BACK TO WORK!

How nice to have had a whole day off! I did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Yippee!!!! OK, I got a little writing done for an article I have due, but you know what I mean. So it is now the day after Xmas and it is time to get back to work and get ready for the New Year, the year of the Tiger!....perhaps Hello Kitty can double as the tiger..I LOVE hello Kitty. It is an illness. There is no cure.

Now that we are racing towards the New Year, it is time to plan for the New Year's Eve Party. If you are going to a lovely party, don't just bring flowers or a bottle of wine, bring something lovely like a beautiful small bud vase by Middle Kingdom or a lightly scented candle by Aquiesse.

Both are under $20 and look like a million bucks!

These porcelain bud vases by Middle Kingdom would be a lovely Hostess or Thank You Gift. I love a good bud vase! These little lovelies are $18 each and come with their own little linen box for a beautiful presentation!

These soy candles (with lead-free wicks) by Aquiesse burn for 45 hours and are available in Mandarin Tea, Timber and Pomegranate Sage - my absolute favorite! There fragrances are subtle and not overpowering. We use the Pomegranate Sage in our shop and are always getting inquiries -"what is that great scent?"

Allrighty then......off I go, time to head off to the shop! Come on down.....We would love to see you!

Time to get shopping......

YIPPEE!!!!! The holidays are here! I love this season, even though I am in retail..LOVE IT! I am so excited about all the lovely things we have received in the shop over the last few weeks! I had almost forgotten what we were getting since I had placed all these orders in August/September, so what a treat to open all the boxes! I made a conscious effort to buy lots of small but beautiful hostess and tank you gifts for all the fabulous parties you will be attending like Middle Kingdom porcelain vases, each presented in its own little linen box with toggle closure, Aquiesse candles and sooo much more. Our holiday windows will be installed on Nov 25th and will be featuring my favorites! One window will be filled with hand knit sock monkeys from Nepal along with beautifully colored lacquer serving trays and boxes. The other window will be the second time we will have "the tipsy gnome xmas party" with LOTS of gnomes of great character having a party in the forest along with concrete mushrooms, hand felted mushrooms and hand felted gnome ornaments. I can't wait to put in the windows! I love good window displays! I love going to a big city - bigger than Portland, like NYC or London and check out the windows. I was in Chicago in Sept. and the Ralph Lauren windows on Michigan Ave were magnificent!

But if you are looking for a gift that goes above and beyond the hostess gift - for your sweety perhaps, we just got the new Marquetry merino wool throws by Kelly Wearstler for SFERRA. Dear God they are beautiful! They have a reversible abstracted faux bois pattern in three colors; mandarin, cove and slate. All so lovely! Perfect for a cozy winter evening to keep you sweety warm! We also got the Thistle cocktail napkins....hostess gift anyone???

It has been so blustery here in Portland this last week - perfect Winnie the Pooh weather. Makes me want soup and stew and warm drinks. It is just about time to make up a big batch of hot buttered rum mix - you know the one with butter and ice cream - it truly DOES NOT SUCK. I remember the first time I made it - at the home of Miss Sus - now lives in Pittsburgh - bummer! Anyhoo......we had so much fun making the batter and eating it and drinking the results that Frenchy had to come retrieve my sloppy drunk self after work. YIKES! Do you remember that Sus? Thanks again - 5 years later......

OK then.......I have been a busy little blogger this morning - a morning at home with a sleeping Stella made it all possible.....off I go now....I have to meet the darling Mike Darcy from 'In the Garden with Mike Darcy' on KXL radio - Since I am a HUGE Jane Austen geek - I just consider him to be my personal Mr. Darcy - anyway - he has a business selling HUGE and beautiful garden containers and I need to get cracking on a Spring '10 order - then the lovely Miss Sue and I need to record our next episode of http://www.homestlyehappyhour.blogspot.com/ for Wednesday. Where are we going for happy hour? It's a mystery....guess you will just have to check it out on Wednesday at 6.....

Have a great Monday!