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.

Baby Boy, You Stay On My Mind

Over the weekend I was so lucky to hang out with my great friend Megan and attend her baby shower - it was so fun!  I also got to visit with her lovely Mama, her husband Alex, and their pug, The Captain.  Megan and I share a love of TV, and within the first 30 minutes of being together, we were already discussing how much we love the new show "Nashville."  It's so great!  And Megan then led me to my new favorite Youtube video, of two sisters who are on "Nashville":

Aren't they AMAZING?  They have a lot of other songs you can find on Youtube by searching "Lennon and Maisy" (love their names too!)

Megan's condo is really nice and she has done some cool decorating - I grabbed pics of a few awesome ideas:

This is a framed tea towel (of Chapel Hill landmarks, so of course I love it) - what a great idea!  The mat and frame make it really look nice. 

This is their office (love the pug art and the bright yellow lamp).  Megan picked out this awesome stick-on wallpaper that looked amazing with the wainscoting in the room.  This might be something I could talk Henry into because it just peels right off when you're done loving it.

She made these cool jewelry frames!  She just painted the plain frames around 3 little cork boards and added fancy paper to the cork (I think glue or tape would work for this) and used push-pins to organize her awesome jewelry.  I really need some of this organization/action at our house.

Close-up.  You can see that she used special push-pins too.

Me, Megan, and her Mama before her shower.  Wish I had some pictures from the shower, it was so cute!  My favorite party details were the book plates with The Captain on them, the one-of-a-kind Friday Night Lights onesie she was gifted, and the blue nail polish favors (it's a boy!).

Thanks for such a fun weekend, Lady O!

The Best Baptism Gifts

Not only did Nora have a great ceremony and party for her baptism, she also got some special gifts.  She got some super cute new clothes and her first Bible.  She was also gifted with these lovely items:

On the left from Grhonda and Grandbob (Uncle Sam got a "Godfather" tee to match) and on the right from Aunt Jayne and Uncle Dac.

An ADORABLE quilt made from this fabric by a new friend of mine, from Tia Mia.

A tiny little cross necklace from Grhonda and Grandbob.

The first charm for her charm bracelet from Uncle Sam (the other side shows a Baptism).

...And this GORGEOUS print from Jayne and Dac and pillow that I love so much, embroidered by my awesome Aunt Carolyn!

 

We are lucky ducks.  And here are a few recent pics of my little duck:

She started rolling over (constantly) last week and this was taken one morning when I went in to get her out of bed -she was SO PROUD of herself for rolling over in her crib.

This is her special, handknit sweater from a great friend of mine (thank you Chris!)  It is so sweet and cozy on her.

Typical NJ.

Baptized Baby

Back to reality after Superstorm Sandy hit DC the past couple days - we are so thankful to be safe and warm.  Sending goodness up to those areas hit harder.

Before we came home to Sandy on Sunday, we had a WONDERFUL weekend in Indiana to celebrate Nora's baptism.  We are a lucky little family, to be so loved.  Grhonda and Grandbob hosted a fun and delicious brunch for us and the whole family before the ceremony.  Here are some highlights of that party:


I ordered a glitter garland from "The Flair Exchange" - LOVE IT.  I plan to use it at all of Nora's parties.

Cake from Joy Ann's bakery in Richmond, IN - our favorite!  I love that it said "Bless Her Little Heart" - something we actually say all the time.



My mom had framed tons of pictures of Nora and used them all over the place.  She also took pink and orange ribbon and pinned it into the top and bottom of white pumpkins for centerpieces.  She made it look really easy, and it turned out so cute for a Fall party!



I bought this beautiful garland at Paper Source - you can make it say whatever you want!  I also plan to use this again and again.

Party favors from Nora - smiley face cookies (again from Joy Ann's).

 

I used this little bow punch on the tags for the cookies and a little program at the church.  I also plan to use it on the Thank you cards I send out (later this week...?)

And the baby of honor:

This gown has been passed down in my family for over 60 years - my Dad was baptized in it, I was baptized in it, and now Nora was too.  The Chuck Taylors are new - but her Godfather, Uncle Sam wore Chucks when he was baptized (in this gown) too!

She wore this dress from Zara Baby when she wasn't in her gown - it was SO CUTE on her!

The ceremony was perfect.  My great uncle, Father John (who also married Henry and I) performed the baptism, Aunt Jayne read "On the Night You Were Born", and then  Aunt Jayne, Godmother Tia Mia and Godfather Uncle Sam led everyone in singing "Tell Me Why."  We are so thankful to everyone who was there to help make it such a special family gathering!

Weekend Treasures

We just got back from a really special weekend in Indiana, for Nora Jayne's baptism. It was super quick  ... we were in town for less than 48 hours (and as you'll see below, at IKEA for a handful of those), but every moment was super special. It was so great to see the whole fam and celebrate NJ. Just couple of my fave Nora pics from the weekend (I'm sure Katie has more coming on all of the festivities):

Praying during the ceremony.

Silly afterwards.

We made a special trip to the IKEA in Cincinnati while we were in town. We crammed it in on Friday right after we got in. The hour drive each way after our 9 hour drive? Worth it. Of course we left with some odds and ends from the Marketplace (I think I said to Dac, which he then kept saying himself to make fun of me, "Now this is where I really get into trouble. You'll need to hold me back.") But for the more exciting items...

The Docksta table that I mentioned recently, which will be going in our kitchen when we have a chance to put it together:

And this awesome rug, which I've seen in some really beautiful living rooms on blogs/Pinterest and have had my eye on. The plan is our family room for this one, but it could move around to just about any room as time goes on.

And that's about all the house budget could handle at the moment. I had to really restrain myself from buying the Expedit shelves (for the office) and a Rast dresser to makeover (both mentioned in this post). Need to learn to take things slowly and remember we're going to be here for awhile. Home, sweet home. :)

Also, news flash: Tomorrow is Halloween. I keep forgetting.

We're In! + Hot Pockets

I officially feel like a grown up, or a pretend one at least. It was the strangest - and coolest - thing ever to walk into a big empty house that we OWN! We get to park in a garage ... and we have a back yard ... and nobody living above or below us. What a completely new world. So, we're pretty pumped.

Camping out pizza style on our first night slumber party:

Now that we spent all of our money on the house, we're preparing to live off of ramen noodles and hot pockets so that we can afford some new furniture. But don't worry, we'll still have it goin' on:

Pocket like it's hot..

Celebratreats

You would never guess that I made that up, right?  WELL, I DID.

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CELEBRATREATS

So, you know about Pinterest, right?  If you don't, more power to ya, but I sure do love it.  The main problem with Pinterest is that it can make you feel bad about yourself and your skills.  Any kind of skills.  Stuff on Pinterest is AMAZING.

Source

Well, this is where Celebratreats come in...to make you feel good about yourself!  Everyone can make these, in about 5 minutes.  That's not much of a commitment.  Creating these Celebratreats is about the maximum amount of time/energy/etc. I am willing to spend right now to make something fun/cool/special/pinteresting.  I made these to take to some friends who just had a baby (Henry made them super-delicious enchiladas, I will share that recipe soon).  So the next time you feel like getting crafty or doing something nice for someone but lack true motivation, hop on the Celebratreats train.

I just sprinkled a boatload of sprinkles into the treat mix after the rice krispies.  Magic.

It's Official

What's that we're holding? It's a folder full of the paperwork we signed yesterday morning when we closed on our house! Broke but happy, that's us. Lots and lots of fun to come. We can't wait to actually get the keys - either this Sunday evening or Monday morning! I guess it's time to start packing?

Since we're about to unlock the front door on our first house for the first time, thought it was a fitting time to talk door colors. This is what it looks like now... the red color is a much brighter red in person, and we actually really like it as it is...

But some other options that are at the top of the list. Thoughts/preferences welcome.

#1:

#2 Love this Benjamin Moore Bullseye Red (sort of a coraly-red).

#3: 

#4 (maybe brighter?)

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Come and knock on our door ... anytime!