Guest Room 2.0

We have a bedroom in our house that’s been empty since move in day. But with our new year’s eve plans, I need a guest room on the fly. Here’s a bit of the plan and I'm hoping to get moving on it this weekend:
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Hope you have a productive weekend, whatever your plans!

Southern Travelers

The Husband and I have been doing a bit of driving around. A couple of weeks ago we spent four days eating and drinking our way through New Orleans. I have to say, the city is looking fantastic. A highlight was dinner here, one of the most memorable meals I've had. We lived in New Orleans a few years ago and sometimes I think we are meant to end up there again someday, especially if I could find a place like this little gem designed by Tom Landry (courtesy of House Beautiful).

Last weekend, we popped over to Atlanta and thanks to this post, I managed to convince the Husband to check out the Atlanta Christmas House with me. Can I be honest? I wasn't that impressed. Don't get me wrong, the home was beautiful and I could have moved right in. But for me the point of a showhouse is the chance to see something a little adventurous/outside the box and I just didn't get that here.

Anyway, here's another Atlanta home to love (courtesy of Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles).
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A Common Thread

Absolutely loving the color palette (particulaly the touches of chocolate brown in each room) as well as the mix of modern and antique in Philip Gorrivan's Manhattan apartment, as seen in December's Elle Decor.

images courtesy of elle decor

Happy Weekend!

Hope you have a great one!!

images courtesy of here

Wine of the Week

2005 El Coto Rioja Crianza Special Cuvee

Ok, I'm not recommending this wine because it's particularly great (although it is pretty good and even better with food), but because of what's on the outside! I love the perfect for the holidays packaging complete with a red framed label and gold thread netting and think it would make a lovely seasonal gift for dinner hosts, neighbors, etc. Retails for $12.

The Holidays are right around the corner...

Or at least that's my new mantra. I'm really looking forward to hosting several of our best friends/traveling buddies for a few days over NY Eve. It's their first visit to Birmingham (no surprise) and we're aiming to show them a great time. Which means it's time to dust off the to do list and get crackin'. So here, in no particular order, are the things I want to get done before December 27th.

1. Finish installing wine room racks


2. Make man room comfortable place to watch football by adding an actual TV and stand


3. Turn empty bedroom into functional second guest room


4. Repair master bath shower (we've been using the hall bath for months!) and drain in guest bath


5. Hem new dining room and family room curtains


6. Re-upholster leather chairs in living room and/or rework furniture layout

What do you think? Too much? With eight weeks to go, I'm a bit overwhelmed to be honest...

image from here

Happy Halloween!

We're spending Saturday at a friend's party where I'm told there will be guaranteed trick o' treaters. Have a great weekend!

images courtesy of domino

Swiped from Jennifer

I shamelessly stole Tuesday night's dinner from Jennifer at the Newlywed Diaries. It rained all day {sigh} so I was craving a warm, seasonal menu. A quick stop at the store on the way home and I had everything I needed. This soup (which I tweaked a little based on the reviews) is super easy to make, yet has all the creamy goodness of a dairy laden chowder. And her mom's pumpkin bread recipe is delicious!

And because I haven't posted a pretty room in awhile, an Ohio farmhouse for your viewing pleasure courtesy of Country Living:

Bits & Pieces

In yet another example of how way behind I am, I picked up this book for my flight to San Francisco last week. And then proceeded to read it constantly until the last page -- it was so great! So much so that now I want to see the movie, although I am afraid to see the movie because I loved the book so much.

San Francisco was exhausting but fun, by the way! May I suggest eating here or here and having drinks here.

In other news, this is an excellent wine and currently on sale at Whole Foods for $10 a bottle. It's made from a blend of roussanne, grenache, and viognier grapes and definitely worth searching out.

And the other night I was lured in by all the wonderful looking fall produce and bought a butternut squash to go with the salmon the Husband had on the grill. I've only cooked one other squash recipe before, but this one came with a sticker with instructions (essentially: remove seeds, add butter, roast). It was awful, like barely edible awful. So if you have any good, fool-proof squash recipes let me know!

squash image courtesy of flickr

Easy Street

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard of High Street Market. Kelly, the shop owner, has put together a really interesting collection of vintage finds. I know a lot of people enjoy hunting for the perfect treasure in antique shops and at flea markets, but I’m not one of them. I am lazy. And busy. Ok, mostly lazy. If given the choice between having something pretty show up at my front door or dragging myself out of bed at 7 am on a Saturday to hit the garage sales, I'll go with option one. But since I also love items that are a little unique , Kelly’s shop is ideal for me!

Here a few items I’m loving in the shop right now:

And here are a handful of my purchases:

A vintage bowling pin, which I use as a doorstop.
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A pair of milk glass horse heads, currently serving to corral some dvds
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A fabulous antique frame repurposed as a bulletin board.

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all images courtesy of high street market