Valentines For The Hubby!

Here in Atlanta, everyone is hunkering down for a big snow storm that's getting ready to blow through here over the next couple of days.  I was doing my grocery shopping late this afternoon, which I always do on Mondays, and couldn't even get bananas.   It's a good thing I don't buy that much bread these days.  Anyway,  over  the holidays I meant to write "Gifts for the Hubbies" but got stuck with work projects and such.  Plus, our last snow storm which was just two weeks ago, poor Hubby had to abandon his car, walk in the freezing cold and ice to spend the night at Home Depot.  


 So here's " Valentines for the Hubbies!   

Nice warm marled socks to get his feet nice and  warm

 

 

Hubby loves a good whisky...I love the bottle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please note, Hubby has berated me for getting him scarves "we live in south" he says. Yes I tend to buy scarves -  just something about a new scarf to me. So I did as programmed and I did't buy him a new scarf this year.  Lucky for him he had on his Harry Potter scarf that I bought him four or five years ago during his snow journey. I did however  just order this Wallace + Barnes Donegal  sweater for him a few weeks ago...love it.  Although I don't think he had it on during his journey.  Will also come in handy for our vacation this spring to Stockholm. He better take it. 

I love these Lumber Jack needlepoint  Flasks!  This and some gronal bars could possibly come in handy next time he's stranded.

He wants a PS4! Sheesh!

A Little Something for my Favorite Girl!

 

You didn't think that I would forget my favorite girl... now did you?   My little Ellie girl  is very particular - just as particular as her nanny - (my mother-in-law see Gifts for the Fussy mother-in-law).  And you know what? Ellie is the one that I'm most stressed about.  She has countless rawhides in shapes of candy canes, through my many attempts to please her at each holiday.  When we first moved into our house, I sent the hubby  to pick something out for her and he came back with an ugly squeaky crocodile.  I, however, was furious and let him know to no uncertain terms that Ellie would be disappointed in us!  .  

 

 

 

 

 

I, on the other hand, (every holiday but that one) always give her cute little furry things such as chipmunks, hedgehogs, ducks, you name it.   And you know what?  That ugly squeaky crocodile is her go-to toy!   Last Valentines Day, Hubby and I had a contest who could come home with the best toy for Ellie.  Hubby came home with the exact same thing.  I thought it was  cheating  though he disagrees because it's was a different color.  I came home with a cute little monkey holding a heart that said 'love'!  Needless to say...hubby won again! 

 

So I give up, and will leave Ellie's stocking stuffer to hubby.  Last year, I bought her a cute rain jacket that she loves!   When it's raining she follows me to the mudroom and lets me slip it on her.  So I have a little dilemma I can't decide between the two below.

 

 

Ellie gets a walk come rain and shine and is a  little rugged  tomboy in disguise.  So I love this Barbour waxed coat!  If only I could get a Barbour jacket.  It will stand the test of time. Barbour Waxed Dog coat

 

 

 

 

But then agian, little Ellie girl is a preppie at heart...hmmm! Every time I pick her up at doggie daycare they tell me how sweet she is! Tory Burch knitted dog sweather

 

I don't know..any thoughts?

 

The Perfect Farmhouse - In Texas

I love this country farmhouse thats featured in this months issue of Southern Living.  

 

From the shiplap walls

to the vintage finds and art collection

To the simple Christmas touches!

 You can see more at Southern Living

Gifts For The Hostess

  

Another segment that I caught this week on The Today Show  were gifts for the Hostess.  A few gifts that they mentioned that I really liked are the  Color Me Gingerbread Men  (Eleni's New York).  I love this!  This is the perfect gift to take to a family with children.  The cookies are pre-made and come in a tin with edible ink markers.  And, the best part, the the kids get to decorate them without a huge mess, which I know the parents would appreciate!

 

 

Another gift that was menitoned was Rosemary that you can order for your friends and family through FTD.  Now I've done rosemary a time or two as a hostess gift and I'm thinking of doing it again for a few friends.  So if you don't have to ship you can always pop into your local Home Depot.  I also  pick up a galvanized bucket to put the rosemary in.  Which you can find at Home Depot as well.  On a sidenote, my rosemary that I bought last year is doing fabulous because of all the rain we had last summer.  I never had to transplant it...yeah!

 

 

 

I  love these slate cheese boards.  I'm  debating these for all my co-workers, and maybe one for the mother-in-law and me! Don't forget the chalk so you can write the name of your cheese for all your fabulous parties.

 

 

Pottery Barn's Mercury Glass Alphabet Votive cups.  I almost bought these for all my co-workers over Black Friday but I still wasn't sure what I wanted to give them.  I need to make a desicion and get going on my shopping!.

 

 

 

Remember when I wrote about these Lodge skillets here.  I was at Crate & Barrel a few weeks ago and they now sell them.  I gave a set of four to a friend who likes to cook and she loved them!  Great little hostess gift and you can always throw in a box of cornbread as well.

More later!

Time for A Gift or Two for the Fussy Mother-in-Law!

 

I don't know if any of you have a mother-in-law like mine or not.  But my mother-in-law is by no means an easy person to shop for! I could give you countless examples of the gifts that I brought her over the years that she has returned or told us never to buy her again.  Or you know, it could be me - maybe I'm just a bad gift giver.  But even my father-in-law has a hard time buying for her. For most holidays and birthdays, she usually picks out what she wants from him and she wraps it herself. 

 

And on top of having to come up with a nice Christmas gift for her - Hubby and I need to come up with a birthday gift as well.  It's a milestone birthday at that, which just adds to my stress!   I say hubby and I have to pick out a gift, but he just saids oh that sounds good whenever I mention something.

 

Now what I have found over the years is to give her tickets to plays, concerts, etc. that we can all go to together!  I mean after all what do you give to someone with two canoes...I kid you not!

 

Buy I'm running out of ideas for tickets this year. I did see this  book - she is a big bird person.  She is definitely getting this -  I'm getting ready to place my order to amazon now.  Hey I wouldn't mind a copy for myself (hear that Hubby).

 

 

 

 

 

Audubon's Aviary: The original watercolors For the Birds Of America

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I've also have  been thinking of a Diamond Cashmere throw for her.  Who would not want a cashmere throw.  But of course the color, pattern etc. may be wrong. 

 

Any suggestions for a Fussy Mother-in-Law?

 

I'll be back tomorrow with my list of hostess-with-the-mostest gifts.  I have tons of suggestions for this!

Gifts For the Girls

 

This morning on the Today Show I caught the tail end of  "Gifts not to give to your girl". The two gifts that I caught since I missed most of the segment (out walking little Ellie) - were holiday lingerie...hmmm, and a super duper vacuum cleaner.  Lucky me, Hubby has never given me either thus far but you never know. Though, he did give me a lame cookbook once early on. So I compiled my list for the girls from my  own little Christmas wish list and here they are: Hope you like! 

 

 

 

I  have seen these PJ'S in several nice stores here and there and have always admired them.  I saw them in December issue Southern Living and thought, hey I have not had a new pair of PJ'S  since my old Brooks Brothers. And if memory serves me that was about eight years ago! 

 

To have only worked at Vogue during the sixties.. How awesome?  Diana Vreeland -  Memos The Vogue Years.  Should be a good read.

Leather gloves- Now I have black and brown and I'm  sure most other women do to.  But ahhh pretty green.  Perfect contrast for all the black and gray I wear in the winter!

I almost bought this scarf over black Friday weekend though I was on a skirt mission that failed miserably!  I could use a new scarf or two or three.

All my evening clutches are either suede or wicker.   This one (adalyn clutch) is seasonless, elegant and going on my next vacation.  I love all the colors so Hubby you won't go wrong with either the blue or the sand color.  Also, love the cherry red but... 

A few other things that work are a cashmere sweaters, 5X7 sterling frame with a picture of Ellie, a gift card to one of my stores.  Or perhaps the best gift of all. you could just finish your Honey-do list!

 Tomorrow -  Gifts for the Mother- in- law who has everything! 

Gifts for the Serious Decorator!

 Gifts for the serious decorator! 
 

 


One can never go wrong with a beautiful cashmere throw such as the ones above from Williams-Sonoma.

 

or Monogram bath  towels!  Or how about the Turkish hand towels shown below from West Elm.  Love the last name and your serious decorator would love them too!

 

 

 

Or how about a great design book.

 

 

 

In with The Old: Classic Decor from A to Z is indeed on my list of books this year. The author Jennifer Boles from The Peak of Chic was one of the first bloggers that I discovered many years ago. I love her writing style.

 

Last but not least -   I'm asking for  A Home Depot gift certificate from the in-laws.  They gave us one last year - and I got my bronze  goose neck kitchen faucet...yeah! Baby steps!

 

Tomorrow Gifts for the Girls!! 

What Will You Be Doing for Valentine's Day?

Drinking wine, eating cheese with candles aglow while sitting by a roaring fire?

Or having a nice private dinner for two?
Image here & above from Victoria Magazine




or

Admiring your beautiful roses that your sweetheart got you?
Images from Martha Stewart

Or making a nice chocolate fondue... like this one, from Carolyne Roehm.

I'm dying to try this recipe!

.

For me, this coming Sunday the Hubby and I will be having pizza at our favorite pizzeria. In Charleston it was Andolini's. In Nashville it was Mafiosa's. Here in Atlanta it's Felini's.
.

Please don't get me wrong about Hubby. He's really not that mean. He would buy me a piece of jewelry or even take me to a nice restaurant of my choice. However, a couple of glasses of red wine, a nice pizza, perhaps a box of chocolate that we can pick over and I'm pretty happy. I know, I'm one of the few women, just not into jewelry and as for the roses well.. I did scream at him one time for bringing me long stem roses. Needless to say, he has not came home with them ever since. Why, would I scream at such at such a nice gesture, you ask? Let's just say it had to do with my old job description of selling rose bowls and chopping up roses to display them...see The Quintessential English Rose Bowl .

FYI - Hubby did make the Red Velvet cupcakes using the Country Living Magazine recipe, I'm taking them to work in the morning...fingers crossed! In case you're in the mood, it's not too late I did find another recipe for Red Velvet cupcakes with Pinch My Salt. Also, Pinch My Salt pointed out a nice article on Red Velvet Cupcakes from the New York Times just in case your interested. WHO knew?

Your turn!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My New Years Eve!

New Year's Eve morning - Ellie let me sleep until about 8:30 before she jumped up on our bed, and slapped me in the face (her way of letting us know to get up and let her out). Knowing that I needed to make a good four stops to get ready for our spur-of-the-moment New Year's Day open house. I had decided to forgo my jog, have a cup of coffee and make some notes.

8:40 - Sent buddy, Susan, a Happy New Year e-mail. Explained, no time to talk, I was off to Target!

9:30 - Sylvia called as I was washing my face. She & her husband Danny would be attending, & she asked what she can bring. Sylvia wanted to chitchat about her cocktail party the night before.

10:30 - Finished getting dressed & gave hubby his To Do list! Told him not to screw the cake up!

10:35 - Hubby busy reading about his precious Saints. Opportunity for me to sneak old frame in car.

11:15 - Arrived at framers with old, beat-up frame. Hoping to see to see if they could pop a beveled mirror in it for me to pick up later that day. Not going to happen...poor dining room!

11:40 - Called Ballards Back Room to check on Parson chair slip covers (another thing that I put off). Don't want to waste time if they don't have slips in specific colors!
12:00 Arrived at Target...Thank God they have a Starbucks! Ordered coffee & decided to call buddy Helen.

12:05 - Called Helen, haven't spoken in months! Explained in a nutshell what's happened last few months. She's coming tomorrow too. Offered to bring spinach dip. Sounds great, but I say, "just yourself"! She senses I'm on a mission!

12:20 - Decided to take a little time strolling around Target. Stumbled upon the office supply section.

12:30 - Being around cute office stuff reminded me to call Jill. Needed confirmation she had directions. We chitchat about all the great office supplies at Target.

12:40 - Moving on...Spotted a Kitchenaid mixer for $249.00 in red...Hmmmmm!

12:45 - Finally, found an employee to ask about clear cellophane bags and the white appetizer plates (one of my objectives). All Targets south of the Mason-Dixon line are out. The nice girl recommends several stores not on my list or schedule! Decided to head to Crate & Barrel.

1:30 - Arrived at Crate. White appetizer plates...Yeah! Spent 30 minutes going back & forth on a wine glass dilemma! I had discovered earlier that half of mine were broken! Decided to wing it with glasses. Started browsing Crate's after Xmas foods. Still needed to get bags..head to Paper Affair.

2:30 - Arrived at Paper Affair (it's close to Crate). I knew it would be a crapshoot for my bags. Got lost looking at Valentines stuff, clearly don't need... yet!

3:00 - Arrived at Michael's for bags...Yeah! Decided I should get to the grocery to get ham, black eyed peas etc. etc.! Pit stop by Ballard's Back Room to grab slip covers -they were holding.

3:30 - Arrived at Ballard's Back Room. Looked at the slip. Checked bins, spotted a few green ones. Sales attendant and I started playing around with slips. Went with safe choice!

4:30- Finally at Publix. Never seen the parking lot like this! You would think it was a holiday or something. Checked out flowers - tempted to buy something already cut but decided no, not with my financial statements! Started gathering everything on my list. Wondered to myself if it was too late to call Helen for her spinach dip! Searched for black eyed peas. No choice but to go frozen. Darn! Debated a nice bottle of champaign. Ended up grabbing it & left!

5;30 Arrived at Trader Joe's--gathered wine. Picked up winter bouquet.

6:00 - Arrived home...exhausted! Hubby in the kitchen finishing up with Sylvia's cake. Noticed pudding on the counter -- was supposed to go in cake! Sheesh!

7:00 - After unloading car, went for a run to decompress.

8:00 - Started to clean, & mess around in dining room. Hubby complained that he is hungry!

8:30 - Finally a shower.

9:15 - Hubby & I went for Thai food.

10:15 - Put goody bags together! Thought about cutting flowers but way too tired!

11:00 - Hubby popped open champagne (that I spent 15 minutes debating), & we watched a little of Times Square.

12:01 - Snoozing! Happy New Year!

How Was Yours?

New Years Open House!

Vision of Southern Food

Like many, Hubby and I both have been commiserating about this past year...we should have realized that we weren't off to a good start when we came home from spending last years New Years Eve at the symphony (which was very nice, I might add) only to arrive home after midnight to a huge flood in the basement. It appeared the toilet in our bathroom, which is on the second level of the house was leaking! What made matters worse, was that it was not even our basement but the basement of my in-laws! I tried to convince Hubby that he needed to tell his parents immediately about the situation and that there was no way that he could ever cover it up without them knowing! But I suppose childhood memories of spilling his milk, breaking their lawnmower, wrecking their car etc.etc...kicked in! So in order to kick off our new year this year, I've decide to have a small impromptu New Years Day open house and I just decided to do this last week. I'm just now writing out my menu and it's definitely going to be, you've guessed it... Southern Style!

Ham
Black Eyed peas - Lord knows, we all need the good luck! I may try this one from Paula (click here)
Collard Greens - I love collard greens and my first attempt to make them was last year while Hubby was trying to clean up the flood mess! This year, I'm going to try Virginia Willis's recipe author of Bon Appetit Y'All which Santa forgot to give me!

Potato dish of some sort?- Because the picky hubby does not do black eye peas nor collard greens!
Roasted Shrimp - From Back to Basics from Ina - for all my vegetarian friends.
Dip - Ina's sun-dried or spinach dip?
Dessert - Chocolate Chip Cake - Sylvia, our volunteer here at the museum just dropped by all the ingredients for her world famous Chocolate Chip Cake for hubby to make! She is so sweet, and she is definitely getting an invite! So that problem is solved. I would like to do monogrammed sugar cookies, but that's looking a little iffy about now!
Gift bags - Small bottles of champagne, chocolate gold coins, and it looks like I need to hurry up and come up with a few other things...Hmmmm!

Decor - Yellow roses a must!

Well this is about as far as I've gotten on my menu which is two days away. If you have any suggestions by all means...please let me know!

As far as New Years eve is concerned, Hubby and I may go to the symphony again, but the nice thing is if we arrive home to a flood it will not be at my in laws ...Yea!

Holiday Status Report!

This past Sunday morning, while waiting for Hubby to get out of bed, I finally decided that by God we were going to be festive this year (Hubby has been a little bit of a Scrooge insofar this year) and I've been extremely busy with work. I told him that as soon as I got back from my jog that we would go fetch our tree, and we may want to take separate cars to save time. That way, I could head to Publix for our cooking supplies while he took the tree home, put it in some water and untangle all the lights! Then once I got home from the store, I would finish off a little decorating while he whipped up the candy cane bark. And, later on in the evening while we were listening to Charlie Brown Christmas (my favorite), I would put my candy cane bark bags together with the little jingle bells that I found from two Christmas's ago. Finally, we would top off our evening making out Christmas cards to let our friends know that we were still alive! Because, by God, we're going to be festive...even if it killed us!

As soon as we were walking out the door to get our tree, I received a phone call from a police office. A fire Marshall had plucked my stolen purse from a creek! You see, things were already starting to pick up with our new festive holiday attitude!

Needless to say, while at Publix fetching my Candy Cane Bark supplies, they appeared to be out of one of the key ingredients that I needed! As I'm standing there in the baking aisle trying to decide what to do--I needed seven to ten gift bags by Monday morning and time was ticking away! So as I'm standing there being bombarded by other festive shoppers carts,thinking to myself "how do I get myself in these messes"! I slowly push my cart down the aile, pondering what do before I had a huge melt down right there in the baking aile! I then quickly remembered last Friday's blog which had a recipe to chocolate nut bark. I called hubby to see if he could look up the ingredients and we would go to plan B.

Yesterday, Monday morning, hubby and I went a got my purse and thanked they officers profusely for calling us. I Headed to our office Christmas lunch at Stoney River and passed out chocolate bark goodies bags. After work, that evening hubby and I zoomed over to Gwen's (co-worker) holiday party and lucky for me I picked up my Hostess gift this past Sat...Wheee!


Hubby got the tree up, it has water, lights and an angle! We got one Christmas card made out. Today being Tuesday I'm Currently at work and walking Hubby through our dinner party that's tonight! How I get myself into these things I don't know...But come or h 'll... or high water we're going to be festive this year!

Southern Inspirations: Gift Guide For The Foodies Like Me!

As I said earlier this week, I'm defiantly attempting to make candy cane bark (see Experimenting With Candy Bark) to pass out at our office party this coming Monday. I've also been eyeing this chocolate nut bark from Real Simple...Yumm! Which looks mighty good as well! Click here for the recipe from Real Simple.


Earlier this years, I wrote Recession Proof Chees Straws - recipe was from Julia Reed's Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns & other Southern Specialties. Basically it was me complaining how expensive cheese straws can be when you buy them in nice tins which I'm always tempted to do! Hubby and I will be having a few people over, and I love to to serve cheese straws with wine, but they make great food gifts as well...just a thought. I Just found this recipe from the Lee Bros. via Southern Living (click here for their recipe for cheese Straws Lee Bros. Cheese Straws).


I'm currently finishing up Garlic and Sapphires , which I would highly recommend as a stocking stuffer for your favorite foodie! I'm dying to try her Gougeres!


Lastly, just a few weeks ago a reader reminded me of Bon Appetit, Y'all. I've reviewed it while hanging out at the book store (which is where I mostly am while not at work) and I love it. It's on my wish list...Do you here that Santa? Love the cover too!

Next week, I'm exploring my first attempt at Standing Rib Roast from Julia's Joy of Cooking!

Southern Inspirations: Hostess Gift Guide...

... and wish list! Yesterday, while at work I finally had a few minutes to make out my Christmas list. It seems like Christmas has just crept up on us...that is for me anyway! Here are a few of my thoughts for some of the hostess gifts that I'm picking up this week. A few are even Southern inspired... Image that?

For the Hostess:



Hubby and I have a few small parties to attend & one thing that I'm going with are really nice paper napkins from either Boston International or Caspari. Tied with organza ribbon with a nice spreader tucked in. A nice look for less then twenty dollars and the napkins can be picked up at a nice paper store or market. Another possibility depending on budget (for you) would be nice white linen napkins (monogrammed perhaps) with mother of pearl spreaders. I saw a pair a few months ago and could kick myself for not buying them!



Here are my soaps that I love (see Powder Room Dilemma). For a couple of other gift ideals, I'm going to to do four or five package (women at work) of three soaps with nice white tip towel. I'm going to Josephine Fine Linens here in the Atlanta area this Saturday. They'll wrap!Pecans... can't go wrong here. Can easily pick them up at a nice market even on my way to one of my parties!

Mint Julep cups - I'm actually going to get a set of four for myself for Mother-in-law's birthday party that I'm hosting...so they're really for her (Ha). I'm going to serve mint chocolate ice cream in them. Mint Julep cups make great hostess gifts...possibilities are endless for the hostess. Flowers, mint chocolate chip ice cream (my case), cotton balls or Q-tips for your bathroom. Or how about an actual mint julep?

Also, Southern Cocktails , thrown in with the mint julep cups would make a great hostess gift package!

Well, I'm out of Hostess gift ideals for now...about you, any great hostess gift ideals?

For the Food and Book lovers tomorrow!

It Smells Like Christmas!

OK, I'll admit it, I bought this the week before Thanksgiving... breaking my own rule, mind you! But what can I say, I love the smell of pine. I currently have the dish soap and after work today I'm going back to Williams-Sonoma to pick up a few candles and the soap and lotion for my powder room.

Holiday Decorating: Southern Style!

Trying to cheer me up a couple of Sundays ago, my mother-in-law took me to her neighborhood's holiday home tour. There were five homes on the Christmas home tour. One particular home that was on the tour was one that I've been dying to see the inside for years. The lady of the house and her husband have lived in the same subdivision as long as my in-laws, so I was quite familiar with the house. The owner is quite notorious for her holiday decorating, no matter what the holiday is. She has actually toned it down some over the years...especially on the plastic Christmas ornaments and Easter eggs that she decorates with outside. But before getting to this highly decorated house, Mother-in-law warned me head of time what to expect and to be prepared. Of course, I was looking for really overall decorating schemes, but the decor of the house seemed to be stuck back in the eighties.

As Mother-in-law warned me, every room, every nook and cranny, was Christmas galore. Even her big basement...one whole room dedicated to Christmas and only Christmas. The bar area was no exception...not even room to mix a holiday cocktail! Mother-in-law had been told the year before, when she saw the house that the owner keeps all her Christmas things up in her basement year round. Could you imagine?

By all accounts, my favorite home that we saw that day was a home (like the one above) done very simple with fresh magnolia leaves, granny smith apples, pine cones...Very Southern!



Check out this link from Southern Living full of inspiration for holiday decorating. I may just attempt to make a magnolia wreath... I finally have a tree!

What's your idea of the true start of the holiday season?

I've been listening to NPR (National Public Radio) and one question they're asking this week is, "What is your idea of the true start of the holiday seasons"? I'm very interested in hearing some of the comments on this particular question! And here's why...


Last year, while I was still in Nashville and working for a interior designer, her idea start of the Holidays was August 1st. Forget Halloween and Thanksgiving! She plowed straight to Christmas during the dog days of Summer, not unlike many of retailers out there! My opinion, which I'll gladly share with you, is that she, of course, wanted a jump start to sell her hot pink Christmas trees, purple ornaments and resin nativity figurines that she had in her inventory from the last 10 years. And as my good buddy Jeremy pointed out, stuff that you would find at a Walgreens after-Chirstmas sale.


Anyway, I know we all have our own thoughts on this. For me, I like to enjoy Halloween, Hubby and I ate three bags of candy--two bags of Kit Kats and one bag of Reese's (only one little trick-or-treater this year). Hey, it only comes once a year...why not?






And my pumpkins are staying on my porch until Thanksgiving for me to enjoy. Never really been a fan of seeing pumpkins mixed with Christmas trees.