I am totally obsessed with Jennifer Zeuner's jewelry. I wear my cross bracelet every day. The arrow is super cool, especially for my sweet friends who were Pi Phis with me!
The incomparable Grace Coddington penned this autobiography about her modeling career and her time spent as Creative Director of Vogue. It should be a fascinating read, plus the book is so chic looking.
I am completely obsessed with Design Darling. Every time I go on the website I see something I love. This is just the latest. A needlepoint cuff is just too clever.
My sweet friend Kalee gave this to me a few years ago and it was just so thoughtful. Benji is a shelter dog and but for the grace of God Elsie and Luke would have been too (both were found on the street). There are way too many dogs in shelters across the country and we have a duty to these animals to help them.
And in the fantasy gift category...
Heidi Klum's Engagement Ring
I figure with her marriage to Seal over, that baby is up for grabs. Isn't it awesome?
A vacation to Fiji has been on my bucket list for a little while. I read about this private island with only 25 residences on Indagare and have been dreaming of beaches and resort wear ever since.
My sister has been telling me a while now about how many toxins are in our everyday beauty products. And, finally, after hearing her compare my face wash to a floor cleanser I listened. I've been slowly following her head switching some of my more intense products to some more natural options and my favorite so far is RMS Beauty. RMS was created by a former beauty artist who suffered from health problems linked to high levels of metal and pesticides in her body from traditional beauty products. RMS is organic, mineral and really great. I bought from left:
rms beauty oil, raw coconut cream (probably the best smelling thing ever, great for removing eye makeup remover without drying your skin), the un-cover up, lip2cheek color in modest and smile and the living luminizer (so great for highlighting your cheekbones and making your undereye area look bright).
I thought I maybe had bought a little too much until I saw my sister's haul...
I'm a convert for sure now. Get yours at RMS Beauty.
Happy December! We had a great Thanksgiving with family...
Benji kept me company in the kitchen while I made salad and dessert
We took our Christmas card photo...this is't it, but it's close.
My mom had some cute vignettes set up around my parents' house
My parents' dog Presley hung out with us while we watched a movie
Our Thanksgiving table
The guys watching football
So, now it's Christmas and I am completely unprepared. Amazon is my friend this holiday season. I have not been to one store that I don't currently work in...
One thing we have done is put up the Christmas tree..
I got some new stockings for me and my husband from Restoration Hardware this year. The dog stockings are from all different places, Luke's is actually my dad's very old camo stocking. Elsie's is a baby stocking from Target and Benji's says "Good Dog" because, he's just the best.
I'm looking forward to our 2nd annual girl's brunch this weekend at my friend June's. If you missed last year you can read about it here.
This summer at one (of the many) weddings we attended, I noticed my friend Becky's beautiful clutch purse. She told me a fellow SMU alum, Megan Adams Brooks, had designed it. I quickly became obsessed, and ordered my own. Isn't it amaze?
Get yours here, and check out Megan's amazing artwork and textiles here.
As promised, here are my kitchen before and after photos. It's amazing the difference a little paint made. The entire room is so much lighter. Here is the before...
And the after....
Of course, now I think we need new counters and a new backsplash too, but whatever.
I accidentally deleted my blog for about 5 minutes on Monday night and seriously almost had a meltdown. I'm not saying this little bloggie is any great journalistic endeavor...I think I use too many addrevs for that, but it is a chronicle of my life and it was so sad to think it was gone. Has anyone else ever done that? I was trying to link my blog to my new e-mail. Anyway, long story short it didn't work, so if you ever feel inclined to e-mail me...thecanarydiaries@gmail.com it is.
So here's what's been going on with me...
I helped my friend Billy with his December PaperCity column by hosting a few friends at my house for a game of dress up, otherwise known as "Valley of the Dolls New Year's Eve." He took a few photos and I got to wear maybe the best weave ever. About 10 percent of the below is my actual hair.
The weave was courtesy of my friend Christina's mother-in-law and it was from the Racquel Welch wig line, which made me think of the fantastic Sex and the City episode in which Samantha tries to catch Richard cheating. Die hards, do you remember this one?
And, in case you're wondering, yes it was very real looking for synthetic hair.
Benji and Elsie played while we dressed up...
My sister in her NYE getup....
My sweet friend Christina....
It was all quite fun and silly.
Otherwise, my life has been very busy with my new project. I am managing a design studio here in Fort Worth and after a few weeks I am starting to get the hang of some of the nuances of the job. I want to do a big update when we get a few wrinkles smoothed out so I will wait until that happens to do a big post. Stay tuned.
Tomorrow, an update on our cabinets. They are finally done!
