I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

Merry Christmas! I love this time of year and today is the last to celebrate all the twinkling lights, sounds of the season, the food (oh the food!) and of course the smell of a fresh tree! I have always had a fresh cut Christmas tree and this year Billy picked an amazing one! But I loved this gorgeous, over the top, amazing, faux pink tree! Talk about a girly christmas! it has a very 50's look with the big ornaments and the big bulb lights. It's from the Queen of crafts - Martha Stewart (who I secretly love to watch!!!) Here are a few more holiday pink details from Martha Stewart that I love:

these are the ornaments on the pink tree above. I love their unique look, the sparkly butterflies and the fact that you can make them! find out how you put these together here.

These glitter wax candles would be my dream centerpiece for christmas dinner. And I am in love with this icy dewdrop bouquet. That would look fabulous on your front table when you great holiday guests. d-i-y directions here and here.

ok - a butterfly wreath? whhhaattt? I'm in total fantasy land. how beautiful would this be hanging on your door? it would make you feel like a christmas princess every time you came home. you too can create this.

This year we moved right in the middle of December and around Billy's birthday. I'm hoping next year that we can have a holiday party and I can use some of these ideas for decorations! :) Hope everyone had a Wonderful Christmas!!! xoxo

all images via martha stewart

CHRISTmas :)

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! :) I can't believe December 24th is upon us and then 2009 will be over! Wow these past 365 days have been filled with change and lots of learned lessons. But I am so thankful for everything that God has provided for us and for where we are in our lives. He challenges us every day, making us stronger and more humble than the day before. And especially during this time we are reminded of the birth of his son and the sacrifices he made. Thank you Lord! :)

In a time of rejoicing I am a little bit sad. This year I will be spending my first Christmas without my family ever. Billy and I just could not make it home for Christmas this year (waaaaayyyy too expensive) so we are visiting our family in early January. It will certainly be a different kind of feeling but I am excited to be spending the day with just Billy. It will be some much needed one on one time since we have both been so busy with work lately. My parents have sent us a few packages to open and we are planning on exchanging a few gifts too so our tree looks and feels very homey and Christmas-ey. I have to work all day today (bummer) but tonight we are going to visit Billy's family in Huntington Beach - some of which he hasn't seen in years! I am very excited to meet and get to know everyone - especially Rosemary our host. :)


Then on Christmas Day we will be sleeping in, enjoying orange and cinnamon rolls (family tradition in the Schwartz household) and opening gifts. I am also making my first ever Christmas dinner (make that first ever Holiday dinner for any matter) I got a mini ham for the two of us and plan on making sweet potato casserole, scalloped potatoes, my homemade macaroni and cheese, broccoli casserole, green bean casserole then pecan pie for dessert (that I store bought - because Billy loves it and I would hate to mess that up!) I'll be sure to let you know how this goes... haha


So we wish you a wonderful Christmas and hope that you have safe travels and warmth of family and friends around you these next few days. :) xoxo

image via Web Art Store

Rodar-tay for Tar-jay

Ok so I am a little bit late on this post - I've been soooo busy working at the store (non-stop! it's been crazy but that's a good thing!) but I had to write something about the launch of Rodarte for Target (pronounced row-dar-tay for those of you who don't know) that happened this past Sunday. Jamie (one of the amazing minds behind ban.do) and I have been soooo excited about this and talking about it for months. I literally came home from work on Saturday so excited - it was like Christmas Eve and I didn't think I was going to be able to sleep. Then Jamie called me, in a panic/excited state. One of the targets near us put it out early and there was absolutely no one there!!!! So I raced over there (to the utter confusion of Billy - men will never understand the things we women do for fashion) and literally tried on every single piece in the collection. my cart pretty much looked like this and the dressing room attendent was none too pleased with me:

There were two pieces that I knew I was going to get for sure but I wanted to try everything on. While I knew this collection wasn't going to be the best quality I was still pretty pleased with the pieces I ended up purchasing. The leopard dress is literally ah-mazing. It's got these cute bows going down the back that give it that vintage feel. The amazingly beautiful Dakota Fanning modeled it for Teen Vogue December/January issue (wow has she grown up!)

So cute! It's short so totally do-able both the rest of winter with tights and spring! But the piece that I was most excited about and was soooooo happy they had my size was the leopard print jacket

it is sooooo fantastic. I had a target gift card from my mother in law Patrisia that allowed me to get this jacket - score! Otherwise I would have been in big time trouble with my hubby... The third piece I took home was a wild card - an orchid pink top with an adorable bow on the neck.

I grabbed it in my frenzy to try everything on and it was the only other piece I truly liked on me. Super girly and lots of fun. The color is very reminiscent of this Rodarte gown Natalie Portman wore to the Oscars this past February.

Overall I enjoyed the collection even though a few of the pieces were definiely not for me (either fit was off or just not my taste). I am super satisfied with my purchases and already planning on when I can wear everything. The only thing I wasn't able to grab were those cute bow belts or lace tights. Oh well - I guess I can't really complain anyways. I got everything I truly needed :) I'm already dreaming about Zac Posen's line for April.... xoxo

images via the thread, teen vogue, ebay, target

SJP Love

I just blogged about this for ban.do yesterday - but I had to share this photo with you! I am completely obsessed with all things Sarah Jessica Parker - including her fashion risks. This one is right at the top of my list of loves. How amazing is this outfit? It's very vintage and I LOVE it. :) Plus I always love how her hair looks. It's so gorgeous! Thoughts?

image via Gossip Center

100 Pieces of Gorgeousness

Hi all! Finally I am feeling (somewhat) back to normal! We are getting settled into our new place (which I love!) and the area is fantastic! But I had to do a quick post about something I found on Instyle's website tonight. Fashion Director Hal Rubenstein picked 100 greatest dresses of the decade (how much fun would that be! ahhh!) There were so many beautiful ladies featured (Kate Beckinsale, Penelope Cruz, Anne Hathaway the list goes on) and sooooooo many amazing designers (Lanvin, Roberto Cavalli, Chanel, Valentino, YSL... seriously this list could go on) Here are a few of my favs but head over to Instyle and take a look at all 100 of his best picks.

It's no secret that I love the whole 60's/70's era so this Valentino worn by Kate Hudson is literally the greatest dress ever.

I also love this gorg silver draped Dior gown worn by Sienna Miller in 2005. The hair, the necklace - it is so ah-mazing!

I'm a HUGE Lanvin fan - HUGE. So I'm totally loving this bubble dress from 2007. Natalie Portman looks effortlessly beautiful (as usual)

Mooooving!

Posts will be short and sweet this week... if any! Billy and I are moving to Marina Del Rey - about 10 miles south of where we are now. We are soooooo excited but we signed the lease on Saturday and we are starting to move in THIS Thursday... needless to say things are insane and crazy. I'm so happy because we will be around more stuff (where we live now is ah-mazing but very homey/small town) and we are literally one block from the beach (here we are a mile - but now in the Marina we can walk!!) I did want to share with you a photo of our new home:

Pretty right?!? Can't wait to keep you all updated on how things are going..!

I also am working on a photoshoot on Thursday as a wardrobe assistant! I am soooo excited and will be sure to post about that as soon as I can! :) xoxo

I have nothing to wear....

I read about this amazing project in Glamour a few months ago and I thought about it yesterday as I was putting my outfit for work together. Sheena Matheiken is wearing the same dress every single day for one year (I know.. you're thinking whhhhaaat?) and calling it The Uniform Project. This is from her website: "Starting May 2009, I have pledged to wear one dress for one year as an exercise in sustainable fashion. Here’s how it works: There are 7 identical dresses, one for each day of the week. Every day I will reinvent the dress with layers, accessories and all kinds of accouterments, the majority of which will be vintage, hand-made, or hand-me-down goodies." Wow! Sheena also explains her motivation for doing the Uniform Project stemmed from her experience growing up in India where she had to wear a mandatory school uniform. She was inspired and impressed by her fellow peers who made each uniform their own with scarves, hats, shoes, jewelry, belts even altering the look of the uniform itself. So she wanted to see if she could prove the same in everyday life. And if that wasn't amazing enough... This project accepts donations for the Akanksha Foundation which will take all the contributions and will help fund items like uniforms and any other educational needs for children in India. So far, as of this post right now, $32,001 has been donated and counting! (If you want to be part of this and contribute click here.)  Sheena also has said that many stores and people have donated accessories to help her change her look from day to day. (score!) Here are a few of my favorite looks she has worn so far:

Sheena wore this look on October 6th. I love the striped shorts and that she has actually worn the dress more like a jacket. The gloves are fantastic and donated by GloveLove, a group that finds single gloves around London, cleans them, and then pairs them with another glove for a creative look. (How cool is that!?)

I'm fascinated by this pairing she did a few days ago on November 24th. The knit sweater with the mismatched tights are pure genius. And the shoes are pretty funky too. It's a great way to add bursts of color to the black dress.

This look she put together for a June wedding. Here she is wearing one of my new obsessions, The Collar. (I recently bought one similar to this with snickers coming from Billy and my Dad....) I love everything about this look from the lace doily slip to the chunky gold earrings. Plus the collar is just so ridiculous that it's awesome.

I've really enjoyed following Sheena's style diary. She continually impresses me with her smart ideas using many many many different accessories to change it up. It really proves her thought that all these items can be simply added to a dress to create a totally different and unique look. But this also got me thinking about how much I have in my closet. I absolutely LOVE going shopping but I think I am going to make a conscious effort over the next few weeks to seriously look at all the pieces in my wardrobe, pull new outfits together, and rediscover a few long lost pieces I have. Thanks Sheena for the inspiration! :) xoxo

photos courtesy of: Small Sight & The Uniform Project

Beautiful Meryl

1979

2009

I've always been a little enchanted by Meryl Streep - I think she is one of the most amazing actresses ever. She's always made fantastic movies (Out of Africa, Death Becomes Her and The Devil Wears Prada (obvi...) are total favs of mine) and her new one It's Complicated looks very Something's Gotta Give (practically an obsession of mine and my college roommates) :) But when I saw Meryl on the cover of January's Vanity Fair - I was blown away! She looks absolutely gorgeous. AND she's botox free which is practically unheard of in Hollywood! Wow!

Both images are part of a 30 year portfolio photographed by Brigitte Lacombe. The January 2010 issue of Vanity Fair comes out December 8th but you can read a preview of the article of Meryl here. I think she looks just as stunning, if not more, than she did in 79. Thoughts???