decorating for christmas

{boxwood wreath similar here / door hardware similar}

one of the simple pleasures of the holiday season for me is decorating for the season. i look forward to it each year and we have made new traditions each year. we love picking out our tree, turning on a christmas record, drinking eggnog, and stringing lights. these pictures are really poor quality and it may not be what the holiday season is truly about, but it sure feels festive. merry christmas!

{fairy lights / rug similar here / basket similar here / sunburst mirror similar here}

{lighting the japanese maple}

{dining and barcart}

{wooden garland}

{garland similar here / christmas memories book / deer figurine}

{red berry branches trader joes / the best candle / snowglobe}

{picking the perfect tree}

{and the tree all lit up}

even our office is feeling the cheer...

{parsons desks / file cabinets}

happy holiday season!

madeline

date night: bruce monro light

for date night on friday, we finally visited the bruce monro outdoor light exhibit at cheekwood botanical gardens in nashville entitled 'light.' it was a beautiful night with cool crisp air, bourbon apple cider, and fiber optics. 'field of light' was especially beautiful with 20,000 optical spheres. this reminded me so much of the synchronous fireflies in the smoky mountains that twinkle in unison (has anyone seen these?!) every piece of the exhibit resembled a dream, something out of the wizard of oz... i will let the images speak for themselves.

this last one was my favorite of the night. i could not stop staring at it - reminds me of the nike of samothrace at the louvre. these are floating fiber optic spheres on a reflecting pool. the indoor images were chandeliers installed inside the cheekwood mansion. we had a crepe breakfast visit with my aunt this morning and sitting out in the adirondacks till dark. what did you do this weekend?

madeline

month in instagrams: october

i hate winter. i guess i just haven't been ready to say goodbye to october yet....it is my favorite month, the best weather, and also happens to be when we celebrate our anniversary and my birthday. this is my formal bid farewell to fall and a summary of our month in instagrams. second anniversary * 27th birthday * natalie and matthew visited * catbird seat * started this blog  * neighborhood party * trip to chattanooga. farewell october. you have been the best!

{celebrated our second anniversary sept 24th, almost october}

downtown franklin | madeline made

{hot air balloon season in downtown franklin}

{lighting shopping for my birthday at the iron gate}

{dinner with my best friends}

{mason jar salad experimenting}

{pumpkin pancakes, naturally}

{michael buble concert "all you need is love" heart confetti}

{plaid season in chattanooga}

have a great saturday. we have family in town staying with us (aunt lark!) and headed to the dog park today. rundown of the bruce monro exhibit tomorrow! top image: kate murphy photography, the rest are my own.

xoxo madeline

yard sale lamp restyle

ok...this is a simple restyle. really simple, but still makes a difference. i really prefer small projects that don't take entire weekends-because who has time for that?? my friends and i recently had a yard sale. i found a few things i thought i could rehab including this lamp (thanks laura!). the shape is pretty and clean; it just needed a little spray paint. i used design master spray paint from michaels and painters tape to cover the cord.

better, right? gold fixes all.

xoxo madeline

birthday week

So my long awaited birthday surprise date was Wednesday night....

and my husband surprised me with a dinner at the Catbird Seat! I secretly act like I don't like surprises, but I always end up liking the end result. More to come on this dinner on tomorrow's post - basically it will be all food pictures. I wore my new Anthropologie dress. My two best friends and I treated Anthropologie's sale room like it was our own personal shopping experience Saturday and bought everything.

My husband, Josh, surprised me with something I have been eagerly anticipating, an Instax polaroid camera!  I have been playing with it all weekend.

{my new fujifilm instax}

While we were at Catbird, I could not stop staring at this beautiful light fixture (sorry for the poor picture). I knew I had seen it before and have been searching around for it and found it finally.

{lighting at catbird seat}

It is a Lindsay Adelman, lighting genius, of course. Below also in a mint version (!).

{lindsay adelman: click to link}

Since it is is out of my price range and I have been contemplating purchasing or DIYing a Sputnik style, I was excited to find this inexpensive DIY version from her.

{you make it: click to link}

we are relaxing and recharging today (read: spending the day on pinterest) and visiting with friends tonight. have a great saturday.