annie blog

I’m feeling a bit scattered this December….but that’s kind of par for the course, right? How could we be all that focused in such a great season?
So, here’s a smattering of things I’ve been loving lately….I hope that y’all love the songs and the links….Happy December 11th to you!

First, Otis Redding’s White Christmas is awesome.

Ella Fitzgerald does Jingle Bells:

Elvis with Winter Wonderland:

Project wise, I love this upholstery job that incorporated a beautiful piece of needlework done by the gal’s mother, featured on Design*Sponge.  What a great idea for any special piece of needlework!   I don’t have any chairs like the one she used, and I don’t really have a special piece of needlework in mind, but I now know that I’ll have my eyes peeled in the Goodwill for one of these “possibilities”. Yet another thing for the Goodwill list….

And, speaking of projects, I love the quilt on this bed. It is the guest room of Stephmodo’s house in France. My love affair with stripes is never-ending.

Finally, I have to re-recommend this recipe to y’all. It is Cranberry Bread from Shutterbean.  So very yummy!  I’ve already made it twice this year and I’ll probably be making it later again this week.  It is tart, not too sweet,  beautiful when sliced, and totally addictive.  Only note, the 1 tablespoon of coarse sugar is absolutely an essential!

Okay, I’m going to get moving around here.  Happy Tuesday, y’all!!

First off, I heard a Bob Dylan song on the radio this morning that I’d never heard before.  I instantly liked it.   The song is from his album “Nashville Skyline”. The funny thing is, I was listening to it thinking that it had the sound of a Dylan song, but that the voice was so polished compared to his normal voice that it just couldn’t be. I was wrong, though, it was him…..but I don’t know how he got his voice to sound like this.

This is Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You.

If you need a laugh today, you should watch this video. Jon recorded it at the Christmas parade last night. It is of a big truck wrapped with butcher paper with writing on it.  But it was dark, and we couldn’t read the signs on the truck because of the darkness and because the girls riding on the back of the float with the crooning man had a blanket hanging down over the lettering.  Jon describes it well, and the whole exchange is funny, but you should listen at the end for Eli’s comment about candy. He was hopeful, but no candy was thrown last night. Weird, right? Anyway, he doesn’t beat around the bush, that one.

Happy Wednesday, y’all!

Yesterday, I was on the phone placing an order for clothes.  I called it in instead of doing an online order because the online site wasn’t giving me all the coupon codes that I knew were coming to me.  Bless that customer service representative’s heart, I think that she may have been convinced that she was on the phone with the cheapest gal in America.  Of course, she doesn’t know that even the prices that I was getting were steep in my opinion.  Goodwill prices are hard to beat.  Goodwill, how I miss thee….

Anyway, two of the items on my list were some khaki pants for James.  The rep typed in the order number and then exclaimed, “Whoa!  That is an AMAZING price on those pants!!!”  Yes, I thought, you know that you’re getting a good deal when the gal who has been entering in orders for hours can’t believe the price.

What would have been great is if I had been taking advantage of the Cyber Monday to actually order a bunch of stuff for Christmas.  But, no.  What I was trying to do was get some more pants so that I could avoid, hopefully forever, the khaki pant fracas that had rumbled through the house earlier in the day.

Fingers crossed that they fit!

I hope that y’all are having a good Tuesday and that your Thanksgiving break was a good one.

I know it isn’t December or even Advent, yet, but I’m getting into Christmas music anyway.

This song always puts a smile on my face.

Stevie Wonder, take it away….

We are off school this week.  Yahoo!!!!!  This means no homework — I’m thrilled, no end.

It is also sort of a week off of big time cooking for me, since we are going to be feasting in Alabama.  I do get to provide a Wednesday night meal and I’m really excited about that.  But, since we’ll be doing the turkey thing the next day, I’m going to do a Tex-Mex dinner.  Should be good.

I saw this Coconut Hot Chocolate on Three Many Cooks.  I am definitely going to try this one.  Coconut and chocolate are made for each other.

Also, you should try to win this trip to France.  It looks amazing!  A gazillion people will enter and I won’t win but I think that I’m going to dream, anyway.

I don’t know what it is about Southerners in general and Mississippians in particular, but we just love our pottery.  I was perusing a local shop that had McCarty pottery today.  Of course, I’ve known about it for a long time and have always appreciated it.  But, now, I want one of everything.  Love, love the jade glaze.  Also, the little animals are awesome.  The pigs and fat little birds are just delightful.  Help!  I don’t need any more dinnerware….and, yet, I want.  It is too bad that I didn’t have a decent camera with me.  All the pics on the web that I could find weren’t great, but, then it is hard to capture the beauty with a camera, anyway.

Well, I’m off to try and watch some of Moonrise Kingdom.  Jon and I tried to watch the other night but I kept falling asleep.  It was one of those times when staying awake was like holding back the ocean.  But, now I am awake and all of my males are down for the night….so maybe I’ll catch up to where we left off.

Happy Monday, y’all!

I hope that y’all are having a good November so far.  How can it be two weeks gone already?

Some things:

The Alabama Shakes do a video for Silver Linings Playbook with a song that I like:

Also, I still love, LOVE the Tallest Man on Earth.
Here is Wind and Walls.

I want to clone the style of this gal — seen on The Sartorialist. I think that getting a flat cap is the first step.

Yet another clean, stylish house tour that I enjoyed on Design*Sponge.  Love the art.  Love the simplicity.

Have y’all heard of Jorma Laine?  He was a jewelry designer in Finland years ago.  Anyway, Jon has given me some of Jorma’s (vintage) jewelry for each of my past two birthdays.  So lovely!!  Getting a package from Finland is fun, too.

Two other recent acquisitions:  The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook — I don’t know how to decide what to make first.  Also, I got Moonrise Kingdom which Jon and I plan on watching tonight….if we stay awake.  So, it may or may not happen.  I have heard mostly good things so I have hopes of if being enjoyable.

Happy Weekend, y’all!

I hope that you are all well and enjoying some of this beautiful weather.  It’s just glorious.

I’m still cleaning….crazy how quickly things add up around here.  But, I really love it when my house is clean, so there’s a payoff — fleeting though it is.

I want to share two house tours with y’all today…and to remember them for myself. ( That’s why they make the blog.)

First, there is this apartment tour of Abbey Nova, writer of the blog, Abbey Goes Design Scouting.  I really loved this tour…her living room, the use of white, the use of color, what she did with her son’s art, all of the rest of her art, I could go on and on.  But, do you know what is really funny?  When I googled for images of her apartment, I found images of her previous apartment which I also remember loving several years ago on Design*Sponge.  I didn’t remember that it had been hers, though.  Which, I guess, says something about the consistency of her style and my constance in liking it no matter where I see it.

Then, there was this before and after that was on Design*Sponge just this week.  It is a total gut rehab of a Philadelphia row house.  The owner was also the renovator and he took three years to get it where it is today.  He kept historical elements while making it really modern in sort of a rustic way.  The transformation was pretty amazing.  Anyway, you should click over just to see his bathroom.  The tub is hilarious.

I really like the blog, Kate’s Creative Space.  She has a lovely, gorgeous house which is being remodeled.  The updates on it are always interesting.  This week, I really liked reading about her winter bird feeders and the autumn tablescape and menu that she used at a recent dinner party that she hosted.  So lovely and well thought out without being fussy.  It’s a happy blog.

Time to get cracking.  Happy Friday, y’all!!

It’s too bad that I don’t have the audio to go along with this costume.

Eli was settled on being a hawk for Halloween — primarily because he can do a really convincing hawk call.  Like, so convincing that, when he does it around folks who are unaware, they immediately search the sky for a terror-bird in their vicinity.

So, that’s why you need the audio to fully appreciate it.

My last few days were spent getting this costume done and turning another year older.  Halloween also added its chaos and so therefore my house is a disaster area.

Let the cleanup begin.

Happy November, y’all!

Have you ever been riding along on the way somewhere and wished that a certain song would come on the radio?  I know that this isn’t as likely as it once was with 4G and iPod and iPhone and yada, yada, yada.  But for me, in my ancient but loved car with my ancient cell phone that has zero music on it, it is still a wish.  And, when the wish is granted, it makes me very, very happy.

Now, the odds are pretty good that this song will come on the college radio station, since it is in sort of heavy rotation there.

But, still, it was really awesome.

If you are wondering, it was this song by the Avett Bros.

I also like this live version they did for NPR in their tour bus somewhere in New Jersey.

In other news, I’ve got to clear out because our property manager has decided to really try and sell this house that was previously a dump but no longer — because of our efforts.

It felt like home for all of three seconds.

So, the real estate agent and potential buyers are on the way.  Reckon it is a good thing I hung onto my boxes.

Life goes on….changing.  I should heave a sigh here but I’m laughing, instead.  That’s how it is.

Happy Wednesday, y’all!!

And, no, I’m not talking about baseball.  I wish that I were talking about baseball, but I can’t, you see, since I’ve sworn off of it following the Cards’ implosion last night.

Dang, Cards, really?  I guess I’ll check on the team in the spring.  Yeesh.

Moving on.

The reason that it felt like Christmas came early today happened when I took a back way on the way to the elementary school.  We were zipping along a road underneath the water tower when, lo and behold, a 9-banded Armadillo sashayed across the road right in front of my car.  The boys who were with me in the car love, LOVE animals.  The minute they saw that armadillo the atmosphere in the car suddenly became electric.  They were big d delighted and happily discussed everything they knew about armadillos — including the Latin name, of course — all the rest of the way to school.  Seeing that armadillo made their whole week, I tell you.

I reckon that they’re not yet Mississippians if they get so excited by an armadillo sighting.  Maybe you’re finally a naturalized Mississippian when armadillos become old hat.   In that case, they might never be naturalized, because I think they could see an armadillo everyday for the rest of their lives and be really happy about it.

Today I’m grateful for armadillos and for the fact that my car brakes work.

Happy (baseball drama-free) Tuesday, y’all!!!

I hope that y’all are having a good Friday.  This weather is incredible.  I’d like 7 more months of it, please.

Just a few things….

First, those taquitos that I linked to yesterday will be our dinner tonight.  When I analyze our dinners I realize that about 50% of them are mexican inspired.  That is totally fine with me.  I’ll report back on the results.  All I know is that that avocado cream that goes with the taquitos looks just amazing.  Can’t wait.

Second, GO CARDS!!  Please win again and again and again and again.  I’m so glad that Wainwright got his groove back.

Third, I still love the Alabama Shakes.  Here’s I Ain’t the Same.

Also, I like The Silver Seas (formerly The Bees) Miss November.  They won’t enable embedded video of their song…but it really is worth clicking over to hear.  Just delightful.

And, Tab Benoit.  Tab, please come to Starkville.  Please.  We’re just one state over from you.

Fourth, I am now going to vacuum my house.  You know, the place that I originally referred to as a Dumpola.  Well, I’ve cleaned it up.  Jon has fixed fifty-eleven things.  And, even given the still sub-optimal bathrooms and outdoor laundry and excessively woody kitchen, I have to admit that I like it.  It feels like home.  So, dominion taken, for now.

Fifth, I’m delighted to report that the boys are happy in school.  I had some of the best reports I’ve ever had at the teachers’ conferences last week.  Feeling so grateful that everything is going the way it is.

Happy Friday, y’all!