My Little North Pole

Hello!

And welcome to my little North Pole :)

I call it this because anyone who has lived with me, or has had the awesome opportunity to move me, knows that I have enough Christmas decorations for a 3-bedroom house. BUT - since this year I crammed all of those decorations into an 800 sq ft apartment, it highly resembles what I imagine the North Pole to look like. Or at least what it looks like on all those Christmas movies we watch. 

And I absolutely love it. I walk into my apartment every day and smile. Christmas decorations just make me happy. 

 

My little "stoop." And can I say that I never realized my door was green until I realized it completely went with my Christmas decor? Apartment complex win. Also, no apartment near me has anything different outside. They probably all make fun of me. But I don't quite care. 

 

My welcome sign I've told you about approximately 4 billion times now, and Rudy. Last year, Jeff made me go to Lowe's with him, and then I saw Rudy and carried him around like a 5 year old, so he bought him for me at check out. This is why I'm marrying him. He understands that stuffed animals still make me happy at almost-thirty :)

The view to the right when you first walk in! And see Char under/behind the tree on the far left? He loves to army crawl up under the tree and just hang out. My lil Christmas pup :)

My tree! My mom picked it out when I was in my first apartment five years ago, and so we had to go for the 7 ft. skinny version. But I love it just the same :) I have a baby blue couch, so my tree and living room are in blues/silvers, and then my kitchen is in the reds and greens. I love both color schemes. Don't make me choose.

I actually love the gold look too. I've already told Jeff I want at least 3 full sized "themed" trees when I "grow up." His response was: "is that what your mom does?" 

Why yes, yes it is. Smart boy, that one. :)

See? Well - bad lighting, but a light blue couch. And a silver/grey Noel pillow I got from the Hob Lob this year. Just an extra little twinkle for my couch. 

My North Pole Christmas Village. And I'm not just calling it the North Pole to support the theme of my blog - it's legitimately the Department 56 North Pole Series. Like all the villages are elf, reindeer, and Santa related. I'm sharing the special-ness (it's a word) behind this village next week, so I'll just leave it there for now!

Because I am one of those people that completely takes down all the "every day" decorations and replace them with Christmas decorations instead. 

The top of my bookcase! Jeff gave me the sign on the right last year in support of my 25 Days of Christmas I did last December. And his mom actually gave me the little guy on the left, so the top of my bookcase is sponsored by the Smith family. 

These little guys may look friendly, but don't be fooled. They are the keeper of the Hallmark channel. Their job is to ensure that the TV never changes to anything but channel 123 :)

The view to the left when you walk in. I don't have a fireplace, so my countertop is my make-shift mantle. And yes that's a large stuffed gingerbread girl. (I told you I love stuffed "animals" still). And yes, I realize that I need to get Jeff a stocking. I guess since it's official I can do that whole "order monogrammed ones off Etsy" thing. Next year, next year.

My friend Melissa gave me this little red cup Starbucks ornament :) I just love it. And it's blurry because it spins. Took me about 7 shots to actually get this one.

More counter mantle pics..

My kitchen table is usually covered with all of my Christmas Dishes (last year I told you about that special little tradition here), but since I haven't had a party yet, I just put out these dishes I got at the Dollar Store in college. They may not be fine china - but they still make my festive heart happy!

Around the corner and the first look into my kitchen. Helloooo Christmas apron! I got this apron in Canton a couple of years ago. It's monogrammed with what will be my maiden name initials, but if you just read the letters from right to left, they'll work for my married name too :)

White Christmas lyrics on top of the fridge. My dad and I watch White Christmas every single year, so these lyrics (and the Bing Crosby version of this song) just warm my heart. A sweet friend from Baylor painted this one for me :)

Stove top decorations, and as you can see in the oven reflection, Charlie was following me around wondering why I was taking pictures of every aspect of our home. I was also dangerously close to the treats (that are in the penguin cookie jar on the left). So that's his hopeful face. And knowing me, he got one. #suchapushover

Ahhhh! My new last name sign!! Remember when my sister and I went to Canton and got it? I was so excited to put it out! And personally, I think it looks quite fabulous. Also, since I decorated/took pictures for this post, my sister gave me another precious plate that says Merry Christmas from the Smiths, and it made me so excited!! I love our new little name. I mean, it's the most common last name in the world, but I still love it :)

I always fill the guy on the left with dark chocolate red and green M&Ms :)

My little Christmas coffee station! Now coffee in a Christmas mug? That's Katy in a nutshell. Or I guess it should be a chestnut shell...

And yes, those are three Christmas mugs (on the left) that are solely used for decor purposes. Why's that, you ask? ....

...because I'm pretty set in the Christmas mug area. We all know I have a mug obsession, and I basically have a Christmas mug for each regular mug. But quite frankly I don't intend to stop buying them. Just sayin. 

Christmas wine carriers make really cute door hangers :)

Okay, so moving into my bathroom...

I normally use this tree in my living room (since it's silver), but since there wasn't really room, I put it in my bathroom. My color scheme is purple/grey, so it worked out quite nicely. And now I have a little festivity while primping in the morning!

My sister actually got this tree (and the two red ones at the coffee station) for me 5 years ago. I was in my first apartment, was hosting my first Christmas party, and was working really late hours. So she went to the Hob Lob for me and bought me some decorations! Big sister for the win :)

Next up: MY SHOE TREE!!

I have been collecting shoe ornaments for...goodness, I don't even know how long. I'm guessing since college. I didn't have room (or time) for a large tree in college, so I had a small one that was decorated with shoe ornaments. And I've been adding shoes here and there ever since. This tree is also Katy in a chestnut shell. 

We have everything from ugg boots and rain boots...

...to zebra print "Louboutins" and a Texas Ranger heel! Amy also gave me that one :)

My shoe tree sits in my bedroom, so when I'm lying in bed at night, I have my shoe tree on my right and my living room tree right in front of me. It's like my own little winter wonderland :)

And finally, we wrap up with my desk area. A little woodsy theme, if you will...

And the perfect little greeting to end on for your Friday morning! 

Happy {almost} weekend everyone! If you need me, I'll be frantically shopping for Christmas gifts. Oh, and trying on wedding dresses. Cause ya know, all smart people try on dresses between Thanksgiving and Christmas - and in between bites of holiday treats. #yikes

Until next time,

Katy

Christmas in Charleston

Okay, so I actually didn't spend Christmas in Charleston. But that title just looks way cuter than "a long weekend in Charleston in December." So we'll just go with it :)

See here, I meant to post this blog last week. But...well...#lifehappens. 

So not this past weekend (but if you missed that crazy filled weekend it was recapped here), but the weekend before, I set off to visit my old roomie in her new hometown of Charleston, SC!

Which, if you weren't aware, is yet another item on my {30} Before Thirty list. But I'm sure you all knew that because, like hello, I'm sure you all have my list memorized.  

#pleaseunderstandmysarcasm

Anywho, so ironically I had this "to-do" on my list for over a year before Kels moved to Charleston - so it actually worked out quite perfectly.

So it was a fan-dang-tastic weekend. Why? Because Kelsey and I are really bad at long distance relationships.

In order to catch up on everything we need to catch up on, we'd have to text 24/7 - which just ain't realistic with work. And while we started the long novel-type emails to each other, they got so long neither of us finished one in a week. So then we decided on phone calls, but honestly who has time for that on a regular basis?

Therefore, it was good to just BE with each other. I flew in on Thursday night and we kicked off with some vino and appetizers at a precious little rooftop restaurant at sunset.

So this was my first image of Charleston. Not too shabby :)

And please not the steeple. So many steeples here in this town.

Also, you're going to see a lot of architecture pictures in this blog because Kelsey hates pictures. It's a wonder we've been friends for so long. She allotted me to 1 per day. With only one extra retake. Sigh. 

Thursday night literally consisted 100% of restaurant hopping and talking. We covered every topic under the sun. I woke up Friday morning and told her I didn't think we had anything left to discuss!

My allotment for night #1

 
Friday was pretty chill as we both needed to work for a bit. #stupidadultlife
Then Friday night we did Charleston's art walk! 

What is an art walk you ask? 

Good question. I had the same one. So Charleston is known for their local art - I mean art galleries ev-er-y-where. And once every two months, these galleries open up to the "locals" and have an open house type thing. They host you with wine and yummy snacks, and you just pop in and out of galleries and look at pretty art you could never afford!

These were some of my favorite paintings. When you look at the picture up close, it's 3D oil brush strokes, and you can't really make out what the picture is until you take a few steps back. So yes, I spent a good 5 minutes walking up to and back from these pictures.

This gallery was by far the schnazziest, though. The gallery was attached to a little alley that the gallery owners completely revamped into a "backyard" oasis. It's a little hard to see, but there were fountains and tables/chairs amidst the paintings and sculptures. Plus they had really good food. So we hung out here for a while. :)

After the art walk we headed to dinner and I passed this cute little place that just looked like Charleston to me. 

If I ever build a house, I want it to look like it was uprooted from Charleston and dropped in Texas. 

Saturday morning was the Charleston Farmer's Market and more exploring. Kels lives on the cutest street EVER. I tried all day to take a good picture of it but the sun was just not working with me. But this gives you an idea. Like step out of her apartment and this is what you see.

 Oh it just made me so happy. 

Then as I walked, drank coffee, and shopped, I saw this little sign that just made me smile. There are many life lessons to be learned from this little sign, and I thought it was quite ironic being on the sidewalk of one of the original 13 colonies. Like....Charleston is history.

 Shopping was followed by the most incredible shrimp and grits I've ever had. Seriously. They were amazing. And they look like a giant bowl of mashed potatoes.

I don't care if you think they look disgusting. They were amazing. So there. 

And seeing as we were most definitely in food comas by the time we finished brunch, we decided to go walk it off on the beach!

And this is where I declared Charleston my happy place. 

Also, a tad windy. 

It takes a lot of skill to look this good. 

Okay, so these next couple of pictures I'm including not because I think they're glamour shots of yours truly, but because they reeeeeally made me want the new iPhone. 

How cool is that!? You can do this depth effect thing that basically makes it look like a professional photographer took it. You know, where the background is all blurry and looks like a watercolor? 

I want one I want one I want one I want one. 

Okay, so after the beach we drove around for a good hour or so and checked out the real estate. Like for reals. Every time we saw a massive southern house for sale we'd zillow it and find out what it cost, how many bedrooms, look at pictures of the interior, etc. We were basically creepy. But it was so fun!

On Saturday night, Kels had free tickets through work to a 20s event at the South Carolina Aquarium. So we did what any normal person would do and bought $35 flapper dresses off Amazon. PS - this was all Kelsey. I had zero idea you could buy dresses from the decades off of Amazon. So if you ever have an impromptu themed party to go to - Amazon has you covered. 

Us in front of the giant fish tank in the middle. And our dresses happened to be red and green and oh-so-festive.

I mean this shin-dig was legit. We danced, we ate, and we took pictures with the scuba people that were dressed up like elves. 

Y'all. She is in a full-on elf costume and let people take selfies with her all night. I seriously hope she got paid well. 

And THEN, because we were at a 20s party.... we did the Charleston. 
IN. CHARLESTON. 

If you know me but at all, you know what joy I experienced when I realized what was happening. 

I put a little boomerang video of it HERE. And I had to teach Kelsey about 5 times. And then a random lady came over and told us we weren't doing our hands big enough. I'm pretty sure we provided some solid entertainment to about 15 people. 

Sunday morning we did brunch on the other Charleston beach (I wanted to see both) and attempted another walk after. What we didn't realize, however, is that while the sun was out on Saturday's beach walk, the sun was most definitely not out on Sunday's. So we walked for a few minutes, started hootin' and hollerin', took a selfie to document our idiocy, and ran back to the car. 

The selfie that documents the idiocy

So then we went and explored a little more of downtown, including RAINBOW ROW ROAD! 

...okay, it's totally Rainbow Row, but I kept saying road and she kept getting mad at me :)

Like, why aren't all houses painted these colors? I really think it would solve a lot of the world's problems.

So for those of you that don't know, the pineapple is the sign of hospitality. Seeing this giant fountain made me smile because my mom grew up in South Carolina, so I grew up with a lot of pineapple figurines around the house :)

I mean.... this city is just the dang cutest. 

Sunday afternoon we went to the Charleston City Market where we browsed, drank hot chocolate, and ate warm freshly made pralines (which are like the best thing in the world and probably one of the worst things for you). 

I tried to wait for plaid pants to move, but he just wouldn't. 

And then I went to the airport and was in a bad mood the whole flight cause I didn't want to leave. Bah humbug. 

And that was my weekend in Charleston! It ended FAR to soon, but made me quite excited for this summer when I plan to fly over and park it on the beach. All weekend long :)

Until next time,
Katy