Thanksgiving Weekend

First of all, I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. Both of our parents came down to celebrate with us. Here is some shots of our table all ready to go. The centerpiece was a gift from our in-laws and was beautiful!

 And here my mom and I are cooking away!

And here is a shot of everyone (without me).

With the help of our parents, we pulled it off without a hitch! For appetizers, J's mom brought crab dip and my mom brought cheese she had gotten in Vermont. For dinner, we had turkey, sweet potatoes, 3 bean casserole, rolls, stuffed celery, German coleslaw, stuffing and gravy! It was all very yummy! For dessert, we had pumpkin pie. We had a great time with both of our parents. It was really nice to have all of our family together.

Before Thanksgiving, my mom helped me to re-upholster the rocking chair I mentioned previously. We cut the fabric about 2 inches around the seat.

Folded it in and stapled it to the frame.

And put it back in the chair.

And moved it to its place in the guest bedroom! Doesn't it look pretty in its new location? By the way, I got the fabric from fabric.com. I couldn't find anything in Joann fabrics, Calico Corners or G Street that I really liked. But the purple in the seat matches perfectly in the room.

After Thanksgiving, we went out to the Shenandoah to take a hike on the Appalachian Trail (to work off some of that food). It was an absolutely gorgeous day for it too. (And much better than Black Friday shopping). In total, we went about 3.4 miles (and stopped for some photos on Skyline Drive).

On Saturday, my dad put in the last piece of the trim around the attic stairs. This project was actually started months ago. Three trim pieces were already installed, but the last piece needed to be cut so that it would fit in its space. Since we do not have a circular saw (or other way of getting the cut we needed), my dad had to take it home and make the cut. I will still need to paint the trim to the same color used for the trim in the rest of the bedroom.

After my parents left and I cleaned the house, I did one more project this weekend. I took down the stained glass on our front door. J and I had never liked it, and we figured out that the pieces were actually installed and caulked in on top of the existing glass. So, all I had to do was cut off the caulk with an exacto knife and the pieces easily came out.

Ahh... so much better! And that wraps up our long Thanksgiving weekend. And now... on to Christmas!

A little Bahamas sunshine

This weekend, J and I went to the Bahamas! This event was in line with a tradition started when I was in grad school at Georgia Tech. Our group of friends decided to have a pizza party right before we all went home from Thanksgiving. This turned into a yearly activity. Of course, I missed years 3 and 4 after I had graduated. So, we got together with the Atlanta group again to have pizza in the Bahamas. Our friend, Peter, scored us these rooms at the Sheraton in Nassau. Isn't the water pretty?

And of course the poolside bar. :)

Good times with good friends! We definitely got some sun and relaxing. Oh yes - and we did get pizza from the only pizza place on the Island - Dominos! :) Happy Pizza Festival!

linens and things

So, as I mentioned previously, I needed to buy a tablecloth for thanksgiving, and so I decided on this one from Williams-Sonoma in Ivory/Pumpkin. Doesn't it look pretty with the leaf placemats? More pictures to come when we actually serve Thanksgiving dinner! 

I also bought some linen fabric from fabric.com. I am planning on making some pillows, but I kind of thought it would look cute framed in the main floor bathroom. It matches the wallpaper (which will eventually go).

That's all for now! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

odds and ends

I meant to post this when this happened but (as usual), things were super busy. So, this is what landed on our front stoop a few weeks ago?

Look at the date on this? "January 1985." I have two theories. One is that someone was recycling old magazines. The other.... is that our house was being built in the winter of 1985. It is possible, I suppose, that this was wedged somewhere in the house and came loose? Not sure, but we decided to keep it. :)

Anyway, I haven't been doing many DIY stuff this week, but I have been updating some cosmetic details around the house. I bought a new rug for the front door.

I also made this wreath this week (I guess that was DIY). I bought the materials at AC Moore and wrapped it together with ribbon. I thought it would be cute for the rest of fall.

I also finally bought a welcome mat!

Here are some shots from around our complex.

And our tree in the backyard. Starting to look pretty!

I also got a lampshade for our small light. Still not sure it is going to stay on the sideboard, but it looks cute for now.

And I got some new purple pillows!!

I forgot to add this picture last week. Joe's parents gave us this rocking chair. I plan on recovering it soon. Details to follow...

I also used stuff I already had on hand in order to make our downstairs guest bedroom/exercise room a little more pretty before Thanksgiving. Here are some before shots.

And after:

I decided to use the wreath we had on our front door as decor. I will likely replace it at some point, but I thought it worked for now. That is all I have for now. Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!