JANUARY DECORATING AND ORGANIZING

I was hoping to get a post out sooner...one of my New Year goals: Post More Often!  But, my router died on me and we finally got a new one installed today.  During my down time I got a few things done...mainly I did my mantel and generally put rooms back in order for the winter.  You can see why my mantel is such a challenge for me.  First, it's a monster, just a little off balance with the room.  Small objects get lost on it and large objects don't go with the style of my room.  Oh well, I think I got it.

I left this little wreath up that I have had for years, to give a wintry feeling, as with the mercury glass.  I thought the tea set seemed appropriate as well as the candles.  It looks very pretty at night.  I have a picture of Emily and Abigail here, too...

I don't really have a lot of family pictures framed and around my house but this is one of the girls when Emily was about three and Abby, one.  I think it's precious and I believe this was before they sort of turned into oil and vinegar (if you know what I mean)!  So...with the mantel finished I proceeded on to...

...the coffee table, which is also used as a desk and a place to eat by the kids.  I would have loved to have placed some of my home decorating books under that bowl but I'm afraid something would spill on them.  I didn't childproof this much when they were toddlers!  Little did I know that with guys, everything must be done in front of a television, preferably with sports or CNN on.

Ever resourceful, my lavender came from Greece via eBay and is still holding up well.  I get all sorts of dried herbs and flowers that way and they're really handy for making pretty crafts or just displaying.

With Abby on her last week of Christmas break and her boyfriend back up in Michigan at school, her inner Domestic Diva came out to play and we hung out quite a bit.  One day we went to Marshall's and then a new/used bookstore.  At the bookstore she had me on the floor laughing...she told me that she needed to start a library since she is going to be teaching high school English.  She said, "I need to start collecting some of the classics, you know, like How To Kill A Mockingbird"!!!!!  Oh, she had better buckle down this last year of school! ;-D  We also went grocery shopping together and she got the bright idea of having a Family Fajita Night.  So we bought what we needed and she texted everyone and we had a little party Thursday evening.  This was her baby and I refused to leave my chair (I did offer to do the clean up).  It was crazy from the start.  Everyone was complaining they were hungry while Emily was still working on the salsa.  Abby was trying to cook the veggies, chicken and beef in separate pans instead of one while also trying to get the side dishes out.  Finally Emily stepped in to help and once I hid the knives I felt it might just work out.  Maybe not so oil and vinegar as I thought.  We did forget the sangria though.

Wedding Alert:  We are 191 days away from the big event.  The invitations have been ordered and they are gorgeous...maybe Em will let me show you one.  She made one last trip to the florist and the sweet lady gave her these flowers to bring home.  I love this vase, it looks like a shopping bag. :)  Thursday night I am meeting with Mike's mom (Mother Of The Groom) and we are planning the wedding shower.  I've never done this before and Maureen already has two married sons so she is going to lead the way.  So far I am in charge of table decor and favors.  For the tables I was leaning towards a small floral centerpiece, tea light candles and maybe some strands of silver colored pearls strewn around.  And I think I can get a lot of ideas for favors on Etsy.  Have any of you been to a wedding shower recently?  Have you seen any good ideas for favors that you might pass on?  She is having what she calls an "Organic Wedding", I thought incorporating packages of flower seeds into the favors would be kind of cool.  And...(ominous music playing) I have to start looking for a dress!  Enough said!

We are all organizing, I know, I think I am ahead of the game and then I read about a blogger that is organizing a pantry and suddenly I think of my messy cabinets.  Well, I took care of those and was really proud that I cleaned out the coat closet and parted with some things I really loved but didn't need.  I cleaned out my cookbook shelves a few years ago and I can honestly say I had over 100 books.  I was super into collecting them.  So I probably have it narrowed down to 75, but  with using websites, blogs and magazines, it seems I am just using up a lot of valuable real estate with these books.  So, I am going to let Emily and Mary Clare choose some for themselves and narrow it down a bit more.  And then I had a stack of loose recipes pulled from magazines and newspapers and jotted down from blogs, so I found this nifty recipe binder by Susan Branch, who I know we all love and want to be, and I started cutting and gluing today.  It's a nice rainy day project.  Although it's not raining...or snowing...or anything except freezing!  Today we finally hit 30 after being in the 20's all weekend!  Brrrrrr!  I sure hope it's warmer where you are and that your week has started off good  See you soon! :)