T- Minus 5 Days...

...Till I'm sitting here enjoying the sun, sand and lots o' cocktails! I'm off for the Christmas break, and then jetting off to Jamaica with the BF for New Years.

I hope you all have a fabulous Holiday and a happy New Year! Thank you for making my blog what it is today, I sincerely appreciate all the readers out there who spend time reading what I write! Here's to a happy and healthy 2009!

Holiday Card Gallery

Now is the time that all those holiday cards come poring in (ok, trickling for me) and I like to hang them up to show that I actually do have friends :) Here are some cute ways to hang up all those holiday cards:

Personally I hung up mine like the first picture. I hung up a pretty wide satin ribbon from a door, and use straight pins to put up all my cards. Its really easy, and looks cute when the whole ribbon is filled up!

Happy Holidays!

Bean Boots- I Love Winter

I realized this morning that I am a true New England girl....as I looked out the window and saw all the snow I was very excited to get all bundled up and put on my boots! If you live in an area with alot of snow and slush in the winter these boots are awesome, especially with the Thinsulate lining.



I also realized that when I was posting this, I had posted about LL Bean before. I swear I dont shop there on a regualr basis, but they do have some very traditional New England items that I could not live without, my bean bag and boots included.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Lauren come on down! You're the next winner in "Contest LEB" CONGRATS!!!!!!!

So, finally I picked a name today for the "Do You Love It" give away contest, and Lauren was the big winner!!

I just want to thank everyone VERY MUCH for the awesome advice you gave me. Everything you all said was perfect and exactly what I was looking for, sometimes it just takes an outside eye to give some good advice. I plan to make some changes to my etsy store and hopefully get things moving along a little. So agian thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Lauren email me with your address so I can get this into the mail for you right away!

Let it Snow...

We're hunkering down here in Boston (did I just say hunkering), waiting out this lovely snow storm. I'm curled up on my couch, all nice and warm reading this awesome book that Kay sent me as the second part of the contest prize I won awhile back. Thank you Kay, I LOVE it!!

It looks like this outside already, ok well not really, but almost.

photo from boston.com

One More Day....

Since we are about to get dumped on with snow here in the Northeast, and I won't be making it to the post office today as planned, I am extending the contest one more day! Also, because I want to see if anyone else out there has any good advice for me too :)

So, again here are the prizes

(a spool of white satin ribbon, some kelly green gloves from J Crew, some of my very own stationary, sterling silver pearl earrings, and a surprise gift)

Just leave me a message (here or in the post below, I will add everyone together) with some advice you have for me on my Etsy Store. How can I make it better? How can I get my name out there more? What should I make more of / less of? Any cute ideas for me or any other words of advice?
Thanks again everyone...I really do appreciate it! I'll be announcing the winner some time this weekend :)

Spiced Nuts, A Makeover Story

I am a stickler for keeping many of the same traditions year over year. One of those traditions is my Dads favorite...my spiced nuts! Every year at Christmas I buy a ton of mixed nuts (NO PEANUTS for this recipe, yucky!) and whip up batches and batches of my spiced nuts. I take lots to give to my Dad, but I also give away many containers too. I came up with this cute way to dress up the nuts container when I'm giving them as hostess gifts or part of a present. Ok, so this may not be "my" recipe, and dressing up the containers may be "old news" , but I think its pretty damn awesome!

The nuts container before (I usually just buy the mixed containers of nuts, but this container snuck in there on accident so I just mixed them all together when baking)

All the containers after...all dressed up for Christmas and ready to give away.

I just used scraps of left over wrapping paper and satin ribbon. I will put a tag on them as well a la Martha that says "Spiced Nuts - Made For You by LEB" or something to that nature :)

One week left till Christmas- woooo hoooo!!

PS- I just realized I don't have the recipe with me, but if anyone wants it I can post it later on today- just let me know.

Deck My Halls

I got most of my presents wrapped last night and realized I had not taken any pictures of all my Christmas decor up, so here are a few to enjoy!

I didnt realize I was going with a green and silver theme, but I love the color combo under my tree.

The pantone teacup from Camila and some new bone/shell boxes I picked up at Homegoods. On top of the boxes is the new flower frog I picked up antiquing.


I didn't end up doing the paperwhites this year, but my amaryllis finally bloomed and it looks awesome.

One side of the mantle with the boxwood arrangements I threw together.

Here are the boxwood arrangements up close. I threw in some metallic green berry thingies I had, you can kinda see them in there.

My favorite Christmas decor, silver glass ornaments

** Don't forget to leave your comment in the post below as well. There are fun prizes to be won!

PS- and I don't care if you have won a prize before, I'm making this for everyone!

My turn for the "Do you love it?" Give-Away

A couple of weeks ago I won the "Do you love it?" pass it on give-away from High-Heeled Foot in the Door . She sent me some amazing prizes that I absolutely LOVE!! So, now it is my turn (better late than never I know) to do the "pass it on" part and I'm hosting my own contest full of fun prizes to win!

Here is how it works- If you read my blog on a daily basis you know that I just opened an Etsy Store, wooohooo!! I've been working hard to get everything up there and make cute, creative things that I think people would like. SO- to participate in this contest all you have to do is leave me a comment with some advice on how to make my store better, what I should make more of / less of, how I can get the word out there and market my store more, or any piece of business advice you may have for me.

I will draw a name on December 19th so I can hopefully get the prize out to the right person in time for the holidays. The key word here is HOPEFULLY, I will try my best but don't hate me if it doesn't get there on time- just think of it as an extension of the holiday :)

OK, onto the prizes:

a close up of the earrings

1. A spool of white satin ribbon (I think it is 50 yards, I can't remember at the moment). I had posted before about Papermart, a favorite secret source of mine for satin ribbon. Well, now you can have your own stash of white ribbon to adorn all those pretty packages for the holidays.

2. A pair of beautiful sterling silver pearl earrings. A simple, classic staple every girl must have in her wardrobe. I love these earrings because they are a little bigger in size and make quite the statement when dressing up to go out or just hanging in jeans and a t-shirt.

3. A pair of cozy kelly green gloves from J Crew. These are so soft and warm, they are sure to be perfect for those cool winter nights.

4. A set of my own handmade stationary. This set includes 5 kelly green cards with an embossed orange glittery fish on the front and lined envelopes with a matching polka dot paper. Super cute for a hand written note to a friend!

5. A surprise, I have not figured out the last part of the prize but it will be something creative!

There you have it, all the prizes to be won... I hope you love them as much as I do! So leave your comment by the 19th to be entered into this fabulous contest!

The Economy Sucks Gift Guide for Her

So we all know whats going on in the world today, but the Holiday spirit still lives on...even if it doesn't show it in our wallets or bank accounts anymore. Here are some cute things that I would put on the Under $100(ish) gift list for her:
I'll start with the most expensive, coming in at $90...


Every girl knows what a little blue box means...Tiffany! This sterling silver key holder is the perfect way to give the little blue box with out breaking the bank. I've had mine for years, and love it!


Love expensive candles, but without the expensive price tag? Ann Taylor Loft is offering Seda France candles at around $32, hurry because they are even 30% off right now too!


After a long day at work, or just hanging out every girl needs cute PJ's. These are from the Gap


I love the day all my magazines come in the mail, a gift subscription costs under $20 and sometimes when you order a gift subscription you can even get one for yourself :)


A soft throw is always key for those cold nights curling up on the couch, Company C has a wide range of colors for any decor.


For the city girl on the go, a T Pass holder (or metro, or whatever train you ride) is a necessity. This one from Kate Spade is super cute.


Even if you can no longer afford to go to the spa...this Bliss gift set will make her feel like she is at the spa at home.



Some handmade stationary to write all those holiday thank you notes is the perfect little luxury to always have around (sorry I had to do it :) )


There you have it, the on a budget gift guide...I hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday season so far!

I need to thank two people...

Kay from apartment tbd, etc and Camila from High-Heeled Foot in the Door. Both lovely ladies had contests awhile back and I won! I love contests and I had never won anything fun before, so both times winning were equally exciting!

Kay is from Canada and the awesome prize she sent was a subscription to Domino! She read my mind with this gift because my subscription was about to run out ...but when I won the contest she sent me an email stating my awesome prize and now I don't have to!! Thank you so much Kay for your awesome prize...I will be sure to think of you each time I get my magazine in the mail, its the gift that keeps on giving :)

Camila is from NY and held the awesome "Pass it on" give-away and send these amazing gifts (in a huge box, it was fun to open)

Orange Foo Dogs... I gave a little Christmas makeover with the white bows

This cute Pantone tea cup with some yummy green tea...I didn't make it last night because I would have never slept, so in the picture is my night time tea

A lion ring and this awesome black bracelet- love them both!

Some great Mary Kay lip stuff, I've used it like 10 times already ( since last night, when I got the package)

Also included was the House Beautiful color book, which will be in another holiday picture coming up.

A HUGE THANK YOU to Kay and Camila for some awesome prizes...and I PROMISE that my "Pass it on" contest will be coming up- I have to come up with some things that are just as awesome as all of these...so stay tuned!

Christmas Tree Decor

I've been collecting Christopher Radko ornaments for a long time now. This is only the second year I have had my own tree and been able to put them up. I have so many now, I should probably make sure my homeowners insurance (actually renters) is up to date, because if my tree ever fell over and they all broke I would be one sad little girl...not to mention very poor if I ever had to replace them all.

Here are some of my favs

I love this witch head, especially because its so ugly- the BF hates this one

Two new ones last year- the sailor Santa, and the frog

A very large nutcracker man, this one is like 9 inches tall.

Another frog, and a taxi cab.

Here are some other peoples trees filled with all Radko ornaments...I don't quite have this many, at least not yet. Actually I need to start collecting more of the "Gems" or smaller Radko ornaments to fill up my tree. I have so many huge ones, and there are only so many sturdy branches on a tree to hold them.

So, what kind of ornaments do you collect?

Christmas tree pictures from the Christopher Radko website

Antiquing over Thanksgiving

I forgot to post these pictures from some antiquing/ thrift store shopping my Mom, Grandma and I did over Thanksgiving. Up in Southern NH there are quite a few places to shop, we only hit up a few, but there was lots of nice things at all of them. I only came home with a few books and an antique metal flower frog, but here are some of the fun finds:

Pretty Ironstone

I loved this set, so pretty for a Thanksgiving table setting a la Eddie Ross

Sterling silver plated serving pieces, and some pretty crystal salt cellars

Beautiful alabaster lamps- I was wishing they had two of these, but then again I also was wishing I had an extra room to put them in. They would have been so pretty on either side of a bed, with a different shade of course.

More pretty lamps. I was hoping these would have a nice price tag, but when I saw that they were $170 each, I knew they were not in my budget.

Hopefully I'll do some more thrift shopping and antiquing over my Christmas break....maybe more will come home with me then :)

Got My Tree!!

My Christmas tree is finally up with lights on and decorated, Christmas season is finally in full swing!!

This weekend the BF and my parents went up to Hampton Falls, NH to Tonry Farm to cut down our own tree. I love cutting down my own tree because 1. it lasts alot longer then a tree already cut and 2. half the fun of getting a tree is looking for it yourself in the woods and then cutting it down. I normally would be pro "live" tree (one with a root ball that can be planted after) but they don't make those readily available in the city, and then the issue of where I would plant it when Christmas was over. So, Tonry Farm is a great place to go because they put their land in a Conservation Easement, meaning it will never be developed and will stay a farm forever- yeah for local farmers!

So here is the tree from start to finish

my Dad helping cut it down...he started it and the BF cut it the rest of the way :)

Its a nice tall and skinny tree with lots of room for my large ornaments, just the way I like em' (or actually what we have room for behind the couch)

I forgot to take pics of it up and not decorated because I was so excited to just get started. Here it is all finished and pretty!! The tree was a perfect fit, ok well actually I had to trim a bit from the top for the star to fit...but it just reaches our 9+ foot ceilings- yeah for a big tree!!

We don't have a super nice topper, or any specific tradition yet. Since this is just our second year of having our own tree the star will do for now :)

Some of my Christopher Radko ornaments on the tree.

The tree is actually the only place in my house where bright colors are used during Christmas. The rest of the house follow my moms rules with just Silver, Gold, Cream and Maroon... I gotta keep one of her traditions for myself :)

My sterling silver Paul Revere bowls filled with silver glass ornaments

So excited to have my tree up...with all the work it took, I'll be having it up till March now :)