feliz navidad a couple days early

welp the christmas tree has been up for... 2 weeks now.  pics are now finally as well.  i got a significantly smaller tree than the beastly one i had last year, and probably will shoot for a happy medium next year.  but damnit, it was cold and freezing rain in the christmas tree lot, and my christmas-tree-hauling-friend-with-a-truck was rather displeased at being present.

i bought some tacky tinsel garland this year, and i think it looks pretty friggin nice if i do say so.

living room refinements

loveseat completed!

after two days of pain-staking [literally] hand sewing, the cushions are recovered!  and i discovered what thimbles are for ...and that i own a total of zero.

a very merry [messy] unchristmas

this is how a single former engineer removes a christmas tree that had to be carried in by two people. 

decor continued

besides a tree, i have some other tasteful holiday decorations around.  home depot sells a surprising amount of holiday sparkles and i got sucked in.  the perils of working in the electrical department, right next to garden/holiday.

christmas decor!

last week with the help of a classmate with a truck, i got a christmas tree!  turns out i have 8.5' ceilings and a 6' tall friend isnt the best height gauge..  the tree fits though, and it is quite rotund.  just as i intended.
frank helped decorate..

xmas 2013?

cos its never too late to start procrastinating projects for next holiday season that you didnt do the last one...   some projects found in my mom's collection of holiday home/cooking/crafty project books from the late 90s

• sparkle centerpieces - silver candlesticks and candelabra adorned with rhinestone necklaces
• belljars with middle eastern flair
• an overabundance of red poppies [too much with the terracotta walls]
• clear glass/plastic ornaments with gold/bronze leaf or actual leaves glued on
• feather tassels - wood finials and feather biots
• 10 types of holiday greenery and plants

xmas decor

its not much.  but as i mentioned before...teeny tiny apartment.

pickled kitty

i feel i should start this post by mentioning two things: my apartment is 515 square feet.  also please note one of the labels of this post is "tmi".

the space issue makes for difficulty storing things i accumulated over 3 years of living in a house.  so when i get out my ginormous pot to process jars of delicious snacks, i have to move a bunch of baking tins and a cupcake tree.  frank finds this process fascinating and i feared my cupcake holder might meet its inevitable doom.

frank sniffed for awhile and then settled down next to it instead of testing his favorite part of physics - gravity.

paper flower garland

i decided to try making some paper peonies based on a pin from rebecca caridad's blog manzanita.  and they were a success... except i didnt have any strong enough wire to make stems.  and a trip to the craft store ends in certain overspending. 

multicultural nondenominational christmas culinary extravanaza

longest title ever.

what do you get when you sit down to xmas dinner with 2 atheists, a fallen german catholic, 2 japanese shinto, a muslim, a jew, and a vegetarian buddhist? 

amazing food, friends, and very little talk of religion.  just what the holidays should be!

food:  beef sauerbraten, pork bierfilet, balsamic parm green beans and cauliflower, honey mustard brussel sprouts, roasted veggies, matzo ball soup, rice, wine, beer, and 3 kinds of cake

curbside crap

since moving to long island, i have noticed... people put a lot of good stuff out at the curb for trash day.  usually, it gets damaged since it rains about every 2 days or it gets put out the night before and is picked up immediately and thrown in collection truck.  not only is this really really wasteful [like much of life on the island..] but 90% of the time its only slightly used and could be donated or resold with very little effort.

being a horder-in-training, i collected a few sweet pieces on saturday.  friday was veteran's day, so no trash pick up.  but most people [our house included] forgot and put trash out anyway.  it hasnt rained for a record 4 days, and i only picked up stuff that could easily be cleaned, ie no furniture.

hard-sided faux alligator suitcase

replete with inside pockets, built-in hangers, and a fold-over clothes protector.  and a bus luggage tag!  the suitcase will either stay as is, or will [eventually] be made into a table/chair

Source: countryliving.com via Kate on Pinterest

Source: blog.craftzine.com via Liz on Pinterest

Source: seekatesew.blogspot.com via Liz on Pinterest

a vinyl bowling bag [i removed the bowling ball and icky shoes]

 heavy plastic picture frame, with probably tacky picture already removed.  i will be making this into a jewelry holder or a chalkboard like this:

Source: remodelaholic.com via Liz on Pinterest

Source: thecreativityexchange.blogspot.com via Liz on Pinterest

a peek into the past

seen in the apartment of someone's dearly departed mother.  a lot of kitsch but quite a few amazing pieces. 

party highlights

prior to daylight savings time ending, the sun set shortly after i took this [at 5pm]

idk if its just a ny migrant worker thing, but i think its frikkin awesome home depot has bilingual caution/danger tape.  amazon didnt when i was price comparing. 

frank was not only intrigued by the taping process as it unfolded..

but was also adamant about investigating our dead outlines afterward

fluted frosting-honey beer spice cake.  flat frosting-bourbon pumpkin spice cake.  both topped with bourbon cream cheese frosting and both very similar to carrot cake without the orange crap.  and all atop my $7 cake plate!

poorly sited location for rum mocha brownies and pb rice krispie treats.  the background of spice rack, fruit, and teakettle detracts from the awesomeness of using a cupcake tree for snacks.  but they were highly regarded.  so oh well.

xtrme chandelier golf

not as horribly destructive as it sounds. except for your corneas being slowly seared away. but while bathroom-sconce-shopping..we happened upon chandeliers. when are they appropriate? read on:

in your neo-gothic [as in black clothes-eyeliner wearing goth not the visigoths of ancient europe] mansion built by your hard working parents' dirty capitalistic money that you will soon squander on screechy concerts and leather.

in a high-class brothel

in a light-refraction physics class with plenty of lasers and..appropriate eye protection

in ....never. do not ever buy this lamp. i will hunt you down and unmercifully beat you with it. and thats a promise.

pre-spring cleaning

after cleaning off my random table covered in clothes, i found i have more scarves than room for them. instead of getting rid of some [i bought another..], i put up more hooks. problem solved-decorative and functional.

in keeping with my organizational mood and our current lack of hangers around the house, i also rearranged my closet. this required fixing my previous color coding to account for new clothes, folding tee shirts, sorting tank tops, and hanging up all pants including jeans.

also, i finally put up my letters from urban outfitters. since i was looking during a clearance sale, i could only find certain wood and metal ones. but should anything happen in the future...ljz are my initials and lmz are leah's initials. perfecto. the white icon stickon things are from blik. apparently they dont offer the icon pattern anymore, but it was designed by undoboy. as the boys have noticed, some are perhaps a little less innocent than they originally appeared. regardless, they are a simple example of anthropomorphism. like putting legs on a pair of tighty whities.

giraffe wall

after much debate and waffling, i bought giraffes multiply from blik. comparison shopping showed that blik is slightly overpriced but has original designs that are artistic and classy. i must add that vinyl wall decals are a pain in the ass to put up but the end result is worth it without a doubt. even though it took me an hour before the season premiere of lost and most of the ad segments in between, my ocd paid off. in my opinion.