One of the reasons I’ve been so crazy busy lately is that I am the treasurer for our preschool association’s holiday home tour.  This group, for parents of children who will enter one of our town’s two elementary schools, has one major fundraiser each year with all proceeds going to the Kindergarten and First grade classes for instructional materials, books, technology, math manipulatives & teacher workshops.  Last year, each school received $39,000 as a direct result of this fundraiser.

The tour is a week from today from 9:30 – 1:00.  We have five great houses on the tour this year, including the home of one of  the owners of a favorite design shop, BluePrint.  Another home has been in a family for generations.  We are so excited about all of our homes this year and are so grateful to our generous homeowners for opening their homes for this cause.

Tickets are available presale and are $20.  The day of the tour they are $25.  You can purchase them one of several ways.  First, contact me as I’ve got a ton.  They are being sold at area Tom Thumbs or you can puchase online and pick up at Will Call the morning of the tour.

If you go, let me know.

Happy Weekend!

This has been a heck of a week….and I’ve been seriously grumpy due to lack of sleep.  Yesterday afternoon I stuffed the to-do list and my computer in my office and started hanging wreaths  on our windows with Maddie.  We laughed (more than one fell out the window and we had to run downstairs to get them….she thought this was HILARIOUS).  It was just the pause I needed to re-group and re-focus.

These images cannot hurt the mood either, they make me smile.

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Tobi Fairley

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 Andrea Kang, via

Any of these put a smile on your face?

We flew in and out of Atlanta last week to get up to the NC Mountains.  I didn’t pass up the opportunity to pick up a copy of Atlanta Homes Magazine. 

 Designed by Robert Brown. Photographed by Erica George Dines for Atlanta Homes

I pinned the image for two reasons.  First, I love the clean color palate that serves as a backdrop for the bold art over the fireplace.  Second, I wanted to show my husband the rug…..because the same one is being delivered for our ”formal” living room this week. 

If you saw the room now you’d laugh.  It is empty save a beat up old coffee table (that has trains on it at the moment thanks to my little Thomas the Tank lover), two chests with lamps and a piece of art.  But, the rug, cocktail table and two couches are all on their way.  Thank goodness!

What are you pinning these days?

We got home yesterday afternoon from a glorious week in Lake Toxaway, NC.  This is where I spent nearly every summer growing up, Chris and I were married, and more recently we had my Mom’s memorial service.  It was bittersweet to be up there….and brought back many memories but in all, I am so glad we decided to move the Thanksgiving tradition back to the mountains.

Our days were filled with a lot of nothing….like boating, attempting to fish and enjoying rocking on the back patio with a fire.  We meant to do our family Christmas photo while we were up there but never got around to it.  Oh well…..

View from out on Lake Toxaway, NC

Maddie and Harry boating with their Auntie

 Fishing with Pop-Pop

Happy Mamma!

Daddy’s Girl

Ready for Nap!

We had no internet access up there, other than our phones and a lone iPad that was on a data plan and it was really nice to disconnect, read, play cards, sleep and generally just enjoy each other.  I feel completely rested which is good since the rat race starts back up tomorrow AM, right?  Hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving as well.

I also forgot to post my new weeknight recipes before I left town last weekend so I thought I’d just make this a huge post and do so today.  First was a Beef and Broccoli Bowl recipe I pulled from the Cooking Light Website.  It was so easy to pull together and my husband declared it better than the local Chinese joint.  I can assure you it was a lot healthier.  I served with  brown rice as you can see below.

 Cooking Light Beef and Broccoli Bowl Recipe, photo via moi.

The week before we left I also made a Greek Salsa Chicken with Roasted Potatoes.  I initially pinned this recipe from my friend Tiffany’s blog and it has been a repeater ever since.  The only thing I do differently than the recipe is to use a bit less olive oil in the salad/salsa.  And, at Tiffany’s recommendation I use Alexia potatoes….super easy and so yummy.

Recipe and Photo of Greek Salsa Chicken from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen

We did a hearty Autumn Salad as a main dish one night and this one was ok, but probably not a repeater in our house.  Nothing wrong with it…just nothing wow about it either.

Photo and Recipe from Espresso and Cream, via Good Life of Design

Finally, I made this hearty Chicken and Wild Rice Soup last week in the mountains.  I love to make it when we have Honey Baked Ham leftovers to use.  It was perfect to come home to after cocktails at friends.  We got the kids down to bed and enjoyed this outside in front of the fire.  I’ve been making this soup for years and my main change is I use whatever milk we have (skim or 2%) instead of the half-and-half.  If you think it is too thick…ramp-up the broth or the sherry (just don’t overdo it!).  I usually use a Rotisserie chicken to cut down on prep time.  This time my husband added in some cut up scallions as we were dishing this and it was a nice addition.  Fresh cracked pepper is a must….

Image and Recipe from Culinary in the Desert Blog

So, there you have it….that’s what I’ve been up to.  Today, we are going to start pulling out Christmas decorations (we had our outside lights put up before we left for vacation but we have wreaths to hang, etc.)  Oh yes, and lots of raking to to do!

Have a great day and hope to see you back here tomorrow.

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I am completely disconnecting for the week to enjoy the time with my family and friends.  I wish my American friends a Happy Thanksgiving. 

I will be back next week rested and rejuvenated!

Earlier this week I had a helper to keep me focused over at the Dallas World Trade Center.  Here she is posing by the cocktail table I’ve ordered for the living room.  It is narrow and quite long….will be perfect between my two matching sofas.  (One is being re-upholstered at the moment and then my super upholsterer is building a new one to match.)

Of course, she did get a little sidetracked in the accessory section…..couldn’t blame her….they have some cute stuff.  I was thinking of Harry’s bookshelves as she was showing me things.

Truth be told, I think she was most awestruck by the glass elevators and spotting the toy and holiday shops on the floors below.  And the fact that her badge said “Maddie” since my business is named after her.  She felt very special!  Of course, seeing her so happy made me happy…..she is growing up so fast!