Silver Service

Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Ours' was lovely but far, far too short. I vote for a minimum three day weekend...anyone with me?

I got a little antsy this week with the bookshelf in our bedroom and decided to make some changes. Just didn't look "pretty" to me and the top of it had become a hot spot for all sorts of odds and ends. One thing led to another and I ended up going through the dark recesses beneath our bed and rediscovering some silver plated trays and platters my mother-in-law had given me. Although I am determined to use these lovely things on a daily basis later in our life when we own a home and entertain several times a week (!), I really have very little use for them on a daily basis now. But I am dead set against "saving" my possessions for more worthy occasions!! Now is a worthy occasion and, darn it, I want to show off my silver!

I decided to display them throughout our home...

This is my bouquet...which you've seen before...but doesn't the tray look a million times better underneath it?

Our bookshelf from afar...

And up closer. I decided to create a little "perfumerie" tray and display some treasures...jewelry boxes, a carnival glass bud vase, an antique powder puff, and perfume bottles from my grandmother. I used a square glass vase to elevate my favorite silk arrangment of roses. I'm not usually a silk flower gal, but these blooms from Pier 1 met my standards. :)

I am looking for ways to brighten up our bedroom for the spring and I think the gleam of silver has really helped.

And our nightstand...much benefitting from a lovely pewter tray given to us as a bridal gift. Again, the reflection of the lamp light really awakens this corner of our room.

I love "shopping" our house and I think the trays help to compartmentalize our accessories, as well as add some beauty.
I am trying to learn how emphasize my collections without looking stuffy...I'd love more ideas as to how to do this, if you have any suggestions!

Hope you all have a beautiful Monday! If you're like me, it was a little hard to face the new week this morning. But be encouraged! Our Father is not a Father of fear and He is with you, even in your times of suffering.


John 9:1-3
"As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?'
'Neither this man nor his parents sinned ,' said Jesus, 'but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.'"


Much Love,
C

What else are you doing right now...?

I read in an article this week that some official survey somewhere reported that the most successful, powerful, and wealthy women in the world all report that they do NOT multi-task. HOW is that possible?!

I have thought about this all week. I am constantly multi-tasking. But the more I considered the issue, the more convinced I became that I am, in fact, NOT very good at multi-tasking. I just try it all the time. And fail. Mostly.

Pretty interesting, I thought.

A perfect example happened this week. I decided to 1. spend time with my husband 2. watch Friends and 3. cut out articles and pictures I want to save from magazines so I can purge my huge pile of publications....all at the same time....
I ended up, instead, focusing mainly on my magazines, slightly on Friends, and not paying my husband absolutely any attention at all.
I was, therefore, failing miserably at all three tasks because the entire point of pulling out the articles was to inspire updates in our home, which I ultimately do so that WE will have a home WE both will love and enjoy. I was "watching" Friends with him because WE love to watch it together and the whole point of not having anyone over that evening was so that WE could spend time together alone. Failed, failed, failed.

Ahh! These are the lessons I'm learning! Thankfully, the article I had read was fresh on my mind and I realized quickly what a mess I was brewing up. So I threw my scissors down (non-violently) and curled up by my husband on the couch.

Crisis averted. Multi-tasking eschewed.

Just one more day in the life of the first year....! :)

The Beauty of the Holy Women

Transform your dwelling space a little today with a fragrant candle and a hot cup of coffee (or hot chocolate or tea). I did this at work and it soothed my lady soul!

So what about resolutions? Got any good ones, friends? I'm all about short term goals because the discipline I can muster to get through the next 6 weeks is the only kind of discipline that will make those next 6 weeks count towards lifetime habits.
SO.....here it is!
I am not wandering around Target. I am not “browsing” an online store.
I am not flipping through magazines with an eye for anything but a new recipe or way to store socks.
I am refusing the temptation of a coupon.
Six weeks of non-frivolous buying, ladies.
Anyone wish to join me? Just think how this could change us!

Downline started up again last night and the ladies plunged ourselves into Womanhood study. This passage really woke me up:
1 Peter 3:1-5
"Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful."
Isn't that WONDERFUL!?

Much Love!

Happy 2010!

In all of that last post's hoopla about furniture rearrangement, it ended up that we needed only to 1. Move a bookcase out of the living room and into the bedroom, 2. Shift the two smallest pieces of furniture down the wall a few feet and 3. Switch the rocking chair from the bedroom to the living room. This did not take hardly any time at all and yet greatly affected the look, space, and "seatibility" of our living room.

This is a horrible "before" picture. However, you can see the antique sewing machine with computer on top sort of floating on that far wall and the black pie cabinet just hanging out to the left of that.

This is the new plan!

We both feel like there's a ton more space and the wires to the computer and stereo are much more neatly tucked into that corner back there (which is good when toddlers visit!). I love the pie cabinet being the focal point of the room. That's the first piece Caleb and I ever bought together...we got it at a craft's fair the fall of our engagement and we love it.

This is just a picture of the other side of the room. It's pretty cozy for us...as you can tell by the fact that someone had just been lying on that love seat. :)

I hope everyone's New Year's break was as relaxing as our's! We had such a great time holed up in our apartment watching 'Friends' and 'Seinfield' on dvd (Christmas presents!) and catching up on some reading. We went to see a movie, watched sweet Cecily Smith for a while Saturday evening, did a little shopping and got a lot of rest and sleep! The only real work I did was to quickly reorganzied two closests and the bathroom cabinets and it was so much easier to start back to the grind today having everything put up, cleaned up, and freshened up.

I did get to try out the new cookie press I got for Christmas...

These are Vanilla and Nutmeg Sugar Cookies made with my new Springerle press from House on the Hill.

Each cookie is a medieval woodcut scene of family life...a lady spinning yard, a man herding sheep, etc. They were unbelievably easy to make and they are just about too pretty to eat.

Thanks for reading my little blog, friends. I know it's just nothing at all, really...certainly not life-changing but I really enjoy posting about our itty bitty home. It keeps me motivated to always be making things better! If you haven't already, I highly recommend looking through my short reading list. The blogs these ladies have written are really fun to read and very inspiring. They really know what they're doing when it comes to decorating and keeping a home fresh and pretty.

Much Love!

New Year! New Arrangement!

There are two things I believe about taking down the Christmas tree:

1. You should ALWAYS plan to do something fun after you take down the tree. This does NOT under any circumstances mean eating black eyed peas. Regardless of how I was brought up, I refuse to believe that Christmas being over equates to eating something that tastes like dirt. (My mother doesn't really like black eyed peas either but I think she felt a little guilt ridden at the prospect of not cooking us up a pot of good luck for the New Year...)

2. You should ALWAYS do something to spruce up your living space with the festive stuff comes down. A New Year means a fresh start and this is the perfect time to clean out and liven up your dwelling place. New pretty things that you received over the holidays should be out and visible, while the items you've outgrown or outdone should be given away, thrown away, or, in the least ideal situations, stashed away. We are absolutely busting at the seams in the Sigler household so I am using the long weekend to reorganize several "hot spots" in our home and I have spent most of my short morning at work researching furniture placement techniques and drawing up a diagram of our living room. I'm reworking our space this weekend! Much to what will be my husband's great joy, I have found that I needn't move the larger pieces of furniture. According to the rules of best utilizing a small space (and most importantly, the rules of our comfort), the couch and sofa are already in the correct placements. There are a couple of little things that can be switched out, however, and I cannot wait to see what the new arrangement will look like!

I have also scored a new piece of furniture from my grandmother! I cannot wait to get it and, if it looks as great as I think it might, show you pictures! I think my weekend may also include a small bucket of robin's egg blue paint...

I found this pretty picture this morning. I love the color palette...
http://housemartin.typepad.com/housemartin/images/2008/04/20/lushcolor.jpg

Here's hoping you all have a wonderful New Year's!
Cheers!

Christmas Eve Eve!

Just thought I'd share some pics from the "treat making" at the Sigler household last night!I know I've already posted pics of our tree, but we've set it up on cinder blocks and packed the bottom with gifts! So fun!
These are our stockings! I quilted Caleb's last year while we were still engaged and I did mine this fall...his is bigger, which I regret. :) The stocking holders were made by Caleb's PawPaw!

This is my ornamented mirror above the dining table....

and this is the dining table! I love our table suddenly looks "Christmasy" with it's red and gold poster on the top! The little linens are lace pieces Mama brought back to me from Venice last spring and the gnome napkin holders were on sale for $2.99(!) at William Sonoma.

This is a pretty shot of our apartment. Teensy but very festive, I think! It is SO cozy to lay on that couch and enjoy the tree with my hubby.

Speaking of my hubby...here he is dipping Oreo truffles into the chocolate! He's so much better at this than I am, that I let him take over while I snapped pictures.

I love this shot of our "baby stove"...that's what I call it. See how little it is? I like to say it was custom made for me. :)

NOT my best picture but when Caleb protested to having his picture on the blog, I promised him I'd put one of myself "as is" as well....

I think we did a pretty good job...

Have a WONDERFUL Christmas, friends!!

Much Much Love,

Casey

Christmastime Is Here!

I am absolutely embarrassed at how long it's been since I blogged. I've been really conflicted. We've been so busy preparing for the holidays and working and seeing friends and I'd so much rather be actually doing the things I'd blog about than taking the time to blog about the things I'd like to be doing. :)

But it's time! I want to catch up a little before Christmas. This morning felt new and thrilling...the first day of Christmas week! Despite having to go to work (even on Christmas Eve!), my heart feels full of anticipation. I love this holiday! Our pastor spoke on Isaiah 9 yesterday. The prophetic words of Christ's life just sent chills up and down my spine. He reminded us that we are living life FROM victory, not TOWARDS victory, all because of the little Child God sent to save us from our sins. How beautiful!

Caleb and I have been entertaining like crazy the last couple of weeks. It's been so fun! We've actually managed to host (including ourselves) 8 adults and two babies in our teensy apartment. The trick is 1.) Shatterproof ornaments on the tree and 2.) Having a husband who will flip pancakes or help fill tea glasses at a second's notice. It's been an exercise in hospitality in small spaces and as I say, it can only get bigger from here!

I haven't even updated on Thanksgiving! Unfortunately, I don't have all my good pictures uploaded to the net yet. Our internet at the apartment has been running exceptionally slow. I promise, however, to upload some pics of my mother-in-law's silver service soon. I took some really good shots of it and I was fascinated by it at Thanksgiving. She has an entire cabinet full of the stuff!

Here are some pies at the Cannon/Overton feast. Caleb took this shot and I thought it was particularly pretty.




We're presently hosting some of our friends from Asbury this week and I have it on my schedule to make Oreo truffles with them tonight or tomorrow. I whipped them up last year and they were a pretty big hit. I'd love to hear from some of you ladies as to what recipes you'll be making/giving away this year.

Only three more days until THE Day!

Much Love,

C