Time to Shine

I'm not big on the "office holiday party" picture but we did at least have a venue to dress up a bit.

 My husband wore a navy velvet JCrew blazer and pants in a dark grey with a plaid bow tie. I wore Zara's Jeweled Print Tulip Dress paired with Miu Miu silver glitter pumps and a silver belt.

Details!

Isn't this print great?

I adore Miu Miu glitter...

This dress has such a great shape, I really need to find more in this style.  Two more parties to go.  I may have to wear this again for at least one of them!

White Christmas

I'm not sure if I've ever experienced a real "White Christmas" where you go to bed and then you wake up to a snowy world.  But this year we did.  I know the snow is everywhere on the East Coast but it's still pretty magical to me.

You can see all the pictures here.

But I think our pup Oona is the most excited.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are staying safe and warm.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

We've been on technology detox around here.  I've been avoiding the computer for pretty much every reason - limited media consumption, no work, no pictures, etc. It's been all cooking and reading and going to the movies and out to eat. And there's been more time to make stuff.

As I mentioned the "I don't do Gift Guides" post, we try to give consumable gifts.  In the past I've made chocolates or treat packs or we've given local food items that share our regional flair.  I had the idea for this year's gift last year and it became a joint effort for me and the husband.

We gave Sugar & Spice gifts - aka vanilla sugar and homemade spicy mustard.

The vanilla sugar is fairly easy to make.  You just need granulated sugar, vanilla pods and a food processor.   Scrape the beans out of the pod with the back of a knife and add them to sugar in the processor and pulse until well distributed.  I used about a pod per 1.5 cups of sugar.  I then added a half of the empty pod the to sugar container when you package them up.

The longer it sits the more infused the vanilla flavor becomes.  We packaged these in clip-top canning type jars but any well sealed container would do.  Vanilla sugar is great on cereal, fruit, toast or in coffee.

The second part of the gift was a spicy mustard.  These were packaged in small ceramic jars with sealed lids.  I used red and white bakers twine around the top edge for decoration and to attach a small wooden spoon.

This makes a good spicy deli-style mustard but is very simple to make.  The recipe comes from The Mustard Cookbook by Sally & Martin Stone.

You need:

- 1/4 cup white or brown whole mustard seeds (we used a mix of both)

- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

- 1/4 dry red wine

- 1/2 cup dry mustard (mustard powder)

- 2 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp ground allspice

- 2 Tbl cold water

To prepare you add the whole mustard seeds to the wine vinegar and the wine in a small bowl and let stand for 3+ hours.

Pour the seeds, wine and wine vinegar into a blender or food processor (we used a blender) fitted with a steel blade.  Process with several pulses until the seeds are bruised and broken.  Add the dry mustard, salt, allspice and water and process for 30 seconds.  Scrape down the sides and process for 30 more seconds.

Transfer the mixture to a sealed container and let stand at least 12 hours before using.

Yields about 1.5 cups

Store the mustard in the fridge and enjoy with pretzels, on a yummy veggie sandwich or saute some green beans.  We may even try to play with the recipe and some agave nectar to make a honey-mustard style version.  If it works out I'll share that too.

Happy Holidays!

Ensemble du Jour: 12-11-10, The Christmas Party edition

So I followed my heart and heeded your advice and went for Option 1 of the Party Outfit options - the ruffle-y dress with a poofy crinoline and hawt heels.

It was super fun to wear this and the inexpensive Forever 21 dress did me proud.  I felt quite festive all night long.

I ended up wearing, on the advice of the hubby, polka dot stockings which I paired up with the Manolo Blahnik Campari mary janes.

And I used this cute little vintage beaded purse to hold my lipstick, lipgloss and phone.  The peachy flowers echoed the embellishments on my cardigan.

Make-up is usally pretty simple for me, even when going out - some shimmery shadow, a bit of eyeliner on the top and Chanel's Rouge Coco "Paris" lipstick.

Thanks for the advice and support!

The I don't do Gift Guides guide to Gift Guides

I don't really get into doing gift guides for the holidays. There is just so much stuff out there, I'd never have the time to pull together (I almost said "curate", ha!) all the things that I love and think are cool.  Maybe I need to save them up all year long so I can do one. 

But gifts are so personal.  Sure you can recommend a book, or some soap but that isn't that thrilling, even though those are the types of gifts we like to give.  But I actually love to read the gift guides that other folks have done.  So here is my Guide to Gift Guides when I don't do Gift Guides. And how do I pick them?  Well, when I want almost everything on their lists!

The entire Design*Sponge site could be a gift guide itself.  Everything they show is great.  But around this time of year they really step it up, from Monogram gift themes to under $25, $50 and $100.  Check out all of their gift guides here.

A huge part of me is my techy, nerdy, gadget-y side.  That's why I always grab and read my husband's Wired before he even gets a glimpse.  The stuff in this year's 100 Perfect Gifts could be my Santa wish list as is.  Love!

Are you looking for the perfect whimsical, slightly goofy and a bit tongue-in-cheek gift.  Yeah, The Shoe Girl has the list for you.  I have a bunch of the items already but I think I really do need everything else.  Maybe even this TMNT snuggie.  Mmmm  hmmm...

And not so much a whole guide but WendyB may have picked my favorite gift suggestion of the year.  A gift for 15th-16th century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch (don't know him?  Look him up people!)  This is the kind of stuff I would seriously spend my money on.  It reminds me of my Victorian ostrich egg bowl with silver spoon handle feet.  What?  You don't have one?

Or, hey, just buy (me!) some WendyB jewelry.

All that said, I do have a few ideas for gifts.  We don't buy a lot of gifts at Christmas ourselves, because we get stuff all year long.  When we do buy stuff we try to make it a consumable item.  Local food specialties, events, donations.  We don't really need more stuff. So here are something I would buy as a gift.

1. Local or Favorite Charity

Everyone has something they are passionate about.  It could be a local rescue group, Farm Sanctuary, their town's library that needs repair or helping women start businesses around the world.  Show you really know the person and that you support their passions.  We all wish we could give more time and money to our favorite groups.  It's sure to be a hit.

2. Cut out the Ads

We're all using online tools and we live with things like ads or limits on content. Buy your friend or family member an expansion to make their experiences richer.  Whether it's a Pro Account on Flicker or an upgrade on Pandora, their going to love that you took it a step beyond just a gift card to iTunes (although, those are still great too!)

3. Local Fun

Last but not least, spending time with your bestie is the best gift of all.  And I'm loving that Groupon is introducing me to all of these cool and fun hidden gems that I didn't even know about.  From new restaurants to try to zip lines, I'm discovering my own town. See what's happening and then go have fun.

So there you have it.  Let me know what you get!

Indulging in New York

I haven't really talked much about what we did or gave each other for Christmas. That's because my main present from the hubby was a surprise trip to New York for New Year's Eve and to visit with Miss WendyB.

We flew in on the 30th and stayed downtown at the Smyth Tribeca. It's a new hotel, just under a year old, and a bit "hipster". But the location was good and the service was great. The sheets were very soft. I could use with a bit more closet/dresser top space, all in all it was great.

Our trip was totally centered around food. The first night I had made a reservation at Pure Food and Wine. I've been dying to try the restaurant for the past few visits and have not been able to make it but I'm so glad we did this time!



We did the five course chef's tasting meal and it was spectacular. Everything was divine and we were amazed at some of the dishes. I will be making sure to go back on my next visit.

The next day, New Year's Eve, we woke up to snow. Our days were planned around going to my favorite museums and our main goal was to see the Tim Burton exhibit at MoMA because the hubby is a HUGE fan... well, so am I. I was going to get timed tickets in advance but they were all sold out for the 31st and the online system wasn't working. We took our chances by heading for the museum to see what was available but when we got there the line was down the block.

We did have a back-up plan, however. Instead of standing out in the snow for an hour, hoping to get in, we went into the store and bought a MoMA membership for $60 and a guest pass for $5. This gave us full access without having to do a timed ticket. The membership is good for a year, so I can go back in February, and it also gives you discounts at the stores too. The regular timed tickets are $20 each, so for just $25 more total we got right in.



The exhibit is great. Filled with iconic pieces from Tim's movies but also tons of tiny details that showcase his wit and talent and strong design sense. Truly a must-see for any fan.

After we left the museum we went uptown and popped into a few stores. Bergdorfs and Saks were both having big sales but I didn't see anything on the sales racks or in the stores I wanted so we then walked around, saw the Rockefeller Christmas tree, bought some macarons and had a delicious lunch.

Then we had to head all the way back to the hotel so we could grab a quick disco nap before getting ready to go out to meet up with the Wendy and Mr.B party at Balthzar. I wore a sequined Sonia Rykiel dress with white collar and cuffs paired up with black tights, Manolo Campari black patent mary janes and WendyB Swear rings.

The hubby looked smart in his new suit and "It's-a-real-bow-tie-I-tied-it-myself" Chinese Zodiac symbol bow-tie.



We partied until about 2am and then totally crashed until the next morning. I was hoping to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art but it was closed! The info must have been buried somewhere on the site because we were not the only kind-off pissed-off and surprised people milling around outside the museum doors.

So, since that didn't pan out, we crossed the park and went to the Natural History museum... along with everyone else, I guess, because it was a madhouse. Sadly we got hungry while we were there and braved the food court. See this picture... It was nothing like this. It was total chaos. Best not to go into the whole ordeal.



But we did get to end the trip on a high note due to a delicious meal at Candle 79. Delicous and easy to see why they were voted as top vegan restaurant this past year in VegNews.

All in in all it was a quick trip but so fun because my Sweetie went with me to one of my favorite cities. Now I just need to drag him up there more often!

Days of Intention - Day Seven: Austrian Christmas

Scenario:

I've been trying to refocus on adding more travel back into our lives. I love to travel and there are so many places that I want to see. Some are place I want to return to and experience more fully but some are totally new. And some are for the experiences as much as the location.

I had put this wish on my 2009 Goals list but it's being moved to 2010, because we did the trip to Ireland (tons of pictures here, by the way).

There's something magical about the idea of visiting Austria and Germany at Christmas time. Traveling in the winter is one of my favorite times to travel. Depending on where you are going it isn't peak season and everything seems more peaceful. Many people feel obligated to be on family trips so they don't travel at this time, so there can be great deals out there too. Yes, we miss some of the peak season events but the reduced stress seems to make up for it.

I'm hoping we can make this trip happen. Winter snows, train rides, confectionery castles and cuckoo clocks. I'm dreaming of the Black Forest and the Danube.

Ideal date:

December 25th.


Image credit: St. Anton am Arlberg, Tirol, Austria by Kruhme via Flickr

Christmas Recap

We don't do a lot of presents for each other during Christmas. We've actually convinced the family to cut out the presents. We just feel that we have so much already and don't really need more.

A big part of our "gift" was spending time at our favorite Grove Park Inn in Asheville. My hubby's parents came down from Chicago to join us for the long weekend (even longer for them due to all the crummy service from NorthWest) and we enjoyed the town and dining and the hotel.



This is a perfect time of year to go because you can enjoy cold mountain air, the big fireplaces and see all the entries for the National Gingerbread House competition. And I got to have a pedicure and spend some time in their delicious spa.



I did end up getting some things while we were there. I bought some sale items at JCrew. We got a bunch of jams from Imladris Farms and some Christmas treats for the pets. It's a weird mix of things that I got - from light blue fishnets and black fleur-de-lys lace stockings to...


(does this picture look a bit pervy to you? WeLoveColors are you the next AA?)

... and a really cool polished septarian nodule like this one. So sex-ay tights and geological samples... that's a pretty good example of the range of things I like.



As for actual gifts, I bought the hubby some neat shirts from Threadless, a graphic novel based on Lovecraft stories and, for both of us, a chess set for the library. He also got some absinthe sugars, slippers and a movie in his stocking.

I got an iTunes gift card, some of my favorite chocolates and my big gift was a pair of these Bose over the ear headphones!





I was so happy to get them. I can't wait to wear them at work because they are uber-comfortable. Better than any others I tried on.

Of course, right now I'm just hoping to feel better so I can get up out of this bed and get some stuff done. This feeling crummy sucks.

I hope everyone had an amazing holiday filled with joy. Did you get a great gift or a big surprise? I'd love to hear about it.

Happy Holidays!


UPDATED: In my delirium, I forgot to add this. I was searching through some old photos trying to find a photo of this hideous clown statue that my aunt got from her mother-in-law years ago. It was made of poorly painted shells and weird bulgy pipe cleaners. Her MIL used to give her an amazingly hideous gift every year. So horrible that they had to be on purpose because you could never imagine that someone would actually give them as a gift with good intentions. But after seeing all of the Ugly S**t on Etsy via Twitter and the Craftastrophe site (my new favorite site, I think)... I'm not so sure.

Now if only I had that clown, I could be selling it for big bucks on eBay.

My Christmas Wish...

I just got the Neiman Marcus Christmas Wish Book. And more than the $35,000 Dragon Topiary, more than the $75,000 Swami Robot, I want this dress by Alexander McQueen...



It's red satin with a stand-up collar (like my Brigadoon wish dress) with a pleated black tulle underlay. OMG!

It's $3500, so I'm not sure if my Christmas stocking is big enough for that.

Le sigh...