When I was younger I thought New Years Eve parties would be like what you see in the movies. And by "the movies" I mean old classics with crooners like Bing Crosby or fancy steppers like Fred Astaire. As I got older my vision modernized a bit, but still I pictured New Years Eve as a night full of sequin dresses, loud music, and always that perfect kiss at midnight. For me however my New Years Eves have never lived up to that expectation. I've never gone to a fancy dress party for New Years, or danced the night away, but I've still had fun. Most years my family spends the night bowling! There's usually very little reason to put on something fancy, since you're just going to take off your heels and put on bowling shoes! Still despite the decided lack of glamour involved in most of my New Years Eves, I still usually find an excuse to wear sequins. I've even gone bowling in a sequined dress! I mean, there's just too few opportunities in life to wear a very sparkly dress. If you can't wear one on New Years Eve (even if you're only lighting up sparklers in your own backyard) when can you wear them? So this is this year's glam look; a bold sequined dress from Modcloth and a pile of sparkly accessories that too often collect dust in my drawers! Maybe I should find an excuse to wear sequins and bold earrings on days other than New Years Eve...

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm in the states now visiting family and this will be my last blog post until after Christmas (although like any good Instagram addict I will be updating there fairly regularly over the next few days!). The forecast here is calling for snow this weekend so it looks like we will be having a properly white Christmas for once! These pictures hail from a few weeks ago; taken near our home on one of our earlier snow days. I couldn't imagine a more perfect and festive dress for the season than this gorgeous vintage red one, so it was the first thing I threw on when it started to snow. The result was pictures that look fit for a Christmas card! It might seem a bit silly but one of the things I've enjoyed the most this past year is how we really experienced every season in our little village. We had the bluebells and daffodils of early spring and the apple blossoms fresh on their heels, then a summer of late evenings full of light, a very colorful autumn of plums and apples and beautiful foliage before finishing off the year with brisk walks through snowy fields and woods. And all this was within walking distance of our house. If I could get any present for Christmas this year I'd just ask for more of the same--another year of perfect seasons right on my doorstep.     

It's getting to be the season where bloggers take pictures in freezing conditions in little skirts and heels with the disclaimer "my coat and scarf and mittens are just outside the frame of the picture!" For me there might also be a little hot water bottle lingering in that pile. I mean, it might be winter, but you can't just shoot pictures in your coat and the same hat you've worn every day this week!  Which makes me quite grateful whenever we can find a cozy corner inside to shoot in. No coat and I'm not losing sensation in my toes! When said location is seasonally appropriate and dripping in twinkle lights with Irish music drifting through the background, well, then that's a location I might just need to take pictures in a second time. We dropped back into Tomney's the other evening to warm our toes and take a few more pictures. This outfit is a more elegant take on the whole Christmas scheme; still very red and green but I swapped the novelty sweater and boots for a pretty printed blouse and quilted velvet skirt. Most days I'm more comfortable in the sweater and mini skirt, but every so often it's nice to trip around in something elegant. Although I have to say the sweater and boots are much more practical when you do leave the comfort of the pub...   

Our house is perched at the edge of a lovely park. Most weekends the park is buzzing with dog walkers and families, but when the snow came everyone stayed away. We went out for a walk on Saturday and barely saw another soul. There was one family sledding down a hill near where we snapped these pictures but otherwise it was like a blanket of silence has settled over the park along with the snow. It was actually pretty lovely; it made the whole expanse around us feel like a private winter wonderland frosted just for us. A perfect setting for a festive vintage dress. I have set a goal for myself to wear more vintage, which shouldn't be too much of a challenge for me since I do own a handful of vintage pieces and love shopping antique malls! And one of my favorite Etsy shops, Sweet Bee Finds sent me a few dresses that couldn't be more perfect for the season too. This green patterned dress seems made for the a white Christmas especially layered underneath a cozy knit and paired with sensible boots. Sometimes I forget how easy it is to wear vintage; you don't have to dress it up but can wear a pretty dress from the 1950s styled quite practically even in the most brisk months! Check out Sweet Bee Finds for more gorgeous vintage pieces and her Instagram is also a great follow for sales and a first look at what is coming to the shop.

I can't believe Christmas is less than two weeks away! And in less time than that we'll be flying stateside to spend the holidays with my family. It really seemed to sneak up on me this year as I have barely started my Christmas shopping and already I need to start packing! My family is big on exchanging presents, but the other we get the smaller and more thoughtful the gifts tend to be. Thomas and I always get loads of candles every year since everyone knows how much we love them. One of my favorite creative stocking stuffer ideas is a luxury matchbox; when your matchbox is as pretty as one of these you can have it on display with your fancy candle rather than hiding them away in drawers and always struggling to find a match when you need it! I'm also big on giving anything that will make the receiver feel cozy so chunky knit hats, slipper socks, and mittens are always a win in my book. Find a few more of my favorite stocking stuffer ideas below.

It might have taken moving away from Pennsylvania and that region’s seemingly endless onslaught of snow days to make me love snow days again. It helps that where I live now I’m not fined for not scraping every inch of snow and ice off of my sidewalk (even if the snow is going on all day and do scrape it twice that day...) and we haven’t had enough snow here to require a serious shovel to dig our car out in the morning. So basically with our recent snowfall I get all the perks–a sugar crystal dusted world–without most of the drawbacks. It still is quite cold and the sidewalks are slippery, but still I wake up each morning peeking out the window and hoping for fresh flakes. Even taking these pictures there was a palpable mood shift as snowflakes began to dance down on us and gain momentum. The first snow day of the year takes you back to being a kid again when those flurries mean cancelled classes and a day spent building snowmen and sledding down your neighborhood hills. Since snow is not as common here we really set out to make the most of our fleeting bit of white with several walks through the nearby park and even a few sledding adventures. I have my fingers crossed for even more before Christmas!