Countdown

Gentle readers, your MatchGirl and Boyfriend are in quite the frenzy this week!

As we've both posted over the past couple of weeks, we are hosting a full house of people for the holidays. For Christmas Eve we'll have my parents in town and our friends and their son will join us for a San Francisco inspired dinner. The next day the rest of my family will arrive early and we'll have some breakfast (and loads of coffee, I'm sure!) and exchange gifts and spend some time together...

Seating Arrangements: Holiday Dinner

Gentle readers, your MatchGirl and Boyfriend are quite thrilled about our Christmas dinner party. And a little nervous at the same time!

I mean, where will the people sit (and how should we seat them) in our little Greenpoint apartment!

Want: Tentacles

Our wine stopper seems to have gone missing ended up in the trash at some point... which leaves us having to polish off bottles the day they're opened, of course.

Just think how much less wine we would have to drink if we had a couple of these amazing tentacle wine stoppers!

Want to buy it for us? You can find them on Etsy!

'Tis the season and all that...

Menu Plan: Week Twenty-Six

Gentle readers, your MatchGirl and Boyfriend did a pretty good job with the menu plan last week. The only thing we skipped was the butternut squash soup, and I whipped that up Sunday to throw into the plan for this week.

This is probably a problem that a lot of you have - making a plan for the week and then having life get in the way of it all. It happens to your MatchGirl and Boyfriend all the time. Especially as we work in different industries, with different schedules and different events. Just the fact that we manage to eat dinner together, at the dining table, practically every night, is amazing in itself.

Menu Plan: Week Twenty-Four

Gentle readers, can you believe that we've reached week twenty-four of our menu planning? Neither can we!

Sunday we spent the day in Montauk, photos to come, celebrating out anniversary and eating loads of yummy seafood. Monday was a work holiday for your MatchGirl, so I took it all the way, enjoying the holiday weekend, with limited time spent on social media - so the menu plan is a day late and a meal short... I think you'll be OK.

Menu Plan: Week Twenty-two

Gentle readers, your MatchGirl has just returned from Bogota, so this menu plan is being made on the fly, before a trip to the grocery. Bear with us!

Monday: Niçoise salad

Tueday: I'll be attending the Community Manager Meetup One year anniversary party, so I'll eat ... something and Boyfriend will eat alone.

Meal Plan: Week Twenty-Two

I'm in Bogotá, Colombia for Social Media Week.

Boyfriend will be just fine, since he does most of the cooking anyway!

We'll be back next week...

Menu Plan: Week Twenty-One

Yep. That's right. We've made it through twenty weeks of manu planning - some weeks, your MatchGirl will admit, have been much more successful than others. But here we are, at week twenty-one.

We've got a busy week ahead and then I head out of town for a work trip, for a week, on Sunday.

Menu Plan: Week Nineteen

Last week's menu planning was kind of a bust. We only stuck with a couple of days - pretty lame since we were out so many days!

At the urging of my friend Kristin, we're participating in the Real Simple Take Back Dinner Challenge. I think we do pretty well here, especially since Boyfriend does most of the cooking and keeps us fairly on track. But as we hit Week Nineteen, we're running out of steam...  so any inspiration is welcome.

Progress Report: Plaster

 newly plastered box over previously exposed copper pipes

(and yes, we will need to re-paint that part of the brown wall)

Our landlord finally sent the plaster guy to finish up the work in the living room. This means we can (finally!!!) paint! I'm so excited to get this project completed - paint job done, stuff hung on the walls. I think it will really make our apartment feel more like home.

Want: Table Linens

Ah, gentle readers, your MatchGirl, I'm sure has mentioned Boyfriend's love of linens. So, though I feel we are still settling in, I find myself, when time allows, looking for napkins and placemats and such that might meet both our aesthetic needs.

Want:Le Creuset Caribbean Blue

A long time ago, your MatchGirl decided that she wanted to have a kitchen that was robin's egg blue and black.

For a while, I was finding cute Nigella Lawson branded kitchen tools and cookware in the exact shade of blue that I had dreamed of. But it's hard to find these things. And you really need more in your kitchen than a bunch of cute, pale blue stoneware (though not much more!).

Inspiration: The Purl Bee

As your MatchGirl has mentioned a couple of times, Boyfriend digs linens. Seriously into 'em. But none of the cloth napkins we already own seem to live up to his standards. We saw this post on The Purl Bee and now I'm wondering if we should just make our own...

Seating Arrangements: Crate and Barrel Village Chair

While your MatchGirl is generally into more modern designs, I'm kind of digging these bright dining chairs from Crate and Barrel.

Inspiration: Braided Rugs

Growing up in New England, your MatchGirl was surrounded by braided rugs. It has been a long time since I have given them any thought. As a little girl, I would lay on the rugs in our house and marvel and the braids and the mixes of colors, but in our house, and in the nearby houses of my dairy farm pals, the braided rug was very much a utilitarian item.

Inspiration: Scholten & Baijings

Gentle readers, as I've written previously, Boyfriend is crazed by linens. Your MatchGirl is inspired by the website of Scholten & Baijings. While they design a range of items, their pretty home linens are whimsical and gorgeous.

Seating Arrangements: Vintage Modern Thonet Chairs

I could not be anymore in love with these Thonet chairs! Currently they reside at Vintage Modern just down the block from where your MatchGirl and Boyfriend reside... How cute would they look in our dining nook!

Progress: Dining Nook

In our living room, gentle readers, your MatchGirl and Boyfriend have a little recessed area which we have deemed our dining nook. As we make slow progress in painting and settling into our little home, this is the third "room" to be finished.

Want: Marimekko Tablecloth

I don't know about you but your MatchGirl hearts some Marimekko. Not sure if Boyfriend would be into this tablecloth, since he likes his linen to be a bit more streamlined, but I love it!

Seating Arrangements: Saarinen Dining Table

Now that Boyfriend and your MatchGirl have sussed a sofa, it's time to start thinking about the rest of the furniture for our new home. Personally, I have always been a big fan of the Saarinen tulip dining table and chairs. While this one is a bit out of our price range, I know people who have come across them (or really good replicas - and I'm OK with that) for a fraction of this cost. Boyfriend's taste runs a little less modern than your MatchGirl's. Wonder what he'll think of this?