!

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Question of the Month: December

Now that shopping season is upon us and rockstar parking is harder and harder to find, the question of the day (of the month, really) is rather obvious:

"Dude - who stole my car?!?"

Quaintly, my husband requests that I please use my smarter than me phone and figure out a way to snap a picture of where I parked. Or something.

Surely, there is an ap for this?

And also, if you could tell me where I hid all of the presents I brought throughout the year, that ap would be awesome too. Or one that tells me where to rebuy them for the same great prices.

Please and thanks.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Week 49 Random Pinehurst

 

If you need to get a good shot of

800 calories

down in 10 minutes

try a couple of glasses of this stuff.

Addictive.

Not diabetic friendly I hear.

Perhaps, capable of making a pre-diabetic

diabetic in one sitting.

Just. Saying.

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Around Pinehurst | December

 Cozy weather sets in.

Check {mate}.

 Time for some hot chocolate and a quick match.

I miss having a perpetual chess match going on the dining room table.

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Week 48 Random Pinehurst

No Poinsettias this year from Lowes.

That makes me SOOOO sad.

So instead, I tried to force some bulbs.

"tried" being the key word.

At the least, I'll have lots of pretty wicker pots of dirt 

around for the holidays.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Is it time for Pumpkin Pie yet?

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Offic[ially] Incomplete

Aside from living out of a suitcase for almost a quarter of a year,
I have had a moment or two at home.

While I was out of town, my husband was home building out our office.

Back in 2007, I took a trip to Tibet.
Everest Base Camp to be exact.

I went there because I lost a coin flip.
Much like how we ended up building out our office
(before building out our walk in master closet)
because I may have lost another coin flip.

Last weekend,
I sent out a desperate tweet
asking ya'll to send me photos
(or links, or carrier pigeons - I was desperate)
of shelves painted gray.
And chalkboard painted tables/desks.

This is all before I recalled that right up my own stairs
there was a perfectly GOOD example of how well chalkboard painting your desk stands up over time.
(and yes, this is one of those "I would tell you" moments and it HAS held up wonderfully).

No matter.
While he wanted to paint out built ins "brown like wood"
(say WHAT??!?)
I begged and even promised to paint it all myself if we could go gray.
Just like everything else in our house.

It. Looks. AWESOME!
It is officially incomplete (clever title eh?)
but it is functional again and just needs little details that will kick it into gear.

Here's our main wall before and after:

My husband built all the cabinets and, most impressively if I do say so myself,
he built our file cabinets from scratch

  

I was pretty indecisive.

For a moment, I thought I would do the dark trim white (to match our trimwork)

Then I didn't know if I wanted to paint the whole interior of the shelves.

I didn't because I didn't paint his wooden hutch and wanted to keep some bare wood in the room

Then I thought I would paint the remaining desk trim white.
But I'm going to stain that instead like the original desk.
The chalkboard is almost a perfect match for the original black desk.

I ADORE how silver, brass and gold all look fantastic against the dark walls.
I LOVE the darker chalkboard edge to the shelves that I can label books with
(yes, there is non-fiction already on my fiction shelf).

There's still more to do:

Paint tv shelf
Paint edges of printer shelf
Stain top edge of B's shelf
Match and Stain desk trim
Touch up walls
Paint under desk ledges
Finish under desk trim

It will get done.
Eventually.

All said, we're ready for house sitters and holiday guests.

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Thanksgiving Table & New Tradition - Pinehurst 2011

While I am not really bummed about not having to cook for Thanksgiving,

I am a little bummed that my IRL folks won't get to hang out at this table.

It has a lot on it, but I wanted to use plenty of nature, lots of thrifty goods and just some unique finds to decorate the table.  Come sit for a spell.

        

(l) I have had a bowl of potpourri that has moved a few times already.

And by moved, I mean, been packed and shipped across the country.
Anyhow, I ship it because it has these really big pods and chunks in it.
I spread those across the table in between the pinecones.
The "candle holder" was blogged about on my Fall Mantel blog entry.
I picked up the cute bread plates from Goodwill for $1 each.
The white plate, I may have a few cases of.  May.
The gray plate was the first set of dishes I bought when we moved into the Gray Lady
(as I might sometimes refer to my big gray house).
The gold charger is from my wedding
(we had a small 60 person gig and actually brought in a lot of our catering service pieces).
The placemat is a felt leaf from BigLots.
Instead of centering the charger on the placemat, I offset the two.
I'll zoom out in another photo to show you.

(r) Close of up the almost Glassybaby-like not really candle holder.
Nope, those pinecones are not flocked.

(l) View of the table from the kitchen.
Instead of six settings (there are two of us, plus mom, sis and nephew),
I did five settings.  When we actually eat, we can use that end for the 6th as a serving space.
I actually used one of my turkey platters (I have three and yes, I still don't eat meat)
to set an overflowing cornucopia on top of.  I had the large iron pumpkin frame last year ($3, Goodwill).
I picked up the small iron pumpkin frame for $3 this year (Value Village).
The Love is Patient yellow wood sign in the window was $1 from the North Bend thrift store.
The framed and unframed Native American prints are by Edward S. Curtis.
They are both beautiful and help my family to stay grounded in my grandmother's roots.

(r) On top of the bread plates, I used wood salad bowls.
You find these for practically a dime a dozen at the Goodwill.
I never found a full, more rustic set.  So I bought mine in 2s or individually.
I love the mix match and the more rustic nature of the bowls.
Promise, I don't feed my family rocks.
I am a better cook than that.

(l)  From the chandelier. Because I like to hang out up here, evidently.
Here the table is filled out more.  You can see the place mat and charger offset from each other.
You can also see (we'll get closer), what I used to let folks know where to sit.
And you can see the fun chalkboard rocks we used last year.
Love those napkins.  Got them at Macy's because we had a gift card.
We thought we were going to get something else, but ended up with the Martha Stewart Napkins because we only had a couple bucks left and they were on clearance.

(r) I used three glasses for each setting. 
The small amber glass is for water.
We don't drink much water around these parts unless it was squoze from grapes.
Which explains why there are two wine glasses.
One for white (salad, desserts); one for red (meal, football, everything else)

(l) Close up of the chalkboard rocks that the one kids (young and old) got a kick out of last year.

(r) Close up of the Curtis photos.

(l) Close up of "placecards". I actually used Boggle letter cubes to spell out each guest's initials.
I would have gone with Scrabble although it is significantly easier and cheaper (in my experience) to find boggle sets in the thrift store than it is to find non-Jr. versions of Scrabble.
Don't know if I was missing a cube or if it is by design, but I didn't have a B in my set.  Not stressing.
No one else has my middle and last initial (smile).
Only splurge to the whole table was the flatware.
I LOVE it.  So much, I was shopping at one of those places that shall not be named (the likes of Ross, TJMaxx, Marshalls...) and came across a set I loved.  They had a bunch of sets, but didn't have two of any one.  I have a table that actually seats 8. The service came for 6.  I figured I was really only meant to have one set when I stumbled upon (at a different one of those said places that shall not be named) a set that I thought I loved even more a couple of months later.  Having not unpacked the original set, I was totally shocked, awed and pleased as punch to find that I had picked up the EXACT same set.  You'll be impressed to when I tell you that I actually almost got a different set but then walked back and was summoned back to the set that matched the serving for 6 in the trunk of my car.
Just. Saying.
Karma.

(r) One more long shot down the table. 
Here you can see that I added two tall, skinny vases.  They are packed pretty tight and narrow.
They are great for everyday, on the table.
For dinner, I would just pop the vases back in to their really neat wall holders
(they are actually wall sconces for holding flowers or candles or...whatever).

And the food view.
Once we're ready to eat...everyone knows where they are seated,
the tall vases are out of the way, the far end is cleared off for the real turkey.

Still promise I'm not feeding anyone rocks.
But an interesting tradition (if you will)
especially if you are in mixed company (some grace sayers, some not).

See the chalkboard rocks?  

I think it would be cool to break out the chalk, ask each person to write or draw one word that captures what they are thankful for.  Then, before digging in, go around the table and see what everyone said/drew.

I could see a particularly creative interpretation even being framed in a shadow box and displayed until next year.  When someone else could be the grand champion.

So doing that.

Linking up ya'll!
Tutorials & Tips Link Party at The Stories of A to Z
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