The Holidays

Yet again, December was another whirlwind of a month. It was fleeting - my sis visited from Scotland, it was my birthday, and Christmas and all that entails. Our Charlie Brown tree turned out gorgeous - 500 string lights and a box of  ornaments later. This was our baby girl's first Christmas - technically its the second but last year she was only a couple months old and we flew out to NC to visit her grandparents. So it was special, to start our own traditions. The past month was also the beginning of this winter's deep freeze - the coldest one we've had yet - making it nearly impossible and mostly unbearable to be outside. As the new year approaches, I'm looking forward to making steps toward our goals of moving to Europe and of course, to blogging more!

Merry Christmas

Oh Christmas Tree

My husband made a great suggestion - that we should cut our own Christmas tree this year. It was the best idea ever - what better way to celebrate our daughter's first Christmas than to start our own family tradition. I'd been manning the weather reports for weeks because what would even more perfect than cutting your own tree - doing it in the snow of course! And snow it did last week. Unfortunately, it was cold. Real cold. 0 degrees cold. The weather looked brutal the whole of December, so this weekend was our only chance to brave the snow and cold. Krueger's Christmas tree farm luckily was only 30 minutes away. It couldn't have been more charming - cozy cottage sheds, ski lifts and sleighs and even Santa Claus warming himself in front of the fire. My hubz and little girl seemed pretty nice and toasty but I made the mistake of wearing wellies without any lining, so by the time we got our tree, after five minutes, I was so over it. Hubz was having a jolly old time in his parka and badass Sorel snowboots, and wanted to go further into the forest, but as I couldn't feel my toes, and was worrying that my little polar bear might be getting frostbitten, I barked "we're done!" and hightailed it back the warming house. And that, was our first year tradition. Let's hope we have a heat wave next year.

Cheers!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I must admit, the first snowfall of the year is glorious - even our front yard became a winter wonderland. We quickly went outside and frolicked in the first snow of the season. No question about it, it's going to be a white Christmas this year.

I'd been shopping around for a snowsuit for little E for a while and finally  bought a gorgeous faux fur hooded Ralph Lauren snowsuit but apparently, it's made for giant Swedes because the size 24 months is 4 feet tall (!!!). My little bean wouldn't fit in it until fifth grade maybe. Luckily I found an even better snowsuit from Mini Rodini from Blue Carrot Boutique and it couldn't be any cuter. All of December looks like a subzero cold snap so most of our outfits will be little beady eyes peaking out from being tufts of hooded fur. Well, what better reason to shop for the winter.

Let the holidays begin! Cheers!

Coat Twenty-29 from Yoox
Hat Cossack faux fur hat from Topshop
Pants J. Crew
Boots Hunter
Baby snowsuit Mini Rodini
Baby boots Tundra
Baby mittens Janie and Jack

20 GUEST ROOM ESSENTIALS

Fabric shade / Waterworks bath accessory / White bed linen / Cotton bath towel / Acrylic blanket / Crate and Barrel glass carafe / LSA International home decor, $26 / Window mirror / Fragrance candle, $64 / Signature Chocolate Truffles Gift Box GODIVA / Linea robe, $81 / Ethan Allen king size bed frame / Lacquer furniture / Furniture / Kai perfume oil / Graphic Image Vogue Covers / Canvas Double-sided 6-foot Amalfi and Riviera Room Divider (China) / IKEA EGEBY Rug, flatwoven, medium brown / Pottery Barn Blacksmith Clothes Rack / IKEA Smycka / Bedeck Sanctuary slippers one size whi, $23 / GARDENING 1950s Book Collection, Decorative Books, WildFlowers,...

We've lived in this house for years and not once has anyone visited, except for my my mother in law once when our girl was born, but we stuffed the futon in the nursery and called it a day. Sadly, I've invited my sister in law and her family to visit us this year for Christmas but she's rebuffed me more times than I can count. Why wouldn't anyone want to spend a holiday freezing their asses off here in the tundra, right? So, much to my sheer delight, some old friends are visiting from out of town - from Orlando no less! The average temps there are in the 80s this week. I asked my husband when they confirmed the dates - "are you sure they are coming to visit us... in NOVEMBER?" They're either crazy or in for a big surprise, so as to lessen the blow of the harsh weather outside, my project this week is to convert our dank basement corner into a warm inviting guest room. As has been said, if you build it, more might come, right? I will be covering the before/after when all is said and done.

Misty morning

Days like this, I dream of Scotland.

Oktoberfest in tartan and feathers

Rain, rain, go away

Silk and romance

I'm in love - with a shirt that is.

Bisou Bisou

We've been so busy the past several years that life is really passing us by way too fast.

Champagne Sunday ~ La bonne vie

As much as I love summer, fall and spring come in a close second.

Sushi downtown

The perks of having your own business is that you can skip out of work whenever you want to...

Circus is in town...

... Cirque du Soleil that is.

apple picking

Minnesota is not exactly known as the land of fruit and honey, but two things it does have - corn and apples.  This particular orchard in Afton has both - a corn maze, apple orchards, even strawberry and raspberries and pumpkins! As a child I used to dream of having a backyard full of fruit trees - oranges and lemons and pears and the occasional palm. These things my grandmother had in tropics a plenty - but back home - not so much. So when autumn comes around, I'm jumping with for harvest season. Even better this year that we get to introduce my baby girl to her first apple picking - she got first dibs to fresh apple tasting. 

We wanted to get to everything this time around, but with two feisty doggies and fussy 13 month old, we'll have to go back for the pumpkins.

Cheers!