Merry Christmas!

See you in the new year!

Christmas at the Iveys

We kicked off the Christmas season with a little party thrown at our house Saturday night. Ever since I was little, I've been obsessed with the 1940s, '50s and '60s. Talk about a child born in the wrong decade. I even had a huge crush on Elvis when I was 12. I have no idea where this love came from, but I always have loved the glamour and the air of formality that followed in those decades. Women took time to dress up, parties were top notch and the music during that time was fabulous. So I tell you all this because we decided to have a theme with our party - "Festive and '40s." We asked everyone to dress up in their best 1940s Christmas attire, and we had Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima and the like serenade us into the night. Our friends really got into it, and the last person left around 1 am! Sadly I didn't take a ton of photos as I was having too much fun, but here are a few:

(me and Meriwether)

(Laura and Amanda)

(the dapper Gatewoods and Meriwether)

(Rita Hayworth, Grace Kelly, and Katherine Hepburn)

(Collins, Cassidy, and Austin)

The weekend before we spent getting the house decorated. We got our Christmas tree from a great farm out in Round Hill, VA called Snickers Gap. It's a beautiful ride out to the countryside, and the farm provides you with a saw and rope. Then you can either take a hay ride out to the trees or just walk to find your perfect tree to chop. I went with a Blue Spruce this year because I loved the color of it. However, I don't think I'll go this route again as the needles are extra sharp. We had to wear gloves when decorating the tree!

I decided to go simple with our decorations this year, as the renovations took it out of me. I did a simple garland going up the stairs, garland on the front door along with a wreath on the front door and wreath over the fireplace. We weren't able to get our fireplace and mantel fixed in time, so next year I look forward to hanging stockings. It's amazing how just a little Christmas greenery makes a house light up. I wish I could keep it all year round!

TERRAIN

I'm pretty sure I'm not alone when I tell you that I can spend hours in Anthropologie. Between their fabulous clothes, quirky home goods and genius visual displays, time easily escapes me. I try to add a few pieces from the store to my wardrobe a couple times of year, but I consistently go back to see what kind of new baubles and what-nots they have in their home section to bring home with me. So, I was excited when I heard that the over arching company Urban Outfitters, Inc. (who owns Anthro, Free People, and Leifsdottir) has started up a new lifestyle brand, Terrain, which hones in on home and garden products.

Since I have not visited Terrain (yet), I did a little Google research and found some photos from the great blog Oh Joy!. You can go to her blog and read in more detail about this little jewel.

(image via OhJoy!)

Their flagship store is located right outside of Philadelphia, and my friends Melissa and Ian had the opportunity to pop by. They came home with beautiful poinsettias and a gorgeous arrangement of paper whites.

Here is what my wish list:

I think this calls for a weekend trip to Philly soon so I can see what all the hype is about. I know I won't be disappointed!

An Early New Year Resolution

Where the heck have I been you ask? Busy. Plain and simple. I do hate that my blog posts have been so infrequent, but the good news is that I've been busy with client work. I also just returned from hearing Micheal Boodro, the Editor-in-Chief of Elle Decor magazine, speak at the Washington Design Center this morning. He spoke about Elle Decor's efforts to keep up with the new-media frontier aka. the Internet and the demands that the Internet puts on the design world. Let me tell you, it was a kick in the pants for me!

With the so many great design resources online now, both clients and designers have inspiration and resources at their fingertips. Immediacy and instant gratification are the new expectation. I have a whole other post to write about that, but just note that for now. Elle Decor is staying ahead with their recent revamp of their web site Elledecor.com. It now offers "look books"of different rooms, links to popular articles that are in their current issues, archives, and even a Designer Registry where a potential client can search within their area to find a designer that fits their needs - this is obviously a great tool for the designer to in reaching out to new clients.

All this got me thinking. I'm on Facebook, I try to Twitter, and well, I struggle to blog. Michael's lecture has put a fire under my rear, and I'm publicly committing to blog and Twitter at least 3 times a week. I think that is fair. I am a designer first and foremost, so my client work takes priority, but I also desire to share with you my projects, resources, and experiences. I've got some exciting projects to share in the near future plus some past experiences I need to post. So stayed tune. I promise!