2010 already?!

I just want to thank you for stopping by and making my 2009 so special with your comments, emails and super cool online friendships. It's nice to know that I'm not always just talking to myself here at my bloggity blog and honestly your comments really do make my day so thank you.

Here's to you friends, that 2010 will be full of beauty and will bring you happiness, love and of course lots of fun.

xo -Sarah

{photography by Maria Dawlat from This is Glamourous via Chic and Charming}

Back at work?

Happy Monday friends. Hopefully most of you are going back to work or your weekly activities lively and refreshed after the weekend's festivities. We had a lovely, happy Christmas. Lots of family and for the kids lots of presents. My goodness they're lucky. I spent all day yesterday dumping and organizing toys to make room for all of their new loot. I still have work to do today on the toy front and I don't even want to think about taking down the Christmas decorations. Ugh.
For those of you back at work have a good one, here's a little workspace inspiration for ya.

Merry Christmas friends!

{image via Martha Stewart}

Blog Crush :: Lolliblog

I'm just completely smitten with the holiday images put together by Lolliblog. Gorge, gorge, gorge!!

{Cherry Blossom Girl image via Lolliblog}

Warm and Homey

Even though I love a burst of color and trend in a room what really makes it for me is when it's warm and homey filled and with vintage or antique pieces.

{images via Garden & Gun, House Beautiful and Desire to Inspire}

Getting in the spirit

Today I'm off to the North to play in some snow and hopefully really get into the Christmas spirit. We still haven't told the kids about the train so cross your fingers that they love it. What are some of the favorite things that your family does around the holidays? I love to hear about holiday traditions because I'm always up for adding some more at our house.

Have a very happy weekend friends!

Paint it black

What is it about black paint that gets me every time?

Whether it's used a little or a lot, I always like it.

{images via Desire to Inspire and House Beautiful}

The kiddos

Some days my heart feels just so full of love for these guys it might possibly burst. Today was one of those days. Meet Big as a King and Little as his little turkey self.

PS - I love them oodles everyday but some are just really special.

My day

I'm excited about today, my grandparents are flying in and Big has his first Christmas program tonight at school. I have a couple of last minute gifts to buy today, presents to wrap and lots of packing. Tomorrow Big is one of the Three Kings in his Kindy Nativity play and then Friday we're off to the great white North and the Polar Express. The train ride is a surprise so I hope the kiddos love it, I can't wait to tell them!

{image via House and Home}

Pre Fall, say wha??

So after dying over this gorgeous glimpse of De La Renta Pre-Fall, it had me wondering...

What the hell is Pre-Fall? Why am I only hearing of this now? Thankfully my questions were answered by Girl With a Satchel.

Pre-fall is the latest fashion event to be invented by buyers bored of summer sale stock and media-hungry brands eager for greater exposure. What started as literally a sneak peek at the season to come via an early drop for department stores, perhaps with one model posing in the designer’s HQ, has morphed into a full-blown mini season complete with runways and blowing out budgets. What’s next? Apres-couture? Pre-pre-spring? My brain hurts.

Ok, got it. Thanks for making this lame mini season funny.

Buon Natale

I remember at Halloween the blogworld was abuzz with Brooklyn Limestone's fabulous Halloween invitations, well she does it again this time on the fly with a Buon Natale party. Here is what the fabulous hostess came up with with a day's notice

Come on, one day? Miss Limestone, you're a genius. Your party looks all kinds of fun and that invitation is pretty awesome.

See all of her bomb diggity entertaining ideas HERE.

Gingerbread

Here is what we did last night.



Those of you with children are your kids as crazy right now for Christmas as mine?

It's mulitpurpose

What a pretty way to store your baubles and show your holiday spirit.

{image via House and Home}

Pencils of Promise

It's the middle of the holiday season and several bloggers have come together today in a collaborative effort spearheaded by Paloma Contreras of La Dolce Vita, in order to make a difference for a very deserving charity.

Pencils of Promise is a wonderful 501(c)(3) organization based in New York, that partners with local communities and organizations to build schools of early-stage education in developing nations for some of the world’s most impoverished and undereducated children. Sadly, there are more than 75 million children in this terrible situation worldwide.

Last December, the Pencils of Promise team visited a small village in Laos and by July 2009, they had built a new school for the village children who started attending classes on September 1st. This month, Pencils of Promise will be opening their third school and they hope to open the doors to education for more children in 2010. The goal of this blog initiative is to build safe, legitimate housing for the female children to have access to the school.

In the spirit of the holiday season, we are asking for your help today on behalf of these children. Just think of the enormous impact we could have if each person who reads this post donates just $1.00. If you are willing and able to give more (35.00 buys shelves for a classroom, $50 provides pencils for one year, $100 provides a teacher’s salary for three months and so on), it would be greatly appreciated. We are in the midst of the giving season and hope that you will find it in your heart to make a donation to this worthy cause today. Every little bit helps and together, we can make a difference!

Thank you so much friends and readers, there really no words that can express my gratitude for the positive impact this will have on a child who might otherwise never receive an education.

If you would like to stay informed about the difference Pencils of Promise is making, be sure to become a fan on their Facebook page.

Peace be with you this holiday season.

Read It :: Downtown Chic

Merry Christmas to me! I've always wanted this book and someone was nice enough to send one my way. Yippee! I've seen the Novogratz's homes on various blogs but now getting to see them big and pretty in photos made it much more fun.

All this style and all those kids, wish I was as cool.

This house...to die.

More about Nie

If you're like me and love to read about Nie please go and read one of my favorite online friends Jaimee Rose's article. It's heart wrenching, lovely and well-written, make sure you have a tissue handy. Good work Jaimee!!

{Photography by Cheryl Evans via The Arizona Republic}

Part 1 Part 2

Make It :: Headband

When it comes to the web I have two favorite online things, cutie pie free downloads and DIY online tutorials. They both just come in so handy. This headband from Once Wed is now at the top of my to-do list.

Happy Weekend

Happy Weekend friends! I have nothing too exciting on the books which makes me very happy. Just a bit of shopping and I'm hoping even that's not too crazy. I think the hubs and I might be able to sneak in a dinner just the two of us on Saturday night, I can't wait. It's been an awfully long time since we've gotten to hang out. What do you have going on, any juicy deets you care to share?

{image via House Beautiful}

He's Chuck Bass

I love Chuck Bass, obvs because he's Chuck Bass. Need I say more? But has anyone else noticed that he's been looking kinda hot lately?

{all images via the CW}

Speaking of yummy

Gwyneth, you and your GOOP did good this month with your MAKE email. I will make this Spiced Kettlecorn tout de suite, perfect for a movie night.

Spiced Kettlecorn

Yield approximately 15 handfuls

ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

1 Tbl canola or vegetable oil

1/2 cup corn kernels

3 Tbl granulated sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Once it's melted, add the oil, corn kernels and sugar stirring to make sure everything is well combined. Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook on medium low heat until kernels stop popping. Be sure to shake the pot once or twice to make sure the kernels are cooking evenly. Remove from heat and immediately add the salt and spices, tossing to coat.

One more Santa explanation

Earlier today I read a post by Laura Casey discussing how to explain the in and outs of Santa. You know the never ending questions like, "How does he get into the house if we don't have a chimney?" My stock answer to these sticky situations is simply, "He's magic". This explanation works every time, kids know you can't question magic. So we've had it good around here lately, the kids have been on the better side of well behaved because they know good ole' Saint Nick is watching. (I admit I break into song often to remind them).

Well tonight we had a full blown crisis because Big had a hard night. Lots of whining, crying, not listening and the end result was I had to raise my voice on several occasions and privileges were taken away. No big deal you say, all kids are like this. Well you're right, but not around Christmas. So then we had 45 minutes of crying because he was sure that Santa was only going to bring him rocks and coal because he was so naughty. I tried to explain that I knew for certain Santa was going to bring him presents. He is usually very good so I tried to reason with him maybe if he just tried to be extra good tomorrow it would work itself out. No go, more tears. I tried cuddling, hugs, singing Christmas songs, talking about fun things but nothing worked. Finally I had the bright idea of asking Daddy to email Santa to double check if he was still on the nice list. Done and done in 10 seconds no more tears or worries because Super Daddy could just get him on the Blackberry, and yes thankfully he was still on the nice list.

{Dear Santa letter from Felt & Wire}

Sugar and Spice

Oh wait and a little chocolate. This is what I've been up to this afternoon.

Chocolate candy cane hearts inspired by Sharnel and Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Grahams. I should have gone to the store and gotten some pretty bigger flake Fleur de Sel but Little and I weren't in the mood. We stayed in played, colored and did a little treat making. Much more fun, plus I had the dreaded laundry.

For some reason all of the holiday goodies that I've decided to make are all chocolate. Hot Chocolate on a stick is next on my list, doesn't that just sound yummy?

It's that kind of day

It's gloomy and cold today in Phoenix and that makes us Phoenicians giddy with excitement. We get pull out all the stops with scarves and jackets that rarely see the light of day. In honor of our gray day I've decided to post some pretties that all feature gray.

{images via: Martha Stewart, House Beautiful, unknown via Delight by Design, This is Glamourous and Martha Stewart}

The perfect door

I just saw this picture at The Lettered Cottage and had to post it. Chippy paint on a barn door makes my heart go pitter pat. I'm sure it will be the star in a happy dream tonight.

{Cottage Living Dream Home 2007}

Do you all like Mark Bittman?

This cookbook has totally made it's way on to my must-read list. I really like Mark Bittman, so I had to read the reviews on Amazon and it looks like a goodie. Any of you have it? Do tell.

I'm a carnivore, I will eat beef, chicken, fish, pork, duck (my favorite), not a huge fan of lamb; but you get the picture. My only thing is that I try to eat meat sparingly. I try to eat it no more than once a day and not a lot of it. Sometimes it's more and sometimes it's less but when I go out to dinner I almost always order red meat because we rarely cook it at home. I think I need a few more tricks up my sleeve to make my meat-free meals a bit more appealing to the rest of the crowd in my house, namely Mr. SFD. The kids rarely eat meat unless it's of the processed chicken variety, gag. (Maybe one of these days they'll grow out of it.) So where do you all stand on the meatless meals?

How are you feeling?

How's the weather in your neck of the woods? Does it feel like Christmas yet?

{image from Sea Legs Snapshots Flickr via Audrey Hepburn Complex}

I heart Sue

Apparently so does everyone else. She makes me laugh every time! Check out Sue Sylvester's 20 Outrageous Quotes, I can't decide which one I like better...''I don't trust a man with curly hair. I can't help picturing small birds laying sulfurous eggs in there, and I find it disgusting.''''I am going to create an environment so toxic no one will want to be part of that club. Like the time I sold my house to a nice young couple and salted the earth in the backyard so that nothing could grow there for 100 years. Know why I did that? Because they tried to get me to pay their closing costs.''

{via ew.com}

Busy, busy here

I'm sure we're all in the same boat this crazy month of December. Yesterday my little (well he's 21, that's little to me) brother had an emergency appendectomy so while I was at the hospital I read some commentary from a mom regarding the holidays. She made me laugh because we've all been there, burning your cookies for the bake sale because you're online researching the best deal for that must-have toy. It was sad that it took a hospital visit for me to slow down for a minute and enjoy the company of some of my favorite people, my family. I know we're all stretched a bit thin this time of year, make sure you take a few minutes to snuggle with your kids, pets or significant other because really this time of year is magical. Think back, I'm sure lots of your favorite memories we created during December and I say it's time to make a few more!

On another fun note a couple of weeks ago I talked about peppermint topiaries that we had been making for a school event, while I don't want to ruin the surprise here are a few candylicious ideas that I found at TomKat Studio to get you by. Our topiaries don't look quite like these but they're just as fun.

{image from Creative Hostess via TomKat Studio}

Lizzie Fortunato Jewels for Urban Outfitters

Please tell me am I the last person on the planet to realize that the uber-cool duo of Lizzie Fortunato Jewels has a collection at Urban Outfitters?

Bracelet and necklace you are mine, especially you necklace!