Weekend wrap up.

It rained all weekend.

I actually really liked it. We slept in late, then stayed in our pajamas even later and it actually felt a little like Christmas! Stone and I shared some great meals with friends, wrapped presents, finally got our Christmas cards sent out, and added to our list of Christmas movies we have now watched this season. I also made Spritz cookies for the first time ever. They are so fun and turn out really great with not too much effort, which I like :) You have to have a special gun-like thing to make the designs, which, you can buy here. We are giving to the cookies to friends in decorated chinese to-go boxes! Anyway, here is the recipe from Stone's mom:

1 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

Mix thoroughly.

2 1/2 cups sifted flour

Work into the dough with hands.

Press cookies onto ungreased baking sheet, bake at 325 until set, but not brown (about 8 minutes). Enjoy!

Shel's Gift Guide.

Okay, so this took a long while for me to compile some of my favorite things into one little gift guide... but, here it is. I know it is not too late either, because, lets be honest, your special someone is probably rushing right now to figure out what to put under the tree for you. Hint, hint guys, I am sure your lady will love any of the things below (I hope you do!). Enjoy!

Row one: TopShop Sequin Sweater, Glee 'Best Of' CD, Keihl's Body Butter

Row two: The Beatles poster, Brie Harrison pillow, Alphabet Rolling Stamp

Row three: 2011 Planner

Row four: Terrain wool throw, Rose tea cup, Kate Z slim stack rings

Row one: WeWood watch, Grounded terrarium, Superior servers

Row two: Marquee alphabet light, Rogan Sweater, EmersonMade flower necklace

AND I even went through some of my favorite daily reads to gather their gift guides just for you. All lovely things any girl would enjoy opening up on Christmas morning!

OhJoy!

Black Eiffel

Snippet & Ink

Design Sponge

A Cup Of Jo

Happy Birthday Wendy!

This week (the 14th) was my mother-in-law's birthday! We video chatted with the whole family last night, they were together celebrating her birthday as well as my brother-in-law's graduation (Congratulations Brady!). We hope you had a wonderful birthday and we were sad to have missed it, but cannot wait to be there for Christmas!

Simple wrapping.

This year I chose to simply use craft paper and bakers twine to wrap our Christmas presents. One, because we are traveling with them and any pretty bow I make is going to be smashed anyway. Two, because, let's be honest what people really are interested in is whats inside. And, three, because I think simple can be pretty too!

xo.

Travel: Dunton Hot Springs

I never thought I would say this... but, I wish it was snowing outside right now instead of sunny and 75 degrees. It is just that it's Christmas, and does not quite feel like it. I am dreaming of snow, fireplaces and warm drinks. Today I was thinking back to an article I read forever ago about a town in Colorado that you can rent... literally. There are 12 cabins, a spa, hot springs, dining hall, chapel (which, would make for an incredible wedding weekend!) and store. How fun would that be? You could invite all of your closest friends to this secluded little mountain town for the perfect winter weekend and have it be all yours! I mean, it would sound more reasonable if I had a money tree in the backyard, but a girl can dream right? The town rental even includes meals for 42 people each day. So lovely.

Go here to dream more. xo.

From Me To You: 'At Home With' series

I am always curious to see people's homes. I think that they tell a lot about a person, not necessarily where they live, but how they live and what sort of things they surround themselves with. I wonder if someone were to walk into our little house without knowing us and try to profile us as a couple what they would come up with :) A lot of our things are hand me downs that we have thrown together, but I truly like our quirky and creative style. We are not grown ups just yet and our home is not pretending to be (I think we have a bit of time to transfer into that stage).

Well, a while back I found this blog called From Me To You. Of course, I immediately liked the girl (Jamie) because she is a Texan by birth and Texans always seem to get along. Either way, she now lives in New York and is an editorial and fashion photographer. She has been working on a series called 'At Home With' where she goes into various creatives and interesting people's homes and takes photos. I love them. Stone and I have come to realize that some of our favorite engagement shoots have been those where we are at the couple's home and walking in their neighborhood... it is where people are most comfortable and the photos tell a story.

You can see all of her series here. This one is my absolute favorite... can you imagine living here? I love the hot pink touches!

Kate Spade Stocking Stuffers

Every morning, especially around this time of year, I wake up to a laundry list of enticing emails from my favorite stores wanting me to Buy! Buy! Buy! Of course, I usually delete them. But, around the holidays, I take extra time in the morning to go through them all and check out the deals that each store has come up with and the new fun products. Kate Spade this morning was especially great, they sent a link to their presents under $75 (and men, it is free shipping AND they will wrap!). Also, they are all small enough to fit into the stocking :) Husband and I made a pact to only get stocking stuffers this year for each other and I appreciate Kate for making it all so easy on him! Go here to see the complete list.

Tuesday tunes.

The Weepies is hands down the best concert I have been to, and I have been to a lot. I saw them at a little place in Austin that held no more than 100 people and we sat indian style on the floor in the front row. Pretty great... it felt like they were my aunt and uncle or something just singing to a group of my friends in my living room. Anyway, I have now turned Stone onto them and we are constantly playing their one Christmas song right now. Hope you enjoy!

xo.

Weekend wrap up.

Well Stone and I had a pretty mellow weekend. Not at all what I thought or wished for it, it just kind of ended up that way. So mellow in fact that, on Saturday, I found myself sitting at home watching Home Alone 2 and making a new Christmas wreath :) I cannot complain about a little down time though, it is good for me. Anyway, we did go on a really great beach bike ride yesterday, in the sunny 80 degree weather (crazy, right?), I even wore my swimsuit!

Hope you all had a fun and Christmassy weekend, we have now watched a total of 8 Christmas movies, we are on a roll and I am loving it!

I thought I would share with you the wreath I made, because it is easy and looks great!

You will need a styrofoam wreath, yarn and some decorative paper.

Double wrap the yarn around the styrofoam wreath (this takes a good while), then cut 1/2 inch to 1 inch strips of paper folding them accordion style. Circle the two ends of paper around and glue them together to make small flowers. Affix to wreath and add a pretty bow! So simple, I have been using mini clothespins to put our Christmas cards onto it. Enjoy!

xo.

Stone's Christmas Wish

Hello all. Stone here (Shelby's oh so sweet husband). I thought I would break into her blog and inject a little masculineness. I was thinking that Shel puts all kinds of gift ideas for girls up (which has come in VERY handy when I want to get her a gift), but not a whole bunch for the dudes in those girls lives. So ladies, here are a few of my most desired items for this Christmas season (hint hint Shel). Some are crazy life dreams for if Santa is feeling especially wild (ie. Land Rover Defender), but all are totally bad to the bone (in my humble opinion).

So here they are ... hope you enjoy. The links are below.

Row 1: Coal Beanie, Bodem 8 Cup French Press

Row 2: Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L, Raen Lennox

Row 3: Vans Era 45 Cali Sneaker

Row 4: Nixon's "The Mellor", Leica M9 Rangefinder Digital Camera

Row 5: Eames Lounger, The Pacific HBO Series

Row 6: FCD Fish Surfboard, Swedish Fish, CREW Mint Shampoo, Sansdisk CF Memory Cards

Row 7: The Quotable C.S. Lewis, Richard Avedon's Portraits of Power

Row 8: Nixon's 51-30 Chrono, Land Rover Defender

11 Resolutions for 2011.

I love these resolution postcards, just a funny little idea to send to friends when 2011 rolls around! Unfortunately I usually have hopes of following the Hi-Res type resolution, but fail and end up in the Low-Res category.

Andy Babb’s 11 Resolutions for 2011 postcard set plays off of the New Year’s resolutions people typically make. Working out more, drinking less, losing weight, you get the idea. Andy illustrated each one, then took it to the next level. On the reverse sides there are two options for carrying out your goal: Hi-Res (high hopes) and Lo-Res (cynical). Via Design Crush

DIY Advent Calendars.

This is the first year for Stone and I to have an Advent Calendar. I love it, because, as you may have read in previous posts I am a fan of making paper chain countdowns and this is quite similar except with our calendar this year we get chocolate each day and who can complain about that? But, I have come to find out that there are so many different things to do for an advent, I have never had one, so I am just used to seeing the ones with edible treats inside to buy at stores. But really, the history of the advent calendar is just to receive a small gift a day leading up to Christmas to add excitement and anticipation for Christmas day. Anyway, I know it is a bit late in the game, but I gathered some of the ideas I have seen recently to share with you, it is only the 8th, you can still start one today! xo.

Cone Advent Calendar Banner

Boxed Advent Presents

Advent gifts in a pouch for above the mantle.

Snowing Presents Advent Calendar.

Tins filled with candies and toys.