Christmas Decorating!

Alex and I are huge fans of the Christmas Spirit. We love the lights, the ornaments, the egg nog... you name it, we like it. We are also the type of people who buy our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Here is our apartment's transformation over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Here is our messy living room before:


We headed to a little Chirstmas tree lot by our house. They had cheap trees, free delivery and we were helping out a little boy scout troop.


After a stroll around the lot, we found our tree.


After the awesome boy scouts lugged the tree up to our apartment, we threw on the lights and ornaments and the room started to glow.


But that's not all... we decorated our mantle* too! Christmas mantle!!


We weren't sure if we were allowed to put lights up outside**, but we figured it's better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.


* Thanks to my mom for letting me use her decorations! She doesn't use them too much anymore and has an excellent collection of little Santas and vintage glass ornaments.
** We received a newsletter from the complex that said it's OK to decorate so... woo hoo!

Happy Holidays everybody!

Let me tell you about the exciting week I had at work! 

Alex and I got our Christmas tree (more on that later) last Sunday and my computer somehow stopped working in the process of moving it from the living room to the kitchen. It eventually started working again but my boss's husband M wanted to take a look at it anyway to make sure it really was OK. He didn't find anything wrong with it but as soon as I brought it home, it decided to stop working again. The computer is back with him again and I'm working from my laptop now. 

Aaanywho, on Wednesday, my boss J, my co-worker K, and I met up at 7:00 am in Napa and drove down to San Francisco to the Design Center.  We attended a networking breakfast and watched a presentation by an architect named Andrew Skurman. He is a renowned architect that specializes in Classical architecture and recently published a book! He's a very interesting guy and his work is amazing. It was kind of intimidating to be in the same room with such an accomplished person.

After the breakfast, J and K took me around the different show rooms at the design center to pick up samples and look for pieces for our current clients. K was such a pro at the design center. We were zipping in and out of show rooms grabbing this and that. I told her how impressed I was with her knowledge of the place and she just laughed saying that there was about two months during the summer where she would make weekly trips to the SFDC. I wonder if that responsibility will be in my hands in the future?

The photo above is one I quickly took at the Benjamin Moore show room... I mean look at it! You wonder how many other ways there are to present paint chips besides what you see at hardware stores. I just love how they've stepped it up with the flooring and lighting. So clean and beautiful and anti-hardware store.

On Thursday morning, I was back in the office working on some last minute drawings for a meeting we had later that day. The project is a master bathroom remodel for a guy who loves the rich Tuscan look. We had three designs to show him, one of which I had a lot of influence with. J had told me what she was looking for but pretty much let me at it. I found a really nice vanity for the client and added some arches here and there in the interior. He liked all of the designs but his face really lit up when he saw what I came up with and chose to go in that direction. I don't want to say that I "designed" it, I was only following direction but it was still exciting having someone want something that I put together. All in all, my first official client meeting was a success! I can't wait to see what comes up this week.

Five Senses: Sunday Night Edition

Seeing: Photos "uploading" on my flickr. My internet doesn't like uploading photos while Alex games and I try to watch Netflix.

Tasting: Popcorn. My favorite snack food.

Hearing: "Scream and Shout" by Will.i.am featuring Britney Spears. I absolutely hated it the first time I heard it on TV but it has evolved into my guilty pleasure. I can't get enough of British Britney!

Smelling: Apple Cinnamon Glade Candle. Makes my house feel cozy...

Touching: 24x36 Building plans. Getting ready for Monday at work!