Day of Thanks

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing! Know that the Lord -  He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! For the LORD is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.  ~ Psalm 100:1-5

God saw me - a helpless sinner - and chose to not just save me, but to prepare for me. And it is only because of His great sacrifice that I can experience far more joy than I'll ever deserve.

I hope you have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving Table

When I walked downstairs this morning, I took a picture of our dining room. You can see the extent of my Autumn decorating in this room are the leaves placed around the mirror. Other than that, this is what our dining room looks like on a day-to-day basis. After the kitchen, I would say this room is the center of our home. We eat, do computer work, and craft right at this table. 

But every now and then even the most tomboy of dining room tables likes to get dressed up and be treated like a lady. Since I am not hosting Thanksgiving this year (or more likely for many years), I decided to do a few quick mock-ups of how the table might look if I was hosting.


Look #1: Classic & clean white tablesetting.

I started with a basic white and tan checked tablerunner (*cough*scarf*cough*). Then I layered my china (which was my grandmother's from her wedding that she passed down to me!) and cups/utensils.

For the centerpiece, I decided to stack a couple antique books and place a white pumpkin on top for a little autumn-vibe. Then I scattered my famous birch tealight holders along the table.

Look #2: Where my table no longer becomes vertically challenged.
All I did was swap out the book/pumpkin centerpiece for my vase filled with dried hydrangeas.

I like how the deep red in the vase plays off of the curtains/cabinet.


Look #3: Casual gathering of friends.
If we had a few friends coming over for a simple dinner, I'd keep the table equally simple. I swapped out my grandmother's china for our everyday casual china plates. Then for the centerpiece I subbed in a bowl of pinecones. I decided to use my green glasses to add a little touch of color.

And apparently, we eat with our hands. :)


If I was truly hosting Thanksgiving I would definitely put a little more time and thought into my table setting, but for a quickie mock-up using only what I had on hand - I'm pleased as pink. Although some napkins would definitely be a nice touch and help class things up a bit.


What do you think? Which table setting do you like best? Or do you despise them all? How will you be setting your table for Thanksgiving?


ps: krystle from color transformed family passed the versatile blogger award on to me. Thanks lady!! Since Brandi graciously passed the award to me earlier, I won't make you hear any more random facts about my life. I do want to pass the award on to Ashley from Attempts at Domestication though. Just because she's awesome and then we can keep this bad boy bloggie award alive :)

Weekend Travels

When we got married and became Team Rothenberger, we knew we wanted our home to be a place of comfort and laughter and love. A place where our families and friends felt welcome and relaxed. And that's why we work so hard on making our house into a home. It's because of the people that are a part of it.

But we hold fast to the principle that even though we want a beautiful and inviting home, we value our relationships with people more. So instead of working on our house projects this weekend, we packed up our bags and spent time with our family and friends.



All this was to say that I don't have any house progress to share. And I may not for a few days... but I've got memories to last a lifetime. And that's better than any wreath in my book.


What did you do this past weekend? Any one else take a weekend trip?

The Hunt

I mentioned way back in our living room reveal post that our room was only about 60% done. Our to-do list looked like this:

     - Hang art/pictures on walls

     - Get a rug for the front door   completed!

     - Get a loveseat 

     - Paint trimwork

     - Find/make throw pillows   completed!

Well we've been working on that third item. Finding a loveseat. Who would have thought it'd be so hard? 


We wanted a loveseat that complimented the couch we already had. We were looking for:
- Higher back
- Wooden legs
- Slightly rolled arm


After an exhaustive online search, we decided to visit Wolf & Interiors. Both of these are fairly local stores that we've heard fantastic things about. So we had high expectations. These high expectations were immediately shot down by the store's equally high prices.


Then we decided to visit La-z-boy Furniture.

The one loveseat that we really liked was the Bella. 

We want to get it in a fabric that coordinates with the couch we already have. . . so we narrowed it down to these 2 choices.

We mapped out how much space the couch would take up. If you notice the frog tape - that's the length of the couch

You'll have to excuse the shoes / bags / artwork - just keeping it real people :)

After some serious photoshop efforts by Justin, we chose the couch in the "Mollasses" color. We went this past Tuesday to order it but had a change of heart in the store. We want to look at a few more places before we finally decide if it's the one for us. Try on a few more couches.

Yeah, we're those indecisive people.

This weekend we're planning on visiting Raymour & Flannigan and American Signature Furniture. Hopefully by Monday we'll have it all together!

Any recommendations? What do you think of the Bella - is she our beauty? Did your couch search take months too?