Week 19: Spring Decorating

 Unlike most people who use spring as a chance to clean, I opted to add to the clutter by making totally unnecessary butterfly garlands! This was more a product of my inability to sit still and just watch TV than anything else. Also, I have a tough time throwing magazines away, and this project was perfect for justifying my collection of back issues of O, Real Simple, Shape, Elle Decor, Better Homes and Gardens, Traveler, and The Atlantic. Note to self: consider cutting back on magazine subscriptions.

Anyway, as Tom and I vegged out one evening last month, I whipped up a bunch of these guys. I got the idea and instructions here (how I came across a German blog in the first place is beyond me). In case you aren't fluent in German...

Find a colorful page and rip it out.

Cut out a 10cm x 7cm rectangle and an 8cm x 8cm square (those wacky Europeans with their crazy metric system!).

 Diagonally fold both pieces accordion-style.

Stick the rectangle on top of the square and connect them. I used floral wire.

Do that 10-12 more times, and - boom - butterfly garland!

Week 18: Settling In

Now that we're coming up on almost a year in L.A., I decided it was probably time to hang some things on our sad, empty walls. Obviously, I have hung things on walls before (beginning, probably, with a tapestry and my parents old records in my inexplicable 8th grade hippie stage), but I have never hung things up in Los Angeles before... I know, it's a stretch, but take it or leave it, it's the new thing for week 18. It is slightly more legit, however, because I used a new strategy for creating the gallery wall effect.

Thanks again to the magic of Pinterest, I came across this idea a while back and decided I should give it a go in hopes of avoiding the ridiculous excess of nail holes that usually results when I try to hang pictures unsupervised. I generally end up with about three times as many holes as are strictly necessary. Pinterest seemed to have the perfect solution though, so I got out my parchment paper and started tracing the frames I wanted to hang. Apparently, however, I did not pay close enough attention to the directions because I traced my frames and then cut them out instead of laying them all out on one big piece of paper. This was dumb. It makes way more sense to do it like the nice lady in the example.

Anyway, I taped my paper templates to the wall and pounded nails in the (mostly) appropriate spots. There were a few adjustments necessary because of spacing issues (which would have been avoided if I had followed the dang directions), but I'd say I only ended up with 10% more holes than required.

Week 14: Easter Fun

Tom had to stay in L.A. for the Easter weekend, so for last week's new thing, I used watercolors and washi tape to make him an Easter card that I hid (along with a Reese's peanut butter egg) for him to find on Easter morning.

While poor Tom soldiered on alone in L.A. for the holiday weekend, I attended an absolutely divine brunch hosted and prepared by Jaime. Giada better watch her back, between the home renovations and the fierce cooking, Jaime is prime for her own HGTV/Food Network show.

{Yumbo!}

 

 

We got a defective egg coloring kit (for shame, Paas!), so we improvised with food coloring. I think our eggs looked pretty awesome when all was said and done.

On Sunday morning, we went to Mass, posed for pictures in our Easter finest, hunted for eggs, tore into our Easter baskets, and stuffed our faces with hard boiled eggs, cinnamon bread, and jelly beans. Despite the fact that my youngest sister is 22, our Easter traditions haven't changed since we were all under ten, and that is exactly how I like it. I only wish that my brother, his wife, and Tom could have been there.

The aforementioned Easter photos were priceless this year because my dad inadvertently photobombed the picture of me and my sisters. When my sister checked her phone to see how the picture had turned out, she broke into hysterical laughter and started to pass the phone around until we all collapsed in uncontrollable giggles. It was the best.

 Here's a close-up for you. There are no words for how much I love this picture.

Happy Easter and a joyous spring to all!

Wrapping Up

I've been quiet the last few weeks, and not just here. I've been enjoying the holidays, for sure, but I've also been putting 2011 to bed. I've never been much for New Year's resolutions and all of that because it seems so arbitrary and so... I don't know...forced. This year, however, I'm glad for the fresh start, arbitrary as it may be.

Tomorrow morning, Tom and I are heading to Joshua Tree to bid adieu (or good riddance) to 2011 and to raise a glass to the promise of 2012, Mayan doomsday prophesies be damned. I am really looking forward to welcoming the new year in the great outdoors, under a sky with actual visible stars. A fresh start in the fresh air is bound to be propitious.

Before moving on to 2012, however, we have to wrap up 2011. December provided its usual bounty of celebrations and family togetherness. The past two weeks included a lot of both, and so the year ends on a high note. The pictures are plentiful, so bear with me as I run through a quick review.

Birthdays were celebrated.

{The Grove to see J. Edgar on Tom's birthday. The movie was a disappointment, fyi.}

{Pistol Annies at House of Blues on my birthday.}

And celebrated again.

Halls were decked.

Cookies were baked.

Naps were taken.

Pink showed up at the Hotel Cafe and sang Silent Night. Not strictly relevant to my enjoyment of the season, but probably one of the cooler celebrity sightings I've had since moving to L.A.

Christmas lights were viewed. [Candy Cane Lane in Woodland Hills, a place that is fun to visit, but I imagine, nightmarish to live.]

{I thought these kids had the right idea, so I went sunroof style too.}

{Tom was quite accommodating.}

 

{This home was the pièce de résistance of the neighborhood. What you cannot grasp from this photo is that there were speakers hidden amidst the lights that played It's a Small World at full volume over and over and over.}

 

Baby Jesus was decapitated in a tragic accident.

And Baby Jesus was...recapitated through the Christmas miracle of Super Glue.

Gifts were shopped for, wrapped, and placed beneath the tree.

{The Grove}

Family was gathered together.

{Mike gazing...adoringly (?) at his bride.}

{Midge and I enjoying some quality couch time.}

{Mo gazing...adoringly (?) at her fiancé. While wearing Christmas vests, naturally.}

{The whole clan after Christmas Eve Mass}

Meals were cooked.

{Thanks, Mom!}

And meals were enjoyed.

{Cioppino? Yumbo!}

Christmas movies were watched.

{The Family Man, back when Nic Cage appeared in enjoyable films.}

{It's a Wonderful Life, obviously}

{A Christmas Carol, George C. Scott, obviously.}

{Love Actually, viewed but not documented. Also, Tom and I saw Emma Thompson at a restaurant by our house.}

Games were played.

You're just going to have to take my word for that since my teammates (Meghan, Erin, word.) and I were too busy kicking ass at Trivial Pursuit to document the occasion.

Lucy was awesome and loved on, as per usual.

Saturday Night Live videos were watched. Specifically:

And finally, Christmas day arrived and PJs were worn, presents were unwrapped, mimosas were drank drunk consumed, and the beach was visited.

{Mo regifted a White Elephant win of the Shake Weight to my dad.}

{He was into it.}

{White Christmases are wonderful, but so are Christmases at the beach.}

{All creatures great and small - Lucy makes friends with a teeny tiny Pug and gigundo Great Dane.}

There is actually much post-Christmas fun to review, but it will have to wait until after the new year because I have an outdoor adventure to prepare for...

I will close with the best of Christmas wishes as spoken by Ebenezer Scrooge, courtesy of Mr. Charles Dickens, "'I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all three shall strive within me...I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to every-body! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!'