12/24/13

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Merry Merry Christmas!

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It never fails...Christmas is always this far away date. A tiny speck on your calendar's horizon. And then you blink...and here you are...it's Christmas Eve! You are at the finish line and you have no idea how you got there. For me and Aaron, and lots of other people who "make things" for a living, the lead up to Christmas is a blur of painting, cutting, gluing, wrapping, packing, and shipping. And then in the very last couple of days you're finally able to quickly shop for your family and tie up all those loose ends...such as putting the finishing touches on the tree! It wasn't until last night that I hung the final ornament...well maybe not the absolute final ornament...there's always room for one more. ;)

Being that we have so much more work to do on the house, we still have some blank walls and empty spaces. Lots of places that I have big plans for but as of now they are in a sort of limbo state. After we re-do the floors we plan on doing something special with this big white wall in the living room. For now its where we keep one of our favorite old chippy cupboards and our dollhouse. And we had plenty of space for our tree!

We have plans of re-doing the entire dollhouse, but for now we dressed it up for the holiday with some little bottle brush wreaths in each window. And how could we resist putting the perfect sized (and touched by Midas) Santa in the doorway? We also lit it up from the inside with a tiny set of Christmas lights.

This adorable vintage tree happens to be something that has been on my ultimate wish list for over 15 years! One of the few elusive white whales on my ebay watch list. Over the years I have bid on trees very similar to this one. Of course I was outbid many times when the stakes got too high. The closest I came to winning was back in 2008. I had birthday money and figured I'd finally go all in. But nope...I walked away once the bidding reached 125.00! Too rich for my blood.

Well...guess what? I had birthday money once again this year...and I just so happened to have come by this one! And it had a buy it now price that was within my means! I truly couldn't believe it. Just too good to be true. And it gets even better. This tree arrived with a whole bunch more in the box. After the seller had learned that I was in the process of replacing all of the Christmas stuff that I had lost in the hurricane she included a whole bunch of amazing vintage ornaments as gifts...just because. So incredibly kind and generous! You do not come across ebay sellers like this very often. If you'd like to check our her auctions, her seller name is Jojorose.

In my searches for replacement decorations I had found a few great listings on ebay for vintage ornaments, and oh jeez the prices have skyrocketed over the past few years. Aaron and I have been collecting for nearly 19 years together, and our last tree was pretty darn full. So we had our work cut out for us if we wanted our new tree to live up to its predecessor's example. I did manage to score some absolute treasures...like the above box. Yes, that's the original box! There are some very special ones in this set!

Our tree itself is a champagne tree! Which is not exactly gold, and not silver. I had been dreaming of owning one for so so long! Our last tree was white...which we loved! It was so sweet and bright and magical. And I had no reason to look for a new one...well, until we lost it.

So began the search for a champagne tree, and ohhh mannn are they mega pricey! A 6ft tree can go for 800.00!

So it was ebay to the rescue again. I found one for under 300.00, but I ended up missing it. So I took a shot and contacted the seller, which happened to be the company wayfair. They let me know that I could find the tree I wanted on their website. In the end I and got our dream tree for about 250.00 with free shipping! It is fantastic quality, easy to assemble, and we plan on using it for years!

I had been picking up special ornaments here and there over the past few months. Unique things that are handmade are what I covet most. I love to support small businesses and artists, and fill my home with things that are made by very special people. This beautiful golden glass glitter star ornament is from Giant Dwarf.

Now this little pink angel absolutely floors me! Oh em gee! Her face! I nearly fell off the couch when I found her...yes, on ebay! I just couldn't get over how sweet! And in pristine condition! She came in her original box, complete with a foil tag on her wrist!

Isn't she so pretty?! I was thinking I'd like a gold star up there, but I think having a cute muse as a tree topper is so much better.

This darling little snowglobe style ball jar piece was a surprise a gift from our sweet friend Keri who we met through Instagram this year. We love the simplicity! It is perfect! How charming is that pink tree?! She makes some really cute stuff!

So just when we thought that our tree was as happy as it could be, and filled with lots of love from all of our incredible friends...a big box arrives at our door. The box was filled with a bunch of smaller boxes...each filled vintage ornaments in the most perfect pinks and aquas. A totally unexpected surprise from a kindhearted blog reader named Sue! We were blown away! Just totally blown away. The treasures in this box were exactly what was needed to take our tree to the next level! ha! If you've been following my blog and know what our old tree looked like, then you know what I mean. We love to stuff our tree until it's fuller than a Thanksgiving belly!

As always...this little guy was such a great helper. ha! He stood at my feet looking exactly like this and I'd let him give each ornament his sniff of approval before I'd hang it up.

And after all the ornaments were hung it was time for one of those last minute details I spoke about above. We had a special idea for the wall behind the tree, and we finally had some time in the evening to put it together. We used a JOY banner that we had already, and then we cut the other words from patterned paper mounted to card stock. Then for the globe we cut out a big circle of poster board and painted it aqua. Then we quickly sketched rough continent shapes on patterned paper, cut them out and adhered them to the big aqua circle. We used little foam adhesive dots to hang it on the wall. So easy!

And here is Jack "helping" to cut out the continents last night.

And here are a few close ups of some favorite ornaments. We seriously started from zero with our tree this year. All was lost to Hurricane Sandy. Many of the ornaments you currently see hanging were sent to us from blog readers, art friends, and sweet souls we briefly crossed paths with online who followed our story. Me and Aaron are so humble in the face of such kindness.

This tin ceiling tree is by Bobby Boyd Designs. We love the color! We bought it at the Country Living Fair in Atlanta.

We love these adorable indent balls. They're reproductions and just so incredibly cute! We ordered them from our friend Tricia Brink!

We adore these vintage turquoise mercury glass candlestick ornaments. They were a gift from our sweet friends Kitty, Daniel and Roscoe.

The little plastic house reminds us of Aaron's parents' house! A gift from our friend Brooke.

This incredible piece is actually an art doll, but we thought she should party on the tree for the holidays! She was an early Christmas gift from Aaron, and she's made by artist Sarah Hand.

You may remeber some of these elements as part of my haul from the Country Living Holiday Bazaar in New York last month. I just layered the fab Seasons Greetings banner over the paper wreath and then tucked in the little putz house! I just thought it was so sweet and simple!

We hung it on our chalkboard door. I love the contrast against the black.

So thats about it. Just wanted to show you some of our little happy holiday vignettes. I wish we could show you more but the house is still under so much construction. We hope by this time next year we will have a Christmas tree in the kitchen as well! A small real one...that way I we can have the Balsam scent without even lighting a candle.

For now, we are so so happy to have our tree, and our amazing friendships. Seriously...our hearts fill up every time we catch a glance of our tree in the corner. It glows with love from all the kind hearts who we connected with this past year. We can't thank you all enough!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Love from the Jersey Shore,

xo Jenny & Aaron

Merry Christmas!

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If you are like me living in the Southern Hempisphere

then Christmas is all about

beach, sand, surf, summer holidays,

prawns on the barbie and 40 degree days

or for our blogging friends in the Northern Hemisphere

where Christmas brings

snow, reindeer, cosy fires

plum puddings and roasted turkey.

Wherever you are, I wish you all a gorgeous and merry Christmas

and thank-you all for bringing so much joy

into what has been a very special year for me.

Thanks for following along....

Stay safe and happy over the festive season!

Melissah xox

Images via Coastal Living, graphics by Coastal Style

Check out Coastal Style Pinterest

How to Prevent Weight Gain During the Holidays

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Picture Source: http://www.holidaysbee.com/simple-easy-christmas-eve-dinner-recipe-ideas/

Over the next week many people will have several holiday gatherings to attend, such as Christmas Eve parties, family gatherings,and New Year's Eve galas. Certainly we look forward to fun parties and seeing friends and family, but these holiday parties involve lots of eating and drinking. Do not fret! There are two simple ways to stay slim during the holiday season: don’t lag on your workouts, and practice self-control when it comes to eating and drinking.

When faced with endless amounts of hors d’oeuvres, sweets, and cocktails, you should educate yourself so that you can determine those that are good choices and those that are not. In order to ensure that there will be a healthy food choice at a party, offer to bring something that you can make yourself. Consequently, you will know exactly what is in the dish and whether it is healthy or not. A good word of advice is that anything wrapped in pastry, deep fried, containing ground meat, or loaded with cheese (cream cheese included) is probably not the best option for your waistline.

When it comes to cocktails, try mixing in a calorie-free beverage (club soda, diet Sprite) into your cranberry/vodka or choose “light” beer. Drink water WITH and in between cocktails and stray away from calorie-laden ciders, any specialty drinks like “holiday punch”, and especially egg nog. On average, one serving of any alcohol will have about 120-130 calories (5 oz wine, 1.5 oz liquor, 12 oz beer)- of course that calorie number depends on the % alcohol of whatever you are drinking (1 gram of alcohol has 7 calories).

Here are my main tips to avoid overdoing it at any party:

1. Stay away from the food trays- it is true: out of sight, out of mind. Humans are naturally lazy creatures, so if you have to walk an extra few feet to get more food, you are less likely to. Furthermore, you will have more time to think about whether you want it or not (mindful eating).

2. Only put 2 pieces of food on your plate at any one time. The first two bites of any food taste the best, so you get in trouble if you load your plate with 10 mini appetizers. Place 2 on your plate and if you are really hungry for more, go back and get 1-2 more.

3. Use small plates and serving utensils. We eat with our eyes, so if you have a small plate, the food will look like more than it is. If you use a small spoon, you will eat less at each bite which will slow down your eating.

4. BE THE TALKER! If you are talking, you can't be eating (unless you have no manners whatsoever). People tend to migrate to the food table if they have no one to talk to. So, get out there and make friends; your waistline and social life will thank you.

5. Enjoy foods you like, but don't eat unnecessary items. Surely you can eat a good meal over the holidays, but avoid eating foods just because they are there. Only eat things that are nutritious or that you rarely have access to and really appreciate.

By no means deprive yourself during the holidays, just be conscious of what you are eating and how much you consume.

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!