my future kid's room

Look how cute this baby / kid room is! Love the natural manzanita branch with origami mobile hanging from it. I love the funny monster paintings on the door too. I am so going to do this one day for my little munchkin! {from Lynn Bloomer via Emmas Designblogg}

Preparing ...

So. Thanksgiving. Otherwise known as my absolute favorite holiday. Christmas without the consumerism, and with more gluttony!

{thanksgiving table 2009}

So far I have:
Procured the necessary groceries (except for Pippin apples, which are crucial to my favorite pie, and which I haven't been able to find - anyone in LA seen them somewhere?)
Chosen the wines (D picked the festive beers)
Purchased a gigantic office door that will serve as a table*

On Wednesday I will: 
Make pies
Roast sweet potatoes, assemble dish for reheating
Blanch green beans, refrigerate
Cube and dry bread for stuffing (20ish minutes in a 300 degree oven)
Make cranberry relish and sauce
Make dough for dinner rolls
Roast pecans, nibble
Post about my leaf project, if I actually finish it

On Thursday I will: 
Wake up early, drink tea
Make the drive home
Pick sage from the garden, chop and saute it with mushrooms, garlic, onions
Mix the stuffing together
Toss the turkey in the oven
Reheat sweet potatoes
Saute the green beans with shallots and garlic
Bake the rolls
Set the table
Drink champagne, revel

Last year I lead up to Thanksgiving with a little holiday sanity series, which I made sure to re-read this year. It's easy to swept up in the rush without stopping to slow down and actually allow yourself to feel grateful, to savor the little bits, to love your family even when close proximity to them makes you a little crazy.

Holidays, managed (part 1)
Holidays, managed (part 2)
Holidays, managed (part 3)

and for the pictures ... Thanksgiving last year

* You can squeeze in with 18" of space per person around the table if you all like each other - if not, you'll want 24-30" instead. We have 12 adults and one skinny kid - our current table was not going to cut it. A solid core office door came up on Craigslist and it measures 36" x 105". We'll rest it on sawhorses and cover it with the heirloom tablecloth and no one will be the wiser. We couldn't face carrying the door up to our apartment (it's going to my parent's house, so it would have to come back down in a few days) so we just padlocked it to the gate in our parking space. Classy. Fingers crossed that our landlord doesn't complain.

Bengals Blackout

The blackout actually turned out to be a good thing.

Good Tuesday morning. Rob here.

It was ugly Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium, but it didn't start that way.

As I was getting ready for the game, I asked myself, "Will I be too warm in a long sleeved t-shirt?"

That's a great question to ask in late November. I caught the Monks bus down, and like a lot of Bengals fans I was hopeful. They were facing off against the Buffalo Bills. A team with fewer wins than the Bengals. The stadium was actually fuller than I expected. In the first half, they were playing well. We were cheering ALOT. Carson was playing well. Benson was running well. We kept saying, "They're playing well, but its the Bills." Nevertheless, happy that the Bengals entered the locker room with a 31 to 17 lead. Then it happened. A huge collapse. One of the biggest I have ever seen. Everything was falling apart. The offense could and didn't score and the defense couldn't stop Fitzpatrick and the offense. Before Sunday, the Bengals have never been outscored 30 to 0 in a half. Final score 49 to 31. Take a look at the picture I took in the beginning of the 4th quarter. A virtually empty Paul Brown Stadium. I hear some of the fans walked out wearing their Bengals jersey inside out. Who can blame them. Talked with Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com yesterday morning on the Fox19 Morning News. He said the players don't want to be embarrassed this Thursday against the Jets. I say, after losing their 7th straight, it's maybe too late for that.

Music Monday : Lissie

Today while cruising some music bookmarks, I was reminded of Lissie and then came across this video of her playing acoustically -- and it gave me some major goosebumps, she has an amazing voice! Check Lissie out and tell me what you think. Happy Music Monday!

Download songs from her album here.

Design Story

I am really excited to hear about Design Story. Have you heard of it yet? It launched in August and is a new online place to find modern design and decorating finds for 'members only' prices. They have two sales a week of hip current season designer brands. Their lineup really is incredible! This week they have Rifle Cards and Millworks pillows for 25% off. Sign up here if you are interested and you will instantly receive a $10 credit.

who is taylor swift's stylist?! damn they're good.

Ok so, seriously, this girl can't miss. Or her stylist can't miss. I mean, she is an angel, there is NO doubt about that. But her makeup is always flawless. And her hair. I had a conversation about this with Joelle Bloomer on the weekend, but then last night on the America Music Awards, it was a whole different perfect look! My favourite look is the red lips - she does this right! She makes it look really classy, not vampy at all. I think I'd like to take some pointers from Taylor.

Red lip Taylor:

Neutral Taylor:

{this was her at the AMA's last night...I hardly recognized her in straight hair and bangs!}

The weekend, briefly

I felt like I barely sat down this weekend, and I certainly have fewer pictures than usual. I didn't even make it to the grocery store for my pre-Thanksgiving shopping, but I did manage to grab a couple giant bags of fresh cranberries while I was out on another errand. That kind of counts.

A simple breakfast.*

{sunday breakfast}

A bit of pre holiday sprucing up.

{tape}

Playing around with more holiday ideas, metallic paint pens.

{outlining}

* We get tons of dark leafy greens in our CSA box (spinach, kale, chard) and I'll frequently give them a quick blanch and then saute them with some shallots and garlic. We eat them with dinner but the leftovers get popped in the fridge. For breakfast, I saute some sliced potatoes, toss the greens in the pan to warm up and then scramble some eggs right in. Perfection.