Little Red

Hello lovely people and Happy Friday! How are you?

Our house is filled with the smell of our Christmas tree – I just love that about this time of year! Every morning, I go around the house turning on all the twinkle lights and appreciating their beautiful glow. I do love Christmas!

Wanted to share some pictures of little Claire Bear, that I managed to capture the other day. I’m surprised she kept the hood up, since she tends to dislike anything on her head – stubborn little bear…but so stinkin’ cute.

Those eyes get me every time…and I think she’s starting to figure that out. ;)

Hope you are all enjoying this special time of year! What’s your favorite thing about the season?

Have a beautiful weekend.

xo,

Ivy

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year friends! Hope you all enjoyed the holiday season. We had a very merry time with family and friends but now it’s time to switch gears and get back to work! To be honest, it’s always bittersweet for me. Taking down the Christmas decorations, the twinkling lights and all the pretty trimmings of the season makes me a touch sad. Mostly, I think, because my family leaves and heads back to Montana and the house seems drab after all that glitter and shine.

So, to quickly beat the blues, I decided to do a sisterly photo shoot of my girls today. We have been blessed with crisp, cold days full of bright sunshine (very odd for Portland this time of year) so I figured I better make the best of it. The piles of laundry sat waiting while, Claire, Grace and I played in the gorgeous light. Grace even got into the art direction. She would notice the light change and say “Quick mom, you are losing the light!” Too cute! She directed some shots that I took of her…which I will share with you tomorrow.

So here they are…my six year old and my six month old. Sisters and hopefully, one day, best friends.

How has your New Year so far? Any goals or aspirations you want to share? Me? I want to cook more, read more and exercise more!

Have a beautiful Thursday!

Much love to all!

xo,

P.S. For those of you who are wondering…I am using Photoshop to edit my photos in addition to Rad Lab. I’m in love with Rad Lab! :) It’s a bit of an investment but so worth it and you can try it out for free.

Around the House: Holiday Sparkle

Hi friends! How are you? It’s been quite some time since I’ve had the opportunity to share something with you! As usual, life’s been crazy but I’m happy to report that we are all getting a little more sleep (most nights) and it has greatly improved the general mood in the Newport house. Plus, it’s hard to be grumpy with all the Christmas decorations up. I do love this time of year! So let me take you on a tour of our house…who doesn’t love some holiday sparkle?

First off…welcome to our living room where we place our prized, live, Grand Fir Christmas tree. Isn’t she a beauty? I usually do this tree in soft gold, silver and touch of light blue. I crown her with sparkling branches in stead of the traditional star.

I love using my vintage items in my decorating so this antique, turquoise seltzer bottle takes center stage on the coffee table.

A frost covered forest was my inspiration for the greenery…

This beautiful, old clock dates back to the 1890’s and was found on one of my many treasure hunting trips.

Strung from the mantel with a piece of twine, hangs vintage postcards featuring birds and antique European letters.

Come through to the dining room where the winter forest theme continues…

 

A vintage printers tray is displayed on one wall filled with glimmering bits and pieces and antique French postcards…

On the kitchen table, I have featured a vintage silver bowl filled with budding paper-whites. I have always wanted to do these! Can’t wait to see them in full bloom!

A lovely, antique confiture jar from Paris holds miniature white roses. This gorgeous, rare jar is currently listed in my Etsy shop.

I may have overdone the roses…but in my opinion, you can’t have enough and they pair so well with the tarnished silver, don’t you think?

Look who couldn’t resist jumping up on the table to get into my shot – none other, than my ever curious cat – Toby…

Thanks for coming along and checking out my holiday decor. I had a blast putting everything up (with the help of the hubby)! My family gets here this week, so I may not be posting much until after Christmas. I wish you all the very best for the holidays! Thank you for all your wonderful comments and loving support! I will see you in the New Year!

xo,

Winter Magic

Hi everyone! How was your Thanksgiving? Hope it was lovely. Our was wonderful and relaxing…a day of cooking, watching football and sipping wine. Such fun! Tomorrow our Christmas lights go up and I’m so excited. There is something so enchanting about all those twinkling lights! I do love this time of year! So when I got the chance to steal Grace away from the crowd for a little photo shoot, I couldn’t resist adding some Winter magic to each shot…

Now, let’s hope we get a little snow this winter, just enough to make everything pretty for a few days.

Do you have snow in your area right now?

Have a lovely weekend!

xo,

My little project

Oh dear blog…how you’ve been neglected lately. I apologize friends, for my recent absence. You see I’ve been working on a little project…

Yes…much to our surprise we got an early Christmas present! I’m entering my second trimester and our little bundle is due late June. So, as you can imagine,  I have been sleeping (and eating) a lot and blogging has not been at the top of my list. With a fuzzy brain and icky tummy, my attention turned to my bed, some good books and stacks of unread magazines. But, I am regaining my energy and have gathered lots of inspiration to share with you. So don’t give up on me yet! :)

Thanks for being patient with me.

xo,

A New Member of the Family

After losing our dear cat, Sydney in early December we sorely missed the presence of a furball in our home…so…I trotted down to CAT (The Cat Adopotion Team) and adopted a sweet kitten, originally named Hickory. I thought I would share the story of our meeting…

Upon walking into the Kitten Room of the shelter, one could NOT miss the tiny white and black kitty desperately scaling the walls of his cage, while meowing with all his might!

“Oh boy”  I thought, “That one looks like trouble!”

I gave him a finger pat on the head and moved on to the sleepy, quiet kittens.

“Meeeooooooow!!! Meeeeeooooow!!!!”

Hickory was hard to ignore. I couldn’t help but feel bad for the little guy. I put my finger between the bars and he grabbed on with both tiny paws, bringing it to his face. A loud purr began. Cute. Very cute.

But….. I withdrew my hand and went back to looking at the more mellow cats.

CLANG! BANG!

Hickory had once again climbed the sides of the cage, but this time he had knocked over his metal water bowl.

“MEEEEEOOOOOWWWW!!!!” he yelled at me, like it was my fault.

Okay! Okay! I told the adoption consultant that I would visit one on one with Hickory in the “meeting” room. Once in my arms he scrambled up to my neck , gave me a few head butts and curled up under my chin. He sounded like a little engine with that purr!

Smiling like a fool, I carried him into the room and sat cross-legged on the floor. He unfurled himself, jumped from my arms, pounced on an invisible speck on the ground, ran circles around the room, leaped over a chair and then hopped back into my lap…head butted me again…and then off he went on his circuit of adventure around the room. Every few seconds he would check back in with me, head butt, purr and then back to his kitten antics. He put on quite a show. I found myself laughing out loud. I liked this little guy. Trouble…yeah maybe, but he looked confident and playful, perfect for dealing with a four-year old. Dear old Syd, had been terrified of Grace and we rarely saw her during the day.

For good measure, I visited with three or four other kittens but while they were all adorable, they didn’t have the personality that Hickory did.

Half an hour later, I was driving home with him. His eyes closed, purring with contentment. He had gotten his way.

Hickory, now renamed Toby, has made an amazing addition to the family. He is so sweet and loving. Playful and patient with Grace (and all the neighborhood kids who visited him). We couldn’t be happier with our new little fur baby.  He had a blast with everyone over Christmas! Thought I would share some of the photos…

He loves to “help” Grace color…

He surely wasn’t going to miss Christmas dinner…

and unwrapping presents was a highlight…as was scaling the Christmas tree…TOBY!!!!

The best part of having Toby in our life – Grace has a new best friend…

xo,