Nutmeg

Happy Holidays!!!  I hope you are all enjoying the weekend.  I am so happy to have a few days of quite, coziness, and fun.  Last week was super chaotic.  We are in the middle of doing a lot of work to our house and we are also refinancing (yay for super low interest rates!).  We just recently found out that for our refinance to go through, we have to have our house painted.  This has to happen by the end of the year.  I felt really weird calling around to find a painter last week - "yes, I know it's the week before Christmas and I know it's pouring down rain, but can you pleeeeease paint our house ASAP?"  Ugh.  In the middle of all of that, our car broke down.  Ben was driving and it suddenly died in the middle of the street.  It's at the shop now, but of course it can't even be looked at until after Christmas.  Luckily, Portland has great public transportation!

On a brighter note, let's talk about my new AG Stevie cords in nutmeg:)  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these.  They are the softest, most comfortable pants ever.  I love all of my AG jeans and I had a feeling I would love the cords too.  They have been on my wishlist for a while.  Luckily, they went on sale and anthro unveiled  a new promotion right around the same time.  I snagged these right away!  I have been stalking Molly's blog for color inspiration (love this one and I fully intend to steal this color combo!).  

Pants:  AG Stevie Cords via Anthropologie
Tee:  J. Crew
Top:  J. Crew Perfect Shirt in Chambray Polka Dot
Shoes:  Chie Mihara Loti
Necklace:  Betsy and Iya via Adorn

My kind of party!

Last weekend, we attended our friends' annual cookie exchange party.  We had a blast!  We spent the afternoon visiting with good friends, meeting new friends, sipping on cocktails, and eating A LOT of cookies.  I decided to attempt macarons again - this time I went with a mint chocolate flavor.  Although I was feeling a little self-conscious about the cookies not being the perfect shape and the "pied" (the frilly bottoms) not forming just right (silly I know, but I stayed up really late working on them and wanted them to be perfect), they were a huge hit.  They all got eaten and someone even proclaimed them to be the best cookies at the party this year.  Success!

Dress:  Anthropologie Spinning Lace Dress
Cardigan:  J.  Crew Jackie
Tights:  J. Crew
Belt:  J. Crew
Shoes:  Unsure of the brand - I picked these up at a little boutique in London

Oh darling

Ben and I are currently doing a cleanse/detox.  It is a 2 week program and today is day 13.  I just have to make it through 1 more day.  Ahhhhhh, I can not wait until Saturday!!!  The detox is fairly strict  - no caffeine  no alcohol, no sugar (NO SUGAR!), no grains, no dairy, etc.  I have been eating a ton of vegetables, some fruit, and a small amount of "clean" meat - all organic/hormone-free/etc.  We start our day with a paleocleanse smoothie and drink a lot of water and detox tea throughout the day.  At this point,I am feeling pretty fantastic.  I've dropped a few pounds and I feel energetic and happy.  While I am looking forward to having a coffee and some chocolate on Saturday, I am planning on making some of these eating habits permanent.  It feels really good to have a reset of sorts.

I finally got around to wearing the Darling cardigan I bought a few months ago.  It is really nice.  It's super soft and the buttons are beautiful.  You can't tell in these photos, but the edges are scalloped.  Unfortunately, we're stuck with crappy indoor photos for now:(

Happy (almost) Friday!              

Top:  J. crew
Cardigan:  Darling
Skirt:  UO
Tights:  J. Crew
Shoes:  Dansko

Peter Pan

I took my "little sister" (through BBBS) to the mall today.  She was excited to help me do some shopping.  2 hours in the mall was more than enough for me.  I much prefer online shopping:)  I got most of what I was looking for, fortunately.  Afterwards, Ben and I picked out our Christmas tree!  Funny how plopping a tree with some lights on it in the middle of the living room can change the whole feel/ambiance of the house.  I am loving the coziness! 

The J. Crew Peter Pan collar tee I order months ago finally arrived (it was on backorder until last week).  It was worth the wait.  It is a thicker material than I was expecting, but it's perfect for fall/winter.  The collar and cuffs are silk.  The best part of the top, in my opinion, is the exposed zipper in the back (forgot to snap a picture).  This is a nice, comfy, simple-but-polished top.

Top:  J. Crew Peter Pan collar top
Jeans:  AG
Shoes:  Gee  WaWa
Purse:  J. Crew Clearance Store

Memories

Just a quick post to share some photos.  When I was in NC a few weeks ago, I was inspired to capture some images of my Granddaddy's old barn.  I have a lot of good memories of this place.  I remember walking with my Granddaddy to the barn to help him feed/water all of his animals.  As a little girl, I loved getting up in the hay loft searching for kittens (quite a few "barn cats" made a home here).  What a special place this is.

My Granddaddy, who turned 85 this week.  I am so thankful to have him (and my nannie!) in my life.  He is sweet, caring, hard-working, and just an all around good/genuine person.