Gift Ideas for the Holidays: Haymarket Designs

I cannot believe that tomorrow is December 1! Where has this year gone? We are getting our tree this weekend and will deck the halls soon after.

I've also started the search for Christmas presents for the family and came across a great idea that I had to share with y'all. I featured the Southern company, HaymarketDesigns, on the blog before and had to do it again in time for Christmas orders. You may have also seen them featured in the December issue of Southern Living. So cute!
This year, Haymarket has adorable monogram phone covers. You know I love a monogram. Some of my family members may be getting one this year too!

Check out their site here to see all the colors and styles available. She also has beautiful and hand-painted trays, frames, tissue boxes and waste baskets that would make great gifts. Make sure you order in time to get your for Christmas:

For delivery (trays, frames, etc.) before Christmas order by December 4th!
For delivery (Phone only) before Christmas order by December 16th!

Images from HaymarketDesign.com

Macy's Pre-Parade Balloons

Happy Monday, y'all! Hope that everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. We had a quiet, but fun time here in the city. For the third year in a row, we walked down to 79th street on Wednesday to see Macy's pre-parade balloons. It's by far one of my favorite things to do in NYC. Crowded, yes. But, so worth it. Everyone is always excited to see the ten-story high balloons and it's a great (and free!) way to start the holiday season. Can you spot Bloomberg?




Thursday morning, Bailey dog got me up extra early and while we were on our walk, we were greeted by all the band members who were lining up for the Thanksgiving parade. We also saw Santa's sleigh at the end of our block. But, the big man was not to be found
Thursday was spent cooking for most of the day. Though sadly this year the rolls did not work out. I tried twice to no avail. I'm determine to make them again before Christmas. We also Facetimed with both families down in NC. It was like we were there, sitting at the table. Lots to be thankful for this year!

Christmas trees have also popped up around the city. Though, I vow I will never buy one before December 1, especially when it's 70 degrees outside. I'm not particularly fond of cold weather, except at Christmas time. What about any of y'all - have you started decorating for Christmas yet?

Thanksgiving Place Settings

We're staying up in NYC again this year for Thanksgiving. It's one of my favorite times of the year. Probably because the city feels less crowded, the weather is great and we live close to the parade so we get to watch the Macy's balloons get shape before their walk down Central Park West. Though we miss our families in the south, we've started our own little tradition up here and we love it!

This year, I plan to cook the favorites and attempt Sooze's rolls. I've also been searching on Pinterest for some fun table decorating inspiration. Here are a few things that caught my eye.

I love the color of the pumpkin here

I like the "Give Thanks" sign here

What are y'alls Thanksgiving Day plans?

Carolina on my Wall

Our latest collection obsession is maps. I'm not quite sure why as I've always hated reading maps and would rather someone just tell me where to go. But, they do make for great art!

Our hallway includes an Outer Banks sailing map (love OBX), a Bermuda map (The Husband's Brother lived here) and a US map from an old history book that's almost 75 years old (or so they told me). We're still trying to find an antique NYC map and then I'll snap photos of our map wall.

I was on Facebook the other day and saw that someone just bought this piece from an artist on Etsy.
By the way, I LOVE Etsy. They have some really unique things on there and I love the fact that everything is handmade.

If you look closely, every county name is included in the map. I also bought the Virginia one for The Husband and hung them both over the sofa in the living room along with some family photos.
You can find them - and many other maps - on CAPow Etsy site. Love having some Carolina on my New York city wall. (don't mind the iPhone photos).

Brotherly Love

Let me just say that I cannot believe that it's already the second week in November. I feel like I was just talking about the beach and now we are gearing up for Thanksgiving.

Anyway, last weekend was filled with family visits. My mum-in-law and The Husband's grandmother came up from VA. Though I forgot to snap photos, it was so nice to show them our new place and catch up with aunts and cousins too. The girls went a fantastic play that I highly recommend - Love, Loss and What I Wore. It's been playing for awhile now but I think it might be ending soon so you must go see it! It's a perfect Saturday afternoon thing to do with your friends, moms and sisters.

But, jump back to Friday night when I got the most pleasant surprise - my brother, Graham. For the past month, G had been talking with The Husband to coordinate the visit. After our regular Friday night dinner at Deans (that reminds me, I need to blog about Dean's), we came home to relax and have a quiet night. Before getting into the elevator to go up, The Husband said, "Meredith, do you know this guy?" I actually just ignored him thinking it was a dumb joke (he tends to do this) but then stepped around to see my younger brother. YAY! I couldn't quite understand what was going on and just said, "I don't get it!" ha.
My brother and I are very close and he is one of the best people I know. To have him visit was such a treat. He also surprised a friend who ran the marathon on Sunday. That brother, he's a good guy.

By the way, if you haven't ever watched the NYC Marathon, you must put it on your list of things to do. It's one of my favorite days in the city. Everyone is so positive, cheering the runners on and well, very un-New Yorker like:)

Great weekend for sure!

Curtains and more curtains

So, if there are any males out there that read my blog (which, I doubt there are besides my dad) you might not find this post that interesting, unless you like curtains.

I haven't posted recent pictures of the apartment but plan on doing so soon. We are slowly but surely making the place into our home and it has quickly become our favorite apartment that we've lived in (and we have lived in a lot of them!).

We have very high ceilings (10 feet) so I knew that it wasn't going to be cheap or easy to install curtains in the living room. Luckily my birthday is coming up so Sooze took me searching for fabrics and had some panels made while I was visiting a couple weeks ago - thanks, mom! I tend to lean towards blues, greens and browns and did so again here with the curtains in the living room. I love them! They bring the whole room together. The Husband even likes them (score!). They were not so easy to install though. We went through one rod installation package to no avail, but finally found something that was long enough and looked nice.
I haven't "staged" the room yet so please excuse the clutter. Also, the camera and the flash weren't getting along this morning so things are a little darker than they appear.




Bailey likes them too...
For the kitchen, I needed something that would add color and pattern to our small space but I didn't want to spend a lot of money. I found this great fabric (green again!) on sale. Since I cannot sew (New Year's resolution?) I decided to go with iron-on hem tape, like I've done with other projects. It was a simple sew-less project that came out great. I just hung with an extension rod and that was that.


More apartment pictures to come soon.