december.

I'm sorry, what's that? Tomorrow is the first day of December?! What happened to November? It just started like yesterday! I haven't even done a November post yet...guess this will be the only one. Anyway, how about a Houston update?

1. Well, it's finally gotten a bit chilly. We broke down and turned the heat on Sunday morning...but only for about 5 minutes. I made this recipe a good while ago, but I bought the ingredients to make it again this week. It's perfect for these cold (and dark...thanks daylight savings) nights!

 

Not the prettiest food to photograph, but I promise it's delicious. Giada's California Turkey Chili. Served over quinoa. Don't get me wrong, I'm the biggest fan of cornbread there is, but this recipe convinced me there does exist another acceptable chili accompaniment. And it will keep you full for days!

2. Speaking of being full for days...we successfully cooked our first Thanksgiving meal last week! My Houston buddy Erin and her sister came over and celebrated the holiday with us. They brought the stuffing, pumpkin pie, chocolate-caramel tart, and pomegranate margaritas...all of which were incredibly delicious. Ben and I prepared the turkey (eh, not so great...I'm gonna go with user error though), roasted brussels sprouts, corn casserole, and sweet potato biscuits. Amongst all my excitement of successfully not burning down the apartment, I forgot to take any pictures of our feast. Typical. We had a wonderful holiday weekend, though!

3. So how did we spend our day after Thanksgiving? Stocking up on Christmas decorations! I went from having nothing to having lots, and I'm still scheming as we speak...

We broke down and got a tree! It's a "slim" size, as we weren't sure a normal full-size would fit too well in the apartment, but I still think it looks great! Benjamin was so kind to put it together while I sat on my bum and watched. :)

Thus began the fluffing process...my momma taught him well!

Ta-dah! All done! We've put on the few ornaments we acquired last year, but it still looks a bit bare. I'll post a final product pic later...we still need a tree topper.

Here's some more festive-ness happening around the apartment:

Shiny ornaments in a shiny bowl with our new woodland creature looking on...

 Pinecones on the bookshelf...

And our new pretty Pottery Barn Christmas pillow on the bench...

I still have to hone my bow-making skills to finish up our wreath above the buffet, so as soon as I figure that out, I'll show you. Yay for Christmas!

4. We actually acquired another special something to don our apartment recently, too...our wedding quilt! We asked our guests to sign a quilt square when they arrived at the reception, then Ben's quilt-maven mom put them all together in a beautiful quilt that looks great in the living room!

We've both loved reading all the squares over the past few weeks. Feel like I find a new one I've never seen every time we pull it out...here's some favorites:

So special, we just love it!!

5. Hey, did you know that wedding was exactly 6 months ago as of Monday? Somebody surprised me...

Happy December!