Sheet Music Christmas Trees

Holy Craft has a quick and easy way for bringing a little bit of old world charm to your holiday decorating with the use of sheet music. Personally, I've been wanting to add some miniature Christmas trees to my existing holiday decorations, but they're so darn expensive. I like this idea because it's much cheaper and you can use songs that mean something to you for a more personal touch. If songs aren't your thing, I bet you could use holiday wrapping paper as a substitute instead. Cute idea!

Holiday Apple Centerpieces

We're hosting a few holiday gatherings in the coming weeks and I'm looking for cute, cost-effective ideas for decorating our dining room table. Apple centerpieces seem to be popping up all over Pinterest this year and given the popularity of them in Washington state, I think they'd make for a great solution. Now which one to go with... I like them all!

Via Finding Home Online

Via Hanna's Charming Christmas

Unknown source

Via Tangled Up in Knots

Mixology Monday: Cranberry Cocktail

Happy Monday, readers! I'm back after a week of celebrations that included my 31st birthday,  Thanksgiving (I'm still stuffed!) and a few impromptu gatherings with neighbors and friends.  Needless to say, I'm filled with a lot of holiday cheer going into a Monday. That's gotta be a good thing, right?

So let's get back to it, shall we?  If you love cranberry, you'll love this cocktail from Meyers Styles. You can adjust the quantities as needed, but here's a good place to start:

• 2 oz. vodka
• 1 oz. peach schnapps
• 3 oz. Cranberry juice
• A dash of fresh lime juice
• Fresh mint or cranberries for garnish 

Tooting My Horn - LOLwork

Do you like to laugh? Do you also like pictures and videos of cute animals? What about silly jokes and dry humor? If you answered yes to these things, then you might want to tune into my company's reality TV show, LOLwork. It airs every Wednesday night on Bravo and I promise you, you will be entertained! Watch a sneak peek of next week's episode here. (Keep your eyes open for yours truly! Hint: see orange arrow below.)

Screenshot of LOLwork Season 1, Episode 3 - BravoTV.com

Useful Emergency Preparedness Tips

My husband and I were fortunate enough to not have to deal with something like a Hurricane Sandy this fall, though it did get us thinking about what we would do in case of an emergency like that. I've been digging around online for emergency preparedness tips and came across this DIY Emergency Preparedness Guide from Buzzfeed.com. Although I tend to disagree with most of the content they publish, this particular guide is actually pretty useful. 

Here are a few of their tips: 

Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

If you have a farmhouse/country style when it comes to decorating, you'll love this project. Our Lovely Bungalow has a great idea for making mason jar soap dispensers using thrift store finds, a can of spray paint, a hammer and a little glue. It doesn't take much to complete the transformation and this project is completely customizable. With the holidays just around the corner, I might even use red spray paint instead of white and wrap some plaid ribbon around the top of the jar to spruce it up. So many things you can do!

Friday Funny

Have a laugh courtesy of Simon's Cat. Happy Friday everyone!

T-Shirt Necklace

I love this idea from A Pretty Penny for turning an old t-shirt into a beautiful necklace or scarf, depending on how you craft it. If you had multiple t-shirts available, you could mix and match the colors as well for a more variegated look. Another bonus: this also a no-sew project so it's doubly awesome for crafters like me who wouldn't be able to work a sewing machine to save their life!

Recipes With Ruche

Exciting news, readers!  If any of you are familiar with a website called Ruche, you'll probably dig this news as much as I do. (Side note: if you're not familiar with Ruche, it's like Anthropologie, but you don't have to sell a kidney to come away with something nice.)

Anyhoo... they recently put together a dessert cookbook for the holidays and they selected my blog for inclusion! Specifically, they referenced a recipe that I shared with you last year for a delicious, gluten-free almond orange cake.  If you love sweets, take a peek below. There are tons of fabulous recipes to flip through!

    

Friday Funny

An example of an awkward situation I think we can all relate to...

Here's hoping whatever situations you encounter this weekend, you can laugh them off and enjoy yourself. Happy Friday everyone!

A Cause for Celebration

I hope you had an awesome Halloween, readers! As I mentioned in yesterday's post, Mike and I opted to stay in this year in favor of greeting trick-or-treaters. Sadly, we only had a few. More to the point, this was the first year that we didn't dress up in a costume and go out and celebrate so in some small way, I was a little bit disappointed at the end of the night. But why?

When I thought about it, I realized that I'm still a little bit of a kid when it comes to this holiday. All holidays for that matter. I love the idea of going out with a bang in whatever I do to celebrate them. As corny as it sounds, I think life is simply too short not to seize every opportunity for celebration.

So you know what I say? While the world might demand that I think and behave as my age dictates, I'm never going to let go of that little child-like piece of me that still looks for the sense of wonder and fun in every day and dangit, I'm going to celebrate it!

Caption courtesy of Little Tree Vintage