On the 12th Day of Christmas....

...the Happy House gives to YOOOOOOOUUUUUU!!!! A Christmas Eve table :)



I used cake stands to indicate where dishes would go. Elevating them off the table gave a little more space as well.



All ready for dinner:


And Cam says Prime Rib is nicely followed up by YoBaby.

Merry Christmas Eve Everyone! We can't wait to tear into these bad boys tomorrow!

Friday Friendsgiving

As we were eating our 3rd, and what should have been our final, Thanksgiving dinner up at the cabin, I told Carl I needed more. Just one more turkey dinner, with all the fixings, and I'd be set. I decided to buy a turkey when we got home, invite a couple of friends over and enjoy Thanksgiving one more time!

I wasn't going to do anything with the table, but at the last minute just dressed it up a bit to welcome in the Christmas season. I just used things I had from last year and regular season items as well. Just goes to show you can entertain any time for any reason. It was a mix of fancy and casual and completely delicious!

The menu was seriously traditional:

• Roast Turkey and Drippings Gravy
• Creamy Mashed Potatoes
• Homemade Sweet & Savory Stuffing
• Green Bean Casserole
• Cranberry Sauce
• Wine
• Ice Water

My day went a little something like this:

2:30p start the stuffing and prep the turkey
3p: Start the turkey (8.5lb turkey to be done about 6:30p in time to rest and carve)
5p: peel and cut potatoes, put in water to keep from browning
5:30p put together green bean casserole
6p: set the table, wine in the decanter, ice water in the carafe
6:30p boil and mash potatoes, take turkey out and cover with aluminum foil, put casserole and stuffing in the oven
7p: light candles, guests arrive, carve turkey, get everything on the table


If you are hosting this year, here is my quick guideline for entertaining.

1-2 weeks out: Choose the Menu
2-3 days before: Grocery Shop
1-2 days before: Prep your table to be sure you aren't missing anything
1 day before: Do as much cleaning as possible
Day of: Start cooking early, be sure to leave time to get ready and enjoy!

Express Happy House Challenge Plus Week 3

We're trucking right along to week 3 of the challenge. That means we're two weeks down, 3 to go on our way to a Happy House! Is your home feeling cleaner? Tidier? A little more organized? I know mine is. I get started on the right foot every morning by making the bed and I come downstairs to a clean sink, floor and tidy family room. It makes me smile from ear to ear! And speaking of all those tasks, let's see how this past week ended up for me.

We were out of town, so my numbers are out of 5 since we weren't home at all on Wednesday and Thursday.

Make the Bed: 5/5
Empty the Sink: 5/5
Sweep the Kitchen Floor: 4/5
Clear the Clutter: 4/5

I was too lazy to do much of anything when we got home on Friday night, but otherwise, I was in pretty good shape. Are you new to the challenge? No worries if you are, just check out week 1 and week 2 and you'll be all caught up! It's never too late to join!

Challenge PLUS:
Week 2: Dining Spaces

• Clean the furniture
• Clean the windows/blinds
• Deep clean the floors/Vacuum the rugs
• Dust the lighting

Definitely easier than the kitchen, but I was selfish and did that on purpose since we were out of town and I had limited time! :)

And photographic proof, although our formal dining room never really gets cluttered...however when I went to take the photo I had to laugh. Carl didn't put away our liquor after making White Russians the other night, so there is some clutter :)

Before:

and


After:

and



Since we're all pros at those 4 tasks, it's time to add two more. I gotta tell you, I'm loving this two at a time business! Gets me all jazzed up!

Sort the Mail!

We all get it 6 days a week. Too often it just ends up in a pile on the kitchen counter. No more! No more unorganized piles of mail! If you need some tips on how to organize your mail, check out this previous post....although I need to update it, so keep an eye out for the new version coming soon! Just remember that this is about organizing the mail. It doesn't mean all the bills are paid that day or everything is filed, but things are in their place. It should either be in a "to do" area, "to file" area, the recycling bin or garbage. Once you've done that step, you can easily go back to it and do what needs to be done when you have the time that week!

Spray Your Shower!

Choose your favorite daily shower cleaner and get to spraying! I'm currently using the Method Daily Shower Cleaner. It smells heavenly! Just get in the habit of spraying it down after you shower, and this task is a no brainer. You do shower every day, right? Eh, if not, make your significant other do it! :) There are also lots of home solutions you can try as well. Spray shower doors with full-strength white distilled vinegar after you’ve squeegeed the glass, or before you step in and turn on the water. It will help release the hard water deposits so they don’t remain on the glass.

Challenge PLUS
Week 3: Bathrooms

• Deep clean shower/bath
• Deep clean floor and baseboards
• Clean all mirrors and glass
• Clean light fixtures
• Scrub toilets including the base
• Clean cupboard interiors/exteriors- discard unnecessary items
• Clean counters and all items on counters

So there we have it. Our two new tasks to add on to our tasks from last week and our Challenge PLUS. Let's recap, and don't forget, we aren't replacing tasks here, but adding!

Week 1: Make the Bed & Empty the Sink+ The Kitchen!
Week 2: Sweep the Kitchen Floor & Clear the Clutter +The Dining Spaces!
Week 3: Sort the Mail & Spray Your Shower + The Bathrooms!

But now it's your turn! Share your blog post link below with your results and your before and after photos! Don't have a blog? Tell us your results in the comments and if you have before and after photos, post them to the My Happy House Facebook Page! Can't wait to see how you all did.

Dining & Living Room Dressed Up for Fall

I had the toughest time finishing the dining and living room fall decor. It was my hang up for the last couple weeks. I'd walk in there, rearrange, create, sit back, evaluate, raise my brow and walk out with no improvement from when I walked in there. It was this weekend that I decided enough was enough and I was finishing it. Well, I almost met my goal, but I suppose I have a little more time to finish before the weekend is over. The only area left to do is the sideboard. But I felt I should reward myself for at least getting the table and shelves done by featuring them this Sunday morning.

The living room shelves are where we focus on some family photos, but it's also a fun spot to decorate for the holidays :)



I'm just loving Indian corn. I took three ears of it, bound it up with some bronze ribbon and placed it in a square glass vase filled with our "important corks." They are just the corks we've collected from important events in our lives.

*Little tip on Indian Corn. If you want to manipulate the husks, just soak the corn for a few minutes, it will soften the husks enough to move them around without breaking. Just be sure to dry the corn out completely.


I just love this sweet little ivory pumpkin, so he gets a close up :)



Some simple decorative sticks and a rust colored ribbon dress up a rectangle glass vase.


Last close up: Pedestal candy jars each with a pillar candle, surrounded by natural pine cones that I snatched from my very own back yard :) Then I just used some raffia to attach the antique (right...) keys from PB.



I love Pinterest. It helped inspire the center piece to my dining table. The layers are split peas, mixed beans and some faux acorns, and then it's tied up with some twine from Carl's stash of... twine I guess. Then I just carried the twine over and added some faux leaves to embellish the simple ivory pillar candle holders. I wanted to keep this simple because I'm hosting a Mock Thanksgiving, and we're going to need lots of room for food!





That's it for now! I suppose I'll attempt to finish the sideboard and then perhaps I'll do a complete 2011 Fall Decor Round Up post to put it all together. Now...if the wind would slow down a bit and stop knocking over my mums and corn stalks!!!!

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall Get Together

We had some very dear friends over to say goodbye to Summer and hello to Fall. What better way to do that than with some friends, some drinks, a dinner and a trip to a cider mill! We hadn't entertained in awhile and I was itching for it!

I decided to blend Summer and Fall decor since that was something I hadn't done before, I was definitely a fan! I bought the sunflowers at the farmer's market for $2. Seriously, 8 of them for $2. I put them in the soda water glasses, and that was the "Fall" of the table. I used my Crate & Barrel melamine chargers and plates, and their bright colors were the nod to Summer. The runners are the ones I bought at Ikea awhile back, and I had bought the bright green one last week to run underneath. It gives me more "safe" table space to avoid any scratches or damage.

This was how everything was set up before our friends arrived, including the staggered, stacked cake stands on the sideboard just waiting to display some donuts. I put a couple of the sunflowers in a small glass and weighed them down with some river stones.

We farewell'd summer with Corona and hello'd with Oktoberfest.


To say goodbye to Summer in a food manner, dinner was chicken fajitas. I had the chicken marinating and all the vegetables cut before our guests arrived, so when we returned from the cider mill, we just had to grill.



And we said heeeeeeellOOO to Fall with donuts and cider! EEP!


Dinner was awesome, almost as good as the donuts and cider :) Along with the chicken fajitas, we had cornbread and homemade salsa (courtesy of our guests).

We had a blast, and you should too! Summer isn't actually quite over yet. Go on, have your own celebration to say bye to Summer and welcome in crisp, cool Fall!

Have you voted today? It just takes one click, I promise! Thanks :)

Tackle It Tuesday

Oh you know it's Tuesday and you know what that means. It's time to tackle something! I mentioned earlier this week that I already knew what I wanted to take on today, and that was our china cabinet. The inside was embarrassingly dusty :/ And it had become cluttered. I was trying to fit too many things in there! It was time to whip it into shape again.

Before it was cluttered and dusty.


I decided to remove two of the china place settings to gain more room, so first I took those out along with all my china protector cases, wipes it all down and put it away.


Next, I took EVERYTHING out of the top of the cabinet.



Cleaned the entire interior and exterior, glass and wood.


I cleaned out and organized the bottom cupboard area and put everything back in the top.


A little less crowded. A lot less dusty. Much less of an eyesore!


And because my buddy decided to wake up towards the end of my little project, this is what was happening in the adjoining room for the last few minutes.


It's still early on this beautiful Tuesday. No excuses. Go tackle something! What are you tackling today? Blog it. Share it!

Guess Who's Candle is Glowing?

Yep, that'd be my candle. All my work is already done for the day including my big chore of cleaning the dining and living room! Now all that's left is to get ready for the concert we're going to for the night. Gotta love the grandparents and their desire to babysit cute grandbabies!




Oh and I already know what my Tackle it Tuesday is going to be...my china cabinet needs some attention and I didn't have time for that today. Start thinking now about what yours might be so you can check in with me on Tuesday!

Easter Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend turned out great! Not only did our weather here in Michigan rock, but all three of the events we had were lovely! I can't help but believe that planning is the key to a successful gathering. :)

You can see what all we had planned for in this post, but I'll just recap Easter Brunch since that was my main event for the weekend. I had planned out the menu:

Cherry Chicken Salad Croissants
Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Egg Salad (brought by Carl's mom)
Vegetable Tray
Fruit Tray
Simple Punch (ended up skipping this)
Coffee

At first I had planned on using our china, but then I thought that my fun spring pieces Carl got me for my birthday last year would be much more festive. Plus, keeping it a touch more casual worked nicely as I could throw all the dishes in the dishwasher before we left to head to my parents' house. I loved how it turned out! Here is how it looked before we went to bed on Saturday night. The table was set as much as possible.


Sunday morning was spent arranging the vegetables, cutting and arranging the fruit, assembling the sandwiches and doing the last minute cleaning. Here it is right before Carl's family arrived. All the food tasted delicious! It was the perfect lighter meal seeing as everyone had heavier dinner plans later in the day. The menu will definitely be on my go to list!


You know I love me some tulips, so of course those were my flower of choice, but the aqua vases give them a different look from my normal choice of clear glass vases.



Did you do any entertaining or contribute food this weekend? This gets me so excited for BBQs this summer! I simply can't wait. And I don't have to wait too long. Cam's Baptism is in May, so you'll definitely see those details starting soon!

Holiday Decor: Formal Spaces Revealed

I'm back to finish up the holiday home tour here at My Happy House. Other than a candle or little decoration here and there, these are the only other rooms that get a full makeover. You can see the family room here. The formal spaces in the house have a theme of Red, Silver and Sparkly!

*As always, you can click on the photos to see them larger.

I was really excited when I pulled out the Advent Calendar I bought from Target last year after Christmas. I had forgotten about it and it was the perfect addition to the sideboard this year! Otherwise, it's similar to last year.


For the dining table, I definitely wanted something different, but again not so different that I had to spend any money. I figured I'd use the same candle and holder but jazz it up a bit. I filled the bottom with silver bulbs and fake cranberries. Setting it on the white platter and adding silver bulbs to the outside gave it a little more substance and depth. I wanted to kind of mimic the idea on the chandelier and broke out a spool of ribbon from last year with some old silver bulbs. I used the same silver and red beaded charger place mats and set the table with our simple white dinnerware and wine glasses.




Lastly, are the floating shelves in the living room and the red and silver tree, aka MY tree. Our Lenox Nativity Scene from my parents continues to grow each year and I kept the rest pretty simple by just using some greenery, candles, bulbs and holiday frames.

And Carl says everyone needs a snowglobe. I wasn't 100% on board, but this guy has definitely found a place in my heart!


That's all for the holiday decorating around these parts. And it was all done without spending a dime this year, oh except for a tree topper. We didn't have one last year, oops! Now here's hoping Baby Boy cooks long enough to get it all put away after Christmas is over! I have faith that he already knows what kind of personality his mom has and he wouldn't dare show up too terribly early!