Carissa’s Christmas List–Part 2

First of all, I have to give an update on the Christmas music.  Thanks for everyone’s input on this post!  I ended up getting all three.  Here are my thoughts: She & Him is good, but a little mellow for the kids.  Glee is more up-beat and fun for them.  And Michael Buble is fantastic.  You just can’t go wrong with Michael Buble.

On to the Christmas List:

I decided to put together my ideal outfit for a day at the hockey rink, since I’ll be spending some time there this winter. 

Cute jeans – 1

Shirts to layer – 2, 3

Legwarmers and warm boots – 4, 5

Warm puffer coat – 6

Hat, gloves, scarf – 7, 8, 9

Big bag to hold snacks and entertainment for Beckett – 10

Carissa’s Christmas List – Part 1

I decided to browse through Etsy for some Christmas gift ideas.  Does anyone else get completely mesmerized by that site?  All of a sudden I was on this tangent of picking out all kinds of office-y stuff for myself.  (My office really does need a re-vamp in the new year.) 

Luckily, a lot of these things would make great gifts, so I’m calling part 1 of my list “OFFICE STUFF” and going with it.  I shopped in a variety of price categories, and grouped it accordingly.  (I’m making shopping too easy for Jeff this year.)  Anyways, on to the list:

notepads 1, 2, day planner 3, to do list 4, motivational prints 5, 6, 7

perpetual calendar 1, pencil set 2, vintage desk lamp 3, business card holder 4, rotary phone 5, 12-month calendar 6

office chair

BTW… did anyone score some awesome cyber Monday deals???  I was to lazy busy to bother with it.  Oh well.

What’s Your Holiday Soundtrack?

You can’t decorate for Christmas without the perfect music, right?  Last year my family was all about this:

I need to introduce something new this year. 
I’m guessing this would be a popular choice:

But I definitely need to check out this:

And most likely this:

*** side note – is anyone else obsessed with the show New Girl?  I love it.  It’s hilarious.  Zooey Deschanel is awesome.  ***
What tunes will you be playing over and over and over and over through the holidays this year?

Christmas Decor Inspiration

I’m getting ready to Christmas-ify my house.  I wanted to start a couple weeks ago, but I held myself back.  And now December is right around the corner!  Eeek!    
I really want a white tree:

And some crafty paper ornaments:

And something branchy:

We’ll see how it all turns out!

Thanks!

Thank-you to two of my Canadian blog buddies for awarding me with the ‘Versatile Blogger’ Award!

First, thank you to Shannon of 8 foot 6:

I swear I would trade houses with this girl.  I love her style.  Check out her house tour on Houzz.  Shannon takes great photos, has a fabulous vintage pyrex collection, and just had a baby boy!  Go visit her at 8 Foot 6!
Second, thank you to Lisa of Lisa Goulet Design:

Lisa is an interior decorator in Ottawa (did I ever mention that I lived there briefly?)  I just found out that Lisa has 4 kids, and three of them are TRIPLETTS!!!  Cool!  Go check out the Lisa Goulet Design blog… my favourite series is Iconic Mondays… you’ll love it too!
OK.  I’m supposed to share 7 things about myself.  I’ll try to pick things that you might not know already:
1.  I have a major bird phobia.  Anything that has feathers and flutters scares the crap out of me.  This picture is WAY beyond freaky.  Eeeek.
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2.  Not once, but TWICE, I’ve gotten a Kit Kat Chunky with no wafers in the middle!  Yep, solid chocolate!  Best. Day. Ever.  x2.
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3.  My favourite colour is red.
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4.  I just bought a mini-trampoline, and I’ve been re-bounding every day… it’s crazy fun.  I bet I look this good while exercising on it (bahahaha): 
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5.  I’m the worst speller ever. 
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6.  I’m super addicted to Pinterest.  (Follow me!)  The most exciting moment of last week was when Emily Henderson started following my Trends board!  Seriously.  So cool.  I idolize Emily Henderson. 

7.  I’m officially a Hockey Mom!!!  (Do I sound a bit excited about it?  I am.)  Here’s my little superstar:

How to Style a Kid-Friendly Bar Cart

That title sounds so wrong.  Like the kids are going to be helping themselves to drinks from the bar cart or something.  But really… the bar cart does pose a bit of a kid-related challenge.  The main reason I wanted it was because I love the look of a well-styled bar cart.  But most of them involve pretty bottles of liquor.  And I don’t want booze out on display within the reach of little hands. 
So I needed to find a way to make the bar cart look fabulous without actually displaying any booze.  I started by gathering some key items:
1.  Fancy waters
2.  Variety of glass ware
5.  Martini shaker
6.  Bowl of lemons
7.  Fresh flowers
Here’s how it turned out:

20/20 Cure Progress

Happy Monday everyone!  I thought I’d start off the week with a 20/20 Cure update, which made me realize that I’ve been ‘Cure-ing’ rather half-assedly this time around.
This is the start of the final week.  By now I should have ‘surface cleaned’ 3 rooms.  This is the worst part of the cure (obvs).  It is supposed to take 20 minutes, and it takes me WAY longer than that to clean all of the surfaces in any given room of my home.  So I hate surface clean day.  However, I have managed to do major clean-up efforts in the two worst rooms of my house:  the storage room (we can now walk in there) and the mud room (again, we can now walk in there.) 

By far the BEST part of the Cure is the flower buying days.  It’s the one Cure task that I definitely don’t skip.  Jackie and my sister totally called me out on this one.  Jackie commented to Care that my house was probably super clean because of the Cure, and Care replied that she wasn’t sure about that, but that she knew I would have fresh flowers.  Busted.
I have to admit, some of the assigned tasks are just not going to happen around here… um, media-fast day?  Just no. 
Anyways… here’s to the start of the final week!  I’m off to find a (small) room to surface clean!

Bar-Cart Motivation

So, I bought a bar-cart.  I had been eyeing it on kijiji for a few weeks, and had tried to force it on everyone who would listen to me, but since there were no takers, I ended up buying it for myself. 

I think it was a good thing.  I find that it is really motivating me to:

• Host a party.  If you have a fabulous bar cart, then obviously you MUST entertain.  So I’m planning a dinner party (because the idea of a dinner party makes me totally nervous, so I think it will be good for me to host one.)  I think I’ll go all out with a Mad Men theme… mainly because it suits the bar cart.  (And because I bought this awesome Mad Men dress from Banana Republic and I want to wear it more than once during the holiday season.)

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• Buy some booze.  We don’t drink very much or very often because I get loaded on 2 drinks, so we tend to have the worst liquor supply EVER.  You might find a couple beer in our fridge, and maybe some wine every weekend.  Anyways, I think we’ll be much better entertainers for the holiday season if we have a well-stocked bar.
• Learn how to style up the bar-cart super fabulously.  I’ve been collecting a bunch of ideas on pinterest.  Can’t wait to put it together!

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Carolee’s Dresser Make-Over

My sister often has great luck at the summer yard sales at the lake.  Remember this find???  Well, she found another great piece this year… a super cute little dresser that needed some fixing up.  Isn’t it amazing the difference that paint and hardware makes?  I love the color she chose. 

It is the perfect fit for her littlest boy’s room… I think someone’s pretty proud of his new dresser!

Looking Out My Window…

So we got our first BIG snow of the season.  Beckett was pumped.  Jack chose to stay inside to watch NFL.  I loved it yesterday (from my cozy spot in the living room looking out my window while sipping coffee in front of the fireplace.)  Today when I had to bundle up kids to get them to school… not so much!  It added a good 20 minutes onto my already chaotic morning routine!

Go Read These

I CAN’T wait for Christmas season this year.  I’m dying to decorate, get the Christmas music out, set up the tree, buy/make gifts.  A few of my blog friends have expressed the same sentiment… anyone else?  Too soon?  Or just in time?

I was SO excited about these holiday reads.  They are making my head spin with all of the fabulous ideas!  (Plus I’ve been stuck at home with two sick kids since last Wednesday.  We survived the pink-eye (ick), but now it has morphed into the worst cough EVER.)  But these are helping me get through the day:
The Holiday Guide by Emily Henderson and a bunch of other talented bloggers:

Open publication - Free publishing

The House of Fifty Holiday Issue

Open publication - Free publishing - More decor

And in print in my hands… Style at Home

Am I missing any good ones?  I’d love to hear about any must-have holiday decor/stlye/entertaining mags that I don’t have yet!

A Quick (but fabulous) Fix

You know what?  You really can’t go wrong with a little leopard print.  It’s such a great neutral. 
I had some fabric left over from the pillows that I sewed for the living room, so I used it to re-cover the piano bench.  It’s SO much better!
               before                                     after


This project seriously took me about 20 minutes.  Why didn’t I think of this sooner???