Welcome (almost) 2009!

Asbury Park boardwalk, July 4, 2008

Well, it's been a boom-boom year. A humongous thank you to everyone who came by to visit me at my online home! I remember thinking having a blog would make me a dork (my friend assured me no; just a nerd, and nerds are cool), but instead it made me connected to a whole world of people, many of whom I now call friends. Amazing these internets, huh?

My biggest wishes for a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful New Year to you. And thank you for making my world a little brighter. (And my days a little longer. Can't...stop...reading...blogs. )

My dividend checks came.

I'll try not to spend it all in one place.

We have a winner(s)!

We have a winner of these earrings from Piedra Studios -- commenter #1, a.k.a. Maya from Completely Coastal! Congratulations, Maya. The earrings have found a good home with a fellow beach babe.


The other winners are everyone who left a comment on my 100th blog post, helping raise money for Hudson Cradle Home for Infants. From those who left a comment for the first time, to the amazing employees and friends of “the Cradle” who came by to comment, to those who came by many, many times (like Marybeth and The Quintessential Magpie :-), to those who helped drive traffic to my post (like Renovation Therapy), to my friend at Empire Coffee who tucked money in my hand Christmas Eve to give to the babies…I can not thank you enough.

There were 109 comments, which means the final winners of the day are the seven babies currently residing at Hudson Cradle. As I mentioned in my original post, the company I work for will match what I raised dollar-for-dollar. And, I got some incredibly good news from the executive director of Hudson Cradle: The William E. Simon Foundation is in the midst of a grant challenge, so they’ll match every dollar donated by me and my company. PLUS, there’s a Hudson County, NJ, based organization that read my blog post and may be able to match what I raised.

Wow. WOW. A million thank yous to everyone who helped.

In other news on the “home front” (literally), it was a year ago this week that we closed on the shore house! We took a “walk through” of our home this weekend and are pretty excited by the progress we’ve made. To mark the occasion, I got the man of the shore house a portrait of the home for Christmas. “Wait,” the observant readers among you might be saying. “Didn’t your mom give you a house portrait?” What can I say; great minds think alike. The one I had done is a smaller oil on board work that can rest on the mister’s bookshelf at work to remind him “there’s no place like home.” Plus it was pretty interesting to see two very different artists' takes on the house. Here’s the one I had done by the talented Hudson, NY, artist Gretchen Kelley. I first learned of Gretchen’s work this summer on the blog Newlywedisms and almost immediately commissioned a painting of Casa Shore House. Here’s how it came out:

And here’s the one that my mom had done. If you didn’t see my original post about this painting, click here to see some of the amazing detail in this watercolor by local artist Theresa Troise Heidel:

And here she is on the one night it snowed so far this year, all decked out for the holidays with her window candles (always wanted a house to do the candle thing with. :-)

It’s been quite a year here at the shore house, and we’re both looking forward to many, many more. Thanks for being a part of it…I’ve loved “meeting” so many people as a result of the house.

* * * * *

Finally I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that today would have been my dad’s 67th birthday. I miss him every day, some days more than others. Today is one of those days.

Merry Christmas to all.

And to all a good night.

(Look at the love in this photo. It's pretty much like this every day around here. Christmas just takes the love to a whole new level.)

Nutcrackers. Sweet!

This past week I went on a holiday house tour in Ocean Grove. And I have to say it exceeded my expectations. I thought we'd just get a quick peek at some trees in living rooms, but we pretty much got to wander aimlessly through people's homes. My kind of tour!

One house (on my street, in fact) housed the largest collection of nutcrackers I have ever seen. In. My. Life. Tchaikovsky's got nothing on this guy.

That's the homeowner above, playing holiday tunes as guests arrived (nice touch! I could play the kazoo if our home is ever on the tour). Below is a wider shot of the living room...there are even nutcrackers above each window! (And, throughout the house above most of the windows and doorways.)

I went to a lulu of a yard sale at this house this year -- tables brimming with antiques and collectibles. Now that' I've been inside the house, I can see why! Clearly the gentleman needed to clear some room. His collections didn't end with the nutcrackers. Tucked in his cozy little den was the Santa collection, part of which is here:

And the rest of which is on the other side of the room, surrounding the wood burning stove, and the large elk (moose? gigantic deer?) -- who got in the spirit by donning a big red nose:

He even collects candles (!), cleverly displayed in his kitchen on an old drying rack:

And since the table was set so lovely, I considered asking if my clan could just crash here on Christmas. I mean, we're right down the block. We could make it potluck!

I'm exhausted just thinking about how long it took him to set his house up. When I asked, he just sort of shrugged and said, "Well...I'm retired."

Yet another reason to look forward to retirement.

If you haven't already, be sure to leave a comment on my cookie post (click here) to enter my Boxing Day Giveaway -- a lovely pair of earrings by my friend at Piedra. Just leave a comment there by midnight Eastern Standard Time on December 26 to be eligible (that sounds so official!)

Having a ball...for a buck!

Well, I finally settled down and got some holiday decorating done at the shore house (about time, no?). First order of business was finding something to do with the Christmas balls I bought this summer. There were the ones I bought at a flea market as part of my everything-you-can-stuff-in-a-bag-for-a-buck purchase:



And the box I bought for 10 cents (!!) at a yard sale, shown in this picture along with some other purchases from that day:

Let me tell you, there's quite a bit you can with a buck's worth of holiday balls. Like these ones that I hung from branches I gathered up on a walk with Maggie:

And these ones that I tucked into the pottery palm on my TV stand:

And the ones I used to fill my apothecary jar and the mini glass stand on my china cabinet:

And I still have leftovers! Next year I think I'll try the Eddie Ross crafty project...you'll have to click through to his web site to see for yourself. Fabulous! And easy. My favorite combination.

The china cabinet is turning out to be my seasonal display perch. I was pretty happy what I did with it in the fall, but I'm really liking the silver and blue theme I've got going for Christmas:

The tall silver vases give some height to the display. I bought those in Lambertville, NJ, when I went on the house tour there in the fall. I was looking at the taller one, which was on sale (of course), but was sort of hemming and hawing about the whole thing. "Do I really need it?" (Of course I don't.) The owner said if I bought it he'd throw in one that he broke but glued back together (you can't tell unless you're up close), and I still gave it some thought until he offered to knock another 20% off the price. Deal!

I popped in a tall mercury glass candlestick I already had to add height behind the house, and also so you'd have something to see when you walked in the room...

I bought the fabulous house last week at a store in Asbury Park that's going out of business. While I'm bummed to see this relatively new store closing (I'm pulling for Asbury Park!), I was selfishly a little happy for the treats I scored for 50% off, including this vintage-looking house for $18.

I set this all up yesterday, but made a little addition today after seeing a great use of game pieces on Lime in the Coconut's blog tour of her friend's lovely Florida beach home. My godmother just gave me a few games as a housewarming/holiday gift (note to self: what a great idea! And thanks, Aunt Peggy!):

So, I added these to the little china cabinet vignette:

Next year I'll probably add some evergreen branches and white lights. But for now, it's onto decking the halls...

Cookies make me smile.

For the past six years, my friend Karen and I have hosted a holiday cookie swap. The swap takes place at my apartment (shore house north, if you will) so you'll get to see another side of me in this post...the side that lives a commutable distance from Manhattan during the week so I can toil struggle work many (many) hours to afford the shore house.

The first cookie swap was a means to introduce my friends Karen and Sha. Both just had babies at the time, so I thought it was the perfect excuse to get them together. And who am I kidding...any excuse to eat cookies pretty much works for me. I think there were six people that first year, and now folks attend from far and wide...like Dawn, who moved to Chicago this past year but flew in for the cookie swap. And yes; I live in New Jersey. Dawn, we tip our spatulas to you!

Most of the early action takes place at the breakfast bar, which is transformed into the mimosa station (which is probably why the action is there).


We all hang out and catch up with each other...

...and take tea from my grandma's tea cup collection. I am itching to find someplace to display them (there are a LOT) at the shore house. Right now, they spend the "off season" tucked away in my mom's basement.

Karen and I whip up a girlie brunch, complete with scones with clotted cream, finger sandwiches, baked brie, quiche and salad.

Then it's on to the star of the show. Every guest brings six dozen cookies for the swap, and goes home with an assortment pulled from the bounty. As the swap has grown, so has the bounty. We have a whole lot of cookies:

(You'll see my special biscotti was my contribution. For the recipe, click here.)

Round and round the table everyone goes, until all the cookies are taken.

You'll see intense concentration...

...and the joy of those who participated in the baking portion of the program for the first time:

That lovely lady above is also one of my craftiest friends. Her Piedra jewelry line has been a part of the past two swaps, and how lucky for us (and our ears and necks!) to be able to get some shopping done in between sugar rushes.

A recession sale bin made all of us a little jollier...

And guess what? Daisy wants one of you to be a little jollier, too. One of you will get these fabulous filigree earrings hand strung with genuine garnet beads...

Just leave a comment here by end of day December 26, and if your name is drawn these earrings will be boxed up on Boxing Day and headed to you.

In the meantime I'll be enjoying cookies. Lots and lots of cookies.

Oh, Christmas Tree

Mom's back in the hospital, so I dabbled with the idea of taking you on a tour of the hospital. You know..."Here's the lavatory. Note the stainless handrails on either side of the commode. And if you turn your attention to the sleeping alcove, just beyond the vintage television (circa 1980) you'll spot the water stains on the cork ceiling tiles. Where's that handy Carter Oosterhouse when you need him?" At times like these we turn to laughter to get us through, but I thought better of my medical center tour lest anyone from Julia's Hooked on Holiday Houses Tour or Southern Hospitality's Deck the Halls 2008 extravaganza stumble over here and think I've completely lost my mind. :-)

Instead, I'm taking you on a tour of our Christmas tree. Yup; the mighty tannenbaum.

We decided the tree would go in our apartment (as opposed to the shore house, even though it's our first Christmas at the house) so you'll also get a little peek at "shore house north," if you will.

When we erect a tree we don't mess around.


This one, just about nine feet tall, is one of the smallest we've had (we've downsized). And there's nothing fancy we do to it -- it's strung with multi-color lights, and topped with a vintage sparkly star.

But it's the ornaments that tell the story. I know where each and every one came from, and every year when I open the boxes they are stored in...well, it's like Christmas! A whole slew went missing this year and I panicked. Did I leave them on the street in the migration to the shore house? Bring them to Salvation Army on one of my cleaning benders? Thankfully, they were found safely tucked away in the shore house basement this weekend (we're not use to having a basement and forget that one stores things there).

There's a dizzying number of ornaments.

But I figured I'd share a few.

I love the New York Yankees. L.O.V.E. So my man bought this one for me a few years ago. The little stadium windows light up. Which makes me happy.

I also played basketball...up until a couple of years ago, in fact (and need to start again. That sport whips your behind into shape quicker than you can say, "Pass the cookie."). My mom bought this for me the first year I lived on my own:

In college I was addicted to the TV show Northern Exposure (there could be much worse things to be addicted to in college) so my friend Emily (fellow addict and my first college friend) bought me this moose ornament from Maine.


We're skiers, so there's a few skiing Santas on the tree. Here's one from my mom:

I was born in Staten Island, NY. This is a replica of the ferry you'd take to lower Manhattan if you were a commuter from The Forgotten Borough.

My grandpa was born in Glasgow, Scotland, so here's a tribute to my roots with a bagpipe playing Santa.

Oh, Elvis. The more Elvis, the better. For reals. We think this has something to do with the fact that I "saw" Elvis in concert in Las Vegas while I was in utero. I guess it had a lasting effect on me!

"Jump suit" Elvis was acquired this year on a road trip to Pennsylvania, so he's making his tree debut.

And Army Elvis, a gift from my brother, sings "I'll Be Home for Christmas." Swoon...

Two of my newest ornaments were hostess gifts at last weekend's cookie swap...

...which I'll talk more about in my next post, along with a holiday gift giveaway donated by one of my artsy craftsy friends. The hint is "bling," so if bling's your thing please come back.

And if the holidays are your thing, head back over to the Hooked on Holiday Houses Tour, or to Cottage Magpie's Virtual Cookie Exchange.