Merry & Bright

Life is busy right now. Well I should say busier than usual. The Holiday season is in full swing and with so much going on I've been trying to capture the quiet moments in between. Remembering to take it all in and revel in the merriment of it all. With so much going on and so many Holiday ideas floating around on the blogosphere it seems easy to get overwhelmed with squeezing in every sparkling moment, idea and activity to make the season extra merry & bright. Tonight I just wanted to curl up in my big comfy robe, make some hot cocoa and sit back and relax on the couch to enjoy a quiet moment. I hope you too can sit down and have a moment of quiet to enjoy all that is merry & bright this holiday season.

cozy pj's, twinkling lights

carolers singing...

and festive nights...

sidewalks and...

street corners decorated with care...

movies for watching..

and quiet moments to share...

Wishing you all a holiday that is merry & bright
happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Just a few happy scenes from life lately.

XOXO- Miss V.

What I'm Loving Wednesday...Holiday Party Time!

Wow I can't believe I am just now sitting down to blog about this past weekend! It's been a very busy week to say the least. Better late than never though! This past Saturday marked the 15th annual girls holiday dinner that my friends and I hold well, every year for the past 15 years! We started it our Freshman year of High School and have continued the tradition ever since, adding in new friends along the way the tradition has grown and been shared with others. It's my favorite tradition of the season and I look forward to a night with my friends just us girls, where we can catch up, celebrate, drink lots of wine ( ha) and just have a good time!

Thank you Mrs. Grinde for hosting all of us in your beautiful home!

It's funny to look back because I remember in our much younger years talking about how one day we would be so happy that we started this tradition as a girls only event so that we could have a "mom's" or wives night out, and this year was the 1st that we're starting to see that assumption come true ha!

Most of the ladies...missing a few who live far away ;(

Over the years the evening has evolved from pot luck, to having the hostess or our darling chef friend cook, we've had white elephant, secret santa etc. Last year we started having it catered with girls bringing desserts or appetizers...


and this year for the first time we decided to adopt a family as a group through the local organization Brighter Beginnings. It's a new thing for us that I hope turns into a long lasting tradition, sharing and wrapping the gifts for our family was a highlight for everyone, and reminded us how important it is to give back especially when we feel so blessed.

Adorable idea for name cards...


Enjoying wine, apps and catching up!

Cheers!

Our hostess with the most-est on the left, and Mama Kylie at her mommy's night out on the right ha!

Always lots of laughs with this crew...

Girl talk...

Sharing our presents for our adopted family, loved doing this and so blessed to have such amazing women who were so willing to give back this holiday season. My friends are beautiful from the inside out!

Santa's little helpers!

Another tradition is celebrating my birthday at this dinner since it's right before Christmas, I was able to share this with my darling friend Meghan this year who's birthday is this weekend!

Wishing for many, many, more nights just like this.

Our night ended with some of us in pj's gathered around the living room wrapping away. A perfect ending to another wonderful Holiday party.

All wrapped up with lots of love and care...

Looking forward to many more Christmas parties with these ladies. Lucky to have them in my life! Their friendship is one of my greatest gifts every year.

Happy Holiday's my lovelies!

XOXO- Miss V.

NYC Love.

Hi lovelies! Today I wanted to give a little love to two of my favorite NYC bloggers. I may be slightly biased because one of them just happens to be my little sister! If you're looking for inspiration for food, fashion, glamour, or a quick escape to the Big Apple, both of these bloggers have just what you're looking for. I'm so excited to officially introduce my Sisters blog...

StefAndTheCity

This adorable younger sister of mine is having the time of her life living it up in New York City. Her blog thus far covers some amazing places to wine, dine, and be entertained in the city that never sleeps. You'll drool over her food posts where she highlights some of New York Cities hidden gems, up and comers and more famous spots. This blog is a must for anyone living or visiting the city looking for a great food review or recommendation of where to grab the coolest cocktail, savor the best small bites, or tuck into a delicious dinner for two or more!

I'm loving everything she's posting and looking forward to watching this blog evolve! I've already started compiling my "Must Do" list for our next visit, and this blog is a "Must Do" for all of you as well. Please head on over and show her a little love, leave a comment, become a follower, or just browse and let your taste buds lead the way! Enjoy!





Next up Joanna Goddard of "A Cup of Jo" fame. Maybe I'm late to this soiree but I am loving this blog! Joanna is a writer, mother and wife, living, loving and sharing her life in New York City. Professionally she is a writer for Conde Nast Traveler and formerly wrote for Glamour magazine. Her posts are short, sweet, simple and often. She writes in a way that makes you feel as though you've just sat down with an old friend for a cup of coffee, and discusses topics ranging from fashion, film, literature, motherhood, marriage and friendship. I love her blog posts because each one feels like a conversation I would have with one of my own girlfriends on any of the above topics. She's down to earth and her posts are casual yet always right on topic with trends in the current culture. Her personal posts give a glimpse into a life that's just different enough from my own with a trendy but unpretentious vibe about them that make them exciting and different, yet she's so casual and sweet that you never feel like she's out of reach from your own life. I just love her as do so many others as quoted on her professional website "

"One of the Top 100 Websites for Women" and "One of the Top 10 Lifestyle Websites for Women" -- Forbes

We love Joanna for her tell-it-like-it-is posts on motherhood and her genius finds from around the web" -- Martha Stewart

"The blog read by the entire fashion and beauty industry" -- Lucky Magazine

All quotes via Joanna's personal website.


Hope that you'll get to check out these two blogs sometime this weekend if you haven't already, and that you'll find two more friends in the blogging world through Joanna and Stef!

Happy Friday lovelies!

XOXO- Miss V.

Holiday Home Tour!

Well after a few days of decking our halls the house is "complete" and ready for the start of December tomorrow! It's been such a fun year to decorate because after living together for 3 Christmases now I feel like our little holiday collection is finally growing and starting to look like my original vision. I think the best part about living together and sharing a home at the holidays is getting to reminisce over our last 3 Christmases and how the decorations have become a large part of our holiday memories. As we add to our little collection it's one more piece that brings back a memory that we can always share Christmas after Christmas.

One of my absolute favorite Holiday movies. If you're a fan of Bing, Christmas, and old movies cozy up under a warm blanket turn on your twinkling lights, make a cup of cocoa and settle in with this Holiday classic.

I like to think of our decorated home as my own personal "Holiday Inn"

After lots of bow making...

ornament hanging...

tree topping...

and posing in my adorable new apron... (thanks Mr. Jones you're the sweetest)

I'd like to invite you into our home...

Come on in...

No better view in the world, than walking in this front door at the end of every day...

I started tackling our Christmas cards tonight... already have to head out and get another set!

The kitchen ledge decked in red, white and lots of our favorite Jolly round man...

I love a traditional Christmas, vibrant reds, greens, golds, and silvers, but most of our home decor is soft and soothing pale greens, creams and blues, so I decided to use most of our red and white in the kitchen and add to our silver and gold color scheme for the living room. I LOVE how the kitchen turned out!! I think it's actually my favorite!

My favorite holiday decor trick... using past Holiday cards in our regular photo frames! Free and super easy! And I like the fact that we get to display our friends and families cute cards for more than one Christmas!

Just as pretty in the daylight...


Almost all of the decor items here were things borrowed from Mum Jones, gifts from friends and family and other items that were "shopped around the house"

This wine stopper, a gift from Mr. Jones and that Santa gift bag that I've re-purposed to hold wine were the only new purchases for the kitchen!

Moving from the kitchen into the living room we have our gold, silver and green side table. Two new purchases here, our pretty silver tree $7 at TJ Maxx and the glittery reindeer also $7. Inexpensive little finds that add the perfect touch of Christmas among silver tinsel garland, gold ribbons silver balls, gold candles and my little green reindeer tray .99 from Salvation Army 2 years ago!


The main attraction! Our Gold and Silver Tree!

A few new additions... our pretty Charleston pineapple! Been saving this since we bought it this summer!


Seashell Santa... another Charleston find..

2011 Santa..

Can you tell we kinda have a thing for Santa around here?? Hahaha.


Gold and Silver details.

Our "faux" mantle is decorated in faux garland with a string of lights and I added in some silver/gold leaves and silver/gold pine cones, that originally was vase filler...it's all about re-imagining what you have to change things up on a small budget and very little storage space!

I also added a red pashmina (Thanks Grinde's) to our white chair for a bit of Christmas "flair"

And shopping the house (the bedroom to be exact) helped with changing the couch pillows and throw to fluffy white, perfect for Winter, a side of red flowers completes the subtle change.


And since I covered just about every available surface in our tiny place with decorations I had to get crafty with card display. A few tiny command hooks, clear wire and small silver bows solved the problem!


And here's my view from my blogging perch!

Well that rounds out the tour for this year, it's a pretty small little space so we've definitely decorated to the max. I am so happy to have it done and ready to enjoy for the next month!

That's all for tonight my friends. It's lights out soon...

Silent night...


all is calm, all is bright..

Peace, Love, and Joy from our home to yours, goodnight my dears.

XOXO- Miss V.