Turning Lemons into...Lemon Tart!

Today's Agenda:  Lemon tart, baby! 

One food I am a sucker for is Meyer Lemons.  I'm not sure why.  But I love them in a beautiful risotto with crab and cracked pepper.  Or over a chocolate mousse?  Yum.  So when Whole Foods had them on sale for 4 for $1.99 I just picked them up without really thinking what I was going to use them for.  {Oops -- trying to stop doing that but it's a lot of fun!} 

This week has been a little bit of life giving you lemons so I thought why not make a lemon tart!  {Everything's okay but husband had foot surgery so is working from home and hoping/clanging around on crutches -- photo of his new workspace below given he can't make it up the stairs!}

And I just needed a few ingredients {and few measurements}!  Key rogue ingredients = chocolate pie crust from Whole Foods + blackberries + lime zest on top.

With minimal effort I turned my sweet little meyer lemons into this!

Just add a few flowers and call it a day.  Now for what to pair the dessert with for dinner...{do we really need dinner??? :)}

Uh-oh - I now want to decorate a room with ivory, white, lime green, black, gray, pale yellow, and blackberry...sort of like this.

{from Casa Sugar}

Birds.Glitter.Yarn.Please.

Today's Agenda:  Enjoying the view of the snow from my office.  Ah. 

So, I thought about leaving my white christmas tree unadorned and simple with pretty white lights.  Our home has white walls and it just blended in so nicely.

Well, that lasted about a week.

Until I found these cards at Anthropologie. 

And imagined dozens of them on the tree...and proceeded to buy dozens (hello? sale!).  They had a bird on the cards, glitter too, in pink and wrapped in beautiful vellum with a red and white petit string of yarn.  It was fate.  {They have artwork by Parisian based artist Nathalie Lete and are beautiful -- her other work is beautiful too.  Check it out here.  And some work she has done for Anthropologie here.}

So what was once simple.

Is now adorned.  

 

 

 

 

I then felt compelled to create a whole holiday dining room nook. 

With comfy chairs and plush blankets, it's perfect to curl up with magazines by the tree with a glass of wine.  And I'm all ready for a dinner party. 

 

 

 

 {Yes, I did get a chuckle out of having the white elephant as the only thing under the tree so far...}

And everything went with my wreath from last year!

 Why not put it on the back of your door so we can enjoy it!  {and the star wreath hanger has a star on the front of the door to be festive for our neighbors but not annoying festive :)}

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Last Minute Gifts?

Today's Agenda:  Husband had surgery yesterday so am balancing making good healing food for him and doing work at the house.  It basically means a lot of running up and down the stairs. 

While at Whole Foods today, I took advantage of the absence of kamikaze carts and hungry zombies and went up and down a few more aisles than usual.  And, I'm glad I did -- I found a few great ideas for gifts this year!

I know, it sounds like last minute shopping at CVS for holiday gifts but I promise it isn't like that at all!  And gifts for all ages.  Let's see what I found...

They had a great selection of children's toys -- check out the wood blocks in the lower right corner.  And the little organic toys -- how sweet!  I'm actually thinking of stocking up for friends that are having babies...

Who doesn't need a new hat and gloves?? Even the fingerless gloves for Iphoners!  They were really soft materials too -- one was a little pricey at $50 but it was amazing/really amazing.  And, the hats looked like they would really fit all people -- why is it that so many are too small???

Okay, I myself would be in HEAVEN if I got a massive stack of magazines wrapped up in a huge bow!  They had these two classics -- Food and Wine and Dwell -- that you could just delight in all Christmas Day.

And, such sweet lip balms and bath stuff.  And things I would actually use -- not weird scented things that I wouldn't use.  

And, to prove that Whole Foods really thinks of everything -- wrapping!  In cute, modern patterns nonetheless.  And no more expensive than grabbing some at the CVS.

 

So, if you are tight on time, stressed to the max and can't even think about what to get people -- take a stroll through Whole Foods, pick up a few beautiful, well priced gifts, wrapping, a bottle of wine and rotisserie chicken and call it a day/week/season/year. 

Graphic Inspiration

Today's Agenda:  Staying warm -- it's COLD out there!! 

I'm still collecting lots of inspiration for my holiday decor and cards for this year.  And, fully realize that I know I don't have that much more time to keep gathering :).  But bear with me for a little bit longer...

Was flicking through my photos on Iphone (full on with oohs and ahs as I remembered I had all these great ideas closely guarded in my phone!) and remembered these shots I snapped of the Barney's and Saks' windows this year.

Loving the font in the Barney's windows and the natural colors in the Saks windows...Hmmm...how to incorporate with what I have -- goal is to just use what I have this year!   Stay tuned!

From Punchy to Obsessed...

Today's Agenda:  I've moved the furniture around.  Found an empty space.  Recovered from the shocke of finding that empty space ;)  Ready for Christmas tree! 

So, yesterday I was punchy...but today I am obsessed!  With the work of Chris Everard! 

I had found this photo of a party punchbowl setting of Chris'.  So lovely.

 

But there are so many more of Chris' to just lust after.  

A client has asked me to think about some Christmas decorations for their house that we've been working on -- how fun!  No tree but maybe a wreath or two, something easy to put up and take down that is festive but not over the top.  I'm on the hunt...

...and the work of Chris Everard is a great place to start.  

Punchy

Today's Agenda:  A little delirious/punchy with all the activity going on here! 

Speaking of punchy...did you see the article on serving punch at a party in this weekend's WSJ?  Check it out here. 

I love serving punch at parties.  It makes it easy for friends to grab a drink when they come in.  There are some amazing punch bowls out there.  And it's a chance to switch up the party decor a bit.

Loving this punch set up.  {from Chris Everard}

This punch bowl. 

 These glasses. 

 This ladle. 

 This recipe.  

 Now, ready to throw a party!