I am thankful for sticks. (Among other things, of course.)

I love entertaining. I feel like a grown up now that we host Thanksgiving each year. I love any excuse to make new centerpieces or to try a new recipe. (I also appreciate the motivation to really clean the house...)

This year, I have been loving sticks and branches. First of all, they're free. Second, you can do just about anything to them; and third, when you're done with them they make great fireplace kindling.

I just got done spray painting hundreds of them black for a Halloween party. For Thanksgiving I went au natural.

I began by gluing moss to some vertical bases that Handsome Hubby made me several years ago for some centerpieces I did for a wedding. (HH is brilliant and made sure he designed these bases to let me use them over and over again, in several different ways.)

After I glued the moss to the base, I took my (FREE!) sticks and branches and wired them onto the base as well. With the natural wood of the sticks, I wanted to add some bling as a nice contrast, so I raided HH's tackle box for some fishing line and strung a few crystal beads from the branches.

I wired on votive cups also.

I wasn't going to go nuts. I was going to keep it simple. However, the bare sticks with the clear crystal and clear glass really needed something. Turned out the something was, um, leaves.

Grant and I spent about 20 minutes in front of a neighbor's house and picked up the gorgeous red leaves that had fallen from their tree.... And then I spent a solid 2 hours hot gluing the leaves onto the branches.

I think the effect was worth it.

Then I thought I needed something to mask a flower bed that is full of dirt, rather than flowers. I got big branches, glued more leaves, and was fortunate enough to have beads already strung on fishing line from a Mother's Day Brunch I did 3 years ago.

It looks kind of sparse in the photo, but it looked fine for the dinner.

Of course, what good are floral arrangements if there is no one to make them for? I love my family! They are so fun.

How cute is my dad?!

I hate my camera. I've been putting it off, but I think it's time I finally read the instructions about the different settings.

Weather was crisp but pretty...

By the way, I am definitely one of those people who likes to use real glasses, real plates and real utensils (as opposed to plastic) so it just cracks me up that my Uncle actually brought his own red plastic cup to my house.
He brought a plastic cup.
Brought his own.
I'm still laughing.

Handsome Hubby takes his turkey carving duty seriously.

My sis and her husband, my parents, HH and Grant. Why do little kids at this age smile just by baring their teeth?

You know.... my dad will just put up with so many posed photos, then he is just done.
Done, I tell you.

Having family around, relaxing after a great meal, is so wonderful. I guess if we did it more often it wouldn't seem as special.

By the way, my sticks looked great by candlelight....

It's been a long day and I better get to bed. I have to get up in the morning and transform these arrangements into kindling.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank God for friends... (a self-indulgent photo post.)

With Thanksgiving on the brain, we can't help but count our blessings. Of course I'm thankful for my family. Of course I'm thankful everyone is healthy. Of course I'm thankful for our blessings...

But lately, I've really been counting the blessings that are my girlfriends. There are about 9 of us that have been friends since junior high and high school. (Um, so we're talking 30+ years. Oy.)

My core group of girl friends are everything to me. They are my sounding board, they are my inspiration, they are my teachers, they are my comfort, they are my entertainment, they are my laughter.... I love them to pieces!

What follows are some of my favorite photos. I'm being self indulgent, posting all of these, but it's my blog... so I'll do what I want. :)

Backyard BBQs...


Weddings....


Reunions....

How time flies. That photo was taken 5 years ago at our 20th high school reunion... Click here to see the 25th.

Girls' Nights Out...


We Norco Girls are pretty tight knit, but that doesn't mean you can't hang out with us. We've had several girls become honorary Norco Girls. This usually happens through marriage to a Norco Boy, but sometimes people just click.

My friend Jodi has become an honorary Norco Girl and Raquel fits right in too.





While he doesn't qualify as a girlfriend, this guy is just as dear to me as my gals. I've known Scott since 5th grade, when we were both picked to take care of the class lizard. Many, many, many years later, he is the brother I never had... he is Conner's Godfather... our parents are dear friends... and I refer to his mom as my "Other Mother". (Actually, we kind of look like we could pass as siblings.)


My two very best friends, Eva and Chris, are the people who probably know me better than anyone. And they still love me. How great is that?!





I love my friends.

I love that we've all been together for years and our friendships have only grown stronger... That we can handle the challenges life throws at us with laughter and hope.

I love that we can have a good time no matter what or where.


And I love, love, love that my best, best, BEST friend just happens to be a Norco Boy. And that I am fortunate enough to be married to him.


Life is good. Happy Thanksgiving.

How to tell your kids the truth about Santa...

It's that time of year. The level of interest in Santa is ramping up. At a certain point, kids start to doubt. Kids are discussing their belief (or lack thereof) on playgrounds. They are wondering if it's all true.

When it's time to have that talk with them, how do you do it so that your child doesn't have a bucket of ice water thrown onto his or her visions of sugarplums? How do you tell them gently?

And parents? It really should be YOU who tells them. Not the blabber-mouth kid next door.

I don't mean to sound all prideful, but I really do think that we've figured out the best way to tell them. You avoid the "You lied to me!!" accusations and you preserve the magic of the season.

Click here to read how. And good luck!

A Freddy Krueger Christmas...

Yarn wreaths are all over blog-land. They're pretty cute. I don't know if they're "me" but they are cute.

My church is having an Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest. I made my own special version of a yarn wreath to help promote it. This was very difficult for me to do. My inner artist screamed herself hoarse....


Just looking at it makes me shudder. Gah. But then again, it's designed to.

Bono's ego is no match for a 6 year old....

Scene: the dining room table. Conner is doing homework; Grant is coloring; I'm working on stuff for a holiday boutique on Saturday. U2 comes on the ipod playlist.

Grant: "Is this the Beatles?"

Conner: "No, it's U2."

Grant: "Wait.... like the internet YouTube or what...?"

Who says my kid is an under-achiever...?

On the same day that Mitch came home with a certificate that he made honor roll, and Conner came home with an honor roll certificate and a "Teacher's Choice" award.....
Devin came home with this award from his chemistry teacher.

He said it was because of the second criterion, so I guess it could have been worse.

I'm so proud. pfft.

The Great Halloween Party wrap up.

Handsome Hubby and I hosted a Halloween Party on Saturday night.

Thanks to the generosity of Shawn from Seriously, HH and I were fabulous vampires. She loaned us these great costumes. We got compliments on them all night long and people were amazed to hear that a bloggy friend I've never actually had the pleasure of meeting in real life would mail these from Florida. (My make-up isn't reading as scary in the pictures, but that is only because I'm next to Mr. White-Face here... I look like I've been in a tanning bed next to him!)

I spent weeks slowly pulling together the little details for this party. It is the type of thing that brings me joy. I had a blast doing it.

We set up a tent over our grass, but then decided against putting the canvas on. Instead we left the frame up and ran icicle lights along the framework, letting them "drip" into the middle, creating a chandelier effect for the table.

I had been collecting sticks and branches and spray painting them black. I suspended them from our patio cover.

I love how it turned out. The effect was exactly what I wanted. In addition to the branches, I took empty glass jars (jelly, spaghetti sauce, etc) and wrapped wire around them. I filled them halfway with rock salt and wedged taper candles in the salt. It was really cool. (Cheap and easy... you know how I love cheap and easy...)

My multi-use chandelier had been painted orange and it hung in front of our front window as guests walked up.

I draped black tulle around my temporary Halloween plates....

... and Grant and I spent some time tracing bats onto black card-stock, cutting them out and taping them to the wall. He had a great time creating a bat "colony." Double stick tape and some black feather boas turned my lampshades into something Halloween-ish.

I had been hating my mantel, but 2 giant black branches made it better.

There is so much fun to be found in the details. I lit a red candle and let the red wax drip down the white candlesticks. Bat clip art popped into frames or temporarily glued onto a platter helps to add to the overall effect. (Did I mention cheap and easy? This was free and easy since I already had printer ink & paper and candles....)

Personally, I think the most important part of any party is The. Bar.

I decorated planters and used chandeliers I already had.

I'd never used this spiderwebby stuff. I like it.

For this planter, (which is not doing too well because the dog keeps hopping in there and trampling plants) I tossed in a few pumpkins and extra branches that I did not have time to spray paint. I spread the spiderwebs all over everything and put candles behind it all. The effect was great.


While the decor is fun, it is no good at all without good friends.

Snooki and this 80's spandex/hair band rocker were my favorite costumes of the evening. (You have NO IDEA how normally buttoned down and reserved this rocker is in his real life. Hysterical!)

It was sooooo much fun. I had such a great time.

There were lots of things I had intended to do: Black roses made out of coffee filters.... paper mache spiders and pumpkins.... dry ice in jars, hanging from the patio cover along with the candles...

But here's the thing: unless my party guests read my blog, they have no idea anything was missing. The only person who knows I didn't get it all done is me. (And, well, you guys...)

I guess I'll get to those things next year. For now, I better just concentrate on cleaning up the aftermath.

For now, I think I'm going to take an Advil, drink some water, and start pulling down spider webs. Hope you all had a great Halloween!