ITS THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!

It's Christmas!! 

To be fair the Christmas excitement has been filling our household since early November, perhaps even October for some of us. We had watched some Christmas movies and Michael Bublé was already playing. But as soon as thanksgiving was over we went straight to hunt for our tree and yes it is another huge one.

We managed to get another 9 foot tree, although I suspect its a little bit taller than that. Andrew is very pleased with himself as it was one of the biggest trees there. We did look at another tree but when the guy held it up it was just too large. It would have filled our living room.

Putting the tree up in our house is always fun. Poor old Macintosh always gets a bit scared and worried. He doesn't like this giant green thing that's invading his space. The size of the tree means I always end up standing on something trying to help balance it and keep it straight whilst Andrew's fixing it into the base. Eventually its done and then suddenly Macintosh remembers he likes giant green trees. They provide him with an additional water bowl and he can also crawl around underneath it whilst it strokes his back. Silly dog!

So anyway, we kept the cardboard houses Andrew made last year and just added some new pieces that we bought. I tried to keep the natural look going with lots of natural textures and red and white as accent colours. Its not quite Pinterest worthy but I love it.

Coming in through the front door, the first thing you'll see is our wreath. Its the same twig wreath that I just keep adapting to fit the occasion. So far its been completely worth its money! 

There is our giant tree. Complete with crooked top section and Macintosh asleep on "his" sofa. The tree rather dominates the room but it makes the place feel Christmassy quite easily!

The stockings are pinned up on the sideboard in the absence of a fireplace. (Macintosh has his by his bed!) The advent candle is on the sideboard too so we remember to burn it. We also got this amazing red and white patterned candle on sale last year and I've been waiting excitedly to burn it ever since. The logs were scrounged from the desert around us and hauled back by Macintosh and Andrew after their long walks. 

The other sides and surfaces have little touches of Christmas, from garlands to cardboard houses or other bits. It helps spread the Christmas feeling around the room. Our open plan living space can feel quite large so with a giant tree and lots of Christmas bits scattered around it makes it feel cosier. 

But the dinning table is my favourite part by far. On one of Andrew's walks he found a long log that he adapted into this amazing centrepiece for the dining table. 

That bit might actually be Pinterest worthy as I stole the idea from there in the first place. Andrew drilled some holes in the logs for the candles and voila a centrepiece. Can't wait to start eating meals at the big table. 

So there you have it, our Christmas decor for 2015. As many of you won't get to see us over the holiday season I hope you can picture us having Christmas over here a bit more now. 
H

SUMMER DECOR

A little while ago I gave out a sneak peak of the decor on Instagram...

It had taken me a while to land on a design idea for the summer decor as every time I looked on Pinterest it appeared to be 4th July inspired decor. Now I'm not bitter about the independence of America. Doesn't bother me one bit, I'm happy to barbecue and have a party, but I draw the line at celebrating it by decorating my house in the stars and stripes! So once I'd settled on an idea the ball got rolling a bit quicker.

Andrew helped contribute towards this decor quite a bit. He helped come up with the overall look that we were going for. We then worked on the decor during the week of his night shifts. Each of us would do a little work on it and tweak it whilst the other was asleep/working. Overall I think it came out pretty well. 

I have to say these flowers are my favourites. They are fake because I can't seem to make flowers last too long in the heat out here and it'd get expensive having a vase filled all summer. I enjoyed picking them out though and playing around with combinations. I've decided I definitely need to go to the LA flower market and bring home a serious stash of flowers!

We have a few little touches spread around the room too. There's a couple of bits set out on the side tables and then we added some bunting to our bookcase. I didn't want to go overboard this time. I wanted a less cluttered look. I prefer everything light and airy in the summer. Come autumn or winter I'll want the whole house covered in decorations because I love it! 

Here's a few little up close photos to show you some of the detailing on there. The bear came from Alaska, the parcel we wrapped ourselves and Andrew made the London skyline and the fake postage stamps. 

And as a last minute point, you might want to know that the bunting has the Queen's head on it and says 'Rule Britannia'. See not bitter about Independence day at all! ;)
H

HOUSEWIFE DUTIES

Whilst being unemployed usually signals that things are not going so great, for me its been the complete opposite. I have finally had the chance to spend lots of time reading, cooking and crafting, all the things that seemed to get squeezed out of life back home. Each week I seem to have lots of time to just simply enjoy, or get better at, the things I love. I've spent plenty of time learning how to crochet and am currently whizzing through a crochet chevron blanket. I've got time to bake Andrew cakes; which during our marriage prep he stated were one his practical expectations of marriage. Plus I've got time to read books, lots and lots of books. Its amazing. 

 

I'm pretty amazed that I get all this time but I don't want to make you all too jealous. It does get a bit overwhelming at times as there can be a lack of structure and I can get stuck in a maze of endless possibilities, so much so that I don't end up picking any project but rather get sucked into the world of Netflix. There is also some jealousy from my end towards those who are working because I wish (at times) I could be back in a classroom, with my class doing all those fun things I miss planning for. But I know that being a housewife is my role right now, and to be quite fair looking after Andrew is almost a full time job!! You've met him right?!
H

FALL IS HERE!

Fall has finally arrived in California. The temperature has dropped during the night to around 50 fahrenheit meaning that its particularly cold in the mornings and in the evenings. The daytime temperature can still reach into the 80s fahrenheit so it can still feel pretty warm. Some Californians are complaining that its cold and don't understand why we can still be wearing shorts but I'm making the most of it! Having said that it is lovely to put jeans on again and find something vaguely snuggly to wear. 

As the temperature began to change back in September I had begun to think about decorating some of the house for fall. The trip back to England postponed the decorating and since we've been back its taken me longer than I had planned. However at last it is finished!

Our beautiful homemade wreath greets you as you come through the door. It was trickier to make than anticipated but I think it looks rather good now. The hanging of the wreath was also a bit of a drama as our door is made of some kind of compressed wood meaning that we couldn't just bang a nail in to hang it. Thankfully I had a resident engineer who found a way around it! 

In lieu of a fireplace our sideboard has become the focal point in the living area and will be decorated numerous times. The lack of foliage around here has driven me to desire lots of orange inside. It gives the impression the leaves are changing colour and autumn is here, even if outside doesn't match up. 

One thing about fall the Americans do well is pumpkins! There are pumpkins everywhere and there is pumpkin flavoured food and beverages everywhere! Its amazing and I'm loving it. The mini munchkins are probably my favourite of the pumpkins, although the white one is pretty too. 

The last section of the house to have something fall added to it is the bookcase, but this takes some explanation. We have created a 'thankful tree'. The original idea came from here. The basic idea is that every day during November you write down one thing that you are thankful for on a little card (in our case the gold spotty ones) and then tie it to the tree. Hopefully through the month you will build up a greater appreciation of God's blessings in your life. As thanksgiving isn't done in England, Andrew was somewhat hesitant but I convinced him to do it, mainly because he had to track down a giant branch which amused him. 

So there we go, fall is here! Now I better go have a pumpkin spiced something or other....
H

LATELY...

Andrew has been in the process of building us a desk for the new American house. It's similar to one he built for the youth room at our church back in England but has some different legs. As a result I have been searching for retro looking storage solutions as the desk won't have any drawers. I fell in love with these drawers but they aren't any good to us as they would give us too much of a wood look. Still the handles, the different size drawers, the way they are stacked, it all amazes me. 

I have been really enjoying using my new sewing machine since I've been here and with Andrew gone I have more time for projects which is great. I recently made a version of this bunting using linen, but I bought some burlap the other day and can't wait to play about with it and tweak the look. 

Colour, shapes and pattern. They are becoming a little bit of an obsession for me at the moment. I find myself wasting time just looking at them on pinterest. But then again I find myself wasting time on pinterest in general. However at least the colour and pattern has a purpose. Its for my card making. Honest!

Lately I have been looking a lot at clutches. They typically irritated me because I hated to have to hold onto something all the time, however I bought a gorgeous ruffled white one for a wedding and I loved it. It's now beginning to look a bit worse for wear so I've been investigating others. I love the pattern on this one. See pattern searching is useful! 

And finally, its been too long since I posted a bear related picture. Just look at the pure happiness on the face of this bear. I still want to have one as a pet along with a polar bear and now perhaps a whale too! Just call me Mrs Doolittle! 

H

A WEEKEND IN OTLEY...

This past weekend whilst Andrew was living the high life in New Orleans I went over to Otley to spend time with the wonderful Mr and Mrs Snuggs; aka my sister, Becks and her faithful sidekick Tim! 

The weekend had a distinct focus on shopping. Surprise surprise. We did some Christmas shopping at the York designer outlet centre, which was insanely busy! I did buy a rather delightful amount of Lindt chocolates for my advent calendar! Yum! We did do a fair amount of talking, watched the Railway children (classic!), did some baking, painted our nails and played a board game. There's a special mention for the board game because I managed to beat Becks. Not once, but twice! That in and of itself deserves a post! It's a rarity, trust me. 

But the main shopping focus was the Country Living Christmas fair in Harrogate. We went on Friday and despite some insane traffic and truly frustrating drivers we managed to get there in good time. There were lots of different craft stalls, food and drink stools and present type stalls. It took us quite a while to go round and look at them all. There was a good selection of local craftsmen/women which was refreshing to see and even some stall holders we remembered from last year. 

We bought a good amount of things and ticked a few presents off our lists! We managed to buy some things for ourselves too which is always rather nice. Our most ambitious purchase was a crochet kit. We had the grand plan of teaching ourselves to crochet during the weekend and becoming accomplished at it within a matter of days. Everyone says its so easy, so why not?! Unfortunately it was a little more complicated than planned. We will master it though!

One of the best things about the fair though was the workshop we managed to attend. Some of the stall holders are asked to run workshops to showcase their craft and if you attend you are provided with the materials to create something. We queued up in time and managed to attend a fabric wreath making session. It was great to be shown how to make something and be given the opportunity to try it out. It was a simple project but one we could do without too much bother. 

So here's a couple of pictures from the event, including Becks busy making. 

I can't wait for the spring fair. Anyone want to join me? 

H