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I can't believe it has been a month since I blogged! Where does the time go ... oh, I know! The Holidays.  The week before we left town for Christmas was some real madness, but so worth it since I was able to get the holidays off. My husband,  our dog, and I traveled to my parents home in Virginia the Saturday before Christmas and got to stay through New Years.  It was a glorious (almost) two weeks filled with family time, catching up with friends, and just enjoying the season.  I still find it hard to fit everything in when I go home for a visit .. no matter how much time I get it always feels just too short.

THEN, literally the day after we got back I flew to Orlando for a work conference (Orlando in January - heck yeah!).  So needless to say, time has slipped away, but this week I am so happy to be back to blogging.  Although I am sometimes skeptical about the time I put into this blog, I have really missed it.  

So now that I've explained why I haven't been posting, I thought I'd share a few snaps that I've taken over the past month while I've been away. Enjoy!

.christmas dogs with their christmas toys.

.an impromptu new years day champagne bar.

.a new years day feast that my mom put together.

.pretty bon bons.

.berry trifle.

.fake enthusiasm for the 12 hour drive back to georgia.

 . loews portofino bay resort in orlando.

.a selfie with a very fragrant pandora crown.

.epcot at sunset.

.jax settling back into life after christmas.

I hope you had a peaceful and joyful Christmas and New Years!
xo Bridget

Plaid and Mocs

It was a beautiful, sunny, and warm weekend here in Georgia. I am so not used to temperatures in the 70's in December, and certainly not two weeks before Christmas. Sunday especially was the kind of day for putting off to do lists and getting out to enjoy the weather.   My husband and I took our dog out for a long walk in a pretty and calm place. It was a great way to clear my head before the busy week ahead. 

I wanted to post a pretty holiday outfit, but the weather felt more like fall so my knee high mocs and flowy plaid top felt much more appropriate. 

Hope you had a lovely weeekend!

Top: Odille via Anthropologie (similar) (love this)

Tank: Free People

Jeans: Free People (similar)

Socks: Free People

Mocs: Minnetonka

Sunglasses: Wildfox

Bracelets: Swarovski, Lily and Laura, Bourbon and Bowties, and Pandora

xo Bridget

Pretty Packaging

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Yesterday, I completed my Christmas shopping .. well nearly, there's always something that pops up right at the last moment.  But, for now, I am at least at the point of wrapping.  There's nothing I enjoy more then sitting down to wrap all the Christmas goodies that I have purchased. I love giving a beautifully wrapped gift almost as much as I enjoy receiving one. 

Over the weekend, I got on Pinterest to have a look at some creative wrapping ideas that I could take inspiration from.  Above are some of my favorite picks.  There are some that I can take inspiration from for this year and some that I may save for next year.  I love the labels in #1 for homemade food gifts for next year.  

While I was home in Virginia at the beginning of November, my Mom and I stopped at Paper Source to get some inspiration for putting together small gifts for the people that I work with.  We saw the below gift bag and label idea on display and loved it, so I decided to replicate it.  At Paper Source, they always have great ideas and examples on display throughout the store, it's awesome for inspiration. 

Here are some pics of the goodie bags that I put together.  The bags are filled with holiday candy and a small pack of homemade cookies with a hand sanitizer tied to the front of each.  To me, it's like a little retail "get me through this holiday season" care pack.

The items used to make the bags were purchased at Paper Source.

(Links:  Bags, Twine, Tags, Label, Stamp, Clothespins)

The sanitizers and holders are from Bath & Body Works (here and here)

The cookie bags were purchased at Micheals.

xo Bridget

Holiday Gift Guide: Made in America

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For years, I spent the holiday season working in a toy store.  I loved my job especially at the holidays when I could get out on the sales floor and help customers find the perfect gift that I had helped pick out for the store.  Every year around the holidays, I would get a customer or two that would only want to be shown items that were made in the USA.  Well, as you can imagine, in a toy store that could be quite difficult.  I was usually able to help the customer find something, but was always frustrated with the slim choices. Since then, things made in the USA have really stood out to me.

Today, while I was working on some things in the house, I overheard an ad for ABC's "Made in America" series. I tested myself mentally to see if I could come up with some companies that make their products in America and it was a little embarrassing.  I decided I would do a post on great gifts that are also made in America.  

I came across this website with lots of great Made in America companies for future reference.  In this guide I tried to pick items that you might see out and about in shops.  I know Etsy and alot of the small companies listed on that website are handcrafted items made in the USA, but with online ordering time dwindling I thought it might be useful to list items that you are more likely to see while running your other Christmas errands.

Hope you find this interesting - I sure did!

xo Bridget

Christmas Cookies

This weekend I was pretty excited to get some fun things on my Holiday To Do List checked off.  One of those things and one of my most favorite things to do ever is bake christmas cookies.  I am really trying to be good and stay on track with my healthy eating between now and Christmas, but I couldn't not make cookies.  So, I decided to make some festive Christmas sugar cookies to give out as gifts.  

I've got a real weakness for pretty sugar cookies and I just love to make them myself.  I have a favorite recipe, which you can find in my post on Shamrock Sugar Cookies from back in March. The recipe is so simple and always makes a yummy cookie.  After that,  I just whip up some royal icing (I use meringue powder), and top them with some pretty sugar crystals.  

xo Bridget

December Taupe

Towards the end of last week, I could feel my list of things to accomplish over the weekend piling up on me.  It was a little overwhelming and I could feel myself starting to get a little stressed - so not the direction that I want to go in for the official start of the holiday season.  I sat down and made a more thoughtful to do list and broke everything I had to do down into small realistic chunks.  I quickly got a grip and realized I still have lots of time before Christmas and even if I don't get everything I want done - it's not the end of the world.

It's all about priorities!  I am so glad I took the time to spend my Sunday doing some things totally not on my list and really enjoying them, including an impromptu breakfast at waffle house after church.  It's been lovely weather here and so I got the chance to wear one of my favorite tops.  I get a lot of wear out of this top and love it paired with my Joe's leggings and Sam Edelman booties.  Yay for Sunday.  Oh, and also yay for this cardigan, which is very similar to the top I am wearing, both made by One September, and which just happens to be on super sale. 

Top: One September via Anthropologie (similar) (similar)

Pants: Joe's

Boots: Sam Edelman

Bag: Liebeskind (similar)

Lipstick: Sable by Bite Beauty (similar)

xo Bridget

Joie De Vivre: Panama City Beach

This past Friday, my parents, my husband, our two dogs, and I traveled down to Panama City Beach, Florida for the long weekend.  The weather was beautiful and it was so nice to have a relaxing weekend to discover a new place together.  

We spent most of our two days in the Pier Park area.  You can pay $6 per person to fish off the pier for the day and there is a tackle shop for bait right on the pier.  To the right of the pier was a dog friendly beach where we could take the dogs out for a swim or run in between fishing.  Pier Park, which is across the street from the beach, is an outdoor shopping center full of fun beach restaurants and surf shops. For lunch, we went both days to Margaritaville,  which had a great location right across the street from the beach with perfect margaritas and an amazing view.  It was a great place to hang for two days, it was wheelchair accessible everywhere we went, and super dog friendly too!

We had a lot of nice meals,  and especially enjoyed eating at Margaritaville, Pineapple Willy's, and watching the sunset on our final night at Pompano Joe's.  It was the perfect time of year for a trip down to the beach and one that I will be remembering fondly for a long time.

xo Bridget