Tag Archives: holiday

hygge

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Hey. Hi. Hello. It’s been a while!

Please excuse the absence around here, as you can see things have been…busy. I am usually a Thanksgiving fanatic, but something strange is happening this season. Don’t get me wrong- I had a fabulous time with the stuffing and pie, but this year jingle bells are just ringing a bit louder for me.

It’s not even December yet (but can you believe it will be this weekend?!) and I’m diving head first into the holly jolly. I’ve already watched most of my prerequisite Christmas movies (Home Alone, Miracle on 34th Street, Charlie Brown’s Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life, I’m looking at you), the crafting has begun, and you guys, I even decorated my tiny tree. I know.

This quick week off from work was refreshing and productive, filled with family time, tea dates, homework cramming, donkey feeding, indoor farmer’s marketing, and small business shopping. Because #shopsmallsaturday should last all season long, here’s a little round up of my favorite spots around pvd:

NAVA for the best gifts for your best gals. + plants + candles + vintage wears

Home Imagined for refurbished midcentury furniture and an epic craft corner.

The Shop for cozy. Because you can shop small for foods and drinks, too.

Queen of Hearts / Modern Love for downtown fashuuun and fun accessories.

Frog and Toad for the most unique, perfect, can’t believe this is a real thing gifts.

 

 

first photo by Emily Nunes.

 

 

all that glitters is gold

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Hey all!  Just wanted to share the last of my Nutcracker pictures before I blink and it’s 2014 and anything Christmas-related becomes completely irrelevant.

This year I made sure to step across the big velvet curtain, climb up all those glorious gold stairs and snap some photos of the stage from PPAC’s stunning mezzanine.  It really is a beautiful theater, even though sometimes the lack of proper heating backstage freezes our brains into forgetting that fact (that’s for you, PPAC Management People, if you’re reading…we’re cold back there!).  Anyway, I’m going to quit my complaining (first resolution of the new year?) and let you check out a few shots from last week’s show.  Enjoy!

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holly jolly

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Sometimes, when you’re feeling frustrated at the barre and the negativity in your mind only inflates during center, you just need to leave the studio and go for a walk in the greaaat outdoors.  As was the case with me yesterday, and my walk on Blackstone Boulevard proved just as refreshing and restorative as I had hoped it would be.

While the cool November air hit the reset button on my mind, I couldn’t resist snapping some pictures of all the holly berries decorating the pathway.  How had I never noticed there are SO many?!  Now, I know a lot of people cringe at the sound of Christmas music before December 1st, and being someone who boasts Thanksgiving as their favorite holiday (a whole day devoted to overindulgence, what’s not to love?!), you’d think the early signs of Christmas leaving their mark along the boulevard would drive me crazy…but instead I switched my Pandora to a holiday playlist and embraced the onslaught of cheeriness filling the air!

Today I woke up with a renewed sense of peace in my brain, and plans to bake a pumpkin banana bread in the spirit of the season (it’s currently in the oven and permeating a scent I can only describe as “Mrs. Claus’ Kitchen at The North Pole”).  Next time you’re in a rut, my advice to you is to take a long walk and bake something yummy.  Class dismissed.

lately i’m loving

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DSCN8837an early xmas present to myself- katrina lapenne braided ring via Catbird NYC
DSCN8867stripes on stripes: a cyber monday purchase from MadewellDSCN8943two miniature flower arrangements I made last weekend to jazz up the bathroom and the living room
DSCN8914holiday inspiration on our rustic antique framed chalkboard
DSCN8923a string of felt gingerbread men I made last winter hanging on the door
DSCN8963cinnamon scented potpourri on the coffee table

Just a little roundup of the things that are making me smile these days.  Today, I’m prying my sore-backed self off the couch to travel to Beantown for Boston Ballet’s Nutcracker- yay!  Happy Sunday. xx

the most wonderful time of the year

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The snowflakes are falling, the air outside will chill you to the bone, my heating pad is turned up on high, and the apartment smells like pine needles.

Slippers are required for even the shortest of journeys (read: from couch to kitchen), my taste buds crave a warm cocoa creation and Nutcracker music dances on and on in my brain long after my rehearsals for the day have ended.

This can only mean one thing.  That’s right, sugarplums, it’s finally December.  The only month during which the words ‘reindeer’ and ‘elf’ roll off the tongue with even more normalsy than any other woodland creature/abbreviated supernatural being combination you can think of.  Every store window and street corner is lit up like Rudolph’s nose (sorry, Rudy, that thing is BRIGHT), and coffee shops worldwide delight their steamy beverage seeking customers with peppermint-infused versions of their comforting norms.

Holiday parties, tree decorating, cookie baking, Christmas movie marathons, Nutcracker ballets (to be danced and observed)…December sure does have a whole lot to offer a wide-eyed fete-loving girl like myself.  And believe me when I say I’m more than excited to bake up some gingerbread men, fasten tiny glittering snowflakes onto the branches of my mini Christmas tree, and brainstorm Secret Santa gift purchases.  Who’s with me?!

Bunny trail

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Between a friend’s birthday and Easter, there has been quite a bit of baking going on around here.  After visiting several different grocery stores to assemble the ingredients and tying on my apron, the roooommie and I tried our hand at cake pops, using spoons to shape them into eggs and melted Ghiradelli white chocolate in place of candy coating.  Although they didn’t turn out as visually pleasing as anticipated, they sure were delicious!  The tasty little morsels even got my dad’s enthusiastic seal of approval at dinner last night (which speaks volumes when you consider the “sampler platter”  he crafted in order to sample every dessert item present ;). We also baked Ina’s chocolate cupcakes  and topped them with homemade cream cheese frosting and almond M&Ms.  Then, as if all of the sugary treats weren’t enough, the Easter bunny showed up early this year- and left us some fantastic surprises!