thanksgiving decor

A B&W PLAID AND GREEN THANKSGIVING

Is it really Thanksgiving week you guys? Just like every holiday, it feels like this one really snuck up on us. I just wanted to share a couple of “unbloggy” (that is my new word  for non photoshopped and under styled) photos of my tablescape. To give you all the low down, Thanksgiving is at my wonderful MIL’s home. She recently broke her ankle and is recovering from surgery and 85% of my kitchen is packed up for our move, so we will be ordering in for the most part. I love doing a table every year, but this year had to be super simple and inexpensive. Between the dollar section at Target (holla!!) and what I had on hand, I was able to do something a little different. I knew I wanted plaid in there somewhere. I ended up going with a b&w plaid + green theme. Luckily, I found these uuuhmaaaazing placemats and water glasses in the dollar section. Literally, everything else is stuff that I have used years in the past. 
As for the centerpiece…. ha! Green apples and artichokes just seemed like the answer. No flowers over here this year. Super casual and perfect for us!
I took time to add a “thankful” tattoo to a black place card. I wrote to each guest letting them know what about them I was thankful for. It really is the better option for me because I am a crier, so I never make it when we go around the table to actually share what we are thankful for. Ha! Hope they like it! 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! There is NO doubt we are incredibly thankful for you all! 
Be sure and take advantage of our 30% shop discount here for the month to show our gratitude.
xo!
-J

HAPPY ONE YEAR!!!!

Hey all! We hope your Thanksgiving was full of good eats, sweat pants and crazy relatives that you just love so very much! Leah and I both hosted family and friends in our homes this year. We thought we would share a few pics of our tables, but more importantly, take time to tell YOU “Thank you!!”
But first….. pictures….
Leah just moved into her home days before Thanksgiving. Let me just go on record saying that my dining room would NOT look this put together or be ready to host family. Bravo mama!!

Our very first blog post was our take on a Thanksgiving table last year. That means that the ole Love & Lion blog celebrated its one year anniversary this month! This year has gone by so incredibly fast, we have made such fun relationships through this process, and truly…… we are just so stinking grateful for each person that clicks through our site. Even if it is by accident…. we love you! We have a lot of things in store for this year!! We are excited to grow and hopefully have you all grow with us. In our recent year, Leah gave birth to that sweet Maxie of hers, moved into a new home and I am currently half way through my second pregnancy. These are big changes for us that have sometimes kept us from blogging as much as we would have liked or even from being as creative as our little hearts like to be. We are certainly mommies and wifeys first, but have a mad love for this blog. We look forward to getting to know you all even better over this next year! We appreciate you sticking with us.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts…..
Sincerely, 

FALL MANTEL DECOR

Hey friends!! I (Jenni) haven’t been posting much on here due to pregnancy woes and such, but I THINK I am at the end of the worst part for me. I am always so curious to hear other women’s stories about pregnancy because it affects us all so differently. I personally am a major sicko my first trimester  (and usually the first bit of my second), which is just no. freaking. fun. I am grateful to have a healthy baby so far and a healthy pregnancy though, so I will stop my whining now.
Among the many things that have been lacking in my life, my fall mantel decor is one of them. I bought a couple of lanterns on sale one day at Target. I came home so excited to put my mantel together during nap time. Yeah….. I got everything OFF of my mantel, however, I did not put anything new or “fallish” back up on my mantel for weeks. I decided to partake in nap time most days. Anyway, by default I ended up with our perfect mantel decor. I just wanted simple and neutral all the way. I love to use decor that I can leave up until Thanksgiving. I may add a few feathers and other little things, but the overall decor stays the same.

I already owned everything I used for my decor except for the lanterns, which I got for $30 and the chevron pumpkin. I think it was $10. I will use them year after year though and bought them on sale so I am okay with it. I made the book page garland last year. I actually stored it away in a box to get rid of it, but hadn’t gotten around to it. I am glad I had it to pull out and put to good use. 
Below are some other inspirational mantels that I loved while searching through Pinterest for ideas for my own. One thing for me that is important is to not spend a lot of money on mantel decor. I like to just find things outside, thrift shops, around my house or simply get my craft on.