From Georgia Native Plant Society:

This species is found only in a few states and we are so glad that Georgia is one of them! It has the largest blooms (up to 2 inches across) of any of our native asters. Georgia aster is generally a bigger plant than “late” purple aster, Symphyotrichum patens, has larger flowers, and the color of the ray flowers is a deeper purple while the center disk flowers are a pale tan (compared to the bright yellow of the S. patens), fading to soft purple as they age. Georgia aster is not a particularly tidy plant and looks best in a plant community of native grasses, goldenrods and other perennials so the large flowers can mix and mingle among the stems of the other plants. Plants can increase in size over time through roots or via seed.

The New England asters are hanging in there since September. The ‘Purple Dome’ cultivar is such a vibrant color addition in the pollinator garden.

From GNPS:

New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) is sold in Georgia but not often found in the state. Adaptable to a bushy, compact shape, the species is a favorite of gardeners for having numerous, large flowers. While those sold in stores are probably pinched for an even shape, the un-pinched ones in gardens still put on a great show and bees and pollinators love them just as much.

From GNPS:

Aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) is not native to Georgia but it is native in nearby states (e.g., Alabama), and it is also frequently sold at native plant sales, especially cultivars like ‘Raydon’s Favorite,’ ‘Fanny’s Aster’ and others. This aster has dense growth (especially if pinched earlier in the year), good sized flowers, and is fairly late blooming in its range.

From GNPS:

Native throughout the state, this perennial can be found in dry rocky soils such as roadsides and meadows/fields. The deep green foliage is attractive even when the plant is not blooming, topped in late summer/early fall by clusters of bright yellow flowers.

From GNPS:

One of the showiest fall flowers is swamp sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius). With a large natural range in the southeast and in Georgia, this perennial sunflower is suitable for gardens in need of really TALL flowers. Thick herbaceous stems (meaning: not woody) can reach over 12 feet tall. While this plant might appreciate moist conditions, it grows fine in average soil too. Blooming now – you can sometimes spot them in residential gardens by the extreme floral display this time of year.

Happy Birthday Bradley!

Christmas this year has been a little different. Bradley’s grandmother passed away earlier this month, and my grandmother has moved from her home. Our four siblings and their families came for visits earlier in the year, so we don’t see them at Christmas. All of our gathering traditions are changing. It makes for a slower pace which I am better able to handle, but it is sad at the same time. One wonderful addition this year is our new church! We are part of planting a new campus of our church in our local community. No more driving down into the city for church and it makes it so easy to invite our local friends and neighbors. Our Christmas service was on the 20th and I began my volunteer role of coordinating the dinner for over 200 volunteers! I will do this on a weekly basis when we begin normal services in January. I am excited and nervous at the same time!

Sometimes I wonder if I should go all out decorating if no one but us gets to see it, but I really enjoy the nostalgia of coming home to Christmas decorations. I have decided to try to keep my decorations very consistent – I remember as a child, helping decorate and we hardly ever got new decorations and the ones we had were always placed in the same spot each year. There is comfort in that I think.

Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men! (Luke 2:14)

I made a few changes to our Christmas decorations this year, mostly due to rearranging our living room and adding extra furniture over this past year.  I finally replaced our artificial tree that we bought in 2007.  The new tree has warm white LED lights and is a little shorter than our old tree.  It is also narrower, so it fit perfectly between my new etagere and vintage dresser in the living room.  Bradley really liked the idea of a garland on the dresser, so I ordered one from the same line as our new tree.

The smaller size limited the amount of ornaments I could use this year.  I ended up only using our sentimental ornaments from life events and vacations.  I also am enjoying the traditional red and green color scheme that I’m incorporating with my new wool tree skirt and whimsical tree picks.

Our new ornaments this year are from our trip to Charleston.  We took a boat tour out to an island off Folly Beach where the Morris Lighthouse is located.  We also bought an ornament at the Market that matches the one we got in Savannah years ago.

On the glass etagere, I sprinkled in a couple of nativities and mirrored trees.

The vintage-inspired-light-bulb ornament found it’s home on this shelf as well.

In the dining room, my decorations are very simple.  I put my vintage ornaments in a vintage-inspired dough bowl.  I also added my pair of brass deer to the bar cart.

In the den, I left Buddy’s pictures on the mantle and just added the banner I got at Target last year with a couple of nutcrackers that Bradley’s grandmother gave us years ago and some bottle brush trees from the dollar spot at Target.

Outside, in addition to hanging a wreath on each of the windows, I added a pre-lit entry tree to my front door vignette.  The vintage sled came from Bradley’s grandfather when he was downsizing and the deer were from Home Decorators a couple of years ago.

To see my decorations over the years, check out my Christmas landing page.

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

We ordered a pair of new loveseats as our anniversary gift this year.  These finally replace a sofa and loveseat set we got as hand-me-downs years ago.  I was very grateful to have them for free for many years, but ultimately they were oversized for our room and the wrong color.  I wanted something more petite, not deep and more tailored looking.  I also did not want oversized or tall arms.  Bradley liked this loveseat with it’s touch of mid-century style.  I liked that it was shallow and not oversized.  We were able to pick out the fabric and have them made by Craftmaster. I thought the button-tufting on these were less formal than deep tufts and complimented the button tufts on the chairs that I had recovered earlier this year as well.  I did not like the 7″ tapered round legs that came on the loveseats, so I found some 5″ tapered square legs online that better matched the style of the chairs.  At only 5’3″, it is so hard to find furniture that allows my feet to sit on the floor without having to slouch or perch on the edge.

We had an issue getting the correct loveseats in, so after ordering them in September and expecting them around our anniversary at the end of October, we finally got the right ones in time for Christmas decorating.  I also picked up a new pair of mid-century-inspired side tables at Target for one of the loveseats.  I really like the marble tops to kind of shake up all the wood pieces in the room.

On to the dining room.  I finally bit the bullet and got all of the curtain panels in here and the living room hemmed.  I also added simple roman shades to both rooms for added privacy and light control when needed.  My Christmas decorations are minimal this year – table runner, a poinsettia from my neighbor, and some vintage ornaments in a lantern.

On the mantle, I didn’t feel like pulling out the Willow Tree nativity from Bradley’s grandparents, so a simple garland, banner and metallic trees with deer are it.

The red and black buffalo check monogram letter is new this year, but otherwise, just my normal nativity set ups.

The bulldog treat jar always gets dressed up this time of year and of course I have out the light bulb ornament I made years ago.

We have a couple of new travel ornaments this year on the tree.  We went to Nashville for a weekend to see Our Lady Peace in concert.  We also visited Bradley’s brother and his family in Portland this fall.

I will end the post with our early Christmas gift from mother nature – 6-8″ of snow!  We survived without losing power, but the Japanese maple tree in front of our garage couldn’t handle it and we had two very large limbs come down.  Luckily, I hadn’t gotten around to wrapping it in Christmas lights yet, and it might not be salvageable so it may never get decorated again.

I had most of the decorations already, since my normal Halloween decor involves lots of black and silver.  In the foyer, we put out favor bags with the couple’s favorite candies inside.

I put paper bat silhouettes in all of the lampshades in the living room.

I was able to reuse the potions bottles I had made for a Harry Potter baby shower as a centerpiece on the breakfast table.

I cut up a felt spider web placemat to add to the corners of the doorway leading into the living room.

On the gift table is the cute corsage my co-hostess made for the guest of honor.

I found this banner at Target and used a chalk marker to add MR & MRS to it.  I felt like we needed something to bridge the gap between it feeling like a halloween party versus a wedding shower.

Some mini skulls nestled in creepy cloth.

My co-hostess made this to hang on the front door.

For the food table, I found a spider web table cloth at Big Lots and layered it over a silver tablecloth for contrast.  The paper bats were flying across the window in the background.

I made Pecan Pie Muffins with a Maple Buttercream Frosting and grape salad.

I also made bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese.

My co-hostess made these hilarious vampire donuts and some apples with toffee dip.

Our other co-hostess made the monster green punch.

I think everyone had a good time and the couple got some great gifts to start off their new life  together.

I finally found two great little petite chairs for the front of our living room.  I’ve been searching for a pair of Lewittes caned wingback chairs for over a year, but not having much luck.  I had a saved Craigslist search and these popped up in the next town over, so I decided to go for it.

Before:

The burgundy fabric was not going to work for me and the padding was a little flat, so I decided to try having something reupholstered for the first time.  The recovering of the chairs cost seven times what the chairs themselves cost, but I am so pleased with how they turned out.  The upholsterer added padding to the seat and back cushions, and even made the back of the seat cushions follow the curve of the back of the chairs.

I chose a fabric by Richloom – Olson Cement.  It is a nice putty color in a subtle herringbone pattern.

I love the caning, and with a little Restor-A-Finish on the wood, I think they will clean up really nicely.  The size is perfect for under the front windows in the living room and they don’t block traffic in and out of the room.  The best thing about them is they are good short-people chairs.  I (at 5’3″) can sit all the way back in the chair and the front of the seat hits the back of my knees with my feet flat on the floor.

We held the shower at a church.  They already had wreaths on the entry doors, so I added a couple of paper fans to them.

For the gift table, I hung my blue tablecloths from a photo backdrop stand and added paper accordion balls to the top.

We served finger foods and blue punch.  The menu included fruit and veggies, cheese and crackers, hot chicken salad, meatballs, ham and swiss sliders, animal crackers with funfetti dip and cupcakes topped with nutter butters.  I made the garland for the table using my Silhouette to cut elephants and circles.  Then I strung them on white thread (my sewing machine was acting up).

On the tables, my co-hosts added baby’s breath to blue Ball jars and tucked elephant picks in to continue the theme.  Guests could also snack on peanuts that were in galvanized buckets on the tables.

The mom- and dad-to-be received a lot of great gifts for baby William!

These dipped nutter butter favors made by my co-host were absolutely adorable.  The perfect finishing touch!

I also added a few new porch decorations.  There was a vintage sled that we got from Bradley’s grandparents and a bucket with “snowballs” in it.  I added two golden resin deer next to the door as well.

On our dining table, I added a simple red and white table runner that I had picked up at the end of the season last year.  My thanksgiving cactus is blooming like crazy for me this year.

On the mantle, I used the Willow Tree nativity from Bradley’s grandparents again, but to help everything feel less washed out, I added a cute Merry Christmas banner that Target was carrying this year.

Our biggest change inside was moving the tree from the foyer to the front window in the living room.  I bought new floral picks to use as the tree topper this year.

I got to go to the aquarium this month and do the penguin and sea otter experiences, so I picked up this ornament while I was there.

At the front door, I created a brick wall using an XL twin sheet and a large sponge.  I hung it from a photo backdrop stand and cut it down the middle so that guests could enter the party through the “wall”.  I made the Platform 9 3/4 sign using a chalkboard sign I found in Target’s dollar spot and numbers cut out using my Silhouette machine.

On the breakfast table, I created a Defense against the Dark Arts vignette.

Our version of a Patronus next to the Dark Arts table.

I made a mobile with flying skeleton keys.  The keys and mobile came from Amazon and the wings were cut using my Silhouette. 

A welcome banner over the fireplace in Ravenclaw colors.

Potion bottles filled the mantle.  I found the labels on Groopdealz and the bottles came from various stores – Target, Hobby Lobby and Goodwill.

The owl lamp and cage were borrowed from the nursery.

A plush owl perched on the mantle.

The food table full of Harry Potter-inspired snacks.

Chocolate Frogs

Our family loves these cream puffs, so I put an edible gold dust on them to turn them into snitches.  The wings aren’t pretty, but they are made from melted white chocolate bark.

Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans

The Sorting Hat gift area. My cousin made the most awesome Hogwarts Express diaper cake with black and red onesies.
The Dementor’s Kiss-away goodie bags next to the front door for guests.

The mom-to-be opening gifts.  I put together a baseball themed gift, with a Braves onesie, a crocheted baseball cap, and little navy shoes with baseball patterned toes.  I used a baseball easter basket as the gift bag.