Color Focus

So since I have been doing the whole blogging thing for a few months now, I figured I would take the next step in my blogging career and start writing a weekly feature blog. I debated for a little while as to what the topic of my weekly feature blog should be and then it dawned on me that it should be COLOR! I love bright colors, I love muted colors, I love combining colors and re-combining them. Sometimes I like the absence of color and other times I like the overflow of colors.

Anywho, on to the color focus of the week...G R E E N

One of my fashion wishes is that I looked good in green...but I don't. This ultimately makes every St. Patrick's day outfit decision a painful one. For example, last year I wore this blue/green striped situation on St. Patrick's day but that was also the day that my bestie got engaged so luckily that wonderfulness overshadowed the fact that I wasn't really wearing green.

Here I am in my not-so-green shirt
with my best friend and best friend-in-law and  of course the hubs!

Even though I can't rock the green on my person, I can certainly rock it in my home. Perfect example, the throw that hangs out on my couch. It is kind of a light lime green which matches perfectly with our dark red couches.

Lacoste Crocknit Throw

Here is another picture of a great green throw on a crisp white bed

Courtesy of COCOCOZY

You know where else green looks good? The kitchen! And why? Because it matches the lettuce as can be seen in this photo

Courtesy of Luxefinds

Since I have found lots of green inspiration recently, I have put together a collage to show it off. Enjoy!

Stuck in traffic?

So yesterday the hubs and I decided to venture to the Wrentham Outlets (side note - I could spend many many paychecks at the Bloomingdale's Outlet)and when we got off the exit, we were promptly stuck in traffic. Therefore, after we got home I went to The Google and looked up fun things to do while stuck in traffic. Here is the best of what I found:

1. Shout at people "I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND"

2. Headbang to no music

3. Set up a pool in the bed of a truck and swim in it

4. Get out of the car and have a picnic on the roof of your car

5. Make eye contact with another driver then pick your nose vigorously

6. Have a full blown existential crisis

Stuck in traffic ideas courtesy of Funny.com and Spike.com

Funny traffic photo #1

Funny traffic photo #2

Famille Summerbelle

OK, I have to tell you all about this fabulous website, Famille Summerbelle.

To quote their website:

The inspiration for the business comes from the combination of family life experiences and a love of design and interior decoration. It started as a way of creating the things that we wanted for our own home.

 Needless to say, I would invite Simon Summerscales and Julie Marabelle (side note -  FABULOUS names) to decorate my home any day. Here are a few of their creations that I absolutely adore and would not be opposed to receiving as a gift, if anyone out there would like to buy me presents : )


London Map


Paris Map


Paris Ribbon Tape


Tweet Tea Towel


Source - Famille Summerbelle]

New Year's Resolutions

For all of you out there that came up with a New Year's resolution that you will promptly start in the new year...try this. Start it right now. Starting something on January 1st will not make you do it more or better or stick with it so just start doing whatever you said you were going to do right now, get a little jump start if you will. You will thank yourself later, I promise!



P.S. If you are looking for a resolution, here is a great one!

The little red dress

You ladies out there are all no doubt looking for the perfect outfit to ring in the new year. Why not a little red dress?
 

Marchesa Notte dress

 

Love Carmen dress



BB Dakota Suzie dress



Diane von Furstenberg Hazina dress

 Now I would not want to leave my gentlemanly readers out here, so here are some red looks that will make you stand out from the crowd



An awesome red bow tie from the Mens Wearhouse

Also, check out this one from the Tie Bar



This sexy mock neck sweater from Bloomingdale's 





Festivus in a Nutshell

Enjoy and Happy Festivus to all!!

Christmas around the world

It is always fascinating to me to see how holidays are celebrated in other countries. For example, in Russia, people give presents on New Year's Eve. This is a tradition that I grew up with and adhere to even now. I read two separate articles in the New York Time's travel section this morning which really got me thinking about how wonderful it would be to celebrate Christmas in another country, probably somewhere in Europe. A Catalan Christmas described the holiday season in Barcelona where Santas jump into the Mediterranean Sea and everyone parties for weeks straight while awaiting the Epipheny. The second article I read described 36 hours in Salzburg, Austria - home of Mozart and of course The Sound of Music! Check out the photo below of shoppers at the Christmas Market picking out ornaments...I mean, how beautiful and fancy are those things?! And there are just so many of them!

The guy in the glasses looks like Austrian Gary Oldman

If this post was to have a moral I think it would be for everyone out there to have a Merry Christmas regardless of where you are and how you celebrate. Ho Ho Ho!

P.S. It's also the third night of Hanukkah, light those menorahs!

Old school menorah, less candles

The perfect dining room

While perusing the Architectural Digest website, I found the perfect dining room.

What I think makes it the perfect dining room:

1. The huge painting that takes up almost an entire wall

2. The fact that it is also a library complete with cool ladder to reach your books on the top shelf

3. The fact that there is a red chair involved

4. The chairs look quite comfortable and are a nice subtle color

5. The large wooden table

6. Did I mention that this is also the library??

This room is but one of the many that make up the Park Avenue apartment of author and historian Barbara Goldsmith. Check out her digs here.

Oh, also - I found the perfect bedroom

Design your own bedding

Isn't it funny where one can find inspiration? I was inspired to write this post about designing your own bedding by the pillowcase of my future best friend-in-law who created his own pillowcase as a young lad and now sleeps on it every night. I love the idea of taking something fairly standard and making it your own - even if it's just picking out prints and colors for your duvet, you can still make it your own and it will be better because of it.

First off, a plug: I found a great site called Inmod that sells wonderfully designed items of a modern variety. It's a great place to online window shop and they are having a pretty good sale right now as well.

This site is also where I found the Inmod design studio, an interactive website that allows you to pick from a huge selection of designs, colors, and fabrics to come up with the perfect bedding set for you.

Here are a few designs that I came up with while playing around on the site:

PB Teen also offers a similar service here.

Oh, and by the way - here is the pillow that started it all:

Can you guess what his name is?

The hills are alive...

...with what else but the Sound of Music! The purpose of this post is two-fold:
1. I love the Sound of Music wicked big time and I could talk about it for days if someong would just let me
2. I want everyone out there to love the Sound of Music too!

Ok, the basics:
The movie is about Fraulein Maria (as she will come to be called) who leaves her post as a nun to follow her dreams of becoming a governess (kidding, it wasn't her dream, the Reverand Mother made her go). Anywho, she goes to work for the Von Trapp family, the patriarch of which is Captain Georg Von Trapp. He has seven kids (Liesl, Frederick, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretel) and they have been kind of a pain in the tuchus to their previous governesses which they attempt again with Maria by playing harmless little pranks on her. Couple that with the Captain's "no fun" rule and you have the makings of a wonderful musical! So it's kind of clear from the beginning that the Captain and Maria are crushin' on one another but PROBLEM he is engaged to be married to Baroness Schrader (who is a very lovely woman, but let's face it - just not as good for the Captain as Maria is). There is a lot of singing and dancing to get through before (SPOILER ALERT) the captain and Maria finally get together and have a big snazzy wedding at the abby where Maria was once a nun. Unfortunately for them, the Nazis want the captain to serve in their Navy and since he refuses to do so, the family must escape Austria and climb over the alps to get to the safety of Switzerland which as we all know, just stays out of things.

Ok, on to the singing and the dancing:
 There are many beautiful songs in this movie (which was originally a thatrical musical and then moved to the big screen in the 1960's by director Robert Wise) that it would be hard to pick just one but here are a few of my faves:


A scene from the song "I Have Confidence"
with the REAL Maria Von Trapp circled in the background



A scene from the song "Edelweiss".
A beautiful song and my mom's favorite



"So Long, Farewell" sung at the end of the party scene
which ended tape #1 of the movie (for those that had it on VHS like I did!) 

Ok, now on to the truth:
It saddens me to say that the events as they unfold in The Sound of Music are not exactly what you would call historically accurate. The basic story holds true. Yes, Maria was their teacher (not even really a governess). Yes, she married the captain. Yes, they lived in Austria, but Agathe Von Trapp (one of the Von Trapp children portrayed in the movie) will tell you, "the family did not cross the alps to escape Austria. They crossed the street and boarded a train". The captain, was also not portrayed in a favorable light. In the movie he was played by the great Christopher Plummer as cold and serious but in real life, he was very loving and very musical (which is why in the second half of the film, the captain gets all lovey dovey when he hears the children singing).
In reality, Maria and Georg and their brood packed it up and moved to Stowe, Vermont where they started a farm which they would eventually turn into a hotel. Long story short, they built it, it burned down, they built it again and there is stands today, The Trapp Family Lodge. Oh it is a glorious glorious place. I was fortunate enough to go visit it for a short while this past summer while spending the weekend in Stowe and all I want to do is go back and actually stay there this time. Seriously, go to their website and tell me...does this not look like a fabulous place to visit and relax? No matter the season, it looks perfect!

I'm kind of surprised it took me this long to get a Sound of Music blog post up but here it is, I will no doubt post about it again, hopefully one of those posts will be my review of my stay there (fingers crossed that the hubs is reading this and wants to take me).

P.S. Here they all are on Oprah!


P.P.S. Thanks Colleen for inspiring this post!

Source - http://www.trappfamily.com/

Warm your tootsies...

...with these warm fuzzies


Fabulous slippers for the guy who has it all (but loves anything with a Hugo Boss label)


Love these for when you are feeling fancy


Oooooh, tres chic

Baby it's cold outside

It's FINALLY cold outside which means I need sweaters. Here are some cuties from around the net.


Oversized knitted cardigan. I'm pretty sure that I would look like a beached whale in it but if you look like the manikin above, you could probably pull it off. The length is great though, and the print is loud but festive


Button sweater. Love the stripes and the neckline


Long sleeved sweater with a surprise hoodie in the back! love it!


Striped cashmere sweater. Love gray and black stripes and a turtleneck for those super wintery nights


Nordic sweater. Something cute to wear to your next ugly sweater party



Colorful cashmere argyle sweater. Love the deep neckline and pops of color

A well set table

Historically, my job when my parents would have company over was to set the table. Not to brag, but I'm pretty good at it. My signature move is to arrange the regular glass, the wine glass, and the shot glass in a circular type shape around the larger plate which is both a space saver and aesthetically pleasing. I also like to spice things up with a brightly colored napkin (side note, this is why I have to make quarterly trips to Ikea).
For those of you that read my gift guide, you probably saw my plug for Z Gallerie. Every time Kerri and I go there, we are blown away by the dining room tables that they have on display there not only because of the tables themselves but also because they are so well decorated. Therefore, I have put together a collage of well set tables. I hope you all enjoy and are inspired to step it up a notch next time you are setting the table (like perhaps for the upcoming Chrismukkah holiday!!)

Table designs by Z Gallerie and Jonathan Adler

In an attempt to increase male readership...

...here are some quotes from the wisest of them all, Yoda.
(Please note, this post was inspired by the little Yoda figurine that stands next to Chris' computer and by no way means that I watch Star Wars, like Star Wars, or am promoting the movie in any way).

⌘ 'Do or do not...there is no try"

⌘ "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering"

⌘ "Size matters not...Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?"

⌘ "Named must your fear be before banish it you can"

Flowerless bouquets

So I logged on to Pinterest and the first thing I saw was a beautiful bouquet made out of artichokes, thistle, and kale. This picture was taken at a winter wedding but I think bouquets made out of things other than flowers can be really unique and beautiful. Here are some examples I have found.

Artichokes, thistle, and kale

Vintage Jewelry

Strawberries, lettuce, and peppers

More jewelry and feathers and ribbon

Apples and greenery

Be flexible

Good stretching just makes good sense. When I was young and limber, I could do things like this:


And this:



Now that I am working on my flexibility again and using it to help boost my weight loss, here are a few tips to improving your flexibility that I have found to be useful.

To stretch your upper body:


1. Place your hands on the back of your head and gently push it forward with your chin tucked. Hold for five seconds.

2. Now place the heels of your hands on your chin, fingers pointing toward your ears. Gently push your head back. Hold for five seconds.

3. Rest your right hand on the top of your head and gently press your right ear toward your right shoulder. Hold for five seconds. Repeat on the other side.

4. Raise your arms and clasp your hands above your head; imagine lifting and lengthening your spine. As you bend to the left, release your hands. Grasp your right elbow with your left hand and pull it to the left. Hold for five seconds. Come back to the center and repeat on the right side.


To stretch your back:


1. Lie on your stomach, legs straight and feet shoulder-width apart.

2. Place your hands on the floor under your shoulders and slowly lift your chest up. Hold for 10 seconds.

3. Come to a standing position with feet shoulder-width apart and pointed to the right. Lift the toes of your right foot off the ground, bend at the hip, and fold your body over. Hold for 10 seconds.

4. Come back to a standing position and repeat on the left side with toes pointing to the left.


To stretch your lower body:


1. Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you.

2. Lift your right leg off the floor, holding it with both hands. Flex your foot and hold for five seconds. Lower and switch legs.

3. While still seated, bend your right knee and lift your leg. Pull your knee to your chest. Flex your foot and hold for five seconds. Lower your right leg and repeat with the left.


Read the entire article here and check out a lot more great stuff at Real Simple

Sushi on a conveyor belt...rejoice!

This totally reminds me of Yo! Sushi, where Chris Baughman and I dined while on the other side of the pond on our honeymoon.
Currently at the Natick Mall but coming soon to South Shore Plaza!
Hooray!

Read the article here

The best ornaments

I'm proud of our little Christmas tree. This is only the 4th year that I have decorated a tree since being of the Jewish Persuasion I have had no reason to before I started shacking up with a gentile. I do, however, have a strict white and silver color rule. I feel like I am making up for years of anal retentive Christmas tree decorating by prohibiting any ornaments other than those of the white and silver variety. But it's my tree...so I do what I want. That's not to say that I don't like ornaments of other colors, I do...I just don't allow them on my tree but I do allow them in my blog. So please to enjoy some of the beautiful ornaments I have found on the interweb.


Here is a shot of our little tree

The following finds are from Crate and Barrel:

Glitter striped ball ornaments


A pickle ornament. I mean COME ONE...how awesome!


I think a great way to capture the memory of a special event like a marriage or a baby being born is with a framed ornament of the occasion. There is one one our tree with our wedding photo in it


Something to remind me of the motherland


Love this! Got one last year!


A moose wearing a cute hoodie...very representative of winter


This glitter frame ornament from Pottery Barn adds just the right amount of sparkle

Last year, my female parental unit brought us back some beautiful glass german ornaments. I have been looking online to find something equally as beautiful but have not been successful. Nevertheless, here are some of the nicer things I have found.


Multicolored pine cone ornament


Stinky blue cheese ornament!

Finally, I present to you....the world's most expensive ornament (according to the my most recent google search)

Here are some of the stats on this pricey treasure:

• Made by Hallmark Jewelers in the UK
• Made with 500 diamonds, three of which are at least 1 carat
• Also made with 188 rubies
• It took almost a year to construct
• It costs $136,000!!!!!!!!

Click here to read all about it!