Oh, Christmas Tree

As I mentioned yesterday, we spent Saturday hunting and chopping down our Christmas tree.  We purchased a special permit to go up a mountain to find the perfect tree.  We LOVED the experience!  It's so fun to hike around in the snow with so many different types of trees to choose from.  Once we finally found "the one", we chopped it down and pulled it back to the car.  I can't wait until Rilo has a say in the perfect tree!

Here it is!  This was our pick.

Okay, so Adam may have cheated a little and used his gas powered pruner.

Don't worry, the sparse spot is hidden in the corner.

And Nicole, Dane and Dash found their perfect tree too!

And a few cute ones of their family.

Thanks to Nicole for taking some pictures of us on my camera!

Are you a real or artificial tree kind of person?  We always had a real tree growing up and I don't know if I can switch to a fake one.  I know it's easier, but I love the whole process of getting a real tree!

Yarn Wrapped Christmas Wreath

How was your Thanksgiving?  We ended up eating 2 Thanksgiving dinners...and we've been enjoying the leftovers ever since!  Saturday morning we chopped down our Christmas tree and finished up our decorating yesterday.  I also finished up some projects I've been working on, including this wreath.

A few weeks ago, Nicole and I started working on these yarn wrapped wreaths.  They are so simple to make, but they do take some time.  Plus, I had to go to 3 different stores until I found one with peacock feathers!  We have a gorgeous peacock tree skirt, so we're going with that color theme this year.  We started with that idea last year, but this year we're going all out.  Next year I think we'll go with a different color theme.

Anyway, here it is.  (I'm actually going to hang it in the living room.)

Thanksgiving Eve

I am almost drooling over the thought of all the yummy dishes to be consumed tomorrow!  Especially this Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake (recipe found here) I just made.  It has a layer of cheesecake, a layer of pumpkin pie and then is topped with a mixture of chocolate chunks, pecans, brown sugar and maple syrup.  Sounds divine to me!

Also, if anyone needs a custom Christmas card design in the next few weeks, send me an email at: briannajmwebb@gmail.com.   I'm charging $15 for the design and then you are free to print wherever you like!  Here's one I just finished up:

I'm signing off for the week so I can enjoy the holiday with my family and friends.  I'm feeling so thankful right now.  I'm so lucky to have the most motivated, caring and loving husband...the sweetest and most adorable little girl...and a fun group family and friends.  I've been reflecting on all that I have and I couldn't feel more blessed right now.  I wanted to say thank you to all my readers for keeping up with me on my little space on the internet.  Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Postponed Post

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I wanted to get a nice picture of my new Christmas wreath and yummy Thanksgiving pumpkin pie cheesecake in good light, so I'll be posting a little later today.  Hope you're not snowed in, wherever you are! 

Thanksgiving Tablescape

This year will be the first year Adam and I will be doing Thanksgiving dinner here at our house (with just us, and maybe a few friends who can't go home).  I'll be sad to not be with most of our family, but with all the traveling we've done in the past month and half, we just wanted to stick around here for a bit.

I've never really had a Thanksgiving with a thought out tablescape, but I think it's a fun idea.  Perhaps I'll throw something together for Thursday.  Here is a tablescape from Hostess with the Mostess:

Bijou Finds

What a weekend!  Bijou Market was Friday and Saturday and I spent most of both days helping Melanie with her booth.  Melanie's booth was a smashing success!  It was so fun to see the vendors plus see everyone who came to check it out.  I picked up more than a few items while I was there too!  Here's what I got:

Baby moccasins from Freshly Picked, naturally.

A shirt from Autumn Dame

A print from Sugar Fresh

And probably my favorite purchase...a wooden toy camera for Rilo from Twig.   I love wooden toys. Plus the best part about it is that the strap is the same exact fabric as my camera strap.  When I saw the houndstooth strap, I knew it had to be mine!

And of course, some of Melanie's perfect cards!

What a great weekend.  Can't wait to finish up some Christmas projects that I'll be sharing!

Picket Fence

When we returned from Chicago, our yard (that someone was supposedly taking care of) was completely overgrown with weeds and was dead as dead can be.  Our new neighbor thought our house was abandoned, until she peeked in our windows and saw my curtains and wreath.  Then she just thought we must've died inside.  Embarrassing!  So we quickly sodded our lawn, which helped it's curb appeal tremendously.  Now, we've added a cute picket fence out front.  It's perfect in so many ways.  Now Sawyer (our dog) can run around freely in the front yard.  Plus it's great for us to play with Rilo with a little more privacy.  Last night we put up our porch swing too...I'll have to get an updated picture soon.

Here is a before picture I pulled from a real estate website.  I didn't take one of the yard when it was a mess.  I don't know that I could stand to look at the picture.

And now it looks like this:

Don't Forget: Bijou

Don't forget to stop by the Bijou Market Friday and Saturday!  Grab one of these uber cute tote bags while you're there and stuff your bags with all of your goodies.  I've already been sporting mine around town, but you can pick up one at the market for only $2!  See you there!

{photo via Nicole}

Christmas Gift Giving

With Christmas just around the corner, I've been planning and preparing for holiday gifts.  Now that we have Rilo, we decided to institute the "Want, Need, Wear, Read" gift giving idea.  I'm not going to strictly adhere to only 4 presents, but I like the idea of keeping it simple.  Any other gifts will most likely be small or handmade.  And we'll still keep our Christmas Eve pajamas tradition as well.  I really like these gift tags from Dandee Designs.  I'm thinking of doing something similar this year.

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Ollie, Ava and Baby Opal

Just before our trip to St. George, we stopped to see our new baby niece, Opal.  Jamie, my rockstar sister-in-law, had just given birth to Opal in a birthing center without any medication.  Just hearing her birth story got me all excited for whenever my next birth may be!

I also had a chance to play outside with Ollie and Ava in their magical backyard. Ava showed me the fairy meadow, the crystal forest and her stage (an old stump).

Inspired Co's Christmas Issue

I'm a firm believer in waiting until the day after Thanksgiving to start decorating and listening to Christmas music.  BUT, I have no qualms gathering lots of ideas and starting on some projects!  My sister-in-law Jamie sent me a link to Inspire Co.'s Christmas Issue.  It's an online flip-through magazine of the best Christmas ideas.  It's well over 100 pages of awesome holiday-ness!  You can check out the issue here (make sure to click on the image to view the full version).

I am in LOVE with these silhouette gift tags.

I now have about 5 more projects added to my growing list!  I can't believe the holiday season is just around the corner!

Bijou Market

I've been looking forward to the Bijou Market for the last couple of weeks.  I can't wait to grab some Christmas gifts!  They have the best of the best of local vendors with handmade gifts.  There's nothing like supporting locals!  Be sure to check out the blog to see a sample of the awesome products.  If you're in the area, you better be there this weekend!!

I'm pretty sure I'll be picking up a print or two from Sugar Fresh.   Love these!