Welcome to the most glamorous hotel in Chicago. Enjoy your stay. Please note: You will have to leave eventually.
{making it snow}
I love snowflake cut-outs. Living in SoFl, that is probably as close as I will get to snow at Christmas without leaving the state. You can find a great tutorial over at Paper n Stitch. Enjoy!!!
{inspired gifts: rustic}
rus·tic –adjective 1 : of, relating to, or suitable for the country
{Beekman’s A Year in the Country Soaps $70…absolutely scrumptious}
{Vintage anthropology framed plants $75}
{giveaway: dace}
Who loves Dace? Who loves Christmas decorations? Ok, now who would love those two combined?
Ya, we thought you’d love this. Dace has holiday decor and they are giving away a Holiday Stocking to one lucky reader!
To win this special Dace Holiday Stocking {$35 value} answer this question in the comments section:
What would your dream sandwich be filled with?
***Update*** Contest ends December 11th at midnight EST. The folks at Dace will pick their favorite answer, and the winner will be announced on December 10th.***
Good Luck!
{bit of beauty: eric nehr}
{where balloons go}
Where did you imagine escaped balloons went when you were a child? I always thought they went to heaven and angels would play with all the balloons that flew away.
{If you are viewing this post via e-mail, visit page to view video.}
{giveaway: toujours toi}
We have a really fun giveaway today from Toujours Toi. Nina Egli is the wonderful designer behind the Tojours Toi. She and her mom also have a line of clothes called Family Affairs. There are so many great designs, so take a look at both. There is something darkly romantic in their style, which I love. Nina and I have picked out some favorite designs from Toujours Toi for the contest. More info below!
{Royal Treatment Necklace}
{Dark Side of the Moon Necklace}
{Night at the Opera Necklace}
{Romance Pin}
{Elisabeth Necklace}
Like what you see? Here’s how to enter:
1. Pick your favorite item from the five shown above.
2. Answer the question: “How and where would you wear the piece in your dream scenario?” in the comments section.
3. Take a browse around Toujours Toi.
4. For extra entries: facebook, blog, or tweet the giveaway {make sure to follow and tag @toujourstoi and/or @bitsofbeauty}
Contest closes at midnight on December 8th. The winner will be announce on December 9th.
{btw} Nina has a blog that totally reflects her style. Old glamour, a little dark romance, totally fabulous.
{everyday beautiful life: sunday brunch}
So, today is obviously not Thursday, but let’s make it an EBL day. I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend so far. I usually don’t blog on the weekends, but I’m making an exception for the month of December.
Judy of the fabulous frock heaven, known as Sunday Brunch Dress Shop, is our EBL guest this week. She’s witty, intelligent, and following the dream as young, female entrepreneur. {Within months of launching, her shop was featured in Lucky.} She kinda rocks. I can’t wait to meet her, although I’ll have to; I missed her last time I was in NY.
{Love} My wonderful amazing loving wonderful fiance makes my life more beautiful and happy than I could have ever imagined for myself.
{Fuzzy Best Friend} My English Bulldog Munch. We adopted him when he was 4 years old. He makes my life that much more joyful and funny. All he needs from life is food (preferably as much as possible), pets and a soft bed to snooze in all day. We can all learn a lot from him.
{Paris} There is something magical about this place. It’s something in the crepes perhaps. Everything is more beautiful in Paris. When I’m there all I can think about is when I will be back.
{Internet} Um, really. What would my life be without the Internet??
{Sketchbook} I’ve never been good at keeping journals or diaries. But since I started keeping a sketchbook my brain has felt much less cluttered. It feels good to get ideas and thoughts and images down on to paper. This is the first step to creating.
{Coffee} I have no problem saying this: I love Starbucks. I love them for their dependability, and I love them for their ubiquity. They are there when and wherever I need them. I’ve also taken to purchasing their beans rather than the hit-n-miss I did too often at Whole Foods. Every morning I feed the bulldog and brew myself a strong cup of Starbucks in my French Press.
{Fashion magazines} I love the glossies, always have. It’s glamorous, mysterious and unattainable beauty at it’s finest. I can’t identify with them at all, but I don’t need to identify with things to enjoy them.
{Freshly laundered bed sheets} I hate stripping the bed, washing the sheets and putting everything back on. But in the end when I get into bed….aaahhhh. Totally worth it.
{New tube of toothpaste} I LOVE opening a new tube of toothpaste. It’s so clean. And full of hope! With most things I will be sure to use up every last drop so as not to waste xyz. But the anticipation of opening a new tube of toothpaste results in recklessness and me throwing out the last week of toothpaste in an old tube, to my fiance’s dismay. But we’ve come up with a new system. Where I get to open and use the new tube as he finishes up the old one. That is love.
{Fry something} I love fried food. Oh I know I know it’s not good for you but when I’m having a bad day, nothing satisfies me like a big order of fries.
Thanks for reading! Please take a moment to visit our sponsors:
{winner: ruche giveaway}
The winner of the Ruche $25 gift certificate is….
Sabine of La Marquise des Anges
Congratulations!
Didn’t win this giveaway? Stay tuned. Another giveaway starts in just a few hours!!! {Hint: Translate “Always You” to a romance language}
{winner: sunday brunch giveaway}
The winner of the Sunday Brunch Dress Shop $50 giveaway is:
Dobbygirl of Spry on the Wall!
Congratulations!!!! {Let us know what dress you end up getting.}
{p.s.} Thanks Judy for joining in on the giveaway fun. xo