Well I had hoped to post yesterday, but the day just got away from me...
How so?
Groceries, christmas shopping (I think I am done - Wahoo!), buying a Christmas Tree (must be capitalized, wait till you see the size below!), doing a 2013 family budget (since one of us, the one who does not own fairy shoes, will be moving on to a pension and the vagaries of self-employed consulating and like Dani, we may have two in university next fall and would like to eliminate our mortgage sooner than later), sleeping on the couch, bringing the christmas tree in and then falling asleep on the couch again! It is a full life and i do not like to brag. Oh and I went to Starbucks and for a decaf gingerbread latte! Dreadful concoction and I loved every sip of it!!!
The Tree
We found this tree at a local lot just down the road. It had been cut down just this past week from the fellow's own woodlot. It was a beauty and everything i look for in a tree :
balsam fir - check!
At least 7 feet tall - check!
Very wide - check! (we like a fat tree)
LOTS of branches - check!
My husband think I am whacked because the fellow only wanted to charge me $25 for this tree but I insisted on paying $40! I am a forester's daughter after all and gotta support our Christmas tree industry!
But... it was bigger than we anticipated! This is the tree when first brought in!
And "tucked" into the corner (as much as you can tuck a tree that by rights should be called "THE TREE".
And then we decorated! It is wonderful to have a tree in the house!! I am a complete and utter druid!!!
Fully trimmed with basket of wind-up toys beneath!
And then lit at night:
Do not ask why my BB only really shows blue lights - haven't a clue! Will take proper pics with my camera in next few days!
And side view from sitting room:
Over the coming days I will show a few close-ups of some of my best loved ornaments!
One I thought you might like especially is from my Mother's mum. This was an ornament from her tree:
And for Dani, the angel on top of the tree:
hard to get a good sense of her in this picture - she is quite lovely!
And since I am feeling sentimental tonight, a shot of a wooden ornament painted by my dad one Christmas, probably around 1970 or so. Someone gave him a kit in his stocking and he painted a bunch of these (I have three and my sister had the other three) and they are quite precious to me now! It is funny how it was 42 years ago but I can still picture him sitting in his lazy-boy, with a an old aluminum tv table in front of him, painting these while watching TV!
It has held up pretty well!
Now to the blouse!
You recall, I made the hail mary pass on the fancy ivory or white blouse and ordered this lovely:
\\
Sadly, this will not be staying with me. It is the kind of ivory with yellowish undertones, not white, which is not my colour. The V is just a little two v and shows cleaveage, which I do not do at work, ever. As well, because of my hair, you don't see the ruffle a tthe top and so it just doesn't show what I considered to be the nicest feature of the blouse. I could size down, but the colour is not for me. To be honest, it also did scream $250CDN blouse (though I got mine 30% off). It screamed more like $100CDN.
See the pics below!
Sorry about the leggings - I was wearing my tree trimming outfit and just slipped this on for a picture. What you cannot see is that there is at least 2 inches of cleavage showing if you get close. I do not want to wear a cami with this, so right away, a no go!
A closeup of the trim around the neck. It is quite well done. Not sure if you get a sense of the pale yellow undertones here. It is almost a very pale pale yellow in certain lights (at least to me!)
The craftsmanship is quite good for a JC item and the buttons look like little screw heads and are such a lovely pearl..
I think you can get a sense of how deep the V is in this picture!
This belongs to someone, just not me! I have decided to wait to find the blouse of my dreams here in town or in NYC in March. I will check out the after christmas sales as well. I think that given my body type, I ought to stick to JCrew for things that i know work - i.e. tippis, ballets (in general) tshirts and leave the rest alone - it is too difficult when it all comes by mail! Of course, I say that now but reserve the right to change my mind!!! I still have two packages coming from last sake, but that is it and i am pretty sure most will go back!
SO Happy Sunday Night/Monday morning! I hope your weekends were merry and bright! We are getting a big snowstorm overnight, so we may yet ave a white Christmas!
Stay Safe out there!
How so?
Groceries, christmas shopping (I think I am done - Wahoo!), buying a Christmas Tree (must be capitalized, wait till you see the size below!), doing a 2013 family budget (since one of us, the one who does not own fairy shoes, will be moving on to a pension and the vagaries of self-employed consulating and like Dani, we may have two in university next fall and would like to eliminate our mortgage sooner than later), sleeping on the couch, bringing the christmas tree in and then falling asleep on the couch again! It is a full life and i do not like to brag. Oh and I went to Starbucks and for a decaf gingerbread latte! Dreadful concoction and I loved every sip of it!!!
The Tree
We found this tree at a local lot just down the road. It had been cut down just this past week from the fellow's own woodlot. It was a beauty and everything i look for in a tree :
balsam fir - check!
At least 7 feet tall - check!
Very wide - check! (we like a fat tree)
LOTS of branches - check!
My husband think I am whacked because the fellow only wanted to charge me $25 for this tree but I insisted on paying $40! I am a forester's daughter after all and gotta support our Christmas tree industry!
But... it was bigger than we anticipated! This is the tree when first brought in!
 |
| that is barry on the floor trying to get it to stand straight! |
And "tucked" into the corner (as much as you can tuck a tree that by rights should be called "THE TREE".
And then we decorated! It is wonderful to have a tree in the house!! I am a complete and utter druid!!!
Fully trimmed with basket of wind-up toys beneath!
And then lit at night:
Do not ask why my BB only really shows blue lights - haven't a clue! Will take proper pics with my camera in next few days!
And side view from sitting room:
Over the coming days I will show a few close-ups of some of my best loved ornaments!
One I thought you might like especially is from my Mother's mum. This was an ornament from her tree:
And for Dani, the angel on top of the tree:
hard to get a good sense of her in this picture - she is quite lovely!
And since I am feeling sentimental tonight, a shot of a wooden ornament painted by my dad one Christmas, probably around 1970 or so. Someone gave him a kit in his stocking and he painted a bunch of these (I have three and my sister had the other three) and they are quite precious to me now! It is funny how it was 42 years ago but I can still picture him sitting in his lazy-boy, with a an old aluminum tv table in front of him, painting these while watching TV!
It has held up pretty well!
Now to the blouse!
You recall, I made the hail mary pass on the fancy ivory or white blouse and ordered this lovely:
\\Sadly, this will not be staying with me. It is the kind of ivory with yellowish undertones, not white, which is not my colour. The V is just a little two v and shows cleaveage, which I do not do at work, ever. As well, because of my hair, you don't see the ruffle a tthe top and so it just doesn't show what I considered to be the nicest feature of the blouse. I could size down, but the colour is not for me. To be honest, it also did scream $250CDN blouse (though I got mine 30% off). It screamed more like $100CDN.
See the pics below!
Sorry about the leggings - I was wearing my tree trimming outfit and just slipped this on for a picture. What you cannot see is that there is at least 2 inches of cleavage showing if you get close. I do not want to wear a cami with this, so right away, a no go!
A closeup of the trim around the neck. It is quite well done. Not sure if you get a sense of the pale yellow undertones here. It is almost a very pale pale yellow in certain lights (at least to me!)
The craftsmanship is quite good for a JC item and the buttons look like little screw heads and are such a lovely pearl..
I think you can get a sense of how deep the V is in this picture!
This belongs to someone, just not me! I have decided to wait to find the blouse of my dreams here in town or in NYC in March. I will check out the after christmas sales as well. I think that given my body type, I ought to stick to JCrew for things that i know work - i.e. tippis, ballets (in general) tshirts and leave the rest alone - it is too difficult when it all comes by mail! Of course, I say that now but reserve the right to change my mind!!! I still have two packages coming from last sake, but that is it and i am pretty sure most will go back!
SO Happy Sunday Night/Monday morning! I hope your weekends were merry and bright! We are getting a big snowstorm overnight, so we may yet ave a white Christmas!
Stay Safe out there!
WMM, your tree is glorious and I love that flashback about your Dad. No being a cross girl (sure your stockings are too pretty for lumps of coal). Think it is a good plan to just JC the staples you truly love. Perhaps we were expecting overmuch to find everything in just one brown box. Variety is the spice of life and all. Happy Monday to you and yours, especially the tree fixer.
ReplyDeleteHA! GF you are so right! I think I had the malady of "JCrew Sale Fever" - I recall others suffering from this in the past! Too much is still (sometimes!) too much! Srill waiting for the snow to arrive - schools were cancelled today!
DeleteOMG, not only do we have the same life at times, we might be married to the same guy! My husband does not understand why I would insist on paying more if I didn't think fair (and tip the guy another $10 honey, he did NOT have to bring me the blackberry I left behind).
ReplyDeleteYour Christmas tree is not only beautiful, it is the most perfect Christmas tree. Fat and full, it is glorious. And I love love old and meaningful ornaments.
I wondered about that blouse, I think georgette equals see through and not thick and lush. Are my assumptions off?
Tiffany Rose - i think someone ought to do our geneology! I am sure we are related somewhere back in time! I definitely have American cousins, though I don't know any of the now! We have definitely got to meet someday!
DeleteI do love a fat tree but I cannot lie - I pretty much love every kind of tree and every way they are decorated - it usually makes me quite faklempt (sp)! As you can always see - I am not a decorator at all, and probably half of my stuff doesn't work, but am more of an "assembler" - Kind of layering it all on in weird and wacky ways!
The blouse was not really see through - it was a thicker silk fro sure than the Blythe, but I didn't have the OMG! moment and if I don't have it, it doesn't get to stay! I don't expect OMGs from really basic staples typically!
BTW - I wore my fair isle leggings yesterday while trimming tree and husband was just speechless - he asked if I would be wearing them out of the house! So of course, I will be now...
I love the perfect trees but I also love the Charlie Brown trees, always rooting (ha! knee slapper) for the underdog. I am a tree hugger. Agree on the OMG on staples but there are times when I do get the OMGs from basics so I know it's possible. And when somebody says I can't is when I say let me show you ...
DeleteOkay - we are related for sure! My BIGGEST personality flaw is that I do NOT want to follow rules, ever. I am quite mild-mannered and I do not ever break the law, but if people tell me to something some way, I always try to figure out how I could do it differently. My husband finds me mad for doing that!
DeleteThat tree is an absolute beaut, that would cost you about 4 times as much over here and the decorations made me feel nostalgic, they remind me of the ones I had as a chid - which rotter mum threw out! The crazy leggings are perfect for tree trimming, I love crazy inhouse wear.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tabs = there must be a happy medium, but I don't know what it is - my parents through all out EXCEPT christmas - they hung onto it all thank god - but in reaction we keep it all! My crawl space is a wonderful place to come shopping!
DeleteAre you having a storm?! We had the dreadful freezing rain last night while my precious Miss was at swimming lessons with MrBP, she came home thrilled: even though she didn't get her swim level she said "hey we survived the drive home!"
ReplyDeleteYour tree is GORGEOUS I love it. I'm so envious, we don't have ours yet. I'm scared to get one I never know when more drywall or giant plumbing boxes are going to show up in the living room. Thanks for spotlighting your angel for me!
Too bad about the blouse, I've had to stop ordering things as sending things back is a hassle, expense and stress. My last huge order was all sent back and has not been processed even though it has been 3 weeks, I'm going to have to try to track it down today.
I hope you don't have to drive today, do you get snow days? Maybe you could work at home in your leggings!
It just started! Barry brought me and will pick me up since the going will be bad by afternoon apparently!
DeleteI am like you the last comers will be it for quite a while - I have spent $100 in last 2 months returning things! Not a happy camper here!
ps - i am suffering drywall in the basement family room as our laundry room is completely torn apart - hope that the fellow gets it finished and painted before Christmas and then it will just be the flooring fellows in January!
Delete(oh oh, scary music plays) When the weather is bad (or as bad as it ever gets in SoCal), husby takes me to work and picks me up, I am quite spoiled on that.
DeleteWhat?! That is crazy what you spend on return postage. Do you not get the return shipping labels?
Oh Tiffany Rose (sniff, sniff) they don't do that for Canadians.... Cue really scary music.... BR, Old navy and gap do as they have a canadian distribution centre. So sad....
DeleteOn positive note, things I ordered for Barry came today and all was swell! Men have it so easy!
Love your tree and especially love the ornament that your dad painted. So sweet.
ReplyDeletethanks A! I would not be surprised to find an animal living in that beast!
DeleteYour tree is so beautiful! Ours has been up in the stand for a week and has not fallen over, and Dh has tied it to the wall with fishing line, so I now deem it safe enough for ornaments. It has a terrible bend in the bottom of the trunk (didn't notice that until we were cutting it) so anything can happen, but it is very pretty. I love the ornament your dad painted, that is so special and the best thing is it is the kind that will likely not get broken.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the white blouse. I actually think the silhouette looks very nice on you, but I see why you sent it back if it is too low-cut and the wrong color.
I was cracking up at your husband's comment about wearing the leggings out of the house, you totally have to do that now :)
Thanks Cate! Our tree is the leaning tree of NB!!! It will be a tourist destination!!!
DeleteI liked the silhouette too, but think I can do better and I definitely don't want to put on a "show" at work!
And you can bet your bottom dollar I will be wearing those leggings everywhere!
What a beautiful tree and the shot of Barry under the tree is one angle I've seen many times. I was hoping the blouse would have fit. IMO it looks big ...oh well something to find in N.Y.
ReplyDeleteI wish it would snow here but it poured all weekend.
Well our snow just turned to freezing rain! Yuck!!! not fun!!!
DeleteBeautiful tree, WMM. We grew ours from seedling and it is much skinnier, less full, but natural looking. We decorated last night to the same old GRP Christmas jazz CD we dig out every year. I feel so sad the day it "has' to come down; I would love to live with a tree in the house much of the time, fellow druid!
ReplyDeleteI have two wee norfolk firs that are in my downstairs basement but one of my forester buddies says I am not being nice to them and plant them outdoors next year, so I will do so reluctantly!
DeleteI dream of living where I could have a bunch of christmas trees! I need to have a job as the social secretary to someone high priced individual so I can do this!
Your tree is gorgeous! So colorful and matching your exuberance. Barry is a hero!
ReplyDeleteSome years ago we have moved and I could not find the box with ornaments. Secretly, I was glad to have a chance to only buy transparent glass and silver ornaments and have a 'stylish' tree. In the end I thought the tree looked very elegant but boring that year. So later that year, I was beyond thrilled to locate the box full of the colorful, kitschy goodness, I have learned that I love the look at all those school craft mishaps, cheap ornaments bought when we were very poor, gifts from friends and coworkers and other 'memories' accumulated over the years. Memory of 'lost box year' and 'stylish tree' are included too.
AJC - I hear you! Our tree has antiques ornaments all the way to construction paper ornaments. I have ornaments that friends gave me in high school and one that Barry got from his old girlfriend! At least one time during the holidays we will sit around the tree and talk about each one. I am so happy now that the tree is up - I am almost giddy!
DeleteNow that is some tree. One of the best things about Christmas is the many sentimental things that we get to enjoy all at once. So precious.
ReplyDeleteITA, cleavage is not an appropriate accessory for the office. I think the blouse is a bit secretary-ish, and not in a good way.
xoxo - you made me laugh out loud! I am so with you on cleavage at the workplace!
DeleteWhat an absolutely gorgeous tree, WMM! I love all of your decorations, and the fact that they hold so much sentimental value. That is the same with the decorations on our tree, and I wouldn't have it any other way right now.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear that the blouse didn't work out, but glad you decided to return it since you didn't get 'the feeling' over it. After all, there will always be something else to love, and you will know it once you find it. :)
What a fabulous Christmas tree WMM! Your sentimental ornaments are precious. I put some of my mom's decorations on the tree every year to sort of have her with me at this time of year.
ReplyDeleteAh, sorry to read the blouse didn't work out for you. As you say though, the perfect one may turn up on your trip to NYC.
Thanks ABC!! Beware - the post I just did could cause you some health issues! It is quite horrifying!!!
Delete