We spent last night watching Ratatouille in the great room (I'd tell you if the movie was good, but I fell asleep before the end). It's one of the first times we've used the space since we've moved here, but in our defense, it's darned cold in there in the dead of winter. We cozied up on the sofa with a nice fire going and attempted to watch the movie while Lola proceeded to interrupt us every five minutes to play. Anyway, all this talk of the great room made me realize that I haven't posted pics of the mantel since after the Christmas decorations were on them!


So, it's not a professional quality decorating job (or photography job, for that matter), but it's homey and cute. AND everything was a "holiday" clearance find. I sure do love raiding the holiday sales for things that can be used year round! Also, Chris and I learned a valuable lesson in the process of getting those pictures printed for use in the frames. After going to Walgreens to try to order an 11"x14" picture, we learned that not only must you order those online, but they'd cost around $15!! But we want our pictures now!! So Chris and I one-upped Walgreens and took them to Office Max. They have normal color printers that do such an amazing job that the end result looks just like a matte photo paper version. And the best news? They count it as just a normal color copy, so it cost us a mere 69 cents! I couldn't believe it!