Weekend Update: Thanksgiving Edition, Part 2

Here we are, a week after Thanksgiving, and I still haven't finished talking about Thanksgiving weekend!  And since I'm getting not one, but two snow days, I figured there is no excuse.  :)

After we bid adieu to Zach's family, we stopped by to visit our friend Jonathan and Jordan for a bit.  Then we drove to NLR and checked into our hotel.  Once we had grabbed dinner there, we headed over to my stepsister Kim's house to visit with her, my other stepsister Shelly (who was in town from Chicago), Kim's daughter Amie, and Amie's daughter Harper.  I didn't take any photos since it was so late, but here is a #throwbackThursday pic of (some of) my dad's side of the family:

Saturday morning, we had breakfast at our hotel and headed down to LoCo (Lonoke County) to Carlisle to visit with my best friend Monica, her fiancé Rob, and their little girl Autumn.  Rob's two kids, Lauryn and Caleb, were also there!

I didn't get to attend Autumn's birthday party because I had to work, so we brought her present (literary and artistic board books) and visited a bit.  We ended up doing an impromptu photo shoot, and I got some pretty decent shots of this growing little family!

Lauryn declared that Jane Eyre is scary.  *lol*  That's your Auntie "Lorelai" for ya, Autumn!

I love this one on the right!

sweet growing family

Awww, I just love these folks!

After Monica's, we headed back up the road to Lonoke to see my mama, Matt (one of my brothers), and Will (my nephew).  I didn't take many photos because my mom's hip was bothering her, and she felt horrible, and my brother isn't much on having is picture taken anyway.  But here are two photos:

I'm praying that Mama feels much better very soon and that we will get more photos in next time.  Then we were on the road home.  We stopped in Morrilton, where we saw the most beautiful sky:

Isn't it spectacular?!

Well, that is our Thanksgiving weekend, minus Sunday.  But I'll try to talk about that tomorrow because that's when we decorated for Christmas.  :)

Photo a Day in November #6

6.  A Favorite Thing

So she's not a "thing," but we got this little lady a year ago!  She is named for Alice's cat (as in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) and for Guy Fawkes Day (we were originally supposed to pick her up then, and I'm a big T.S. Eliot fan [see "The Hollow Men"]).

Remember, remember, the SIXTH of November...
Happy Homecoming, Dinah Fawkes Pharr!

And don't forget to vote today!

Entertaining at The Owlery

Well, I sorta already showed my dining "room" on the SUYL--Kitchens from Kelly's Korner, but I will go ahead and share it again!  A few of those who viewed my pictures commented on my teapot collection, so I will share a bit more about that.  We actually just had a friend from work over with her boyfriend and son.  My kitchen area turned into a disaster:

BUT I think that is a sign that it was a successful meal!  (This picture was taken after they left, and I started cleaning up.)  Some of my favorite things to cook include chicken pot pie with lots of veggies; cobbler; French toast; roast beef; red, white, and black bean chili; and Cadbury chip brown sugar cookies.  For this dinner, I made baked chicken with McClard's seasoning, mashed potatoes from scratch, green beans with thyme, buttery corn, homemade cheddar bay biscuits (like the ones at Red Lobster!), and Nutella cookies with peanut butter.  Enjoy another look around the heart of our home!

This is how our kitchen usually looks.  This is looking into our dining "room" from the kitchen.

 looking into our dining area from the living room

 Our table is an antique Duncan Phyfe dining table!  A couple from Zach's parents' church gave it to us when we got married because they were switching from two residences to one. It needs to be refinished, but it is just beautiful.  It seats six, but we keep one chair in our bedroom for sitting.  I love imagining all of the different meals shared at this table and all of the different people who have sat down at it.  Zach's Momo made the lace tablecloth several years ago and gave it to me for my birthday.  The vase in center was made by Zach's mom who is very into pottery.  All of the birdy items were gifts from my birthday week that Zach's mom organized this year since I was recovering from surgery during that time, and the ironwork napkin holder was a wedding gift (I don't remember from whom.)  The rug, which you really can't see, was purchased with wedding gift money.  And I'm a new seamstress!  Zach got me this sewing machine for Christmas last year!

 the original needlework on the dining chairs

We wish we had the money to restore them to their former glory, but we can't right now.  We are planning to cover them with some fabric to protect the needlework and better match our decor at some point.

 I keep cookbooks, photo albums, yearbooks, photo boxes, picture frames, and scrapbook clutter on this shelf.  It needs to be better organized.  (That is one of my goals for this coming month!)  Our Willow Tree collection that we received from my mama, Grandma Byrd, and aunts on my dad's side are on top of the shelf along with a decanter that has been in my family forever.  The Alice in Wonderland bag was a birthday gift from my friend Katie; I used it in grad school, but now it holds fabric scraps.

 This china cabinet belonged to one of Zach's great aunts and was given to us by his parents to use since they weren't using it.  It holds my teapot collection, including our Alice in Wonderland collection.  (More on that in a second!)  The horse paintings were Zach's uncle's; he passed away before I met Zach.  :(  On top are some plants from my mom, a set of candleholders that were left in our first apartment, and the tiered serving dish that was a wedding gift from some ladies at Zach's parents' church.  Our kitties sleep on the ottoman to the right; we store coupons in the basket.

Oh, and our chandelier can be dimmed, so we have MOOD lighting!  But it makes for very bad lighting for pictures.  *lol*

This is a somewhat better look at my teapots.

 The top row has my Alice in Wonderland teapot (in the center) that Zach got me for Christmas when we were dating.  (It was the only Christmas we celebrated while dating because we got married exactly a year after we met on September 19!)  What is funny is that I got him a voucher for high tea at the Intercontinental on the Plaza when we were going to KC after New Year's (along with the dark blue tea cup you will see on the back of the second shelf--great minds think alike! :).  For my 24th birthday following that Christmas, he gave me several of the Alice pieces (plates and cups) during my birthday week, and his parents gave us the creamer pitcher the next Christmas.  My mama kept getting forgetting what fairy tale was behind our fairy tale...and gave me the Cinderella snow globe for Christmas after we were married.  *lol*  There's also a small white toy tea set I had when I was a little girl; I used it for my Samantha doll.

Left to right:  The rose teacup and saucer came from my best friend Monica (it was her Nan's; Nan passed away last year, and I loved her like a grandma, too); Zach's blue cup from our first Christmas together was mentioned above; this red housewarming teapot is from Brian and Whitney (they were our primary matchmakers); the burgundy and tan teapot that stacks on its cup was a birthday present from my roommate Rose; the Union Jack teapot was one of my souvenirs from my study abroad trip; the book teapot was a birthday gift from my sister-in-law; and the Japanese cup was bought on one of my many LR trips to Whole Foods.

Left to right:  The pastel polka doted teapot and cup was found at a flea market by my SIL; the plate commemorating Prince William and Catherine Middleton's wedding was a gift from my in-laws for my 26th birthday last year (my mother-in-law's best friend Fiona is Scottish and picked it up while she was visiting her family); the purple flowered teapot was a housewarming gift from my friend Katie when Monica and I got our apartment during grad school; and the simple flowered teapot was Zach's when he went away to college.

And there you have it!  Want to come over for a hot cuppa?

Sleeping at The Owlery

Hello friends from Kelly's Korner!  So these are seriously some of the worst photos I have ever taken.  I know I took them with my iPhone, but usually I can get by.  So...MY APOLOGIES!  Someday, my prince will come.  (By "prince," I mean "super nice camera."  I already got a kingly husband.  He's helping me save up for the "prince."  ;)

At The Owlery, you enter on the top floor, where the living room, kitchen/dining area, laundry area, and half bath are.  Then you descend the stairs to the bedrooms...

 Zach got the screen on a website; it cost $30-ish!!!  I love that vase from Target, but it doesn't match anything on the landing now.  I am hoping one day to have a little girl and use it in her room.  :)  In the frames are a sketch we picked up at a friend of friend's art show, a Pollock print, and some willow postcards from Cambridge University.

 Our cats are hoodlums.  It is also laundry day for unmentionables (i.e. mine and the husband's underoos) and t-shirts.  On the left is a photo I took inside Drumcliffe church in Ireland; it's where the poet Yeats is buried.  It's an eagle lectern with the words, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty" behind it.  :)

 Zach's minifig(ure) collection "tastefully" displayed (his words)

 prints that used to match our old decor

I'm going to get some green mats to update the oval frames.

Also, a LEGO ship atop my LEGO Harry Potter shelf; Harry Potter LEGO sets are about the only ones I will build.  My husband is still pleased.

 Our bedroom needs work.  I can't figure out what to put over our bed.  And, yes, that is a full-sized bed.  We NEED a queen-sized one.  Please inform my husband.  :)  This room is very oddly shaped, and this is the only arrangement that will work.

 alternative view

The door leads out onto a small deck.  We bought the paper lanterns at World Market in KC.  It's a funny story about our dresser and chest of drawers.  They used to be Zach's Momo's.  She gave me the dresser when she found out I didn't have one.  Zach's parents moved it up, and when they got it into my bedroom, IT MATCHED MY BED!  Yeah, so most people wouldn't be surprised by matching bedroom furniture, BUT MY MAMA GOT MY HEADBOARD AT A YARD SALE.  It is fate that I was to be a Pharr.  After we got married and moved up her, she gave us the chest of drawers to match.

 bridal portrait, engagement photo with Alice in Wonderland quote that my cousin made, my bouquet and the pen we used for our guest book, wedding photo, Zach's valet, stuff I need for sleep, and a sock monkey

Did you spot my sweet tea?!

 hats, magazines, books, LEGO sets, stereo, boxed music sets (on the shelf), chair from our dining room

vanity, storage cabinets, closet entry

The door to Zach's bathroom is on the left (not pictured).

 photo following high tea the day after we got engaged in KC, photos from where Zach proposed, Alice in Wonderland quote

You can read our proposal story here; it won a prize from where we got engaged.  :)

messy vanity=typical girl

That tiny old photo on the right is of my great aunt Grace when she was younger.  She helped raise me when I was little.  I want to frame it along with older photos of my mom and grandmas and Zach's mom and grandmas all glammed up to hang here!

our closet

There are two more rods behind the door for hanging clothes as well as shelves.  It is the biggest closet I have ever had!  I rotate out the pictures in the frames on my mirror; I got that at Walmart when I was in college.

We have two other "bedrooms" at The Owlery.

 One is a library.  This where our books live along with some other fun things.

 Hobie cat and a medieval village

 That golden chair is so 1970s, but it's COMFY.  The print of Van Gogh's Starry Night above it glows in the dark.  We have lots of books; I was an English major, and Zach was a history major who minored in English.  His LEGO creations have also invaded this space.  (Fact:  There is only one room in our house that does not have any LEGO creations on display.  I still haven't covered three more rooms in these SUYL posts.  :)

 These are mostly textbooks and binders here along with my American Girl doll collection. (Can you see Samantha's ruffled hair on top of the shelf?)  I think if we have a little girl, I could easily put these dolls in her room.  :)  There is a LEGO mini-skyscraper, a Waterhouse print, and a teddy bear Zach got me for my birthday "magic box" (I got a present a day for a week--it's on top of the shelf by Samantha).  I took the bear with me to the British Isles and slept with it every night, which meant it got lost in the covers a lot because it is a small bear.  :)

 closer look at the LEGO medieval village

The last room was Zach's dream room when he was growing up; I made his dreams come true.  :)

 Zach's LEGO room

He has tons of organized LEGO bricks not to mention the sets stored in the closet to the left (not pictured).

 Zach's LEGO village, Old Styrene-by-the-Sea (Styrene is a type of plastic; LEGO bricks are made of plastic.  Now you know.  ;)  One of my favorite of his MOC's (that would be, my-own-creation) is a pub called the Lion.  He even decorated the inside with tables and mugs!

(Y'all, have learned A LOT about LEGO since I first met my husband.  For one, "LEGO" comes from the Danish phrase for "play well."  Secondly, the correct plural form is not Legos or LEGOS; "LEGO" can only be used as an adjective, but "LEGO" is often accepted as a plural form, and I tend to use it.  Thirdly, the price you pay should equal the number of pieces you get (30 pieces = $3; 300 pieces = $30), but character sets like Star Wars and DUPLO sets are more (as are discontinued ones), and Toys-R-Us are always overpriced.  They also cost more around the world; we are lucky in the U.S.  Finally, the Germans [ever so German-y] have a word for the sound that LEGO bricks make when they hit each other:  GRUSCHTELING.  I still make lots of mistakes when it comes to playing with bricks, but I am learning.)  We're saddened not to be at Chicago's Brickworld this week.  :(

When we were unemployed and living with Zach's folks, my sweet husby built me this house.  It's a Tudor mansion, and that's our limo.  We're waving "bye" to you folks from the car.  Hope you enjoyed the visit!