nest egg

This Thanksgiving- Branching Out

This Thanksgiving Hoyt and I are branching out,

and hosting his parents in Nashville. !

This Thanksgiving I can barely remember to feed my cat,

so the turkey is coming from Whole Foods. :)

This Thanksgiving I truly have A LOT to be thankul for!!

But not a lot of time to decorate...

So, If you're like me and you're looking for an inexpensive and quick way to spruce up your home for Thanksgiving try taking a look in your own backyard (or your neighbors! :). I am always inspired by the rooms that have branches (dead or alive) as their main source of decoration. 

 

via pottery barn

 

via house beautiful

 

source unknown

 via bhg

steven gambrel, via habitually chic

 

 

 via bhg

 

 via martha stewart

*I realize some of these branches are not 'in season' but you get the idea...

 via martha stewart

via restoration hardware

 

 via domino mag

via met home

via hgtv

via elle decor

via restoration hardware

 

via house beautiful
**fig branches (Where can I find these?! If you live in Nashville and have these in your backyard- call me! I'll gladly swap decorating advice for a few figs)

 This Thanksgiving I plan to get out my pruning sheers and get creative.

and by 'get out my pruning sheers' I mean: Go to Target and buy some. 

Rooftop Party and flowers

This weekend I helped throw a party for Hoyt's, and his good friend, Russell's 30th birthday. A group bday party with a handful of Hoyt and Russell's close friends and family. 

The invitations:

I thought it was pretty funny. (Made from yearbookyourself.com) That was the only embarrassing thing I was allowed to do for the whole get together. Trust me, I wanted to do more.

We scored BIG with the location. Russell is a contractor for Brasfield and Gorrie, the company responsible for constructing the Pinnacle Building in downtown Nashville. It is the first new building to gain LEED Silver Certification- a national standard that measures a building's greenness, or environmental friendliness. So we were able to throw a rooftop party atop this fabulous new building!!

Since the setting was so beautiful we didn't have to decorate much at all. We just put small arrangements of zinnias on the tables, with burlap tablecloths and some striped ones from Target. 

birthday boys and their girls- it took about fourteen different tries to get a good picture. Hoyt is known for blinking every time someone says CHEEEEESE. Exhibit A-

the early arrivers got to see the sunset...

*unedited

This giant storm cloud came rolling in... along with a swarm of black birds. All of a sudden it felt like we were overlooking Gotham City.

Good news- it did not rain. And the weather was perfect!

On a similar note: Have you seen the new fall issue of Flower magazine? It got me really excited about the autumn season!!! It included a bunch of simple flower arrangements that are just beautiful. For example:

Pick up the latest issue to see more! Or click here to get a subscription.

Which brings up another thing I've been wanting to post about. How cute are these cards? Stationary by Courtney Khail, spotted via flowermag blog.

Click here for her website.

Sorry, I got a little side tracked! back to birthdays-

This is a picture of Hoyt when he turned three.

This time he turned thirty and although he wasn't AS excited about his birthday, I think it turned out well. 

Flower Power

Flowers have the power to brighten any day... don't you think?

I took these pictures when I was in Linville. A dear friend of ours has the most beautiful garden in her side yard that overlooks the golf course and mountains. I love it there... and apparently so do the dahlias.

Mom reminded me that these giant ones are referred to as "dinner plate dahlias"... you can see why they are my favorite flower.

Go pick (or purchase) some flowers this weekend and put them all around the house. 

You deserve it.

just make sure your cat doesn't eat them:

Have a good weekend, everyone.

And make sure you vote for your favorite twin bedroom- I'll piece together a cheaper version of the winner next week! 

(thanks to all who have commented so far- I love seeing what everyone chooses...Different strokes for different folks!)

Ad(vertisement)

I submitted my very first ad to be published in the wonderful Flower magazine this summer... With the help of my faithful friends*  I pulled it together in a matter of days. Considering I dragged a giant bag full of lemons around Nashville like a crazy woman I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

If you aren't familiar with Flower magazine you need to get familiar! It is fabulous. Get a subscription ASAP!! 

Click here for more info.

*Special thanks to Amy, Margie, Catherine and **Lenora Jane**!!. And extra special thanks to Margot! I love you guys.

Flower to the people!!

xoRH