Fröhliche Weihnachten!

Merry Christmas friends!  Thanks so much for reading, I always love reading your comments :)  I haven't been very good about posting outfit pics lately, but "Santa" put one of those awesome bendy tripods in my stocking for Christmas...so more photos soon!  In the meantime, enjoy the bizarre Christmas photo we sent out in our Christmas cards this year...

My family had a relatively small, quiet holiday this year.  We've all been scrimping & saving for a giant family trip to the Philippines next year, so we agreed on a gift spending limit.  Admittedly, it was hard to feel Christmassy (?) while being so frugal.  Obviously it's not the gifts that matter, but when you're buying gifts for your loved ones, you want to give them everything.  We just had to keep telling ourselves that the trip is the real gift, and once we cross the Pacific we'll be glad we pinched our pennies!


Just wanted to share a couple photos from Christmas.  Enjoy, and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Wandering around Town Lake with the fam

Nice

All I Want is You

via Free People

I never know how to answer the question "Where are you from?".  I know where I was born (California).  I know where I've lived (California, Indiana, the Philippines, Texas).  But it doesn't feel right to say I'm "from" any of those places, and I hate launching into a long explanation when people expect a one-word answer.  I would say I was most at home in the Philippines, despite my very poor grasp of Visaya, but I think I prefer not having a "from".  I'm more interested in "going to"!

I live in Texas now, but I am most definitely not from here.  Before I moved here for college I thought Texans either dressed like cowboys, or like they were on Dallas or Dynasty.  Sometimes, I actually don't think I'm that far off ;)

Sadly, these Jeffrey Campbell over-the-knee(!!) cowboy boots are no longer available (at least, not anywhere I've thought to look).  It's just as well, as I have no need for yet another pair of boots.  But if there were ever a reason to assimilate to this place I currently call "Home", this would be it.

Journeys Through Bookland

For Thanksgiving, my husband and I road-tripped our way to Phoenix to visit my family and stuff our faces.  My family is scattered all over the world, so it was really great to see some of them even if it was just for a few days.  My grandfather made the Thanksgiving dinner, and then we had a 2nd Thanksgiving of sorts on Friday, with a massive Filipino meal at my parents' house.

My grandpa let me take home some of the old books I used to read as a child, and I was so excited to sift through them all and relive those memories.  My grandparents used to live in a large, cozy house on a lake in Minnesota.  Whenever we visited, my brother and I would head for the basement and the "library" of treasured tomes in a tiny room under the stairs.  We would read, read, and read some more, and when we left for home, we were always encouraged to take some books with us.  Over the years I've slowly collected my favorite books...which were once favorites of my ancestors:

The Wizard of Oz books (I would guess that many people aren't aware this was a series!).

My great-grandmother's copies of Anne of Green Gables, & Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (first editions!!).  Also, this is Napoleon, the miniature falcon who has been known to kidnap small children!

The Patty Fairfield series, clearly a favorite of my great-aunt Barbara.

A book inscribed to my great-great-great Aunt Julia.

 When I compare these to my own modern day books, I wonder what of mine will survive 100 years from now.  What books from today will be considered classics?  And so many of my own books are paperback (because, well, they're cheaper), and will most likely crumble away before any great-great-grandchild gets her hands on them.  Which books will go the distance?

I think my project in the upcoming year will be to buy hardcover editions of the books that I really love...

Christmas Magic

I just had to share this video, which follows Bergdorf Goodman as they create their stunningly beautiful holiday windows.



Found on Coffee & Trace (a really great retail design blog!).

It's easy to become jaded about the holidays, but the magic can still be found if you look for it.  Christmas windows are probably my favorite thing, now that I'm too old for Santa Claus ;)

Coming soon--giant post about my Thanksgiving trip.  Stay tuned!

Blogger Off Duty & Kitchen Mishaps

I'm not really a t-shirt/jeans/flip-flops kind of girl.  I love getting dressed, and there's very little pleasure to be had by throwing on whatever's close at hand.  With that said, I am definitely not the girl wearing lipstick & pumps to buy groceries on a Sunday morning!  So, when I'm buying milk and eggs at 10am...t-shirts it is.

Today I started out throwing on my "weekend errands" attire, and it evolved into something more interesting...when I put on my favorite nude/mocha tee & was horrified by a GIANT cheese stain on the front!

Yes...  A couple weeks earlier I had put cheese on a tortilla, put it in the toaster oven, and promptly forgot about it until I walked by again and saw the tortilla puffed up like a balloon and cheese running down the sides.  Like a genius, I pulled it out with my bare hands(?!) and then threw it up into the air (?!?!) screaming.  And then, it landed cheese first on my t-shirt.  So now, I'm screaming and running down the hallway pulling my burning cheese t-shirt off with my burned fingers--my husband is so disappointed that he wasn't home to witness this--annnnd I threw it in the laundry, and forgot all about it.  Until now!

Swapped the t-shirt out for a plain navy tank.  Too chilly for a tank top...add beaded, embroidered cardigan.  Can't wear sneakers with sequins?  Cuffed my AG Boyfriend jeans (best weekend jeans ever!!!  You must get a pair) and traded my dirty Pumas for Corso Como cork platform wedges.

Results?  Not as casual as I intended, but I feel so much better!