The Holiday Party

I prepare for a small gathering. Months went by and with wedding plans, ill members of the family, house projects, the time was never quite right. I finally decided to just do it. For two weeks I've been spanking my house into shape, painting window moulding, touching up areas, washing curtains, you name it. The more I do, the more I find to do. The more things seem like they will never look put together. I suppose it's always a work in progress.

I discovered a great place in Old City - Fosters Urban Homeware, right on 3rd St. Many moons ago I was in there and while some things are quite mod and plastic, some things, like the fabulous Wallbands, have resurrected the whole wallpaper/border idea. I cannot wait to paint the living room and go to town with these wallbands - vertical and horizontal. How fun.

Speaking of furnishing places, I've come to the conclusion that bridal registries are no fun. We all think they are - Yay, pick out all the great stuff I want and everyone buys it for me! No. First off, as cool as that bar code toy looks, it's excitement wears off very quickly when you wonder around Macy's and scan 10 things and realize you must scan about 150 more things and the departments don't have what you want anyway. So then you resort to online shopping which is much easier, but alas, the online stores don't carry absolutely everything either. In fact, I feel like the online stores, while convenient (I have added to my list at 11pm), have the tiniest selection. And who wants to choose between Ralph Lauren sheets and Donna Karan? Not me. Or why do they only carry 3 desk frames? That are all brushed stainless steel? By Kate Spade for $100 for a 5x7?

Just give me nice Egyptian cotton sheets and a quality black wood frame, please. And no designers.

Finally, you realize that as much as you love that copper bottom 10 piece cookware, it's $700. And even the 7 piece stainless set is $400. No one in this family has that kind of money to drop on a shower gift for me. And then come back to a wedding and bring another gift. So in reality, a bridal registry is nothing more than managing the needs and price points of department stores and people. Something like registering becomes a business.

In spite of all the managing I've been doing lately, I found time about 6 weeks ago to fix up the yard. Rather, my friend Jocelyn was in town for our friend's wedding and she and Vince got all dirty in the soil, pulled weeds and mulched. I went to Home Depot and purchased the 15 bags of mulch. Here are some photos of our yard with the fabulous mums that have since died with our first frost and first snow.