Vegas, Baby!

Last week, I went to Las Vegas with my best friend and her sister for a girls' weekend!  We had a lovely time, and saw a lot of amazing things and spent a fair amount of money! Here are a few scattered thoughts:

• We went to see Ka, the Cirque de Soleil show at the MGM Grand.  Oh, my friends, if you have the opportunity to see this one, you absolutely must.  I actually had a visseral reaction to all the amazing acrobatic work and the jaw-dropping technical aspects of the show.  The experience is simply astonishing.
• The combination of St. Patrick's Day, March Madness and Spring Break create quite an insane atmosphere on the strip.  Whee!
• I bought a red hat and red shoes.
• I don't think we paid full price for anything that we bought because there are so many coupon books and special deals available.  Along that same theme, three words: Premium. Outlet. Mall.
• I saw at least four Elvises. (Elvi?)
• We ate at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant.  It was yummy. We also ate tapas. The tapas was also yummy.  
• I did not purchase a yardstick plastic drinking vessel that requires a lanyard to be carried. Aren't you proud?
• We put a tasteful quantity of money into slot machines while we were there and had fun losing all of it.  At one point, we were up $20...  but not at the end point.
• There were a lot of young women on the strip wearing mini-dresses that didn't fit them properly and ridiculous shoes.  I wore capri pants and comfy shoes and was happy.

Adventures in Interior Design cont.

WH and I continue to wrestle with what to put up on a number of our walls. 

This morning, we had the following conversation:

WH: Here's a crazy idea.  What if we made our own artwork? 
Me: [pause]
WH: No, wait, it would be great!  We could take a class on making a canvas and then we could just paint them!
Me: But what if we don't like them?
WH: Then we won't put them up!
Me: But what if I don't like yours and you really like it?
WH: Then we'll put it up.  Because I worked hard on it.

Me: Aw, honey... Thanks for writing my blog post for me this morning. 

I am addicted to...

... HGTV.

A couple of recent stays at home during the day have meant finding that HGTV is a really inspiring and lovely way to spend TV-watching time.  And as a result of countless episodes of home buying and home decor shows watched in the last couple of months, WH and I are a little bit more motivated to complete some of the home decorating projects that have been trickling along since we moved in.

We went to an antique superstore in Prairie City and found a really nice antique buffet.  It needs a little bit of refinishing work but otherwise, it's exactly what we've described wanting for a long time.  It's dark wood, with cabinet space big enough to hold our liquor cabinet, small drawers for wine stoppers, corkscrews, coasters, the guest book, etc., and a big drawer for linens.  It fits in really nicely with the space and we love it!

Today, we tired to do some more antique shopping for decor items but the local store wasn't open so instead we went to Home Sense, where we found three large wooden candle holders to put next to our fireplace downstairs.  Then off to Michael's to buy nice big candles for them!

We are now also on a pretty active search for artwork for the walls in our living room. We were looking at a design website this morning that had a neat shelving idea that we think we can do on one of the big and currently-bare walls in our upstairs family room, but we really want to do a couple of similar modern-ish paintings in the living room. We're also looking for either a long and narrow painting or for a series of repeating decor pieces to go over the fireplace.  We don't have a mantle but we're trying to think a little bit outside the box for the fireplace space.  A mantle is a possibility though too!

We have interest in three-dimensional decor pieces for smaller wall spaces, things like plates or masks.


It's fun! We're having a good time!

Quiet Morning

I'm enjoying a quiet morning at One-Oh-Six today.  WH is at church while I stay home recovering from a minor surgical procedure that I had on Friday.  I'm feeling better today than I did yesterday, but still a bit sore, especially when I twist or stretch more than I should. 

Thanks to my best friend, who stocked me up with an excellent selection of trashy magazines, I have caught up on all of my celebrity gossip and I have satisfying chocolates close at hand.  I'm not pushing myself too hard, but I think that some laundry is in order.  Today is a day for shuffling around the house at a leisurely pace, I think!

I had my second shower this morning since the surgery and I still can't get all of the iodine stains off my skin.  They sure don't skimp on that stuff, which is probably good. 

The cats aren't sure what they did to be so lucky to have humans home for long periods of time over the last couple of days. They are celebrating by sleeping deeply. That seems to be their default response to any situation, now that I think about it.  Happy? Have a deep sleep.  Sad? Have a deep sleep.  Hungry?  Meow a lot and then have a deep sleep.  Sleepy?  Well, that's definitely deep sleep time.  They are nothing if not predictable.

Anyway, let the shuffling begin!

Digital Nativity

No free write today - just this really sweet video. Enjoy!

Production

I like being productive. This morning, I got up not-too-early but not-too-late, made it to the local decor store before it was a frothing maelstrom of Christmas shoppers, got all the shopping done for our friends, got to the grocery store before IT was chaos, got home before lunch, wrapped presents, did laundry, etc.

And I have more to do this weekend that I will happily do! And I can go to bed tonight knowing that it was both a restful day and a useful one.

I'm just waiting for WH to get home from a caroling gig at a shopping mall in a town close to ours. We have been having the most incredibly busy December, so I think that we are looking forward to an evening ...

... pause for cat to get comfortable in my lap...

... at home together. I took some pork tenderloin out of the freezer earlier, so there will even be dinner. Hallelujah.

And now I hear the dryer buzzing its completion, so back to it!

Back at it!

So, in the spirit of trying to get back into a disciplined blogging, I'm taking a page from Crimson Rambler and working towards a regular (maybe daily, but that's optimistic), short free write exercise.

It is the Advent season, or Almostchristmas, as it might be more aptly-named from a secular point of view. I love this time of year for a number of reasons, including the amazing Advent music that we get to sing at church, the process of turning our home into something festive and wonderful, the planning process for FOOD, etc. I don't even mind the shopping, though I was thinking in the mall yesterday that shopping might be more enjoyable if people could arrange their facial expressions to something other than MEAN and ANGRY.

We will be having our second-annual Edible Christmas at One-Oh-Six this year with the family and dear friends. We came up with this last year; as a replacement for running around buying presents for each other, we would run around and buy food and then eat it all together at the same table. We cook together, we clean up together... it's a grand old time. And we play Apples to Apples, the greatest game ever.

Did get Christmas shopping finished (or close to it) for the husband-unit yesterday and am pleased and excited about that!

Looking very much forward to our annual trip to the mountains after Christmas to sit still, play cribbage, eat and drink nice things and rest. In the meantime, there are concerts and carolling gigs and preparations and all of that kind of thing left to do!