Oh Christmas Tree. Oh Christmas Tree...

The tree is up, decorated and glowing giving our home the final touch of Holiday cheer. It looks lovely and I may or may not have crept out of bed to take a million photos of it last night, or turn on the lights and just grin... I am in love with having the house decorated, the scented candles glowing and the cold weather outside with the heaters blasting and the gas bill growing inside.. ;) oops.

I would love to say that it was a lovely experience, that cutting down your own tree is effortless and that dragging it through your lovely buildings reception area leaving a trail of needles all the way up the elevator and through the hallways is no big deal..that it fit seamlessly into the base without the aide of a steak knife to get rid of a few pesky branches, but I can't.. it was kind of a pain. Will I do it all over again next year, you betcha!! It's my favorite family tradition and just because the fam is 3000 miles away this xmas didn't mean that Mr. Jones and I weren't going to follow through!!

After switching days to cut down the tree because Saturday decided to be wet, rainy and stormy, we set out Sunday morning, sun shining, enjoying our Christmas music to none other than Santa's Tree Farm! A family tradition for the last 16 years!

Love it!

So what if the trees here are twice that of those at the lot! Look at all the fun that can be had here I mean an elve's workshop... nothing is cuter.

I totally paparazzi stalked this Santa too... trust me that wasn't as strange as taking photos of him with strangers children...yay for my stealth solo shot!

Christmas tree mecca and this is only one small area of this farm!


We agreed on the Douglas Fir and began searching for our perfect tree!


Is it obvious that I am just pretending to cut down the tree?


Super stoked, to be covered in sap and dirt!

Next up on the agenda was lunch at the traditional seafood restaurant, since the farm is near the ocean! We enjoyed a long lunch overlooking the Pacific and were excited to head home and begin decorating!

So cheesy but I couldn't resist

When all was said and done the tree ended up looking beautiful and sparkling...

Love that holiday glow

City lights and holiday lights the house is complete.

I will share the rest of the tiny details and decor later in the week hope you've all had a great Monday and enjoyed that really long post about my tree hahah...

XOXO- Miss V

Thankful...

We had a wonderful weekend and even though it was a first with my family all the way on the east coast, I felt thankful for all of the amazing family and friends that I was able to spend the holiday with. Mr. Jones and I successfully made our very first "mini" Thanksgiving for my brother and us and I was beaming with pride the entire afternoon! Granted we did not cook an entire turkey, instead it was turkey breast, but I did make most of my mothers famous sides and it was dee.lic.ous. We headed down to the Joneses for a Thanksgiving dinner and spent a few nights over there just enjoying family, relaxation, movies and lots of leftovers just the way I like it! Hope you all had a relaxing and filling Thanksgiving weekend. I'll share a bunch of photos and try to go light on the text so without further ado.. here's my Thanksgiving!

I'm Thankful...

I'm thankful for my family who sent us this beautiful centerpiece for Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for my brother who will be joining the rest of the family in a few weeks, it was nice to share the holiday with him and we were able to skype with the whole family, so I am also very thankful for technology! haha.

I'm thankful for our mini baby tini tiny itty bitty lil turkey breast on that huge carving board ha!

I'm thankful that my lunch looked and tasted like perfection!

I'm thankful for the Jones family, no one can substitute my own, but sharing the holiday around Mum Jones' beautiful table with family and friends made the day that much easier, I'm thankful that I have them here and am so lucky to feel so loved by them as well.

I'm thankful for all of the adorable Mr. Jones' in my life!

I'm thankful for friends that feel like family.

I'm thankful for brothers who refuse to smile nicely for my blog.... and instead...

make stupid cross eyed faces....ugh. still thankful ... though.

I'm thankful that I wore the "sparkly" shoes... that kept this little one entertained for hours ;)



I'm thankful that I spent not only one night....


But, two relaxing in front of the fireplace with movies and family...

Of course I'm thankful for all of you as well!! Hope everyone is winding down from an eventful weekend! Can't wait to update you all on our xmas decor and the annual "chopping" down of the tree!! But, that will have to wait, I'm tired and trying to savor every last second of this weekend!

XOXO- Miss V

What I'm Loving Wednesday....LA Edition!

Well it's the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I'm participating in littledaisymay's What I'm Loving Wednesday's! There is soo much to love right now, Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I am spending today cooking, shopping and getting ready for the long weekend! But I thought I would focus my post today on day 2 of our LA trip, because of course I'm LOVING my bestie, her fiance and Mr. Jones!

So here it is.. I'm LOVING that we had another great day with my bestie and Mark!

We started our morning by heading into Silverlake for brunch, they took us to this cute as can be restaurant Dusty's where we stuffed ourseleves silly and planned out our day.


While these two were deep in conversation,

We were busy modeling for the camera,

Roomie love.

Bromance.

Brunch was awesome, and I am jealous of all the cute places we went to while we were there, we don't go out to eat too often, so it was so fun to try so many new places in just a few short days... I never thought I would be an LA person, but each time I go to visit I love it more and more, Roomie of course is convinced I should find a teaching job down there, Mr. Jones on the other hand.. not so much.. ;)

We had originally planned to do a day hike up to the Hollywood sign on Saturday but the weather had been a little funky in the morning so we switched gears and decided to check out this little home decor shop we spotted on our way in on Friday night. Right up my alley...

This is Not Ikea..aka.. TINI.

Eclectic, vintage, modern, swap meet meets design store... kind of a place ;) We had fun browsing but the prices were kind of ridiculous so there were no purchases made, but you could spend forever in this place perusing for treasures.



We spent the rest of the afternoon, touring around town, we drove into Beverly Hills and browsed Fred Segal, ooohd and ahhhd at some large homes, drove Mulholand drive and stopped for a snack at a cute little place called Lemondae. Once we headed home it was time to get ready for our evening out! Marks parents and Aunt stopped in for a glass of wine and a chat which was a nice surprise and we spent most of the evening chatting, eating and laughing until we cried. It was a perfect ending to day two.

Seriously, I have some adorable friends.

Dinner at Coles.

I did a terrible job of taking photos once we were out, but we headed to this great restuarant Coles in downtown LA for dinner and went to their speakeasy bar in the back for an after dinner drink! We had the most incredible martini's there and I'm almost glad it was just an after dinner drink because they were like water, Bonnie, (my mother.. would be in trouble if she went there she loves a good martini). We laughed and talked until it was time to head home where we all cuddled up and fell asleep watching Saturday Night Live...ahh if only we all lived in the same town, my perfect evening hahah!.

Well that's day two, sorry for the lack of photo documentation but we were too busy chatting to stop and take pictures!

Hope everyone else is having a lovely Turkey day eve, off to do the grocery shopping and spending some time with friends this evening!!

XOXO- Miss V

City of Angels...

Well, we're home from a wonderful weekend away visiting our very loved and dear friends Mark & Mere. I thought that I would break up the weekend into a few posts since we did so many things in such a short amount of time. We spent the weekend eating, laughing, having cocktails, wedding dress shopping, sightseeing and just hanging out. It was perfect in every way and I am so thankful that they decided to stay in LA over moving to NYC. We are soo thankful to have them only a very quick plane flight away! Our flight was delayed getting into LA so we headed directly to the Grove where Mere and I had an appointment with J Crew Bridal to look at Wedding dresses for her Big Day!

The famous Grove Shopping Center...it was so beautiful and festive for the Holidays! I was in heaven! There were reindeer in the sky, Santa's Gingerbread house, Snow Flakes, festive music and even a live Holiday performance!

Santa had gone home for the day, much to my disappointment.

Only in LA... a full on production in the middle of an outdoor mall!

As soon as Mere got off work and met us at the Grove, the men were sent on their merry way while we looked for the perfect dress!

Sorry folks.... private viewing only...you will have to wait for the big day!

The lovely Bridal Suite Jewels to accessorize with..

They did have a selection of famous movie costumes on display... so I figured the Gone With the Wind Dress was a fair trade for not showing you the gowns she tried on ;)

The wedding gown shopping was a success and I think she might have found the one! If not I am more than happy to do it all over again! We spent the rest of the night catching up over dinner and drinks ...love hanging out with these two always a blast.

My loves... Mr. Jones and the bride to be.

Happy as a clam.

love.

Fellas.


Awesome local bar Birds!

Mark & Mere took us to soo many great restaurants and bars while we were there Malo being our first stop for dinner, amazing unique tacos, and Birds their local bar which definitely has a little bit of something for everybody, lets just say while we were there, we saw a hula hoop competition, a few dancers climb on the bar, a bum reading a newspaper with a flashlight at the bar, a birthday party, and to top it all off it was ladies night with drink discounts...hello...best bar ever... hahaha... seriously though we had a great first night.. can't wait to fill you all in on the rest of our weekend.. missed blogging and can't wait to catch up on all that I've missed!! Happy Monday is OVER!!

XOXO- Miss V

What I'm Loving Wednesday....

I am LOVING that it's What I'm Loving Wednesday again!! Thanks littledaisymay for hosting as always!

It has been a great day and I'm LOVING that. I can't really pin point one exact reason but it was a gorgeous fall day, I had a great day with my students, I was able to leave early, workout, go grocery shopping and now am blogging, watching Oprah, and eating chips and guacamole that Mr. Jones whipped up homemade for us to enjoy before our taco dinner!! LOVING it!!

I am LOVING that we are headed to LA this weekend to visit with Roomie and Mark!! Not only is that awesome in itself, but I am LOVING that we will be wedding dress shopping for her gown! So excited.

Rommie and I at her engagement party!

I am LOVING all of the fresh flowers in my home right now, my fall flowers from the dinner party are adorning my side tables and Mum Jones gave me some beautiful lilies that are starting to bloom!

Lovely Lilies

I am LOVING that I was awarded two blogging awards this week! I will post about these in more detail later this week but thank you Tasha and Lindsay and you actually awarded me the same award!! LOVING it!



Hope everyone else is having a wonderful Wednesday! Can't wait to read all about them!!

XOXO- Miss V

He's a Keeper ;)

Well the dinner party with Mum & Dad Jones was a success, mainly due in part to the fact that I literally cooked nothing. Ha! I was in charge of getting the house lovely and setting the table, these things I can do, and I enjoy. Mr. Jones however was in total control of the evenings meal which was no small feat in itself considering he had to re-create my grandfathers famous meatballs not just for his parents but for me, a grandpa's famous meatballs connoisseur! He did an excellent job, cooking, serving and all around making sure everyone's glasses and plates were well attended to, making the entire evening just relaxing and enjoyable for everyone ;)

I kept it pretty simple... nothing fancy just a few fall accents

I loved these carnations in this deep maroon...I am a total carnation fan, they are inexpensive come in a rainbow of colors and last for.ev.er.

Mr. Jones was soo excited all day long about cooking dinner, which I thought was so cute, I mean he does this every evening basically, but he could not wait to try his hand at a family recipe, he's a keeper for sure...

The "original" (taken this summer)

Glowing he's so impressed with himself..

Our lovely guests...I am so lucky to have them here with my family so far away.


Family Photo!

This was attempt number 3 with the self timer, so even though my roots look terrible and Mr. Jones slipper is making an appearance at least I am not a complete blur from racing across the room and even though I could have made at least 10 more attempts for the "perfect" shot I'm pretty sure everyone else was ready to move on hahah.

Overall we had a great time catching up and a nice evening with just the four of us, the next time we'll all be together will be for Thanksgiving which is usually a pretty large gathering.

Hope everyone else had a relaxing Sunday and a quick Monday! The sooner Monday is over the better the rest of the week is just soo much more pleasant than Monday morning I swear.

XOXO- Miss V