Happy Friday with a Soundtrack– Tree Trimming Edition

Happy Friday, everyone!

D and I are planning on putting up our tree and the rest of our holiday decor tonight after work (because the ornament trifle and possibly-ugly-epic-fail-ornament-chandelier are getting lonely), and I am very excited.  While we decorate, we’ll be putting our Yule Log DVD on to play in the background (we got it at Walmart a few years ago for $3, and since we don’t have a fireplace, we appreciate the “real fire crackling sounds” as well as the utter cheesiness of having a Yule Log DVD).

We are also going to be drinking mulled cider, which is one of my favorite holiday traditions.  I got this recipe from my friend Jules a few years ago and have made it for pretty much every holiday-related function I’ve attended since then.

Reasons mulled cider is awesome: It’s simple, pretty cheap, is delicious, “optionally” alcoholic, and makes everything smell like awesome holiday.  You should totally try it.

Mulled Apple Cider Recipe:

In a large stock pot or crock pot put the following ingredients:

• 1 gallon of apple cider (available in the refrigerated section of most grocery store produce areas)
• 1 orange (whole, not cut up or anything)
• 2 cinnamon sticks and 5-7 cloves secured together in a cheesecloth bundle (or in a coffee filter)
• Simmer on low or cook on low in the slow cooker for 4 hours or more.
• If you want to add alcohol, you can add in Brandy or Whiskey (and although I have never tried it, I imagine spiced rum might also be good).  Add the amount of your choice about 1/2 hour before serving (we usually do about 1 and 1/2 cups of brandy).
• Sip and enjoy the warm christmas-y goodness!

I’ll be sure to post some photos of our apartment all decked out once we have everything put up!  Have you put up your Christmas decor yet?  If so, please feel free to share in the comment section– I’d love to see it!

And for the soundtrack for the rest of your Friday, I leave you with Tiny Tree Christmas by Guster.  I got this song off of a free album download that Target had last year called “The Christmas Gig”, which was totally awesome.  I was hoping they would have another, equally awesome, free download of Christmas tunes for this year, but not so far.

It’s an Ornament Trifle!

When we were at my mother-in-law’s for Thanksgiving, D waxed poetic about how much he wanted to make a trifle (seriously– the man loves to be in the kitchen (Thank goodness)).  I’ve never had trifle, so I can’t really say how much I would want to eat it, but given my track record hating most dessert, I don’t think trifle and I would be BFF.

Anyway, lo and behold, D’s mom had a trifle dish she didn’t want or need, so it came home with us.  I checked with D to see if his trifle-making-plans were imminent, but they are not.  So, I made an ornament trifle  for our coffee table instead.

And I think it looks fabulous.

After the frustration (and still-trying-to-decide-if-I-like-it-or-hate-it) of the Christmas Chandelier, it was nice to have a project that took about 5 minutes and looks great.

What’s your favorite easy holiday decor?

Pinterest Challenge: Christmas Chandelier

**So, I took a bit of a break from blogging for a while.  Life got crazy.  Grad classes got difficult and time consuming.  I am sure it was heart breaking for you all to be without me for so long, but I’m back now and hope to keep up a more regular posting schedule.**

Seeing as this is our first Christmas in our new place, I have been trying to find some inexpensive projects to pump up our Christmas decor.  So, of course, I turned to Pinterest and decided to do my own version of Young House Love’s Pinterest Challenge.

I pinned this beautiful ornament chandelier and thought I could try something similar in our apartment.

Isn’t that just so elegant?

Of course, the one hang up is that we don’t have a chandelier.  We have a ceiling fan. With a light.

Undeterred, I decided to try to make it work.  With some suggestions from my crafy mother-in-law (along with a generous donation of some crafty supplies), I set to work.

Supplies:

• Metal ring/frame (I believe I used some sort of gardening thing to hold up top heavy plants)
• Ornaments of various sizes
• Clear string
• Christmas themed ribbon
• Glass of wine (makes the tying of ornaments easier)

My first task was to find a way to hang my metal frame at an easy height for me to reach to be able to tie on the ornaments.  Enter my crazy pull up bar hanging system (at least the pull up bar is getting some use for once!):

I started with the large ornaments, hanging them up close to the top of the frame.  Then I used the medium size to create a lower layer and fill in the spaces close to the top.  Finally, I used the small size to fill in all the gaps.

Then I had to do some major trimming of all of that excess clear thread since it was hanging everywhere (as you can see in these pictures).  You can’t see it nearly as much in person, though.

Once I had everything where I wanted it, I then had to figure out how the heck to get it hung up on the ceiling fan.  There was much trial and error.  And sighing.  And drinking of wine.  I should have waited until I had a second person to help me hang it, and much cursing could have been avoided.  But D was asleep already and I am not patient.

Finally, I settled on using a small piece of Christmas ribbon on each fan blade and tying it to the metal frame.  This helps keep it stable and even.

I’m not sure if I am 100% satisfied with the final product.  There might still need to be some major tweaking.  The ceiling fan, since it’s an ugly ceiling fan instead of an elegant chandelier, doesn’t lend itself to that pretty “grape cluster” look from my inspiration picture.  I think I’ll live with it for a few days, get D’s reaction on it (my prediction for his effusive praise: “No. Uh. It’s nice.”), and see.  Let me know what you think and if you have suggestions.

The view from the living room:

Are you working on any fun holiday projects?

Happy Friday with a video

I know I normally have a song on Fridays, but instead I wanted to post the following video, which explains why I am totally jonesing for the new iPhone 4S:

Until I saw this video, I wasn’t really clear about why in the world anyone would want the ability to talk to their phone (and worried that I would find talking to my phone annoying/crazy-person-looking on the order of people who walk around the grocery store talking on their hands-free, making it seem like they are talking to themselves.

But now, both D and I have decided to upgrade out current iPhones (by woefully old 3G and Dan’s newer, but quickly fading 3GS) to the 4S model.  That is, once we have found the requisite $400 in our budget for both of us to upgrade.

Are you guys feelin’ the new iPhone?

And in case you need some music for your Friday, I’ll give a birthday shout out to BFF Jules with some Disney awesomeness (and our favorite road trip duet):

 

Happy Friday with a Soundtrack: I curse you, Statistics! Edition

It’s a lovely fall Friday, here in the DC area, but I still hate my statistics class with a fiery and stabby passion and will be doing Stats homework all weekend.  But that’s my problem, not yours.

Good things on tap for the weekend:

• Taste of DC is in town this weekend, with some of the city’s best restaurants offering samples of their deliciousness.  I’ll be headed down there on Saturday with D, my sister and niece (who are coming into town for the weekend– yay!), and an awesome co-worker who invited me along.  Beautiful DC weekend + cheap and delicious array of fancy food– yes please!
• Since it’s Fall, there is football.  Glorious football!

And of course, a lovely song to get you through the rest of your Friday workday: Tell ‘Em by Sleigh Bells.  The beat of this song is freaking amazing.  But, I won’t lie– I can’t really make out about 75% of the lyrics.

Cocktail Time!

Why, hello there…new piece of furniture in our living room.

Piece that perfectly fills the awkward space between our TV and the door to the office… Your doors are lovely.

Let’s look inside, shall we?

That is a thing of beauty.  (and yes, I know my wine rack is looking pitiful at the moment.  A trip to Trader Joe’s is needed, stat!

D and I were trying to figure out what to do with the odd space we had next to our TV, and I suggested we get some sort of bar cart or something.  D was totally on board with the idea.  I found this beauty at World Market and we were sold! (Many thanks to my Father-in-Law whose birthday gift this year helped make this bar possible!)

And my post title was a jibe at Sandra Lee-of-the-very-boozy-food-network-show-and-awkward-too-long-catch-phrases.  For those of you who have been spared “Semi-Home-Made with Sandra Lee”, I invite you to watch this Sandra Lee Re-mix.  The cocktail time part starts at 1:20 or so.

Angus says “Hello Again”

It’s been a while since Angus has made his way onto the blog, so I figured I’d post a few pictures of his cute face.

Also I’m posting these to prove to you guys that while I do forget to water my plants, I do remember to give Angus food and water. (Though it does help that he reminds me by sitting on my chest every morning until I get up and feed him)

And finally, I’ll leave you all with this one, from when we had to give him a bath after we discovered some fleas.

I like to think he is trying really hard to flip me off in this picture.