home decor and garden are very famous in the world

I'm not sure if it's the egg nog, the hot apple cider or the warm fire but I've been on vacation mode and it feels quite good.

Here's what we've been up to...first, this is Hubby reading, "The Joy of Cooking" in hopes to discover a fabulous new Christmas Eve recipe. See those 'crumbs' on his pocket? Well, they're not from Christmas cookies, those are tree crumbs from splitting and hauling in so much wood for our fires.



We also went cross country skiing up around Mt. Hood. It was a beautiful blue bird day. Note: Lucy is still smiling!



And there's been lots and lots of cozy time in the house....with lots of accompanying warm beverages...like hot cocoa.



Green tea.



And hot apple cider - something I've consumed a lot of this past week.



There's also been a lot of Backgammon (shhhh, I'm on a winning streak).

And a lot of sitting in front of the fire enjoying the Christmas tree lights.

And the warm glow of the fire.

The new furniture is proving to be very comfortable and conducive to lazy day snuggling.

I love how the cabinet glass reflects all the light in the room.

Nate over at Laurel Street nominated me for the Homies 2009 Award! Wow, huh? I'm absolutely honored but also, feel a little shy!

Happy New Year!

Guess What ladies... I have a surprise giveaway! I was given the oppotunity by living room furniture to do this. I went to their site and handpicked an item for my beloved readers!! I posted it on my sponsor's page, so head over there and check it out. You won't be disappointed.

By the way I am working on a project right now and I am going to post it on Friday. So, be sure to come back to see what I have been up to. :)

ok, so i seriously dropped the ball on my 100th post.  every since i started getting close to my 100th post i’ve been thinking that i should do something cool for it.  that’s about as far as i got though because today came and this is my 100th post and i don’t have anything cool to do for it.  i can’t believe i’ve already gotten to 100.  sorry that it’s going to be so lame.  hopefully you’ll still keep reading my blog even though i don’t have some cool 100th post giveaway or something. 

i did manage to run into homegoods today.  i hadn’t been in there in a while and thought i’d see what they had.  i typically try to avoid homegoods during the holidays if possible.  it can get pretty crazy in there.  i snapped a few photos of things i liked.  i took all the photos with my crackberry because i didn’t have my camera with me so the quality of some of the photos is a little off.  i was surprised that most of them came out ok though.  maybe the blackberry storm is good for something(i’ve hated it every since i got it).

so the first thing i have to show you is the crazy disco-like balls that they had.  i counted 8 in all.  not sure these will be flying off the shelf or anything but i just had to take a picture of them.  they might actually be cool in a fun kids room or basement. 

they also had this awesome distressed wooden bench.  it was really long but would be such a statement piece.  (cost $499)

there were lamps galore and great ones too.  my favorites were these two different shell lamps that were $79 each.

these ivory gourd lamps were so lovely.  the gray and ivory shades were very light.  my camera shows them darker than they were. (cost $39.99)

these pink and ivory ones would be great in a little girl’s room. (cost $39.99)

they had a couple garden stools for under $100.  i like the turquoise one a lot.

sage ruffle pillow. (cost $12.99)  ruffles are so popular right now.

these white trunks would be great stacked in a corner or even better…make a table out of two of them stacked on top of each other.  i didn’t get the cost on these but i can’t imagine they would be over $60.

i thought these little pouf baskets were adorable.  they looked sort of like moroccan poufs but they were actually baskets.  (cost small $12.99, large $19.99)

i saw this cute chair on my way out.  it’s a great buy for $199.  they had a couple of other ones in different fabrics but this one was my favorite.

so that’s it for my homegoods shopping trip.  if you want to check out any of these items i found them at the perimeter pointe homegoods in dunwoody.  if you’re not local to atlanta i’m sure the homegoods in your area would have most of these items too.

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well, i’m signing off until monday so i hope you all have a fun and festive new year’s eve wherever you may be.  i want to wish you all a very, very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!  see you back in 2010!! 

xo,

cristi 

for apartment therapy’s blog awards, the 2009 homies.  the nominations close at 5pm on the 29th so if you like my blog please nominate me again.  you can click here to go to the site.  i’m so thankful for those of you who have already nominated me.  you guys are the best.

the way these awards work is by nominations.  you can nominate as many blogs as you would like.  at the end of the day tomorrow they will take the blogs that have gotten the most nominations and put them on a voting list.  then there will be a week or so of voting.   then the winner will be announced after the first of the year. 

head on over and start nominating your fave blogs…hopefully mine will be included in your list.  you’ll have to sign up for an apartment therapy account before you can nominate any blogs but it’s a painless process.  all you have to do is click here, enter your name and email address and then verify the account by clicking on the link that they send to your email.  it’s very simple and you can opt out of having any other emails sent to you. 

there are tons of blogs that have been nominated that i’ve never heard of, and i’ve really enjoyed looking through their pages.  maybe you’ll find a few new blogs to read too.

happy monday or tuesday…depending on when you read this!

for those of you who live in atlanta if you have time you should run over to the z.gallerie at perimeter mall.  they are closing their doors and are having a huge sale.  last i checked everything was 50% off.  the furniture is pretty picked over but they still have a good bit of accessories.  they also have a large selection of floral stems and art. 

the perimeter z.gallerie was the closest one to me so i’m sad they are closing.  i’ll have to make the drive up to alpharetta or down to atlantic station to go to one now.  i’m not sure why they are closing and i hope that the other atlanta z.galleries don’t follow suit.  i was there over the weekend and snapped a few photos of some of the stock they had left.

miscellaneous accessories…

trellis pillows orig. $39.99

one of my fave chandeliers orig. $369.00

jasper sofa orig. $1,099.00

This is Monday morning and I am still in my pajamas sitting in front of the computer. This doesn't usually happen because, I have things I have to do or places I need to be. Today, not so much and I am loving it.

The kids are playing with the toys they got for Christmas, everone is happy... so, I decided to update my bloy post now, instead of waiting till tonight.

Sometime before Christmas, I did my usual stop and look at a thrift store and guess what I found...


A book by Martha Stewart! To tell you the truth I didn't even know about this book, but I was really excited! The book is in perfect condition, and when I looked through the pages, there were so many great tips and advice for what to look for when you are looking for collectable items (like glass jars, Milk glasses, plates... and so on) at a flea market; how to clean and take care of them and ideas for decorating the house with those finds. The book is just perfect for someone like me, who loves thrift stores and yard sales!

The second item that I found was this:



Actually, I have been wanting to buy these molds for several months, I have kind of gotten back in to baking, so I wanted to make beautiful tarts. At William Sonoma, of course, they were expensive, so I have decided to wait a while.

I decided to check the silverware and bakingware section just in case, and this little red box was sitting right on top of everything!! What are the odds? In my mind, I was thinking to myself, "Is that what I think it is? No, I don't believe it. Don't get your hopes up so high Sachiko...". Isn't that funny I was several steps away but I was thinking all that. Also, I was acting calmly, so other people wouldn't see me acting unusual or the direction in which I was looking and find the box before I could grab it. It is a total rush to those who shop at thrift stores.

The box was a little dusty, but everything was in perfect mint condition. It had a little sticker saying $2.oo! Each of the molds were sparkly clean and I can tell they were never used. Finding something is nice, but finding something you have been looking for is DESTINY! I felt like angels were floating around me and making holy sounds, ahhhhh. Look what happens when you try to live each day honestly and work hard. Good things happen! :) (However, I still haven't quite figured out humility.)

I am looking forward to using them for the first time and making mini tarts.

That is why I can't stop going to those stores. My curiousity "what if..." or "just in case" has helped me to find some pretty nice stuff in the past. If you never have shopped at thrift stores, you might want to try it, you never know what you will find.

By the way, I am participating in these link parties today, there are many wonderful posts, I highly recommend visiting them! Have a fabulous day everyone.

i hope that you all had a very merry christmas.  i know i sure did.  it was great to spend time with my family.  i always have such a fun time when we all get together.

i thought that i would share with you the christmas gift that i made for my mom.  i have spoken about my love for horses and horse art before on my blog and my mom also has that same love for for them.  i don’t really know that there is a more beautiful animal than a horse.  i grew up on a farm in alabama and showed horses until i was about 17.  my love of horses started at a very young age and has been with me ever since. 

recently i have seen two horse art pieces in particular that i really liked.  One is from palecek (it’s discontinued now though) and one is from pottery barn.  i’ve pictured them below.  the palecek piece is on the left and the pb piece is on the right.  palecek’s piece retails for about $500 or $600 and the pottery barn piece retails for about $200.

i started thinking that i could probably put my minor in art to good use and make some similar art for my mom for her christmas gift.  here is how mine turned out.  i was pretty proud of myself.  and the best part is that it only cost me around $35 for the two of them plus my time to make them.

i also made one for myself.  here is that one.

if anyone is wondering how i did it made these, here is a step-by-step guide.

first, i found an architectural salvage shop and purchased the old wood.   i got one of my neighbors to help me cut the boards down to the size i wanted. 

next, i roughed the pieces of wood up with a sander.  i also sanded the sides and corners to make sure they were smooth and didn’t have any splinters.  after that i stained them a walnut color to make them darker.  the natural wood finish would have been too light.

then, i drew a horse onto poster board and cut it out.  to get a big enough horse i had to tape two poster board pieces together.  once i had it cut out i positioned it on the 3 boards, taped it down on the underside with painters tape and used ivory spray paint to spray the boards.

i sprayed on two coats of spray paint and once it dried i removed the horse silhouette.  then i sanded the piece all over with really fine sandpaper.  i also distressed areas on the horse as well as the wood to give it an aged look.

when i finished sanding the front i added picture hangers to the back of each board.  the finished art was about 30” x 40”.

and that’s how i did it.  the hardest part by far was drawing the horse.  now i really want to experiment with other silhouettes.  maybe i’ll do my dog next.