Happy New Year!!

~Welcome Friends~ 

Get ready, because I have some great things to post about in the new year.  There is more Tuscan style heading your way! ;)

Wishing all of my sweet decorating friends a....

I want to thank all of you for your support, friendship, and sweet comments...they mean the world to me! =)

Have a great evening bringing in the New Year!

xoxo ~Liz

The Living Room (No more Christmas)

Christmas is "officially" down!! Now onto "normal" decorating...

Join me for a Living Room Tour!

Hi everyone, I hope your Christmas was wonderful! Thank you for all your sweet comments, too! =)

This year I have decided to de-clutter.  I am really going to try and keep things a bit more minimalistic (a word that is normally not in my vocabulary) and keep things more practical for every day living.

In the picture below, I decided to play up the mantle with topiaries and varied them at different heights using candlesticks and vases.

I hung a wispy green wreath from the mirror and added some wire ribbon for a little texture.

I think my style is a bit of Traditional and Tuscan mixed together. I love metal embellishments and love to incorporate them into my decor.

I usually keep things very matchy-matchy, but I think I am going to steer away from that a little this year.  I think adding different pieces, with different textures adds charm and gives the space a little eclectic feel as well!

 This is the left side of the mantle,

and this is the right side of the mantle.

I adore Tuscan colors which are very warm and earthy.  I have gold, and orange, and beige, and a lot of green in this room.

I love pictures of the Tuscan Countryside, so two Tuscan pictures plank either side of the fireplace.

I used to have a long table near the window with two lamps, but in trying to keep things simple, I decided to go with a side table and one lamp, a fern, and a few ornamental balls.

A close-up!

I adore this picture and have had it for years.  I purchased it at Kirklands.

This living room is cozy, warm, and simple.

After all the cleaning and dusting I had to do at Christmas with all the nick-knacks and 14 Christmas trees, I am *so* ready to keep things more manageable and practical for everyday living.

 Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour.  I took all my Christmas down in one day.  I was a woman on a mission.  It was a BIG job, and I am so glad to have it all boxed and put away for next year.

I am enjoying trying to change things up around here.  I want to add a little French Country to my Tuscan/Traditional look.   

I hope you'll join me for another year of decorating fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo~ Liz
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Linking up with Kristen for her...

Share Your Creations Party

A Christmas Surprise I Will Never Forget

Merry Christmas And Best Wishes For A Happy New Year!

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I just had to post about my Christmas morning SURPRISE!!  Boy, did my husband deliver.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

 So, this is how it all began, a series of gifts numbered in sequential order.  I opened the 1st envelope to find this....

Hmm, a card with the word Paris at the bottom.  When I opened the card there was a paragraph written in French.  I had no clue what it all meant, but I was very much intrigued.

The next gift was this...

Ok, so now I have a book to translate the paragraph in the card.  I opened the inside of the book to find this message.

 The next gift was this...

 The inside of the book said this...

Hmm, what's going on here...is he sending me to cooking school? ;)

And then I got this calendar!  So many little clues, yet I had no idea where he was going with all of this.  Then this....

MAPS  and then this...

DRUM ROLL, please....

Tickets to PARIS FRANCE...

s c r e a m i n g with excitement  and SHOCK!!!!

I just can't believe he did this for me.  For the first time in my life, I was speechless.  I have never been out of the country, but have always wanted to go to France, now my dream is going to come true.   

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Thank you Scott for such a sweet, thoughtful, heart-felt gift...I will never forget it!

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Enjoy this joyous day with your loved ones. Merry Christmas! xoxo ~Liz

P.S.  Rudolph caught on the Camera's View Finder.

Last Year the View Finder caught Santa in action, this year it was good ol' Rudolph.
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The girl's are enjoying playing with their dolls.   Ha!

The girl's lined the dolls up and pretended they were singing Christmas carols.

Aww, to be a kid again! ;)

2011 Christmas HomeTour Video

~*Merry Christmas*~

Thanks to all my wonderful followers and blog friends, decorating for the seasons is even more fun when I get to share it with all of you!  Wishing you all a beautiful Christmas and a wonderful New year!

With Love,

Liz 

~*~

Overnight Trip to Leavenworth, WA (Picture Overload and a few videos, too!)

*Join Me On Our Bavarian Getaway*~

I love this town, it's modeled after a Bavarian style village.

It was wonderful to see the snow.  Just look at these snow covered trees. 

I love the shot my husband took while we were driving.  So wintery looking!

The pictures below are some shots I go of different buildings in the village.  At night, the entire town is lit up like a Christmas tree.

We were starving when we got into town, so we stopped for some hot pretzels, and my hubby got a Bratwurst and a German Beer!

I couldn't wait to get into this store.

Here is another store that had some cute signs and clocks.

Look at all of these NUTCRACKERS!

Pretzels are celebrated in this town! ;)

 After all the window shopping we did, it was time for dinner, so we stopped off at Ludwigs Restaurant for some Authentic German food - Family Style!

After dinner we headed back to our hotel.  We stayed at the...

We stayed in a two bedroom condo and to our surprise they had it decorated for Christmas!

 Even the bathrooms had a touch of Christmas. ;)

The kids played a game of chess!

 The girl's also played with dolls while tired old Mom and Dad kicked their feet up!  The girl's have always wanted Porcelain Dolls and we came upon a shop that had a gazillion of them.  The problem was the price.  Almost all the dolls in the shop were practically $89.00 and up.  If you times that times four daughters, you can imagine how fast that would add up.  So, long story short, after scouring the town for Doll shops, we came across one that had these dolls extremely well priced, so the girl's each got a doll.  A great end to the evening!

 We ordered dessert and the girl's enjoyed a Brownie Fudge Sundae.

 The next morning we decided to take a...

SLEIGH RIDE
(it was a brisk 23 degrees) 
This was our Guide

Join me for a Sleigh Ride through the forest while singing Jingle Bells! ;)

We came upon some Turkeys and our guide told the kids to keep saying...

GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE

really loud and the Turkeys would talk back to them, so this is what happened...

A funny story.  See the dog in the above picture?  Well, as we were cruising through the forest I felt like something was trailing behind us, my husband joked that there was a wolf behind us, and as I turned around to look I saw this dog, which I truly thought (for a brief second) was a wolf chasing us. Ha! ;)

 After the sleigh ride was over they served Hot Chocolate in a Tipi.  It was nice and toasty warm in there.

It was the perfect kick off to Christmas.  We may have to make that a new family tradition from now on.  Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing each and every one of you a Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year! xoxo ~Liz