What an amazing year it has been! Lucky. Blessed. and... Thankful!
The good times are fun and great - and the bad times make the good times even sweeter!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Our Kitchen Table Got A Makeover
A few nights ago I put (most of) my ideas for "Project Lundeland" into a powerpoint presentation and sent it to Matt. What is Project Lundeland? It is my plan for putting some of my design ideas into action. I will do a separate post later on the powerpoint presentation in its entirety, but for now here is a snapshot of my first project - the kitchen table.
We typically have some type of table runner that runs across our little kitchen table. Actually, let me back up to the history of this table. My old roommate Heather (and her old roommate before me) bought it for $75 on Craigslist. When Heather moved to Denver and Matt and I got married, she let us keep it. The table was originally blond wood, which we kept that way for the first year. When we moved into our house Matt stained it a darker wood - which I love. In fact, I am thinking we might even go darker (Matt made the mistake of telling me that was possible). So with the dark wood we usually had lighter table runners on it - with vases and fresh flowers, or a tray with tea sets, etc. I have been wanting to make it look a bit more "elegant/grown up/you know...better/newer/etc (haha)" so with Christmas money from Fred and Karen we bought two new end chairs I have been looking at (on sale) to help give it a different look.
As far as decorating goes - I am really into that whole rustic, modern, clean, barnyard-sheek (is that even how you spell that word?) look, so that is what I was going for with the pictures below. Total cost outside of the chairs: Burlap and lace ($6.43), mason jars (already had them), sand and candles (gift card from Pier 1). I am IN.LOVE.
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| The finished project! I am so happy to use the table runner that Carla and Antonio gave us as a wedding present! It is perfect with the burlap! |
Saturday, December 29, 2012
17 Years of Gift Giving
Tonight Matt and I had our belated Christmas dinner with Jamie and her boyfriend, Mark. In addition to dinner, we exchanged our Christmas gifts to each other for the 17th time. Better than what I am giving, or what I am getting, is the fact that every year I shop for my three brothers (add Brian) and my sister. When you go through braces, boyfriends, college exams, first jobs, new jobs, a wedding, buying a house, etc with the same person - they are more than just a friend, they are family.
Merry Christmas Jamie!
Christmas 2012
As a Christmas recap, I have provided the below collage of photos. But before I bullet the highlights I just want to be a little sappy and sentimental and say that Matt and I are truly blessed and THANKFUL for our friends and family. This, as always, was a very special Christmas season and while the activities, presents, food, etc is always so much fun - the REASON for the SEASON is not lost on us. So, a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!
2012 Christmas Highlights
- Ryan's Birthday Dinner
- Game nights (basically every night)
- Last minute holiday shopping
- Watching Pitch Perfect 4 times
- Lunde/Domach sibling cookoff
- Family photo session
- Boys basketball game
- St. Nick Ornaments
- Bacon wrapped Turkey
- Packer Game
- Mani/Pedi Traditions
- Buying my first pair of Uggs
- Fabulous food
- The World Map gift for Fred & Karen
- Secret Santa gifts (giving and receiving)
- Christmas mass
- Full stockings
- More shopping
- Sitting, talking, doing nothing, enjoying family
- Christmas lights
- Getting to Jared...and his bar!
I hope you all had a very Merry and Blessed Christmas with your families.
Charles & Christine's White Elephant
Matt's cousins, Charles & Christine (brother/sister) have taken White Elephant gift giving to a whole, new level and I just LOVE it! I don't know how long their tradition has been going on, but for at least the past several years. There are two rules: 1) It has to be used, and 2) It has to fit in the trunk of a car. I have only been a part of two exchanges. The first year I joined Matt's family for Christmas Christine gave Charles a coffee maker for your car. Yes, that's right, a full-blown coffee maker that plugs into your car and will brew an entire pot of coffee while you drive. That does NOT sound safe. Charles found an old school sewing machine. This year got even better! Charles found an original car phone (that came in a huge case with an antenna that you pull up before you make the call) for Christine, and Christine found a Starter jacket (which apparently Charles always wanted as a kid) and one of the first answering machines (with the original receipt for $134). The best part is that there are two messages on the machine - so if they find the missing cord that could make for some interesting listening.
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| They took it a step further this year by putting on special, handmade, Christmas sweaters for the gift opening. The best news is that they invited Matt and I to participate the next time we are with them for Christmas. I. AM. IN. |
Matt's Green & Gold Christmas Present
This is our 3rd year in Wisconsin with Matt's family for Christmas, and for once the stars aligned to where he could go with his dad to a Packer's game in Green Bay. When he found out there was a home game, and that it fell on a day we would be in MKE with his dad he bought tickets immediately. Matt, his dad and Chris (our almost brother-in-law) woke up at dawn to head on to Green Bay. It was really sweet to see how excited Matt was the night before. Like a kid Christmas Eve waiting for Santa to come. Well Santa came for Matt and they had so much fun at the game...and no one came back with frostbite. Matt's highlights include: Parking was only $5, as soon as they parked fellow Packer fans offered them a beer at their tailgate, the Packers won!
While the boys spent the day at the game, Karen took Laura, Katherine and I to get our traditional St. Nick's mani/pedi. While I do miss the traditions of being with my family for Christmas, Matt's family has done such a great job of creating new traditions with us - St. Nick mani/pedis being one of them!
Real Tree vs Fake Tree
Real tree wins EVERYTIME...for the Lunde family! I would say our friends are probably split 40/60 (40 percent real/60 percent fake). IMO, here's how I see it:
Real Tree
- Pros: Smells amazing, it's real, you get to go pick it out with your family (husband) just like you did with your parents as a kid, you can pick the size you want each year (i.e. ours keep getting bigger to fit all of our ornaments)
- Cons: You have to pay for a tree every year, you have to water it regularly (do you guys use the Sprite trick?), it sheds needles, you have to string the lights on it yourself, you might need a little handsaw to get it to stand up straight in the tree holder
Fake Tree
- Pros: If you buy it after Christmas you can get a great price and you only have to buy it once, typically they are pre-lit, for you linear people it looks perfect with all of the lights evenly spread out and each branch can be perfectly aligned; the branches are sturdy and can hold heavy ornaments.
- Cons: It's not a real tree
I say you can't go wrong - it is strictly personal preference - and our preference is real!
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| From start to finish! This year Matt was so sweet and picked one out while I was still in Europe and put all the lights on so it was ready for ornaments as soon as I got home! Each year I point out a few of our favorite, very special ornaments. Matt and I have probably over 100 ornaments that we have purchased together from places we have been, special reminders, St. Nick ornaments from our parents, etc. In a nutshell: WE. LOVE. ORNAMENTS. 
  
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Tis the Season for Holiday Treats
Almost every year I make hundreds of chocolate covered pretzels for friends and colleagues at work. I think it is such a fun time to share a little holiday cheer - and everyone just seems to LOVE these pretzels (mom's recipe). Typically I put 6-7 in a holiday baggie tied with a ribbon and a tag. Well I am ALL about mason jars this year. So I bought 2 cases of them and had Tracey help me design the labels (which unfortunately I mis-sized). I think they turned out super cute! I probably made over 350 this year - so that Matt could take a few containers to work as well! Would you believe I only ate 2!
The Holiday Dinner Table
This year we spent Christmas in Wisconsin with Matt's family - but before we went, we had the opportunity to have some friends over for dinner. I just LOVE setting a holiday-themed table! This year I kept it simple, using mostly stuff we already had - and thought it turned out great! |
| Burlap ribbon ($2.99 from Michaels), Ornaments ($0.99 for two tubes), gold ribbon (had on hand) = easy, cute and budget friendly! |
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| The finished product! |
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| Mason jars for water glasses as well as another set wrapped with burlap ribbon for candle holders; wrapped empty boxes in Christmas wrapping paper to set the pizzas on; various tea light candles; placemats my mom made for us! |
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| Matt's yummy, gourmet pizza (Italian sausage, fresh mozz & brocolli rab)! We went with gourmet pizzas / rustic theme! |
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Tea Time Traditions
This past Saturday Steph and I enjoyed our annual holiday tradition of high tea - just the two of us! Three years ago Steph booked holiday tea at the Arboretum with an old friend from work. At the last minute her friend got sick, so knowing I worked only a few miles away she texted to see if I wanted to join. After a solid two hours of laughing, catching up without all of the busyness of life around us and just enjoying each other's company we decided each year we would come back and make a tradition out of tea! We decided to come each year for the holiday season and have the tea be our gift to each other. Besides being a monetary gift - as high tea isn't fee - it is really more a gift of time. Time we spend putting everything in our life down and just enjoying chatting away like besties do! Hopefully 30 years from now we will be those cute older ladies that "tea" like pros and don't have to ask each other "Do I have to use a fork for this" or "Can you add milk to your tea"!
Merry Christmas Steph!
Monday, December 17, 2012
Our 1st Annual Holiday Par-TEA
This past weekend was Holiday Parties in full force, and I loved every minute of it! I had been anxiously awaiting Sunday as Tracey and I were co-hosting a Holiday Par-TEA. We had so much fun! Tracey finds the special details just as important as I do - and naturally we went above and beyond.
We did a four course tea, asked guests to wear winter white and used red and hot pink as our theme colors! It could not have gone any better! We both have such great friends, so it was fun getting to spend some time, just us girls sipping tea and eating to our hearts content.
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| Par-TEA favors: Teacup with a box of sugar cubes, three packets of tea wrapped in Christmas paper, two ornaments and a tiny spoon. |
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| This was actually my second tea of the weekend with Steph - but that deserves its own blog post (to come later). |
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| Please note the AMAZING pink reindeer that were made and sold at Home Goods, just for us! |
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| Brownie bites I made! |
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| Tracey's special touches! |
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| I made these heart shaped scones FROM SCRATCH. Unbelievable. |
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| Love the window panes in the background with the menu. (Next time though we will buy a thinner tipped paint pen.) |
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| The hostesses |
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| Just us girls! |
Sunday, December 16, 2012
2012 European Vaca (Venice)
I survived the week of work - trekking all over England and Milan (or rather just outside of Milan). Professionally it was a great experience, and I am thankful for the opportunity (hopefully one of many more to come). From a personal perspective it was obviously great traveling with Matt, getting to see new places, and ending the two weeks abroad with a day trip to Venice. One of the girls on the trip had never been so I suggested we stay an extra night and explore. Venice is in my top 3 favorite cities...and what was fascinating about this year's visit was getting to experience L'aqua Alta (albiet the tail end of it).
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After it was all said and done - here are the stats...
- 17 days on the road
- 4 countries
- 18 cities
- 10 different hotels
- Two nine hour flights
- 7 country to country/state to state flights
- 4 three plus hour car trips
- 10 one hour shuttles to the airport
- 5 train rides
- Dozens of tube and metro stops
- And about five extra pounds from FABULOUS Italian food
#worthit!
2012 European Vaca (Manchester)
After a week of vacation, I was due to meet my client in Manchester Sunday night. Matt flew home Sunday morning and I flew to Manchester. I made my flight early so that I could spend some time with old friends from Palazzola! Even though it had been such a long time, no one had changed, and it felt like I had just seen them! Those friendships are the best!
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| With Fr. Peter |
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| LOVED seeing Ciara and Rory! |
2012 European Vaca (London)
After two busy days in Paris - we jumped on the Eurostar, taking the underground tunnel to London. I am pretty confident I could live in London (pending I was earning a pound and not a dollar having to pay bills in pounds)! I just think the city has so much energy, feels clean, and I find the royal history fascinating. We had a great hotel, right across the street from Tower London, and walked the city from top to bottom! Here are some of the highlights...
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| Picadilly Circus |
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| Dinners with friends |
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| Getting to see the crown jewels again. |
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| Visiting Fr. Phillip |
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| Getting that PERFECT Christmas card picture! |
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| HIGH TEA |
We had such a nice vacation and I was sad to see Matt go after the first week. It is so much fun getting to travel with your best friend and take turns figuring out the map!
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