APPLE PIE, A TABLESCAPE & A GETAWAY!

I'm back a little early, I hope with the colder weather I can stay put and post a little more often.  We were predicted to have this HUGE dip in temperatures and snow and ice and, well, it's a little cold...40 degrees, and I think they may have gotten snow in Wisconsin.  In any event, I took advantage of the warm afternoon yesterday and did some work in the backyard.  The dogs are really going to miss that.  They jump up and head down the hall as soon as they see me put my shoes on or grab the watering can.  Layla should be a hunting dog; her nose is always to the ground sniffing unfamiliar scents out.  Milo is like a little pony galloping around the yard, I swear that boy can smile!  So, all the pots are empty, I put the rest of the patio set away, even the umbrella.  I usually ask one of the boys to do that but I was in one of my Wonder Woman sort of moods and wanted it done NOW!  I may sound like a weirdo but I almost wished there were leaves to rake!  No, not yet.

Emily and Abby went apple picking at a really neat orchard in Indiana.  They loved it because it has a petting zoo.  Emily and Mike stocked up on pumpkins to carve and Abby brought home a big bag of mixed apples.  So when life gives you apples...

...yes, this is how I spent my Saturday night!  I used an old fashioned, simple recipe, I was in no mood to experiment with caramel this week.  Abby and Tom came home from the bars (via cab) about 3:00 a.m.  I woke up to see Tom peering over the pie.  "This is from the apples we picked today?" he asked, his eyes wide.  He was a little in awe!  And Emily told me that Mike had never carved a pumpkin in his whole life.  "With three boys in the family, do you think his mother would let them have knives?"  So they spent one evening carving pumpkins and she texted me pictures.  Mike was like a little kid (and I remember him as a little boy).  He used the template that the carving knife came with and when he was done, he put a candle in it and ran down to his mother's house to show her (she lives two doors down from them, remember?). So cute! Ahh, to be young again!

So, we still have apples left over and I will have to do something with them soon.  Tarts?

It's been a long time since I played around with dishes so I made a little tablescape.  Very simple, just set for me, The Husband and Abby.  Of course there are apples...

...and I think you've seen this basket filled with pinecones and berries a few times.  I popped some tea light candles in some tarnished silver dessert cups.

The bottom of this squash is almost prettier than the top, I should have turned it on it's side.

The brown toned drinking glasses came from Pier 1 a long time ago.  The sunflowers are actually salt and pepper shakers.  It's sort of hard to tell, but there is some blingy silver embroidery on the placemats, just to brighten things up on a gloomy day.

And now for your dose of weekly randomness.  I am sort of in between projects while I wait for 1 little thing to arrive for the bedroom redo via UPS.  Over the weekend I worked on a little gallery wall above my vanity.  I wasn't really liking the black and white prints, so I kept switching the frames out.  I'm almost finished there.  So give me about another week and I will show you the new improved master bedroom.  I am really loving the new paint color, it's very serene and calming.  

I was at HomeGoods with Emily a little while back and found this Laura Ashley shower curtain for $16.00.  I nearly fell over!  It's a little hard to tell but it's a blue and gray swirly pattern.  I think the most inexpensive shower curtain I've seen is $27.00 at Target.  So I popped this baby up and it gives a whole new charm to the bath.  I also picked up this little rug for $12.99.  Emily and I were just about crying over the Christmas items they had put out already.  Do you want to know what's popular so far?  Well, moose for one.  Real looking and animated.  Decorated Christmas gift boxes, as in faux, empty, just for looks.  And lots of cute, plump stuffed fabric elves and snowmen.  I can understand Emily looking at all of this stuff with longing, this being her first Christmas married and in her own home.  But I've been purging for the last 5 years and don't really need anything else.  But oh, the new things!  Restraint, Jane, restraint.

Friday morning The Husband and I are heading up to Cedarburg, Wisconsin.  You might remember we went there right after Thanksgiving last year and we really loved this sweet little town. It's just 15 minutes past Milwaukee. We wanted to get away and we had been postponing meeting up with my bloggy friend, Cindy, from Applestone Cottage, so we made plans to meet there.  This will be the fifth time Cindy and I have gotten together with our husbands.  The first year was in beautiful Galena, IL.  The next year Lake Geneva, WI.  The third year they actually came all the way to our lakehouse in Michigan (they live in western Wisconsin), and last year we met in Galena again, this time in the summer as opposed to the winter like the first year.

Here we are in December of 2009.  I had bangs!  We keep in touch throughout the year with email and Facebook. It's so great to have such a good friend that I never would have met if it weren't for blogging.  Our husbands really get along well, too.  Last year when a waitress dropped a beer bottle on Cindy's head, The Husband and Dan calmly continued to eat and talk.   We're staying at the same B&B right smack in the center of town.  It was hard to get reservations, fall is really a peak time there with the changing of the leaves.  I am thinking lots of hot spiced cider and maybe a few new pumpkins for the porch!  I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.  

Hope you're all off to a great week.  By the way, with the encouragement of my friend, Brenda, I made my pictures in my posts larger, did you notice?  Let me know if you like that. See ya soon!

Joining Brenda at Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday

Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

Jennifer Rizzo for Fabulously Creative Friday

Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish

XO,

Jane