Merry Christmas

Cool Blue Holly Christmas Card

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Share Your Holiday Cheer

    I love the holiday season and one of my favorite parts of Christmas is sharing Christmas wishes to all my family and friends with a holiday greeting card. Shutterfly makes it so easy to special family moments with all who I care so much about. Explore all their fabulous cards and layouts. Shutterfly makes it super easy to upload your favorite photos to their website for personalized stationary creations.
    My husband is a Naval Officer in the US Navy and this will be our third Christmas that we've spent living in Hawaii, but our very first time celebrating Christmas with our new daughter who will be almost nine months on Christmas.
    To celebrate our expanding family and the time we spent in the Aloha state we had tropical beach family photos taken. I can't wait for our photographer to finish our photos so I can start creating my own tropical Christmas card to send to everyone we miss so much on the mainland. I'm planning on creating a wall calendar for both my parents and in-laws as a special gift so they can see their precious granddaughter everytime they check the date.
    Don't procrastinate on getting your holiday cards out. I bet all your friends and family can't wait to see your smiling face on a beautiful Shutterfly.com holiday card so they can put it on their fridge!

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Enjoying Fall Amidst an Endless Summer

As a loyal Washingtonian I always look forward to the changing seasons. I can not lie, I love the fall time. The autumn colors, pumpkins, crunchy leaves under my toes, sitting inside watching the rain pour down, and of course Thanksgiving and all the yummy food that comes along with the change in weather.

I do very much love living in Hawaii, but when the calender turns to fall, it just still feels like summer. Wonder why? This is when I particularly feel a bit homesick. So I do my best to autumize my house. It still feels like I'm trying to fool someone into thinking it's fall because outside my windows there are lush tropical plants and the sunshine pours into the house through the dozens of windows in my plantation style home. Yet, I forge on and enjoy my tropical fall with some pumpkin candles and a few autumn decorations.

I bought this oversize glass vase on a pedestal from Pier1 quite a while back and it has proved to change with the seasons very well. I decided that our home needed a tasty treat on display. I was originally going to use candy corns, but candy corns would melt in the Hawaiian heat and I plain just don't like candy corns, so I so very luckily found autumn colored M&M's. Score! Pour 'em in the vase and top with a candle. Once it's lit it helps prevent me from eating too many. Hehe.

Then I grabbed an autumn theme table runner I had stashed away and dug out a trifle bowl and filled it with small lima beans and decorative gourds. Perfect table topper!

Up Close

I found a few beautiful sunflowers at the commissary the other day (that is very unusual, because most of the time they have a very poor selection that also appears to be a week old.) and I snatched them up. When I got them home I snipped some basil from our garden and added it to the arrangement. I love the way the purple in the basil plant mixes with the bright yellow of the flowers.

I love the beautiful simplicity of this arrangement!

I added a pretty fall theme ribbon to the vase to give it just the right touch.

What things do you have to have surrounding you to feel that special autumn feeling? Do you have any easy, fun, creative decorating ideas? I'd love to try them out.

Mangos, Mangos, Mangos

I have been wondering if anyone would like to share in my abundant mangos. As you can see from the photo I have MANY, MANY mangos and this picture only portrays a very, very small portion of the mangos on my huge mango tree. Come and get 'em!

Dinner Delicioso: Burger Me

Last night Matt and I enjoyed a fanastic dinner!
We had burgers dressed up with:
roasted garlic and champagne mustard,
baby greens,
herbed goat cheese,
fresh tomato,
roasted red peppers,
and balsalmic carmalized onions.

And as the accompaniment we enjoyed Asparagus ribbon salad with:
more yummy goat cheese,
cherry tomatoes,
and a dijon mustard and lemon dressing.

Looking forward to having these burgers again in the future!

What's your favorite burger topping?

Spring in my Step

I love to buy some fresh flowers from the store when I go out and run my errands. I just think they make your home so bright and cheery. So I celebrated the first day of fall and my endless summer with a mixed bouquet and placed it in a spot in my home where it can be enjoyed from the kitchen, living room, and dining room.

More Garden Bounty

More beautifulness from my backyard. Can't wait till we can someday have a yard that is all ours. Container gardening just isn't the same.