IHWSH - It's Beginning to Look a lot Like...

A little holiday decor love for this week's I'll Have What She's Having. We have holiday decorating in our blood. Remember how our mom puts TWELVE TREES up each year? There are probably more little ones that aren't counted in that number. She's a pro. We aspire to be her, so here are some wishful thinking ideas.

Katie's Picks:

Love this wreath and little trees.

Glitter Reindeer

Wrap your doors like gifts.

O Holy Night Calligraphy

Jayne's Picks:

Card Garland

Easy evergreen wreaths

Mini tree advent calendar

Snowman wreaths

Turkey Day Firsts

Dac and I hosted our first holiday together this Thanksgiving, with his fam...

In our first house. (our family room is pretty much the only room with stuff in it at this point)

Using pretty much any kind of T-giving decor for the first time.

With a meal prepared by lots of great chefs in our first real (non-rental) kitchen. Go, Klanci, go!

Including our first turkey.

Which we ate on our China, used for the first time (other than to eat our wedding cake on our first anniversary). Was pretty excited about the gravy boat. Like our makeshift dining room table? Dac's parents were awesome to bring us a card table to use. (Still haven't found a dining room set we love. Suggestions welcome.) PS: See that hurricane in the middle of the table? My mom introduced me to the fact that a bag of cranberries looks really pretty around a candle for the holidays. Cheap and easy!

Then afterwards we went to our first Plaza Lighting Ceremony. Every Thanksgiving night, our Country Club Plaza has a big celebration leading up to when they "flip the switch" for the Plaza lights to come on for the season. They are beautiful and my fave thing about KC at Christmas time. By the amount of people that turned up it's obviously a tradition for a lot of families in KC to go to this thing.

As soon as the lights came on, they had a pretty awesome firework show that we turned out to be standing in the perfect spot for. Pretty sure those were my first Turkey Day fireworks.

Had to get a pic with the lights (our first of probably many this season).

Thanks for a great weekend McCabes!

Here's to a lot more holiday hosting ahead.

The List, Part 37

Sorry that all of my posts lately are random thought dumps, but...here we go again.

So in love with this house posted on Young House Love today.  Also, my mom and I get to meet John and Sherry (of YHL) on Saturday at a book signing - so excited!

I really want to make this skillet lasagna I saw on Annie's Eats.

I want to make this table. I want someone to make me this table.

Is Jessica Simpson really pregnant again?

I often eat lean cuisines for lunch (or dinner...).  This is my most favorite frozen meal - ever!  It's so good.

 

The Monday Giddyup

My weekend in review, via Instagram:

My tiny Pilgrim.

What a turkey.

Speaking of turkeys...

Nora's 1st Thanksgiving dinner...the usual.  Tablecloth from IKEA, it's perfect.

The Goose.

The festive goose.

My friend Megan gifted me with 3 bunny ornaments (one is me, one is Henry, and one is Nora.)  I love them on the tree!  They are from Anthropologie (where everything ships for free today, no minimum!)



Cute Mara Mi holiday stuff at Target (can't find it online).

Sweet baby.

I think this makes me the Large Fry, but I also received suggestions that perhaps my Milkshake brings all the boys to the yard or that I am the ketchup to her fries.

Hope y'all have a great week!

T. Hanks Giving

From Rifle Paper Co.

 

Source

Source

 

So much to be thankful for, we've had quite a year!  May you all have a happy, fun, and restful Thanksgiving.

PS: Happy birthday (tomorrow) to my sister-in-law and Nora's Godmother, Tia Mia!

 

Funny Girls

I love Mindy Kaling - her book, while a little random, was hilarious, and made me really want to be her best friend.  The opening scene from last week's episode of her show "The Mindy Project" was SO funny.  See this post from one of my favorite blogs, A Cup of Jo, to read more about Mindy (including an awesome quote) and find the link to watch last week's episode.

Source

And while we're on the topic of funny girls, this one is 19 weeks old today (on the 19th! Does that make it her golden birthday or something?):

This kid is the bomb.com.  What do you all think of that bow?  I don't feel the need to put a bow on her head so that people can tell she's a girl...I don't really care if people think she's a boy.  In fact, it might be good for her.  I was mistaken for a boy once in 7th grade (yes, that is late in the game).  Being 6 feet tall and 12 years old with a really bad boy haircut was clearly a winning combo.  It wasn't fun at the time, but I like to think of it as good character building.  Anyway, this really isn't about where my self-esteem comes from...are you a bow fan?  Does this just look like I'm trying too hard?  Do we all think NJ will be bald til she's 2 like I was?  This baby's got a lot to look forward to.

IHWSH - A Dance Party

This week was a long one, so I'll Have What She's Having - a friday afternoon dance party!

 

Snail Mail Your Email

We've professed our love for snail mail many, many times here, and it looks like there are some folks who took that love to a new level.  I just learned about an awesome project called "Snail Mail My Email."  Here's a quick description from the site:

"Snail Mail My Email is a worldwide collaborative art project where volunteers handwrite and artistically interpret strangers' emails and send these physical letters to the intended recipients, completely free of charge.

In 2011, 234 volunteers collectively sent 10,457 letters to over 70 countries, the content of which inspired 'Snail Mail My Email' - the book.

This project aims to reignite the lost art of letter writing, reminding us of the power of personal connection in a digital world."

Through Sunday, you can email your letter and the address of where you'd like it to go, and someone will send it, via snail mail, for free!  I just emailed mine to Nora, I think this project is so awesome.  If you visit the link, you can also see some examples of what has been sent, so fun.  I wish I'd thought of this!

Lonny, Lonny, Bo Bonny

As I posted last fall (whoa, almost exactly a year ago...I guess my mind is on an annual cycle, and the beginning of November is my favorite time to think about periodicals.  Hmmmm.) I have magazines coming out of my ears.  The time I now devote to sitting down with one is negligible at best (though I did read part of a People magazine this morning on the metro).  Because I've already got a huge stack to catch up on, I never get around to reading the awesome online magazine, Lonny.  The latest issue came out a few days ago, and though I haven't read it, I did peruse some of the photos, and found some beautiful stuff:

All images are from the November 2012 issue, found here.  If you do have time to add a magazine to your rotation, might as well check out this gorgeous (and free!) publication.