Two Days Off

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

It has been such a busy time for us. We spent Thanksgiving at the lake and then had company that arrived the next day. It was wonderful to see them and I enjoyed playing tourist for a while, but it meant that Christmas came so fast. We have spent the last two Christmases in Florida, but this year it was just the four of us at the lake. It was really peaceful and we had lots of quality family time.

For New Years Eve we went to Charlotte to see the Avett Brothers in concert. Our children are 13 and 16 and we all had a really great time. The next morning we stopped at a premium outlet mall for an hour and Sophie and I ran into J Crew and Ralph Lauren while they boys stayed in the car and then we visited a waterfall and went hiking through a gorge. It was a really fun day.

Once we got home it was time to start working through my huge to do list. There were thank you letters to write, decorations to be put away and a lot of cleaning and tidying. I had a mad week getting both houses looking good again and then on Monday morning I had my wisdom teeth removed and everything...just...stopped.

I have just spent two whole days in bed! The first day I was pretty out of it, I slept a lot and read Divergent. The second day I was much better but it still hurt to move so I spent the morning reading The Fault in Our Stars and by the afternoon I was going stir crazy. I gave myself a manicure and now my nails are a beautiful red.

I bought a dress at the Lilly sale.

I found a monogrammed calendar on Etsy that will look fantastic on my desk.

The gold foil designs are different every month but will look so great with my Erin Condren planner.

I decided that I loved my red nails so much that I ordered "April" from Chanel. It's the perfect red with orange undertones, whereas Lotus Rouge is the perfect red with blue undertones.

Today I feel so much better, ready to get back on the merry-go-round and looking forward to my packages arriving over the next couple of days. 

I hope you too are full of enthusiasm for 2014.

      

Nail Polish

I like the idea of buying only one brand of polish. It's so much easier to keep clean and organized if they're all the same size. Just pick your favorite brand and then stick with it.

Chanel

Every season I fall in love with the latest Chanel nail polishes. There are just so many gorgeous colors.

This collection is available for a limited time for the holidays.

Wouldn't you be happy if you found it in your stocking?

The set includes ten polish colors : Ballerina, Frenzy, Particulière, Distraction, Holiday, Tentation, Dragon, Provocation, Vamp and Black Satin.

I have built up a collection of Chanel polish over the years and keep them lined up at the back of my dressing table. They make a little pop of color in an otherwise neutral space. 

Some of my favorites are :

Black Satin  *  Vertigo  *  Lotus Rouge  *  Vamp

Provocation  *  Blue Satin  *  Paradoxal

Pearl  *  Frenzy

Rose Caché  *  Frission  *  Ballerina

I usually shop online at Chanel.com. The price is the same as in stores, shipping is free, and they kindly offer you samples. Your order arrives in a small black drawstring Chanel bag to keep everything in. Nail polish in a Chanel bag has been my go to birthday gift whenever one of my children is invited to a girls birthday party.

Burberry

Burberry only recently started carrying nail polish. You may have seen it mentioned in Vogue a couple of months ago but then of course it was totally sold out and you couldn't find it anywhere. Having decided that it would make a perfect stocking stuffer for my daughter I kept on looking and voilà it's back in stock.

Poppy Black  *  Oxblood  *  Stone

Essie

Beautiful colors, beautiful bottles, great price - what more is there to say?

What brand of nail polish do you prefer?

Gifts for a Young Lady

These gift suggestions are suitable for a young lady of high school age and above...

A key chain from Tiffany

A bracelet from Hermes - This is the Tourbillion in orange.



 A handbag from Brooks Brothers

An Anchor bracelet from J Crew.  A black clover bracelet from Ebay

A Kindle Fire



A leather tote bag from LL Bean

Perfect for High School or College.



A Wallet from Kate Spade



A Marrakesh necklace from Paloma Picasso

A Tote Bag from Tiffany

A fun pair of earrings from Overstock

Handbags

I have been sorting through and reorganizing my closet this week.

Here are a few pictures of my newly organized handbags.

I got rid of a lot of boxes as well as a few old bags which meant that I had room for my LV Carryall, jewelry box and makeup bag.

Ahh, nothing says January better than a bit of closet cleaning :-)

Rue La La

Be still my beating heart...

CHANEL

will be on Rue La La on April 2nd.

I have no idea what will be on there, but I think we need to check it out. Don't we girls?

I Love Quilted Items

Chanel 2.55

Burberry Quilted Jacket

Burberry Gloves

Marc Jacobs Quilted Shoulder Bag

Manola Blahnik Quilted Ballerina

Quilted Shoes, bags, gloves and jackets - I love them all.

Chanel Glossimer #119 Wild Rose

I don't buy a lot of make-up, but last year I purchased the Wild Rose Glossimer from Chanel.

I very quickly realized that I was wearing this everyday, and loved it so much that I went out and bought 3 more, so that I can keep one in each home, one in the car and one in my handbag!!!!!

I am obsessed with this color, it is so pretty and natural.