Tablescape Tuesday - Week 2 - 2016

One of my favorite things to do here in our house, is our tables. I always say the tables and our dinner parties are my creative outlet. Some people knit, scrapbook or make wreaths, I like to set our tables, come up with the perfect guest list and the perfect menu for a dinner party. That is my creative outlet.  Last week we had planned on having six for dinner, but two had to cancel at the last minute, so we moved dinner from the dining room to the eat in kitchen for a more intimate dinner setting. The holidays just seem to fly by, so right after the holidays was the perfect opportunity to get together and catch up with our neighbors.  I had remembered from last year, that right after Christmas, our Super Target had their standing rib roast on super sale. And it was again this year. Then on top of their sale price, the Target Cartwheel app had another 20% off! Great time to pick up a great roast for a nice dinner!
Here are some of my tables from this holiday season. 

Christmas Decor 2013 - A Little Late

We finally got all of our holiday decor down this past weekend. The house feels so empty and lonely, I am probably the only one that feels that way, but I just love the twinkle of the Christmas lights and the tree. I know I didn't get to post our holiday decor during the holidays, but I like to have it documented so that I can look back on past years and remember what we did. We did change things up a little this year, and we also got rid of a ton of stuff. 

In the dining room we kept things kind of simple with mercury glass candle holders and one of my new favorite things that I found at Home Goods this year was were these silver ice skates, so fun!

I added some decor to the two shelves in the dining room as well. Now I have to figure what to put on them going forward, I know we have a couple of water globes. 

Our photo wall got lots of use throughout the season. Between neighbors, family and friends, we had a lot of fun posing with the lights, it was very festive and I will definitely be doing this again. 

This is Stella's tree. At least that is what we call it. I found some red and white pom pom garland this year and had a cute red and white tree skirt. The vase I bought on clearance at the end of the season at Target last year. I love the cable sweater look and just added some gold ornamental seasonal flowers. 

The tree before my sister and her family got to our house with their presents.

This was one of my favorite things I did this year. I found the basket at Home Goods and added the birch bark logs, the white LED lights and the greenery with berries. It looks so pretty all lit up in the sitting room. I think I will keep it through the winter, but just change the bow. 

I love my Snowbabies, and my collection seems to grow a little each year. I just love the way they look in the built ins with the white trees. My parents gave me three or four more for Christmas this year. We have quite a few ornaments on the tree as well. 

On the other side, we have some vintage items as well as some other favorite Christmas decorations. I have lights throughout so that they can be back lit. 

Love our tree!

Merry Christmas

Unfortunately the crud has just gotten worse and I will be home in bed. Bummed to miss out on family fun. Here is wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

On the Menu Monday (MPM) - Week 49

This is so late this week, I really just don't know where time goes lately. We had a great weekend. My niece spent Thanksgiving night with us and then we spent Friday shopping, going to lunch, the movies, dinner and just hanging out. So much fun and she is so sweet!

We also had to work on taking Thanksgiving and Fall decor down and getting Christmas out. We had friends for dinner on Saturday, so I knew we had to make a lot of progress with decorating. I made an Italian pot roast for dinner with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. I am NOT a huge pot roast fan but others seemed to enjoy it.  Sunday was more cleaning, decorating, getting the tree up, errands and a trip out to the boys parents for dinner and catching up. We made a lot of progress on the decorating, which needed to be done with our holiday party this week. 

We don't have a ton on the agenda this week. We really just need to get things ready for our annual holiday party! This is how this week is shaping up!

Monday Plans - We had snow on the way home, worked late and ran errands Breakfast and Lunch - fruit, cottage cheese, nuts Dinner - out, Jake's after errands Tuesday Plans - Worked late, home Breakfast and Lunch - fruit, cottage cheese, nuts Dinner - Leftovers, we have a fridge full Wednesday Plans - Worked late, again, busy week. Breakfast and Lunch - fruit, cottage cheese, nuts Dinner - BAD weather on the way home, LONG commute home so we stopped for dinner on the way. Thursday Plans - Hoping that we don't have to work late, we have tickets to the Fine Spirits Classic at Mill City Nights for Repeal Day. Breakfast and Lunch - fruit, cottage cheese, nuts Dinner - out at the Fine Spirits Classic Friday  Plans - Taking half of the day off to run errands and get things ready for Saturday Breakfast and Lunch - fruit, yogurt, nuts Dinner - Turkey chili (leftovers) Saturday Plans - Annual Holiday Party! Looking forward to tonight! The weather is supposed to get REALLY cold starting Thursday, I hope it doesn't keep our friends from coming! Breakfast and Lunch - on the go Dinner - We have a bunch of apps that will be served. My Holiday Pinsperation board has a lot of what we will be making.  Sunday Plans - Recovery. My mom, sister, niece and I are going to see Oliver and go to dinner. For more meal plans and links to recipes, check out the orgjunkie.

Thanksgiving Wear

One of the things that I usually leave out of details when planning a dinner party, holiday or one of our annual holiday get togethers is planning our ensembles. This year I am trying to get ahead of it and had this planned out in advance. Really looking forward to a nice meal with family and friends tomorrow!

The boy - shirt old navy, last year, sweater Inc., Macy's last year. jeans 7 for Mankind. Me - I found this really comfy sweater at Hot Mama this fall and knew that it would be great for Thanksgiving, so I have been waiting to wear it, the skirt is J Crew, old, not even sure from when, long sleeve tee Gap and the boots are Macy's and the necklace is Target. Now to get to work on the menu!

Thanksgiving Table Inspriration

We are hosting Thanksgiving again this year. Our house just seems to work for it. It will be even better once we have the downstairs finished, but the guys will all gather around (and R) and catch the games. We were at West Elm a couple of weeks ago and I saw these plates and fell in love with them. I thought they would look so cute on our table this year. They didn't have all of them in the store, so I went home and ordered them, they arrived two days later, perfectly packaged. 

One Kings Lane is another great source of inspiration as well as supplies for the table. I have these napkins in blue as well and I just love them. I enjoy layering napkins with the right napkin ring. Pier 1 is a great source for fun and funky napkin rings. 

These napkins are also West Elm, I picked these up the same time as the plates, but I am not sure if I will use them for Thanksgiving yet. I need to wait to see what I can do with the gold tissue napkins from OKL and look at napkins I have already. 

I saw this silverware on OKL this week, but at $62 a place setting, they just weren't in the budget. 

But how about these from OKL for $44 for four place settings? I think they look like they will be really close and add that kind of classic element. 

I saw these glasses over the weekend and thought they would work really well just as rock glasses but how about on the Thanksgiving table as water glasses?

These are an item I missed on OKL, sometimes that happens. But I will have to keep my eye out for something like this. I know they will come in handy for dinner parties. 

Another missed item, I can see these on our Christmas table. I am on the hunt for these though. 

I had to have these for one of our Christmas tables. With all of the really fun Christmas stuff I have, I can't wait to create some really fun tables. 

Have you seen the latest Target ad campaign? I love it. It just speaks to me and reminds me of get togethers that we have. Only it is usually the boy putting the cheese platter together. I find myself singing the song all day too! LOVE their Threshold stuff.