J. Crew = Evil Temptress.

I told myself I wasn't going to "need" anything from J. Crew for a while, but then they have to go and get new arrivals. The following are my faves:

The scalloped petal top.

Vintage latticework popover.

My favorite of the bunch: the ruffled gamine jacket.

Seriously, ruffles and pleating in the back? I am pretty sure I could find a way to wear this everyday.

And last but not least, the crosshatch cotton blaine jacket. Love the layered look. And, it's in gray!

I am hoping Gigi will have a review of these items any day now. In the meantime, I am just thankful there are no shoes I can't live without!

New Year's Eve.

I hope everyone had a happy new year! Ours was extremely low key. We went out to eat at the Black Lab with Meagan, Jeremy, and Kevin and then came back to our place to ring in the New Year. (Because Meagan and Jeremy are so popular, they had to leave to attend another party.) I quickly threw together Annie's Eats seven layer bars so we would have something to snack on until midnight. For as easy as the bars were to make, they were pretty tasty.

Along with the seven layer bars, the boys had Chimay (a Belgian beer made by monks). According to the label, we were total rule breakers by thinking about serving it in regular drinking glasses. Instead, Justin and Kevin decided it would be better to serve it in wine glasses since we don't have dedicated Chimay glasses.

Kevin was very excited about his Chimay find at Central Market for a good price. The bottle was huge (1.5 L) -- compare it to the 2 normal-sized sparkling wine bottles.

Justin tried to use the timer on our camera for the first time. As you can see, it took some trial and error to figure out how it worked.

There we go!

Happy New Year!

Sarah's House.

I have caught Sarah Richardson's Room Service on Fine Living before, but now the show Sarah's House is on HGTV. Her style has always appealed to me (both in decorating and her clothes).

I looked through her website trying to find pictures to include here, and it was very difficult to narrow it down to just a handful. Definitely head over to the website and view her portfolio and prepare to be amazed. Why do her and Candice Olson have to be in Canada only?

(all images from Sarah Richardson Design)

I can't wait to watch the remainder of the season to see how the house comes together. Her website and HGTV have pictures of the finished house online, but I am not looking because I want to be surprised!

New Year's Resolutions.

My firm is a big believer in creating S.M.A.R.T. goals and writing them down. What better time to think about what I want to accomplish than at the start of a new year. Hopefully by sharing my goals (not all of them SMART ones), I will be more apt to follow through. In no particular order:

1. Wake up earlier on a more regular basis.

2. Watch the first 3 seasons of 30 Rock.

3. Drink more water every day.

4. Do yoga for my back at least 3 times a week with my new yoga video.

5. Get more involved with the Tahirih Justice Center (and increase awareness around my office).

6. Start eating/cooking more at home.

7. Attempt to be less critical of and more patient with others.

8. Get in better shape. (whose list is this one not on?)

9. Learn how to take better pictures.

10. Get back into painting/drawing/crafting.

House Related Goals / To-Do List:

1. Paint the sitting room by February 1.

2. Paint the master bathroom by February 1.

3. Hang pictures in the entry way.

4. Accessorize our bedroom.

5. Organize the 1st and 3rd floor elevator closets by February 15 (the date the Container Store Elfa sale ends).

6. Clean and organize the study.

7. Change the knobs in the kitchen to drawer pulls.

8. Look around the house frequently and be reminded of all the things we have already accomplished.

Salon Wall.

I love the following pictures for some salon wall inspiration. Now if I could just find the perfect wall in my house to do such a thing . . .







Southern Living has a great article on how to easily hang a salon wall here.

P.S. I'll be back with a Christmas recap soon. Tonight is my first night in over a week without company over or being at the in-laws. I am thoroughly enjoying relaxing and having some quiet time at the house with Justin (and Riley).

Christmas Decor.

For some reason, I was behind schedule this year for decorating and presents (buying and wrapping). I am still trying to figure out where the month of December went. The Christmas decorations this year are not too much different than last year (see last year's pictures here).

Here's our tree (sans presents). Thankfully, I am happy to report that since I took this picture, we have wrapped a bunch of presents, so our tree looks much more complete. I was just too lazy to take an updated picture.


The mantel decorated with Ikea vases, the lumiere candleholders from CB2 (what a bargain those are), and a fun ribbon wreath from Michaels.


This is a bad picture, but you can see my cute twig reindeer on the buffet! There is a bowl (washed out by the sun) full of silver ornaments. I also wrapped thick red damask ribbon around the upholstered chairs and tied it in a bow. Please excuse my coffee cup (it is not part of the Christmas decor).


And my favorite Christmas Target find -- the red sequin tree. Those little blocks (also from Target) say "merry christmas." You can also see our new devon mirror from Z Gallerie. Love it!


There are a few other decorations in the kitchen and entry way, which I will (hopefully) post soon!

Tasty Hot Chocolate.

I recently saw a post over at Annie's Eats* about a hot chocolate mix recipe. It looked delicious, and I needed a little something extra for people at work, so I decided to make it this past weekend.

For quality control purposes, I had to sample a cup to make sure it was tasty enough to give out. It was so rich and delicious. Really, what's not to like? It's vanilla sugar and chopped chocolate bars!

Frankly, it was so good, it was hard to package it up and give away! I love hot chocolate! But I certainly don't need that much of it around the house. I packaged it up the mix along with marshmallows and Williams-Sonoma Peppermint North Poles.


* I have made several different things from recipes I got from Annie's Eats (including peppermint mocha cupcakes this past weekend too). All of them have been wonderful. Definitely check out her recipes!

Hot Chocolate Mix

Ingredients:
2 vanilla beans
4 cups granulated sugar
1½ lbs. good quality semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
9 oz. good quality bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups Dutch process cocoa powder*

Directions:
Split and scrape the vanilla beans and combine in a large bowl or jar with the sugar. Work the vanilla seeds into the sugar with your fingers. Bury the pods under the sugar, cover tightly and let stand overnight (or up to months) at room temperature. Remove the pods when ready to use.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the sugar, semisweet and bittersweet chocolate, and Dutch process cocoa powder. Process in 4-second pulses until the chocolate is very finely ground and the mixture is well combined. Store the mix in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Serving Instructions:
Combine 2 tablespoons cocoa mix with 8 oz. of very warm milk and stir to combine until well blended.

Say Yes to the Dress.

I recently watched Say Yes to the Dress and fell in love with a dress. I am not gonna lie, I like the show even though I am not in the market for a wedding dress. If I was getting married again (to Justin, of course), this dress would be a top contender.

I asked Justin if we could renew our vows so that I could go buy this dress. Obviously, he wasn't entertained. My dress was simple and understated, and I still find myself drawn to that same style.


My second favorite part of the dress is the half bow in the back (not pictured above). I have a weakness for bows.


My favorite part of the dress is the POCKETS! Pockets, people! The dress has pockets! How awesome is that? You don't know what you have been missing if you haven't worn a dress with pockets. I don't know why, but it's delightful.

Then I started thinking . . . my dress (from 5.5 years ago) had similar qualities, except for the heavenly pockets.

It was also simple, understated, strapless, a-line, no beading, no lace:


And, it had a fun detail in the back (which was somewhat bow-like when bustled):


I guess my taste in wedding dresses hasn't changed all that much over the years.

Dining Room Updates.

I recently snagged some new wall art for our dining room at High Fashion Home. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but as soon as I saw these, I knew they had to come home with me. And, the decision was even easier since they were 50% off!


Here is a close up (click to enlarge to see the detail):


We also found some great new buffet lamps at Z Gallerie (they are the constaletti lamps). The other lamps I had were too much with the pearson chandelier and the other one was too short (see this post). These are just right. I wasn't crazy about the color of the lamp shades at first, but I like them now (and their shape is perfect). You can also see the new art in the mirror!

Holiday Party.

Since so many of you provided input into what I should wear to my firm's holiday party (are you sensing the sarcasm?), I thought I would do an update to my original post and show what I actually decided to wear.

That's right, I disregarded the only comment that I got (thanks, Meagan!) and went with the light pink/shell horizon line dress. Hmm, maybe that's why people don't give me feedback -- because I ignore it!

I just felt that dress was more me, and that I could get more use out of it than the red/orange one. I tried to "winter it up" a bit by wearing tights and a cardigan. It worked out well (I think so, at least). It was the perfect "dressiness" for the party, conservative enough, and the pockets were great!

5 things . . .

5 things I am loving right now . . .

1. My wonderful husband who worked very hard around the house this weekend. Thank you, Justin.

2. Organics Banana Vanilla Yogurt.

And to the person at work who removed it from the fridge (either for their own enjoyment or during an overzealous fridge clean out), thanks for nothing. I was planning on having that with my lunch today, jerk.

3. Having our new lighting installed. It looks great! The installation took over a week longer than expected thanks to workers who showed up late every time they were scheduled to come out (at least they gave us a discount to make up for it). I will post pictures soon.

4. Our Christmas trees and other decorations. Again, pictures to follow. It's looking Christmas-y around the house!

5. This blouse from Anthro:

Pearly Whites.

Do you think he's comfortable?


My favorite part are Riley's teeth. They are large and extremely white.


If you look closely, you can see his tongue between his teeth. Click to enlarge the picture to get a super close up of the teeth (and tongue).


In full disclosure, sometimes I kiss those cute lips. Isn't he precious?

Justin's Birthday.

Justin's birthday was the same day as the Big 12 Championship, so rather than going out to celebrate that night, we had family over, ordered Maggiano's takeout, and watched the UT game.

Everyone was wearing burnt orange that night:


. . . including Riley.


I see a theme here. (If you are in Houston and need a cake, Carrie at Carrie Made the Cake does a wonderful job. Not only are the cakes super cute, they are very delicious as well.)


The birthday boy and his new scotch (he is an old man).


Because sunglasses are impossible to buy without actually having the person try them on, Justin's parents gave him money so he could pick out his own. Justin's dad drew a picture of sunglasses to go along with the money. How cute is that?

I need some opinions on which dress (or neither) to wear to my firm's holiday party this Friday. People wear a whole wide range of things. My requirements for a dress: (1) cocktail (or close to it); and (2) on the conservative side of things.

Meagan was nice enough to help me with my search a while back. Sadly, the dresses I thought were winners didn't look good on me, were sold out, or were a little more than what I wanted to spend.

I bought this dress from Banana Republic, but it was much lower cut and drapey (is that a word?) on me. Hollywood fashion tape would have been a necessity and even then it was questionable. I returned it. So . . . don't pick this dress as your favorite!

I saw the horizon line dress online at Anthropologie and went last week to grab it from the store. I couldn't decide on the color (that's where you come in), so I bought both to think it over. I will put my thoughts in the comments so I don't persuade your vote one way or the other. Good news -- it has pockets!!

The first one has a shiny light pink/shell top and a brownish/gray skirt with blue at the bottom. The color is very pretty, but it isn't really showing up well in the pictures. I wanted to take these in the day light, but I didn't get home from work until it was already dark and I didn't want to postpone getting your feedback any longer! (Excuse the tired look too -- I was up until 2:00 a.m. working on a motion.)

The second has a redish/orange top with a black skirt with gray at the bottom.

What color do you like best? Or do you have any other last minute recommendations for a different dress? If you pick the pink/shell one, could you also recommend what color shoes you would wear with it? Thanks!