what's new around my home

The lamp, books, glass bowl, and plate rack on my buffet aren't new, but the vignette is. I like playing around with the decor in my house, changing things depending on my mood and the season. With the plate rack, I thought outside the box and tried putting some little pictures in it instead of plates. I like it! The vintage green bowl with the marbles (which belonged to my grandma) used to be on the console table.

Since I moved the green bowl with the marbles from the console table, that meant I got to play around with the console table decor, too. I found this glass candle holder at IKEA. I'm slowly changing some of the living room decor over to lighter items for spring, so this was a perfect choice.

The basement re-do continues. We made another trip to IKEA and picked up this large Chicago print. I think the little bits of orange in the picture really "pop" against the orange wall. Oh, and see the curtain rod above the window? I tried several different curtains, including one held back to the side with a hook. Looked terrible. I'm going to take down the curtain rod and brackets and just leave the window bare. This is the only window in the basement, so it's the only source of natural light.

We also bought three black floating shelves for another wall. The grouping on the shelves - mostly our son's paintings - are temporary. We are going to mat and frame our son's black and white photos and put on the shelves. I went to Michaels craft store today with some of the photos and unfortunately, only one of the photos fit their standard mats. You can see the photo on the bottom shelf, to the right.

Close-up of the photo. Sorry for the glare; the frame is glass.

When we were in Lake Geneva a week and a half ago (see post from Feb. 21st), I saw this bird votive holder and little dish in a store we stopped in. I have this obsession with bird decor...

Lastly...my hubby is into composting and makes daily trips out to the backyard composter, which is kind of a pain - especially in the winter. We'd been looking at kitchen countertop composters, but never settled on a particular one. I was at TJ Maxx the other day and saw this pretty red one on clearance for $12! Sold! I'm assuming it was on clearance because it's red, as the stainless steel ones were over $30. Red is perfect for my kitchen.

I hope you have a lovely day, puttering and fluffing your own nest!

much needed getaway

Hubby and I took an overnight trip this past weekend to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. This is a gorgeous, little resort town that's only a 45 minute drive from our house. We go up there several times a year just for day trips, but this time, we were in need of a weekend escape. The sun was shining brightly, but boy, was it cold. The beautiful lake was still frozen...

Can you tell how windy and cold it was?!

After walking around town for awhile and browsing shops, we found a Caribou Coffee. Nothing like warming up with a dark chocolate mocha and relaxing with a good book. (I'm reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp - she's author of the awesome blog, http://www.aholyexperience.com/.)

We stayed in a private cottage at http://www.sevenoakslakegeneva.com/. This was the second time we've stayed here. The owners are a young couple originally from England. They're so hospitable and charming, not to mention that you could listen to their awesome accents all day.

We spent part of the evening just relaxing in the living room, reading magazines, playing backgammon, and watching TV in front of the fireplace. (Does that mean we're old and boring?!)

The bathroom has a huge whirlpool tub, a heated floor, heated towel rack, shower with an overhead spray as well as two body sprays, and plush robes. The first time we stayed here, I told hubby I wasn't coming out of the bathroom all weekend. ;-)

Breakfast was brought to our door the next morning and included warm croissants and mini muffins and fresh fruit.

So, what did lovely YOU do this past weekend?

I heart you

I've always liked Valentine's Day because it's one of those holidays where there's no pressure. No pressure to give or receive gifts. No stressing over having 20 people over for a holiday dinner. You don't have to put up a Valentine tree. It's just kind of cheerful and light-hearted (no pun intended).

I like to make little Valentine's Day or "love" themes around the house. Here's the long shelf

 in my kitchen...

I found these "love" glasses at the Dollar Tree last year. I think they look cute filled with
 conversation hearts.

Isn't this little cross stitch pillow adorable? An online friend made it for me several years ago.

A side chair in my kitchen...

I even decorated part of my bedroom in a "love" theme.

Cloche in my living room...and yes, those are real love letters in there. They were from me to my boyfriend (who is now my hubby) back around 1982. Oh - and I took the letters out and just left the envelopes. Just in case anyone decided to get nosy. ;-)

Mirror in my living room framed with vintage Valentines. It was hard not to get myself in the picture!

On top of a little table in my living room...

I didn't do too much with the kitchen table. Just a red heart runner (HomeGoods) and heart cloth napkin in the display. I think the touches of yellow add not only a nice contrast, but a touch of cheer on these dark, gloomy winter days.

Little red stool in the landing off the kitchen, going downstairs.

OK, so normally I don't let my cats on the kitchen table, but there was one night where the hubby and I were playing Backgammon at the kitchen table. We moved the runner back so the game board would be level. Monkey jumped up on the table and proceeded to crawl into the runner! He looked so funny, I just had to take a picture before I made him get off the table.

Hope you all have days filled with love, no matter what the season or holiday.

snowmegeddon 2011

I live in the outlying Chicago area and we were socked with a snowstorm  blizzard yesterday and into today. My area got almost two feet of snow! The winds were blowing so hard last night (up to 50 mph), that my house was shaking, the gutters were rattling, and I went to bed with a flashlight beside my bed in case we lost power. (We didn't.)

When I got up this morning, I couldn't even open the front door because the snow was piled againt it. So I went into the garage, opened the garage door - and here's what I saw in the driveway. Anyone see my son's car?!

My son did manage to shovel a path from the sidewalk to our front door...

Think my neighbor will be able to get out his front door?!

Or that my mail will be delivered? Maybe by July, huh?

I feel like I'm never going to see my porch or the grass again...

The good news? My workplace closed down today AND tomorrow. ;-)