Happy New Year~ and a Thank You

Hello Everyone!
I hope you are all having a great New Years Eve!

 I wanted to thank Layla and Kevin, from the Lettered Cottage

for featuring my bedroom on their Few of My Favorite Re-Do's post.
Thank you Layla and Kevin,
I am honored to have my room featured on your beautiful blog!
I hope you get a chance to check out the post, there are some great room re-do's featured, I know
you will be inspired!
They are having a Link Party as well!
They want to see your room re-do's.
Click here to find out all the details!

On another note....

I hope you all have a great New Year's Eve!
We are in Montana visiting family this week!
My husband and I are both from Montana.
The kids are having a blast visiting all of their cousins!
I took the picture of this barn in the Kalispell area, it is near my brother's house.
We got a lot of snow this week..
We forgot what it was like to have REAL weather!
I want to wish you all a Happy New Year!
I feel blessed to have discovered this wonderful world of blogging one year ago!
Thank you for EVERYTHING you guys have done for me this past year!
See you all in 2011!
Take Care,
Maria

A Simple Christmas Table Setting

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all having a great week!

I am sorry I wasn't able to post on Sunday night.

I first wanted to thank Shannon, a writer for HGTV.COM for featuring my bedroom on their site.

You can read the article by clicking here....

Be sure and check out Donna's headboards she created while you are over there too, Donna is so creative and talented!

Funky Junk Interiors

On another note.....

I wanted to share a few pictures of our Christmas table setting.

I actually had planned to do something else, but it didn't work.

I first tried to put magnolia branches down the center of the table.

Well it looked awful....

Since that didn't work, I basically just used what I had around the house....

I lined up five french canning jars down the middle of the table.

I added pomegranates to the top of two of the jars... 

I haven't ever been a fan of baby's breath until I started reading Dusty Lu's Blog....

This is a very sparse bouquet... but it was all I had.

I only had a little bit of baby's breath and two different types of hydrangea blooms.

I tied twine around the napkins and added a sprig of boxwood and a paper white bloom.

I did this a couple of years ago for our Christmas Dinner.

I got out my favorite antique red and white dishes from France.

I used my  red striped grain sack runner, that my mom made.

I recently found two french canning jars with the porcelain tops.

I love them.

As you can see I didn't do a lot to the table....

double click on image to view larger

We have been fortunate enough to be able to spend some time with our families this week.

I hope you are all enjoying your week!

Take Care,

Maria

P.S. There is still time to enter the City Cottage Giveaway!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

I can't thank you all enough for what you have done for me this past year.

Thank you for everything!

I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas with your loved ones!

I managed to get a few pictures taken today....

I'll be back on Sunday with those.

I have to get back to fixing dinner!

Love you guys!

Maria

A Simple Christmas Tree~

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to share a few pictures of our Christmas tree with you....before Christmas is over...

I haven't had a lot of time to decorate for Christmas this year...

So be warned there isn't a lot to see.....

WE decorated our tree last weekend,  I was going to add a few more of our ornaments to the tree and then decided to leave it a little more simple this year....

I strung twine with little pompoms around the tree... I bought a couple spools of this twine at Anthropologie...

My kids loved adding the candy canes to the tree...

We put the left over candy canes in a sap bucket and left them in the window...

The house we live in has 9ft tall ceilings... which I LOVE...

However a normal size tree looks kind of funny in here....

This year we bought a shorter tree....

 To add a little height to the tree I put it in a metal basket on a farm table (that was cut down into a coffee table) behind the couch.  

I love this basket...

I was told that these antique french baskets were used in France to hold wine jugs...

They would stuff them with straw to protect the wine jugs....

Inside the basket is a bucket to hold the water for the tree....

I covered the bucket up with an antique sheet....

I actually had a grain sack around it at first...

I ended up liking the pretty sheet against the rustic metal basket better then the grain sack.

I put a couple of french canning jars on the table.

The jars helped bring the same blue color from the ornaments into the middle of the room..

At least I think they helped : ) 

The blue mirror is against the wall on the other side of the room...

I like how it reflects the image of the tree and the blue ornaments.

On another note....

My daughters made sugar cookies the other day.

I wanted to share a picture of the cookies they made with you.

I think they did a great job.

The elves are my favorite.

We have used Martha Stewart's Sugar Cookie recipe for years...

It is our favorite sugar cookie recipe...

On a final note....

My good friend Melanie is having a Cabbages and Roses Giveaway on her blog....

I didn't want you to miss out.....

photo courtesy of Pretties and Posies

You can enter Melanie's giveaway by clicking here~

Photo courtesy of Pretties and Posies

I hope you get a chance to visit Melanie's beautiful blog, Pretties and Posies....

These are just a few of the images you will see while visiting her blog.

 You can see Melanie's how to post for this pear arrangement by clicking here~

Photo courtesy of Pretties and Posies

I love the arrangements she made with branches....

Photo courtesy of Pretties and Posies

You will find lots of inspiration over at

Pretties and Posies!

I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas!!

Take Care,

Maria

A City Cottage Sponsored Giveaway

Hello everyone!

I have a special sponsored giveaway today.

City Cottage is a Dreamy Whites Sponsor, and Jenny is sponsoring a very generous giveaway on my blog today!

I will let Jenny take it from here~

Hi Everyone, my name is Jenny, I am the owner of City Cottage!

 I have been thinking ALOT about what makes me happy and what I am great full for in my life.

Its a wonderful thing to be living my dream and to have great people supporting me & cheering me on.
When I get a wonderful email from a customer or follower that tells me they were inspired by City Cottage
or when they walk into my store saying, its like a sweet dream in here, it melts my heart.Its alot of work and those are the moments that make it all worth everything. 

SO... how can I share with everyone a little piece of my dream? How can I put a huge smile on the face of one of the many that support my dream and help make it a reality ?
...........City Cottage shop GIVEAWAYS!

Heres the City Cottage Shop loot...
 

1st  A queen/double Brunelli Quilt 

The winner will have a choice of quilt to match there decor.

2nd~ Handmade City Cottage squishy, soft feather pillow.  Made from vintage fabrics, by me, Jenny!

3rd~   A pretty bluebird ring.

4TH~  A super sweet vintage inspired hair pin

5th~ Simple but sweet rosette earrings 

To enter  Jenny would like you to become a follower of
City Cottage,simple casual living blog  , &  City Cottage shop facebook  and leave a comment on what makes you happy. If you are already a follower of Jenny's, then just leave a comment..... If you would like more chances to enter the giveaway, blog,twitter,facebook about the giveaway and leave a comment for each.


*You will be entered to win all 6 prizes and the winners will be chosen by Jenny, by random.org.  To keep it fair Jenny will have 6 different winners.
Jenny wishes she could give everyone something!

Everyone is eligible to enter her giveaway..... Jenny will pay for shipping within Canada & USA But overseas followers, will be asked to pay the shipping....IF you would like to be entered.


   Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support and here's to a great new year!
Jenny 

City Cottage shop

Thank you Jenny for sponsoring such a generous giveaway!

Jenny's giveaway will run until December 31st.

I will be back Thursday night!

Take Care,

Maria

Thank You

 Hello!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

We finally got our tree decorated over the weekend!

I usually have my tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving....

We are a little behind on our Christmas decorating this year....

Hopefully I will have a few more holiday pictures for you soon.....

On another note....

I wanted to say thank you to Fifi O'Neill for featuring my blog in the January issue of Romantic Country!  It is out on newsstands now!

A peek inside the magazine~

A lot of my blog friends have features in there as well!

Thank you Fifi for all of your continued support you give to all of us women!

I also wanted to say thank you to Jo-Anne Colletti

for featuring my blog in her new magazine, The Feminine Home Magazine.

I love the picture of this beautiful farm....

Sandy from My Shabby Streamline Studios is also featured in the magazine.

You can read more about Jo-Anne's Colleti's magazine by clicking here~

This magazine can only be purchased by clicking on this link provided!

Thank you Jo-Anne Colleti!

I am going to try and get some more Christmas decorating pictures up.....

and get the rest of my N.Y.C. pictures loaded this week.....

We are making sugar cookies today!

I still have a lot of Christmas shopping to do too....

Hope you are all enjoying your Monday!

Take Care,

Maria

The Store Window belonged to......

Hello Everyone!
I am sorry that this will be such a quick post.....

I wanted to tell you the name of the store window I took the picture of....
It was..

ANTHROPOLOGIE

Congratulations Melinda!
 Tales From My Empty Nest!
Melinda is the sweetest person too!

Anthropolgie's windows were amazing!

I am always so inspired by everything Anthropologie does...
My daughter Bethany loves this store.
She told me it was her favorite store we went in this weekend while we were in NYC....
She was taking note of all of their decorations....
She is going to try and make those adorable pinecones....
I also got her to model one of their scarves for me : )

I have lots of pictures to share with you of their store.  I will hopefully get the rest of my NYC pictures loaded this weekend!

Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Take Care,

Maria

An All Girls Weekend in New York City

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all having a great week!

I first need to apologize for being so absent lately.....

I found out December second that I was going to New York City.....

 I will hopefully be able to give you the details of why I went there very soon...

I haven't ever visited New York before... until last weekend.

We (two of my sisters and my two daughters) flew into New York City

December 9th and flew home December 12th.

I can't tell you how much fun we had.  I am so grateful that I got to spend that time with two of my sisters and my two daughters.....

It was a trip we will never forget.

We definitely didn't know what we were doing....

My sister said we will have to write a journal on what not to do for tourists.

That should give you an indication of how the trip kind of went....

I will spare you the details and just share some pictures with you.

This is Central Park in New York...

It was beautiful..... We really wanted to take a carriage ride, but we unfortunately couldn't all fit in one carriage.

The Plaza Hotel was beautiful.....

I just love the architecture in New York....

Here we are headed for Fifth Avenue....

It was slightly busy.....

On one side of the street you have the Plaza Hotel....

And directly across from the Plaza Hotel is the Apple Store.

The Apple store was so cool....

It stays open 24 hours a day.... and 365 days of the year.

The Christmas decorations were so neat.....

It was a real treat to be there during the Christmas Season.
I will be sharing pictures of the Christmas decorations in my next post....

Can you guess what store's window I took this picture of???

This store had the best Christmas Window Displays in New York, in my opinion that is....

The first one to guess the right store will get a little surprise from me in the mail.....

All you have to do is leave a comment stating what store's window you think this is a picture of.....

I'll let you know who the winner is in my next post...

I also wanted to introduce you to one of my sponsors who is from New York...

Elena Rosenberg who is the owner of the shop, Tickled Pink Knits....

Tickled Pink Knits  is fine handmade knit clothing and accessories designed and created by Elena Rosenberg in her New York-based studio. In her work, Elena uses luxurious materials, including natural fibers such as merino wool, alpaca, organic cotton, silk, and cashmere. Elena’s designs are elegant and modern, ranging from casual urban accessories to chic special occasion garments. Every piece is hand‐crafted one stitch at a time with special emphasis on form, texture, color, and construction. Elena invites you to discover the visual and tactile beauty of hand‐knit clothing and accessories and to explore the wide selection of ready‐made items as well as many custom‐made design possibilities.  Knitting patterns for select designs are available in her patterns shop - Atelier TPK Etsy

Elena's designs are really beautiful... I hope you get a chance to visit Elena's shop.

Tickled Pink Knits 

Atelier TPK 

I will be back with some more pictures from our trip very soon.....

I have been gone so much this month... We just finally got our tree up...

I had so many Christmas ideas I wanted to share with all of you.....Hopefully I will still be able to share a few Christmas decorating ideas before Christmas is here... : )

Everything was put on hold because of the unexpected N.Y.C. trip....

I am really sorry for being so absent over the past couple of weeks.

Hope you all have a great Wednesday!

Take Care,

Maria