Christmas Decoration Inspiration

Some fun eye candy to get in the holiday spirit!

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Joel McHale’s Home:: InStyle December 2010

I love Joel McHale, so I was super excited to see his home featured in the December 2010 edition of InStyle.  The pictures don’t appear on the online mag’s website yet, but I stumbled upon some scanned images of them on this blog.  They don’t do it justice. His family is adorable, and his home is surprisingly very chic and put together. 

The cherry-blossom wallpaper in the bathroom is my favorite. I wish I had a picture to share, but  do yourself a favor and go buy the issue.   If you don’t believe me, take it from this month’s cover girl.  It’s a good one!  

christmas gift guide part 4

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!! We are full and being lazy today.  Perfect for online browsing…Here is my fourth edition of gift giving ideas.

Canvas art –  Chiccanvas.com is featured on One King’s Lane today - how beautiful to decorate your own home with customized, personal art.  I think this would make a great gift!

Zooborns – one of my favorite new blogs, also has a book of adorable exotic baby animals – what’s not to love.

A MacBook Pro –isn’t she pretty?  Apple has dropped prices on several items (today only)

Delicious looking  mini-croissants.  If they are good enough for Oprah, they are good enough for me!

Hope you have a relaxing weekend!

Thankful.

‘Tis the season to be thankful.  It is SO  easy to get carried away with the chaos of the holidays.  I, for one, am very guilty of being overzealous around this time.  I want every gift I buy, decoration I hang, dish I make, etc. to be perfect and therefore, tend to lose focus on enjoying time with family and friends.

But this year I want to pause and reflect – I’m so thankful for the following:

Family – One of the best parts of getting married, is gaining another family.  We’ve been blessed to have two wonderfully supporting and loving families

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Girlfriends – I  don’t know what I’d do without them.

Kitty – I know I know, we’re ridiculous about our cat, but he truly brings us so much joy.  He’s a living fur ball with a penchant for paranoia and ludicrous meows.

 

Travel – Experiencing new things, meeting people and seeing the world is a wonderful gift.  I’m thankful for all the beautiful places we’ve been, and I can’t wait to see more of this crazy world.

What are you thankful for this season?

Leaving Home

This video is hilariously adorable. Excuse the language at the end.

christmas gift guide part 3

Instead of the typical, Friday wrap-up here are some more gift ideas.  I could do this all day, so let me know if you’re looking for someone in particular!

For the sports-loving guy whose favorite movie is ‘Rudy’

For the friend that just bought a house and can't wait to decorate

For your sweet sister-in-law who is artsy AND loves the environment

A tote bag of delish food – perfect for a foodie or co-worker

Make sure to check out NY Magazine’s Gift Guide for 2010 for great ideas!

christmas guide part 2

And the Christmas gift browsing continues…

For the friend that loves monograms

For the aspiring chef (or steak eater)

For your friend who thinks it’s normal to dress their pet in formal wear.

For the candle-lover (and penny saver – they are cheap…Thanks Nicol!)

On another note, if you are following me or leaving comments, thanks so much – I love it and you make my day!!

christmas gift guide…

Eeek!  I can hardly wait…the holidays are right around the corner, and I’m ready to start Christmas shopping.  I love browsing for the peeps on my list.  Here are some fun things that caught my eye!

Everyone needs a wine monkey!

For the foodie

lucite tray

Sparkly belt

 

man socks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the new Mommy!

Friday Wrap-Up: 11.12.2010

Happy Friday!!!

How was your week?  The time change has completely thrown me off, so it’s been a bit of a long one, but I’m excited for this weekend…two weddings (on the same day!), the Nutcracker Market and a girly brunch – oh my!

Here are some of my favorites from the week:

• I love this holiday hair look.  It reminds me of my all-time fave Oscar look.
• Who knew Ikea was so chic with kitchen decor
• When I grow up, I want to be French
• Styling youngster – so cute.

Have a good one!

Aspiring Kennedy: Worthy Cause!

I wasn’t planning on posting anything today, but this caught my eye.  Aspiring Kennedy had a great idea to support a wonderful initiative.  Here is a short description of what they are about, but what got me is who is leading this particular $5000 goal  – Students. 

charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

I’m so glad Aspiring Kennedy made me aware of this. I knew I liked her! 

I will be giving $5.  For me, that means giving up 2 grande Starbucks coffees and 2 diet cokes out of the vending machine this week.  I should be drinking more water anyway.  Check out the cause and donate $5 so others can enjoy clean drinking water!

Kitty, The Christmas Grinch.

Last night I attempted to dress Kitty up for our Christmas card picture.  Needless to say, he didn’t really enjoy it. Here he is looking unimpressed and quite annoyed.

Sadly in the second picture, Kitty has outgrown his Christmas cape.  It was originally made for a small dog, but the Velcro straps won’t fit around K’s bulging belly.  I think he’s embarrassed.  He can’t even look me in the eye.

Loving… Bright Lips

I love a bright lipstick, especially in coral.  These J.Crew models look adorable in their Spring Collection outfits and matching coral pouts. 

I was so happy when Habitually Chic posted the actual lipstick the models are wearing in the shoot.  I’ve made several poor judgments when purchasing a “trendy” lipstick, but this one looks promising.

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Jetsetter Getaway!

I have mentioned before how much I love Jetsetter for travel (or more often “dream” travel.)  It’s a great vehicle for discounted hotels and consistently posts gorgeous hotels and travel packages across the world. 

I thought today’s post had a great deal if you wanted to get away for the weekend before the craziness of the holidays is on us.  For $115/night you can stay at the gorgeous La Posada in Santa Fe.  Look at these pictures – aren’t you already relaxed!!

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Jetsetter describes La Posada in the following:

New Mexico’s undulating clay-hued hills, are a well-appointed base for exploring Santa Fe. The Pueblo revival architecture channels the artist colony that originally inhabited the building, which is surrounded by six acres of lush gardens.

Note, you can join Jetsetter as my guest or by going directly to the website.  Happy Travels!

Gorgeous Houston Heights Home.

I love this publication for gorgeous design ideas and inspiration.  In the latest version, this amazing renovated Heights home was featured.  The home was built in the 1920s and has been decorated beautifully.

I love the eclectic, charming vibe of the Heights and am so happy several of our friends have recently moved there!

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Friday Wrap-Up - 11.05.2010

What are you up to this weekend?  We’re taking it easy, catching up over dinner with friends.  Sunday I’m stoked for the Urban Market.  Check out Katie’s post for some of their treasures. 

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Here are some of my other favorite posts from the week

• Gold love – I heart this shirt…cute for NYE!
• So precious I want to eat it!
• How to properly set a table.  Miss Manners would be proud!
• This looks yum…I have an obsession with sweet potatoes.
• More cute  possibility outfits for NYE 2010!

Happy Birthday Lindsay!

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Sister-in-Law! I hope you have a wonderful day, and I wish we were in Chicago celebrating with you and Reid.

Check out her blog, Tailored and wish her a good one!

Happy Hour at Home.

I’m loving the revival of old school bar carts in the home. They are all over the decor mags like Lonny and Rue. They are so fun and remind me of mad men (and Don Draper!)

For bar carts galore, check out these flicker finds. This one is on my Christmas list.

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Butternut.Squash.Soup

After reading Kristin’s soup post, I’ve been craving soup.  It’s not even hot yet, but the idea of soup is very comforting and soothing. So tonight, we made Ina Garten’s Butternut Squash soup with these ingredients. 

The condiments are optional and none of them sounded too delish (e.g., diced banana in soup??), so we nixed those.   This is Ina’s picture below, but ours turned out pretty similar in color and consistency from what I can tell.  It will be a great dish when the the weather turns nice.   Additionally, we roasted sweet potatoes with Old Bay seasoning following this recipe.   Don’t these look mouth watering?

 

PS:  Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!  We enjoyed our lobster/chef costumes very much.  Kitty, not so much...