Christmas Supper Club

Last night about 30 girls came over for our annual Christmas Supper Club.  So nice to have some quality girl time!

After being in FL all week for work, Target made my day with this fun $14 pitcher (by Threshold, naturally) and straws to spruce up my last minute hostess duties.  I can't find the pitcher online, but they have highball and old-fashioned glasses that are quite festive too.  The punch consisted of cranberry juice, OJ, sprite, pomegranate seeds and was topped off with champagne.  Easy and always a hit with ladies...Josh had a glass or two as well.

Everyone brought an app or dessert to share and we had a feast.

We've stopped doing Secret Santa and sponsored children from Myers' elementary school.  So much more rewarding....and as much as I just mentioned Target making my day, who needs another random Christmas platter?

Most of the girls -- a few hadn't arrived and a few had already left.

Olivia was shaved (a little too shaved!) by the groomer yesterday and now looks like a real pea head.  She's been sporting a tacky Christmas sweater from Target to cover her up.  This little miss was caught red-pawed standing on the kitchen island after most of the guests had left eating a piece of chocolate chip cheesecake (the hit of the party!) that I'd cut for Josh.  She devoured the entire piece!  That was after sneaking little pieces of peppermint bark all night.  Naughty, naughty girl.  I am now calling her Peppermint Cheesecake.

Looking forward to more Christmas celebrations this weekend.  So thankful for our friends!

XO,
Whit

Happy Halloween!

From Office Ollie.  Our little Halloween baby is 6-years-old today!

Josh informed her she is a "rent-a-cop" since she only has a walkie-talkie and handcuffs, no gun.

Happy birthday to Ellen as well!!

XO,

Whit

Happiness

Someone went on her first boat ride at Badin Lake this weekend.

I think it's safe to say this is what pure happiness looks like.  Oh, the life of a dog!

Thanks for hosting us Magees. (and for letting Olivia "Catfish" Otto borrow a lifejacket #safetyfirst)

Happy Monday!

XO,
Whit

Ladies Lounge Updates

I've been focusing my home efforts lately on the "ladies lounge."

Current state:

I wanted to add a piece with some height and something that could serve as part display / part storage.  I found a piece I fell in love with at Studio123.  I think I may be addicted to chicken wire...

Before and after...

The piece needed a little TLC and these products became my best friends.

Then I decided to lighten up the inside of the cabinet.  (I guess I'm actually addicted to wallpapering cabinets and chicken wire...)  The dining room had wallpaper that I bet was gorgeous in its day, but after years had started fading and falling off (you can see in the pic the floral wallpaper below it showing through).  During the renovation process lots of neighbors stopped by asking if they could come in to see the dining room wallpaper because they'd loved looking in at night and thought it was beautiful.  My mother-in-law and I both made trips to the house trying to salvage as big of scraps as we could (mold and all!).  I knew there could be a future project where it would come in handy and would make a good conversation piece.

Since the colors are kind of greenish and gold I decided to try to use the scraps on this piece.  The pictures with my flash make it look so much more metallic and shiny than it actually appears in person-- it's much more subdued.  

BUT I still can't decide if I like it, but now I've cut it all up so I really couldn't do anything else with it.  I'm thinking if I have accessories that are a bit more unified and younger it will help.  Thinks all blue and white or all cream & gold, etc.  Right now it looks like a treasure hunt in a grandma's basement!

Thoughts?

(I do love the little silhouette of yours truly that I snagged from my parents' house recently)

I am still working on getting the brass keyholes to match and fix the one on the right.  (It does show up more than the pic below - somewhere in the middle of the two)

Olivia literally sits & sleeps in this chair all.day.long while I'm working.  Tough life.

I'm thrilled with out the little green dot velvet pillows turned out, but still saving up to have the chairs recovered.  Although seeing how much time Olivia spends in there is making me rethink cream velvet!

I finally had my new couch pillows made too.

Still need to work on the mantle.  Can't decide what style mirror and if I want to do sconces on either side or leave space for urns (or something decorative with height & color).

In other news, I forgot how happy $17 orchids from Costco can make me and how long they last!  Love the pink double stems.  I spruced them up with a little moss, twigs & my favorite Homegoods mercury glass urns.  They should last me another few months - definitely the most efficient way to have living flowers.

XO,

Whit

Weekend with Gertie

I met my new "niece" last weekend and she is the cutest piglet I have ever laid eyes on.  I was also so happy to see my middle sister, Bailey, and her boyfriend -- I cannot believe it had been 6 whole months!  Move back to the South please.

Warning: If you aren't interested in dog pictures, you should go ahead and stop reading now. :)

Gertie in the ladies lounge with my new pillows (post to come).

My favorite bulldog mama, April, came over to meet her too.

Can a family get much cuter than this? (their cocker spaniel was back in Boston)

We tried Olivia's flower dog accessories on tiny Gertrude -- looks like someone is ready for her parents to get married!

She is only 14 weeks, but we are already talking about her having puppies.  Get on the list now -- it doesn't get cuter than this.

XO,

Whit

Happy Halloween!

Happy 5th birthday, Olivia! (the peacock)

and

Happy birthday, Ellen Garfield Wilson!!

XO,

Whit

PS - Josh, time to get raking and blowing all those leaves.

Weekend recap

Hello friends!  Just a little photo recap of Otto happenings over the last week.

Seems like everyone has shown their "fall mantel" so I'm jumping on the bandwagon.  I still may bedazzle the white pumpkins a little, but I'm liking the simplicity right now.  The Raleigh skyline that I gave to Josh 5 years ago is FINALLY going to have a frame -- coming in the next few weeks.  Jean helped me put together the flower arrangements using hydrangeas she dried from her yard and cat tails.

Gold pumpkin from Homegoods and lit pumpkin from Pier 1 (thanks, mom!).

Target has quite the collection of pretty real looking pumpkins -- I opted for a few sizes of the white ones.  The green metallic and black glittery pumpkins were courtesy of their $1-$2 bins!

Thanks to all who made it to the Stella & Dot show on Thursday!

It was a great turnout, but I only snapped a few pics.

I think home styling comes more naturally to me than putting together funky outfits.  I couldn't decide if I looked like a circus clown or not with stripes on stripes.  Laura Stocksdale - I was anxiously awaiting Josh's commentary when he arrived home.... :)  Shockingly, he thought it was tame.

Sadly, the only pic I took tailgating was of food!

Sunday we headed to Chapel Hill for lunch and then to browse the Camellia Forest Nursery in Carrboro-- I can't believe how adult and married we've become.  You should have seen how excited we both were running around the nursery!

The amateur horticulturist 

It seems we brought a forest of camellias home with us (we opted for Autumn Moon and April Remembered)-- I had to ride in the backseat back to Raleigh.

We are enjoyed the crisp weather over here.  Hope you are too!

XO,

Whit