Loving...

This crazy lovely dress + sparkly cardigan combo...

Erika's perfect "i love paris" doll...

Her bangs, which are making me consider bangs in a whole new way...not non-committal, side swept numbers, but full-on, straight up, owning it bangs. Thoughts?

Chelsea's fantastic styling for Tokketok...

These insanely gorgeous Dries Van Noten shoes...

and Josh Blackwell's stunning "plastic baskets"...both via keep feeling fascination, which, it should be noted, I'm really loving lately.

Flora's watercolor calendar. One of the best calendars yet. Awesome.

Super clever chalkboard place mats...a perfect kiddo gift. (thanks Jane!) and speaking of gifts, I'm posting gift guides tomorrow! Stay tuned.

Some Scenes From The Weekend + The Winners...

Audrey set up a "dinner party" in the den for the kiddos...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree with that one...

The adults in action...

Oh my the food...It feels like we've been on a week long eating binge, as we had two little dinner parties prior to Thanksgiving to prime our appetites for the big day (or at least that's what I'm telling myself).

Wednesday night I made my beloved Alice Waters carrot soup and a pretty rockin' (if I do say so myself) cranberry upside down cake (it redeemed my Meyer lemon disaster) for Christine and Steve and Lucia and Pete. The girlies (all six of them) formed a gang of raucous princesses within five minutes of being together. I love watching how quickly kiddos can fall-in and just start having a blast. I think adults should do that more, yes?

We had a leisurely Thanksgiving morning noshing on the leftover cranberry cake while watching the parade on TV and then set-off for a couple of days with Bryan's extended family involving hayrides, and catching up by the fire, and s'mores, and muddy (Audrey) adventures, and yep...eating...lots and lots of eating.

It was good times.

***

And now for the winners for the Debbie Carlos poster giveaway...Congrats Erin and Natalie Marie!!

Hope you had a splendid holiday friends!

A Few Random Bits Before Thanksgiving...

First up...if you happen to have come into possession of a lovely clutch of Meyer lemons and by some chance decide to make Alice Waters' (27 step) Meyer lemon cake, just don't accidentally use whole wheat pastry flour.

I may have done this...and it may have made my otherwise lovely cake taste "earthy" (not in a good way) and odd.

Just trying to make sure it never happens to anyone else. I'm here to help friends.

Next, a reminder that the Debbie Carlos poster giveaway is still in full swing. You have until this Sunday to leave a comment. I'll announce a winner on Monday.

Then in some post turkey day shopping news, hij kids kicks-off their annual Thanksgiving sale on Friday with 25% off the entire site. The sale runs for a week with code "thankful".

And

If you're in Dallas, pop by Little Bean on Friday for some bubbly, sugar cookies and 15% off the entire store. You can also shop the sale online with code "give15".


And finally, but certainly most important, some Thanksgiving thoughts from my dear friend Philip who is no longer with us. I shared this last year too...but it's just too good not to make a yearly appearance.

*****

We are about to celebrate one of our great American holidays, Thanksgiving.

This celebration leads us to give thanks for the many blessings we enjoy in this wonderful country of ours. We have a great deal to celebrate this year. We have our family and good friends to thank for getting through another year.

We are blessed for being here in this country, enjoying a multitude of advantages .We have bountiful food, freedom of thought, religion and politics. We have our health and many intangible things to be thankful for.

As we sit down to our Thanksgiving meal to celebrate the start of our holiday season, let us not forget the wonderful privileges that we enjoy.

We must always enjoy our family and friends around us, and never, ever give up an opportunity to hug and kiss someone we love, each and every day.


Have a wonderful, lovely, simple, cozy holiday friends!

Loving...

This room... the mural, the lamp, the chairs, that credenza. Maybe a "top five of all-time" room, yes? (via the November Vogue and then spotted again via Emma)

Judy's genius rendition of "dress over jeans"... you know how I love me some dress over jeans.

Another stunning space via bldg space...

Michelle's (insanely gorgeous) 2011 calendar. I want it. Bad.

This tunic (or dress for those of you that are more daring gals) from UO....It would fill that sparkly gap in my closet quite nicely.

These perfect shoes from Martin. P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

Allison's neighborhood Zorros...

This artful handmade little turkey...

Scenes from The Weekend...

millie sporting her tunic from chakra... (don't forget there's a 20% discount at chakra through the end of November for my readers with code sl20)

Well friends there was more (slightly) premature holiday merriment this weekend in the form of Christmas tree lightings (not ours, don't worry, I haven't fallen completely off the wagon) and gingerbread cookies and carolers…oh my. I feel like I’m cheating on Thanksgiving.

But it was worth it.

We teamed up with our friends Sara, Todd and Ava on Saturday evening and headed downtown to see the official unveiling of the lights at Neiman Marcus, which was pretty spectacular -- think fireworks and Santa repelling down the side of the store from the roof... We do things big here. It is Texas after all.

We also managed some decidedly more low-key activities in the midst of all the brouhaha. A simple dinner party Friday for our couples book club, a stellar lunch with Millie, lovely cousin Erin and boyfriend Ben at The Meddlesome Moth (followed by a not so low-key visit to the madhouse Etsy holiday sale…holy cow...insanity) and then (maybe the best part of the weekend) we picked all the ripe Meyer lemons off our little tree and combed through a slew of cookbooks searching for a way to give them their full-due. I’m leaning toward Alice Waters’ glazed Meyer Lemon cake. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Hope your weekend was fantastic!

A Happiness Inducing Giveaway

my debbie carlos "happy makers"...

When you’ve had a series of bad days (or in my case weeks), you tend to ruminate a bit on the things that do in fact make you happy. (Oh who am I kidding; I tend to ruminate on this pretty much all. the. time.) I’m especially intrigued by the small but particularly bliss-inducing experiences….you know all those little fleeting moments that when added up comprise a pretty darn happy life.

The trick I suppose is in noticing them. I am trying to focus more on the noticing.

When I am noticing, here’s what I notice (in case you’re wondering, yes, I am trying to set the record for the most uses of the word {or some variation of} “notice” in a blog post)... Besides the music in the car with the windows down and the kiddos dancing which is bar-none the primo happy-maker, there’s the art. I always, always feel amazing when I’m taking in or making (albeit not very good) art.

I am smitten with my Debbie Carlos prints, I love my crazy exuberant Michelle Armas painting that Bryan and I got for Christmas last year, I dream and scheme about how to one day obtain one of Allison V. Smith’s photos (I’ve considered selling plasma, they’re that good), I could move into the DMA (truly, I would happily live at the museum)…And then there was that three-day high I was on after our aforementioned dinner at Pete and Lucia's art-filled home.

I am hard pressed to maintain a funk in the presence of good art. I am officially noticing.

So in the spirit of sharing my one of my all-time happy-makers, I’m doing an artful little Friday giveaway (not my normal Friday M.O. but I’ts all about spreading the joy here friends).

The lovely and talented Debbie Carlos has offered up a poster of your choice to two of my readers.

Like this one...

or how about this one...

Just leave a comment on this post by Sunday the 21st at midnight, and I’ll announce the two winners the following Monday.


p.s. Debbie also has some great specials at her shop -- free shipping (including international orders) when you buy any 2 posters and $7 off + free shipping when you buy any 3 posters.

An Artful House (Literally)

Lucia made the light fixture in the dining room plus many of the pieces of art throughout the house. She purchased most of the photography from the brilliant 20x200...


A couple of weeks ago, our friends Lucia and Pete invited us over for a cozy fall dinner, and it's altogether possible that I was a bit of a rude guest.

The thing is, I was completely and wholly distracted by their insanely awesome house... I couldn't stop snapping photos.

The space is magical, filled with all sorts of amazing original art, found objects, vintage furniture and a slew of other interesting things to ogle. It's also completely inviting and warm (the most important part), an absolute reflection of the two highly creative, intelligent and lovely people that created it and their wonderful daughters Felicity and Ava.

It's definitely one of my happy places, so of course, I had to share it with you guys.

The family's office and den...I love Lucia's inspiration board above the sofa.

The master bedroom's gorgeous dark walls... The large framed feather piece was unearthed at an estate sale for $25.

Sweet Ava and Felicity's room is as magical as the rest of the house...