Letting You Eavesdrop On A Facebook Conversation Between Dream-Hubs & Me...

Taken by Dream-Hub's cell-phone, just minutes after

my package arrived -read on...

Our mail just arrived and wouldn't you know, Dream-Hubs was outside just as it was being dropped off. So he saw the box in my hands.

(Ladies... you KNOW you also try and hide packages that come... admit it.)

So I had no choice but to reveal the contents to him -- and so surprised he was, that he immediately took a picture with his phone of my new purchase and went straight to Facebook to

tell on me...

Here's how that went:

Doug Harsham Ice skates in Florida...

Doug Harsham

just when I thought I couldn't be surprised by anything else...like an old mine cart in the kitchen, etc...guess what shows up in the mail for my wife... she actually had to hang the garland before she'd let me take the picture! These things look like they're 100 years old...

Ruth Harsham

Gotta love life with me, huh? You do, right? :)

Ruth Harsham

Besides, these may be the closest I ever get to actually having a use for ice skates. :(

Doug Harsham

wouldn't change a thing!

So ....

Yes -- I bought vintage leather ice skates to decorate my porch with... BUSTED.

Hey, can you blame a native Floridian for at least

d-r-e-a-m-i-n-g of cooler places???

Here's hoping your dreams come true...

And your "secret" packages go undiscovered. Well, maybe not... it's kinda fun when you actually get to SEE

the surprised/confused look on their face! ;)

Let The Countdown Begin...

{One of our trees from last Christmas.}

Though it seems hard to believe,

the "count down to Christmas" is on!

I love it!

Thanksgiving was lovely and to peer inside my fridge,

you'd think we didn't eat a thing yesterday since there is SO much stuffed

on every shelf in there! But who doesn't love tons of leftover

pies, cakes, and goodies? :)

If you're out and about hitting the Black Friday sales,

be careful -- and be nice!! :)

May you not get your toes run over by a zealous shopper's cart.

May you not get trampled in a stampede for a sale item.

May you take every opportunity to stop as often as possible

for a hot latte and catch your breath.

Then again... do Black Friday shoppers need to

add caffine to the mix?

Just kidding... :)

Hope you get the deals you're looking for and may you

check everything off your shopping list today!!

Have a wonderful weekend and be looking for

our next giveaway!

You'll need it for all those presents you bought today!

~RUTH~

GET 'EM WHILE YOU CAN! New Jeanne d'Arc Listings!

"This just in!"

At the request of MANY of you, we've FINALLY gotten a few of the

new things from our Jeanne d'Arc Living shipment up on the site

for sale -- and not a moment too soon!!

First up, dark metal mesh cloches --

two sizes

(sold individually) to choose from. How WILL you choose??

Click HERE to see them.

The cloches are made to coordinate with THIS metal

"under plate"

but feel free to use them with or without it.

Both the pedestal (under plate) and the cloches look

awesome together or on their own!

Then, the incredible La Poste Christmas stockings....

Now friends, we were sent only SIX of these

beauties so I don't want any bloodshed over these!

I cannot get any more of them (and was very fortunate

to get the six I did get)!

So, not to induce mass hysteria or anything, but

when they're gone - theyre gone.

And I'm not even keeping one for myself -- that's

just how unselfish I'm trying to be. ;)

On to the wonderful, sweet set of three

darkened metal, dimensional hearts.

These are so great -- a set of three, each hung

from a rustic jute rope.

See them HERE!

BREAKING NEWS! It's ALL here!!

CASE-UPON-CASE

OF JEANNE D'ARC ISSUE #6

AND OUR CONTAINER SHIPMENT!

Back later!

In the meantime, I'll be

"playing" (oops, I mean WORKING)

with all the goodies

that are staring at me right now

with all their

DANISH

GORGEOUSNESS!

Hee-hee...

I love my job...

BYE!

~RUTH~

The Beautiful Life's Version Of "Black Friday" Shopping!

I've never been one to be among the hoards lining up at 5AM for the

after-Thanksgiving-sales. I barely get out of the house on time for church on

Sunday, so hanging out in the dark on the sidewalk to save a few bucks... not

gonna happen.

SO, for all of you would also rather cozy up at home with a cup of coffee and a

slice of left-over pumpkin pie the morning after Thanksgiving, I have a deal for you...

Use coupon code THANKFUL during checkout at The Beautiful Life.com from now

until midnight next Wednesday (Nov. 25th) and save 20% off your entire order.

Top that off with the fact that you always get FREE ground shipping and you've got

yourself NO REASON to be standing in line before the crack of dawn.

It's my way of letting you know I am so thankful for each of you who takes time

all year long to read my ramblings and shop my store. I don't say it often

enough -- I'm thankful for you and treasure each of you.

So, now's your chance to score that special something you may have had your eye on in the shop, as well as get all the

hostess gifts, teacher gifts,

gifts for moms, sisters, and BFF's

that you still need to buy

and get it all accomplished BEFORE

silly "black Friday" even gets here!

;)

Your purchases will arrive on your doorstep in no time flat and you will not have even

had to leave your house or your cozy robe.

Now THAT is what I call savvy shopping!

And you can start now -- well before

your neighbors head off under cover of dark next Friday morning

to battle the crowds and cold!

I'm thankful for all of YOU --

hope you enjoy your little "gift" from me in the way

of a bit of savings on your shopping.

~Ruth~

"I Love Blogs & Coffee" Poster Winners

Hello to each of you who entered my

quickie-giveaway today!

I did it totally on the spur of the moment and that was fun!

Here are the winners!

If you hurry and get me your addresses, I can likely get your poster out to you tomorrow (Friday)!

Thank you SO much to EACH of you who left a comment!

I wish I could give you ALL a poster!

Here are the ladies who won and who now might want to

shoot me an email with your address (if I don't already have it).

Claudia (Mockingbird Hill Cottage)

Cathy (Mille Fleur)

Jackie (Jackie's Journey)

Adrienne (The Flying Bee)

Destiny (The Ruffled Nest)

Cindy (Cottage Instincts)

Hope to hear from you gals soon!

For those who didn't get to enter or didn't win...

GUESS WHAT???

ANOTHER GIVEAWAY is only days away and this one

has Christmas gift-giving all wrapped up!

STAY TUNED!!

~Ruth~

Love Blogging? Love Coffee? Howzabout A Free Poster To Declare It?

I don't know... I'm sitting here working in my office,

and saw our supply of these fabby

posters and I thought

"Hey, I wanna give somebody one of these..."

So, leave me a comment if you also love

BLOGS

and

COFFEE

and later tonight I'll choose a name and send ya one!

That's it from here --

Just 'cause. ;)

~Ruth~

Anyone Else Feeling The Mid-Week Slump? Coffee, anyone?

Any way I can point this guy in the direction of MY house!

Thought I'd share a picture my hubby took from the car on his way home

the other night of this tanker truck headed in the same direction home as my hubby was.

He sent the pic to me with this note:

"Thought maybe you'd ordered coffee to go..."

Wishing you a renewed burst of energy this Wednesday.

As you can see, I've already arranged for my refueling.

Just kidding...

~RUTH~

Wonderful French Giveaway from The Brocantess!

{Photo courtesy of The Brocantess blog;

item not necessarily one of the giveaway prizes.}

You'll surely want to check out a wonderful giveaway

of some lovely French items

going on over at

THE BROCANTESS'

blog!

Prize 1-- A Vintage French Rosary

Prize 2-- Two Vintage French Books

Prize 3--Three Vintage French linens (torchon, serviette, etc.-based on what she can find)

Now - if that's not enough,

each winner will have input on what their find will look like!

Do you prefer a white rosary? Black, clear?

Do you want white books? Tattered, w/cover?

Would you like a monogrammed torchon (if possible)? If so, what letter?

So, as you can see, this is a giveaway that you will really have

some say in! How fun!

Good luck!

P.S.... I'm ready to do another giveaway soon here, too!

Stay tuned!

Moving Furniture, Playing With My New Cart, "Nesting" (when I SHOULD be working)...

As you may have read in the post just below this one,

I got a new "toy" over the weekend and honestly,

I cannot stop playing with it!

{Just because... the view from my kitchen sink...}

But I really should stop playing with it all -- since I have

SOOO much

to do at the office!

But this purchase has prompted a whole domino affect of changes

around the house now -- and it's been SO fun!

Yesterday I moved most of the family room furniture into another room...

BELOW,

FAMILY ROOM "BEFORE" ALL THE MOVING OF PIECES.

(The only "before"pic I could find was from the 2/09 issue of Romantic Homes mag...)

BELOW, FAMILY ROOM "AFTER" :

I moved most of our living room furniture into the family room

and then "rounded things out" with various other

pieces from around the house...

{I love the two different fabrics on this chair!

And I challenge anyone to surpass the number of fabrics I can cram into any one room!}

:)

{One of my all-time favorite buys: an East German

blanket chest from 1743. A keeper, to be sure!}

It feels like we got a whole

new two rooms and

SPENT NOTHING!

Wait.

What was that sound?

I thought I heard someone clearing their throat...

Oh, this is where

"Dream-Hubs" would remind me that we

DID spend something on that cart...

But I digress...

Thought I'd share my quickie re-do of the furniture in our

family room -- which leads directly into the kitchen

with it's newly painted cabinets.

I realize you really have no point of reference for how things looked before

(CAUSE I FORGOT TO TAKE "BEFORE" PICTURES!)

but trust me, the furniture moving was a nice improvement!

All the colors flow much better now and look

so serene and calming.

I love it!

CART LOCATION UPDATE:

It is still in the kitchen and

I have resisted moving it all over the house for various reasons:

1.) I could really get on people's nerves to be rolling something that large

back and forth in front of the TV while I decide where I want it...

2.) In view of Thanksgiving coming up, I figure we could use it in the kitchen

(at least for now) to help hold all the food that the family will be bringing....

3.) My daughter and a friend are hosting a LARGE Christmas party here

and the living room (where I think the cart will ultimately land) is going to be

one of their "dance floors"... so I will hold off and allow them all the room they can get

before hauling that giant cart in there, in their way...

4.) It is still in very good shape, but it has grown a bit, shall we say

"weak in the joints" and I just have this fear that the more I move it around,

the more I'm pushing my luck. I waited SO long for it, I don't want to be the one to

break it!

(And to that, I hear a loud "You got that right!" in my brain from Dream-Hubs).

Thanks for putting up with my playing house and sharing it with you.

I suppose now I should get back to work...

But at least that's just as fun -- when you work amid such beautiful things!

:)

Happy Monday!

~Ruth~