Add a Little Sparkle to Your NYE.

It's well documented that I like a little sparkle in my wardrobe. If there is ever a night to do it up, tonight is the night! So get your sparkle on girls... Here are two looks perfect for a dazzling night out on the town.

 Look # 1

      Dress-TIBI, $400

      Earrings- Express, $22.90  

      Cuff- Jennifer Miller, $1,875

      Shoes- Guess, $99

      Clutch- Anya Hindmarch, $395

      Polish- Lipmann Collection, $18

          Look # 2
       Dress- Halston Heritage, $365
       Earrings- Express, $22.90
       Ring- Jennifer Miller, $3,000
       Shoes- Stuart Weitzman, $335
       Clutch- Kate Spade, $345
       Polish-Lipmann Collection, $20

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year! May 2011 bring you everything that your little heart desires.

Slim Aarons: Once Upon a Time.

Known as a high-society photographer, Slim Aarons captured the likes of Kings and Queens, Presidents past and present and the who's who of Hollywood. As a lifestyle photographer he worked for many publications such as Life and Town & Country to name a few.

I asked for the Once Upon a Time collection of Slim Aarons' for Christmas, and I have so enjoyed flipping through the pages. What an escape- to see how the other half lives with lavish pool parties, royal picnics outside of their castles, and extravagant vacations in the Mediterranean. Aarons passed away in 2006, but this book gives you such a great feel for his personality, as he describes each shot in his own words.

His photographs are so beautiful, many people are using them as artwork in their home. You can buy his prints here.  Here are some of my favorites from the book:

Nice Pool, 1955.

Jackie Kennedy, April in Paris Ball, 1959.

A Man's Work- a young Hugh Hefner surrounded by Playboy Bunnies at the Playboy Club in Chicago, 1960.

A Lilly Flower- Lilly Pulitzer in 1968. Opposite: The models in Palm Beach, modeling Lilly's spring line for Town & Country, 1964

All Mine, 1968

Pool Gossip (Palm Springs), 1970.

Joan Collins on her pink bed, with her pink poodle, 1955.

If you are a coffee table book person.. I suggest adding this one to your collection. It's a great escape into the most extravagant of fairytales.

Not Your Ordinary Holiday.

I think most of you know by now that I love a good bargain. Well, as most of us do before the holidays, I had been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, and realized in the 11th hour that my table clothes were uber-boring and had minor stains.

I went to the fabric store for another project and found this fabric in the remnants pile for $5/yd. I loved how unexpected the grey and cream would be. I bought some red grosgrain ribbon to add around the hem to make it a bit more festive. After going to several cleaners and receiving quotes as high as $80 to hem two tablecloths, I decided 1.) I need a sewing machine and 2.) how much I love my mother-in-law. Since she was here without her sewing machine, I bought some no-sew hem tape and Grammy attached the ribbon on Christmas Eve morning and had it at the house just in the nick of time to set the table.

I didn't have time to go to the flower market, so I used a mixture of whatever I could scoop up from Wegman's and Costco. I added cranberries to the vases of all of the arrangement for a festive touch.

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I love the look of fresh fruit in floral arrangement. Just buy a pack of wooden skewers and pop the fruit on top.

Our monogrammed china.

My Christmas color palette is red, cream and apple green. It goes so well with my decor.

Remember these vases? They were reused here.

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I used pomegranates as place card holders. Not only is it my favorite fruit, but it has significant religious meaning and is thought to bring good luck.

Christmas Traditions.

One of my favorite things about Christmas is the beauty of carrying on family traditions. Every year, it brings me joy to open up the boxes of the many ornaments, each with a special meaning.

Many of these ornaments were given to me by my mother, and I now carry on that tradition by gifting ornaments to my girls each year so that one day, when I am not around they can have the same warm feeling I get each year when decorating our tree. This way a piece of me will always be with them.

Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Our dear friend Sherri came over to one of our Christmas celebrations and gave us this ceramic ball to celebrate Declan's Journey. Now we will always remember not only Declan and his journey, but the journey of so many others who are suffering as we celebrate Christmas each year.

2. E for Elizabeth.

3. Our tree is adorned with butterflies.

4. My Baby's First Christmas ball from 1977.

5. A shell ornament that we got this year in Venice, it makes me think of the drowning incident, and how lucky we are to have our Lou Lou bug.

6. Another gift from Mom- a life preserver that says Siesta Key, the place where Mike and I met.

7. My family used to receive White House Christmas ornaments each year from our friends in the FBI. Once we were married, Mom started passing them along to us. A reminder of just how amazing it is to live right outside of DC.

8. A pisanki ornament that we bought when we went to my brother's wedding in Poland.

9. A for Anna.

10. Anna's Baby's First Christmas ornament from 2008.

11. A Christmas ball that I bought when the Ya's and I went to St. Maarten to celebrate our 30th birthdays.

12. A ZTA ornament given to me by my mom.

13. Bailey's Puppy's First Christmas ornament from 2001.

14. Given to us by Mom- a replica of our china pattern.

15. E's Baby's First Christmas ornament from 2005.

16. An I Love My Daughter ornament, given to me by Mom. I will never forget, when she gave them to my sister and I we made fun of her for how cheesy they are.... now I am so grateful to have it.

17. A crystal angel given to me by my amazing mother-in-law in 2005. The year that Mom died, and E was born. It reminds me that we now have our very own guardian angel.

Another family tradition in my family was that my father would read The Night Before Christmas each Christmas Eve... Even when we were in college. Now we all snuggle together as Mike reads the story to our girls. What makes this so very special, is that I have this copy of the book given to me when I was 17 by my parents. Notice that it is complete with a note from Mom.

So no matter how difficult and stressful it can be to think of these little things, make sure to give your children the gift of traditions so that you too will always be with them on Christmas.

Snippets....

We are still recovering from the many Christmas celebrations here at the Salmon house... here are a few snippets of my favorite moments.

Approximately 2:00 am on Christmas morning.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

Mike reading The Night Before Christmas.. on the night before Christmas....

Lou and Nanny clowning around after Christmas Eve dinner.

The look on those faces...

Giveaway Winner: Nammoura Dessert Plates

Christmas has come and gone, but Santa left an extra present under my tree for one lucky girl. As you may now the Nammoura Dessert plates from Anthropologie are sold out online... and I may have the last four available. As much as I love to give, a little piece of my heart breaks to give these babies away. Here's to hoping for an encore release of these gorgeous plates.

Drum roll, please...... and the winner is.....

# 7... Melissa. Congrats Melissa... Send an e-mail with your info and I'll get them out to you ASAP.

Happiest of Holidays

From our house to yours.

xo-

K.

Tags, Tags and More Tags.

I was introduced to Courtney Fernan through Kristen Krason at 6th Street Design School. Courtney is the author of A Thoughtful Place blog where she dishes out creative ways to make your house a home on a budget. I hopped over there last week and saw this post on gift labels, which inherently brought me over to Jones Design Company. Check out these labels that Emily created for all of her readers as a holiday gift. What a great idea! I of course printed some out and slapped them on the wine bottles that I will be giving my co-workers.

Happy downloading.... Thanks Emily!

Those Flowers.

Remember those flowers from this post? Want to learn how to make them? They were super easy, and inexpensive too!

Every year for Christmas the Ya's (minus our dear Claudia who lives in North Carolina) and I get together and try to do something fun together rather than getting each other gifts. This year, it was a floral design class at Helen Olivia. Located in Old Town, Alexandria, Helen Olivia is offers premier floral design to many clients and just recently outfitted the Residence of the Vice President for Christmas.

MJ and I hard at work on our mantle pieces.

Danielle and Lissy showcasing their carnations.

Arranging my mantle piece....There are so many things wrong about this picture (like the sprouting of my double chin)... I cannot wait to cleanse!

Marianne Raub, the owner offers many classes to meet the desires and skill sets of many aspiring floral designers. This week's class was focused on Christmas. We made a mantle piece as well as the pomanders that you saw on my green console.

I must admit, when we walked up and saw the collection of carnations and mums, I was quite skeptical. But how adorable did these turn out?

Here's how to do it:

1.) Buy 24 of each flower, three oasis balls and 3 vases of your choice. I found that the carnations worked far better than the mums. I would also suggest roses, however, it will be much more expensive.

2.) Soak Oasis Balls in water for 30 minutes.

3.) Cut each stem about 1/4 of an inch from the base. Always cut stems at an angle to maximize water absorption.

4. )Starting at the top of the oasis ball, push stem into oasis, making sure that the base of the flower is touching the foam.

5.) Continue to fill oasis ball with flowers tightly. You will have about a 2 inch portion of oasis that is uncovered, but that will be where you rest the pomander on the vase. It will not be seen.

5.) Fill vase with objects that you have chosen- Christmas balls, winter berries, candy canes-- you name it.

6.) Place pomander on vase and enjoy-- these should last up to a week.

Kiki's List Giveaway: Nammoura Dessert Plates.

They are sold out online, but this little elf shopped ahead and bought a set of four Nammoura Dessert plates from Anthropologie in all four colors. I have decided to make my fourth and final gift in my four weeks of giving something that is a reflection of my style... Classic and colorful with a hint of eclectic. I love the bold Ikat petals on these delicate porcelain plates... it's just the right mix for a party of pretty! I can't wait to give them to one very lucky Kiki's List Follower.

Here are the rules for the contest:

1.) You must be a Follower of Kiki's List.

2. )To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post between today, Wednesday, December 22, 2010 and Friday, December 24 telling me why you should win. A winner will be selected at random and will be announced next Monday, December 27.

3.) To receive an additional entry, you can link to this post on your own blog (include the url to your blog post in your comment). It is up to you to return to this post to enter your second entry after blogging about the giveaway.

4.)Post about this giveaway on Facebook for another additional entry. You must enter the link to this post in you status update. It is up to you to return to this post to enter your second entry after FB'ing about the giveaway.

5.) Lastly, tweet about this giveaway for one last additional entry.

Good Luck and Happy Holidays!

Friends.

I am so fortunate to have the very best friends in the world. Supportive, generous and kind... and not afraid to regulate on any faux pas. Nearly 10 years ago, in jest Mike referred to us as "The Divine Ya-Ya Sisterhood of the Traveling Fat Pants." Well, from that what stuck was The Ya's. So now that is what we are called.

Though I do not see, or speak to them everyday, I know that they are always there. I am so grateful to have found a group of women who truly get me and are so unconditionally loving.

A friend is someone who gives you what you need, when you may not even know that you need it. I will never forget the day my mom died. After a long day at my parents' house and the funeral home I came home to a kitchen filled with groceries, flowers and cards from my besties. I still tear up just thinking about it.

So at this time of year, as I reflect on what is important to me, I'd like to toast my dear friends- The Ya's for always being there, even when I didn't know I needed it.

A Beautiful Mistake.

I love the look and texture that boxwood provides during the holidays. Every year when we go to pick out our tree, I buy boxwood garland for our banisters and doorways. This year, however, I somehow picked up two boxwood wreaths rather than garland, as illustrated by my hula hooping models below.

CRAP, I thought....When am I going to find the time to return that? Well, I made the time a few days later, and unfortunately, all of our local nurseries were sold out of boxwood roping. So, I decided to take my wreaths and make the best of it. In a 15 minute dash, I ran into my local Michael's and grabbed whatever I thought could work. Inspired by my Blue Christmas post, I went to town. A mix of butterflies, wicker stars, jingle bells and Christmas balls... I think it turned out pretty cute. The whole thing took me 30 minutes to put together. It's as easy as 1-2-3... just attach all objects with floral wire and wrap it tightly to make sure your ornaments don't blow away with the cold winter's wind!

Because I had two wreaths, I made another one for our friends Will and Aimee and gave it to them when they had us over for dinner. I am still super bummed about the lack of garland on our banisters this year, but I guess if I look at the glass as half full, that's one less thing that I need to cross of my holiday to do list!