I think you are going to enjoy this. Janine Spepherd has an amazing story… I could say more, but she says it better:

When I was shopping with Jeff in NYC we went the The Paper Source (twice). The first time they put a catalog in my bag and the second time I went back to buy what I found in the catalog. Which is why they put those catalogs in the bag!

I bought the supplies to make a wreath from paper straws. Remember these striped straws? Where have they been?

They had the flat cardboard rings but I didn't buy them. Silly me. Luckily, I am able to cut my own. I've looked on their website and can't find the wreath ring or instructions to make this wreath so let me tell you what I did. 

I drew a 5 1/2" circle inside an 8 1/2" circle on white illustration board and cut out a wreath form. Cut 40 straws (144 in the box) to 6 1/2". I have 40 little pieces left over that are 1 1/4" long that I get to figure out what to do with. 

Hot glue a short straw to the wreath form, with one end even with the inside of the ring. Next hot glue a long straw to the form. Alternate glueing short, then long. Change the angle with each straw. Cardboard shows between the straws.

My wreath ended up with two short straws together but I sort of hid that with the bow (below).

I hot glued the bow in place and hung it up in the bathroom. You wouldn't know how exciting this is because you can't see the ugly control box for the vent/heater that used to live above this towel rack. It was about even with the light switch, maybe a bit higher. It was scratched chrome with an ugly dial in the center. I hated that thing for 19 years!

Two weeks ago I hired an electrician and he rewired it so that now the vent and heater are each controlled with a switch (the switch plate now has 3 switches which you see above). It took about an hour and was not that expensive. He fixed the same thing in the other bathroom too. Steve patched the holes in the wall from the old control boxes and I painted. Hooray! Now that you know that story, doesn't this wreath look even better?!

I also, today, had a little fun sewing… I made the Peppermint Fairy Spoolkeep that I've got on the website. It makes me smile and I think it will be a nice Christmas decoration for the home tour this weekend. At least that's my excuse :-).

We went for a walk in Central Park for the last morning of my visit. It was foggy and gray, but not quite as cold. Jeff waited here for me, near a famous park fountain, while I took the photos that follow. This is Jeff, waiting patiently…

These alcove vignettes on the walls around the stairs were amazing. Each was different and I had to stop myself from photographing them all. 

Remember, you can click on these photos to open them bigger. The next one is so full of design ideas that you might want to do that. Can you see applique?

I don’t know that I have ever seen a witch on a broomstick in this sort of space. I didn’t even see the jack o’ lanterns until I was cropping the photo. 

All in all, these reminded us all of Harry Potter.

We walked through a group of farmers’ market stalls on the west side of the park. I like this sign and wish I could have taken those extra signs off for the photo. Oh, well, Jeff would have given me that look and then walked away…

I took more manhole covers. Jeff was almost enthusiastic – just one foot’s worth.

This guy was sitting with his dog outside of the coffee shop we stopped at. I am not a dog person but this dog gave me a look that I would expect from a person. You could tell that he was thinking behind those eyes. I could love this dog. The guy is grinning because I asked if I could take the photo. 

I didn’t quite catch him looking at me in the photo, but I think you can see what I mean. And he’s wearing a hoodie with a skull and crossbones on the back. I love this dog.

We went to one more holiday fair on the SW corner of the park and shopped a little bit more – I finally found something (spices!) for Steve – and then it was time to pack up and head to the airport. Jeff went with me on the subway as far as the airport (such a good boy) and now I’m on the plane home. It’s amazing how much fun it is to be connected to the web on the plane! 

It was such a great visit. I am truly blessed to have such good boys!

We got tickets to this art installation. It was so cool! It is an apartment built on scaffolding, around the statue of Columbus that is in the middle of Columbus Circle. This is an easy walk from Jeff’s apartment!

 The ‘apartment’ is about 6 flights up… 

 And then you are in Columbus’ apartment! 

It was so much fun to be this close to a statue that is normally so far up in the air. And I have to tell you that this was way cooler than I would have guessed. It put this sort of sculpture in a whole new perspective which must be the point.

The views out of the apartment windows were amazing! We all got great photos of the streets below.

 I particularly love the polka dots in this crosswalk…

Next we went to Rockefeller Center. It was early in the day but the lights were lit. It was very festive. I tried to shop at the Lego store but it was so very insane that I had to leave. I’m sure I can shop for Legos in Texas and Jack won’t care a bit!

We shopped and walked and got coffee and headed to Grand Central Station which is lovely. There was a marvelous holiday fair where I got a paperweight from Scott at Internal Fire Glass. I should remember his last name, but don’t and his card is buried in my luggage and I can’t get to it right now. (Amazingly enough I’m writing this from the plane on my flight home. I’ve never bought wireless in flight but thought I’d give it a whirl. It works!) Anyway, if you collect paperweights, his are definitely worth a look.

At Grand Central Station I saw this person who was just amazing to look at. How could I not take a photo? 

Jeff is pretty cute isn’t he! He gives me this look sometimes… it’s that ‘what are you doing and should I not claim you?’ look. Luckily I’m his mom and he claims me – but I try not to push my luck.

We went to Bryant Park where there was another (wonderful) holiday fair. And how can you not love these wonderful trees against that cool blue building?

We went for a late lunch farther uptown at Smith. The food was good, the cocktail better, and the floor demanded a photo. Yet another good hexagon design.

We went to the Folk Art Museum. It has moved since I was there last. It’s in a smaller but very nice space. The primary exhibit was of shiny objects. Goodness knows I love pretty, shiny things. This is a foil painting. The painting is on the back of the glass and foil is mounted behind that. There are open, clear spaces in the painting for the foil to shine through.

This one by Milton Wallace Bond of the Flatiron Building is my favorite. Apparently this style of painting was all rage in Victorian American.

We shopped the gift shop and then Jeff and I went to Whole Foods. There is a Whole Foods about 40 miles south of us in Texas but it felt a little different on the upper west side.

When it was all said and done we had walked for the better part of 7 hours and it felt nice to go back to the apartment and chill. I love NYC!

Jeff and I were out and about today. We started with a short walk to Riverside Park. Jeff often rides his bike through this area on the way to work. This was a nice shot of one of the pedestrian walkways. NYC has some hills!

This sculpture by Sequoia Aono was in an area that was under water during the storm. It’s called Watching Upon the Present, 2012

It’s interesting in so many ways. If you look close at the skin, below, you can se the tile pattern which is lovely. They look so good with the other materials.

Her gaze and demeanor definitely pulled me in and her pose still makes me wonder. I’m of an age and from the south and sitting so that any passerby can look up your skirt is not exactly what I was taught. (Maybe she has leggings on?) But the pose coupled with the look on the face works. We saw other art today, but this is still the piece that I remember most. 

We went to Lanskys Classic Jewish Deli where the food was very good and the floor was eye-catching. You know that English paper piecing video I made? You could make a quilt that looks like this! Personally, I’m tempted.

 I took several photos of manhole covers which almost made Jeff crazy.

 I love circular designs and so many manhole covers are really interesting if you just stop to see them. Those blue toes belong to Jeff. 

We went out to dinner tonight and stopped for a bit at the fountain in front of the Lincoln Center.

We went to see Aida at the Metropolitan Opera last night. I had never been to an opera before and this one was a spectacle. The sets were amazing! There were large people singing with big voices, the hall was beautiful… and there were actual horses on stage every now and then.There were subtitles on the seat in front of each of us. What more can you ask of an opera?

I’m not going to hide my Sweet Sixteen. I think it looks good next to Santa. This particular Santa came from my grandfather’s hardware store and is older than I am.

This wonderful blue vase is the home of the Christmas-y florals that didn’t fit anywhere else but I think they work here.

These interesting pipe cleaner snowflakes are from last year and I saved them. I have a few more hanging in the windows to the left of the wooden guy.

I make a different Christmas ornaments each year for gifts… this is this year’s ornament. They are cute all together!

Here is one on my tree:

I kept the decorations in the bedrooms more low-key – bows, small tabletop trees, that sort of thing. I did do a bit more in the guest room that Jeff will be in. 

In the next photo you might notice the piece of furniture below the tree. That came also came from my grandfather’s hardware store. It used to hold hardware, but now those cute triangular drawers hold many cool crafting supplies. And the little green elf is Vernon, our very own vintage Christmas elf. 

Last but not least, you should see our new Christmas boulders. We thought it would be nice to add the stacked rocks on the left of the walk to balance the boulders on the right. I had to add the bow :-). 

The yard is prettier when there are flowers, but we think it’s still interesting now. 

So, what do you think? Is it decorated enough? I hope so because I can’t live with much more – and Steve for sure thinks that this is way more than enough.