It's Party Time!

Here are some fabulous office party appropriate dresses to get you through the holiday season. 

J Crew

Lilly Pulitzer

Lilly Pulitzer

Club Monaco

Club Monaco

Kate Spade

Ralph Lauren

BB Dakota

St John

Sail to Sable

Ralph Lauren

Kate Spade

      

Countdown to the Holidays

The holidays are approaching fast, I know different people celebrate different occasions, but for me, these are my deadlines:

14 Days until Thanksgiving

41 Days until Christmas

48 Days until New Years Eve

Sitting down and looking at my planner and considering these countdown's as well as travel plans, visitors and our children's hectic schedules I am slightly panicked at how much I need to do and how little free time there actually is to do it. Chances are that you are feeling the same way. Don't worry, there is plenty of time. You just need a good plan!

Schedule

The first thing you need to do is to get a handle on what you have going on over the next two months. Make sure that everything is written down somewhere so that you can get the big picture at a glance. I use this planner.

Gift List

Make a list of who you need to buy gifts for. Then look at your schedule and add any gifts that you will be bringing to all events on your list. Secret Santa? Add it. Children's parties? Teachers Gifts? Write it all down. Dinner with friends? Add wine and flowers to the list.
Now set your budget.
Every time you buy something add it to the list as well as the cost so that you can keep track of how you're doing. I keep my list on Excel. I have three columns on my list Name, Gift, $. I fill in gift ideas as I think of them, and list actual purchases in bold with the cost so that I can easily see what is left to buy. I try to get most of my shopping done by the end of November. This gives me plenty of time to ship items as well as for wrapping. Wrapping a few gifts at a time is a lot of fun. Marathon wrapping sessions are not.
Now is the time to order any monogrammed items. Do you or your children like to give handmade gifts? Make them now. I am giving cookie sheets and cookie mix as teachers gifts this year, and I know they will be much prettier if I make them now rather than the night before the last day of school.
I also always try to have a couple of small gifts on hand, just in case.

Christmas Cards

If you haven't already ordered your cards. Do. It. Now. I can get overwhelmed trying to pick our card each year. There are just so many choices. I like these, these and these.

I mail overseas cards on December 1st and those for the US on December 10th. 

Cleaning and Organizing

Hosting any event over the next two months will be a lot less stressful if you do the cleaning and organizing now. Now is the time to schedule yard work, window cleaning, repairs, get the guest room ready, and get everything spick and span. Not the day before you host a dinner party, or your guests arrive.

Decorating

At the moment my homes are decorated for the fall, but the Friday after Thanksgiving, that will all be replaced by our Christmas decorations. Some years it all gets done in a day, other years I'll just do a little bit at a time. Just have fun with it. Make some mulled wine, buy some Pfeffernüsse and play some Christmas music.

Food and Drink

Follow these three simple rules for any holiday meals and entertaining:

• Plan your menu. 
• Write your shopping list. 
• Write a time plan. 

Remember those countdowns and start planning. I'm sure you and your family will have an amazing holiday season.

Do you have any tips on how to have amazing, stress free holidays?

      

Renting a Vacation Home

Have you ever considered renting a vacation home?

Although we love to stay at hotels (especially The Four Seasons), we have also rented houses, villas or apartments for some of our vacations ever since we were in our twenties. Our first experience was a farmhouse rental just outside of Prague. My husband and I were coming from London, and 3 of our friends came from the US. It was a wonderful experience, there was plenty of room for the 5 of us and we used it as our base as we explored as far away as Vienna. For those of you that don't want to give up room service we have also stayed in houses on hotel properties and that is the best of both worlds, lots of space, and all the creature comforts of a hotel.

Our most recent experience was last summer when we rented a 17th century thatched cottage in a small village in England. We all agreed that it was our favorite trip there ever. Partly because we just had so much space to roam around in during our free time! We love each other but now that the children are 16 and 13 we all appreciate some quiet time to ourselves. There were plenty of country walks to be taken, a small summer house hidden away at the bottom of the garden to explore, plus the children each had their own room to escape to. We stayed in Wiltshire and it was a great location for day trips to Devon/Cornwall, Bath, Oxford, London, Portsmouth and Stonehenge.

We used Hideaways to book our cottage. Highlights of our trip were afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason, visiting HMS Victory in Portmouth, Oxford university tour (Harry Potter fans keep your eyes open), tickets to see  Les Miserables in London, a walking tour of Bath and many, many beautiful country pubs.

Travel Tip : If you have an early morning flight then consider spending your last night at an airport hotel.

Do you have any travel tips?

      

Living The Life That You Choose

I had an aha moment last weekend while watching a TV show when one of the characters talked about what a bad cook his dead wife had been. He said that she made pancakes for breakfast every Sunday morning but that they were always awful. When asked why she continued to make them his response was that she wanted them to be the type of family that ate pancakes for breakfast on Sundays.

The comment really resonated with me because I think it's a good description for why we do the things that we do. Don't we make our choices based on the type of lives that we want? We study because we want to be educated. We work hard because we want to be successful. We make the beds every day because we want our homes to be clean and organized. We cook dinner because we want to be the type of family that eat meals together. We exercise because we want our bodies to be strong and healthy. We save money because we want to have a nest egg. All of the things that we do have a purpose. It is our choices that create our lives for us. Small decisions made day after day add up and we become the person that we want to be.

Make the right choices. Set your goals and then keep them in mind as you go about your day. 

Do you set goals for yourself? Do you have any advice that you want to share?

      

Equestrian Style

Both my daughter and I are big fans of equestrian style. It's perfect for fall, can be dressed up or down, is suitable for both generations, and the pieces work well with other items in your closet. 

These looks work just as well with jeans as they do with jodhpurs. A Barbour jacket is just as suitable for a day in London or New York City as it is for a walk in the country. And best of all this look is timeless. These are pieces that you will wear for many years to come.

Equestrian style is very easy to find in the stores at the moment. Here are some pieces that we love,  (we own many of them ) :

Ralph Lauren  *  Tuckernuck  * Zara

Ralph Lauren  *  Ralph Lauren  *  Ralph Lauren 

Barbour  *  Burberry *  Barbour

Barbour *  Elizabeth Mckay  *  J Crew 

Gucci  * Raina  *  Swell Caroline

Hermès

Swell Caroline  *  Swell Caroline  *  C Wonder

Tory Burch  *  Brooks Brothers *  J Crew

Tory Burch  *  Ralph Lauren  *  Corso Como 

Ralph Lauren *  Burberry  *  Hunter

Hermès  *  Chloé

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Planner Supplies

I love my iPhone. It's awesome. So convenient. Couldn't live without it. But for me, there is something about sitting down and using a planner that just makes me a much more organized and productive person. It's fun to put pen to paper. And I just love using stickers and washi tape and colorful pens and post-it notes etc. So every night I sit down with my planner and my supplies and figure out what comes next.

These are my tools:

Pencil Case

Somewhere along the line I had stopped using a pencil case. I now have homes, and desks, with drawers. Why would I need a pencil case? But then all of a sudden I had all of these supplies that I wanted to use with my planner. Not only did I need a pencil case but I needed a big pencil case. I use the middle bag from this set by Carolina Herrera. At 8x11 it's a little larger than my Erin Condren planner. Perfect!

My planner supplies include:

Scissors  *  Tape Measure  *  Calculator  *  5x8 lined Post-it notes  *  4x6 grid Post-it notes  *  Russell and Hazel Sticky To Do notes  *  Star shaped Post-it notes  *  Square Post-it notes  *  Banner sticky notes  *  Washi tape  *  Custom Pencils  *  Set of 5 Sharpie retractable highlighters  *  Set of 12 Paper Mate Flair colored pens  *  Stationary and Stamps

Washi Tape

I love this tape so much. There are so many colors and designs to chose from and it's a perfect way to make something really stand out in my planner. (I use this to flag school breaks on my monthly pages)

Sticky Notes

I keep several different kinds in my pencil case.

Star shaped for 3 in 30 goals

Banners and Pointers from K and Company 

Grid paper

To do lists from Russell and Hazel

Custom Pencils

One of my daughter's favorite t-shirts has the slogan "Dress Like Lilly, Act Like Audrey, Think Like Jackie" on the back. I bought it here.

I liked the saying so much that I ordered three sets of custom pencils from here.

Pink - Dress Like Lilly

Green - Act Like Audrey

Silver - Thinks Like Jackie

Why don't you pick a favorite quote and order your own pencils? Custom pencils - they're not just for kids!

What supplies do you keep with your planner?

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