MY THANKSGIVING DECOR & TIPS ON HOSTING A BIG DINNER

With conference just a few days away it feels like Thanksgiving was aaaaaaggggeees ago but I thought I'd still share with you my table decor. Now I took these when the table wasn't quite set (some plates were still in the dishwasher) and it was too dark to take good pics when we finally sat down to eat but just imagine an incredible meal...mmmmm turkey

Now for the tips...

I'm no pro but this is what I learned:

• Try to get as much done the night (and nights) before. I spray painted the leaves two days before and worked on the names the night before. So glad I did, as they took forever!
• One of my friends suggested having appies out before the meal and that worked great. James made a massive board as you can see above and people did nibble on it while we waited for food to be ready.
• Do it potluck style because seriously, you do not need to kill yourself cooking a massive meal for 15 people.
• Try to save the cleaning for when the guests leave. Now we defs failed in this one we did a lot of cleaning during the meal and didn't get to sit and enjoy our family as much as I wanted to. As sucky as it would have been to be cleaning the kitchen till midnight, I'd take that if it meant more time laughing and chatting with family.

Those are my tips, but I know I could learn some from you! What are your tips for hosting a big dinner party?

xo,

s.s.♥︎.

FRIDAY FAVES // H&M HOME

Ok guys, I'm going crazy over this H&M home stuff. Seriously if you haven't yet, take a look at their amazing (and affordable) stuff! I've picked out some of my favourites below and included some fun things for Halloween...

1. Polka Dot Bowl

2. Brass Basket

3. Faux Fur Throw

4. Bat Paper Cups

5. Skull Candle

6. Sequin Pillow

Cute stuff hey? Here's to hoping one day our H&M will carry their home line!

Hope you have a fabulous weekend! I wrote my course's final exam today so all that's left is one big ol paper which I hope to get done this weekend....fuuuuun.

Stay gold,

s.s.♥︎.

FRIDAY FAVES // COZY FALL ESSENTIALS

So I really want to spend this whole weekend curled up in pajamas, painting my nails and watching Veronica Mars.

But reality has hit and instead I will be working on a paper, studying for my final, working on Spark messages, conference prep, church and prepping my house for thanksgiving on Monday. 

But let's pretend for a minute that we're having a cozy fall weekend watching netflix.....here would be my essentials for said scenario...

1. Vanilla Candle

2. Pajamas Set

3. Cashmere Sweatpants

4. Nail Polish

5. Crazy Cat Lady Mug

6. Chunky Knit Throw

So cozy hey? Hopefully I'll have one of those days in November... :)

Happy Friday!

xoxo,

s.s.♥︎.

P.S. Good luck to all of you who are running the marathon/half marathon this weekend! Sadly I will not be running it :( But much love to all of you...you'll rock it!!!

THANKSGIVING DECOR IDEAS

So this year James & I are hosting thanksgiving. It's the first time we've hosted a massive family meal (other than my dad's birthday last May) and it's about time! We're having our dinner on Monday because we do church Sunday. Thankfully I have all of Monday to prep the house. (For all you americans out there, we celebrate our thanksgiving in October!) 

Obviously I want to go all out because that's just how I roll. I want placement cards and centrepieces. Today we're talking decor and on Wednesday we'll be talking food.

image source

All gold all the time is one of my life mottos. I definitely will be spray painting some pumpkins and pine cones. Thank you Jesus for gold spray paint.

image source

For placement cards, I'm thinking something like this gold leaf. All I have to do is find a bunch of big leaves, spray paint them and then write names on them. Easy peasy. I'm away half this week and I have to finish a paper next weekend so I'm all about these quick & easy DIYS.

image source left // image source right

I love the look of white pumpkins, especially with the gold writing. Oh, I'm so excited!!

I have a few more ideas which you can find on my pinterest board.

How pumped are you for thanksgiving? Are any of you hosting this year? If so, I'd love advice for sure!!

Hope you have a fabulous Monday! 

xo,

s.s.♥︎.

OH JOY + TARGET

Oh Joy! has arrived to Target and I am SO excited about it. Sadly, not everyone shares the same enthusiasm as I do. (FYI Oh Joy! is a blogger and she recently collaborated with Target and designed all this cute party stuff!)

TWICE, I've received the "crazy" look when I asked about it in our local store. Ok, the first time I was a week early…but they had no idea and didn't seem to know who "Oh Joy" was. Come on people, let's get educated on the blogger scene!! 

The second time was on Sunday morning. Sunday was the official launch date of the collection (I made sure this time!!) and I was soooo excited. I was also pumped to be checking out the newest Target in my city. Well, this Target was AH-MAZING. It's the biggest Target I've ever been to and it's soooo beautiful and everything is so crisp and new (ok, I'll stop rejoicing over a store now). But, as incredible as the new store was, it sadly didn't house the Oh Joy collection and again, I received the "crazy" look when I asked about it (this guy was really nice though!)

So for now I'll just dream about what I'd purchase...it's probably safer that way.

1. Scalloped Bowl  |   2. Hooray Cake Topper   |   3. Gold Confetti Dots   |   4. Paper Plates   |   5. Trash Bags   |   6. Noise Blowers

How insanely cute is everything!!!!?? I need that scalloped bowl in my life. Can't you just envision chips on chips filling it? And those pretty garbage bags? Um, amazing.

Now if only Target online shipped to Canada....

xo,

s.s.♥.