GETTING OUT THE CHINA FOR THE HOLIDAYS:  PART 1

This is the china for my annual Advent Vespers soup dinner.  It’s the first of my Holiday dinners.

EVOLUTION OF A CHRISTMAS TREE

It’s no secret that I LOVE Christmas.  In fact, I love everything about the Holidays and do a lot of entertaining during those weeks, but before the entertaining can happen the decorating has to happen.  I do quite a bit of decorating but only have a week between Thanksgiving and my first Christmas dinner so, needless to say, I have several short sleeping nights during that week.

One of the biggest tasks is getting the Christmas trees up.  My main tree is in my living room.  It’s seven feet tall and holds my collection of angel ornaments acquired over a thirty-five year period.  Needless to say I have hundreds of them and it takes literally hours to get them on the tree.  Yesterday was designated for putting up the angel tree.

After the tree is standing I string it with small white lights.  Once the lights are in place it’s ready for the first spiral of ribbon which is a wide metallic gold one.  All of the ribbons for this tree are stored on spools so before I can put them on the tree  I need to iron them.  This gets rid of the curl and gives them a nice crisp look.  

Once the metallic gold ribbon is ironed and in place, it’s time for the second ribbon. This is a narrow burgundy ribbon that is spiraled inside the gold ribbon.  Once that is done the Angel tree top is added.  This tree top is a starched crocheted angel that belonged to my Mom who passed away twelve years ago.  It now serves as a wonderful holiday memento.

Once the ribbons are all in place it’s time to add the HUNDREDS of angel ornaments that I’ve collected.  Because there are so many ornaments it takes a few hours to put them on the tree (this year it took three and a half hours).  What I love most about this collection though is how eclectic it is.  I have everything from crystal, sterling silver, and fine porcelain angels to simple, fun, arts and crafts angels.  The combination works beautifully.  

This year, I finished the angel tree early enough that I still had time to but up the smaller tree in my dining room.  This tree holds ornaments inherited from my family as well as other ornaments I’ve purchased over the years.  Now I just need to add skirting to both trees and we're all ready for the festivities.  

All in all, the total time to put up both trees was just a little over eight hours.  A fruitful day’s work indeed.  

AND SO IT BEGINS - THE HOLIDAYS!

The holidays are here and this is a very busy time of year for me - both with work and entertaining.  Since this is a lifestyle blog as well as a clothing blog, I will also be sharing some of my holiday decorations and dinners with you.  This is a time of year shared with friends and loved ones, and filled with good wishes and good food. 

My Thanksgiving table awaits the guests.

The turkeys flanking the centerpiece are carve from various stones and were a gift from friends several years ago.  The china belonged to my mother and graces most of my holiday tables.

Finally the guests arrive.

A wonderful compliment of people surround my table waiting for dinner to be served.  An amazing evening of friends, food and fellowship!

Best wishes for a holiday season filled with friends, family, fabulous food, and FUN!

TRADING LACES

As you can tell from some of my posts, I LOVE shoes.  I also love color.  So when I’m able to combine the two I love it even more.  While I own and wear several of the more traditional styles of shoes, I also own some colorful variations of them.  

The “twist” in my blog description, eludes to my love of color and how that plays out in my wardrobe.  My shoes are just one of the ways I like to play with color, but even there I like to shake it up a little by trading out the laces.  Trading out laces is the best way to give a pair of shoes a fresh look.  It’s inexpensive, can be done to match different outfits, and is just plain fun.

Here are just a few examples of how I’ve completely altered the look of my shoes just by trading out the laces.  Pictured above are two pairs of Calvin Klein suede shoes (actually the same style shoe) in mustard yellow and red.  Both came with white laces which I liked for summer.  White is always the best way to lighten up the look of an outfit.  As summer started to wind down, I traded out the white laces in the yellow shoes for sage green laces.  The two colors compliment each other and the look extended the shoes into early fall.  With the red shoes I traded out the white laces for navy which also extended their wear well into fall.  The white laces would seem out of place going into September and October, but the sage green and navy laces work perfect.

In the second photo I’ve done a similar thing with the rust colored suede shoes from Bass.  They came with laces that matched but I traded them out immediately for the forrest green laces because I like how the rust color really enhances them.  I have worn the shoes with the rust laces a couple times but I much prefer the green.  The second pair featured above are contemporary saddle shoes from Nordstrom’s in powder blue with a pink saddle.  These shoes came with navy laces which I really didn’t like and felt gave the shoes a “flat” look.  I immediately traded them out for the lavender laces you see on the right.  Pink and lavender have become one of my favorite color combinations and I love the way it plays out in the shoes.  The lavender laces really pop against the the pink and blue and gives the shoes a fresher look and feel.  I am very happy with the result.

Finally, just as an added bonus, in this last photo I have added black laces to the rust shoes.  I first did this near Halloween, but I liked the look so much that I am using it to extend the shoes well into November.  This is an especially good look when paired with black jeans.

So there you have it.  Just a few examples of how you can completely change the look of an outfit, simply by changing the laces in your shoes.  This trick is easy, simple and very inexpensive, plus it’s a lot of fun.  So take a look at your own shoes, and see how this idea might work for you.  Above all, relax, enjoy yourself, and have a good time with it.

EARNING YOUR STRIPES!

A while back I talked about solid colored socks for fall and today I want to talk about the many wonderful colors of regimental/repp/rugby striped socks.  I have added quite a few of these to my collection and love the look they provide.  As I’ve shared before, I’m all about color, and these socks offer a fun and playful way for me to add color.

It’s very easy for me to shake up, and change the look of any outfit, whether casual or dressy, simply by wearing fun and interesting socks.  And I love how these socks come in so many colors and with so many variations of stripes. 

I’d like to share several of these striped socks that have been added to my collection to give you an idea of what’s out there.  Pictured above are some of my favorites.  The broader, wider striped sock in the front is from Lands’ End, while the other four are from Brook’s Brothers.  I lucked out when buying the Brooks Brother’s socks as they were on sale, - always a plus. 

I like this photo because it shows the wide spectrum of styles that these socks come in.  We have the traditional socks in bright colors with a variety of stripe widths and we have a pair in darker, more traditional colors, with a more conservative wide stripe.

The second photo shows the variety of shades that these wonderful socks come in.  The sock in the middle is from Ralph Lauren Rugby, and is your traditional bright colored multi stripe sock.  The two socks on the left are from Ralph Lauren Polo and show a variation that tends to be a little bit more conservative with the stripe, while at the same time maintaining the bright colors, although a bit toned down.  The socks on the right are from Nordstrom’s.  While these are again a more conservative version of the classic stripe, they are also in much more muted colors.

So whether you love bright, vibrant colors, or prefer more subdued shades - or maybe your taste lies somewhere in between – you are sure to find a regimental/repp/rugby style sock that is perfect for you.  So go ahead, choose you colors, and above all have fun.