Magical mantles

We just got home from an amazing Thanksgiving dinner with friends.

As we we were all standing around talking, and preparing food, I noticed that our hostess, the lovely Carmindy, is a natural interior designer and we should all be inspired by the way she has decorated her two fireplace mantles.  The one in the bedroom is filled with sea fans, shells, and bottles, and the mantle in the kitchen has a more earthly feel.

Let's all lay around tomorrow and contemplate how inspired we are by our friends....

Transform me!

Okay, so my husband and I just moved to a duplex apartment in Brooklyn with a backyard.  Anyone who lives in Manhattan knows that a backyard is not always easy to come by, so we are pretty amped about the possibilities. Yes, it is stupid cold out, and yes, the 200 orange tulip bulbs (correction 198 bulbs, the squirrels took off with a couple) I barely managed to get in the ground won't be blooming for awhile, but eventually this space will come alive! I am gathering lots of ideas on how to make this backyard party ready.  Can you see it?  Can you feel it?