snow days & storage wars

This won't be the most interesting post, but life can't always be parties and caramel rolls.

We had a pretty quiet weekend. I worked from home on Friday, Monday was a holiday, and then today was a snow day. I may or may not have spent less than 5 hours in real pants over the last 4 days.

But we did get one major thing accomplished this weekend. We finally organized and packed up our Christmas decorations. Like I said, not very exciting to you, but hugely exciting to me.

We went from this:

To this:

I've never been so happy to see an empty room, and I love an organized closet.

We also finally hung a few things on the walls. We haven't hung anything downstairs yet because a quick google search told us we didn't have the right hanging mechanism to avoid damaging the plaster walls. It's kind of a pain. Have you ever been in an old house that had picture rails? Well, they aren't just for convenience - many homes had them to avoid crumbling walls. Plaster and wall art don't get along.

That didn't stop us from hanging our starburst mirror and some frames upstairs in the master bedroom, which was thankfully added to the house after drywall was invented.

This mirror is ridiculously difficult to hang.
Jon says we can never move it again. Deal.

Success!

It's still pretty sad, but this constitutes a snow day around here. I'll try to keep my northern weather snob comments to myself, but at least it actually stuck to the ground this time. My southern husband even got to shovel for the first time ever. He didn't know what he was missing. 

oh baby, it's cold outside

If you haven't already noticed, I love throwing a good party. It's one of the things Jon and I talked about before we even started the home-buying process. We wanted a house that was conducive to hospitality & entertaining. Not just because entertaining involves food & fun, but because it's an opportunity to sacrificially love & serve others. 

When we found out our friends Peter & Melissa were expecting, we were absolutely thrilled. We'd been praying for this to happen, and now, in just 2 months, they will welcome their first child into the world! They are part of our "D.C. family" and we wanted to literally shower them with love. 

The Momma to be, Melissa, suggested a wintery theme for the shower. I loved that idea for an early January baby shower. It also really worked for a baby boy shower because what's more wintery than pretty shades of icy blue? And because I just couldn't resist, I planned everything around the phrase "Baby, it's cold outside." Of course, after several days of chilly temps, Saturday was warm and very rainy, but that didn't stop us from having a great time.

The inspiration board

We decided to have the shower in the late morning so we could serve brunch. Who doesn't love brunch?! The menu consisted of a waffle bar, yogurt, granola, fruit, breakfast potatoes, mini quiches, donut holes, mimosas, coffee, punch and, of course, cake! By far the biggest hit was the waffle bar. I used this recipe for overnight yeast waffles, which were perfect for feeding a crowd because the batter can be made ahead, and the waffles stayed warm and crisp in the oven until serving. They were even good leftover the next day, and any unused batter can be kept in the fridge for a few days.

not pictured - the sparkly snowflakes seen on the table also covered the wall behind the waffle bar...
my photog (ahem, Jon) failed to capture everything when I told him to go take pictures of the decor.

The best party leftover was the giant bowl of freshly whipped cream.
I may or may not have eaten most of it straight from the bowl with a spoon.

Lots of wedding presents finally being used in this photo - they had been hanging out at Mom's house until we had room for them!

This is also a great theme for after Christmas. I already had the table decorations from a white Christmas party I threw a few years ago, but I got all of the other decorations 50-75% off at after Christmas sales. The best part is that I can recycle all of them to use next year - I think I'll turn the kitchen into a winter wonderland!

Table decorations

Snowflakes hanging in the front windows - you can see what a gloomy day it was. :(

Remember these from the holiday house tour? They got to stay for the shower. 

Snowflakes hanging in the doorways

Party favors

Baby shower bingo cards

opening gifts! and no, we weren't watching TV. we had it turned on for the music station. :) a better hostess would have had time to put together a special party iPhone playlist. :/

Melissa & the other hostesses - I couldn't have done it without these 2 awesome helpers!

And just so you don't think it was all fun & games - this was my kitchen post-shower. 6 hours, 1 nap, 20 hand-washed champagne flutes, and 2 dishwasher cycles later, it was finally clean....or at least clean enough for our housekeeper to come the next day. Thank goodness for Flor!

And just because my hubby is awesome - I got a much-needed foot rub at the end of the day.