Griswold Family Christmas

Like that? It was a free printable from a blogger. You can get it here. 

Lenox Frame

Okay, guess I mean-- Boese Family Christmas.

Christmas is kind of a big deal around here. Probably because my mom was obsessed with Christmas. Or because the first 3 years I was with my husband, we never spent Christmas together. We are still finding little traditions/ways to make Christmas "our" Christmas.

He lets me do my thing when it comes to the tree. To be honest he just likes to enjoy the tree/decorations, not set them up (or take them down). Guess I don't blame him.

Apologies! I have no idea what I'm doing for night photos. 

Yup, we have a fake tree. Judge me. It's actually quite beautiful-- not sure why it looks so scrawny in the photo above. It's a 7.5 Virginia Pine and it's on year 3. Definitely recommend Home Depot for your fake tree purchases. :)

And of course Cindy had to make a special appearance sitting on the "E" of Noel on our mantel. We have been hiding her everyday and it's so much fun! My husband found her in the freezer a few days ago and now it's my turn to find her. 

Much better. So love that the dog toys are making an appearance in this photo. Awesome. 

That angel! Boy, she is stubborn. My dad was here visiting and he helped decorate our house. He left the room for thirty seconds and while he was gone she tumbled down the tree. Such a pain. She's not exactly centered but I decided to pick my battles and not deal with the angel issue. 

My MIL got me into these candles. A-maze. Seriously. They are the only brand that actually spreads the scent all throughout your house. 

Although, if you're an addict like me (Ahem) you have 2 + a plugin in your tiny 2 bedroom apartment. He he. You have to get the Slatkin & Co brand, though, in Fresh Balsam. You will not be disappointed. Promise. You can read more about the candles here. 

Clearly my favorite ornament, duh.

One thing about ornaments-- I am a little weird about them. If I am gifted an ornament, I'll glady put it on my tree, but I cannot just go out and buy ornaments. They have to have a story or mean something to me. 

Please tell me I'm not the only one who's like this? 

I love to say "Oohh, I got that from _____ in (insert cool city here)". 

If we're out of town, I always try to buy an ornament (On our honeymoon, New York, etc). But I can't just go into Target and buy those. Sometimes they are super cute and I'll tell my husband/dad/friend that I loved the black fuzzy poodle ornament that was only $4 HINT HINT, Mr. Boese. ;)

These pictures were taken after I figured out what I was doing. Score!

My dad went to London and brought back the shoe ornament from Harrods. So cute! 

My mom bought my husband the purple Vikings ornament (he likes the Vikings) on her last Christmas she was with us. My husband is not into ornaments (or really anything sentimental) but he packages this one at the end of the season to make sure it's safe. He loves it. I'm glad. 

My mom loved cardinals so they hold a special place in my heart. I pretty much scream with excitement any time I see one. Anywhere. There are at least 10 cardinals on our tree. I think one year we'll have a tree dedicated to all our cardinals. She loved the male cardinals (red) but the females are cute, too! 

And my MIL gets me the White House ornament every year (top left). I'm not sure how she got into them, but because we're in DC I treasure them even more. I believe I have from 2008/2009-2012 and I adore looking at them through the years. Why yes, it does take me 84 years to decorate my tree.

Okay, I believe I have shown you 34534524 too many pictures. Cannot wait to share the latest updates,  Christmas plans, etc with y'all! xO

PS-- Convinced my dad I needed a rosemary tree. Doesn't everyone?

Halloween Has Come To The Boese's!

Three weeks to go!

Halloween is a big deal around here. I love all holidays but Halloween is super fun because of the decorations, scary music, and of course... CANDY! 

If you want to see where I got that lil' chalkboard you can read about it back here. It sits on my mantel and I've been great horrible at updating it. 

This little gem is not new, but I guess I never posted about it. It's from Pier 1-- I want to say $19.99 or maybe even less. It holds 3 tea candles and I just love it!

As you can see, I guess Oreo bug loves it, too! 

Love those purple spiders. 

Before I show the doggies, I have a disclaimer: No, these are not their halloween costumes, and YES, they desperately need a trim. Judge me. 

Well, that was Cocoa's costume last year. It's a T-shirt that says Trick or Treat and it glows in the dark. Then I added the Tutu so she'd look a little girly. They are both from Petsmart and were purchased the day after Halloween at like 70% off. 

I was really trying to get how cute it is but then this happened. 

Ahem. So well behaved. 

Happy Wednesday! xO

We're Missing Something Here

So I said earlier (in this post) that everything was almost done in our living room. Except this.

Can you spot my chalkboard and peace lily? :)

I absolutely hate this corner. It's so sad because I've neglected it. Poor corner. I only go over there to put dog toys away or water the plant (my peace lily post is back here). 

The corner definitely got some sprucing up since I hung the chalkboard. Definitely. But it's not done. 

What about a console table? A dark brown, long, console table. The dog toys can go under it and a big, round mirror can go above it. How does that sound? 

Hmmm. But what about the peace lily? Guess I can shove that in another corner until I decide to redecorate that corner. Ha! 

I've been thinking a nice console table would look wonderful here. I would throw some crap on it that I already have (crammed in our TV stand), picture frames, a flower, who knows. The opportunities are endless. Shoot, I could even put my thankful tree that I'm scheming about making on it.

Now to find a console table. 

Our Dining Room Table-- Love!

Our dining room table has been through a lot. For about 7 weeks we ate on a beach towel. It was just lovely. We had neighbors over and I was thoroughly embarrassed to say the least.

When we finally did receive our table pad, I didn't have a centerpiece I was in love with. It wasn't a big deal because anything is a better centerpiece than a beach towel.

That all changed, though, because I've finally found some things I love!

The candles, candle sticks, and the runner are from HomeGoods. I got that and a few other things and spent $5 out of pocket-- thank goodness for the $50 gift card I won! :) 

The apothecary jar was a wedding gift but I believe it's from Target. So is the filling. I'd like to find some more filling (mini pumpkins, etc) but it's not necessary. I would love to fill it with candy corn but it's my favorite candy.. I cannot have it sitting around our house!

There's a close up of the filling. It's not quite fall-ish but it works for me! 

I just love the little pumpkins attached to the candles! Aren't they adorable? The candles have a pumpkin-y smell but I haven't lit them yet. Hmm, maybe I will with dinner. 

So everything is almost perfectly done decor-wise in our living room. Well, except for one thing, but I'll have to post about that another day!

Enjoy these photos! xO

Mantel Is Finished!

Last weekend I posted about our beautiful mantel..Ha! I am so embarrassed that that is what our mantel has looked like for quite some time.

Well, today that all changed! I got some goodies in the mail today to complete my "look".

As you can see I kept my little pumpkins & lanterns on there (you can see more about them and how much they cost here). 

I feel like they really complete the look, don't you? I'm not sure if I talked about the chalkboard, but that is also a Target find. It was $2.50. Of course I had to buy it. 

If you couldn't tell from the first picture, the wreath has a little "B" on it. I just love it. I was not thrilled when it came off during shipping and I had to hot glue it myself, but I'll save that for later in the post. 

I got the wreath, 3 frames (same size), and banner all from this shop on Etsy. It was a little pricey but I really wanted it and I know I'll use it for many years. They were wonderful to work with and I definitely recommend them if you are looking for some cute fall decorations! I was a little bummed the "B" came off my wreath-- It was not easy to hot glue that back on! It kept falling off a zillion times. 

My only "thing" would be that everything was a bit smaller than I was expecting. I am very glad I had those few nik-nacks from Target because they definitely completed the look. It would have been too barren without the lantern, pumpkins, and chalkboard. 

And I'm sure you're just dying to know, but I finally hung my other chalkboard on the wall! 

More on how to make one of these can be found here.

It's hard to tell from this photo, but the wall juts out just a bit for some reason. The walls are so barren that I thought this would liven the place up. It's actually centered in the middle of the part that sticks out. Guess it's hard to tell!

xO

Target Find & Our Mantel Is Coming Soon!

Because I've had horrible luck with the gallery wall in our bedroom (read more about that here), I decided to focus on something else that needs some work-- our mantel.

I started scheming at Pier 1, Target, & TJ Maxx, but wasn't having much luck because I didn't know how tall the items should be. I didn't want them to be so big that our house looked tiny (our house is already tiny) and I didn't want them to be too small where I just need more crap. Make sense?

So of course I headed to Etsy and found an adorable shop that has the stuff already on the mantel, so you can see how it looks. Now obviously not all mantels are the same size, but it kind of worked for me and I winged it. :)

I'll keep the rest of what I bought a secret but we'll call this the "before" photo. Pathetic, I know.

I really could have spruced it up for the photo, but I wanted it to be an honest, everyday photo. Why is that easel still there not holding my chalkboard, you ask? Well, I don't know why the easel is still sitting there, but the chalkboard has also moved.. 

Like I said above, I could have taken the time to actually hang it up, but I figured it was best to show you how it's been sitting for 2 days. :-) 

I love how it will look up on this wall. It will still be seen, but not the center of our living area. I also have big plans for that corner (where the Peace Lily is), but more on that later!

When walking to Target the other night I found these adorable little lanterns and 2 pumpkins for $5 total. 

I ended up with 2 lanterns, the white pumpkin, and the orange pumpkin. I'm sure you're curious-- I realized the lanterns were different when I got home from Target. I guess that's what I get for talking on the phone from the moment I walked in until I got home. Oh well, they have personality, right?

I think I'll end up adding these to my mantel, but if it's too much they'll hang out somewhere else (Maybe the dining room table). 

What do you think? Give me some ideas! xO