Black Friday Memories

I come by my love of shopping honestly - I come from a looooong line of shoppers. Starting when I was a very tiny girl, my mom, grandmother, and I would go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. We didn't do the 5 am door busters at the big box stores - that's not really our style. (No piece of electronic equipment is worth getting run over for, in my opinion). Rather, we would go to SouthPark in Charlotte, and hit Ivey's (miss that store!) and Belk's, and the other shops in the mall. Then we would hit some of the boutiques around town as well. We'd end our morning with a very casual lunch at the Eckard's lunch counter, which, while it wasn't fancy, had the best hot dogs I have ever eaten (The cole slaw was out of this world. Mmmm). It was such a fun, lovely tradition, and it is one of my favorite memories.

My darling grandmother passed away a few weeks before Miss Priss was born, and I always like to think that Miss Priss's arrival was a way to make our little trio whole again. Last year, we were in NC for Thanksgiving, so my mom and I took Miss Priss out for a little while on Black Friday. It was a bittersweet moment. We're with Mr. Belle's family this year for Thanksgiving, so I won't be able to shop with my mom, but Miss Priss and I will carry on the tradition (even at 2.5, she's a fine little shopper already), even if we just go to a few selected stores. I'll be thinking of the sweet memories of my grandmother the whole time.

Many wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving with the people you love!

I'm back!

Ever have one of those weeks when you drop off the face of the earth? That was last week for me! Mr. Belle out of town, Miss Priss with strep throat, me with an ear infection (yuck! I haven't had one of those in 15 years), and a busy week at work meant I hardly had time to breathe. I am SO ready for Thanksgiving.

As you may recall, I am a Twilight fan. Yes, I'm one of THOSE people. Much to my dismay, I could not go see the movie on opening night because Mr. Belle had the audacity to be born on the day it premiered. I figured it might be bad form to leave him on his birthday to go spend the evening with my fictional vampire boyfriend. However, I was finally able to go check it out on Sunday. Let me just say that seeing him on the big screen just made me fall in love with Edward Cullen all over again. The movie was cheesy and corny and melodramatic, and I'm going back to see it again on Saturday. Heh. I can't wait until it comes out on DVD (I KNEW that Mr. Belle's 58 inch plasma tv would come in handy someday).

License to Redecorate

We bought our current house about 2.5 years ago. It is a great house, and I love it down to its studs. However, when we moved in, it was covered in scary early 1990s wallpaper. Well, almost covered - we had the blinding red toile in the kitchen removed before we moved in. I love toile, but sometimes a little goes a long way. Behold the scariness (this is from the real estate listing pictures - it's not our furniture, etc.):
Other than the kitchen, the children's bedrooms, etc., the other wallpaper stuck around (literally) for about a year while we decided what to put in its place. Then, last December, we did a major makeover, having all the wallpaper removed and painting done. Along with that makeover, I got my Christmas present . . . My exquisite, magnificent Henkel Harris mahoghany dining room table and chairs. The picture does not do it justice, but here you go:

Here it is in the newly de-wallpapered, and freshly painted dining room before dinner on Christmas last year (behold Master P's Lightning McQueen sippy cup). [As an aside, the dining room (which is still a work in progress in this picture) looks almost black in this photograph, but I promise it's not. It's a rich blue. Specifically, it's the color "New York State of Mind" from Benjamin Moore. The Southern girl in me was a little horrified to have a dining room color with a Yankee name, but I liked the color so I got over it. The light fixture is sadly still with us - It's on my list to replace).

I love my table and chairs to the depths of my soul (Mr. Belle would likely say that's appropriate, since we had to sell our souls to pay for it). However, after that furniture purchase, I knew that it would be a loooong time before I could go furniture shopping again.

We don't have the type of relationship where we typically run purchases past the other person, but if it's a big ticket item like furniture, we have an unwritten rule that it needs to be a joint decision. Well, guess what??? Yesterday Mr. Belle signed off on new furniture for our family room! It is desperately needed - we have a Hickory Chair sofa and a Jessica Charles chair that were once quite lovely, but have been completely trashed by five years of Master P (Miss Priss does her part, too, but it's mostly the use of the cushions as pirate ships/forts/etc. that have killed the furniture). I think we're going to replace the carpet too (I want hardwood like we have in the rest of the downstairs, but Mr. Belle wants to keep that one room carpeted. Boo). So, now I'm off to shop for furniture! It will likely take me 3 months to pick anything out, much less order anything, but it should be fun!

I love election day!

I am a political junkie. I freely admit it. I'm one of those people that even watches the conventions (BOTH parties) - I love the pageantry of the whole darn thing. I even love the roll call votes at the conventions: "Idaho, Land of the Great Potato, casts its votes for the next President of the United States, ___________". So fun. I should have known I was going to grow up to be a lawyer when I visited Washington, DC for the first time when I was a little girl, and I got goose bumps while checking out the Constitution on display at the National Archives (that said, my favorite thing to see in DC is still the display of the First Ladies' inaugural gowns at the US History Museum).

I always think that voting is such a fun, friendly experience. I waited in line for about 30-40 minutes this morning, and had such nice conversations with the people around me. It didn't matter who we were voting for - the shared experience was still a pleasure. Plus, our polling place is awesome and has snacks and drinks for while you wait, so it really wasn't bad at all.

Usually, on election night, Mr. Belle and I crack open a bottle of wine and sit back to watch the fun. [Oh, how you will be missed tonight, Tim Russert]. Mr. Belle's an election junkie too, so we are a good pair. Tonight, we're actually going to an Election Watch party at a friend's house, so that should be even more fun - I'm taking dip with red, white and blue chips, I think, to get in the spirit of the day. I just wish that I thought it wasn't going to be a complete blowout tonight, because I like it so much better when there is a little bit of suspense. It is certainly exciting that, regardless of the outcome, the result of this election will make history, with either an African-American President, or a female VP. That's pretty darn cool.

So, whether your candidate wins or loses, Happy Election Day!