Cheers To 2014

Here we are at the end of another year. Anything that reminds me how fast time is flying by, is truly not my favorite. And, then in two short weeks, it will be my birthday ~ that this all falls during the cold, short winter days sometimes feels like a cruel joke.  I can't help it, I get a a little pensive this time of year. 

We don't have any big party plans tonight. Just a cozy small gathering at home, and a good excuse to buy some indulgent treats, including my favorite (New Year's Eve or any time)...Champagne! Cheers to a healthy and happy 2014!!!

Image via: Vogue.com, TheSequinedHostess,TheDrinkBusiness.com

Monday's P.O.P. ~ Inspired By Radiant Orchid

Today I'm combining my usual Monday pop of purple with some fashion and home accessory ideas. This seemed like a great idea, especially in light of Pantone's recent announcement that the color of the year for 2014 will be Radiant Orchid!  I get that this is more of a pale, pinky purple, but being the big fan of this hue that I am, I'm thinking that purple (in all it's variations) has finally gotten it's due...and I couldn't be happier about that.  Here are just a few of the ways that I would add a pop of purple to my outfits, along with some home decor inspiration inspired by the color of 2014 as well...

ring | scarf | earrings 

notebook | smoking slipper | bangle | wallet

Scroll through my purple picks for the home below:

Holiday Reading and Relaxing

I started reading The Interestings: A Novel, by Meg Wolitzer at the end of this summer, but didn't get a chance to finish it until over the Thanksgiving holiday last month.  When life slows down, this is exactly the type of book I enjoy reading (and I really enjoyed this one).

Now that the Holiday hustle and bustle is behind us, I'm looking forward to relaxing.  With all three children off from school until just after the new year, we're heading down to Florida for a quick trip.  I'm planning on catching up with all my favorite magazines and blogs and unwinding with at least one really great book.  Below are a few of the titles catching my eye, I'd love any feedback on these or the names of a few others that you really love!

Also worth mentioning is our recent binge TV marathon of Lillyhammer. We started up with season one only a few days ago and we're already in the middle of season two.  There are so few TV shows that my husband and I can agree on, but this is our new favorite.  It's a hilarious dark comedy, sort of The Sopranos meets Christopher Guest.  Anyway, I'm going to be sad when we reach the end of season two, and would love any good movie and tv show recs as well!  Hoping you all get a chance to relax and recharge before the year's end.

1. The Signature of All Things: A Novel   

2. The Rosie Project: A Novel  

3.  The Book Thief

4. The Goldfinch

That's a Wrap!

I've just finished wrapping (what I'm hoping is) my last present...and now I'm signing off a bit early today in order to give myself a little time to regroup and get ready for tonight and tomorrow with my family.

I want to wish you all a lovely and relaxing holiday, no matter what you celebrate and I hope that you get to truly enjoy these next few days. I also just wanted to say thank you ~ for the support and readership of this blog and also over at zhush.com. Your Instagrams, emails and tweets literally make my day...I'm beyond lucky to have such wonderful readers and customers. I'll be taking a brief break here on the blog, but feel free to keep up with all things zhush on Instagram and Pinterest! I'll be back later this week, till then wishing everyone joy, peace, love and laughter.

Image via: Martha Stewart

Monday's P.O.P.

purple pastry party

Image and Recipe via: Glorious Treats

Holiday House Tour

Further to last week's post on Farrow and Ball's press preview in New York City, I wanted to introduce two ladies that I happily ran into that day.  Sarah Sarna and Tina Ramchandani are the women behind one of New York's hottest new design firms, Franklin Eighth.  Within literally only a few months, it seems these two talents have taken the design world by storm.  Check out the beautiful job they did for the prestigious Holiday House 2013 New York, benefiting The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  Tina and Sarah chose "Jazz Appreciation Month" as their holiday and cleverly came up with a chic and sophisticated ladies lounge inspired by the swank art deco era. For more details about this project including the rest of the photos shot by Michael Arnaud not to mention all the other exciting things that Sarah and Tina are up to, check out Franklin and Eighth.

The Gift List - Pretty Pink Tulips

Why we love Pretty Pink Tulips: Elizabeth has an impeccable eye for anything preppy-chic and she includes plenty of gorgeous visuals in her upbeat posts. We love reading about her trendy gift ideas, interior design obsessions and other style inspirations!

Elizabeth’s three favorite gift items:
1. red asia small bullet bowl - "Perfect color for Christmas."
2. monogrammed ladies pajama set - "Love the personalization and how perfect for cold winter nights!"
3. large gold bamboo picture frame - "With a photo of me and the recipient to personalize the gift."

What is Elizabeth’s favorite way to ring in the new year?
“With just family or a few friends. I love to set an elegant table with silver and gold accents, tons of candles and place hats, blowers and boas at each person's place. Champagne to start of course. And, then after the strike of midnight...it's off to bed. I actually love New Year's Day even more as it just feels like the promise of good things to come!”

The Gift List - The Buzz

Why we love The Buzz and Diane James Home: Funny enough, Carolyn and I met through blogging and became instant friends as we discovered we live in the same area! Her blog is as fresh and cheerful as the spectacular floral arrangements Diane James Home creates.

Carolyn’s three favorite gift items:
1. silver chiseled votive
2. Elva tassel necklace
3. Daren containers

What is Carolyn’s favorite holiday song?
“White Christmas by Bing Crosby. We have loved this movie ever since we were little girls celebrating Christmas in Arizona.  Our parents thought that escaping the dreary Belgian winters in sunny Scottsdale was way better than hitting the slopes in Vermont but we disagreed.  All we wanted was a white Christmas…  And we still watch the movie on Christmas Eve hoping that snowflakes will fall!”

Colours Of The Season

Last month, I attended a small lunch (along with several other home design bloggers) in New York hosted by Farrow and Ball in order to preview this year's colors (whoops, it's a British brand, so that would be colours) and wallpapers.  Having used the beautiful line of paints from Farrow and Ball in our Vermont kitchen and my home here in New York and also some of the lovely wallpaper in our place in Florida, I was already a big fan of this well known English company. We all got to meet and chat with the quirky and completely inspiring creative director, Charlotte Cosby. There's even a colour named in honor of Ms. Cosby's ginger hair: Charlie's locks, and that's just the type of wonderful insight behind the brand we were all treated to that day. Meeting Charlie and listening to her delightful artistic tales of the English design world was so much fun.  Not to mention learning the correct way to pronounce some of these colours (seen here today Rectory Red No. 217, Stiffkey Blue No. 281 pronounced Stewkey! and Mole's Breath No. 276) At the end of this lovely lunch, we were all given a copy of Farrow & Ball Decorating with Colour, which I've flipped through so many times now, each time finding new and inspiring ideas. This book is a follow up to Farrow and Ball's best selling, Living With Colour.  Both of which, would make great gifts and are available on Amazon Prime, a total lifesaver! (just in case you are like me and still scrambling to get a few last minute items under the tree!)

Winter Weather Wishlist

It's not even technically winter yet and over here in my neck of the woods we've already had three snow day cancellations at my children's school.  Winter in New York is no joke.  While my Pinterest boards might be full of chic wool coats and cute leather boots, in reality this attire is really for fall and spring around here.  My actual winter coat closet tells a different story...one of warm water proof, ice friendly boots and nylon down puffer coats.  Thankfully, in the past few years it seems that the fashion world has gotten the reality report, as more and more companies are now designing cold weather gear that's as stylish as it is practical.  In between frantically scrolling through school closings and extended weather outlooks online yesterday, I found some really great street style inspiration and some very chic snow day attire.  I even cheered myself up out of my cabin fever rut (a bit) with these cute plaid tech gloves. You can scroll through all my finds below. Stay warm and dry everyone!
Images above via: PopSugar, Vogue.com and Refinery29

The Gift List - Elembee

Why we love Elembee and Lisa's blog: The Elembee blog is the go-to site for any blog related inquiries. Lisa has amazing knowledge of how to create a successful (and pretty!) blog and I love all her clever insider tips.

Lisa’s three favorite gift items for a friend who loves happy colors and patterns:
1. chevron round covered boxes
2. ink pens
3. retro mod photo frames

What is Lisa’s fondest holiday memory?
“Last Christmas was my first white Christmas — yes, I realize how strange that sounds to pick that as my fondest holiday memory. But you're talking to a girl who really loves winter, but happened to be born and raised in Texas, then spent 8 years in Louisiana. Anyway, that year was my first winter in Oklahoma, and I was excited to finally live in a place where snow was a fairly regular occurrence. I waited and waited until that snow icon finally showed up in the weather forecast — which happened to be Christmas Day, when I would be visiting family in Texas with no chance of snow. So it was particularly special when the rain we woke up to on Christmas morning in Texas turned into snow later that evening — big, fluffy flakes that actually blanketed the area and stuck around for a couple days. It was a totally unexpected, magical way to end my favorite holiday.”

The Gift List - Because It's Awesome

Why we love Because It’s Awesome:
Tobe’s fun blog fills us in on everything she finds “awesome” and we always agree with her picks! Her roundup collages display her graphic design talent and flawless taste for home decor and fashion.

Tobe’s three favorite gift items:
1. amethyst bottle stopper
2. starburst statue
3. love knot earrings

What is Tobe’s favorite way to ring in the new year?
“For the last several years, one couple graciously hosts a small group of us long-time friends (and when I say long-time, I mean some of which I've had since I was six years old!). We start at their place for drinks and hors d'oeuvres, venture out for an extravagant dinner, and then head back to their house for cocktails, watching the ball drop, and games until the wee hours. With everyone's schedules getting busier and lives getting more and more hectic, I look forward to spending this night with these special friends each year.”

The Gift List - Sarah Lederman

Why we love Sarah Lederman Design Studio and Sarah's blog:
We love Sarah’s fresh take on classic design and her impeccable eye for chic interiors. Her blog's crisp and clean design aesthetic makes it such a joy to read.

Sarah’s three favorite gift items:
1. greek key throw blanket
2. tortoise salad servers
3. paris spotlight tray

What is Sarah’s favorite holiday song?
“Vince Guaraldi Trio's entire album A Charlie Brown Christmas is wonderful. My mom always plays it for us on the piano!”

Spirited Spaces

Yesterday, I cleaned out our old family room coffee table, it's a map table with six drawers on each side (similar to this one).  After approximately twelve years with this large, chunky table, we're changing it up for one, with a lighter visual foot print.  This table did serve an excellent purpose though, as I was able to store so many coloring books, crayons, comic books and of course endless shelter magazines within it's many drawers. It was during this weekend purge, that I came across the December 2009 issue of Veranda Magazine featuring the beautiful holiday decor of Charlotte Moss, as seen here today.  This lady really knows how to turn out a festive and elegant space.

Monday's P.O.P.

passionately purple

Image via: 79 Ideas

Stocking Stuffers 2013

I'm almost completely finished with my Holiday shopping! This weekend I'm planning on focusing on stocking stuffers..these little treats are always my favorite to give.  Last year, overwhelmed by my holiday to-do list, I totally blew it and forgot to get anything at all for the stockings. In a last minute effort we ran out to the supermarket and loaded up on candy, magazines, gum, pens and breath mints! Clearly, not the worst thing, but since I really enjoy putting a little extra effort into these small gestures, I plan on re-stepping up my game a bit this year.  Here's a quick round up of my thoughts on stocking stuffer gifts...what I plan to give and hope to get!

Shop these stocking stuffers here:

Home Tour: Fairfield County Chic

The design world is a small one, at least here in my neck of the woods. The other week, I went to visit the stylish ladies at Oomph (a personal local fave) turns out their offices are right across the hall from a very talented builder I know,  Richard Rosanno. Rich was telling me about a recent renovation he had done (an award winning project, I might add) along with Louise Brooks...one of the aforementioned Oomph ladies and my favorite architect, local or otherwise.  After hearing about this home, I asked to see some photos...turns out they were taken by the very same talented lady that did my shop's look book...Jane Beiles!  So here it is, the fabulous home addition that I had to see (so I could share it here today), built by RR Builders, designed by Louise Brooks and photographed by Jane Beiles Photography!
PS: It's just been brought to my attention that this world is yet even smaller...the interiors here were designed by Melissa Lindsay of Pimlico Interiors (love her work so much, wrote about her here!) and the gorgeous art in the last image is by another local favorite, Kerri Rosenthal!

Straight From Santa's List: Gifts For All The Kids

With three children, ages 14 -7, two girls and one boy...I consider myself to be in a unique position.  Not only do I have three lists for Santa (teenage, tween and child) but with Chanukah already behind us, I can tell you first hand what went over really well around here.  Here are some of the highlights, some of the gifts my three are still wishing for and a few I've thrown in as well...

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top image via: Macy's