Big cheer in a small dose

Hi friends. First, I apologize for not being consistent on my blogging lately.  I'm away from home, from my computer and the days have been hectic around here.  Tomorrow, we fly back to Florida, where I have a baptism to plan right before Christmas Eve, and the details involved in the process are countless.  I will show you pictures of the day, since I also left my camera back in Florida.  I have been bad at checking my favorite blogs lately, since I haven't had much time to sit around in the computer.  But Christmas is just around the corner, and so many lovely things have been passed around the web lately, I couldn't resist posting a few of my favorites. Have a wonderful day and enjoy these sweet holiday trees.

(Source:  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 )

Inspiration: Small Christmas trees

Ahh the Christmas tree!  Who doesn't love a beautifully decorated tree.  I love putting up the Christmas tree, and for the sake of joy and inspiration we are putting them earlier every year.  But for many, small is not always the right choice, however, when it comes to the holidays, small Christmas trees can be as good as the old traditional ones. Although we are spending our holidays away from home, I made a small Christmas tree that we got to enjoyed for a few days and the inspiration came from the West Elm catalog.  This is our small tree at home:

 

My mother is crazy about Christmas trees as well, these are a few from her home in Miami:

How about you? Do you have one or several small ones throughout the house? It's really beginning to look a lot like Christmas, isn't?

Free printable holiday tags

Well, what do you know!  I started fidgeting with a design software that comes with the Windows 7, nothing fancy, and  created a very modern and simple design for my holiday gifts.  I like the simple bold typeface and I hope you do too.  You need a printer and some card stock paper.  You could also print on sticky paper.  Now let's get wrapping!  Download here

I designed this for personal use only. If anyone has a problem viewing or printing the file, please let me know, and I will try to fix right away. Enjoy responsibly.

Around the Mall

A few weekends ago, we decided to brave the crowd and go to the Mall and maybe visit one of the Smithsonian museums. It turns out it was practically empty around 4 p.m. when all the tourists are heading out of the buildings. We were in luck, to say the least, and had a wonderful time riding the vintage carousel, visiting the Museum of the American Indian, and just walking around the National Gallery of Art's esplanade and gardens. Have you visited the gift shop at the Gallery? It's the best gift shop in the city for art lovers.

Fall is definitely here, with Winter just around the corner.  I'm holding out as long as I can in flats.  I think I might be able to pull it off until January when I return from out of town.   Emilu, Piki and I are getting ready for our month long trip to Florida and the DR.  It's definitely beginning to feel like the holidays are so near.   Are you planning on taking any family trips or do you have friends visiting from out of town?  That's the special thing about the holidays, right?!

Cozy warm in the home

Now that temperatures are consistently low and a chill is beginning to sip through our windows, it's time to think of keeping warm around the house. So,  I'm looking for a new blanket or throw for the living room sofa.  When the holidays are over, and all the color of the festivities come to a calming halt, I will be choosing more muted tones for the living room such as soft greys, white, and black.  Like a Winter wonderland.  I want a throw that will compliment this palette.  I'm looking at these:

                                     Source: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7