Tag Archives: celebrations

Sep 20 2012
6 Comments
home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

settling into fall

I’m not a huge fan of smelling up the house with fake fragrance. You can keep your Glade Plug-Ins and that weird air freshener that automatically sprays when you’re in the room. But I do enjoy a nice, subtle candle scent every now and again. And I tend to change out my scents with the season.

My favorite candles lately are Paddywax. I just put away the summery scented Newly Mown Hay. (It smells deliciously of Saturday mornings in my childhood home when all of the neighbors mowed their lawns.) But the days of yard work, flip flops and sunhats are numbered. The air feels crisp and the nights are chilly. It feels so good to sleep under our heavy blanket with the windows open, blowing in fresh fall air.  Yesterday, I pulled out the cold weather candle: Edgar Allan Poe. To me, it smells like fall–nice and spicy warm cardamom, absinthe and sandlewood. I’m going to light it tonight and curl up on the couch with my book club stories for October. We are reading three detective stories, in the spirit of Halloween, and one of them happens to be Poe.

Breaking out the fall candle opens up the gates for fall decorating…and pumpkin lattes…I see some autumn bliss in my future…

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Sep 19 2012
5 Comments
celebrations

planning…election party 2012

I love politics. I love the strategy, the speeches, the photo-ops, the over-analysis from pundits, the debates, the fact that adults in Washington DC can act like children and somehow it’s totally acceptable… I love how Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert have such a keen eye for the craziness and I love that Saturday Night Live ups its game on election years. (Oh, how the candidates give us so much to laugh about!)

Naoto & I have been hosting election parties since 2004. The party in 2008 was the best, complete with Election Bingo, campaign cocktails, Chicago-style hot dogs and Presley dressing up (under much duress) as an elephant.

There are less than fifty days until election night, and I am in full planning mode. I’ve been stocking up on red, white and blue paper-y goodness, washi tape and (non-partisan) election buttons. I’ve been digging through my collection of vintage political paraphernalia (George H.W. Bush paper dolls, anyone?) I’ve been pinning ideas for cocktails and snacks and decorations like crazy. I’ve been trying to talk Presley into dressing up again. (She put her paw down…she will not be dressing up in 2012.) And I’ve been researching televisions…because we want our guests to be able to see the results on our TV.

That’s what is keeping me busy today. (That and master bath remodel planning…) Do you host an election party and wait up to see the results with all of your friends? Or do you go to bed and catch the news in the morning? And if you’re not in the US, are elections a huge deal where you are?

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Sep 05 2012
5 Comments
celebrations, cocktails

adami prosecco

Naoto came home last Friday night with some flowers and this Adami Prosecco. We knew there was a prosecco out there that shared my name, we just didn’t realize it would be so easy to find! I am over the moon about it, too. It’s fun finding things that share your name, and it’s even better when they are festive and bubbly and delicious!

We waited until Labor Day to drink it and we invited our neighbor Karen over to share in the festivities. We broke out some cheese and crackers and made a meal out of it.

The flowers were lovely, too…

I might be just a little bit spoiled…

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Sep 03 2012
3 Comments
celebrations, thoughts

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day to all of my American friends! I decided it was only fitting to have the hardest working guy in America pictured on today’s post. Here is Naoto in action at his fun job, Trader Joe’s. After sitting at a desk all day (doing translation management), I know he loves to burn off his superfluous energy stocking shelves and chatting up the customers. And we love that he enjoys bringing home the bacon (both literally and figuratively).

Today, we both have the day off and hopefully we will be enjoying a slow morning with lots of coffee and a busy afternoon of getting the office side of the living room situated…hopefully!

*A special thank you to the managers at Trader Joe’s for letting me bend the “no photography” rule…all in the name of blogging!

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Jul 30 2012
4 Comments
celebrations, crafty adventures, Olympics, what's for dinner

an olympic birthday

Our friend Santron turned 30 on Friday, so we threw him a little party on Sunday night–Olympics-style. Santron loves London, so it was kind of perfect.

After making a paper chain out of Olympic flag colors, I crafted up a gold medal out of cardstock, double stick tape, glitter, number stickers and some patriotic ribbon. It was the first time I used my Martha Stewart circle cutter (even thought it’s been sitting in my craft closet for months…) and I found it challenging to use. My circles were not perfect and the end never matched up with the beginning… Is there some sort of trick to it?

Chef Hasegawa made Shepherd’s Pie and it was delicious! To make this heavy dish a little bit lighter, we used ground turkey instead of ground beef and added in extra peas and carrots. So simple & so good!

We also enjoyed gin drinks (London Dry Gin!) and giant cupcakes (not homemade) and then watched swimming and gymnastics together on the tiny TV. A relaxed celebration–the best kind.

 

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