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3packsfrom21 · 5 years

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Throwback to Italy

:[ Yes, I am finishing this post two weeks late. Yes, Italy is a whole country in the past. Yes, I get it mom, you wanted the post out a while ago. But guess what, I love you and that’s all that matters. ]:

Well, once again we said goodbye to another country. Italy was definitely our fastest place in Europe; looking back it seems detached. The memories I have, when compared to the amount of time we spent making them, are disjointed. But I will make an effort to recall them in some sort of order.

We arrived in Italy by bus on the 6th of October. We pulled up to the border crossing (that, might I add, is more like a scary prison entrance) and weren’t surprised when the bus pulled over and two police officers came on. The usual boarder inspection. This time, they asked us to grab all of our bags, exit the bus and line up. We were lucky to be one of the first in line. The officers asked us a few routine questions - where we came from, our destination, what our plans were, etc. We were surprised at how friendly and kind they were, when compared to many other border officers. They were satisfied with our responses and we were allowed to re-board the bus. We then watched as the officers went through the rest of the line. What we assumed would be a half hour stop turned out to be quite a bit longer. On multiple occasions, they inspected peoples bags. And when I say inspect, I mean going to the extent of even reading the ingredients on one lady’s lotion bottle. The last woman in line was even asked to go with the officers inside for further investigation. We ended up sitting there, watching other buses go through without inspection, for two hours. Some passengers were less than impressed. Anyway, our four hour ride suddenly became over six hours long. Even worse because once we were able to cross through (with all of the passengers and all of the bags – it was never really clear why the search was so intense), the rest of the drive to Turin took longer than expected.

Turin: our first taste of Italy. Mixed emotions surround this food capital. It was dirty, big, frustrating, exciting, fantastic, delicious, and bland all at once. When we arrived, we made the thirty minute walk across the city (only getting turned around a couple times) and followed the directions given by our AirBnB host on how to get the key. We were to go to the cleaning lady’s apartment, ring the bell, and she would give it to us. Of course, the language barrier made things a bit fun. The kind old man who brought us the key spoke no English whatsoever. However, with a lot of pausing and a little game of charades, we managed to understand that he was asking when we would return the key. Always fun, communicating without words!

Our AirBnB was very nice, and made our time in Turin even better. We made our first whole meal – full of fried vegetables, homemade fries, and frozen pasta (because you can’t have everything fresh). There is something very rejuvenating about making good food. I cannot fully describe it but I’m sure all of you who have travelled are well versed in the feeling. Turin held our first real look at markets and, much to Kiana’s chagrin, we explored them thoroughly. We learned that there are designated times for eating – as in, if you find a restaurant that is open before 8AM and between 3PM and 7PM you are very lucky. [As an aside; I’d like to add that just because a place is the “Food Capital” does not mean it doesn’t have some pretty crappy food.] Feeling satisfied and excited for the rest of Italy, we said goodbye to our two-day city and took a night bus to Venice.

Now, I’m afraid you may have drawn the short straw, as I am the one writing about our next destination. I have heard many things about Venice, most of them holding a more negative connotation. If you ask the average Italian joe their thoughts on the small westernized Island, you will get some sort of muffled grunt followed with a brushing off motion. I have heard the streets are smelly, that it’s overpriced, that it is not authentic, and that it is a must see (one day) destination. But to me, I will only remember being completely baffled, because it was everything I had imagined. It will remain the beautiful city on water that captured my attention at age thirteen. Except now, instead of expectations, I have memories.

Each of us has one must-see place that we will hit on this trip. This was mine.

Ever since I got my postcard from Leona and Amanda eight years ago, asking for the top ten places that I’d choose to go to (for my 13 year old birthday trip), Venice has had a spot on my list (like actually it was in my top three). I saw pictures of an oasis and wanted to live there for eternity. Looking back, I think its safe to say Venice would have been very interesting with the boys (Ben and Anthony) as they’d have been bored out of their minds! So I say once again, Roatan was a good choice Leona and Amanda, good choice.

Anyway, back to Venice. We got in at 5AM on the 9th. Our hostel was easy to find and very accommodating – they checked us in early. We dropped our bags (as quietly as we could) and fell into bed. We didn’t wake up until later in the morning so it wasn’t surprising that it was already 2PM when we took our seat on the train going to Venice. There are many pictures of my giddy face from that ride, you can be assured of that.

Now, for a quick summary of Venice…

People were right. It was overpriced, westernized, and very touristy. You had to pay for table settings and pay even more to sit outside. And yet, I cannot stamp my time there with that as the title. Because even though every square had crowds of people, there were even more tiny back streets waiting to be seen solely by us. We got lost in the picturesque buildings, going over countless quaint bridges and marveling at each one. It was home to great gelato and the best pasta you can get for 6€. The air was clean and the canals were blue. Both days were spent in complete contentment and thankfulness. So I will stand by those who say it’s a must see, but I can assure you, one day is not enough.

From Venice we took one of our last European buses to Florence. We had booked one night there and hadn’t a clue where we’d go after that. Now I don’t know if you all recall my exploration of Irish buses, but if not, you will get a retelling here. There has been very few rides to compare with our bus to Lahinch, Ireland. But this bus…. this may have been worse. I don’t know who they get to drive these vehicles, but it is not licensed drivers. The thing was, there wasn’t even that many corners! See, we in Canada have this thing call ROLLING: rolling to a stop and rolling forward. We seem to be the only ones to have figured this out. Instead, Italy has something called MURDER: murder passengers by ignoring the multitude of break lights in front of you, until you are going to hit them and at the last second slam on the breaks. Murder passengers by giving them all whiplash because I want to be moving at 60km/h, 20 seconds from a complete stop. Europe is incredible in many aspects of their society but please, can someone teach them how to drive!

Many people say Florence is a highlight city in Italy. We wouldn’t know, as we saw absolutely none of it. We took the tram across town to our hostel, slept, got up and spent the whole afternoon trying to find a place to stay for that night. We aren’t sure what was happening in Florence that weekend but there were absolutely no places to stay under 130 CAN. So we booked a place in a very small town out in the Tuscan countryside. When I say small, I mean Google maps didn’t even know where we were, small. We took a train to Arezzo, and from there a ten minute train to a town called Giovi. No, you wont be able to find it. There, we spent a little under a week in a Tuscan cottage to ourselves. Our AirBnB hosts were a young Italian family who were over-the-top helpful. When we tried to go into Arezzo on Sunday and figured out (at the train stop) that no trains come out on Sundays, they picked us up and brought us into Arezzo. When we had asked how to get out to the cottage, as it is 3km outside of Giovi, they offered to pick us up. They dropped us off, supplied us with water and a beautiful home to stay in. I say this with complete confidence: this was our European home. Yes, Dromore was amazing, and Champfleuri held the treasure of Christian community, but Giovi gave us a bit of comfort that all of those lacked. We made supper every night (Pasta, Pasta, Pasta and a bit more Pasta) and watched the sunset from our upstairs window. We woke up chilly to the sound of dawn and did our devotions in our own perfect nooks. We shared Thanksgiving supper across the world (pasta) and came to love our walk to town, surrounded by vineyards.

There are many stories I could tell you of our time in the countryside, ones I’m sure you’ll all hear of when we return home. But for now, at least, rest assured, we learned a myriad of lessons and laughed at them all. Arezzo held a wonderful food festival that, in a way, let us have a bit of thanksgiving all the way over here. But as I said before – a story for another time.

Rome:

Rejuvenated, and ready to move on, we took a train to Florence and from there a bus to Rome. This was a much smoother bus, much to my pleasure. We were in Rome from the 16th to the 22nd and it was not enough time.

We arrived in the evening, and took a train across town to our hostel. Funnily enough, as we walked down the street, Janae remembered where she had stayed ten years ago (with Leona and Amanda) and pointed up at it as we passed by. We stayed on the same street, just a little bit farther down. That night, we grabbed pizza and walked down to see the Coliseum lit up. Back at our hostel we were told that there was a mix up and that we were all in separate rooms for one night but that the next we’d all have a room together. It was a bit annoying, but nothing to get our nickers in a knot over.

The next day we set out to do a free walking tour. We got half way there before realizing we had no money to take the metro, and so, after much deliberation, we skipped the tour and went to the Vatican. Now, most people say the Vatican is a one day affair. Well, not for us.

We went, and got in the long line to see the St Peters Basilica. We hoped it wouldn’t take forever to get through. As we waited, I looked up some information on the Basilica and, as I read, came across something to do with a dress code. To anyone wanting to visit the Vatican: there is a dress code. And shorts, sandals and tank tops do not fit the criteria. Looking around at everyone else in line, it seemed we’d obviously missed a very well known memo. That’s what you run into when you do everything off-the-cuff. So, frustrated that we hadn’t read up on it before coming, we got out of line and pushed seeing the Vatican to the following day. With two of our plans thwarted, we went to find something to eat. *Another tip, don’t eat in the area surrounding the Vatican; you might think it would be cheaper than by the Coliseum, but you are wrong. Go across town and eat. That took us three days to figure out.

After being filled by more pizza, we embarked on plan C. Instead of the walking tour, and instead of the Vatican, we checked out the Pantheon and the Spanish Steps (which, PS – still not really sure why they are so cool. I mean guys, its not the first staircase to have 176 steps so what’s the big deal? I get it, Audrey H shot a movie there, but still ). We also dunked our hands in the Trevi Fountain (and didn’t get caught), and finished Kiana’s last day of being 24 with a beautiful view of the sunset. Overall, a very good day!

Day two of Rome brought us back to the Vatican. This time fully dress and prepared for long lines. We read our books and looked like nerds but didn’t think twice about it. We managed to get into the Basilica in under 1 hour. The basilica was cool. Busy, but cool. I mean, how much can you say about a church, you know? Ask Kiana if you have a couple days to spare. All in all, we were in there for two hours. We waited in the woman’s bathroom line for another 45 minutes – lamenting on the fact that for some reason architects have yet to figure out that women need more than four stalls!

After St. Peter’s we went for pizza, yet again. We had hoped to hit the Vatican Museums after lunch. But a quick look at the time decided that for us. The Vatican closes at 4PM; it was 2. We did not have enough time to see them, so once again we chose to leave seeing the whole Vatican for another day. The rest of Kiana’s Birthday was spent looking around, eating Gelato and once again finding a great look out over the city at sunset.

Round three of the Vatican started early, and still we waited 1.5 hours to get in. I like museums, but the Vatican museums were a bit too busy for me. Basically, you entered the mob of people, shuffled through a billion different rooms, unable to stop, as the mob pushed you forward. The Sistine Chapel was really cool to see, but we were so drained from all the crowds that our appreciation level was running low. Overall, we were able to appreciate the grandeur of the museums but were fairly happy to exit them as well.

So now you understand how we managed to get so confused with the Vatican. It’s because we did absolutely no research and ended up somehow missing important pieces of information two days in a row.

That night, looking for a gelato place, Kiana looked up a place near our hostel. Turns out it was the place Janae went to on her thirteenth birthday trip. This made the gelato even better; just watching her face made it for me. (PS – I haven’t explored what the “Leona and Amanda trips” are. I am hoping most of you know already. If not, I will give you a very short explanation: We have two amazing cousins named Leona and Amanda. When all their first cousins turned thirteen, they took them on a trip. It was their birthday gift to us for our entire life. Kiana went to Jamaica, Janae – Rome, and I went to Roatan. These trips are what sparked our love for traveling and have founded the rest of our adventures.)

The next day (we’re on the 20th now), we saw the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. These were crazy to see, so it wasn’t at all odd that we spent the entire day exploring them. We spent from 2:00 until 7:00 in the Roman forum and still we felt rushed. Had our feet not been so tired from standing in lines all day, we would have been able to see all of it with greater enthusiasm. But alas, it was still one of our highlights from Italy. There is just something really cool about walking on cobble stone streets that were laid down 90 BC.

Our last couple of days were spent getting ready for Greece. And, on the 22nd of October, at 5 AM we took a taxi to the airport, saying goodbye to our time in Italy.

Somewhere in Italy we hit the half-way point in our trip. This held mixed emotions. From the beginning of our trip, we all felt that the first half would go by slower than the second. This idea founds our dilemma; we crave the normality of home as much as we wish for more time. Sometimes you wake up feeling low; in that fog, you struggle to find enthusiasm for the time you have left. But the next minute, the fog has cleared; you see something amazing, or talk to people who do this for much longer than you, and just like that, all you want is for time to freeze a little. I guess what I’m saying is, when people say traveling gives perspective, I’ve always taken it to mean you start your trip as this naïve girl and come out a well conditioned woman ready for the next step in her life. But as this trip hits its last month I have come to the conclusion that, in fact it is a perspective of questioning, not of answers. And I’m not sure I like that as much.

As a final note: I’m sure all of you have started noticing a trend. The trend where all three of us McCluskeys end our blogs the same way. As I do my final edits, I can’t help but notice that all of our mindsets are the same. You have read multiple accounts of how we long for home while still wanting more time, or how we appreciate our four months, while recognizing that it isn’t what we expected, or.. bla bla bla. And if I was you, I would be thinking: man, we get it, you want to come home. Bear with us. We have all said the same thing, multiple times, basically in the same way. But, hey, at this point, we’ve been asked if we’re triplets so many times, we decided to take it one step further.

Ciao - Lynece

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avoresmith · 7 years

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Tagged by @genufa who gets me and my desire to not be as productive as I could be.

feel free to tag yourself in my name if you want to do this. I liked this one.

1. Are you named after someone? The main character of a novel my mother never wrote, age 16

2. When was the last time you cried? I cried like 3 times during Logan (go see logan)

3. Do you like your handwriting? I like it fine but it isn’t pretty and I hate physically writing.

4. What is your favorite lunch meat? Pepperoni

5. Do you have kids? Nope

6. If you were another person, would you be friends with you? HMM. I feel like the direction of this question is ‘Are you so hard to deal with you wouldn’t want to deal with yourself’ but unless I know who the other person I am becoming is, it’s a hard question to answer. If I had a copy of myself I think we would probably enjoy talking to each other about fandom sometimes but not much else. If I were a different person I might have needs that I can’t provide myself anymore because I wouldn’t be me, in which case the person who is now me might be very useful in my life??

I don’t think my personality is defective ENOUGH that there is a clearcut answer of ‘lol no cuz they’d be a bitch’.

7. Do you use sarcasm? N..o...? Which is weird to realize because I definitely went through the Sarcastic Teenager phase where everyone in the 90s was as obsessed with teens being sarcastic as they are now fixated on millennials being ironic. But nah, somehow that habit pretty much disappeared as far as I can tell.

8. Do you still have your tonsils? Yes.

9. Would you bungee jump? Probably!

10. What is your favorite kind of cereal? Rotates between all berry captain crunch, frosted flakes, and some keshi (kashi??) grain stuff. I go thru a cereal phase like once every 4 months and i eat it for dinner or as a snack tho. Got no time for breakfast.

11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? I can’t own shoes that require you to lace them. Can’t be trusted with that much effort in the morning.

12. Do you think you’re a strong person? Ehn, in some ways, sure. My luck stat is real fuckin high tho.

13. What is your favorite ice cream? I like gelato in general and fruity gelatos in particular. Mango, orange, and lemon are probably my peak flavors. Tho I made a killer pink pepper corn icecream last thanksgiving and I should do it again.

14. What is the first thing you notice about people? Usually that they have bothered me, haha. I am REAL FUCKING IN MY OWN HEAD so I tend to completely filter people out unless they deliberately make me notice them. In a situation where I’m not ignoring most of humanity, uh,all of this realizing I’m white stuff and that racism exists has, ironically, made me hyper aware of race. Also ‘oh shit, did we make eye contact? shit!’. What I’m saying is there is a reason my cubicle is in the furthest corner of the office and I never leave.

15. What is the least favorite physical thing you like about yourself? Having a vagina and all of it’s connecting organs.

16. What color pants and shoes are you wearing now? I’M REAL MAD IM DOING THIS ON A MONDAY WHEN I WAS TOO LAZY TO CLOTH MYSELF IN THE USUAL WAY because right now my answer is dark blue jeans, purple grey-striped socks, and my comfortable flat sandals that kind of have this shiny snakeskin thing going on (YEA i wear socks with sandals COME AT ME). NORMALLY the answer would be some highly saturated tights and heeled boots or wedge sandals but friend I didn’t fall asleep until 3am.

17. What are you listening to right now? This 8tracks: https://8tracks.com/outofbread/don-t-even-trip-dawg

Which, Im gonna be honest, does nothing for me as Rick and Morty playlist but I really enjoy the collection of songs so I keep listening to it anyway.

19. Favorite smell? Fruit or woody stuff.

20. Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? Some lady for my job who likes to respond to emails by asking for a phone call so you can tell her what you wrote in the email.

21. Favorite sport to watch? WWE, which I haven’t actually watched in almost 15 years but it’s still the only sport where I got excited about watching a sport.

22. Hair color? Washed out blue and a desaturated purple-pink. Need to touch it up soon.

23. Eye color? Blue.

24. Do you wear contacts? I got some plano circle contacts so i can change my eye color, but i’ve only worn them a couple of times. I like how I look in glasses and probably wont’ got prescription for a while.

25. Favorite food to eat? This rotates... a lot... I should maybe say mongolian hot pot just because we successfully went there every week for almost two years without me getting sick of it. Macaroons. Pizza.

26. Scary movies or comedy? Something... interesting... I don’t care enough about movies to have a preferred genre. Even if I did neither comedy nor scary movies would make the top five.

27. Last movie you watched? Logan (GO SEE LOGAN)

28. What color of shirt are you wearing? Teal and white with a pattern i don’t know how to describe.

29. Summer or winter? Summer.

30. Hugs or kisses? Hugs.

31. What book are you currently reading? I restarted Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, and my roommate has pulled out The Things They Carried for me to start on. I’ll probably finish up Monster first.

32. Who do you miss right now? Minerva, the cat I put down last year. I’m not really prone to this particular emotion in general tho.

33. What is on your mouse pad? I hear Millennials don’t use mouse pads. <------ real

34. What is the last TV program you watched? Uuuuh fuck. I think Mighty Morphin Power Ranges, original run, haha. we were gearing up for the movie but somehow still haven’t seen the movie. Unless we are counting anime I watched online, in which case Mob Psycho 100.

35. What is the best sound? Monsoon thunderstorms.

36. Rolling Stones or The Beatles? I have no particular opinion on either of these but my mom loves(d?) the Beatles so I’ll go with that. She’s earned it.

37. What is the furthest you have ever traveled? Haiti.

38. Do you have a special talent? Being basically chill and okay a huge quantity the time.

39. Where were you born? Phoenix, AZ.

#op me #meme #about me #maybe i need an about me tag #it occurs

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arplis · 4 years

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Arplis - News: Arlyns Warm (& Sort of Last-Minute DIYed) Holiday Reveal

Spoiler alert: This starts sad, but I promise a happy endingjust like your favorite Hallmark movie. Yes, its a post about decorating for Christmas, but its a bit of a journey (and your prize for sticking around is seven tips for a pretty holiday look without a ton of planningnext to a cash reward, what more could you want, hm?).

Before moving to LA, I had a long-standing Christmas tradition that involved a sleepover at my place with my twin nephews. Wed go buy a fresh tree, head to Target to pick out their yearly ornaments (and okay, I usually caved and bought them several when they couldnt pickauntie privilege), and settle in for the night with a big ol cheese pizza and tons of candy to decorate and watch holiday movies. When I left Florida, my absolute favorite weekend of the year stayed behind along with my family, and frankly, I didnt feel festive enough last year to decorate. Sure, I bought a tree and then proceeded to cry my way through placing all the memories from years past on it (like I said, no this whole post wont be one giant Joni Mitchell River-esque depressing monologue). But, its been almost two years, and I realized that it was time to start making some new traditions, starting with proper decorations to set the scene for the season.

By proper, I mean nothing more than something that actually brought me joy. In my last home, I didnt care even the tiniest bit about my Christmas aesthetic. Id throw around scraggly bows, dangle strange garlands in places that would inevitably fall off (left unfixed until January). While I appreciate a classic, kitschy look, this didnt make me happy. Looking back, it was a lot like the holiday aisle at Big Lots come December 26sparse, random and nowhere I wanted to be. BUT THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT. Guys, I really actually tried, and whoa, I love coming home. I get so jazzed to know Ill walk through that door after work to all the fairy lights on (thanks, timers) and all I need to do is light my pine-scented candles.

When I first discussed decorating and shooting my place for the blog, I told Emily I would take the more last-minute DIY angle for this story, except, ha, I should know myself better than to think Im a DIY person (have I talked about the unfinished dining chairs sitting in a corner of my master bedroom enough times for you to understand the stakes here?). Im more of an early minute buying personif we can all agree thats the opposite of last-minute DIY, but dont worry Emily, I pulled out a few stops even for me to salvage this story. Really, though, its an excuse to show you guys my living and dining rooms again, this time just festooned for Christmas using nearly everything Target, because those guys have affordable holiday decor on lock.

Aside from what I bought, there were a few things I planned on doing going into this: dried oranges for garland and ornaments, and the addition of real greenery to anything faux for a lusher more natural look, but more on that in just a bit when we get there. Lets start in the living room:

Creating a Christmas Couch With Simple Textile Swaps

Swapping out textiles seasonally always felt to me like the equivalent of womens magazines telling me when I was younger that Id be going from day to night far more often than I ever have (never). Who was really doing this? Sure, my mom would throw a random Christmas pillow on the sofa when I was younger, but a full swap was absolutely something Id NEVER consider doing. Except well, for the sake of this shoot, I did it, and guess what. IM OBSESSED WITH IT. Dont knock it til you try it.

I left one of my everyday pillows out because it played well with everything else, but Im half tempted to never actually switch them back. Im officially living the cozy life and DONT MAKE ME GO BACK. But seriously, seeing that Fa la la pillow and those little gold embroidered Christmas trees fill my heart with childlike wonder and joy and Im now a winter textiles swap person (once I figure out a more permanent solution than throwing my year-round pillows and blanket in the guest bedroom).

Neutral Tree + Homemade Goodies

The (Christmas-celebrating) world is divided into two subsects: those who take no issue with faux trees, and those that choose to torture themselves with a real evergreen. I am the latter. Every year, when it comes time to recycle this baby, I curse myself for the massacre of needles. But alas, I cant be stopped and I will always opt for a real tree. This is a noble fir that I picked up at Lowes and it has that gappy vibe everyone is into right now. I like how you can load up a branch front to back and things dangle so nicely, sparkling and dazzling in the twinkle lights.

As for the decor, this is actually the first year in a long time I went with white lights. Ive always been a colored-lights just throw crazy stuff up on the tree and call it a day girl (correction: let your small nephews throw crazy stuff up on the tree and call it a day). Someone once asked me if I changed my trees color motif every year and Im pretty sure I rudely laughed in their face before I realized they were serious. No. I am not that person. This is why this year, once I realized that oh wait, people will be seeing my home and I needed to try, I opted to go for something a little more neutral so I could build on it over time. I also had a box full of handmade and drawn ornaments from my nephews that I needed to be sure made it up on those branches (see the paper and crayon snowman, for example). Theres enough going on in my apartment that something a little more minimal didnt make me want to crawl out of my skin a week into the merriment.

Because I wanted some color, I thought to do what evidently everyone else on the internet also thought to do this year: dried oranges as ornaments. I definitely did not get the mailer that must have gone around to tell everyone this was the look of 2019, but regardless, I love it. Some string (in a white and red becauseChristmas), a bag of small oranges and a few hours to dry them out in the oven (Erin from Francois et Moi has a great tutorial here) and boom, I supplemented my tree for about$4. LAST-MINUTE DECORATING LIFE HACK. Put dried oranges on just about everything and you have an instant holiday lewk that feels warm, unpretentious, welcoming and a wee-bit British (i.e. all I ever want to feel).

Some of my favorite ornaments I scooped up this year with my nephews top of mind: the sloth, the fabric Santa, the clip-on glittery birds, and the ceramic turtle doves (I promptly forced my husband Charles to sit and listen to why I got those to represent our undying love). Oh goodness, and I cant move on before discussing that Cookies For Santa plate and milk jug. No, there are no children in my house, but when I saw it, I knew I needed to hoard it for the day that there are because every year my sister runs around trying to find something to put cookies and milk in and it always ends up being an awkward mini loaf pan or something and this feels like a pat yourself on the back for planning ahead moment that I wanted to put on display.

Mix Real + Faux

HOT TIP: Faux garland is so great for using year after year and traditionally, I used to think it looked very fake, but Target has some good stuff. I went with their faux white pine and berries strand here and over the archway and Im so happy with them. This one is 72, so, maybe dont be like me and instead measure before you figure out how much of something you need. I ended up with about 8 inches of bare mantel and had to guinea rig a solution. The left side there, by the candlesticks, is actually a piece of faux greenery also from Target in the same color/finish that I added to the end and BOOM, fixed.

Once I put the eucalyptus wreath on the door, however, I realized it was much cooler in tone than the garland and side by side, they looked a little jarring. My solution? Get some actual eucalyptus (I had some leftover from my Thanksgiving tablescape) and shove in pieces of it about every 6 inches or so. This accomplished two things for me: it married the color/style gap between the wreath and the garland, but it also brought some life to the faux-ness. (Again, this stuff is good, so it doesnt NEED it, it was just a visual preference for me).

Can we talk about the cutest stocking? Growing up in Florida, a land devoid of mantels and fireplaces for obvious reasons, we were not a stocking family. Every now and then, my mom might tie some to the stair banister, but they were never full of anything. Well folks, thats over. I live in LA now, a land with NON-FUNCTIONING fireplaces, but fireplaces nonetheless. LA is all about illusions after all, so as long as it looks like a fireplace, thats all that matters, right? Throw some fairy lights in, no problem (and maybe light some candlesI used these candlesticks from Targetif youre brave and attentive for that real fire feel). This knit guy with the poms is maybe my favorite thing I got this year but HEAVY (hence the nutcracker on top of the stocking holder for that oneI have a little cut-out in the molding that meant less stability, but itll probably be fine if you have a normal 90-degree angle on your mantel).

And, in one of my favorite last-minute moves to use up random leftovers of things, I took some ribbon I had bought for my gift wrap, tied a little piece into a bow and velcroed it to this art piece. Dressing up your artwork can be SO fun for holidays (remember Emilys googly eyes over that oil portrait?). Its so unexpected, costs basically nothing and will get everyones attention, I promise.

Sprinkle Christmas Cheer Throughout Other Vignettes

This whole post should be titled Never Underestimate the Holiday Styling Power of the Bottle Brush Tree because if you look closely enough, there is absolutely one in nearly every shot angle of my home. I threw some on my console table, on a side table, on my coffee table, on my TV standand just WAIT until you get to the dining room. Bottle brush tree galore! They are very affordable and if you dont mind glitter sprouting from nearly everywhere until the end of time, theyre almost all you need to fill in your home with some Christmas spirit outside of the big moments (tree, fireplace). Same goes for leftover ornaments, pieces of greenery (such as free scraps from the tree lot), and super budget-friendly figurines, like these reindeer that make me so happy.

That blonde wood bowl is VERY good guys, and I will absolutely be leaving it out year-round, but for now, it screamed FILL ME WITH JINGLE BELLS so I had to oblige. These are 2-inch bells and honestly just so dang fun. Put them in a vase or bowl but save a few to sprinkle throughout other vignettes (or on a gift!).

The last moment I threw together in this room was the bench by my window. I moved the rust-colored velvet cushion into the guest bedroom (which honestly, I treat like a storage unit, so I know this is not a universal solution) and draped my sheepskin pelt a little asymmetrically. I gotta say, Im quite proud that this placement was my first go at it. The less fussing you do sometimes, the more effortless things look. I over-ordered pillows for my sofa, but thank goodness, because they worked great on here. The green pillow with the poms is SO cute and you might not see it here, but it has these little wood beads at the base of the pom pom which makes it extra special.

Alright, lets move this party into the dining roomafter you.

Accentuate Your Architecture

Ever since I saw Ginnys garland-bedecked archway into her dining room, I dreamed of being able to do the same thing. So when I stepped foot into this apartment for the first time, I instantly knew it would fulfill my greenery-over-archway dreams. This is three pieces of faux garland, hung with some small nails I dug out of an IKEA art hanging kit. Because of my 100-year-old plastered and heavily textured walls, Command hooks simply laughed the THREE times I tried themin three different sizes and configurations (both the laughter and hook type). I finally gave up and went to get the hammer. Cant wait to patch those holes come January, trulythough worth it to me.

Implement a Big Holiday Moment (Thats Actually Really Easy)

Over on the console, I went for a sort of kind of holiday village. It was my initial vision to do a jam-packed Christmas village here, so I bought what felt like hundreds of trees and houses, and then I put them all down and the credenza ATE it. It was like starting with a pan full of fresh spinach and ending up with 2 tablespoons of cooked spinach. My dreams were dashed and I came up with plan B: mix in everyday things with some holiday feels and pretend it was your plan all along. Im actually very happy with it and dont think I havent sat at my dining table some mornings and nights just looking over here with a twinkle in my eye and sugar plums dancing in my head. When you boil it down, its really just three new vignettes: the two bottle brush trees + seasonal candle (above), a footed bowl with some leftover greenery and bottle brush trees (below) and ceramic houses with some fairy lights shoved up into them on top of books which were already there (photo after next). Oh, and some oranges from the grocery store because #theme.

My favorite thing about this whole scene is probably those beautiful wreaths hanging by velvet ribbon over the windows. I LOVE a wreath-over-window (or, as youll see, mirror) moment and two windows meant I had two chances to do it in this room. Quickly: Im very much obsessed with this wreath. It looks so high-end with the dangling brass bells and it matches the garland in the living room, so both spaces speak to each other.

Over on the bar, my vintage gilded mirror called for another ribbon-hung wreath, but I went for the faux cypress leaf version instead to keep things more minimal. The addition of some new brass barware (the Project 62 line looks really good, folks) and a few bottle brush trees and voila, my holiday bar.

When In Doubt, Keep It Simple (For Real)

When it came to what to do on my table, this was REALLY a last-minute DIY situation because I had no idea (which is typically the case with my table). The day before this shoot, Emily texted me that she had some leftover garland at her house from her shoot, and I could come grab some if I wanted. So grab it I did, not knowing what I planned on doing with it, but I ended up throwing it on the table just to think and when I finally came to, I realized it was exactly where it belonged. I pulled out my kitchen sheers because I do not have clippers (apartment living), trimmed it to size and pulled out some small, cheap glass votives I had in my cabinets already to make things moody. AND THEN, I had some extra oranges from my tree ornaments and I just scattered some throughout to connect both rooms visually.

But wait, theres more. At the last minute (okay, the night before), I wanted to give the room more of a casual party vibe and wanted a dessert set up, so I ran out to Ralphs with the intention of making something with the zero minutes I had left in my life to whip up a baked good and found a pre-made bundt cake instead. A simple glaze (though Im sure you could find one glazed already), some cranberries I rolled in sugar, and a smattering of fresh sage leaves is all I needed to fool Sara into thinking I had actually made this when she made it over to shoot. SEMI HOMEMADE TRICKERY.

I will most certainly be doing this again in the future, and if you do, as well, everyone will think youre a domestic goddess. Set out some cute appetizer or dessert plates (these from the Hearth & Home with Magnolia are super cute with festive sayings on them that are subtle but still fun), flatware and napkins, and with very little effort, you just became the hostess with the mostest time to actually blow dry your hair before people show up.

And thus ends my holiday dissertation. It started out bleak, but I promised it would end on a high note, and theres no higher note than being pulled together enough to maybe put some curls in your hair (at least for me).

I rounded up ALL the goods I got from Target below in a few groupings, and yes, at the end of the season, you might find this stuff is sold out either in-store or online, so for that Im SO sorry, but ALWAYS check your local stores because they restock or people make returns and you might just find what youre looking for. Oh, and for a few more exclusive tips, I wanted to share the story Ruemag.com featured of my home as well, so check that out if youre interested. Thanks for stopping by and the happiest of holidays and the merriest of Christmases to you all.

***photography by Sara Ligorria-Tramp, design and styling by Arlyn Hernandez

The post Arlyns Warm (& Sort of Last-Minute DIYed) Holiday Reveal appeared first on Emily Henderson.

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