Come Away With Me....

With the 70 degree weather in the forecast, I know I'm not the first to say that I'm ready for spring! I've never been a winter girl. The Mister knows there is no way I could move more north or farther away from the beach. So while I know that we have several more weeks of cold weather and no vacation in sight, I'm going to take these few days of warm sun and dream about being somewhere else.

When I die, I often hope that heaven is just like St. Barts. The Mister and I went to St. Barts for our honeymoon, and I honestly thought I had died and gone to heaven. He kept it a secret from me and didn't reveal the final destination until we had landed in St. Maarten and boarding a tiny prop plane. So let me take a few minutes of your time while I indulge myself and introduce you to St. Barts....

St. Barts is a small island, only 9 miles long, which allows you to easily go to a different beach each day - how luxurious! The best way, and to be honest the only way to get around the island, is to rent a car. We rented a fun little jeep that we took all over the island and discovered every nook and cranny.

The other interesting thing about St. Barts is there is a limited amount of hotels, and most people rent small villas or apartments. We used St. Barts Properties and rented one of their two bedroom villas that had amazing amenities such as your own pool, hot tub and ocean view.

(Villa Poirer)

(Villa Poirer)

Most of the larger hotels on the island are über glamorous and also über expensive, but they also host some wonderful restaurants. We decided to cook at our villa most of the week as we had fun going out to the supermarché every day and exercising the wee bit of French we know. However, we did make reservations during the end of our trip to have dinner at the Hotel St. Barts Isle de France ,which is located right on the ocean in the Flamands Bay. We dined at their delicious open-air restaurant, La case de l'Ilse that looks right out on to the beach.

(Le case de l'Ilse)

The hotel's rooms are beautifully designed, and you have an option to reserve either a single room, a junior suite, a bungalow or private villa - all of which have either a view of Flamands Bay or of the lush flora and fauna of the island. I would love to splurge and book a junior suite at this hotel for our next trip!

(Jr. Suite at St. Barts Hotel Isle de France)

As we spent the week exploring, we discovered out favorite beach, Colombier. You have to be a bit adventurous to find this beach because the only way to get there is park your jeep and take a 30 minute hike off the beaten trail. It's a beautiful hike as you really get a sense of the topography of the island, and right when you are too hot and sweaty to go any further, you emerge onto a beautiful, secluded beach. It's like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, I'm not kidding!

(Colombier Beach)

We also decided to poke around at the Eden Rock Hotel, located right off of St. Jean Beach. Eden Rock Hotels are located all over the world and are the go-to hotels for celebrities, and the St. Barts location is no exception. We literally walked by Usher as he was headed back to his lounge chair with then girlfriend, now ex-wife, Tameka Foster Glover. At first I didn't think twice, but then it hit me as he passed by. It was just me, the Mister and Usher. I could have done the typical celebrity-sighting response - run up to him in tears and ask him to sign my bikini top, but I chose to let him have his vacation. We ended up being on the same plane as we headed home, and let me just say that I think Usher owns every piece of Louis Vuitton luggage! Bottom line - even if you can't afford to stay there, you should be nosey Nancys like us and check the place out. You never know who you will run into!

Last thing to wrap up this long post (thanks for sticking with me!). I am mentally planning our next trip (I hope the Mister reads this post!) as our 5 year anniversary is coming up..ahem. I thought I'd pick out a few outfits from the oh so appropriate company Calypso St. Barts. Here are just a few things I would like to take on my next upcoming trip....

(all photos via Calypso St. Bart)

TGIF!

It's Friday and snowing again! We are having a few friends over for dinner tonight, and I'm excited as I plan to play this game while enjoying our never-ending burning fireplace! Enjoy your weekend.

A Real Steal

I'm a deal/bargain hunter. It's in my genes. I remember going to the grocery store with my dad and waiting as he compared the brand name cereal box with the grocery store brand cereal box. I do preface that statement with the fact that I do think money should be spent when quality is key like in a sofa or a good upholstery job, but I don't mind if my Apple Jacks are Apple Jokes.

So...when I came across these cute ballet flats from Gap that are almost identical to the ballet flats at J. Crew, I felt a wave of delight. I am a loyal J. Crew fan, but I'm usually a loyal J. Crew-on-sale fan, and these puppies are not on sale at $128. I think I may have to root for the other team and grab these Gap flats at $50!

J. Crew at $128

Gap at $50

Worth a Re-Post!

I try and not re-post posts from other blogs, but when I came across the news via I Suwanne that Room and Board is offering the iconic Wishbone Chair by Wegner in a myriad of delicious colors, I had to post it! This is my dream chair for my dining table, however at $900 a pop, I'm looking at acquiring one every 10 years. For now, I'm just going to post this photo on my inspiration board at my office and start buying a few lottery tickets.

(via I Suwannee)

Look at all these delightful colors! I love the simple lines, and although it may look uncomfortable, I've sat in one and the chair truly embraces you.

(via Style Files)

(via Style Files)

(via Star Property)

Freshen Up

Happy New Year! I know I'm a day late and dollar short, but I've been easing into 2011. We had a fun, but crazy holiday season as we had house guests two days before we left for Oklahoma for Christmas and house guests the day we got back from OK up until a week after New Year's. Don't get me wrong, it was a blast between visiting my in-laws and opening the doors to Hotel Ivey, but it's taken me a few weeks to recuperate.

However, I'm back, refreshed and excited about this new year. I met with my book keeper the first week back to work to make sure all my books were in order, ordered new business cards, office supplies, etc. I think the start of the new year makes me reminisce about the start of the school year - a great reason for new clothes and new supplies!

And speaking of new....I've added a few fun new things around the house. Our house seemed a bit empty once we took down all the Christmas decorations, so I was excited to quickly start sprucing things up.

First off, I've been hunting all over for a sideboard/bar for our dining room. I came across this beauty on Craigslist for a steal. The previous owner is actually a dealer in the decorative arts, and he had picked up this 1960's post-modern cabinet at an auction in Baltimore.

A similar cabinet was used in a room designed by Celerie Kemble. She had the medallions gold leafed, which look spectacular. I may have to think about gold leafing mine!

My fabulous husband also surprised me with the painting you see above the bar for Christmas. I walked into one of my favorite home furnishing stores and locked eyes with the beauty as soon as I stepped through the door. Being it Christmas, and you are suppose to be shopping for others, I decided to take a picture of it and just dream about it in my house. However, the Mister snuck away one afternoon bought it for me as my Christmas gift. I look at it lovingly every day.

Last, but not least, we finally got our fireplace renovation completed! When the Mister and I were hunting for our house, a fireplace was listed as top priority. Unfortunately, when we bought the house, the fireplace had been plastered over. However, we soon discovered that we could restore it. So we pulled the plaster off to expose the beautiful brick, built up the brick so it would be a proportionate, safe opening and did a little internal chimney work. It's small, but it puts off a lot of heat and a lot of ambiance!

I'm looking forward to these next few quiet, cold months by the fire and the bar!

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!