Happy New Year!!

Best wishes to all of your for the New Year. Here's to 2011!!

{photos via From Me To You, pinterest, designsponge}

Oh and go here to see a round-up of a few bloggers favorite (or favourite..for my Canadian and Australian friends) posts. Jennifer from Rambling Renovators was the fun one who put it together. You may just want to check out her bedroom re-do while you're at it.

simple pleasures

Right now life is so good because of a little hot chocolate, novelty weather and observing kids getting to pet the stringrays for the first time. It's funny that sometimes it is those little things that are most satisfying.

I love that Dutch Brothers makes hot chocolate for kids that is not too hot and comes equipped with whipped cream on top of the straw. We are going back for more today for sure. Weaning oneself off of sugar is over-rated, right? Except if I was being honest I never felt better when I stopped eating sugar for a spell a little over a year ago.

Have a happy last couple of days in 2010.

P.S. - For the few of you wanting to see the squash blossom necklace, there you go. It's a handcrafted beaut if I do say so myself. Bonus points to the husband for pulling off one of the biggest surprises.

hi honeysuckle

Hi new patone color of 2011 on the bathroom wall. I love the floor in the bathroom.

{images from here & here}

{polka dots and purge}

That sure is a nifty rug. If you look closely there is just a smidge of what looks like an ornament tree on that console. Pretty close to how our house looks like right now...Christmas almost all cleaned up. I love to put it up but really love to take it down. Makes me want to purge & organize.

{where is the first image from..any takers, second image via VT Interiors}

{crafting for the New Year}

Throwing a New Years party??? Why not trying incorporating clocks and countdown numbers. All instructions found here. They have a huge bucket @ Whole Foods full of corks and I bet they would donate a few to the corkless crafter:-)

Also homemade party blowers would be a nice touch too. Found here.

{Nelle}

Do you ever find anything where the colors, textures and designs are so beautiful that you just want to create a whole new outfit or a brand new room..or simply just bust out a plastic card to have one shipped to your house?

{above from Nelle but found via Your Style Scout}

P.S. - I would love to sit by the fireplace in my pajamas. Such great overcast & brisk weather we are having..

{image via Timothy Whealon}

{4 ft. dollar bill and a calendar}

Just a few things:

*The guest room AKA as my own personal space room got a coat of Peace & Happiness by Benjamin Moore. The name of the paint is very fitting for my new work space. To think that I usually am not a fan of any shade of purple. We are breaking all kinds of rules over here and it feels good.

*Circled "In God We Trust" in red on the dollar bill and had it blown up to be 4 ft. wide. Money actually is very pretty and now I can really see the details. I am amazed by the work of Gilbert Stuart, the artist behind the dollar bill.

*Framing is so expensive. I am hoping to be able to find a good deal on acrylic rather than glass to frame the large dollar art in. Any ideas?

*I am having a hard time making a decision on bedding.

*Loving the mongolian lamb pillows that were just gifted to me.

*Really excited to use my new seesaw 2011 calendar. It really is such a beautiful calendar. Calendar can be found here. Can you even believe we are almost to a new year?

What's going on with all of you?

P.S. - Best Christmas present ever was given to me by my son who decided to wear "big boys". That is huge potty business over here.

{house of swing arms}

I love it when I find other blogs with interesting things to read and look at. Alcira AKA Nero Chronicles has one of those blogs (you'll love the way she writes) and she recently reminded me about checking out the latest issue of Chicago Homes & Gardens. This month's issue is a good one. Also the above spread reminds me that I must be on the look-out for some really good swing arm light fixtures.

Above space designed by Todd Haley .

All light fixtures from here.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

I truly hope that your holiday season is full of love and joy. Right this very second I'm thinking that the pure love of Christ is one of the main tickets in life and so grateful that we have that example to follow.

Well the below is a little staged scene of one of my favorite Christmas traditions that we had the opportunity to share in this months issue of Arizona Foothills Magazine. In real life (like last night) there was not a fancy tablecloth and my my little boys certainly were not outfitted in blazers but we did gather around the fireplace and by candlelight ate very simple foods like cheese, olives, dates, oranges, grapes, bread and soup. I love this very simple tradition because it really helps us to slow down and think about that very first Christmas and what that great event means for us in our lives..(thanks Mom & Dad)

Anyway hope all of you are enjoying the holiday.

Love to all!!

Christina

Thank you to Michelle Herrick for all the work on making our above Christmas card dreams come alive:-).

Colette van den Thillart

Colette van den Thillart has a rockin space in London. I've seen bits and pieces of her home but was very happy to see a spread in my latest issue of House & Home (there is much more to see of the above space...so to my sister I would say that this is another magazine that I would put on the suggestion list to subscribe to , go here). Anyway, Colette is the creative director for Nicky Haslam at NH Designs and when doing a little googling on her I came across an article where she gives a list of 10 design tips and thought it would be fun to share. On her list was painting the inside of a lampshade pink because it will make you look wonderful. Go here to see her list.

Speaking of lists, how is your list coming along? Something about Christmas Eve tomorrow.

P.S. - The above faux bois rug in the top two pictures is a Martha Stewart rug for Safaveih just in case you like it too.

Pendleton

Today I am loving Pendleton. I was just telling my friend last night that I was considering not even having a duvet on my boys' bed and opting for a simple woolen blanket and Pendleton has a few that would work. While I was on their website I also found a few other items that I thought were attractive..especially for that girl that has a soft spot for an American classic based out of Oregon. For some reason Pendleton reminds me of all of my time spent in Jackson Hole when my family lived up that way...Doesn't a nice cabin and a ski trip sound great right about now?

Oh and just in case you were wondering they do have a few items for the baby. Who can resist a tiny pair of pink moccasins..

How is everybody's week going with the onset of Christmas?

{All images via Pendleton}

Ruthie Sommers in Town & Country

The last few issues of Town & Country haven't been too bad. I think I might pay for the $10 yearly subscription now. The above is a space designed by Ruthie Sommers.

{images via town & country and here.}

snippets of our holiday decor

Thank you Deb and Becky for sharing snippets of our holiday decor. Go here if you would like to check it out.

I could not stay away from the dots.

P.S. - Pls. excuse our naked woodwork..Anyone know of a really good painter here in the valley?