My Week According to Instagram

Christmas is coming!  And for once, I'm ready early.  My flat is all decorated, the presents are all purchased and wrapped.  This week I helped my Mum get a tree and decorate her house.  Yesterday and today I spent the day wrapping all the gifts.  I made them extra pretty by using ribbons and handmade gift tags available in my Etsy shop.  They really are a special touch to any gift, if I say so myself.

1. Yummy dinner: twice baked potato, chicken Cordon Bleu, and brown sugar carrots.

2. Vintage hand embroidered tea towel.

3.  Letting Instagram followers know about this post.

4. Working on a custom Kindle cover.

5. Finally had the chance to wear the 1940's nurse's cape.

6. Minus the cape: green plaid dress and hat.

7. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters at the Dollar Tree.

8. Pretty in pink.

9. A side view of the hat.

10. Mini Christmas tree and vintage Santa Claus.

11. Watching one of my favorite films, Christmas or not: Love Actually.

12. Smudger after having a bath.

13. Keeping Smudger warm after his bath.

14. Some of the pretty presents I wrapped using these gift tags.

I'm really excited for next weekend because that is when the cookie making will commence.  Today we are coming up with a game plan for exactly what kinds we are going to make.  Mum and I are also enjoying some holiday movies.  We first watched Christmas with the Kranks and are currently enjoying the lovely Celtic Thunder Christmas DVD as I type this post.

What are your plans for the upcoming weeks for celebrating Christmas?

In the Blue

This set my mum took for me, which means loads of options when it came to what to post.  There are a ton that didn't make it on that I'll be putting up on Facebook. 

It's hard to look at photos from Summer when we're getting into Winter here.  But that's my fault for being so bad with posting.  I've gotten so far behind on outfit photos that by the time I get to the ones from Winter, it will be Spring!

I can't believe it's December already.  The time has flown by so fast.  I'm excited for Christmas to come, though I've had bad news and am going through a rough patch currently.  But I will try my best to keep my chin up and not let it ruin the holiday for me.  I've already decorated my place with what decorations I have.  I have also been watching Christmas films non-stop.

I love the vintage bed jacket that we found in a thrift shop in Maine.  It's a good thing I held onto it tightly, because whilst we were waiting in line a woman came up to me and asked me what I did with it.  I told her I was purchasing it.  She then said her daughter really wanted.  Well, you snooze you lose.  That pretty baby came home with me.

Want to see what photos didn't make it up on the blog?  Head over to Facebook for a peak.

My Week According to Instagram

This week started off fine, in the middle it went awful, and it's ending on a slightly better note.  I won't go into the bad stuff.  Those who know me personally, know what I'm referring to.  Yesterday I finally got together with my best friend whom I hadn't seen in awhile.  Ever since she moved away a bit, it's been harder for us to see each other.  That last time I saw her was April so it was a really nice ending.

1. Cuddling with my baby.

2. Don't we all! A Christmas magnet that came on a CD of old Christmas music.

3. The tree I put up and decorated at work.

4. Snow in the forecast!

5. Snow! And on the day I put up my Christmas decorations.

6. Smudger's not that jolly in his Elf outfit.

7. I wish I could believe you, Jane.

8. Dolled up for a work meeting.

9. Pretty in pink and paging Mad Men.

10. I can relate to Jessica.

11-12. Good hair day on the way to work and at home.

13-14. What I wore out shopping with my friend.

Today I'll be spending the day with my mum.  We're going to be making Chicken Cordon Bleu for dinner!  I'm so excited since I've been craving this for months.  Are you guys getting prepared for Chrismas?

My Week According to Instagram

This week was pretty good, though it didn't end on such a positive note.  I came home from work last night after midnight and it was quite cold in my flat.  I looked at the thermostat and it read around 60 degrees Fahrenheit.  I turned the hot tap on and it just ran cold.  It was a miserable night's sleep.  Smudger and I were all bundled up in bed and still couldn't sleep well.  When I woke up this morning it cooled down to about 50 degrees (which is quite cold when the wind is howling)!  It was too much to bear.  Poor Smudgie was shaking like a leaf so we packed a few things up and went to my mum's house until the landlord refueled at our flat.

Thanksgiving ended up being quite nice, although a bit hectic.  Mum and I spent all day cooking and baking (me being the genius that I am, did it in high heeled booties).  It was really fun.  I enjoy cooking and baking but don't do it that often myself since I live alone and also work second shift.  It was just three of us for dinner but then my brother, his wife, and my nephew stopped by for desert.  After they left Mum and I watched a bit of a film called Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade.  I've seen it already and it's a really cute movie.

1. Adorable vintage looking hand mirror from the Dollar Tree.

2. Handmade Christmas gift tags available here.

3. Gone With the Wind marathon on AMC.

4. Mummy holding me when I was a wee lass.

5. Thanksgiving day outfit; soaking up the sunlight.

6. Five homemade pies: 2 pumpkin, 1 lemon meringue, 1 apple, and 1 cran-apple.

7. The apple pie I made.  I love the lattice work.

8. Lemon meringue pie.

9. Misty waking up from her nap.

10. Thanksgiving before the feast begins.

11. Thanksgiving outfit again, including the jumper and handbag.

12. My partner in crime, my mummy.

I'm so excited for my next day off on Tuesday.  I'm going to be spending the day decorating my flat for Christmas.  I love decorating for the different holidays or just in general.  There's a house a few minutes away that is selling boughs from their pine trees so I'm going to get some, put a red ribbon on them, and hang them under each window.  I also got a great CD yesterday full of old Christmas music from artists such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, and others.

When do you normally decorate for Christmas?

For Those I Am Thankful For

As we all know, this time of year, especially today, is the day to give thanks for everything in our lives that we are grateful for.  I'd like to share with you the things that I am grateful for.  This post is dedicated to those special people in my life that make everything worth while.

I am grateful for my family.  Though some members I don't have as close of a relationship with that I'd like to, I'm still hopeful that one day things may change around.  I am so thankful for the rekindling of relationships that have long gone neglected.  It means the world to me to be reconnected with my family from Maine.  Especially having Kathy and Karen in my life.  They are like the two aunts I never had.  Their contact in my life means so much.

I'm thankful for my friends who are there for me through thick and then.  They understand and accept me just the way I am.  Even though we are growing up and developing our own adult lives, I know who the ones are that will always be a special part of my life (you know who you are, Michelle and Sarah).

Me and Mum at the Renaissance Faire, 2011.

Harry and Ginny. Er...me and Steven.

Shelly and I at a Halloween party.

A rare Christmas where my siblings and I are all together.

Knowlton family reunion. I am so glad I know these people.

My dear Smudger; he is such a great companion.

My brother's wedding in Boston.

My best friends Michelle and Sarah.

I miss the sleepovers and laughs we used to share.

The best hairstylists out there. Erica, Tiff, me, and Amanda.

Karen, Mum, me, and Kathy at the Renaissance Faire this year.

I love these ladies.

My dear nephew Evan and I last Christmas.

Great Uncle Bud, gone but not forgotten.

Grandma Parker, missing you.

Grandma and Grandpa Beitler. I never knew him and I miss her desperately. I am so grateful for the time that I did have with her, even though it was very short.

My mummy and I.

The person in my life whom I am most thankful for is my mummy.  She has always been there for me and supported me through every mad whim.  She's always accepted me for who I am and let me coming into my own person without judgement.  She is my best friend, my mentor, my mother.  I am so grateful for our bond and I couldn't ask for anything more.  She means the world to me. 

What are you thankful for on this wonderful day of family, friends, food, and fun?  I wish you all a wonderful day of thankfulness and celebration.

My Week According to Instagram

Sorry I've been so naughty with posting!  I've pretty much only been doing my weekly Instagram posts, and this one is even a day late.  I really don't have any excuses except laziness and back pain.  I got injured at work a few months ago and have yet to heal from it.  Actually, the pain has increased the last few weeks.  I ended up having to go home from work early because the pain was so unbearable.

But onto less depressing things.  The Christmas spirit is really starting to bubble up inside of me.  I know Thanksgiving hasn't even come yet.  But I can't help it.  I blame the Hallmark and Lifetime channels for having Christmas film marathons that I can't resist.  I'm so looking forward to the decorations, the music, the movies, and the smells of wondrous things baking.

1. A beautiful 1957 Packard for sale.

2. A picturesque property.

3. 'Army babe' costume at the thrift shop.

4. Grandma's hat.

5. Outfit photos.

6. My great uncle's Navy photo.

7. Grace Kelly.

8. World War II Weekend, June 2011.

9. 200 followers!  Wow!

10. Sophie Kinsella marathon.

11. The one that got away.

12. Vintage-inspired gloves from Target.

13. Smudger is getting in the Christmas spirit.

14. Breaking Dawn Part Two.

15. Wearing the dress my mum made in middle school.

16. Mad Men, anyone?

Closer to the horizon is Thanksgiving.  That will be my holiday off (I'll have to work Christmas) and I'm excited to be able to spend the day with some family.  I'm most looking forward to spending the morning cooking and baking with my beloved mother.

What are your favorite parts of the upcoming holidays?