'tis the season

it's raining in arizona today. :) i would love for it to be cloudy & rainy up until christmas day...it makes it feel more like winter here.

 a few of my favorite (holiday) things:

 i think it is safe to say that lights are my very favorite part of the season

 

 cuddling up in a chunky sweater with hot coffee or cocoa

 handmade christmas cards (doing mine tonight)

via dress,design,decor, plush palate, a cup of jo, decor8 (i might have missed some...eeks)

style icon

totally have a girl crush on joanna hillman, senior fashion market editor for harper's bazaar.  the way she mixes pieces is just incredible.  there is this sense of tempered edge to every single one of her looks.  that red lipstick...deadly.  & i love her ever-present stack of bracelets.  i could keep going...

i can't stop looking at this pairing...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

via studded hearts, who what wear, all the pretty birds

icy

friday the boy & i made an accidental discovery.  we had planned to go to a display of lights in a historic district about 30 minutes away...but it didn't end up working out (we went the next night though!)  i was upset,  so to salvage the night, we decided to meet up with some of the boys at the bowling alley downtown.  when we got there, we found there is an outdoor ice skating rink set up in the little courtyard! we rented some skates & ended up skating for about an hour before bowling.  maybe because the boy is going back to a snowy michigan for christmas or the fact none of my extended family will be around for christmas this year, but i am really bumming about spending another christmas in arizona (i mean, it was about 80 degrees today.  nice for the 5 hours of yard work i did saturday, but not great for a christmas-y feeling!)  the ice skating & hot cocoa after really put me in the christmas mood.  needless to say, the night was saved!

i don't really have words for this last one...

pantone

2011's colors from pantone...the color of the year is honeysuckle.  pantone's take on the color: "energizing honeysuckle lifts spirits & imparts confidence to meet life's ongoing challenges."  i'm not really a pink person, but if wearing honeysuckle is going to help me accomplish things with an upbeat attitude this coming year, let's shop!  i am just naturally drawn to silver peony, peapod & russet together.  what are your favorites?

erin featherston, rebecca minkoff, nanette lepore, ella moss

white christmas

my boyfriend's mom just sent me some photos from their little farm in michigan. i almost cried...i want a white christmas (& horses!) so badly. how gorgeous is their house?! obsessed would not be too strong a word here...

 their home is so perfect

 julie, with charlotte & a paint i haven't met yet

taffy!  i love the snow all over her face.

gold velvet

i'll be honest. i grew up always saying i was NEVER going to wear gold! (or velvet, for that matter. i had a velvet dress with a peter pan collar when i was younger...can you say alexa chung?  stylish then & i didn't even know it.) obviously a lot has changed.  for instance: this erin featherston for juicy couture velvet gold dress is nothing short of amazing.