Hideminy Ceramics & Snowed In

I am absolutely loving these beautiful, handmade ceramic pieces by Hideminy. The snow white color, combined with the feminine lace details - gorgeous. I would love a set of bowls, but I don't know if I could bring myself to use them!

Perhaps it's all of the snow we've had that is drawing me to simple, lovely white pieces like these. We had a blizzard in the Northeast last night. I woke up to find a very thick, fresh blanket of snow outside. I just love how clean the landscape looks covered in snow. Snow storms bring with them a quiet stillness that is indescribable if you haven't experienced it yourself. 

I'm just enjoying this lovely Snow Day, bundled inside drinking coffee and doing a bit of painting. What a wonderful way to extend the Christmas holiday a bit longer!

Little Family Christmas

Christmas day is special to A and I for two reasons. Firstly, it's just a wonderful holiday filled with love, giving, old traditions and new. Secondly, it happens to be our anniversary. This year, we celebrated our seventh year (and Christmas) together in our little apartment with our two lovely kitties. 

Every year we find that we spend Christmas day running between parties hosted by my family and his, with little time to breathe and just "be". It can be stressful trying to plan the day, splitting our time between families so as not to hurt feelings.

This year we decided to keep it simple, celebrating in the home we have made together over the past few years. We love our families very much, but it was important for us to spend this year with each other.

On Christmas Eve, we made little origami wreath ornaments while watching The Holiday. These are really sweet and simple to make; fun to do while watching a festive film! We also munched on dark chocolate espresso cookies, coffee cake and lots party mix..

Christmas day began with coffee, followed by a big, traditional breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast. We exchanged gifts and took a wonderful afternoon nap - simply perfect.

As a gift, A tracked down my favorite Christmas special, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas! It was such a thoughtful gift, I may have cried a bit when I opened it. If you haven't seen this special, I highly recommend it. We watched Emmet Otter Christmas night, while munching on Christmas Eve leftovers 

and Chinese takeout.

{Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas}

All-in-all, we had an absolutely fantastic holiday. It was a wonderfully simple, low-key Christmas; Just what we were looking for.

I hope you had a nice holiday! How did you celebrate this year?

{The top image is a small piece from a new listing in the shop}

Happy Holidays!

May you have a wonderful Christmas filled with new memories and old traditions! Thank you for your visits and wonderful comments this year. I am so thankful to be a very small part of such an amazing community!

{image from Pretty Ingrid}

Brown Paper Packages

Last night A decided he was going to see a movie, so I took the opportunity to wrap up his Christmas goodies.

For those with cats, you know how hard it can be to complete any task that involves paper, ribbons, use of the floor and boxes of any kind. Things like this happen...

... often.

It took Princeton about one second to jump in this box after I emptied it. I didn't even have time to take out the inflatable packing material (which he deflated with his claws). He proceeded to sleep there for the rest of the night. I can't be mad at him, even though I was planning to use the box; just look at that face!

How is your holiday to-do list coming? I still have some baking to do, and a few more odds and ends to pick up for holiday meals..

Whimsical Warmers

Aren't these slouchy winter hats by Dahlia Soleil adorable? I'm daydreaming about wearing one of them with a pretty dress, colorful tights and boots this winter. The yellow one with the sweet owl makes me want to dye my hair red again!

2010, You've Been Good to Me

I'm not a big list-maker, which is probably one of the big reasons I'm not particularly organized. Even so, I thought I would throw together a little personal list of 2010 events if for no other reason than to convince myself I accomplished a few things this year! Here goes..

This year I:

Started this blog!

Took a course on differential equations - just for fun

Watched in horror as the hard drive on my computer died, losing LOTS of information

Received my Master's degree, despite previous event :)

Became an avid coffee/tea drinker

Re-discovered crafting, drawing and otherwise creating during the month I was unemployed post-graduation

Learned I could be both an analytical AND creative person

Landed my first "real" job

Went to New York City for the first time. Saw three Broadway shows

Opened my Etsy shop, Pretty Ingrid

Invested in a dutch oven (a major event if you love bread as much as I do)

Took my first yoga and Zumba classes (loved them both)

Hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the first time

Used Photoshop for the first time (Yikes!)

**Endlessly pondered future career path, discovering that what I really WANT to be doing has little to do with what I'm "trained" to do (see "Master's degree"). A scary but pretty freeing realization; this is the most important item on the list.

Yes, I think 2010 has been pretty good to me. I will be a bit sad to see it go, but I think 2011 is going to bring with it even more exciting times.

The image above is a small peak at a little project I am working on. I'm hoping to share more in the next month or so. Stay tuned!

Bubble Umbrellas

It can get really windy where I live. I notice it especially on rainy days, during the winter season and when I have to do a lot of walking around campus. In the past seven years, since moving to the area, the wind has broken every SINGLE umbrella I have owned. I have averaged about one per year, allowing myself to experience the embarrassing moment when my umbrella flipped inside out (always with people around) only once before swearing them off again for many months.

I really want to try one of these cute bubble umbrellas. I think the shape makes for a sturdier design, and I'm all for protecting my short hair, which can end up looking particularly terrible on windy, wet days. I love that these are clear so you can pull the canopy down over your head, protecting your face while still being able to see where you are going :) The neon version is just so darn cute, too.

{found here and here}