I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!  I'm enjoying some much needed time off and family time. 

Last week I baked Christmas cookies using this recipe.  I handed them out to my co-workers and volunteers who work at Potentials.  It was my first time making this particular cookie, but they turned out pretty good. 




I love cookies stuffed with candle bars.  Another amazing cookie recipe is for Snicker cookies.  I made a batch of these as well and gave them to our friends.  I would recommend trying either of these recipes before starting your New Year's diet!  You'll thank me later. 

This year I'm doing much of my Christmas shopping at local stores and buying from local artists.  The first weekend of December I went to Kennett and bought some gifts at the Adelphian Christmas Bazaar, where coincidentally my mom was photographed for the local newspaper.  Last weekend I went to the Kirkwood Farmer's Market (see my earlier visit here), which was transformed into a Christmas Wonderland. 





It was hard not to spend my entire Christmas budget here, but I was able to get several gifts.  I love that everything was from local people and I'm sure those receiving these gifts will enjoy them as well.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the Decker household. 

{Our St. Louis Cardinals snow village.} {Part of our regular snow village.} {Our tree has colored lights on it for the first time.} {Souvenir shop in the Cardinals village.} {Stockings hung by the chimney.} {My favorite new additions.  The Peanuts wireless band.  They all play together.  Thanks mom!} {Mint M&M's in a candy dish I got at a yard sale.} {More musical decorations.} {Not quite Clark Griswold, but it's a start.} {Jason worked very hard on lighting up the house.}

One of my hobbies is to find a fabulous outfit in a magazine and replicate it in my own wardrobe using either what I already own or getting missing pieces at resale stores.  I can usually reproduce the outfit almost to an exact match, spending a fraction of the price of the original pieces in the magazine. 

A while back I noticed Katie Holmes on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."  I was inspired by the outfit she wore to that show and a month later saw that it was pictured in my InStyle magazine.  I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed. 

{Katie Holmes on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" wearing Isabel Marant.  Photo:  InStyle October 2011}

I really liked the simplicity of this outfit, but yet it also had an edge.  Here is my version of this outfit.

{Old Navy sweater, Vince tank, Paris Blues pants, Mossimo shoes}

This entire outfit was found at Goodwill (of all places).  When recreating an outfit, shopping resale is the best way to go.

After a busy Thanksgiving weekend, I'm glad to be back home and back to normal.  
I'm excited to share a second completed room project in our house.  When we moved into our house, the kitchen was yellow with a brown light fixture and pastel curtains.  Below is a picture of the kitchen after we moved in.  I had already changed the curtains, but had yet to decide what colors to go with. 

{Kitchen before}

After numerous trips to Lowe's, the kitchen is now complete.  We added a gray tone paint, black back splash, and track lighting.  I couldn't be happier that the ugly brown light is gone.  It provided zero light to the kitchen and gave off a very dated look.  While we may eventually add more track lighting, for now I'm happy being able to actually see. 

{Kitchen after}

*Note:  Jason receives credit for the back splash and lighting. *

Our living room originally had yellowish paint on the wall.  I still hate the color of the doors, but that is a project to work on later.  The brown ceiling fan will also have to go.  Below is what the living room looked like the day we closed on the house. 


We added gray toned paint to the walls and new curtains.  Next was to add my own style to this over sized room.  It took me weeks to decide what to do next.  I was so indecisive about decorating this room because of its size and that it is definitely the central location of the whole house.
The living room and dining area stayed like this for weeks until I could commit to a design scheme.  I finally decided on a vintage antique theme with gray, white, and blue tones.


This is what our living room and dining area look like now (with Thanksgiving decor).  Some of my favorite pieces in this room are the unique items I found.

{This "birds on power lines" piece I found at Gordman's reminds me of my dad.}

{I love lamps.  I found this "George Washington" lamp at an antique shop in Kennett.}

{This piece is my favorite.  It is a framed quilt from the Civil War.  I love history, especially the Civil War.  Blame it all on Gone with the Wind.}

I am pleased with how the living room turned out.  Jason doesn't understand my taste and style, but he just goes with it.

I’m very embarrassed to say that I haven’t been to the eye doctor since I was in the 5th grade. Don’t judge. I’ve been busy.

I also have a fear of putting things in my eyes. I don’t do it. I don’t put things in my eye. I get completely grossed out when anyone puts contacts in. I can’t even put drops in my eyes.

One time I had a reaction to some eye makeup remover I was using. My eyes turned red and bloodshot. Jason got me some eye drops to help with the irritation. I refused to use the drops so Jason had to hold me down on the floor and drop them into my eyes. After several minutes, my face was soaked and only a little bit of the drops actually got into my eyes.

This past week, when Jason made his eye appointment to get new contacts, he made me an appointment as well. I was a little apprehensive, but figured I’d read the eye chart and get the hell out of there. When he explained what they would do to my eyes during the appointment I completely freaked out. I’ve been eating carrots by the pound my whole life to avoid this exact situation.

Jason was not going to make this appointment easy on me.  As we pulled out of the drive way he said, "This is the last time you'll see our house....."  As we filled out our paper work he said, "That's for when they shoot the laser in your eye." 

Once in the exam room, I sailed through the eye exam until the doctor attempted to look into my eyes with this long pointy light thing.  I jerked back so fast.  When he tried to look again, I again jerked back.  He decided to hold my eye lid open, holding me in place.  It was literally like the episode of Friends where Rachel goes to the eye doctor and won't let the doctor look at her eyes. 

In the end, all of my worries were for nothing.  The optometrist said my eyes were "perfect."  He told me that I wouldn't need his help until I was in forty. 

So me and my perfect eyes are going to be glasses/contacts free for while.  I should probably go to the dentist next.  The last time I went to the dentist?  Let's see, I got my braces off in 1998.........

When I was very young, my mother and grandmother took my two older cousins and myself to Opryland. We spent the day enjoying all that the former Nashville amusement park had to offer. Before we left at the end of the day we each got to pick out a souvenir to take home. No one really remembers what my cousins picked out, but everyone would remember what I selected.


That night as we lay in our hotel beds, my grandmother asked us what our favorite part of the day was. Each of my cousins mentioned their favorite rides and attractions from the park. Then I was asked what my favorite part of the day was.  My mother says (because I don’t really remember this story) that out of the darkness my little voice said, “my new bee-fohd” (aka billfold...I couldn't say  my "L's"). That day an obsession was born.

I didn’t realize how many billfolds and wallets I had until I was changing my cards from my current Marc Jacobs wallet into my new Marc Jacobs wallet that I got for my birthday (my Marc Jacobs addiction is a whole other issue).   After looking through my wallet drawer only to find that I owned more than I thought, I decided I would thin out the herd by consigning or donating some of them.

In addition to it being my birthday weekend, this past weekend was also one of many very infrequent family reunions.  I met my mom in Kennett where we then traveled down to Arkansas, out in the middle of the country for a time-honored tradition.

{My mom, brother, me, and my grandmother}

I was also surprised with a birthday cake at the reunion.


After reuniting, I had a small birthday celebration at my parents' house before coming back home.  My birthday back in St. Louis included trick-or-treaters at my new house and a bonfire (or two) in the yard.


Overall, it was a good weekend and birthday.

This week I finished up my witch hat for a Halloween event at my work on Thursday.  I found a plain witch hat at Target and purchased accessories at other discount stores.  I put the finishing touches on my hat today.

I got to go home to Kennett for the first time since July this weekend.  I love going home this time of year.  The air is filled with the smell of cotton.  I didn't realize how much I missed seeing cotton fields everyday.  In college, my classmates in my textiles class had never even seen a cotton field.  I guess it was always something that I took for granted.

Saturday morning, my mom and I went shopping at the local shops in Kennett.  We visited the Byrd's Nest where I found a great piece to hang in my living room.  I always look for unique things to use in the living room because I'm still not finished decorating it. 

{Chic knobby hook rack from The Byrd's Nest.}

After having lunch at Paradise Donuts (another new favorite of mine), it was time for the next event of the weekend.

This weekend was our Pumpkin Hollow Reunion 2011.  Each year around this time, three former PH employees and myself get together to visit and partake in the festivities.  Saturday night we meet at Strawberry's in Holcomb and had dinner.  When it comes to barbecue, Strawberry's is a local favorite.  I always love getting to go there when I'm home.

We then went to the haunted attractions at Pumpkin Hollow where we visited "Bubba's Butcher Barn," the "Forest of Fright," and "Mad Skull Mine."  As usual we received the "RIP" treatment. 

It was nice to be in the company of old friends and to be out in the country.  I loved that at the end of the night, my shoes were filled with dirt.  I got to see the stars in the sky for the first time in months.

Because I didn't have time to get pumpkins while in Arkansas, I went to the Kirkwood Farmers Market when I got back into town. 


I'm officially ready for Halloween now that I have my pumpkins....and sugar cookies.