little yellow apple: 2010

The Final Countdown...

Happy New Years everyone! I'm totally ready for a bright, shiny, fresh year to start tomorrow. Bring on 2011! Today also marks my 200th post on LYA and wonderful new things are in store starting post #201 so get ready!

Got any resolutions? Here's what I'll be working on....

-de-clutter my apartment

-figure out where my honey and me will live come May

-drink more water and less soda (I live for diet coke!)

-incorporate more pattern into my wardrobe

-blog, blog, blog

-love on my readers (xoxoxoxo you guys!)

-make the time for all my creative projects

Holly Jolly: Christmas Eve!

Hello all my little apples! The day we have waited for has arrived: Christmas Eve! I don't know about you but I am excited from morning until I go to bed. My family and I have so many traditions we like do on this day and it makes me smile knowing we're all together.

It also makes me happy that we have gotten to spend so much time together this year. I feel like I'm really getting into a good stride with my blogging and I can't wait for next year when things will only get bigger and better. I want to thank EVERYONE who has ever visited this blog, stopped to write a comment or passed it onto a friend. You don't know how much that means to me. Thank you, thank you and I hope you all have the merriest of Christmas. I love you guys!

Hollly Jolly: Around the World

Recently I have fallen in love with a new blog called Mr and Mrs Globe Trot. It's about a newlywed couple who for their honeymoon decided to pack it up for 6 months and travel the world. They are wedding photographers based out of Seattle and from the look of their blog it looks like they are having the time of their lives!

Right now they are in Vienna for Christmas and their post from the 21st is making me want to buy a plane ticket out there to join them. These were just a few of my favorite images for their post. Definitely check out the link below to take in all the beauty. Reading every post is like I'm right there exploring new cities with them and I know you'll get addicted to them too!

Mr and Mrs Globe Trot

A Wicked Weekend

Hello friends welcome back! How was your weekend? Full of last minute shopping and errand running? With 5 days until Christmas I can believe it.

I had one of the best Saturdays of my life this weekend. My sweetie pie boyfriend surprised me with seats to see Wicked. I have been wanting to see this show for ages and he's know it so for months he has been tricking and teasing me with this amazing surprise. Everything was my favorite part- Deifying Gravity, the costumes, the make up, the giant bubble! It was wonderful. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much, but it also kept me from singing along to every song too. Which I'm sure the people around me appreciated. Now it's your turn. Tell me what made you smile big this weekend.

Holly Jolly: A Blue Blue Christmas

I love a good non-traditional color scheme for Christmas versus the old fashion red and green. I've seen some new combinations that have caught my eye like grey and yellow, pink and red, silver and purple, but this year I seem to be favoring the blue on blue theme for Christmas. The aquas, navys and Tiffany blues...I am loving it! So I've gathered some of my favorite images to share and perhaps get you thinking outside the box too. What colors do you love for Christmas?

"You'll be doin' alright with your Christmas of white, but I'll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas." -Elvis Presley

Holly Jolly: Anthro Windows

Before I signed off for the weekend this past Friday I shared some old pictures of Anthropologie holiday windows. I thought it would be fun to give you a little peek into the holiday world I'm surrounded in for most of my days.

We've got magic and whimsy happening all around us. From tree farms and cuckoo clocks, to little critters and magical stumps and mushrooms. I don't know if you can tell but the little stumps in the third picture have windows and doors that actually light up! It's my favorite part. I have to give a shout out to the girl I work with who dreams up these wonderful creations. She never ceases to amaze me with her talent. One day I'll leave the store and the window is all hooks and wires and the next day shes made it into a wonderland.

If you have an Anthropologie in your city I urge you to check out their displays too. One of the best parts about Anthro is no two stores are alike so you're sure to see something different at yours.

Holly Jolly: Charlie Brown with a twist

If you have ten minutes and want to spend it watching something cute and funny then just click play. A few years back the cast of Scrubs dubbed over the holiday classic Charlie Brown and it is still cracking me up! Check it out.

The Weekend

My weekend is consisting of the following:

Watched this movie only a few hours ago and my mind is still spinning about it but I think I loved it!

Wrapping some presents and doing some crafting.

And of course spending some time at work.

Have a good weekend everyone There will be much more Holly Jolly fun to come on Monday so I'll see you then!

Holly Jolly: Sucre in New Orleans

While in New Orleans a few weeks ago, I treated my taste buds to the best little sweet shop NOLA had to offer: Sucre. French for sugar, this sweet boutique specializes in wedding cakes, macaroons, handmade marshmallows, gelato, and chocolate, chocolate, chocolate! We all sampled so many of their creations. Each one getting a bigger "oh that's good" than the one before.

Between the 4 of us we tasted half of their treats and came out with 4 very different desserts - all to share of course! We splurged even further by getting their special extra dark drinking chocolate mix topped with the fluffiest softest marshmallows I've ever had.

I think what sold me though was the 2 adorable giant gingerbread man and lady inviting us in for treats. It's a shame they're exclusively located in New Orleans but they have a great selection in their online shop. For the person who has everything nothing beats chocolate!

On second thought maybe it's better for my pant size that they're not located everywhere....

Personal Shopper

My favorite shopping site has to be Outblush. Their staff digs up the best stuff around the Internet, including the best clothes, home stuff, shoes, gadgets, and much much more. Trust me: after a week visiting their site you're going to want everything they post. Recently they started a new feature called the Personal Shopper. Readers can email a request asking for their Internet shopping expertise to help find anything from the perfect little black dress, an orange bathing suit, or in my case the perfect ballet flat with ankle straps.

That's right - your very own submitted a request and the lovely shoppers of Outblush took my search parameters and found what exactly what I was looking for. And not just one or two options, I have 11 to choose from. The tough part will be picking just one! Check it out for the full post!

The whole search started out with these shoes sold on JCrew for little girls and Outblush came up with all of these options. Amazing!

Glee Inspiration

I finally watched Monday's Special Education episode of Glee today and can't get Emma Pillsbury's adorable Kate Spade coat off my mind!

It is none other than the Studio Mona Coat, that is NOW ON SALE (hint hint Santa), I am in love with. The minute she came around the side of that bus I gasped at the sight. I absolutely love everything she wears on the show and of course a chic dramatic little number like this would be in Emma P's closet!

Holly Jolly: Christmas Wreaths

Nothing perks up a regular ol' door during the holidays like a wreath. Something about seeing a colorful ring of evergreens, berries, and bows just makes a home more inviting. I'm a sucker for a good wreath and would have every door covered if I had the space. A few years ago I fell in love with a wreath Starbucks had hanging in their stores and practically stalked the store manager at the end of the season to ask if I could have it. Don't worry - it came home with me!

So here's what I'd put on my front door if I had about 10 of them:

yarn wreaths made by etsy seller knockknocking

left:Pepperberry wreath (a similar version is hanging on my front door) right: rosehip wreath from Terrain

left: image from flickr account Alicia Paulson right: Martha Stewart (which looks super easy to make)

left: Martha Stewart right:bright bazaar

left and right: Martha Stewart

On the second day...

December is here, Christmas is coming, my tree is up and decorated, Christmas songs are on the radio all the time...I am in total Christmas Sarah mode! I feel like I have a permanent smile on my face right now. Christmas just truly makes me happy. To honor this warm happy feeling I want to share everything Christmas right here on LYA. I'm in the middle of putting together some themed blog posts so we can squeal and smile over this wonderful holiday season together. I hope you'll check back in often.

In honor of our 2nd day into Christmas we're going to honor it with 2 turtle doves. Does anyone else always think of that scene in Home Alone 2 where the owner of the toy store gives Kevin the 2 turtle dove ornaments? Maybe I've just caught that movie on TV one too many times.... haha!

Turkey Day Inspiration

My stomach is starting to get hungry for all the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie that's only 2 days away. Even though Christmas is everywhere already I can't let myself get too excited about it until I celebrate the holidays in proper order. I am surrounding myself with images and thoughts of Fall, cooking, turkeys and family togetherness. So I've cooked up (pun intended) some images that are making me thankful for this time of year.