wallpaper download

after our meal, we walked next door to the grand america hotel and walked through the lobby and it's other public spaces. the grand america is a really beautiful hotel....definitely the most impressive in all of salt lake city, and arguably the most posh.

 the life size gingerbread house...made of over 400 pounds of gingerbread, 200 pounds of icing and nearly 20,000 pieces of candy. it was amazing!

 a view to the courtyard.

 another tree...filled with handblown glass ornaments in an array of FUN colors! these

almost looked like bubbles....so pretty!

 by far, our favorite "find" was joujou....one of the most amazing toy stores i have ever seen.

 the window displays were all incredible. this one had a whirling wheel made from erector sets.

 

and don't even get me started on this candy...tower-THING. it was SO adorable. the ground in front if it lights up and plays music when you stand on it.

i loved the free-form "pages" sculpture in the book corner.

loved this frame too...wouldn't this be and easy diy project??

theses pillows, from ferm living were super cute.

i couldn't help snapping a picture of these cute little critters...made from recycled newspaper! 

if it wasn't the week before christmas, i am sure that we would have caved and bought each of our kids something fun, but we walked out of the store empty-handed. however, it was SUCH a fun, inviting and stimulating place to be, and i am sure i will be back sometime. it's the prefect place to find a unique gift for a child of any age.

if you are ever in salt lake city be sure and check it out, as well as the weekend brunch at the little america!

$129.99

and, of course, it is no surpise that overstock has an identical lamp for nearly $40 less.

kinda eerie how similar the pictures are, no? (even down to the remote control)

$92.99

happy shopping!

image via Tumblr

a few more of the nut clusters, and some pinecones were tucked into the garland.

 around the mantle, i used the nut and crystal garland that i made last year for my  front door .  you can see how to make that by clicking here.

i swagged a faux garland with some pinecones around the mantle, and then added the fresh garland on top...and tucked in some additional greenery and pinecones. the faux garland really helped to give the fresh garland some body, and helped me to adhere the garland to the mantle....i put a tiny nail in each corner of the top of the mantle, and then took a small section of the faux garland and wrapped it around the nail.

 the hobnail containers are actually trash cans that i found at a local clearance store for $9 each. they are each holding a miniature evergreen tree....sorry i accidentally didn't capture those in the picture! i just realized that they were "missing" as i was writing this, and i am too lazy to take another picture.

 this narrow table sits in my entry. i found the paper mache deer at a thrift store for $1.50.