To love and be loved.

Ava has become incredibly affectionate this past month, giving hugs and sometimes even kisses to everyone and everything she comes into contact with.

She started out by hugging (and wrestling with) her big white teddy inherited from Uncle Troy. This was really funny to watch because the thing's almost as big as she is.

Then she moved onto the little stuffed lion her Uncle Alec brought to welcome her into the world on the day she was born. She squeezes and squeezes and smiles from ear to ear and makes my heart melt.

Even better, though, is when she finally started giving me hugs and kisses. We would be playing on the play mat in her room and she stopped what she was doing to crawl the two feet over to me and nestle her little mug right into my breasts and stretch her arms out around me. This is truly what life is all about.

Party Pinning

The amount of time I've been spending on Pinterest lately scoping out cute party ideas, you'd think I was a professional party planner. (And it turns out I'm not alone. Read this article to learn more about the crazy pinning phenomenon and pick up some helpful tips to become a better pinner.) But no, I just have some big events on the horizon and I want to be prepared. Okay, no one needs to be this prepared. I actually just have a real pinning problem and I can't stop!

(Here is the board I've been working on for Ava's first birthday coming up in less than a month.)

Happy New Year!

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Ava's Fist Christmas Card

We wanted to do something a little extra special for Ava's very first Christmas card, so I played around with her Dear Santa photo PowerPoint, shimmery gold card stock, spray adhesive, and red ribbon to come up with these... Joyeux Noel!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Well, after over a week of sitting in the middle of the room naked, we finally just finished decorating our tree and putting up a few decorations around the house. All while blasting Pandora's Christmas station nonstop. And I have to say, these simple traditions really do help put you in the spirit of things.

Wait, the tree was sitting in the middle of the room naked for more than a week, not us. Although that would probably do more to help put us in the spirit of something else.

And Ava's really taking to the taste of pine needles and tinsel.

Dear Santa

 
We took Ava to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what a good girl she's been and she's too young to even have a clue what she wants for Christmas this year... so I've compiled a list for her:

1. Pajamas. Our little chubster is starting to outgrow even her size 12 months feet pajamas, and those really are the best thing for cold winter nights. 
2. Shoes (like these white boots (they're on sale now!) and leopard print shoes from Zara, my absolute favorite store since I first discovered it in Paris almost 10 years ago.
3. Slippers (like these tigerlily booties or dalmatian booties... um, yeah).
4. Rainboots/wellies, raincoat, umbrella.
5. Black faux-fur vest (they have one at Zara but they also have one at Target that would do the trick).
6. Jewelry (maybe a faux-pearl necklace?); apparently Ava's obsessed with bling right now. Thanks Aunties Chelsea and Lulu.

Black Friday, Black Friday

[...to the tune of the YouTube sensation, "It's Friday."]

I have never been to the Black Friday sales, but we're in desperate need want of a few key pieces for the house we had been eyeing at Restoration Hardware and they were available at the outlet store for an extra 30% off starting at midnight on Black Friday.

And so here is the story of how we lost our Black Friday virginity.

It was crazy, but RH was practically empty. I don't know if it was the time the sale started (midnight) or maybe there just aren't many people in the market for high-end furniture willing to brave the Black Friday madness. (My sister waited in line for over an hour just to enter the True Religion store next door!)

This is what we set out to find:

• Chairs for the new sitting room we're trying to create to one side of the long dining room (with this as the main piece sectioning off the two spaces).
• A stool or bench to put at the foot of the bed in our master.
• Any other amazing furniture that we could never afford at full price at a super deep discount.

This is what we ended up with by the time our zombied, red-eyed bodies rounded ourselves up and loaded up the car:

• This amazing chair in white linen.
  
  

  

  Ours is more of a gray wood, but otherwise the same.

  We were thinking of putting it in the bedroom, but we decided to loan it out to the sitting room since we didn't find the perfect pair of chairs for that space. We also just realized it matches a mirror we picked up at Home Goods that currently sits in the foyer perfectly.
  
• Duvet cover for the master in matching white linen.
  



Stonewashed Framed Belgian Linen Duvet Cover and Shams in White with Fog

• Open Weave Sheer Linen Drapery in Linen for the foyer, Sheer Belgian Linen Drapery in Optic White for the master, and a sheer white floral pattern for the guest bath.
• A couple Vintage French Grain-Sack Linen pillow covers (similar to these) for the sitting room and a couple brown knit ones for the family room and two more gray linen ones for the sitting room.
• Chenille throw blanket in Chocolate for the sitting room.

Stay tuned for pics of each item as I incorporate them into the decor of my humble home.