Valentine's Day Chair Backer

It's countdown to Valentine's Day here at Cozy Home!

I LOVE the holiday decorations that Pottery Barn Kids makes. They're a little on the expensive side, but always SO cute ... just look at the Valentine table they're showing this year with retro accents (above).

I've wanted one of those adorable Valentine mailbox chair backers for my daughter for years, but they stopped making them, and believe me, I've looked every year.

But this year, I turned to my very newest favorite site EVER: ETSY!! A wonderful crafter MAKES nearly identical chair backers to the ones PBKs made -- and I had one personalized for my daughter, her name was sewn into the top flap: And on Valentine's Day morning, when she comes down for breakfast, her "mailbox" will be waiting on her chair at the breakfast table, just brimming with goodies to make her day!! :)

Washington, D.C. Round Two: BLIZZARD WHITEOUTS

"Whiteout": An arctic atmospheric condition caused by a heavy cloud cover over the snow, in which the light coming from above is approximately equal to the light coming from below. It is characterized by absence of shadow, invisibility of the horizon and discernability of only very dark objects. (American Hertage Dictionary)

My daughter's school has already cancelled for tomorrow, and I have a feeling we're not going anywhere Wednesday either ... but Thursday is her classroom Valentine party, fingers crossed for that?!

Groceries are stocked, shovel and sidewalk salt at the ready! BRING IT ON!

So What's a Girl to do With THIS?!

Almost three feet of snow fell on Washington, D.C. this week. And never a city to do things in halves, we are expecting a FOOT more tomorrow, if forecasts are to be believed.

A foot on top of THIS:

And THIS:
AND THIS:
Though the trees (the ones WITHOUT the terribly broken branches) do look terribly pretty ...
But as of now, I think we've had quite enough thank you. Our power back on, we drove carefully back home from the hotel, life/school/work/normalcy seemingly perpetually disrupted.

Drastic measures had to be taken on the sunny, but freezing day ... so we swapped these:
FOR THESE!!

It's a family room BEACH PARTY!!!!

We gathered our favorite flip flops, beach toys, tropical drinks and magazines and camped out in the warmest room of the house and I do not joke, our bones defrosted and we started to laugh, joke and dance again!

A paper sun smiled cheerily down on us...

Frozen fruit and summertime drink stirrers made awesome fruit smoothies in the blender...

A simple seashell tray turned into our little beach with the help of some sandbox sand we had stored away:

Aloha.... :)

Tropical (house) plants fluttered in the breeze...

The sun shone on our beach blankets...

Feet both big and small got summer home pedicures (cute little sparkly toes...). There is a madly happy 5-year-old attached to those toes ;)

Even Strawberry Shortcake herself (and six of her closest friends) got in on the action.

And our cabin fever disappeared for a happy while :) HA!!

Yeah, It Really IS That Bad: "The Snowpocalypse"

It started so beautifully ... sparkling snowflakes falling from a deep blue night sky...

And then at around 9pm, our electricity went out!

And every last thing in our cozy wee home IS run electrically, so we bundled up for the night in extra warm pajamas and extra comforters on all the beds.

We slept peacefully, confident in the knowledge that the electricity would CERTAINLY be on by morning...

But instead we found this. As well as reports that up to 100,000 homes in our area had no power.

We shoveled ... (GO SKINS!)

And worried about our bent-over trees...

Put food outside to stay cold...

And then, when even the fire in the fireplace failed to keep us warm, we started calling hotels. My husbands parents are in town this weekend, and we were able to find a room at their hotel.

So we packed enough food, toys, clothes and DVDs for at least two nights, waded to the car and braved the largely unplowed streets. This is 270 -- which is usually bumper to bumper.

Snowplows TRIED to keep up with the excess...about 2 feet when we left home.

Barren highways ... and a white knuckled husband, worried the car would get stuck.

When we made it to the hotel, we all cheered and my in-laws met us at the door, scooping our little one into the nice, warm lobby.

My husband followed and we scooped out a spot for our car...

And we watched the reports safely from our warm hotel room, learning that now up to 120,000 homes were without power, many wouldn't be fixed for DAYS in this freezing weather and the snow wasn't due to stop until 10pm tonight.

The now famously-dubbed "SNOWPOCALYPSE" was all they showed on TV ... the drama!

If you're reading this from the DC area, stay safe!! 270 was drive-able, but the exit ramps were iffy ...

It's Coming....Potentially PARALYZING!

Up to two feet of snow about to start falling in the next two hours in the Mid-Atlantic states. DC expected to get some of the worst of it!!

Yesterday, I braved the packed, angry chaos at the grocery store and Target to stock up on enough food and supplies to last a week or so, we're ready!! :)

You know I'll post photos of this rare D.C. phenomenon...if I can get out of the front door!!

(Photo source: www.accuweather.com)

England via China via Washington, D.C.

Readers, I have a very patient husband.

I find the greatest online deals, so when the Fed Ex man rings our bell, it's usually a CELEBRATION! Something we needed for half price, hooray! Something discontinued, but found online for a fraction of the price! BRAVO ME!

A free set of pots and pans?

I'VE DONE IT AGAIN!

But this weekend, when my husband brought in this little parcel from the front step, he thought PERHAPS that I had gone too far.

"China?" he asked patiently.

That's right baby, CHINA.

Because there's an AWESOME Etsy seller in China that is selling off loads of discontinued CATH FABRICS that I would saw an arm off for to finish the bedding in my daughter's bedroom!

See? IN BLUE AND PINK!!!

Check out the seller's listings -- the shipping was inexpensive and the fabric is beautiful!!

Pretty, Inexpensive Hostess Gift

I recently attended a New Year open house, realizing too late that I had used up my last hostess gift at Christmas!! Every lady's very worst nightmare... :)

So I ran to the nearest TJ Maxx (the home of all affordable hostess gifts) and picked up this vanilla candle & frangrance set ($5.99). But it needed a little help...

I looked through my stash and found some coordinating ivory sheer ribbon. Next, pulled out my monogrammed gift enclosure cards, which have saved me on many an occasion...

I tied a big, pretty bow and added the matching ivory card beneath with a tiny bit of tape...
And packed it for transport in a matching gift bag I had ready to go ($1, Hershey Outlets) and white tissue paper.
A very pretty gift for under $7!!

De-Clutter Week: Maps & Directions

Organizing maps may not be the most photogenic or exciting de-clutter task this week, but it surely has changed the state of my car! :)

We started out, dear readers, with a typical scenario -- road maps, as well as written and printed out directions, shoved in the pocket on the driver's side door. This worked beautifully until I had too many to fit.

Then, as coined by my husband, "map vomit" developed. Here is the so-called vomit collected in a shopping bag to bring inside and sort.

Exhibit A: Not pretty.

The remedy? A plastic accordian file ($8.99, Target) to sort maps and directions by destination. Love my handy little label maker:

Sorted, tidy and easily found at the start of my destination. AND -- it fits in the door pocket again, all contained and tidy. :)