Weekend in Review

 Weekend in Review - here we go!

Even though I was at work on Thursday, I had lunch plans with three friends. Our goal is to meet every month. They actually brought their lunches and we ate in the conference room where I work . . .but we were together.

On Thursday after work, we met Laura (hubby Allen was out of town and flights weren't working), Phella and Guy at Urban Cookhouse for a bite of dinner. Then we headed down the street to the Homewood Theater to see Steel Magnolias. They did an amazing job. The woman who played Ouiser Boudreaux was EXCELLENT. They were all good.

It was opening night and they always have a reception with snacks mentioned in the play - or that somehow tie in. They served cake made into the shape of a armadillo. It wasn't a real cake!

Instead they served red velvet cookies, fruit, and other treats.

I snapped a quick photo of the empty set. A local advertiser - Ash Salon - loaned the chairs to them.

The guy in the front right is the owner of the theater - Kyle Bass. He is in our Sunday School class and sings in the choir.

Other things I did this weekend . . .homework, more homework . . .this is the last week of the semester. You may commence singing the Hallelujah chorus! Please!

I made bows for all of the wreaths that I bought on Black Friday and I hung those. Mark helped me hang the garland over the front door.

I watched Mariah Carey and listened to her sing beautiful Christmas music while I made bows.

On Saturday, from 2-4 p.m. our neighborhood had a Holiday Home Tour. I invited both sister-in-laws, but only one could come. I invited our daughter-in-law and local 9 1/2 year old granddaughter. The admission price went to a charity picked by the tour homeowners.

We saw some beautiful decorations.

This was the first home we visited -- at the end of your visit you were given a tiny decorated cookie made by a local baker in the neighborhood (who does an excellent job!).

We headed to the next home.

Nutcrackers - the huge ones - were especially popular this year. The first home was decorated by a professional. The second home was decorated by the couple, which I loved.

Here begins the tour of the second home.

The nutcrackers played music (music boxes).

I loved the husband's office. It gave us a hint for the rest of the home - pheasant feathers!

His tree had all sorts of hunting and fishing ornaments. Our granddaughter said, "Pops would like this tree."

Their powder room had another nutcracker PLUS GRASSCLOTH wallpaper. Our first home, purchased in 1985, was covered in grasscloth wallpaper which we ripped off. The walls had not been properly prepared and it was horrible. The sight of grasscloth gave me flashbacks. Our daughter-in-law had never seen this type of wallpaper before.

They had a tophat on top of the tree - loved it!! I also loved those ginormous red jingle bells by the fireplace.

Here is our girl by another nutcracker - catching a theme?

We moved on to Ann and Jane's house next. I love Ann and Jane. They are retired sisters and they have amazing life stories. They sold their two homes in our neighborhood and combined into one giant household where they have shared spaces and some spaces of their own plus spaces for their animals.

This is in the back yard and is so beautiful.

Our daughter-in-law is on the left and our granddaughter is in the middle and my sister-in-law is on the right -- she is the one married to Mark's identical twin brother. 

Ann and Jane's home is lived in and decorated with travel memorabilia from all over the world. It is eclectic and fun to look at.

This is a reproduction of a Scandanavian dining set - maybe from the 1950's??

Look at this amazing European antique
chandalier! It is a ship - yes, a ship!
It is hanging in their entry hall.

This is in Jane's space upstairs. It is the most fun sofa in a crazy fabric!

Our fourth home had even bigger nutcrackers at the door!

I think I heard someone say that the owner of this home is an eye doctor. I'm thinking possibly an eye surgeon or an owner of a lot of clinics? He was older. We did meet him.

The dining room had an Asian flair. The gold wallpaper was gorgeous and the kimono on the wall was lovely -- and what a great statement art piece!!

They had a picture of their family and it was big and they had the space for everyone to be seated at dinner -- between a large dining room table and a massive kitchen table.

I loved this simple decoration on the kitchen counter!

This was the powder room - reminiscent of the dining room paper!

Their main bedroom had pressed tin ceilings!

The pine cones on this garland were massive and I don't normally like blue at Christmas but this blue velvet ribbon was lovely.

This house had another outdoor space that was so lovely. This was a hot tub . . and maybe a soaking pool. They had a full outdoor kitchen with more dining space outside.

This was my favorite part of the house. Their massive basement was amazing. They had a full bar and they had hired a bartender for the tour. I had a tiny cup (my choice of size) of spiked egg nog. They also served charcuterie cups. In addition to the spiked egg nog, you could have non-spiked egg nog or coffee or water.

This was their TV room - this Santa looks real and he is huge!

There was also this giant train between Santa and the tree.

I was standing in the doorway to the TV room above and facing back into the larger room.

I love the decorations on the tree in the TV room.

Our last house was the most unusual. It is a grey house with yellow doors that all open onto the front porch and I've always wanted to go inside. It wasn't what I expected. The homeowner(s) love black and not only is the house decorated in black and white (evidently all of the time). . .but the Christmas decorations were all black and white.

Eat in kitchen above

One of the many game rooms below

Everything is black and white!

Oh wait -- a touch of gray . . .black and white make gray!

Even the bar tray had black and white elements.

My favorite part of this house was the outdoor space. It was one of the most beautiful spaces I've ever seen. It was like a resort - like a scene from a movie.

I want to have a party in this space.

When we came home, I told Mark that we do not need a bigger house (ours is right under 3000 square feet) and we don't need it to be perfectly decorated. I was able to snap a photo of our house as our daughter-in-law and granddaughter were leaving to go home. She looks pretty good!

I finally started putting a few decorations on our tree - I will finish it in a day or so. After I take my final this week, I will be able to complete our decorations - the nativity isn't out yet; I need to decorate the dining room table; I need to decorate the mantle; I need to soak my oasis and make my saddle of greenery for the mailbox. I've ordered a few presents for the granddaughters. I've started addressing the Christmas cards. If anyone would like a card, please email me your address. My email is lelliott@trinitybirmingham.com (best to copy and paste to make sure you get all of the "L's" and "T's" and the whole long domain name. I'll send you a card . . . and if you are sending out cards, please send me one back!