look book: a christmas story

There once was a girl named Mara, whose favorite color was red. She loved hearts, red balloons, strawberries, cherries, pretty much everything red. On Christmas Day she realized she didn't have any red in her closet. How could it be?! She threw her closet apart searching for that one red sweater or that one red dress, but to no avail. She remembered something Tim Gunn once said, "Make it work." A red colored Christmas light bulb went on in her head..she put on some bright red lipstick instead!

dress BCBG, sweater Urban Outfitters, necklace Forever 21, shoes Jeffrey Campbell Pixie

The red nail polish and green sweater helped a little bit, too!

xox

photos from christmas

Can you believe Christmas is over?! To be honest, I'm a little sad about it. It also makes me especially sad when I see Valentine's Day decorations out already {ugh.. seriously not necessary!} I love the week in between Christmas and New Years when family and friends are in town. It's so fun and relaxing.

Here are some pictures from my very food-filled holiday:

 Ginger and I went on a Christmas afternoon walk with my mom

 butternut squash and apple cider soup made by my brother!

 the best salad with butter lettuce, poached pears, blue cheese and candied pecans

 my new comfy pjs from J. Crew!

 cookbooks!!

some of my favorite decorations

I hope your holiday was filled with lots of love and laughs!

The winner of the Kakalina Rose Vintage giveaway is...Sam! Congrats!

I have another giveaway scheduled for Wednesday so make sure to check back!

xox

merry christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all! 

I hope you're spending this holiday surrounded by the ones you love, eating lots of yummy food. 

Matthew and I {and Ginger!} are wishing you all a very merry Christmas!

 sending lots of love!

xox

merry christmas eve!

I can't believe it's here!! I can't believe it's here! Merry Christmas Eve! There's so much magic in the air and I just love it. I realized I never shared the photos of Matthew and I picking out our tree and decorating it! Since Matthew's going to be gone over the holiday, seeing his family, in San Diego, we decided to get a little fluffy tree. Of course 2 days later it was dry as a bone but what can you do. I always love going to the Christmas tree lot and looking at all the pretty trees. I also can't get enough of that pine smell! Probably one of my top 5 favorite smells, along with the smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and the smell of the ocean!

 our little tree in the lot

One thing I'm excited about is that this is the last Christmas Matthew and I will spend apart. I'm glad he's going down to see his family but I'm going to miss him so much! 

I hope you all have a wonderful and happy holiday!

xox

My Fantasy Christmas List

This year we're having a small Christmas because we're trying to save up, but here's my fantasy Christmas list with some things I'd love..
1. J. Crew Sequin Skirt, $79.99
2. OPI You Don't Know Jacques nail polish, $5.60
3. OPI Burlesque Holiday 2010 Sparkle-icious, $4.05
4. Fuji Instax 210 Instant Camera, $64.95
5. Godiva Chocolates, specifically the Roasted Almond Truffle
6. Dog Bone for Ginger {she wrote a letter to Santa!}, $9.95
7. Babycakes Cookbook, $16.32
8. Barefoot Contessa Cookbook Collection, $58.49
9. Mulberry Alexa Leather Bag, $1,150 .. I did say it was a fantasy list :)
10. J. Crew Leopard PatentBelt, $39.50
11. Topshop All Over Faux Fur Trapper Hat, $44.00
12. Sam Edelman Vancouver, $239
13. Michael Kors Women's Chronograph Tortoise Watch, $250

Have you all finished your Christmas shopping? I'm planning on doing mine this weekend. We finally got our tree so it's starting to feel a lot like Christmas! Have a great weekend, everyone!!

xox

show and tell: christmas

I had such a lovely little Christmas with my family. We had family friends over for a Christmas dinner. It was all vegetarian {and delicious!}. We talked about some current events {Woods to Murphy}, how I was kinda hoping for a puppy under the tree {even though apparently Christmas is the worst time because of over-breeding}, and how my family is getting hooked on Dexter. We started Season 1 last week and are now 2 episodes shy of finishing Season 2. Sadly we missed out on some crucial Christmas movies this year because of that loveable serial killer!

Matthew and I had a budget for Christmas presents this year..but I think I was the only one who stuck to it! He gave me this beautiful vintage silver cuff, a pretty ring, and a GPS for my car. I was really excited. I'll take some pictures this week of the jewelry actually on!

For him, I framed these two illustrations of San Francisco {one of the Bay Bridge from Berkeley to SF--like all our dates! and the second of Alamo Square, where the Full House house is--I think we had our first real kiss there!}. I also made him a hook for his keys. I bought a letter G {for his last name}, painted it a dark red and put 3 gold hooks in. Because I thought these might not be the most exciting things I got him a shirt from Urban. Hopefully he liked it!

I hope all of you had a magical little Christmas! I'm taking the week off.. so excited!

merry christmas.

Merry Christmas Eve!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful night and are enjoying being with your sweet families. Matthew left this afternoon to see his family in San Diego. It's funny how I can miss him already. I'm definitely looking forward to the day where we can spend our Christmas's together {!}

This time of year is my favorite. While it may be cold outside there's so just so much warmth and love around. I'm definitely counting my blessings this Christmas and I'm thinking of all my beautiful and sweet followers. I'm wishing you the merriest Christmas ever!


{Sugar cookies decorated by the boyfriend!}

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

meet miss nora

This is Nora. Nora is one of my oldest and closest friends. She's actually more like family. Our parents have known each other forever so growing up we always hung out and played together. Now she's 21, a student at Sarah Lawrence in New York and she just got back from a semester in London. It was so great to see her at dinner the other night! I was stalking her Facebook {hehe} and I just love these pictures of her.

Isn't she beautiful?

In other news, Christmas shopping is DONE! Woo hoo! I braced the mall for the last time today and I finally figured out a gift for that impossible-to-shop-for boyfriend of mine! So now I'm excited to spend the rest of the afternoon wrapping presents and watching Christmas movies!

Is everyone ready for Santa to come?

surprise date: ice skating!

On Friday night Matthew took me on a surprise date. We went "ice skating" in Santa Monica and it's in quotes because a). It's California ice skating..not real and b). We both pretty much sucked. Matthew tried to skate backwards and do some fancy moves but he ended up hurting himself and I pretty much wouldn't let go of the rail! It was a lot of fun though and I got to live out my childhood fantasy of being a professional ice skater {minus the confidence and sparkly outfit}!