A Merry Little Christmas

In an effort to avoid tearful memories of past Christmases with Dad, Mom's decor has become decidedly more high fashion. I personally think Christmas is all about memories (good & bad) and traditions.

Despite all the new, Mom put together a beautiful Christmas. And decorations aside, its the spirit of the season that really matters. Celebrating the birth of our Savior. The painting above the mantle hangs year-round in my Mom's house, but is especially prominent for Christmas.

I have been trying to capture more candid moments. This pic makes me laugh. It looks like my sister and her dog are at the start line for a Christmas breakfast race.

Speaking of breakfast . . . Grandma's fresh from the oven cinnamon rolls.

Grandma's tree is always fantastically beautiful. She changes it up every few years, but her crystal icicle ornaments have been on every single tree I can ever remember.

Our traditional Christmas night dinner on Mom's china was delicious.

We've always been a game playing family. The one game we were never allowed to play as children was Backgammon. Maybe it was a choking hazard? More than likely it was that Mom and Dad didn't want us to lose any of the pieces. Anyway, Mom bought the family a new Backgammon set and we finally learned to play!

All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas. My time off was short, but it was a great few days with the people who are most important to me.

A Haunting We Will Go

With just a few days before the Annual Wilde Family Halloween Party we decided to be ghosts. Typical. I love how easy these costumes came together.

 The makeup? AMAZING! Thank you D.D. for doing what you do so well!

Scared? You should be!

Somebody's 30!

Happy Birthday Steele!

There's a lot of celebrating to do when someone has been on this earth for 30 wonderful years! And celebrate we did.

There's a whole story behind this brand new 2015 Toyota Tacoma I won't bore you with, but I will say Steele outdid us all with this gift to himself.

It's a beauty! And well deserved.

 Happy Birthday baby brother! I love you!

Another Birthday!

If you've followed my blog for a while, you'll know that birthdays in my family are a big deal. (It is also just about the only time I actually blog. I'm trying to be better.) This was what I woke up to my birthday morning.

Can you believe these flowers!?! D.D. spent nearly 5 hours on Mom's bed making these! I love love love them!

Everything was so bright and happy!

There were also fresh flowers! Gladiolas and gerbers are some of my very favs.

I opted for birthday cherry pie. My mom's pie took me back to my childhood. It was delicious and gorgeous! 

It was a fun weekend and I felt very special. I have the greatest family!

Olive & Thyme

We visited the new Olive & Thyme location to kick off my birthday weekend. It's a gourmet cafe and marketplace. So charming!

We arrived before 6pm on a Friday. It was pretty empty, but before we left all the tables were full.

There is indoor and outdoor seating. I LOVED this long wooden table. Typically used for larger parties, we witnessed two smaller parties at either end.

The interior is bright, white and airy. I love the black board.

There is so much to look at while you wait for your food to arrive. Beautiful gift ideas!

A long dessert counter? Yes please! And look at all that gorgeous copper on the back wall.

Oven roasted turkey and havarti with avocado and sundried tomato panini. So good! I ate every bite. The food is locally sourced and made from scratch to create fresh quality food.

We finished the meal with dainty macarones. Mmmm pistachio!

I would definitely recommend a visit to Olive & Thyme. The service was a little lacking, but the atmosphere is clean and inviting. I think they serve warm water (no ice) to encourage beverage purchases.

Before we left we noticed Wil Wheaton having a quiet meal on the patio. As you do.

Paris? Oui! Oui!

I'm starting this post with a confession. . . . I'm a procrastinator. A huge procrastinator. If I can put it off I will. I need to wash my hair, "I can stretch it one more day." Laundry starts piling up, "I'm not wearing my emergency underwear yet." Payday means most people pay their bills. Not me. I wait until the very last minute. You would think that the fact that I live with my hairdresser I would never have an embarrassing amount of regrowth. It is what it is. I accept this about myself.

Why am I telling you all this? Because we celebrated Mom's birthday last month and I'm just getting around to editing pics and writing this post. Usually I procrastinate a post so long that I just forget it completely. Not this time. We worked too hard not to share.

If you know my Mom, she LOVES all things French, more particularly, Paris. While we would love a trip to the City of Light, financially, we'll just have a theme party.

I can't take any credit for the planning, that was ALL D.D. I just did as I was told.

 Backdrop for photos! All this work and I wish we had taken tons more.

Berets!

The birthday girl!

Presents.

The cake survived the two plus hour car ride in a box on my lap. D.D. did a FABULOUS job!

Why use candles when sparklers are so much more fun!

 

We had a super fun, long weekend full of laughs and fun! Happy Birthday Mom! We love you so much! You are an inspiration to us and we are so grateful that you are our mom.