Tis The Season!

Tis the season for decorating and holiday parties and Anthropologie has the BEST stuff. Below are a few great holiday decorating pieces, and many happen to make fabulous hostess gifts. You can never go wrong with wine or candles or peppermint bark or a great tea towel or ornament!

December Mood Board

Holiday Dress Shop

This is the second year in a row that the holidays have snuck up on me. No surprise that both years I have been in LA where the seasons don't really change but, nonetheless, I am scrambling to get a few great holiday dresses to last me through the season. From holiday parties to Christmas Eve and Christmas night to New Year's Eve, I usually like to get 2 or 3 dresses to spice things up and a New Year's Eve dress is the perfect gift from Santa. Those of you who know me know that I love color. I barely even see the black and white items hanging on the shelves of boutiques. That being said, I am loving the fun shapes and silhouettes of some of the black dresses (and jumpsuits) below. How about that Backstage "Farrah Dress" with the major flared sleeves?? I'm also loving the delicate lace details of the Noam Hanoch dress and romper below. The pink and red Shakuhachi dress looks like one my sister, Tory, would adore. I also love red any time of year but especially around the holidays.

Holiday Party Dresses

I always stock up on party dresses around this time because you never know how many you'll need for the holiday season! Below are a few I have my eye on. I've gotten started on my gift guides and I'm so excited to share in the next couple weeks.

My Life Lately 2.18.14

Hi everyone! We made it down to the Bahamas and we're (unfortunately) back already. I had such a great trip and got some much needed R+R. Riley got to fulfill his lifelong dream of swimming with dolphins and, although, disgustingly overpriced, I had an awesome time at the Atlantis. I love how quickly February flies by. Knowing March is just around the corner (with warm weather hopefully) is enough to give me a final push through winter. Hope you all had a wonderful long weekend!

Cute Valentine's Day Cards

Etsy is such a good source for cute cards and letterpress anything. Below are some adorable cards for that special someone on Valentine's Day.

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Christmas Traditions

As one of five kids and as part of a huge family, it is always tough to get the whole clan together. Christmas is the one time of year that my immediate family is together, without fail. Because of that, we have traditions that we've been taking part in since I was a little girl, though many have adapted as we've gotten older (drinking...) and we've added new ones. As kids, it was always easier for my parents to do Christmas at home. As we got older, my parents realized going away for Christmas could be fun. For the past few years we've gone down to Boca Grande, Florida to stay with my grandmother, Mimi, and whatever other extended family decides to go down that year. It is one of my all-time favorite places. 

Although the weather is warmer (fingers crossed!), the traditions are the same. We always watch "It's a Wonderful Life" at least once. We always have champagne on Christmas eve and Mimi's famous eggbake on Christmas morning. Classic Christmas tunes are always playing in the background. Christmas Eve dinner is always at the club while Christmas dinner, prime rib and popovers, is always at home. I know as we get older my siblings will get married (hopefully.. hehe) and there will be a time when we're not all together. That being said, I'm looking forward to coming up with new traditions and I will always love Christmas with my family. I'm heading down to Florida on Sunday for some much needed r&r so I may not be as active on here as usual so Merry Christmas everyone - see you in 2014!

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 1 // 2 -Art by Cy Twombly, Sylvae // 3 // 4 // 5

Weekend

Tree decorating, champagne and caroling at the Berners tonight...have a great weekend everyone!

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Holiday Mantle

I haven't gotten a Christmas tree for my apartment for the last two years because I am barely there. This year is also a shortened holiday season, with Thanksgiving falling so late, plus I'm going to Florida before Christmas so I didn't think it was worth it. I forgot how much putting up a few decorations really gets you into the holiday spirit. I went home to Greenwich last night for the Johnnie-O store party and my mom had the tree up with lights (no ornaments yet) and has started to get out our Christmas decorations up. When I have a house one day that is not the shoe box my apartment is, I can't wait to decorate a beautiful Christmas mantle like the ones below. I love how they are all infused with their own character and have fun little details. Add in a roaring fire and some Christmas tunes and you're sure to feel like Santa is on his way.

 *source unknown

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My Life Lately

December Mood Board

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow and have safe travels. I will be up in Greenwich with my family where my mom is making three turkeys and countless other things that I cannot wait for. My uncle and aunt and their 5 kids are in from Los Angeles, as well as my grandma, Mimi, from Florida. Friday, I'm heading down to Raleigh too see Riley for the weekend so hopefully these terrible traveling conditions pass! Pretty sure I'll be bullied into a family turkey bowl at some point but tomorrow is the one day of the year that I won't mind because I'll be full and happy and the day after Thanksgiving is when Santa buys all of my Christmas presents : )  There are so many things to be thankful for starting with being able to spend the holiday with my family. Happy turkey!

Holiday Party Dresses

I don't know about you guys but I have a lot of holiday parties coming up and not as many holiday dresses. Below are a few I have my eye on. Anyone see any other cute ones??

Gift Guide 2013 - For Your Favorite Foodie

I always love giving and receiving food as gifts (and wine/champagne for that matter). You can only give so many candles/tea towels/bottles of wine/ornaments as hostess gifts and any of the below are a creative way to say thanks for hosting.

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Hostess Gift Guide 2013

The holiday season is quickly approaching and with it comes lots of parties and hostess gifts. While a bottle of wine is always appreciated, below are a few more creative ideas to tell the hostess thank you. I love the idea of giving a personalized present like an engraved cheese board or a monogrammed tray. I'm also obsessed with that dog on a boat matchbook and the adorable patterned backgammon set from Serena and Lily.

Porcelain Candle Holders - via

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Monogrammed Tray - via

Engraved Cheese Board -via

Cream and Sugar Holders - via

Happy Halloween!

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Memorial Weekend

I couldn't be more excited for a three day weekend even though the weather is going to be bad. This week has draggggged on and a little break, no matter how short, is always welcome. Riley is still in town and my parents are picking up the puppy on Monday so we will probably spend the weekend in Greenwich - very low key. My parents are in the process of buying a new property, which I'm dying to tell you all about, so I definitely want to drive him over to see that! I also still haven't seen The Great Gatsby, which I'm dyingg to see, and I may even have to pop in to The Hangover 3. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

My Life Lately 12.27.12

 Hello! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and is enjoying the holiday season. I, for one, ate far too much but also had a fantastic time. I headed down to Charlotte to see Riley and his family was down there, as well, which was great. We went bowling and go karting and went to the Panthers game. We even got to go on the field. My favorite part was probably less about football and more about my Emily Maynard sighting (just kidding but it was actually kind of fun to have a (psuedo) celeb siting)! I did, surprisingly, really enjoy the football. What can I say, it was a really exciting game! (don't tell Riley I actually liked it!)

 Emily and Ricki at the Panthers game

Riley and me at the Panthers game. It was actually pretty chilly!

Christmas night we really feasted. It was just the seven of us and my brother ordered a greatest hits pack of cheese from Murray's, which we had with truffle honey and was divine. My mom bought sushi grade tuna from the Japanese market and made the Barefoot Contessa's tuna tartar recipe that I swear I could live on. For dinner, we had standing rib roast with a morel mushroom cream gravy, delicious brussels sprouts, gruyere potatoes, popovers and creamed spinach. The meal was topped of by Crumbs cupcakes and lots of champagne (and awesome pomegranate martinis). We had a ball and it was really fun to spend time with my family. Now that my brother works all the time and I'm working and my sister is away at school it's hard to get the whole family together.

Enjoying my cosmo with Pix

Billy and Georgie sitting by the tree on Christmas Eve 

The gorgeous cheese tray I prepared (if I do say so myself!)

Festive Christmas tablescape

And Santa was good to me. I'm talking really good. I'm talking helmut lang leather pants good! What were your favorite presents? I also got my tax return (finally) and took it as a sign to get the Rag+Bone Kinsey boots in black (because I needed them.. right??) We even got a dusting for snow... what more could I ask for?

Christmas mantle

My 4 siblings and I (how cute is Tory's mink stole from Etsy??)

We flew down to Boca Grande, Florida yesterday (probably my favorite place on earth) and the weather is divine. I'm just so happy to be outside in the warmth with my family. Tomorrow is Lulu's 14th birthday, which is frightening in itself.

Lu and Lily paddle boarding. 

A gorgeous vintage car and golf carts in town

I hope everyone had a great holiday and survived the Noreaster yesterday. Excuse me while I enjoy the sun...Talk soon!

Red and Green

Images from Pinterest.com