in the bags

i almost forgot to share what was in the pretty bags from before christmas! tripper picked out and we picked up these adorable perry street frames for the women in his office. cute, no?

i feel pretty

oh so pretty. i feel pretty and witty and ... bright! two guesses what this is!! if you need more of a hint, you can go here and here and here. wow!

if you guessed it with no hints, yay for you! i must say, having this little number in my closet is all i thought it would be and more. thank you so much to mum and dad for picking it out, and to tripper and dad for hanging it up. i love it!

happy new year!

can't make it to times square to ring in the new year? don't fret, pet. plum party has everything you need for your own ball-dropping fun! act quickly though ... new year's eve is just around the corner. i'll be taking a mini-break between now and then, back on january 2. be safe and see you in 2007!

five golden eddies

we are off to celebrate the holidays with tripper's family in south georgia. merry christmas everyone! back on the 27th!

update: we're back! hope everyone had a very merry christmas! ps ... i consolidated the pictures of eddie into one. to see the originals that were here earlier, you can click the little heart to get to my flickr page. thanks!

pretty paper bags

i know ... oooh! ahhh! don't you just love kate spade? just look at her shopping bags. they're gorgeous. i couldn't resist snapping away at the beautiful green, white and gold. so pretty. you know, it's almost harder to part with the bags than the gifts within! ok, not really ... i love the presents, too. so, what's in the bags you ask? i can't tell you that! you'll have to wait until after christmas to see.

home sweet home

tripper and i had a ton of fun last night shopping for and putting together this *huge* candy bin for the people who work in our building. chocolate covered pretzels, snow globes, candy bars, candy canes, ding dongs ... sweets for the sweet. they're all so lovely, each and every one. thanks y'all for making our home so grand!

tall drink of ...

i love this tall, slender etched berry glass from cute shop peek keep. the one there on the right. the shorter ones are definitely cute, but the tall ... well, isn't it fantastic? it's so delicate and the etching is just beautiful. it's such a girls-only glass. i imagine sipping something pink from it. raspberry flirtinis, anyone?

raspberry flirtini:
1 part vox raspberry vodka
1/2 part chambord
1 part champagne

mix in shaker half-filled with ice:
vox raspberry vodka and chambord.
pour into a champagne flute and top with champagne.
garnish with fresh raspberries.

image from peek keep.

anthropologie thursday

modern red stainless steel does a balancing act with charming old-school style. lovely!

i picked the antique kitchen scale as this week's anthropologie thursday find for two reasons: 1. the red and green composition seemed very festive, and 2. how fun would it be to have a kitchen scale in the kitchen? unfortunately with the way i cook, all this baby would measure is the collecting dust. anyway, a girl can dream, right?

image from anthropologie.

xoxo

i've been looking through lots of photos lately trying to find a cute, casual one of me and tripper to frame for his mom and dad's mantle. i'd forgotten about this one from scott and ashley's wedding. ah, happy times!

lady bird

i first spotted this lovely bird ... miss lydia ... on kstyle in a post about an artist called ann wood. i followed a link and next thing i knew, i bought her! isn't she grand? i love her curious little face and that dress! it's very flapper. i can't wait until she arrives. i think she'll look perfect perched atop my new dresser.

image from ann wood.

cookies for santa?

no! cookies from santa! my friend kit was lucky enough to escape her husband's office party/gift exchange last night with this adorable cookie jar. way to go, kit! it's from a new-to-me site called department 56. i can't wait to check it out.

image from department 56.

h is for happy

don't you love it when you get a present that is exactly something you would have picked out yourself? well, just look what my friend cristi gave me for christmas! i love it! it's so beautifully done. and from one of my favorite places ... swoozies! thank you, cristi! xox

an early christmas

since tripper and i will be heading to south georgia for christmas this year, my parents came to town over the weekend to celebrate a little early. and with them, they brought the best presents! my favorite present was this ...


it's a chandelier! for the closet! i was talking with my mum a while back about how i wished i could have a chandelier in the closet. our closet is by no means big, but you can walk into it and i just thought it would be funny. well ... i got my wish! my parents ordered this beautiful crystal chandelier just for me. and tripper. all the baubles came wrapped in foam and it took them about three hours to put it all together. that photo in the bottom right is the genius way my dad got it over to my house. it's hanging from a dowel into the center of a very large box. brilliant! anyway, it was too dark to put it up after we opened it, so dad is coming back over when we get back from our trip to hang it. i'll be sure to post more pictures then.

here are some more highlights ...


presents under the tree.


an ashtray for my fake cigarette.


a magnet to go on ed's food container so people don't mistake it for the trash anymore.


canine cologne so ed no longer smells like fritos.


my family. love y'all!

and what isn't pictured? polka dotted steak knives (so cute!), spiffy new ornaments, a leather game cube shaped like dice, cuff links, a tie and the now infamous leopard print skirt for tripper ... from the men's department! maybe more photos will be coming soon.

thanks muchly, mum and dad! love you both so much! you, too, tripper!

dwell baby

in honor of my friend with the great news yesterday ... beautiful green and blue motif bedding from dwell baby via modern tots. chic and soft and perfect for boy or girl! congratulations, lucky duck!

elevenses. ask june.

so a package came for me today. it was a crazy mystery package and i wish i had taken pictures of it before i tore into it to see what it was. the package was addressed to me, but had no hint of who it was from. it did have a customs label on it, but i wasn't expecting anything from overseas. it had tons ... no two tons ... of tape on it, making it very shiny and even more curious. after about 15 minutes of poking and pinching, i was finally in ...



ta-da! aren't they great? two penguin classic coffee mugs: a brave new world and the thousand and one nights. from jacob and cliff. thank you so much, i love them! coffee in a good book. brilliant.

ps ... i have no idea what the title of this post means. it was written in the card.

feeling snappy: porcelain

snowman.


duck in fetching pale yellow georgia cap.

feeling snappy: plush

reindeer from caribou coffee.


my bears.


my ed.

merry mazeltov!

for those lucky enough to celebrate both holidays comes a line of cards and gifts for chrismukkah, "the merry mish-mash holiday," courtesy of the chrismukkah company store. i love the card packs ... there's ho! ho! oy!, kosher egg nog and matzoh ball souper (the last two have recipes inside) ... all illustrated by rachel pearson. thanks to kit for the tip!



images from the chrismukkah company store.

anthropologie thursday

i love the new sweet and simple gift sets that anthropologie has put together, especially the ones for the foodie. they pair up just the right pieces to make a truly stunning and very thoughtful gift. above, they've combined the yellow bird towel, the bluebird setting teacup & saucer and a book, what i know now: letters to my younger self. below, tea is served. they've placed the reef teapot and reef cup & saucer with the flower shower apron. beautiful.

be sure to check out the other foodie sets as well as the sets for the snow bunny, the homebody and mommy & me. and, as they're saying at anthropologie, you're all set!



images from anthropologie.

the scoop

because when you're up with the birds, chances are you're going to need your coffee! bird coffee scoop from beehive kitchenware co. love it!

image from beehive kitchenware co.

um ...

drool.

ho ho ho from holly and kstyle

congratulations to alison z and natalie b for submitting winning holiday scramble entries ... ho ho ho from holly and kstyle (also acceptable would have been ho ho ho from kstyle and holly) ... at the exact same time! both of you win a signed bumbleknees print made by me. thanks to all who played along and a super special thanks to karen at kstyle for including me in such a fun contest!

don't forget to pop over to kstyle to see the other winner! holiday hugs and kisses and of course ho! ho! ho! from both of us!

ps ... cute as a button ho ho ho holiday card from paper+cup!

holiday scramble update

i have a winner! actually i have two winners that responded at the exact same time! i can't post who they are yet or what the winning phrase is ... not until i hear from kstyle. stay tuned ...

well dress—ered

the best part about getting a new dresser, aside from the fact that it holds all my clean clothes and it looks perfect in the bedroom and that it makes the whole room seem larger, is that i get to go *shop-ping* for new things to put on it. i can't wait to find just the right pieces! until then, douglas bearbanks, my friend from when i was little, will keep the seat warm.

off my chest

i like my blog to be a happy place full of cute stuff and cute stories, but there is something i just have to get off my chest. ok. remember back in the beginning of november how i had miraculously washed all the laundry and found i had no place to put it all away? well, we finally did buy a new dresser (posts coming right up) and had to say a sad goodbye to my beloved bombay chest.

i posted the chest on craigslist, which has always been very good to me. i got quite a few inquiries, but one ... called yvette ... stood out among the others. she loved the chest. she had to have it. she was very vocal and quite demanding. trouble is, i had already told someone it was theirs if they wanted it, so i had to wait to hear back from them. i did hear back and they decided not to get it, so i wrote back to tell yvette the good news. she was so excited. somehow she haggled the price down and convinced me to bring the chest to her. i'm guessing it's because a) we were having a christmas party the next day and i needed it out of the middle of the living room and b) did i mention she was demanding? anyway, at 8 pm on friday night, which happened to be the coldest night in the past two years, tripper and i argued and then loaded the chest into our new car and drove across town to bring it to her.

we got there, popped the back and she got very quiet. finally she said, "it's not as big as i thought." since i had provided the measurements to her, not once but twice, i was not thrilled with her statement. she asked if i'd be mad if she didn't take it, to which i replied, "yes." i loaded it into my car. and drove across town. on a friday night. that was freezing cold. long story short, tripper and i ended up lugging the chest home again, with me in tears and tripper rightfully saying i told you so. all this i tell you just to be able to type this ...

dear yvette, you suck.

wow. i feel better. the story does have a happy ending. the chest rode out the christmas party in the service elevator, and on sunday, i reposted my listing ... this time with a "no delivery" tacked onto the bottom. that afternoon a nice man called jim came to pick it up. he loaded my much loved chest into the back of a van with a very nice looking coffee table. i hope they become fast furniture friends.

holiday scramble, day 12

h!

it's the last day of the holiday scramble! a super cute hats off (from baby knits and more) to everyone who has followed along the last 12 days. all 24 letters now have been revealed. yay! (don't forget to pick up that last letter from over at kstyle.) it's time to start unscrambling!

the first person to correctly unscramble the phrase will win a fantastic prize. email karen to win an original pair of her hand-crafted lampwork christmas ball earrings. email holly to win one of holly's signed holiday bumbleknees prints.

let the emails begin!

holiday scramble: day 11

f! f! f!

these cute, initial paper napkins from plum party are a great way to personalize your celebration and say to the world that you are both playful and sophisticated. go getchoo some!

ps ... don't forget to grab today's other letter over at kstyle. tomorrow is the last day of this scramble. the phrase will soon be revealed!

holiday scramble, day 10

today's letter is h! h is for honey bun! honey bun is part of a super cute series of *sweet name cards* from patisserie, the card company that's been savoring sweet thoughts since 2004!

special thanks to miss beaux for the tip!

don't forget to head over to kstyle for today's other letter. only two more days after today!

holiday scramble: day 9

n!

this monogrammed mirror from the palm gifts is totally customizable and makes the perfect stocking stuffer. plus, it fits in any handbag! choose from fabrics galore, like preppy dots, polka dots, daisies, gingham or stripes. this shop has it all for personalized personals, it's like the monogram mile of the internet :)

don't forget to pop over to kstyle for today's other letter.

holiday scramble, day 8

o!

i was delighted to see these the other day on oh joy!, a) because they're seriously cute and b) because i seriously was having a hard time finding another letter o. the binth alphabet single letter o print is inspired by mid-century danish wood toys and would be so lovely in a modern nursery. adorable. be sure to check out the other letters as well. (b & e are my favorites.) and if you can't decide, there's a poster with all the letters, too!

don't forget to go grab today's other letter from over at kstyle!

holiday scramble: day 7

... and anthropologie thursday combined! oh, snap!

the spelling bee fabric letters from, you guessed it, anthropologie, are just about the cutest letters around, especially the "o" (which is today's letter). stitched and stuffed in a variety of colorful patterns, a to z and ampersand teach spelling or brighten shelves.

don't forget to stop by kstyle for letter number two.

ps ... below is a photo of my true anthropologie thursday pick this week. it's the ink flourish clock and it is gorgeous! behind a white-washed wood frame, quill-like hands count blotted hours. i figured since the photo is at the bottom, it'll be close enough to the intermission not to mess up my holiday scramble posts. yay! i'm realizing now i should have posted this on the fifth day, seeing that it shows a 5 and all, but it wasn't a thursday and i didn't think of it and better late than never, right?

intermission

since we're halfway through the holiday scramble, i thought i'd take a break from things with letters on them, an intermission of sorts, to post this fabulously funny alligator from patience brewster krinkles via the paper garden. krinkles make me laugh.

image from the paper garden.

holiday scramble, day 6

s!

we are halfway through our holiday scramble contest and i couldn't think of a better way to mark the occasion than with this adorable hand-painted inital ornament from miss priss style in today's letter ... s. the glass ornament is carefully painted by hand (no two are alike), signed, tied with a ribbon and placed in a special box. what a nice keepsake!

don't forget your other letter over at kstyle!

holiday scramble: day 5

on the fifth day of christmas my true love gave to me an archipelago botanical candle in the letter "l" from wrapables! lavendar + lemon verbena = luxury. these make the perfect hostess gift and are a wonderful present for that newlywed with a new last initial on your list.

don't forget to drop by kstyle to pick up today's other letter.

holiday scramble, day 4

eeeee!

this monogrammed mini umbrella from horchow is designed to resist flipping out, but you just might because it's that cute! features electrostatic steel shafts and ribs with a wooden handle ... such hard words for something so soft and feminine! go ahead, ooh and ahh.

caution, never open an umbrella indoors.

don't forget to pop over to kstyle for today's other letter!

holiday scramble: day 3

d is for dazzling. d is for darling. d is for diamonds from tiffany & co! yay! i can't think of a better way to add a little sparkle to your holiday than with this tiffany letters "d" pendant. wow! round, brilliant diamonds set in platinum and shaped into today's letter: d. (also available in the other 25 as well).

don't forget to pop over to kstyle to grab today's other letter!

holiday scramble, day 2

ooooooo!

oh my goodness! these hand-printed letter "o" block cards by pink bathtub designs are too cute. plus, they're the perfect image for today's letter. i love the lime green ink and matching envelopes. if, like me, "o" is not your first or last initial, you are in luck ... pink bathtub designs has many other letters and colors to choose from.

ps ... don't miss today's other holiday scramble letter over at kstyle.

holiday scramble: day 1

y ! y ! y !

this fantastic and fun scrabble keyring from uncommon goods would make an excellent stocking stuffer. it also happens to make an excellent visual for the first letter of the holiday scramble, which kicks off today! don't forget to go collect today's other letter from kstyle. we'll be posting in tandem through december 12. if you missed the rules, they are right here.