Late week musings and fall is in the air!

Good morning everyone. Hope you have had a good week. Mine has been crazy busy and I have to admit I am glad its nearly over. Busy day today making candy sushi for a school fair this weekend and I absolutely cannot wait until Sunday....I plan to stay home in my pjs all day, reading, catching up, cooking, doing whatever I please! I need a day like that desperately.......how's your week gone?
 I am happy to announce the lucky winner of one of Anita's beautiful creations from the post on Monday. Congratulations to Mary Casey of Painting and fine art. Please email me with shipping info and thanks Anita for your beautiful giveaway.

Giveaway result:

64  painting and fine art October 15, 2012 11:48 PM  number 4 is so pretty! Thanks for such a cute and creative

The most exciting thing around here lately is that the loggia is done!! So excited and it came out so beautiful. For now we placed a table and four chairs we have owned there to have something but eventually we are going to put the new furniture out there (to be ordered on Monday) and use that stone table and add wicker chairs to it and place it more the corner. We still need lighting but its done and its very exciting. I cannot wait to start using it......

Here's some of what I have in mind......

It's starting to look like fall around here.....absolutely beautiful time of year and with the abundance of trees in our area, I must say its like a magical spell has been cast and its just breathtaking at every turn. It really just started happening a few days ago but I have enjoyed trying to capture a little bit of it on film, here's what I got....so far. I assure much more to come as things really rev up!

Cooking and baking are practically synonymous with the word holidays. I fell over seeing these delectable goodies. I am considering a holiday cocktail party, seeing these scrumptous treats has me leaning towards doing it but then again its my stomach talking not my head which knows how much work/stress it can be. Have to think about that one but feast your eyes on these!  I mean seriously if these won't put you in the holiday mood, what will?

Opening the door to my heart...so cute!

Whoa! Bring on the milk!

Colin Cowie (husbands and boy would love the mini versions of their favorites)

Too cute

Holy cow! Caramel apple cake...oh yea!

Peter Callahan

Gorgeous beef wellington

Now that I have you hungry......sorry, they were just too special to not share! I am excited, going see this movie tonight, The eye has to travel about Diana Vreeland. As soon as I had read about it, knew I had to see it and its playing in my neck of the woods. Diana Vreeland was a remarkable pioneer and this movie celebrating her life and contributions looks fantastic!

Two books I just ordered and cannot wait to get...do you have them? What do you think? They both look like winners, hope they don't disappoint!

On a fashion front...I looooove boots. Every year add a few to my collection. I have had some for years and years, cannot part with them. These are the ones I an currently coveting. The good news is they are all stunning and available in my size, the bad news is they are all from Gorsuch (favorite company) and now I need to narrow it down..........

No your eyes to do not deceive you, that IS fur and these are the J Mendel version of wellies!

Announced a frequent buyer program for my online store which is effective until Dec. 15th. Click here to visit yesterdays post if you didn't see it. (it has the details)

Last tidbit, hot off the presses, my guest room started to get done. I am overjoyed with how the crown/carona has come out. Granted the bedding, pillows and windows are not done. And the tiebacks I ordered haven't come in but I had to share a sneak peek, taken with my iphone last night. I will have an entire photo session with my camera when done (the colors aren't great here) but I was so happy with it wanted to show you one in progress shot....

That's about it, this is a short post (for me at least) just wanted to say hi and share whats new and exciting over here. What are you up to this weekend? Hope whatever you do is enjoyable and wonderful. Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Party planning and mission accomplished!

One thing to my fellow bloggers...nearly had a heart attack when I signed on this morning to feedburner to change my delivery time to my subscribers and saw my thousands of subscribers GONE! Apparently this is a known problem that they are working on...so don't be alarmed if you sign on and see the same thing.

Wow what a weekend! We had to go to the city Friday night for a function, but it was far from relaxing as the entire time my head was spinning with all had to do for my family party on Saturday....the drinks I still needed to buy, a market list a mile long,  figuring out if I had the right amount of plates, do I have silverware for 50? Yep......panic mood ensued. Getting home never felt so good as I sprang into action to do damage control. Things were better than I expected and I went to bed thinking I could pull it off. Sat woke up to beautiful skies and a fair dose of anxiety. Several hours later, after lots of little last minute errands and prepping, the party started coming together. I always allow myself to run around and stress up to a certain point, but I always (and this really works for me) set a time where I must be done with any errands and a time where I get my rest time. My 'cut off" was 1 pm....and sure enough by that time I had no need to get back in my car. Everything I needed was done and at home.....woo hoo.My other cutoff time was 4 and like clockwork I went up to my room and took a power nap (yes Mom I can admit that after all these years of you drilling that into me, they really do work)! So at about 5 I started prepping, getting all my appetizers under way, placing all the flowers where they needed to be, and basically getting the house all "prettied up". I always get in the party mood when I get to this stage.......I do not have any pictures to show you of the actual party......everything I must say looked so pretty. But I was so busy playing hostess that there wasn't a second to reach for my camera and sneak a picture besides think it would have been awkward to be running around on a photo shoot....lol. Next time I need a photographer:) But here's a recap of everything leading up to it...........WARNING EXTREMELY PICTURE HEAVY, SIT BACK, GRAB ANOTHER CUP OF COFFEE!!
Any time I want to entertain it always has to start with the flowers. Always. Any excuse to buy flowers, especially my beloved white orchids! I do have a local florist who carries beautiful ones but I have taken to doing them myself lately......I get a lot of pleasure out of it. This time I actually did them in the trunk of my car.......yep it became a makeshift florist:)

Batch one of my flowers ready for their makeover.......

Containers galore and here we go!

A big bag of moss to the rescue....

And we are done.....time to bring them inside

Finding their new "homes"

All the silver getting wrapped up in pretty napkins...

Guess whats getting hung!!!! My new chandelier.............

Using the sideboard as a buffet for the dinner plates

And my new sconces got put up in the living room....well two of them, rest this week!

Got a mirror hung behind buffet

Moving to the front of the house........

Of course I decorated the front of the house too....simple but I think very pretty

Loving the new softer colors of pumpkins...white, celadon and a pale melon....such neat colors!

And moving back  inside.........

 Even my two new dog paintings got hung...........

Love "dressing up" a vanity with all kinds of pretties........

Don't you love my new little cherub soap dish! Just added it to my online store.....

Peek into the pantry which was being used as a bar

One of my guests sent me this magnificent floral arrangement, its about 3 feet tall!

Surprise! Got my new chandelier up in the dining room and its perfect!!!!! I really love it.....brought down a pair of lamps from guest room just to use for the night

Another surprise...got my new sconces up in the living room....LOVE them!

Stunning aren't they?

The room is far from done, you have to imagine it with the right chairs, getting a mantle finally and the gorgeous chinoiserie paper that will grace the walls

Used this small English console as a table to hold the appetizer plates

First tray getting put out....sushi always one of the first things to go

I had a small round table for a few stationary appetizers and we had passed hor deuvres too (thankfully some left over for a serious eating session later today)

Icing on the cake...waking up to some goodies waiting to be opened, flowers enough to open up my own little florist and a box of chocolates from one of my favorite shops..........

Look at the mini bananas in this arrangement!

So that's a wrap for how things were on Saturday leading up to my family party. It was a lot of fun, all except for my poor sore feet that are paying the price of standing on them for too many hours so I will prop them up and take it easy today (of course while I am picking at all the leftovers lol). Hope you enjoy your day...gorgeous fall weather over here, loving it! Now excuse me while I go take inventory of the leftovers............(absolute best part of a party)!