Okay-I will admit it. I have a lot of Santas and again,the collection began while living in Zurich and driving up to the Black Forest with all of my American friends. They are so dear to me that the architects actually built the mantle in the Family Room to fit all of them at Christmastime.
I cozied up the couches with loads of Christmas pillows celebrating our Goldens. Judy also created a beautiful centerpiece in a sleigh that I had bought years ago.
I have a snowman collection that I started while in Switzerland. I had them in the double window as you walked in the kitchen,over the bench seat.
The dog tree in the kitchen didn’t always have Judy’s golden puppy Tucket in front of it for the tour, but I just had to put this picture in. I have all goldens and westies on the tree for our dogs.
The deer seemed a little large when the huge boxes arrived from Frontgate but I loved them on the table.
Judy and I decided to keep the windows clean and simple and just tied burlap squares around white poinsettias and finished them with red organza ribbon.
We had a baking station, as if someone in the house were making cookies that day.
Another one of Judy’s amazing arrangements!
Just simple boxwood wreaths in the windows tied up with gold ribbon. The HO HO’s I got years ago but had never used.
Judy did such a beautiful job with the Dining Room table. She took white roses and greens and put them in 6 of my Waterford “Lismore” brandy glasses. She then weaved in a serpentine shape the mixed greens,gold ribbon,white pine, cedar, seeded eucalyptus and magnolia leaves in the center of the table. We used my antique Johnson Brothers plates,Waterford “Lismore” wine and water glasses and my Cristofle flatware.
These beautiful bubble trees are from Simon Pearce.
We used mixed greens,winter berries and pine cones to surround my silver tea set. The little trees I made in a pottery class in Zurich.
Sara Campbell is built on giving back to the community, while creating and delivering not only a unique and beautiful product, but a transformational shopping experience in their boutiques.
Their “Made in USA” commitment is a hallmark of Sara Campbell clothing, as is their dedication to giving back to our local communities through participating in charitable and other fundraising events, including sponsoring such events in their own stores.
Blending luxurious fabrics with both timeless and on-trend silhouettes, Sara Campbell is the premier destination for women’s apparel and accessories. Sara Campbell styles, including the well-known Magic Dress, are celebrated by many women around the country. Along with surprise detail and unique trims, the goal is to design with a genuine feeling of integrity in all their garments. The collection represents the chic but modern woman.
I was lucky enough to meet Sara several times- at the airport and at her store opening in Richmond VA and then in her Plympton Street store in Boston where she showed a friend of mine and me her work areas. It was fascinating! She divides her designs by the time of day-5:00,6:00,7:00 and 8:00 so that they get gradually more dressy. She also has Holiday wear and Resort wear. I LOVE her clothes!
She started in Boston on Plympton Street, then opened stores in Wellesley and Concord. Now she has many stores in all the great spots-Naples FLA, Lake Forest IL, New Canaan CT, Alexandria VA and so on-check it out!
This is from her website:
We believe in people helping one another. It’s that simple.
Helping our neighbors, communities, fellow business partners, and our customers is important to us. In addition to making beautiful clothing, the mission at the heart of all we do at Sara Campbell is to give back.
It is a pretty basic philosophy but it only counts when you are good on your word. We work hard to live up to that ideal.
Sara Campbell
Whatever it is that you collect and get out of storage from the attic or the basement every year is undoubtedly something that means a lot to you and to your family. It is such a great feeling to see my Santa collection every year-it is like seeing old friends again. Of course putting the ornaments on the tree every year is also such a highlight-remembering where each one came from and reliving the memories. Christmas is such a magical time-enjoy it!
PS thanks to friends for many of the pictures!
Yesterday a good friend(who is from Boston so most photos are Red Sox related!) went to the Baseball Exhibit at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley,CA and reported it was quite amazing. A treasure trove of the most rare baseball memorabilia, all one person’s personal collection. (Anonymous). There are a few different hand quilted wall hangings/bedspreads that are incredible… one of the pictures shown above has hundreds of “autographed baseballs”; the woman sent the cloth to all of the players for their signatures and then she embroidered over them in very fine thread. She hand appliquéd the portraits as well. I can’t begin to imagine how long it took!
One piece of trivia learned: in order to sign 19 year old George Ruth to his first contract, in Baltimore, the team manager had to adopt him. The other players starting referring to him as the manager’s “new babe”….hence the name!
The exhibit opened on April 4th and will close on September 4th,2014.
The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt is the world’s biggest egg hunt, with over 260 egg sculptures individually created by leading artists and designers. The sculptures will be placed across the five boroughs of New York City. The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt will officially start on Tuesday, April 1, at 7:00 a.m. and will run until Thursday, April 17, at 11:59 p.m. Following the hunt, all the eggs will be placed in Rockefeller Center until Friday, April 25.
Artists who have designed the eggs include Jeff Koons, Tracey Emin, Marc Quinn, Bruce Weber and Peter Beard, and fashion brands including Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Carolina Herrera, Marchesa, Oscar de la Renta and Diane von Furstenberg.
They were very neat to look at-pictured above were some of my favorites.
I went to NYC this past weekend and while there saw “Beautiful” which tells the story of Carole King from her early days as a Brooklyn teenager (named Carol Klein) struggling to enter the record business to her years spent as a chart-topping music legend.
It also touches on the friendship and competition between Gerry Goffin and Carole King(who were married) with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil to create the best hits of that time period in the 60’s.
Much to our surprise the REAL Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil were there at the performance we went to! They raffled off the original sheet music to “On Broadway” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’Feeling” (which they wrote) at the end of the performance.
With the music and the choreography which showed the songwriters busy at work( and then suddenly “The Drifters” or “The Shirelles” would appear and sing the song as we all know it), it really brought back a lot of great memories and I highly recommend seeing it. Jessie Mueller is absolutely fabulous as Carole King-you can feel her confidence growing as her singing gets stronger and stronger.And of course, the rest is history once “Tapestry” was produced.
If you ever wondered how Beatrix Potter got the inspiration to draw such incredibly adorable animals in such beautiful, charming settings you need only go to the village Near Sawrey in the Lake District where she lived in a house called Hill Top Farm .
Born into a wealthy Unitarian family, Potter, along with her younger brother Walter Bertram (1872–1918), grew up with few friends outside her large extended family. Her parents were artistic, interested in nature and enjoyed the countryside. As children, Beatrix and Bertram had numerous small animals as pets which they observed closely and drew endlessly. Summer holidays were spent away from London, in Scotland and in the English Lake District where Beatrix developed a love of the natural world which was the subject of her painting from an early age.
She was educated by private governesses until she was 18. Her study of languages, literature, science and history was broad and she was an eager student. Her artistic talents were recognized early. She enjoyed private art lessons, and developed her own style, favouring watercolor. Along with her drawings of her animals, real and imagined, she illustrated insects, fossils, archaeological artefacts, and fungi. In the 1890s her mycological illustrations and research into the reproduction of fungus spores generated interest from the scientific establishment. Following some success illustrating cards and booklets, Potter wrote and illustrated The Tale of Peter Rabbit, publishing it first privately in 1901, and a year later as a small, three-colour illustrated book with Frederick Warne & Company.
With the proceeds from the books and a legacy from an aunt, Potter bought Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey, a tiny village in the English Lake District near Windermere, in 1905. Over the following decades, she purchased additional farms to preserve the unique hill country landscape.
Potter published over 23 books: the best known are those written between 1902 and 1922. She died of pneumonia/heart disease on 22 December 1943 at her home in Near Sawrey at age 77, leaving almost all her property to the National Trust. She is credited with preserving much of the land that now comprises the Lake District National Park.
We just went to a wedding in West Dover, Vermont. We got there early, so we went exploring to grab some lunch and found Dot’s which had great salads. While there, we noticed a woodworking store so stopped in to meet Mark Sprague of Far Beyond Woodworking. Mark has created all of the pieces pictured. I got a footstool and a trivet-they are beautiful!
Mark is a self taught woodworker. Shaker and Mission styles have helped to shape his style. Mark uses clean lines, with traditional joinery, with dovetails on all drawers.
Lauren Huyett Interiors 