VINTAGE BLUE

Vintage blue bottles from Waxahachie, Texas Christmas Home Tour during last weekend of the tours. The homes were fabulous!

Photo taken by The Man. (click to enlarge photo)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Wishing you a safe and awesome
New Year!

Patti

...OR YOU'LL GET UNDERWEAR FOR CHRISTMAS!

The title made you look, right? I got it from the adorable chalkboard shown below in one of the beautifully decorated homes on the Waxahachie, Texas Christmas homes tour. As mentioned in a previous post, the tours go on for 3 weekends. I enjoyed one weekend's tours but the next weekend I was sick and couldn't go, so Big D was sweet enough to take photos for me to see. I wanted to share them with you! Double-click the photos to enlarge. Enjoy!

Sweet chalkboard! Black & white tree!

I love this silver wreath on the red door!

Collection of wall crosses...

Winter wonderland pillow in black and white bedroom. Cheetah-fabric covered settee at foot of bed!

Rustic birdhouse grouping.

SANTA!

Wishing everyone a very blessed and Merry Christmas! A big thank you to my sweet husband, to both our families, our friends and relatives for being such a blessing in our lives! We are truly blessed and grateful! And a special thanks to all my blog friends out there for your friendships and for sharing your lives with me this year via your amazing blogs! Patti

A FUSCHIA & LIME CHRISTMAS!

I just love creating....so I had to make something for Christmas! Here's the makings of a wreath for our kitchen! I love fuschia, lime, and silver! Got some lime green wired ribbon for the bow! Will post the finish wreath once it's completed!

Have a great week! Patti

PEACOCK ROOM ON CHRISTMAS HOME TOUR

As promised in my last post, here are some photos from the Waxahachie, Texas Christmas home tours last weekend! The home I'm featuring today had an amazing peacock-themed dining room!

When you first enter this home, you step into a formal den, which has the beautiful stained glass window, which actually came out of a church in Dallas, Texas. Next, you step into the peacock dining room, with its blue walls and beautiful chandelier. The tree in the corner was decorated with peacocks and there was a stunning peacock centerpiece on the table. Here's the sideboard, which held a beautiful glass beverage dispenser etched with "PARIS". The mirror had a gorgeous garland swag over it.
Close-up of the swag over the mirror.....
The peacock centerpiece.... The beautiful peacock Christmas tree.... The gorgeous blue china at each place setting on the table.... More Waxahachie home tour pictures to come!

If you missed how we decorated the office this year for Christmas, please click here.






Since I'm not finished decorating my own home yet, I'm linking this home tour post to the following Christmas decorating blog parties: (be sure to check them out!)




Southern Hospitality: Home for the Holidays
Nesting Place: Christmas Tour of Homes - 12/14/09
Thrifty Decor Chick: O Christmas Tree -12/14/09

Funky Junk Interiors: Christmas Trees Unite
The Inspired Room: Holiday Linky Fridays
Hooked on Houses: Hooked on Holiday Houses Tour


Hope everyone's having a great weekend! Patti

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

This whimsical little fella was seen in a library on the annual Waxahachie, Texas Christmas Tour of Homes last weekend! For a decorating addict like myself, these home tours are sooooo much fun! My Mom and me go every year and get a ton of Christmas decorating ideas and tour some AMAZING homes! (The tours take place 3 weekends, starting the Saturday after Thanksgiving with a different set of homes on the tour each weekend.)

Well, I'm blogging on my lunch break, so I've got to head back to the office......Hope you're all having a great week! Catch me later for more photos from the tour........

GIVING THANKS, FOOD & FOOTBALL!

Mr. Turkey hiding in my geraniums! (metal yard stake from Pack-n-Mail, Ennis, TX)

Looking forward to watching the Dallas Cowboys play today (on TV----wish I were going to the game!). Go Cowboys! Are you a football fan? Will you be watching the game???

Wishing you a fun, safe & Happy Thanksgiving! Patti

A few favorite quotes:

"We can learn so much by observing the way our pets rejoice in life's simplest moments. For a dog, every morning is Christmas morning. Every walk is the best walk, every meal is the best meal. Take time every day to celebrate the many gifts that are hidden in the ordinary events of your life." - Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. Psalm 136:1

Speaking of football games-------"Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence." - Erma Bombeck

SEEING RED!....AND WHITE....AND SILVER.....

Glitter Star!

Red, white and silver: the colors of our office's tree this year....

Sunlight streaming through the office window...

Cranberry/orange scented candle!

Decorating the dental office, where I work, for Christmas today!

PLAID & POLKA DOT PUMPKINS!

LOVE these metal pumpkin stakes I found at Briar Patch II in Waxahachie, TX!

Thanksgiving's almost here! Hope you have a wonderful holiday! Patti

ALMOST THANKSGIVING!

Some photos of Mom & Dad's beautiful Fall decorations.

I really hate to say goodbye to the Fall decorations at the end of the week. But getting out the Christmas decorations makes up for it! I LOVE going through all the boxes, pulling out ornaments I've forgotten about, enjoying the memories associated with them, and deciding which decorations to use this year! I've been going through a few of them little by little recently and will share photos soon! I don't have the Christmas tree out yet---that may have to wait until after Thanksgiving. I can't wait till the radio stations start playing Christmas music! (Do you ever listen to your Christmas CD's during the year like I sometimes do?) KLTY, my favorite station here in Texas in the D/FW metroplex played Christmas music all weekend a couple of weekends ago (a Christmas music preview) and it was wonderful! It definitely got me in the Christmas spirit!

Have a great evening! Patti

FOXY!

If dogs could talk, I'm just sure that's what Foxy was asking!

Meeet Foxy, the C-U-T-E Pomeranian who stopped by our family's early Thanksgiving celebration yesterday (see post below)! She's my parents' neighbors' pet. They give her treats and lots of attention when she stops by! So, of course she stops by often when she's out! (I wonder if she makes the rounds of all the neighbors?)

Hope everyone had a great weekend and that you have a

safe and Happy

Thanksgiving this week!

Sweet Dreams! Patti

EARLY THANKSGIVING & FAMILY FOOD TRADITIONS

~~~During this season of Thanksgiving, I'm so thankful to the Lord for all the blessings this year----health, family, friends, a wonderful job when sadly so many are out of work....the list goes on....

~~~We had an early Thanksgiving today at Mom & Dad's while my sister was in town. Dad fixed a turkey on his new rotiserrie out on the grill (it was so tender and you could taste that awesome smoked flavor!) and Mom fixed her famous dressing (YUM!). We had all our traditional sides, such as brother Dwayne's Green Bean Casserole with a Kick (every year it gets hotter...per our request! We LOVE it! The special ingredient is Tabasco!), as well as a new butternut squash recipe that Mom tried out from The Dallas Morning News . (It was a winner!) With cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper, it was different and delicious.....and also packed some heat! (In case you couldn't tell by now, my family loves SPICY!) Dad also did something different this year (besides the rotiserrie turkey)---he fixed ribs! Yum! Of course, they were tender & juicy!!! And you know our desert table was overflowing with goodies (Gena, don't forget---I want that "Pumpkin Pie" Cake recipe...please!!! It was outstanding! It was a cake that tasted just like pumpkin pie! Like a delicious pumpkin pie!) It was a very special Thanksgiving and made more so by having my sister there, as she doesn't get to fly in every year (we missed H, though!); while here she made her ultimate homemade Apple Pie (totally from scratch!)---deliciousness in every bite! Besides immediate family, we also had some other very special guests (and the goodies they brought were also so yummy!). -----And lest we forget: Foxy, my parents' neighbor's Pomeranian stopped by.....Can you say C-U-T-E?

~~~I think maybe a lot of people are having an early Thanksgiving. When I was at the grocery store yesterday picking up a few last minute ingredients for my casseroles, I had to also get a bag of sugar and there were only 3 bags left of the medium size! There was a huge empty space on the shelf! Also, the grocery stores were extra crowded all week and especially yesterday!

~~~Whether you celebrate early, on Thursday, or the weekend after, hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving! Patti

BLACK AND WHITE QUILT !

(double-click to enlarge photo)

Had to share with you this black and white quilt displayed in the Creative Arts Building at this year's Texas State Fair! It's done by Sandra S. Davis. Isn't it awesome! I love the embroidered baskets! The quilts are hanging way up at the tops of the walls, so this photo was snapped from floor level and at an angle. It's so much fun walking around the room looking at all these! I'm sure they hang them way up there, so people don't touch or damage them. (The card in my digital camera started going bad, so my brother snapped this for me with his iphone. Thanks, Keith!)

SPICY!!!!

Everyone's been telling my Mom and me that they can't believe we had never been to Spice in downtown Waco, Texas.

Well, this past Mother's Day weekend, we went. (Yes, that was back in May---I'm just now getting my photos posted from that trip!)

We had a great "girls day out". My pictures don't do Spice justice! It was an amazing store! They have the bottom floor in the Shops of River Square Center and the top floor is full of lots of awesome shops of different entrepreneurs/vendors.

We had a great time and highly recommend a shopping trip there!

LOVE this iron bed and all the beds there!

Love, love, love this settee!!

They had gorgeous art for your walls!

Loved the artwork below by Chariklia Zarris.

OK, I LOVED everything at SPICE!

Please stop by my cousin, Nola's, blog Alamo-North to wish her a Happy Birthday, as it's her birthday today, September 27!!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

WAXAHACHIE WINDOW SHOPPING!

(please double-click photos to enlarge)

On this official first day of Fall: Happy Fall, ya'll! We had wonderful cool Fall weather here in North Texas---I'm thinking it was probably in the 70's! It was awesome! (I heard on the news that Boulder, Colorado had snow today!)

I love antique shopping in Waxahachie, Texas. I was there a couple of weekends ago running some errands. I didn't get to the shops downtown before they closed but that didn't mean I couldn't do a little window shopping! That might have been a good thing because I can spend hours inside The Gingerbread Anique Mall on S. College Street! And the ladies working there are so sweet and helpful. Above is their window, which was decorated for Fall.


Common Threads Quilting had a beautiful Autumn Leaves Quilt (kit available at their website) shown above in their window. As you can probably tell, it was already starting to get dark outside when I took this photo, but fortunately, they had lights in their window. I was so glad because I really wanted to share this window with you. If you double-click the photo, you'll be able to see these beautiful quilts!

It seems rare to find an actual quilt shop nowadays! I don't quilt, but my grandmothers did and I absolutely love quilts. This store is so fun to visit just to admire all the quilts on display, filling every wall of the shop! And the yards and yards of fabrics---gorgeous!
Above is another window at Common Threads Quilting, this one complete with adorable bunnies (can you see the 2 large bunnies in the left front of the window?....Why bunnies for Fall? I'm not quite "getting" that!....Well, you know how long it takes to make a quilt; maybe they're already starting on Spring quilts!



Hope everyone had a great first day of Fall!!!

FURNITURE FOR FAINTING

Marie at Emma calls me Mama is having an heirloom party today, which I found out about when I read Brenda's post today at Cozy Little House. My contribution is our Eastlake fainting couch, which Big D and I bought during our first years of marriage, so even though it hasn't been passed down, it's been in our family for several years. It made the move from our first home to the home we're in now.

We bought it from an ad in the Dallas Morning News from a home in Dallas. We didn't find out till we got there that it came from the historic Excelsior Hotel in Jefferson, Texas. Jefferson is near and dear to our hearts. Not only was it love at first sight between us and our fainting couch, but when we heard it was from the Excelsior, we had to have it!

We used to go to Jefferson every chance we got. We stayed at the Excelsior and also at different Bed and Breakfasts there. We absolutely loved learning about the history of the town, touring the historic homes, browsing through all the antique shops and the year-round Christmas shop, meeting all the friendly people, and enjoying the beautiful sites!

We finally decided to explore other Texas towns when we had a free weekend, so we haven't been to Jefferson in a very long time and should really go back and see what's new.