around the house: living room

Last day of November... and before we get into the December-ness of it all, I thought we'd make a quick stop in the living room on my year (?) long house tour. Though it's a room that gets tons of use, it's one of the last to show up here because it's where I found it the hardest to make decisions. Such a big room! And couches and area rugs are such big purchases. But here is where we finally are (for now):

This living room is at least twice the size of the one in our previous house, so we definitely needed to add some pieces (it looked a little silly when we first moved in). It had been our plan all along to finally buy our own couch after the move - thanks, mom, for the years of good use out of that hand-me-down! - and then when we picked this house, we figured we better make it a sectional to fill out some space. We've had it in here for almost a year now, and we love it - I guess the 8 weeks it took me to pull the trigger on the order, and then the 12 more weeks it took for the thing to actually arrive, were worth it in the end.

The pedestal table was another "this room is so big" type of purchase. Other than thinking that it would be the perfect spot for our Christmas tree (see how it looked there last year!), I wasn't sure what to do with that little bump-out area until my mom and I came up with the idea to put a table there. Great for eating lunch in the sun or doing the occasional jigsaw puzzle. Maybe someday a good homework or games table.

And you can see a little peek at our entry hallway here too - the carved post on the banister and the church pew (came with the house!) - are two of the most commented-on things. Along with the arched doorways and all the windows, these bits of historical character and charm made me want to buy this house from the second I stepped in the door. Also a little peek into Peter's not-quite-decorated office, which is kind of a 3-season room.

See below for sources if you're curious, or you can tour (most of) the rest of the house: dining room, playroom, my office, master bedroom, Hendrik's room. No stopping in the kitchen, which needs lots of cosmetic work, in my opinion. Someday...

Sources
Sectional: Crate & Barrel
Area rug: Pottery Barn (similar, similar)
Coffee table: West Elm
Tray: Target (similar)
Sofa table: Ikea
Tripod lamp: Target
Wood vase: Target
Faux palm: Michaels
Turquoise pillow: West Elm (similar, similar)
Textured coral pillow: West Elm (similar, similar)
Patterned tassel pillow: West Elm (similar)
Knit throw blanket: Pottery Barn
Velvet lumbar pillow: World Market
Fuzzy blanket: Target
Wood cabinet: World Market
Round mirror: Urban Outfitters
Terrarium: Target (similar)
Round rug: Target (similar)
Round pedestal table: Ikea (similar)
Swoop chairs: Target
Floor lamp: Target
Curtains: Home Goods (similar)
Coral throw blanket: West Elm
Plaid pillow: Target (dollar spot!)
Metal cabinet: vintage from local boutique JB&Me
Specimen posters: Urban Outfitters (similar, similar)
Armchair: Ikea (similar)
Geometric pillow: Pottery Barn (similar)

wearing lately: holiday ready - again!

In the past couple of years I've come up with a mini holiday capsule to get me through all of the season's events festively - and easily! - and it's worked so well that when I look back at the outfits I have posted in Decembers past, I pretty much want to wear them all again. So I thought I'd pass along the inspiration for all of your occasions too.

for running holiday errands

The ubiquitous plaid blanket scarf makes a couple of appearances in my favorites - and it will make an all-new appearance in the #momstyleremix December scarves linkup! Share yours on December 13... I especially love this faux cape version and definitely need to recreate ASAP. Especially as I am freezing right now.

Oh yeah, that scarf again. I love how it can make anything seem holiday-ish - like suddenly this cobalt sweater and coordinating bag seem so December-appropriate, don't they? This getup just made me feel super polished and put-together for the harried holiday errands. And I always love a fancy/casual pairing of a blazer and distressed jeans to make an outfit really interesting.

Another out-and-about kind of outfit in another ubiquitous form of plaid... the tartan. I like to bridge the fall and holiday wardrobe by pairing it with a cargo jacket. And red flats are the best for the holiday season! They make pretty much any outfit feel just right.

for Christmas parties

How to make a plaid shirt into party-worthy attire? Black jeans. Heels. Tasseled accessories. Red lips. Snazzy coat! I loved the combo of dressy but a little edgy in this outfit, and I'd definitely pull it out for a party again!

The little red dress - an obvious choice for the holiday season, right? Even more so when you realize how many ways you can wear it. If I had a fancy party to go to, I'd definitely pull out the fur accessorized version again.

for cozy but cute present unwrapping or cookie decorating

Layering plaid with sweaters makes for warm and festive and put-together, in my opinion. Cream sweaters are pretty much my favorite thing all winter long, and the red plaid (and lipstick!) make them feel nice and Christmasy to me. I've already re-worn this version, the day we decorated our Christmas tree.

And this layering is even cozier, with a chunky knit cardigan and easy pull-on boots. I think a cardigan like this is a very worthy investment - I've had this one for probably 5 years already, and I continue to pull it out for outfits like this, or to put over top of silky blouses for a dressier but still warm enough for winter look.

for church or a business-casual Christmas party

I like gold for a little something different among all the plaids and reds at the holidays, and I like how these stripes and sequins on a wool skirt make gold festive but office appropriate. Also, besides after replicating this outfit, these noel flats will be making lots more appearances this holiday season. Aren't they fun?

Taking the office-appropriate ankle pants into the holiday season is easy with some fair isle. Dressed up with a blouse underneath and made snow-appropriate with some ankle boots. I like this for another non-red, non-plaid holiday look.

Starting next week I've got a month of new holiday looks coming at you - there are just SO many things and events to dress for in this season that I'll be re-wearing all of the above and coming up with some new looks that I'm pretty sure I'm going to love so much that I'll wear again next year too. I just love getting dressed at Christmastime, can you tell?

Sharing on Style Sessions, Mix It Monday, Hello Monday, What I Wore to Work.

mini me Monday: book advent calendar

Every year I think how fun it would be to do a DIY advent calendar... on about December 2. But with Hendrik at the age where he's really looking forward to Christmas for the first time, and the timely sighting of this idea, I'm finally on it: a kids' Christmas book-a-day advent calendar.

I think an advent calendar is so fun for kids, and even better to make it bookish! By wrapping up the books and numbering them we get a fun + festive display in the playroom, and a super great trick for getting Hendrik excited to do nap time, since I'm planning to save the new book of the day for reading then...

And if you get on it, you can totally still do this - most of my books came from the library, which very helpfully in my case puts special stickers on the spines of Christmas books, so I could just scan the shelves and pull off the relevant ones. We also had a few Christmas books around here that I added in - wrapping paper makes something seem really exciting and new! - and I bought a couple of new ones that I knew would be classics for our family: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Merry Christmas Stinky Face (we love the original Stinky Face), and Merry Christmas Mom and Dad (fun Little Critter throwback from my childhood!). Amazon Prime can help with that, and you don't need to have every book lined up from day 1 (I can't put all of ours out at once anyway, for fear of overtaxing the shelves).

I included some of the ones I'm most looking forward to reading in the widget below - but any other favorite Christmas books to recommend to us for next year?

Sharing on Shea's Advent & Winter Holiday Tradition Linkup.

gift grids 2016: Shopbop sale

You will absolutely not find me out doing Black Friday shopping tomorrow, but that doesn't mean I don't love a good sale... and Shopbop is having one now, making it a good stop on my tour of online shops for this year's holiday gift grids - ideas for what everyone in your life might want, need, wear, or read.

girly girl: Francis flats* by Sam Edelman | iPhone case* by Rifle Paper Co. | boho blouse by endless rose | Laudree Macarons via Books with Style | cool mom: transport tote by Madewell | travel mug by Ban.do | Laura sweatshirt by Maven West | Braid It! via Books with Style | party girl: champagne flutes by Gift Boutique | Leo clutch by Rebecca Minkoff | Liv tiered drop earrings by Gorjana | Celebrate via Books with Style | girl boss: The Boss hot stuff mug by Ban.do | master plan journal by Gift Boutique |  | Barnette drape front blazer by BB Dakota | Women Chefs of New York via Books with Style | beach babe: tropical cocktail kit by Sunny Life | Caracas tote by Mar Y Sol | half moon magic sunglasses by Le Specs | Beaches via Books with Style

If you have a girly girl, beach babe, glamour girl, worldly woman, or girl boss to shop for in your life, better do it all now, because 1000+ items from Shopbop are on sale, and the more you spend, the more you save. Through Monday, look for items marked GOBIG16 (like all of the above gift grid picks) and use code for 15% off orders $200+, 20% off orders $500+, and 25% off orders $800+ (details here).

Have you started your shopping yet? Who's on your list? Coming up I've got ideas for the wine lover, the cat lady, the ultimate fan, and many more. Though at my house it's pretty easy... Hendrik's only answer to the birthday or Christmas gift question? "Cars and trucks!!"

Post created in partnership with Nakturnal, but all ideas/opinions are my own.

watching lately

As the post-election funk in my household has led to a lot of it, I have a watching lately update for you... here are my latest favorites in all my favorite television categories (and bonus, if you think you might like them too, you can go nuts with watching all available episodes on Netflix/Amazon Prime for most of them!).

The Crown: I Netflix-binged this one hard. Set in the 1940s at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, this is a great period drama. You get royalty, interesting historical tidbits and characters, British castles, family drama, political intrigue... So captivating. And I find so fascinating the look into what Elizabeth must have felt as a young woman to take on this role, what it meant for her young family and husband and own sense of self. Though the time period and overall topic differ, this fills a Downton Abbey-sized void in my life - and there had better be a second season coming!

The Stinky & Dirty Show: Hendrik doesn't watch all that much TV still, but a well-placed screen time during the dinner preparation hour? That can come in handy. We love this Stinky & Dirty show that Peter discovered on Amazon Prime - it's cute and the characters are so positive and all about problem solving. Plus it is right up our little car-and-truck-loving boy's alley.

This Is Us: oh yeah, this lives up to the tear-jerker family drama hype for me. I don't want to describe too much about it because the first couple of episodes have some good twists and turns. I'll let the show's blurb sum it up: "A group of people with the same birthday, including Jack, whose wife, Rebecca, is expecting triplets in Pittsburgh, Kevin, a handsome television actor growing bored of his fly bachelor lifestyle, Kate, his funny and sweet heavyset twin, and Randall, a big shot commodities trader in search of his biological father." The way the storylines intersect and intertwine is really well done - reminds me of a great novel in that way, so I'm digging it so far.

Parks and Recreation: with no more Cubs games or pre-election coverage to watch (and too raw to be watching our usuals of The Daily Show or Late Night with Stephen Colbert yet) this has been our joint tv watching - finally getting around to season 7 of Parks & Rec on Netflix. I don't think it was quite as good as the earlier seasons, but a nice balm at the moment. If you haven't watched any, do yourself a favor and start at the beginning. Amy Poehler is just so good (and gives me nice warm fuzzies about the idealism of what government can do  - but in a hysterical way), and she gives me happy girl power feelings.

Mozart in the Jungle: I'm not sure what category this Amazon Prime original actually falls into (maybe alternatively "comedic drama"?), but whatever it is, it's entertaining. The life and drama and music of the fictitious New York Symphony, from the flashy new maestro (a character based on conductor Gustavo Dudamel and is very charming and entertaining) to the old retiring one, from an aspiring oboe player who becomes the new maestro's assistant to the slightly jaded older musicians. You get all ages and stages of ambition and hopes and dreams. along with some classical music on the side (though as indicated by the title, this isn't stodgy old orchestra - the inner workings have plenty of sex and some drugs, if not rock and roll...). I'm enjoying this one.


p.s. thanks to you all who chimed in with post-election thoughts. I consider blogging to be simply a fun hobby (that has a bonus of being able to "meet" all kinds of great people), which is why I tend not to comment on news/current events. This one was different for me though, and I appreciated an outlet to have a little catharsis, and to make a statement about what I believe in. And then I really appreciated that it was one of the most commented on posts I have written lately - so nice to have support and solidarity in figuring out how to move onward and upward. 

wearing lately: dressing up

After my non-stop wearing of the ever-versatile ponte fit & flare tank dresses for the summer, I thought I'd try a little something different for fall: a patterned silk shirtdress. But what's not different is the pairing with a denim jacket, or the finding a way to wear it across all weather conditions...

You can see the weather shift just based on the lighting in these photos! For a gorgeous early fall day, it was perfectly paired with a denim jacket and my favorite flats. Now that we're more into the practically winter part of fall, a faux fur scarf seemed appropriate, and some tights necessary.

Usually I start to steer away from dresses as the weather gets colder, because who really likes to wear tights? But after trying a few pairs of Berkshire tights I'm liking the seasonal chances of this section of my closet... These tights are USA-made, designed to fit properly with attention to all sizes and shapes (which for real, they actually work for my petite height, rather than having to be hoisted up to my bustline, and they stay in place without sagging!), and come in a great range of styles like shimmer for fancy occasions and - yay - cozy fleece-lined for the coldest days, which are warm without feeling or looking overly bulky. If you're in the market for any new tights as the weather cools, you can use discount code Blogger15 for free shipping and 15% off of their Berkshire purchases at Eberkshire.com through December 16.

And if you want to see what I dressed my little mini me in to coordinate with this outfit, check out my mom + toddler style guest post on Shea Lennon!

Sharing on Hello Monday, Mix It Monday.

10 things making me happy

Heading into Thanksgiving week (already? how?!), a little timeout to offer up some appreciation for the many lovely things in my life, big and small. Here are 10 things making me happy in this falliday season:

fall "confetti" fun with this kid | living close enough to join the big extended family Thanksgiving feast (and helping decorate the table, maybe like this!) | finally finding some new people for a new book club after our move, and starting with this read, which will be perfect to cozy up with on cold days | a husband who will go out to get me peanut butter cup blizzards any time I ask (never mind that this is fall/almost winter - it's never too cold for ice cream, people) | spring break planning... we're going to Malta! | personal time for nice fall manicure | our home - I love this place (and yes, we have taken down the Cubs W flag by now...barely) | cozy cream sweaters | our Christmas cards - so excited about how they turned out, and I can't wait to start mailing them | wandering the holiday decor rows at Target

What happy things are giving you an appreciation for life lately? Some Thanksgiving traditions on the horizon? And a short week!

five things Friday: go Cubs go edition

As of today, the 16th anniversary of our first date, I have been in a relationship with a serious Cubs fan for half of my life (!). Thus I learned years ago that "we" don't like the Cardinals, sing "Go Cubs Go" and fly the W after wins - and live as longsuffering lovable losers. Until now! That World Series win was a major bright spot in the month here. And in honor of my cubby bear love on this day, five unique gifts for fanatics of all sizes:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

I actually bought Peter the t-shirt as soon as I spotted it - as his two favorite players, he has a Bryant tee and Hendrik a matching Rizzo tee, and the combo of this celebrity couple type name pairing was too good to pass up. As we get into the holiday season, if you have any sports fans you love, the BreakingT site is worth a look for clever and cool gift options. And Etsy too for all kinds of fun stuff. I mean, baby leg warmers?! Can't go wrong with a pint glass with a favorite team as a stocking stuffer either.

p.s. a couple of fun facts: I actually asked Peter out on our first date. And we went to a musical. Knew he was a keeper from the get-go.

pin to present: one-pan wonder

A dinner that highlights a couple of favorite fall farmers' market finds and gets only one dish dirty? Plus bacon?! A one-pan wonder, indeed, which went straight to the top of my "to try" list as soon as I spotted this roasted butternut squash, brussels sprouts, sausage + bacon recipe on Pinterest.

image and recipe: Boys Ahoy

The results? This one will definitely be added to our regular rotation - the highest praise a recipe can get around here. Roasting is pretty foolproof, and doing it in bacon grease can only improve it, right? Plus it's really quick to throw together (aside from the dicing - oh, I miss you, Trader Joe's and your pre-cut butternut squash) and makes for excellent leftovers. I used my favorite Aidell's chicken sausage, which works great with the butternut squash flavors.

And I found it quite amusing that in the original recipe she comments that it's such a healthy dinner, you can just go ahead and eat ice cream afterwards. Which I absolutely would have, except I got sidetracked by my other recent Pinterest recipe winner... caramelitas. Stay tuned.

onward

Before the election, I had already written posts for Wednesday and Thursday of this week. But then on Wednesday morning, when it came time to put something together for today and beyond, I decided that I just couldn't. Just couldn't muster the energy for this when I am so shocked, saddened, and sick over this election. Just couldn't talk about five (usually frivolous) things on a Friday when there's one huge thing weighing on my mind.

I think it is pretty standard for about half of the country to wake up after a presidential election and be disappointed with the outcome. But this is not disappointing. This is appalling, that a man who says such terrible things about so many groups of people - and acts on that hate and discrimination - could be elected. It is devastating, that electing him over an extremely more qualified female feels like a slap in the face as a woman. And I'll even say it: it is heartbreaking, as a Christian, that so many could find a way to justify voting for a person whose words, actions, and very demeanor are so antithetical to Jesus' love.

All I can do, before this grief turns into anger, is to focus on bringing to this world the key to the Kingdom: love trumps hate. I believe the government can and should be the source of social support and justice for all people in our society. I gladly pay my taxes for it to do these things. But I fear very much that the next four years will bring dismantling of some of those structures and civil rights - and so it's going to be on we the people to carry that burden. And this has convicted me that my philosophical and electoral (and some monetary) support of the causes of minority, LGBTQ, immigrant, and poor people is clearly not enough. Starting at home, I will be intentional about presenting diversity and inclusion and tolerance and respect to my child. Let's bring up the next generation to love all and strive for equality for all. Then I will be finding where in my community I can go out and support these convictions myself. Let's stand up for what is right and love each other.

I think that's the way onward right now, but it's not easy to do today amidst the grief for what might have been and the fear for what might be. So I'm going to take a little time for all of those feels right now, and probably some comfort TV too. Will be back with more blogging frivolity sometime next week.

pin to present: the striped tee

I'm sure this is not the first time I've said it, but one thing I love about having closet twins as blog buddies is those "duh, I should have thought of that and I'm totally copying you tomorrow" outfit moments. A recent one I can thank Dana for:

Peter was commenting recently on the stack of stripes on my shelf in the closet - to which I replied that each one has its time and place... short-sleeved for summer, turtleneck for winter, long length for layering, thin or thick stripes depending on how the mood strikes. So yes, I love a striped tee.

Other things I love: my super snazzy red flats, my black Paige jeans, my beloved denim jacket. And then Dana put them all together, and yes!! (Also, weather warm enough for wearing denim jackets rather than coats in November, YES!)

Sharing on Hello Monday.