Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention during the week. I took last week off for Thanksgiving, so this post will cover two weeks worth of fun.
1) I was watching the Today Show a few weeks ago and Jill Martin had a segment on women-owned companies. She highlighted Hestia Harlow, an events planning company in Washington DC that was hit hard by the pandemic. They pivoted to renting table settings and tablescapes to consumers, and with Thanksgiving coming up, we rented a package from them. UPS delivered the boxes two days before Thanksgiving, and we had fun putting all the pretty things on our table. Rinse it all off, put it back in the boxes, set out on the porch the next day and UPS picks it up. It was so easy, and our table never looked more beautiful. We may do it again for Christmas or New Years.
Our Thanksgiving table
2) I am loving seeing everyone's Christmas trees, ornaments, and decorations on Facebook, it really puts me in the holiday spirit. And it sure does feel good to be talking about something positive after a brutal political season and pandemic worries. This is our tree:
3) While out running errands I saw two things that caught my eye. The first is a window display at Housing Works, a thrift store in my neighborhood. There are many of these stores in the city, and they support programs for people with HIV. The theme of the window is Breakfast at Tiffany's and it's pretty great.
A few blocks away, Treadwell Restaurant had this sign in front of their outdoor seating area. Any establishment that quotes Shakespeare has it going on in my book. 
4) I wanted to find something festive to watch while writing out my Christmas cards, so I put on Dolly Parton's Netflix movie, Christmas on the Square. Dolly plays an angel (who would be better?) who is mentoring a young angel. Dolly wrote all the many songs, and Debbie Allen directed and choreographed the dances, so this movie is a notch above most Christmas movies. The fantastic Christine Baranski plays the owner of a the land where the town square is located. She is selling the land to a mega-mall developer, displacing all of the town's small businesses, including the salon owned by her childhood best friend (played by the amazing Jennifer Lewis) and the general store previously owned by her father, now owned by her former boyfriend, played by Treat Williams. It's great to hear Treat singing again, I haven't heard him sing since he did the movie Hair. The acting and singing by the main cast is wonderful, and although the story may be a little corny, I did tear up a little bit at parts. I recommend it. 
5) Between Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating, shopping, card writing, I only had time to finish one books, Brenda Novak's A California Christmas. When Emery, a young news anchor is the victim of revenge porn from her former boyfriend and co-anchor, she runs away to the home of her mother's friend, Aiyana, who runs a school for young people who have had trouble in the lives. There she meets up with Aiyana's adopted son she knew in high school and old feelings are reignited. It took me awhile to get into this one, but once I did, I liked the story. Just a warning (or recommendation, depending on your preferences), it's pretty steamy. My full review publishes on Tuesday.
Stay safe, socially distant, wear a mask and wash your hand
What a great idea for a festive table! I have never been good at decorating our table for dinner parties and this would be such a life saver.
ReplyDeleteYour Christmas tree is beautiful. We decided to just put up our little one this year, but it still looks festive.