I just got back from a very relaxing weekend away in Quebec City and I have to say, going through my pictures on my camera I’ve realized that the very best part of the weekend was sampling a stack of delicious macaroons. I wish I had saved some for when I got home!
Given my inclination for changing up my decor, my outfits, my hair styles … it’s a surprise that my little blog hasn’t been given a face-lift since I started it almost 2 years ago! It was long overdue.
Lots of thanks to Alaina at Live Creating Yourself — she is a rock star and totally captured my aesthetic with her creative design. Plus she was insanely patient with me and my … well, Type A tendencies. If you’re looking for a blog redesign I highly suggest you send her note!
If you read in an RSS feed, be sure to click over and check it out; let me know what you think!
Just a few more presents to wrap up and then I’m all done with my Christmas list! I found super cute wrapping paper at Target so the presents looks delicious underneath my tree. Almost too pretty to unwrap… almost.
I have a few fun Christmas craft posts to share this week, but indulge me for a moment while I share some of my favorite ornament shots from this weekend… it’s going to be a very merry and bright Christmas at my house:
I finally got to set foot into the Madewell store during my trip to New York last week after lusting online for months now. I didn’t get to take any pictures because the place was mobbed, but did manage to see a few of the pieces I was coveting.
What caught my eye? Cozy capes, rocker jewelry, and school-girl backpacks. The mustard and white polka-dot scarf was a must-have, and I’m happy to say it was smart investment… I haven’t taken it off since it became mine!
I’m having quite a time readjusting to the real world after a very nice long Thanksgiving break of sleeping late, seeing family and friends, and doing a lot (I mean a lot) of eating. The turkey carb coma has lifted just enough that I can recap my adventures at home for you.
Starting with Holiday windows in New York… relish in the Kate Spade goodness at Lord and Taylor; doesn’t it make you want to throw glitter up in the air and place a bulk order for vintage christmas light bulbs? (Ok, maybe it’s just me.)
Speaking of Kate Spade, I wandered around the Broome Street store for the better part of an hour with my sister and girlfriend and finally got to try on some of their new scent Twirl. It smells as good as it looks and I got some to take home with me… I can’t stop sniffing my wrists, which probably looks alarming to those around me — but it’s worth it.
Other city stops included TopShop, Madewell, M&J Trim, Mood Fabrics, and a delicious lunch at The Grey Dog. I admired their nautical decor outside — I think it might have been what drew us in for a bite. And I snapped some pictures of the bright red lights next door.
I dove head first into mashed potatoes and stuffing and did not come up for air for hours… but somehow forgot to take any pictures of our actual Thanksgiving dinner. The only proof it occurred is in the stack of clothing that no longer fits me from all of the eating.
I did manage to get one or two pictures from a get together with friends on Friday night, and have to share one of the bar set up. I’m quite jealous of the vintage ice bucket my mom scooped up at a tag sale — isn’t it tre-Mad Men? And I bought a bottle of Prairie vodka based entirely on the label design, quite the eye catcher:
So, there you have it. Shopping and vodka, just as the holidays should be. How did you celebrate?
I had a delicious brunch with my girlfriends to cap off a relaxing fall weekend.
This was a bowl of baked heaven:
Brunch was topped off with some thrifting at the SOWA market:
Lots of Mad-Men-esque glassware, I’m kicking myself for not scooping these up:
And ton’s of retro-chic:
This one was a winner:
Also, no trick-or-treaters showed up tonight, which means I have a lot of candy to eat this week… I better go get started.
I wanted to share a recap of the great event I attended last week at the Boston West Elm. The event, hosted at West Elm with Patch NYC and several local Etsy designers was a total success, I had so much fun with girlfriends sipping on cocktails, indulging in h’ors d’oeuvres, and going on a mini shopping spree. It was quite a festive occasion — I loved the wooden faux-chandeliers decorating the store:
One of my favorite Etsy vendors was Earmark Invitations, in addition to their gorgeous stationery they colorful pencils with funny sayings on them like “Stay Classy” and “I’m kind of a big deal” — I snagged a set of them for myself and got a few for Christmas presents too!
Another vendor with adorable creations was eclu, their flower pins were artfully displayed on a dress form — I can’t resist the color-coding!
Plus I checked out some of the West Elm products — they have amazing seasonal displays, lots of yellow and gray, and dashes of chevron here and there:
I managed to hold back on the chevron but couldn’t resist some citron … I came home with a new tray to corral my mail and the super cozy chunky tassel throw that I blogged about last week…
Somehow I’ve spent my entire life in the Northeast and never went apple picking before this weekend. I think I picked the perfect weekend for my first time, it was absolutely gorgeous out in Boston. Plus I got to play around with my new camera, what do you think?
Brimfield totally lived up to my expectations; I was like a kid in a candy store, rifling through piles of junk and having a ball.
There was tons of jadeite, to my delight, though most of it was very overpriced, so I just enjoyed looking but didn’t come home with any new pieces. This table had me in a fit of excitement though:
One of the “trends” I noticed was lots of vintage bikes. This yellow one would have been helpful to tote around our loot with its big basket:
And this blue one caught my eye:
I saw that bike right at the end of our thrifting-marathon. The sun was wearing on us and I’ll be honest, I may have been feeling a little sleepy and full after hitting up the “food court” field (what can I say? I love fair food!).
Right behind the blue bike though was my score of the day — just what I had been hunting for, a pair of matching night stands, with drawers, that were under 16″ wide — a feat I thought for sure would be impossible. And they were just the right price, 40$ for the pair!
They’re an atrocious color and are missing hardware, but I’m planning to give them a fresh coat of paint and some fancy new knobs to spiff them up.
My other find of the day was a vintage tool chest that I’m also planning on giving a new life with some fresh paint. When I’m all finished I’m going to use it as a jewelry armoire.
All three pieces are being housed in my entryway, next to a Craigslist chair that’s also on my to-do-list to revamp. We’re now referring to this as the “furniture graveyard” until the temperatures drop and I can actually do some work on them without passing out from heat exhaustion!
Overall a successful trip — I will definitely be making this an annual (or bi-annual??) trip!
