fresh, easy and free






yesterday i helped my friend karen (aka the ivy league mom) freshen up her home for thanksgiving.
 everything i used was free and came from the garden or her refrigerator.







i don't think there is anything prettier than adding natural elements to a room.






this table is not fully set but you get the idea.






































i realize i did not post a pic of one of my meals but blogger is not allowing me to post another pic until i get more storage and their storage options are so different now.  they want me to pay a monthly fee?  what's up with that?  i'm going to have to read up on this.
hopefully, i'll be here tomorrow with pics of my own thanksgiving table.


be kind...and don't forget to breathe.


32 comments

  1. Janet I'm loving these daily posts from you! Is there anything you don't do to perfection.....

    I had to pay this week also for storage. I bated doing it...takes a little fun out of it all.

    Have a wonderful thanksgiving!!! XO

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  2. Looking forward to your pics, Janet.

    Happy Thanksgiving, my American amiga!

    S
    xo

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  3. Beautiful fall arrangements. The first photograph is a real knockout.

    Looking forward to seeing your Thanksgiving table.

    Sam Twain

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  4. Yes I had to pay too, a bit annoying, I'd never heard of that before.
    I love all the natural touches, I keep it natural at Christmas too

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  5. Your thanksgiving table is lovely. Everything is too wet here in the UK for foraging. Not had to pay for storage yet, for which I give thanks!

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  6. Gorgeous, I am using all these ideas and concepts to do Christmas this year. Hugs.

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  7. Lovely....have a blessed day! m.

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  8. looks so pretty. i'm partial to the natural look myself. please provide a summary on the blogger fees--i haven't been hit yet. then again i haven't blogged much this year. happy thanksgiving!

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  9. Janet those flower arrangements in the first photo are incredible! I love the subtle colors and textures...I will zoom in to see all the details! I was also also inspired to do a no cost Thanksgiving centerpiece and I'm amazed at what I could find in my yard, once I really started looking. Have a wonderful day tomorrow.

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  10. Janet I had this problem with photos - try reducing the size of the photos before uploading them on blogger, blighty xx

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  11. Beautiful job decorating! Love the bouquets on the dining room sidebar. Such a relaxed looking home.

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  12. I love the scale of your arrangements - such confident decorations xo

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  13. What a wonderful friend you are Janet, and everything looks beautiful!

    I hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving! :)

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  14. Janet, you have such a fantastic eye for EVERYTHING! I've been inspired by your recipes this week and now your simple holiday decorating. Happy Thanksgiving!

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  15. Janet, I ran into the same storage issue today! I had taken a bunch of high-res photos and Blogger wouldn't let me upload them, saying I was out of storage space. I reshot a couple of photos, changing the pixel size of the images to the lowest possible setting. Then I was able to upload them. Obviously they've changed their policy.

    Thanks for these photos -- Happy Thanksgiving!
    Claudia

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  16. I think it is so sweet to help a friend!! Decorating with nature has always been my favorite medium!
    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

    V~

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  17. Wow, gorgeous photos! You have a lucky friend!

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  18. Your friend's home is lovely. Hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving. I am looking forward to your pictures.

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  19. Very beautiful. Happy Thanksgiving.

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  20. :) Seems I stopped blogging just in time (before reaching the picasa-limit!)

    I remember the house! Nice to see your work over there again.

    Do you know why your friend does not hang pictures on the walls?
    Mr Paula is afraid of touching the impeccable surface after refurbishing the apartment and painting the walls.
    I wonder if your friend has a similar "hammer+nail+wall"-fear or if it happens to be a choice not wanting pictures on the walls.

    Speaking of houses: did you ever show photos of your basement? I came up with some pictures in my phantasy and would love to see the real basement.

    Speaking of kindness: you know I started to eliminate dairy-products from my diet? Last week a highly acclaimed cheese (originating in the Western part of Austria, in the alpine region) was said to be rotten, due to chicke manure that had been used as a fertilizer. Tons of cheese turned black instead of golden-yellow. The chicken manure had been imported from some mass-production-sites in Germany and is rated as a contaminated waste, that must be treated different than other waste. And they poured it on the fields where the cows graze, just because it was not forbidden to to so.
    As a result the cheese turned black and crumbled and doesn't look anything what it used to look like before.
    This is just the top of the iceberg. 'don't even want to think about all the other stuff that is going on in that "romantic, idyllic business" called farming. At least the commercials tell us how idyllic life is, where this cheese is made.

    It never felt better pouring rice-milk into a cup of coffee.

    PS: Mr Paula LOVES "your" potato-stacks. Too bad you could not see his smile when he discovered the treat on the plate last night.

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  21. hi paula, here is a link that shows my basement.

    http://thegardenerscottage.blogspot.com/2011/02/in-order.html

    i think karen is just super picky about what gets hung at her house. she doesn't want to fill the walls with meaningless art. and actually when you are in the house it looks quite warm. esp. with the staircase photos.

    sorry to hear about the cheese although i'm not surprised at all. also, happy to hear mr p loved the potatoes. they are good!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for the link, Janet! And I have already been there (telling from the comments) ;-)
      We are going to serve the potatoes next week when friends come around for dinner. We just need to decide for the main-course. I will check out your thanksgiving-dinner-list.

      have a nice weekend! (it is already getting dark around here, and it's just 1pm!!!)

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  22. Everything looks so lovely!!! You did a great job for your friend.

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  23. Whaaat? A fee?

    Tomorrow.

    Today Thanksgiving wishes and xo.

    Happy to have you in my life.

    xo Jane

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  24. Janet,

    The arrangements are beautiful...and free is always good! How nice of you to help out your friend.

    Looking forward to your pics...Have a great Thanksgiving!

    Linda
    xo

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  25. Your friend has a lovely home and your natural touches embellish ... I agree with simple and natural. I am a first time visiter and will probably be back to learn more about your vegan approach ... I grew up a meat eater, but I have gradually reduced it to very small choices and my only dairy is natural yogert. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving ...

    Andrea @ From The Sol

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  26. You have a great talent and your friend is so lucky.I love her home.

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  27. By the way, I tried the delicious "Potato Stacks" recipe you had shared with us from Epicurious. Thank you so much for posting it; it was very easy and delicious. Fun to make too.

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  28. Nature trumps the fake stuff anytime! Your friend's home is lovely.

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  29. Found your blog thru the bright owl... Will be back again! I just was told i had to purchase storage too but as i have a flickr account i emailed my photo to that and posted to my blog thru flickr so didn't need to purchase extra space on blogger yet! The only problem there is i can only get one photo on each post, maybe there's a way to do more from flickr but i don't know how....

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kindness is never out of style.

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