A Gift For The Hostess

Last night JT and I went into the city for a friend's cocktail party on the Upper West side.

 We went in a little early and stopped by Strawberry Fields in Central Park because it was the anniversary of John Lennon's death. People gather around the Imagine mosaic and sing Lennon's songs. If you are a fan of John Lennon, it something you should experience at least once. My first time seeing this gathering was a few years ago and I teared up hearing so many people that didn't know each other sing in unison.

After our Strawberry Fields visit we went to Riposo wine bar for a bite to eat. We each had a glass of Riesling and split a soppressata flat bread and a truffle panini... SOOOO good! Highly recommend Riposo!

After stuffing our faces it was time to go to the cocktail party and stuff our faces some more! The food at the party is always wonderful, our friends do such a great job, so I never go empty handed - gotta bring a hostess gift.

This year, with so much going on, I was a little less creative and took the easy route, buying something. I think I still did a pretty good job though.

My cocktail themed gift included a bottle of Emeri Pink Moscato (sooo good!), a bottle stopper and coasters from Kate Spade.

I liked the bottle stopper so much, I bought one for myself too...

The coasters have cute cocktail themed idioms on them.

The packaging was too pretty to cover up, so I just tied them together with ribbon instead of wrapping.

I cut out a letter K (the couple's initial) for the gift tag and attached it. 

Oh yeah... my nails.. glittery gold! 

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Glitz Blitz

This party was such a great kick off to the holiday season! I have to go recover on my sofa now and watch Home Alone.

xo Lizzie

2012 Holiday Shipping Announcement

I will be closing my shop on 12/14 and will reopen after the holidays.

All orders placed before I close for the holidays will arrive in time for Christmas.

Link to my shop

xo Lizzie

Christmas Legos

Every year I buy JT (my fiance) Legos at Christmas. He's into puzzles & building things and Legos make really great stocking stuffers. He puts them together and then at the end of the season he takes them apart so that he can rebuild them next year. He has amassed quite the collection of holiday Legos and this year they found a home in our wall unit. 

I think the snowboarding Santa is my favorite!

xo Lizzie

Baby, It's Chili Outside!

It was warm here for a few days, the temperature went over 60 degrees. And today the cold returned. Having warm weather for a few days made the cold feel much colder than it really was. Nothing like a hot bowl of chili to warm you up. Making chili seems to make the whole house feel more cozy.

JT made me his awesome chili- it's his own recipe. And I got in the way as best as I could, taking photos and asking if it was ready every other minute- because it made our house smell amazing!

JT's knife skills.

The ipad has become one of my favorite items for the kitchen.  Stood up in it's stand, I use it to display my recipe while I am working.

Steak meat for our chili.

wow! Yeah, my guy makes a mean bowl of chili!

We have lots left over, because we made a huge pot. That means we can go without cooking for a few days- bonus!

Stay warm!

xo Lizzie

Christmas is for puppies too...

I admit it, I spoil my dog. Samardzija, my Siberian Husky is my princess and an important part of our family. Her Christmas gift this year is a stuffed animal from F.A.O Schwartz. Yeah I am that kind of dog owner. She brings so much joy, happiness and energy to our lives... I try to repay her in cookies and toys.

She is very aware that Christmas is coming. That is because we have a dog advent calendar. She loves it! Before we give her a treat from it we say "Samardzija, Christmas is coming!" and she runs over to the advent calendar, sits and waits for her cookie. When you pull the cookie out of the little drawer she can't contain her excitement and jumps up and does a bunch of spins. I think I love watching her excitement more than she she likes getting her cookie! It's adorable!

I touched the advent calendar to take this picture and she was very concerned about what I was doing to her calendar!

Each day has a little drawer with a different breed of dog on it. You give the treat to your dog, and turn the drawer around. And turning the drawers pieces together a picture!

Once all the drawers are turned it makes this cute picture of dogs decorating a Christmas tree :)

My dog, Samardzija and my mom's boxer Levi, guarding the Christmas gifts. I think they thought the presents were all for them!

Samardzija Puppy is excited for the holidays!

And so am I!

xo Lizzie 

ps... if you can't get enough of my Samardzija Puppy click here and it will link you to more posts with her in them! She is awesome!

Stocking Stuffers 2012 Edition

pink elephant stocking from etsy shop UrbanCreative

My Christmas stocking is always my favorite thing to open Christmas morning. It's also a lot of fun to fill a stocking for someone else. I am on the hunt to find gifts for stockings again this year.

Melting snowman! You build him and then you can watch him melt... and then you can build him and watch him melt... 

Hair ties

kate spade bobby pins that look like matches in a match box! Cute!

OPI "Good Tidings We Bling" Nail Polish

Gold Tweezers

LOCCITANE Hugs & Kisses gift set

Magnetic measuring spoons

Oil Slick Putty

Sonic Travel Toothbrush (love the stripes!)

Survival Kit in a Water Bottle Cabela's makes a few styles of this kit; Camper, Hunter, and Ulitimate.

Lilly Pulitzer Fireplace Matches These are pink tipped, long fireplace matches.

Whiskey Stones keeps drinks cool without watering them down.

Notre Dame Grilling Spatuala with Bottle Opener something special he can brag about the next time he's tailgating with his friends.

Bacon Peanut Brittle - this is YUM!

Serendipity3 Frozen Hot Chocolate Packets

Gummy Tummies from Trader Joe's... I love these! 

You can also check out last year's list if you need more ideas.

Happy holiday shopping!

xo Lizzie

PS: Here is the new 2013 list!