Entertaining

Entertaining

Excellent Find: Ikea Juice (Or Wine) Glasses

I have a lot of glasses. Moroccan tea glasses, blue-dyed water jars, stemless wine glasses, mismatched floral teacups...even a crazy Mason Jar Wine Chalice complete with little beach souvenirs embedded in the stem (it's true). I like trolling around home furnishings stores, yard sales and thrift stores for cool specimens, and over the years my glasses have become sort of a collection; I worry less about owning "full sets" than making sure that I love (and use) every single one.

But my absolute favorite ones - the glasses I use more than any others, for everything from my morning grapefruit juice to water to wine at a casual dinner - are my tiny, gold-trimmed glasses (a gift from my aunt, who found them at a swap meet in Canada). It's mostly the size and shape - they hold just the right amount of whatever it is that I want to drink, are so delicate and pretty that they look great incorporated into pretty much any tablescape, and are low enough that they're tough to tip over. I love them so much and use them so often, in fact, that I'm starting to get worried that despite their relative stability...I will break them, because that is the kind of thing that I do. Frequently.

When we were in Ikea last weekend (our second trip in two weeks, this time to pick up the bed-slats-that-do-not-come-in-the-package-with-the-bed) these rainbow glasses made me do an actual double take: love the size, love the shape, love the colors (springtime!). And at $1.99 each I figured I could pick up a few, and not have a tragedy on my hands should one shatter.

Entertaining

Last-Minute Gift Idea: Custom Gourmet Baskets

I LOVE this. For a last-minute holiday gift, for a hostess gift, for a just-because gift…for anything. And for fun - because it is so much fun, both to put together and (presumably) to receive (I gave these baskets to the friends who stopped over on Sunday afternoon for some cookie-decorating with their kids).

(more…)

Entertaining

(Somebody Else’s) Home For The Holidays Gift Guide

It's just about that time of year again: the time when you pile onto planes or into cars, and fly or drive far distances to eat things like cranberry sauce while wearing ugly (or ugly-amazing) sweaters.

(We're going to Ohio. That's 2011's trip, above.)

It's also the time of year when you have to start bringing presents with you anytime you see people...and especially when you see people whose homes you are invading (potentially with assorted small children and dogs) for an evening, for a weekend, or for more.

Eat

Art Deco-Inspired Tablescape

For dinner with friends who were visiting from the city the other week, I decided to do something different than the vintage-y floral look that I usually go for, and set the table with a mix of black-and-white pieces with gold and wood accents. While this is definitely a different style for me - much more graphic and masculine - it still retains that sort of off-kilter, half-rustic half-elegant feel that I'm always going for.

Here's the inspiration:


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