christmas bells and wedding chimes

On the eve of Christmas Eve, my sister got engaged. She and her fiance, Cory, have been dating for quite a while and are ready to tie the knot. Here are a few pictures from the impromptu party we had following the proposal.

just add super glue

How we turned Wine Wednesday into Wine Involved Architecture Saturday. Before starting you must turn on the N'sync Christmas CD (released in 1998), which I still have. Put a Christmas movie in the DVD player. Have wine delivered and pour a couple of glasses. Make sure chili is simmering nicely. If all of this is in place you are ready to begin, well at least we were ready.

1. Unpack all pieces and super glue all the broken ones back together. Yes, we used super glue. Two tubes. We didn't want to use the icing, as it might have seeped out a made our fabulous gingerbread house look bad.
2. Knead the pack of icing for one minute, glance at directions on the box, and begin assembling.
3. Clearly Camille and I studied the wrong thing in college, we should have been engineering students.
4. Add pizzaz! Our tactic -- Camille did one side of the roof and I did the other. We added rhinestones to look like lights and snowflake confetti to interpret a white Christmas.
5. Derrick gets home and is just dying to join the fun. Being the architect/civil engineer he is, he gets marshmallows and scissors and makes icesicle lights, and a Christmas tree for the front yard.
6. Reveal my side of the roof.
7. Add a cork as the base of the Christmas tree, because what represents our weekly gatherings more than wine? A must to be included for our Gingerbread house!

Afterwards we enjoyed hot and spicy bowls of deer chili, with peanut butter sandwich (The chili with peanut butter sandwich is something Camille and Derrick grew up with. Whenever chili was served for lunch at school, a peanut butter sandwich accompanied it. I gave in and tried it. Not bad actually. I might try it again. Then we sat back and watched the Grinch. Happy holidays!

lonny holiday guide

It's here. Lonny's Holiday Mini Issue is online now.

Grab a cup of joe and relish over the beauty of Bergdorf Goodman's ornate Christmas windows, the inspired tablescapes, and the holiday gift guide that is sure to outfit everyone on your list. I think I'll take a little break from life and indulge for a while. Happy reading.

color of the year

Pantone has revealed the 2011 Color of the Year:

Honeysuckle {Pantone 18-2120}.

While the 2010 color of the year, PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise, served as an escape for many, Honeysuckle emboldens us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor. A dynamic reddish pink, Honeysuckle is encouraging and uplifting. It elevates our psyche beyond escape, instilling the confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of everyday life. -- Pantone/ Fashion + Home

How will you use Honeysuckle in 2011?

busy bee

Buzzzzz, buzzzz, busy. Fundraisers, work outs, laundry, errands, babysitting, Christmas shopping, friends visiting, and work, oh my! I am a busy bee till I go home for the holiday. From babysitting Saturday night to starting production of Global Finance's January issue today, I have been swamped. While my trainer is working me to the bone at the gym and my fingers hardly leave the computer when I'm at home, it has been a week.

I am saying this as a preface to my apology for not blogging so much this week. I have so much to catch you up on, but I'm having trouble finding time. More to come soon, but for now, just know I'm a Busy Christmas Bee. Oh and we didn't even have time for Wine Wednesday this week.

tis the season

The difference between decorating for Christmas in the South (or really any other place besides a studio apartment in New York). While I was home for Thanksgiving I got to decorate my sister's Christmas tree. I tagged along with she and her boyfriend, Cory, to pick out the perfect fir. They popped it up on the roof of his car and we took it home. The same day my mom packed my "trees" in a UPS box and shipped them on their merry way to my abode.

Step 1: buy tree

Step 2: put it in the house and have Cory put the lights on

Step 3: decorate. A lot.

Step 4: bask in its beauty

Step 5: wait for UPS box

Step 6: unpack and put up

Step 7: bask in the ease of set up

Step 8: walk south 20 plus blocks and view a real Christmas tree

go hogs

I now come home every other Thanksgiving. How to decide which year to come home? Easy: every other year the Arkansas vs. LSU game is in Little Rock. It's a 2 for 1: turkey and college football. Would you choose any differently? Now for an overview of tailgating.

• The golf course
• Henry Johnson's first tailgate
• Kissin' cousins mini reunion
• Family photo op
• A lot of red
• HOGS BEAT LSU! We get the GOLDEN BOOT!

the spread

Only a week late but better late than never. Check out our Southern Thanksgiving spread.

Begin with the Bloodies. Solo cups a must.

The cooker/carver and the assistant.

The dessert table. Yes, they have their own table.

Just like the kids. This year we comfortably fit six around the holiday kids' table. This in my opinion is the best seat in the house.

And the formal adult table. Complete with candles and silver.

Uncle E, Caitlin, Wylie, Mickey Ann and Millie

The finale. My favorite... besides the dressing. And the cream corn.

let's play catch up

What's Cooking Wine Wednesday with Mom

After a very, very busy day before Thanksgiving, my mom and I nearly crashed when we got home from running errands. I made five trips to the grocery store and might I add that each trip consisted of no more than two purchases. Though the rest of my family was working I can't complain. I was on "vacation." It was fun to run around and see friends, help Mimi with the dressing and set the kids' table, but traffic was atrocious and I quickly remembered why I don't like driving.

The events of this particular Wine Wednesday fell into place unexpectedly. We called dad to pick up our favorite Iriana's pizza on his way home from work while my mom and I got everything out to make the pecan pie. Famished and sleep deprived, mom and I grabbed a glass of wine, which I put in my favorite goblets.

My sister and I gave mom four goblets several years ago.

On to the pie. Although it is readily available, I won't share the recipe to this Thanksgiving staple. Pecan pie and wine made for a great Wine Wednesday with Mom!

furniture and fabric

I'm creative. To name a few... I've wanted to be an architect, an interior designer, a personal shopper and an organizationalist. I still think I'm a bit of all of those things put together, which is why I cannot stop rearranging my apartment and shopping for a chair. One might think there are only so many ways to put 7 pieces of furniture in a 10'x12' studio (measurements of main room). But there are, and I keep finding new ways, mainly in search of more space to fit a comfy chair so I'm not laying using my bed as a couch, dining room table, work station, and of course a place to sleep.

A friend of mine is the writer for St. Louis Homes and Lifestyles blog, "Design Du Jour." On November 11 she posted "we're sold on bold." Since I currently have a solid brown duvet, deep brown wood furniture, and solid green curtains, maybe I should listen to Katie and get sold on bold! You might also notice I like the updated club style.

If I asked my parents to take out a second mortgage and an extra 20+ square feet in my apartment then I might ask for this beautiful chair from Neiman Marcus.

Or number 8 on Katie's list. My dad has always jokingly told my sister and I (since we were kids) if you have to ask how much something is... it means you can't afford it.

Since I can't find the price of this Lexington chair, then I guess I can't afford it.

Going to the other end of the spectrum... looks good, quality equals price. This chair from Ikea has good lines and comes in several different fabrics, but even for $400, a chair from Ikea is still from Ikea. Don't get me wrong, I like Ikea and find great things each visit, but few products last longer than their price.

I know. It's brown. But stay with me. It doesn't have the hard modern legs and "squareness" of the others but if I threw it into the mix it could add more character to the apartment. It's more the size I need and I have a couple pillows that I know would look good in it and add more color. And what's even better... it's on sale for $188.88 at Target!

Thoughts? Suggestions? Any good finds?

thanksgiving appetizer

It's not turkey day yet but since every cooking show on TV is rambling about holiday recipes, I have been eager to try something new. I had a friend over last night to have dinner, which I doubled as a reason to try a new recipe.

I made a savory brie in a puff pastry. It was the simplest thing to do. I took two Vidalia onions, thinly sliced and sauteed them with a little salt and pepper. Once they started browning I added 1/2 cup cold water and let them cook for another 10-15 minutes. Once they were cooled I placed them in the center of a puff pastry sheet, placed a 5'' round of brie on top and then wrapped up the puff pastry around the brie. Flipped the whole thing over, and placed on a baking sheet. I cooked it at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Easy as 1, 2, 3.

Golden brown, ready to take out of the oven. I'm learning to use my toaster oven more often. It is a handy piece of equipment when I need it to be.

After a few bites you can really see the goodness inside. So yummy. And easy to wrap up, put back in oven later and enjoy on more than one occasion. I probably won't be able to make it for Thanksgiving because there will be plenty of food already, but one night while I'm home over the holiday I want to whip it up for the fam.

sleepy sunday

Sunday I tagged along Camille and Derrick's engagement photo shoot. I threw confetti in a few photos and while Tucker wasn't in in the pictures I walked and entertained him. Quite fun. It was a gorgeous day. Seriously perfect for their pictures.

See. It was bright yellow, orange, red and green. Probably the last best weekend of fall leaves this season.

They took some pictures with champagne.

Which Hillary and Rachel held when they weren't in the picture, and before the bottle spilt we got to enjoy a solo cup full. We had fun taking our own pictures and staying out of the photographers way.

And these are the "real" models in a photo shoot in the great mall of Central Park.

My posse I brought with me. They were troopers in joining us before they had to leave town. Thanks again for coming to visit! What a great weekend.

So great in fact, by the time we got back to the "soon to be Mr. & Mrs. Scott's" apartment, we turned on The Dark Knight, which I had never seen and about 45 minutes into it I was out. As was Tucker.

Then Derrick joined the couch. He was out pretty quick as well. Thanks Camille for taking pictures of us while we napped and you worked. Photo shoots are hard work and Derrick can tell you, it is rough being a model. Good thing he practiced smiling so much. I can't wait to see the pictures Pat took. I know they'll be great.

As for the weekend. You can clearly see it was fun, exhausting, and memorable.

opera, austin and house guests

Two friends, seniors at Penn State got tickets to the Dave Matthew's concert tonight but came in town Thursday evening to stay for the weekend. While I worked yesterday they had lunch with alumni, walked around the city and went to MoMA. While I was scrambling to finish up work we all got ready to go to Lincoln Center to see New York City Opera's A Quiet Place. Rachel and Hillary have been to the opera in London, but this was my first. We were invited to a Young Patrons cocktail hour before curtain by a friend of mine who works for NYCO.

I ran into old friends, met many new wonderful people while sampling the sushi and sipping prosecco. Among the intimate group was Austin Scarlett, "a designer whose work spans the realms of theatre, high fashion and television." You might also remember him from Project Runway. He is a supporter of NYCO and a charitable friend of the arts.

Being my first opera it was nice that it was in English but with the powerful music and emotion of the cast, subtitles weren't a necessity. Read the synopsis here.

An extra special Friday if I do say so myself. Today -- football of course.

not just a salt shaker

The continuation of my subtle Christmas list.

I currently use these practical and budget-friendly salt and pepper shakers. They're real eye-catchers on my counter, ha! I cook frequently and always have salt and pepper on hand, but you have to agree that it is more fun to cook when you cook with cool equipment

and gadgets.

When I was writing out my Christmas list I was thinking about a lot of things i use in the kitchen or things I need. I don't need these beautiful yellow salt and pepper mills from William Sonoma, but they look so friendly and would add a pop of color to my mini kitchen.

When I put this in the e-mail to my mom I knew I was over shooting a by suggesting these $55 mills, but then today, I got an even better surprise. While writing this post I skipped over to William Sonoma's Web site to get the image... I found out that the two mills are not $55 for the set, but $55 each. OK now their off my list and I'm looking for a more practical priced set of salt and pepper mills.

Taking a little cruise around other sites I came across this Vic Firth yellow pepper mill from Target. I'm sure it isn't available in most stores as Target is one of those places that has so much more on its Web site that in the store... or at least the stores in Arkansas. Also, for the single 8'' mill it's still $39 but it comes in turquoise too! I noticed that very few options are available for a set of salt & pepper mills. Should I start thinking about just a pepper mill and for the salt I could just spring for natural and pure sea salt flakes such as Maldon Salt?

Dear Santa, for Christmas I would like a bright colored pepper mill with great flavored peppercorns. That's all for now.

kate spade christmas

There are many things to look forward to each holiday season. Pumpkin spice lattes, tall boots, warm boyfriend sweaters, stocking stuffers, my mom's cream corn, my mimi's cheese potatoes, football, christmas trees lining the corners, lights down each avenue, holiday movies and my guilty pleasure... favorite designers holiday gift lists. When else do you get to buy little 'gidgets and gadgets' and feel less guilty about it when you know you should really spend that money to pay off your credit card bill? Well yesterday a friend left me a message saying kate spade had her gift list up on her web site. I had totally skipped over the e-mail.Some things are too cute. Like if I had a spare 100 bucks I would buy this coin purse for mimi because she uses her coin purse daily. To bad she just requests chocolate :)

bon mot owl coin purse from kate spade

Working from home, I hardly take the subway anymore, much less cabs... well, let's be honest, I use cabs a couple times a week. In my dreams: one day I think I'll have a cushion job with benefits that include a cab to and from work (this is before I upgrade to a town car).

Knowing that designer's collections change year to year, maybe I should just anticipate the day I'll take a taxi daily and purchase these beauties, which undoubtedly be sold out and/or discontinued by the time this dream becomes a reality. I do live where the American Dream began. But when the day comes, I'll walk outside and hail a cab wearing these mittens.

taxi mittens from kate spade

Don't worry mom and dad, I don't need taxi mittens just yet, but a brown dachshund puppy would be nice. We can name him WC for Whooped Cream (family joke), or Joe Jr.? I mean, just look at his face.

marathons are for mimosas

Sunday was Fun-day. My friends and I, who are trained sideline watchers and mimosa makers piled over to the east side to watch the runners who have trained for months make their way through the five burroughs to complete 26.2 miles. Cork journaling was consistent throughout the day, as was the breakfast casserole. Three of us that applied for the lottery and didn't get in helped celebrate those who were lucky enough to get in and finish. It's still on my bucket list but I have a feeling there are a lot more NYC marathons in my future. Whether I watch and sip or participate.

This week started off with a bang and is now consumed with work. Guess I got my fun out early in the week. The next issue of Global Finance started production today so we're knee deep in work. Although we know life can't be all work and no play. A couple of gals who attended high school with me are coming to stay over the weekend. They are seniors at Penn State and have tickets to a concert Saturday so the twins are crashing at casa de Searcy. Ole!

from drab to fab

It wasn't bad to begin with but it needed a little face lift. After being asked to work on some new designs for a friends blog I finally did it. It has been in the back of my mind but I hadn't gotten inspired. Then the other day the light bulb in my lamp went out. Then a lightbulb in my head went off... (I know really corny, but I had to). "Are you there real world? It's me, Elise" is about the journey of recent graduate, newly wed, house hunter and fashionista. Check out her lovely blog. Complete with the new update.

what no stickers?

No stickers at the polling place? That is what I always look forward to after I vote. I guess some things are different in New York. I'll be glued to my TV starting about 7 or 8 o'clock to see if the GOP will sweep the toss-up states. With the Senate being 59 blue to 41 red currently, it's going to take a lot to swing the majority but the race to see Nevada, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin --- well, it'll be a show.

You all know that I passionate about the right to vote and last night a previous employer and I enjoyed each others company over a glass (or 2..) of wine. She recently visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. While there she read what a young woman wanted one thing for her birthday: the right to vote. Speaks volumes.

I won't rant and raid any longer, but whether you are on the east coast, the west coast, or somewhere in the middle, there is still time to fill out a ballot. Especially if you are in the 18-24 age bracket. Don't be another statistic. Our age group has the least amount of voters in elections, even more so when it is not a Presidential election, so let your voice be heard and head to polls!

wine wednesday

Another week strong. So what are my chances of getting on the Rachael Ray show because I cook her recipes on a weekly basis? A girl can dream! Anyways, last nights recipe: Pork Chops with Butter and Sage with a side of RR's "Obsession-with-Sweet Potatoes Mash" and Cinnamon Apples. To drink: Yellowtail Reserve Shiraz.

As Derrick said when he got home from school, "This is quickly turning into a party." Last night Camille brought Jess home from work to join us for Wine Wednesday. The three of us, along with the adorable Tucker watched Sex and the City, drank wine, and had a genuine home cooked meal. On such a gross, murky and humid day, a good fall meal was just the ticket.

First up: Sage Butter

Bowl 1: one stick of butter at room temp, sliced

Chopping Board 1: about 1/3 cup fresh chopped sage and about 1 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese

Next, I added the sage and cheese into the bowl with the butter and mixed it all up and set it aside.

Yumminess of Sage and Gorgonzola

Second and Third: Obsession-with-Sweet Potatoes and Cinnamon Apples

Sweet Potatoes:

Chopping board 2: peel and cube about 2 1/2 pounds of sweet potatoes

Pot 1: sweet potatoes covered with cold water and set to boil

Chopping board 3: peel and core 4 apples and cut into about 1/4 inch thick slices

Pan 1: two tablespoons of butter and all sliced apples

Potatoes ready to boil and Apples ready to Sauté

Once the potatoes are fork tender, drain and return to pot.

Add to pot 1: one cup chicken stock, 1/4 cup honey, the juice of one lemon, and fresh ground nutmeg; mash together and add brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste

Back to pan 1: once the apples are browned add about 4 tablespoons of brown sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Let it cook down and marinate.

Main Dish: Pork Chops

Pan 2: coat large skillet with EVOO and place bone-in pork chops seasoned side down. Season the other side with salt and better and brown on both sides.

Once the chops are browned, transfer pan into oven for 12-15 minutes at 375.

Main dish and side dishes finished. Time to plate!

Add the Sage Butter to the top of the pork chop and you are ready to indulge. And believe me... you might start with a dollop of the cheesy, buttery goodness, but after the first bite, you will definitely add more.

Things I learned from this Wine Wednesday:

• WCWW is the best part of the week, obviously.
• If I were to make this again, I would add less brown sugar to the potatoes because severing them next to the cinnamon apples made for two sweeter sides than one sweet and one savory.
• I think I cooked the potatoes a little long so they didn't absorb as much of the liquid that I added before mashing together.
• Sage and Gorgonzola butter --- Pure genius. The best part is... the butter you don't use you can roll in cling wrap and throw in the freezer and pull it out whenever you want to use it. We think it would be very good on a beef burger and toasted french bread with a little garlic and olive oil.
• The more the merrier. Jess, please join us again!