Gracias

There is so much to be thankful for this year.  Jake will be made Rector in January our Ninos love their school and are so happy.  Our community continues to grow and nurture our family.  Just this last year my father had major heart surgery and is recovering well and back in action.
All I have to say is muchas gracias for todo!!!

MIL BESOS

M

FRENCHY MICE BIRTHDAY PARTY

SOPHIA IS 8, IT IS UNBELIEVABLE, I CAN'T BELIVE HOW QUICKLY TIME HAS FLOWN.  LUCKY FOR ME SOPHIA IS STILL A SWEET IMAGINATIVE ONE WHO LOVES TINY FRENCH MICE & PETER PAN.  SO THIS YEAR WE DECIDED TO HAVE A MOUSE PARTY JUST WITH FAMILY.  

HERE ARE A FEW PICS OF OUR MOUSE PARTY

FALL BRIDAL BOUQUETS

This Fall season has been FULL of love.  Each wedding has been unique and thoughtfully planned by the brides I have worked with.  Last weekend, I was asked to create a bouquet that honored the Fall season including seasonal flowers and calla lilies. I was asked to create a bridal bouquet that was cascading.  

Here is what I came up with…..

Happy Fall!!!

Mel

December Madness

Since Thanksgiving ended, the Rev. and I have been up to our eyeballs in events. All beautiful events for families and our community, they have just caused us to be busier then usual. This is the longest we have gone without blogging, sorry about that, we will be back in full swing come the end of Advent. 

Here is what I have been up to in PICS. 

Merry Christmas!!!

Mel

Gearing Up: School & Beyond

Here in the North East we are beginning to prepare for the start of school. I am a little behind since we have been away quite a bit, but I am ready to share my back to school secrets. 

It is Never to late...

Everyone understands how busy Christmas can be. SO, I say it is never to late to send a belated Christmas gift, plus if you buy your wrapping now you will be able to find beautiful wrap at half the price. 

Here were a few of my favorites...

Stay Cozy

Happy Christmas. 

We are three days in and we are enjoying fabulous family time. I hope your staying warm and cozy!

Christmas Suppers in New York

Our upcoming week is filling up with my favorite Christmas activities: Gramercy Park caroling, children's pageant, and a midnight service.  I hope your upcoming week is full of joy and shared time with those you love. 

Homemade Gift Tags

I love anything original and homemade. I think when you bring together the simple details together with love and care the gift you give is so meaningful. I am thrilled my friend Ginger gifted me with homemade gift tags.  Look out for her site in the new year, as you will soon be able to order gifts just like these.....

Perfect Christmas Gifts

With the business of the Christmas season gift giving can be overwhelming to say the least. I think of all the wonderful people in my life and wish I could send them all a wonderful treat to tell them how much we love them. One thing I know I love most are Christmas cards. Yesterday I opened our mail box and found a dozen new Christmas cards. I was so excited and giddy to be exact. Receiving cards reminded me how special each card is and I can rest assured the cards we sent out touched our loved ones as well.

A few other gifts I love to give are photobooks, and cookbooks. The cookbook on the top of my list is Feast. Our dear friend Sarah wrote a second fabulous cookbook and it is especially for those you love their veggies. If your not a veggie eater you will find recipes to inspire you. 

Christmas Blooms

Hello Monday.
We have made it to the other side of 4 parties. We have one more this weekend and then our own family Christmas festivities. We have had a full month to say the least.  I am sure you all remember we trimmed our house as soon as we cleaned our Thanksgiving dishes. Over the last two weeks we have enjoyed the decor, but I was itching for a little punch in color. So, it is no surprise I picked up a few bunches of pink ranunculus to lift our green party to something a little more special.

Christmas in Pink

As we prepare for the weekend, I prepare for party number 4! I am particularly excited for this upcoming party. We are hosting the staff and church board members, and together we work so hard we rarely have time to sit and enjoy a meal together. So, when I was thinking up decor for our 4th party, I decided to add a little pink hue to make our party sparkle against our very rustic white pine and magnolia leaves. 

As a side note, I say PREP for any party you are putting on and set up what your able to before hand. Knowing that my table will be set two days in advance cuts out so much stress.  

Here is a sneak peek......

Simple Cocktail Party Decor

Since we had so many different parties ahead of us last week, I knew I had to keep our decor on the simple side if I was going to get through my to do lists. So, I trimmed my home a week ago and have just refreshed a few areas if my home. One trick I have is to change the color of the my candle sticks throughout the party season. That way each party is festive in its own way. 

I also decided to add wreaths in unexpected areas of our home. I like the element of surprise.

Christmas Party Tent: Adding an Extra Room to the House

Each year we like to throw a little Christmas cocktail party at our house as early in December as possible, partly to catch everyone before their schedules fill up, and partly to get on the calendar before they're sick of Christmas parties:)  I knew we'd invited more people than in the past, so cramming them into the house could be a bit of a challenge, which is why we decided to buy this tent for the back deck to add another room to accommodate all of those extra bodies.  I was so excited when it arrived, even though it comes in three huge, super heavy boxes full of about a million parts that looked pretty intimidating at first when we opened everything up.  Actually, assembling this monster turned out to be satisfying and even quick, with the two of us working together.  But who am I kidding?  I love this kind of thing:)

Once the tent itself was in place, we got to work making the space a bit less carport-like and a little more party ready.  Jady's enthusiasm for Christmas decorating is boundless and contagious in the happiest way, and I'm always grateful for his tireless efforts when it comes to hanging lights and schlepping trees around.  I picked up some extra long strands of white lights, which we hung all around the sides and top of the tent.  Then, to soften the look of the lovely vinyl and metal construction, I brought home 20 yards of inexpensive white muslin fabric and hung that over the lights on the ceiling.  The fabric turned out to be such simple addition, and I was really pleased with the difference in the feel of the space.

For this year's party I decided to go super simple with the tree and barely hung any ornaments at all-- and while I'd like to claim it as a minimalist design decision, it actually just knew I wouldn't have time to fuss over it and bumped decorating the tree way down on the priority list.  Better to have a bare tree than hungry guests, right?  I think I made the right choice.

The night of our party the weather turned out to be terrible-- as in heavy snow and icy roads that stranded a bunch of our friends on back roads and up steep driveways.  But tons of people risked life and limb to come party with us anyway!  The day before, to help cozy up the deck area and to try to keep the freezing air out a bit, we laid out some carpet remnant and an extra couple of rugs I had stashed away.  The electric heaters were a critical addition, given the weather, and I have a feeling we're going to use them a ton between now and summertime.

Sadly, with all of this effort and party prepping, I am the WORST at remembering to take pictures of the actual event!  Ugh.  This one is literally one of two photos I snapped at the very beginning of the night.  I seriously need a personal assistant:)

xo

Liza