Christmas Decor- Day 1

Since they are lighting the BIG tree at Rockefeller center tonight in NYC, I thought it would be fitting to do a post on pretty Christmas trees. I am always interested in seeing people's Christmas trees. It's such a personal extension of their taste. I find it interesting to see if they choose to decorate with 1) childhood owned ornaments 2) in a theme like all silver & gold, or blue & silver, or all snowmen, etc, etc 3) if they purchase a live or an artifical tree 4) and how they wrap their presents.

We (well, I....) put lots of time into our decorations, and especially our wrapping of presents. I have a "wrapping area" in our house and a closet pretty much full of rolls of ribbon, tissue, wrapping paper, cards, personalized tags, etc, etc.....

You will have to hold out until the end of this week to see our decorations! :)

Below are some pictures that intrigued me:
Very traditional- My kind of tree, and you can tell it's LIVE :)

Love how everything is coordinating and flowing together from the tree to the mantel to the pillows & flowers

I would love to do this in our guest room and have a little tree on the bedside table....

Such a fun Beach tree~

When I was little, I always wanted to have my own little tree in my room that I could decorate however I wanted. When I was a teenager, I saved some of my allowance and bought a small fake one to put in my room. I loved when I turned off my lights at night, I had the glow of the tree in the corner still aglow.

Love this little girl tree

Something more fun for all the kids

Another fun small tree for a girl's room

I have warned John that we will ALWAYS have a live Christmas tree, and that I am wanting a few around the house next year... For the extras, I can settle for fake ones. I would love to do another one in our bedroom in the all white, silver & gold look. So peaceful looking....

Here is to Happy Decorating for Christmas!

Bye Bye November.......

MIA

I have been totally MIA lately. The holidays sure do feel like John & I are campaigning for office or something because we make about 4 stops in different cities in one day, it seems. No, it's not that bad, but it's busy!

This year, we spaced everything out more and it worked so much more smoothly and gave us time to really visit and enjoy the days.

Our Thanksgiving started on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We went down to Lawrenceburg to my Mom's mom's house. There were about 20+ people there and it was so great to see everyone. We haven't done holidays down at her house in awhile. We usually go to my aunt's house in Summertown since it's 1/2 way between Lawrenceburg & Columbia. But I can't tell you how great it was to be back in her house, to show John all of our secret hiding places we had when we were little, and very old pictures that she still had displayed. SO funny!

The night before Thanksgiving, we started a new tradition on my Dad's side. We go to his sister's house the night before, for a "Wine down to Thanksgiving" on Wednesday. There is lots of appetizers and food and LOTS and LOTS of wine. Gave us all time to visit without feeling rushed and relax!

T-day: We started off the day with going back down to Lawrenceburg for John's extended side of the family. There is 30 people there, I'd say, and it feels like chaos at first, but all works out. John's family doesn't do a huge extended side get together for Christmas, so Thanksgiving is HUGE over there!!

Then that night, we go to my Dad's house for a small gathering of just us for dinner. There is about 8 of us, and it gives us that chance of winding down & relaxing. Ahhhh

So, now on to CHRISTMAS!!!

John & I got our tree last night at the local Christmas tree place that lots of people go to in Columbia, The Satterwhites. They have such wonderful trees!

We have decided not to decorate our house in Nashville this year, so the tree was for the cabin. When I first met John, he told me that his parents didn't really "decorate" that much for Christmas. I was taken aback.... I grew up with over-the-top Christmas..... every year. But I have been impressed with the 'progress' that the Kings have made in decor for Christmas. We've gone from 'putting lights on the ficus tree, the 1st year' then onto Sherry purchasing small trees to put on the dining room table, and now, it's my turn to show how I do it! :)

We've got the tree up, garland all over the mantel, garland hanging over the top of a huge entry in the living room, garland going down the banisters, little trees out on the porch, and live wreaths on the doors! Ahhhh I love it!!! And I hope they do too! :) pics to come.

I know that I always say, 'pics to come' and have a bad follow through rep, but that is soon to end, because this comes in the mail tomorrow:

Yep! We purchased our camera! Can't wait to use it, and SO excited that it's coming just in time for the Christmas season!! We've been needing a camera for a wonderful 2 years!!!

We had a great one until one night we were at a friend's house for a dinner party, and the wine was flowing. We drank and drank and drank. Well, when it was time to go home, I saw that one of our bottles (a magnum) had only a glass or two out of it, so I put the cork back in it (as drunk as I was) and put it upright in my purse. It wasn't until we got home that night that I saw as I picked up my purse there was something dripping from the bottom.... Yep- the wine was flowing all right.... ALL IN MY PURSE. Ruined my phone, Ipod, & Camera.... The first 2 things got replaced and the camera was on hold since I wanted a reallllllllly nice one. So we've used my older sister's hand-me-down since then- Well, fast forward two years, and we've finally gotten it!

Putting up our Christmas tree last night brought back so many great memories of what my family used to do when I was a child. We would make a night out of it by going out to eat, then picking out our tree, then home to listen to Christmas music as Dad strung the lights on the tree, and mom made Homemade Hot Chocolate. We would drink the hot chocolate as we decorated the tree. Now, John & I decorate our tree with lots of the same ornaments that got passed down after we graduated from college and started putting up our own tree.

And even though John isn't that into Hot Chocolate, I find that he asks for 'a sip' and then 'why don't you get yourself a hot cup of fresh hot chocolate since this is cooling down a bit, and I'll just keep this one' usually follows.

The Parkes' Homemade Hot Chocolate

(same as what is on the side of the Hershey's Cocoa box)

1/2 cup sugar

dash of salt

1/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa

1/3 cup hot water

4 cups milk (1 qt)

1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, mix sugar, salt & cocoa together. Stir in water. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until it boils. Boil & stir for 2 minutes. Add milk, stirring constantly until hot (but NOT boiling)- Remove from heat & add vanilla. Stir for another minute and serve.

*NOTE- Make sure that you are stirring constantly. I've left it unattended for just a minute, and it's burned or scalded and it does not taste that great!

Note 2: Double this if you have more than 2 people.... Trust me, you will go through it!!!

Recipes this week

John enjoyed a wonderful anniversary together! We went to The Palm for dinner, which was so yummy, and then home to enjoy a fabulous bottle of wine while we watched our wedding videos. So fun to watch all of that again!

We tried to take a picture that night with our current camera, and we got two results:

1) We looked like Casper the Ghost, because the flash was too bright

2) We looked like an actual ghost because all you could see were our eyes and everything else was black.

Uhhh! So frusterating! So with that, we decided to put our bed on hold, and get a camera. A nice camera. The end of frusterating picture taking!! YAY! The bed will come soon enough, but having such a great camera will be wonderful for the holidays!

Since we are already half way through the week, and I haven't posted a recipe yet, I decided to make up for it and post two recipes.

These are some of the best side recipes, especially for Thanksgiving. I think that I have been asked to bring my corn casserole to every Thanksgiving (and we got to about 4 of them during the week) for the past couple of years. It's a family recipe, and OH SO GOOD!!!

Neelley's Corn Casserole
1 can Cream Style Corn
1 can Corn Niblets, drained
2 eggs, beaten
1 stick margarine or butter, melted
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 cup Cheddar Cheese (grated)
8 oz sour cream
3 jalapeno peppers (seeded & chopped)

-Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Pour in greased casserole dish (square). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

When John & I were engaged, one of the showers that were hosted for us was a Kitchen & Recipe shower. I just loved it! Everyone brought their favorite recipe written out on a recipe card, then brought a coordinating dish or utensils that I would need to make them or serve it in. SO great!
The recipe below was one of the recipes that I received, from Jen Ball. She's an amazing cook! If you've ever had Cracker Barrel's Hashbrown Casserole, this is just like it!

Cheesy Potato Casserole (or a different verision of Hashbrown Casserole)
1 (32 oz) pkg frozen shredded potatoes
1/2 cup melted butter
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
12 oz grated Cheddar Cheese + some extra
1 (8 oz) carton sour cream
1 tsp salt
1 small onion, chopped

-Combine butter, soup, cheese, sour cream, salt & onion in a large bowl.Mix. Add thawed shredded potatoes and mix until all incorporated. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 casserole dish. Top with additional cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until bubbly. SO YUMMY!



I have been asked for both of these recipes every time that I bring them somewhere. They are a hit, and even the picky people will enjoy them! They will make GREAT sides if you are wanting to take something to Thanksgiving.
The corn casserole will feed around 6-8 for a heaping side portion. The Hashbrown Casserole will serve close to 8-10.

Enjoy!!

Special Day

2 Years ago today was a very special day:


We were here:

And doing a lot of this:

Getting all lined up:



Even the kids:





As my dad did this:

We had some of this:

And lots of smiles!

We danced for hours upon end.....

And were showered with lots of love!

As we started our lives and "Happily Ever After".....

It's SO hard to believe that two years have flown by from that very special day. We are still living in Nashville in our first home together as Husband and Wife. Our careers have definitely changed. We once were an Insurance Agent and a Surgical Marketing Manager, has changed into two Entrepreneurs, a gun store owner and a baker. (who would have thought?)

This week, I will be posting some of our favorite moments of our first two years of being married.... So stay tuned!

Beds Beds Beds

John and I celebrate our 2 year wedding anniversary on this upcoming Monday, the 15th of November. I can't believe that it's already been 2 years since we got married!! Time sure does fly!!

Last year, we took a long weekend up in the mountains of North Carolina and had the best time. It's not often that we get to escape just the two of us, and I definitely like having my husband's undivided attention!

So, this year we were wondering, what to do?, what to do?..... We spoke of gifts. I absolutely love some jewelry and trips, but I mentioned the idea of since we are still acquiring all of our new, really nice things, around the house still, that we should purchase some new furniture! Currently we have a Queen size bed, which was fine when it was just a Queen sleeping in it, but now that I married a King, we must get a bed that is just as well!
In other words, 'we've been married for 2 years, honey, now it's time for you to scoot on over in the bed!' John loves be right next to me in the bed, and I kinda like the edge (when I'm not being pushed off of it). And everytime that we stay in a hotel, we always get a King size bed. I love it! We love it! We sleep so good and soundly!!! So, we are in the market for a new bed! But never, never, never did I think that we would have this hard of a time picking something out! (Not the mattress, there we are all the way- SOFT!, but the actual Bed!)

I learned a long time ago that I needed to find a couple of 'inspiration' pictures of rooms that I just loved, keep them in a file, and use them later when redoing a room. Well, you'd be surprised when doing this, (and it makes it so much easier) to see what is similar in all the pictures you love (i.e.: All white bedding, dark dressers, lots of windows, a certain type of floor, etc,etc, etc....)

So, I showed John my file of 'I love you Bedrooms' and he really liked some of them. When I went back & asked, "Honey, what exactly did you really like in this picture? The bed? The windows? The nightstands?" He says, "Oh, I don't care about any of that, the bed just looked really soft and comfortable, and that's all I'm really interested in. Pick whatever, just as long as it's a soft and comfy bed, then I'm happy...." And hearing that makes me OH SO HAPPY!
(I don't know what I'd do if I had a husband that was as into as designing and decorating as I am! I love that these little things don't matter that much to him, but they do to me! We definitely even each other out!)

So, I'm drawn to Upholstered headboards. I've been wanting one for our bedroom since I was in college. I just love the soft look to them, plus my taste is Classic Traditional with some French Country in there (not in a roosters or toile way, people, but in a rustic, mountain lodge, exposed beams, linen, burlapy kind of way....)

Love Love Love this bed from Restoration Hardware

Plus I love benches at the end of a bed instead of a footboard. I loathe footboards! (actually my legs do, since I always turn a little too early to round the corner of the bed, and end up with a bruise the size of my palm on my thighs!)


Love the softness of this room! I'm all about some white bedding with accents being with pillows, throws, etc. And I love that this headboard is higher than usual to display the nailhead trim



This bed definitely has 'JOHN KING' written all over it. It would definitely be a compromise of the two of us: Upholstered Headboard for me, and leather for him, but I just don't looooove it.

I have had this picture saved in my file, and after looking at all the other ones next to it, I'm convinced that I have it saved for the windows in the back rather than the actual bed. I love windows and especially when they look like that and trimmed in that wood. So rustic yet refined!


Not liking this bed, but I thought I would throw out some other examples of different kinds of upholstered headboards out there:

This is totally NOT me, but cute and different

I just like this picture because it's different. The upholstery on the footboard is too far out there for me, but I'm liking the fabric hanging canopy around the 'headboard' along with the detail of hanging a mirror on the fabric as well. Would love this idea in a guest room!!!!

So, we will keep you posted on what we find/ pick!

Fall Father's Day Dinner

In the previous post, I told you about how my sisters and I host a Father's day dinner every year for my Dad, Bonus Mom as well as 3 other couples that they decide to invite for dinner. This year, we wanted to go with a Fall theme. Dad & Phyllis have such a wonderful house, along with a great outdoor fireplace that we sure do get a lot of usage out of, especially in the Fall, Winter and Spring! Of course, I didn't think of getting out my camera, but my older sister, Lauren did, so these are some of her pictures:

The "Guest" of Honor- Pops

About 15 minutes before people were to arrive, Blair decided to put a biscuit in the microwave to warm it up. Well, she punched the express button, (which sets it to minutes) and forgot about it. We couldn't figure out why a small drift of smoke was looming in the house, until someone opened the microwave and a huge cloud of smoke came out....- Way to go Blair!

She said,
"Not only can I not cook, but now I can't even microwave something without ruining it!"
ha Ha Ha

We set up some of my fall centerpieces along with lots of candles to give it some light after the sun went down.


Blair & I setting up the table




My older sister Lauren- A Great cook!!

Me, working on something!



Our little sister, Blair. Blair isn't a very good cook. (She will tell you that herself), so about 2-3 days before the dinner, she proclaimed that she would just be Lauren and I's "Shoe chef". I told her unless she planned on cooking up some Jimmy Choo's, I didn't think those belonged in the kitchen.. Which I then explained that it was a Soux chef. Ha Ha

Table at night

Everyone gathered around inside by the other fire for more wine and dessert!

We did a Pumpkin Pecan Caramel Cheesecake along with

Brandied Apricot Beignets with a Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Yumm!!!




The Dinner Group! and I'll tell ya, what a fun group!!

It was fun to be in the kitchen and here all the conversations going on, over on the other side of the couch. Most of the group have been people that we (my sisters and I) have known for as long as I can remember. They all host fabulous parties of their own (as well as many parties for Blair & I when we were both getting married), so we were all pretty nervous to serve food that we made ourselves, but we got great reviews! :) (Or they were just being really nice!)

On the Menu that night was:

Appetizers:

Whiskey Shrimp

Spinach and Feta Cups

Soup:
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Main Course:

Roasted Pork Tenderloin served on Creamed Corn with a Apple Raisin Chutney

alongside of Sauteed Green Beans with Toasted Almonds

Dessert:

Pumpkin Pecan Caramel Cheesecake

Brandied Apricot Beignets with Chocolate Dipping Sauce

It's SO much fun to do this every year, and my sisters and I have so much fun preparing all the food in the kitchen together in the hours leading up to it, alongside lots of wine ourselves! :)

Looking forward to next year with more yummy food, honoring such a wonderful and magnificent man/ dad that we have!!

We love you Dad!

or "Main"- as he likes to be called, since he says he's the "Main" man!