Kitchen Perfection

It's after 2 a.m., and I should be sleeping. Instead, I'm up and can't stop drooling over this kitchen...

{from Kristin Buckingham}

Enlarge the image to see the insanely perfect details. This is truly my dream kitchen...I think Kristin Buckingham must have pulled it out of my head and unfortunately placed it in someone else's home. Definitely stuffing this one in the "someday if we build..." file.

LOVING This Brilliant Idea!!!

I'm about to cry, I'm so in love and aching to try this idea from little green notebook.

I spied this amazing chest at Wisteria and fell head over heels. It's completely out of my price range for one, let alone ever wanting two to act as bedside tables. After a few ooooohs, ahhhhhs and sobs, I went ahead and catalogued it into the "never gonna happen" file.

So when I stumbled across the nifty post about how to gild a dresser, I was beyond beyond psyched. Pretty amazing results! Here is the "before" chest purchased at Home Goods, at deep discount. Only $75!

Then with a little of this...

And a bit of that...

Viola!!

While it may not be exactly the same as the beautiful piece from Wisteria, it's a rockin' stand in, with a much nicer price tag! Be sure to check out the step-by-step tutorial from little green notebook, and while you're there, stay around for a bit because she's got a BE-A-UTIFUL little blog.

Happy gilding, do-it-yourselfers!

P.S. If you're wanting some more A-MAZING do-it-yourself projects, check these out! {all found on little green notebook, see above links}...

Book Display from Rain Gutters {this hits close to home, as I'm doing something very similar for my son's room}

Ikea Dresser, Redefined

Spruced-up Campaign Furniture

Christmas Cookie Craziness! {in a good way!}

I have every intention of baking and decorating Christmas cookies this week with my little fella {those pictured above are from the big talent at Cookie Craze}, and this video that I happily came across on the Bake it Pretty blog could not have been discovered at a better time!

If you bake a lot of cookies, you may know about this technique already, but for me it's a life-changer! Check it out!

And for more great information on cookie decorating, check out these tutorials from Karen's Cookies.

Winter Radiance

Most people know that Anthropologie sends GREAT catalogues and direct mail pieces...and it looks like their email blasts are catching up!

I received a brilliant email from them this morning, titled "Incandescent Outfits". I love that word, "incandescent"...thanks Keira Knightly {as Elisabeth Bennet in the most recent Pride and Prejudice movie} for introducing me to it a few years back!

In*can*des*cent: white, glowing, or luminous...strikingly bright, radiant, or clear...marked by brilliance...characterized by glowing zeal

There was no way this message was going to the trash bin without at least a teensy tiny peek. Probably should have avoided it, because the artsy ensembles created by the brilliant heads at Anthro are indeed deserving of the email's title, and have left me completely coveting some new clothing {as if I need any more!}...

There were 9 total outfits showcased, and these are definitely my top 3. I love every inch of each one!

It's particularly dangerous having this store a mere 20 minutes from my front door. I'm going to try really, really hard not to go anywhere near it, for fear all that incandescence will suck me in like a moth drawn to a flame.

{le sigh}

Aren't they beautiful, though? It's fun to admire from a safe distance...

Festive Table

I am absolutely adoring this festive sweets table, designed by Kelly over at yes, please {click on the photos to enlarge}. It's a perfectly soft pallet, and the snowball garlands plus the amazing meringue topiary are to die for! VERY nicely done, Kelly!

Sneak Peek: Storyteller Photography Session

As a huge fan of good photography, I'm thrilled to share with you a very tiny sneak peek at our photo shoot with the fabulous Jenn of Storyteller Photography...

I'd add more photos, but I don't want to steal any thunder from our Christmas cards that will be going out soon...

We first started trying to book our session with Storyteller in November, and literally got rained out twice, and then fogged and frozen out on separate occasions. Finally, yesterday {Wednesday} we decided that despite the below freezing temperatures we were going to go for it! 15 minutes braving the nasty cold, and surely we would be able to get one or two decent photos to put on a Christmas card, right?

Well, as usual, Jenn somehow worked her amazing magic, and after less than 20 minutes out in the bitter cold, she had an incredible selection of pictures for us to choose from. I ordered 9 different ones to frame at home, and then 4 more for the card. I don't know how she does it, but it's pretty amazing! If you're in the DFW area, I highly recommend booking Jenn for your next family photo...this was our forth session with her and she has always done an incredible job!

Hope those of you who will be receiving Christmas cards from us this year enjoy them...crossing my fingers that I'll have them all addressed and in the mail before the 25th.

And now I better head to bedfordshire, considering my 5:30 AM wake-up call {because according to an employee I chatted up this afternoon, being at Toys R US when the doors open at 6:00 in the morning is the only way I'm going to come out of there victorious this year. Wish me luck...I've only got two more things to get for my son's Christmas and then I'm DONE with all my elf-errands! Yay!}

Pretty Present Presentation...

Attribute it to my deeply embedded "Martha Stewart" gene, but a beautifully wrapped gift gives me way too much pleasure. Without a doubt, one of my very favorite parts of the holiday season is sitting in my room with a good glass of wine, surrounded by pretty paper and embellishments, wrapping away for hours with old Christmas movies playing end upon end.

I'm always looking for creative ways to present gifts, and I've loved scoping out the goods on Etsy this year. Here are a few of my hand-made favorites...

This Pom Pom set is oh-so-fun and can be used a number of different ways, in addition to gift wrapping:

{Pom Pom Set from Glitter for Breakfast}

These beautiful buckles are so unique...with the special quality of letterpress to boot!:

{Letterpress Buckles w/ Ribbon from d. Sharp}

I always like to add an ornament to my wrapping job to serve double-duty as a tag and a keepsake. These custom pieces are so gorgeous!:

{Custom Mr. & Mrs. Ornament from Kis for Calligraphy}

{Joyeux Noel from Paper Eclectiques}

Happy wrapping! And for any of you friends and family who know how crazy I get about pretty packaging, I will happily wrap your gifts for you...just send 'em on over, along with a good bottle of vino! ;o)

Kissing Fall Goodbye

I woke up this morning and found this in my backyard...

Not quite a winter wonderland, but for Texas it's pretty darn good. Apparently the snow was really swirling in the air this morning around sunrise. I would know nothing of that because I'm never up anywhere near sunrise, but my hubby swears it was amazing.

All the snow had me feeling guilty that it's already December, already blizzard-ing outside ;o) and I never did post one single fall-themed item this year. Sad, I know. Please accept the below photos as my apology for not being a better blogging buddy.

I actually found these two beauties on one of my favorite blogs, cakewrecks. {If you haven't checked it out, this is a must! I am daily in stitches over the photos and commentary.}

These two cakes don't fall into the wreck category...aren't they simply beautiful? Two perfect confections.

Anyway, adios, Autumn! I'll try to be better to you next year.

Twilight Craziness

A little over a month ago, I was sitting in the airport waiting on a flight that had been delayed over three hours when I ducked into a bookstore to pass the time. I had no intention of walking out with the first book in the Twilight series, but somehow it happened. I actually didn't even start reading it until I was on my return flight home a few days later. In the last half-hour on the plane, when I'd exhausted the bad tabloids I'd also had with me, I picked it up and after a few short chapters I was completely hooked.

A week later, I'd read all four books in the series. My sweet husband was interested enough to know what had kept me from piles of laundry and cooking up any dinner for him during that seven days, so we rented the Twilight movie, which both of us thoroughly enjoyed.

Eagerly anticipating the release of New Moon -- the film adaptation from the series' second book -- I was thrilled when my sister Stephanie said she was going to host a premiere party. She was generous enough to let me get completely carried away helping her with the details. These began with invitations Stephanie Meyer would be proud of, then had me relabeling Jones' Black Cherry sodas to be a little more vampy, and much later ended by carefully dripping red food coloring over cupcakes...

{my sister Stephanie, the host and her over-eager party help!}

{a few of the beautiful party people}

Stephanie served Italian food {Palio's Pizza...yummmmm!} while we watched the Twilight movie at her apartment, which was a great parallel the Italian cuisine on Bella & Edward's first date in the book {yes we're that obsessed and unashamed} :o). We sipped deep red cosmos and satisfied our sweet tooth with blood {or red food coloring} spattered red velvet cupcakes. We all asserted our stances on either team Edward or team Jacob.

After the dinner + movie, our little coven traveled to the movie theatre to see New Moon. It was sooooo much fun watching along with the hundreds of other screaming, overly enthusiastic teenage to middle age women {and a few guys!}.

To say I had fun at Stephanie's little get together is an understatement! We had such a great night, and even my hubby is not-so-secretly hoping to see New Moon for himself. We will definitely be having another party when Eclipse {the next book in the series turned film} is released, and maybe next time we'll invite the guys {because they know they want to come!}.

**The movie quotes I printed off and framed for the party were designed by the marvelous genius at hostess...check out my blog list {left} for the link, and find more brilliant Twilight theme party ideas on her fabulous blog.