Finally Freezing...

Yes, though I thought it would never happen this year, it is supposed to freeze tonight in Mississippi.

And the heat is out in our big, old, drafty house.

I am always cold (regardless of the actual temperature) so when I got out of bed this morning it didn't strike me as too odd that my feet were freezing. When I checked my email I had one from my roommate who was already at work asking if I had gotten frostbite in the night. Thankfully all ten fingers and ten toes are intact, but I feel silly wrapped up in my coat in the house. The landlord hasn't called me back yet...until then it's just me and Earl Gray.

Gardening Again...

I planted more "Sonnet Bronze" snapdragons yesterday - they are definitely my favorite color. I also finally yanked up the zinnias. They weren't dead yet, but seeing that November is four days away I thought it was about time.

Itching to Decorate...

...for CHRISTMAS!

I make no secret of the fact that I LOVE CHRISTMAS. Amazingly I only started listening to Christmas music last week (this time last year I had been since July), but I have been gathering decorating ideas all year. In the hopes that we wouldn't have a random mix of holiday decor, the roommates and I discussed and decided our color scheme for this year would be white, silver and green. This works well since we have a lot of green in the house to begin with. And the color combo is so chic.

Pottery Barn agrees as well. I have been eyeing this reindeer moss wreath and garland ever since it graced the pages of their fall catalogue.

I however, would like to attempt making the wreath myself...I love amazingly cheap decor.

I have also been wanting to try making these cute meringue Christmas trees ever since I saw them in Domino a few years ago. Wouldn't they be great on the table at a cocktail party?

So check back later (as in a LOT closer to Christmas since I'm not allowed to decorate now) to see the finished products.

Fall Dinner Party

I have never been one for fall decor. I do love the color orange, but in the context of a tailgate party, not permanently in my house. However, after seeing this lovely post by Eddie Ross, it finally dawned on me that I can decorate for fall without the candy-corn colors and goofy jack-o-lanterns.

This particular picture from Eddie's blog got me thinking:

Since I had my mental breakthrough I decided to decorate the interior of our house for fall and purchased a grey pumpkin to sit on the bookshelf. It's so subtle, yet appropriate for the season.

We were having friends over for dinner last week and I saw it as my chance to create some fabulous fall table. *I also have never been a huge fan of purple, but once again, the picture above was quite inspiring.

I began with brown burlap (purchased for $6) and made a table runner. I then set a white platter in the center with white pumpkins on either side. On the platter I placed candelabra I found at an antique shop in Franklin, TN last spring. I have been dying to use it and thought this the perfect opportunity. I snagged a couple to mercury glass cachepots on clearance at Pottery Barn last year and filled them with purple mums and Spanish moss and added them to the mix. I then set the table with white china, cloth napkins and my green glassware.

In the end I decided the candelabra wasn't the best centerpiece for fostering conversation so I replaced it with the grey pumpkin and added my favorite candlesticks...and there you have it. Here are pictures with the candelabra and the pumpkin.

I must say that the color palette is really growing on me.


So simple, but so lovely!

Here is the final shot of the table.

Mom, if you are reading this I am sorry that the forks are on top of the napkins. I know that drives you crazy, but they looked funny laying on the table beside them.

It just feels good...

...to get your fingers in the dirt!

After a summer of practically neglecting my flowerbeds, I finally got in there and tackled the army of weeds that had overtaken the soil. It's difficult to justify spending good money on landscaping the yard of a rental house, but I simply must do something to the flowerbeds that greets visitors at the entrance to the front porch.

Yes, we mow the grass and trim bushes, but I crave beautifully landscaped beds with carefully placed shrubbery and strategically planted flowers. Here are a couple of shots of my parent's back yard. It is a beautiful place to escape to...

In the back of this picture you can see the fort/swing-set my dad built me for Christmas when I was 2 and next to it is the playhouse (now mom's storage room for gardening supplies) that he built me for my 4th Christmas. "We" (he) have actually moved them from two other houses.

This is one of my favorite spots. The picture was made in late spring before most of the summer flowers were blooming, but the larkspur and hydrangeas were beautiful.

So, the other day I purchased a few goodies for our yard: snapdragons, pansies and rosemary. I am limiting myself to just these three since they will all live through the spring and will require minimal maintenance...and I can cook with the rosemary. Don't worry though, the flowerbeds will be far from boring. At some point a real gardener lived in this house and every year we are presently surprised by the lilies, tulips, and daffodils that pop up at the most unexpected times.




Right now some bulb is starting to spring up. I wonder if it knows it's about 5 months early? And since I live in the what seems like the hottest place on earth, plants that are annuals in most climates zones are perennials here, i.e. lantana. Last year it bloomed until Christmas.

Which One Are You?

In the words of Lauren Winner, one of my favorite authors, "I am a terminal J on the Myers-Briggs, so I love closure and plans. The open horizons and the freedom of the spirit sometimes make me very, very nervous."

Last night I got into a post-debate discussion with a group of friends about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®. If you've never taken the test you should! It is a diagnostic test to determine the way you reason and process information. It was so interesting to try and figure out what everyone in room was. After pulling up the website and reading the descriptions of all the different personality types I was actually begin to doubt my "type". Just to put my mind at ease I took a similar on-line version this morning and as I should have known...it's still the same.

Old Friends...

It's good to have you back in my life :)


If you missed it last night catch up tonight...that is, after you watch the debates!

Finally Fall...

Happy Fall Everyone!

Even though the leaves in Mississippi won't be looking like this anytime soon there is that "crispness" in the air. Last night we started burning a pumpkin spice candle and I'm thinking it's about time to bring out the hot chocolate mix.