Color Swap Reveal

I'm super excited to reveal all the gifts I received from the totally fun color swap I participated in this month. I actually found out about the swap on facebook and jumped right on it- I love doing any kind of Secret Santa/give a gift, get a gift/surprise thing.

My partner was Hannah from Love Hannah B, we started chatting right away and getting to know each other so we knew what kinds of things to send. It was wonderful meeting another blogger, finding out their likes and dislikes and in general meeting a new person.

Above is what I received from Hannah, lots of goodies- many of which are in the color blue, my favorite color! Surprise, I know. And that is what was the most fun about this swap- it was about your favorite color and sending gifts in your partners favorite color.

Hannah sent me some fun lipgloss, a lot of great notepads plus a planner (always a win with a blogger). The city picture is a pack of tissues (so needed at this time of year). Actually Little J tried to take them from me and tell me they were his.. sorry to burst your bubble munchkin! The mini-clothspins are super super cute and I can't wait to display all the signs. And the bracelets hanging over the joy sign are festive, with a young vibe and soft feel. Winner in my book!

Overall a really great time, a nice way to meet a new blogger and friend and way to get some awesome surprises!

http://www.twomiracles.net

Make sure to stop by Two Miracles and see some of the other Color Swap Reveals!

Favorite Family Holiday Photo

This is by far my most favorite family holiday photo ever/ it's one of the only ones I have in my possession but it's hilarious so I don't care.

It's circa 1991, I'm the little grumpy child front and center. We used to attend the Mickey's Holiday Party every December at Disney and I know there are a ton of these laying around somewhere... eventually they will appear and I can really spread the joy. Until then, enjoy this gem!

Letter to Santa

I'm really excited to join in with Ash from The Grits Blog and Tay from Tay Meets World for their Blogmas14. I might not participate in every prompt but some of them will be first times for me (like today's!) That's right folks- I've never written a letter to Santa. This is because I'm Jewish, and usually celebrate Hannukah, but hey I don't see why I can't write a letter... honestly as a child I totally believed in Santa. I just knew that he didn't come to my house because we didn't celebrate Christmas and because we were Jewish.

so here we go..

Dear Santa,

hello! It is so nice to finally be writing you! I'm sure you are surprised to hear from me but I figured why not say hi and mention how awesome I am.

I would like to think I've been a pretty good person this year- I donate to friend's charities, give aid whenever possible and am always open to lend an ear.

I am super thankful for my job, my apartment, my family and friends. I am happy to say I am healthy, my animals are healthy and if anything I have health insurance and that is fantastic.

Anyways, since I've been a pretty cool person this year there are a few things I would love to just magically appear in my presence-  with much debate I would not in anyway turn down a camera, a nice beautiful DSLR camera. This blog space is beginning to turn into something and I want to step up my game.

And that super fancy bar cart that I finally tracked down but then turned out to be over $600. I love it, it's way cute but now officially out of my price range. Totally want it still...

Along with that, a new dining room table and chairs could make me really swoon.

So Santa, if you have any extra room in that giant bag of yours, feel free to throw out a bit of love for little ole' me!

these are a few of my favorite things...

I'm a little late to this link-up but figured it would be the perfect way to end the week. With the arrival of my new couch tomorrow (cross your fingers it fits through the door!!) I figured I'd give a list of what I would like to purchase (or receive) to help finish up decorating my living room.

 so if you need any ideas for what to get me for the holidays... here they are!

1) A new coffee table:

found here at Wayfair

      I really want a two-level coffee table to help keep some of that mail and magazine junk off the top- this is one I've found so far that I've liked, I also really need to measure my space..

2) Floor Rug: Ugh- I'm so torn about a rug. My wall is painted purple, the new couch is light gray. I was thinking of a yellow or blue rug. But this might be the hardest decision of them all- here are a few I've seen and liked..

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3) Bar Cart: All the rage these days- I'd love one with a wine-rack built in!

4) Fun Wall Prints: a toughy because i really don't know what I want but I know I want something- details, details. I'm a big fan of putting up some quotes- maybe some favorites from books. obviously that means some harry potter. I like the idea of a gallery (below) with a mix of book quotes and fun ones.

 5) Shelving for Pictures: with a look like this..

Happy Friday!

The Recap of thy Weekend

 First off- Happy St. Patrick's Day!! I told my kids this morning they had to wear green or a leprechaun would pinch them. Big J can be very literal sometimes so he was very much on point with his clothes. I kind of forced Little J into his green things... whoops!

St. Patrick's Day was one of my favorite holidays when I was little. I always used to save the little green baskets that our strawberries came in (did anyone else have a similar container?) and I would set-up little traps to try and capture the leprechauns. For some reason I thought that strawberry flavored bubblicious gum would draw them out... and it at least tempted them. Many times the gum was gone in the morning with a note left.. oooohhh. (Thanks Mom and Dad for stealing my gum!)

My favorite St. Patrick's Day was the year I was in kindergarten- my teacher that year was super creative and always played fun imaginative tricks on us. For that holiday when we came back from recess and someone (or something) had played in our class sand box and left  very small sand  footprints throughout our entire classroom! (A friend of mine and myself were "blamed" because we were the smallest kids in the class) And then the culprit had left a not very nice drawing of our teacher and note on the front board. It was all very exciting at the time.

I hope everyone can play up the fun traditions- and I hope you are all wearing green!!

I had a fun weekend hanging out with my friends- we tried a new place for brunch, Station, on Saturday in Brooklyn. I don't venture to Brooklyn often but the day was beautiful so we wandered around for a few hours afterwards trying out some other cool drinking spots and shopping at the flea market. I bought two fantastic smelling soy candles from this cute little company called Simply Curated- you should definitely check out their website simplycurated.com.

mmm Sage+Cedar and Cucumber Sweetgrass

Twinko Bibs- and they are oh so soft!

And I bought two really cute bibs for my nephew from a great little company called Twinko, visit them at www.twinkoNYC.com

The market was a lot of fun- I may have to make more of an effort to get to Brooklyn more often now, and it was an even smaller indoor market because of the season. I can't wait what the larger market is like during the spring and summer.

We also made our way to a really fun bar called Surf Bar- the whole floor of the place is covered in beach sand! It made me feel like I was in Florida again, the only weird thing was that I wasn't wearing sandals.

After that I was able to have a Chris Hemsworth ( I can't ever decide which brother I like better)  evening by finally watching the new Thor movie, and Red Dawn. Both were very good- if you like action films.

Sunday was a lazy day- just as it should be. I do some grocery shopping - I'm planning to try my hand at a few Overnight Oats recipes this week. Will let you all know how that goes...

oh! And we finally picked up our finished pottery- mine is the chevron bowl. I thought they all came out super well! I'm hoping to go back again soon, maybe make a whole set!