I promise an epic holiday update is coming soon, but in the meantime, check out these badass pictures from Pharrell Williams' Miami home. He calls himself a "kidult" and I think it's evident he decorates with all the panache of Tom Hanks in "Big." I love the staircase and the lucite piano, among other things. See the whole tour at The Selby.
The tree is decorated. The gifts are wrapped.
The stars went up. The red lipstick went on.
We took a trip to the Naro to see "It's a Wonderful Life on the Big Screen." Let's just say I sobbed a little bit less in public than I normally do at home. 
Prepare yourself for your new holiday entertaining classic: Jen's Artichoke Dip. This is so good, and you can seriously trick non-artichoke lovers into devouring it. Jen was kind enough to share her recipe with me yesterday, even though it will expose how easy her specialty is. Thank you for your selfless holiday giving, Jen!
One of the loveliest things about blogs is that you get to watch a story unfold in somewhat real time, not knowing what to expect or how it will end. I've been reading Heather Armstrong's blog Dooce since she undertook her first kitchen renovation and two houses later, it's amazing to see how her style has evolved and become more playful and adventurous. 
Hi friends! Remember me? I'm just your friendly neighborhood blogger who has been shopping till she drops, wrapping gifts until she has paper cuts on every finger and hasn't unpacked her weekend travel bag in months because she's always traveling on the weekends.
My personal fave? Jen's cheesy goodness artichoke dip (hopefully I can get the recipe to share with you).
Our line-up of Christmas-y wines...no shocker here, but most were reds.
Me and the hubby. 
My new best friend, Bailey.
We did Secret Santa, and of course all my pictures are blurry. This one of Lauren was the clearest (and maybe the cutest).
But I was most excited to finally bust out my vintage leopard swing coat, a $50 purchase in Staunton a few years ago. I also wore my wedding heels!
Wine club says, "Happy Holidays!"
If you take a little lookie loo, you'll see our tree has, oh, three ornaments on it. I'm hoping to rectify that tonight, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share a sneak peek at this year's Christmas wrapping. 
This year I chose blue and gold. I didn't really have a reason, except that I wanted it to look rich and festive, and maybe an eensy bit nautical. I bought the gold kraft paper at Target, along with the blue metallic swirly paper. I bought the polka dot and navy rolls of paper at Paper Source. The ribbon came from Michael's and M&J Trimming. 
I think they look pretty good so far! I'm still wrapping, though.
This is just another little sneak peek at our holiday decor (which is nowhere near finished). I took down our regular grouping of photographs and paintings and replaced them with the glitter stars from our wedding. They look very lovely, and I'm happy I could use some of the wedding stuff again. 
I went to my first professional football game yesterday with my own Redskins superfan husband, and a gaggle of friends. Our dear friend Ashleigh gave us tickets as a wedding present. It was really cool to see them in person, and much more interesting, but the weather, which was cold and rainy, was miserable. Srsly. And of course, they lost in the last second. I'm looking forward to going to more games in the future, though; they are much more entertaining in person.
Do you guys read Lonny? I was a Domino Magazine devotee and still sometimes can't get over the loss of the magazine after it was closed by the dunderheads at Conde Nast in 2009. It took me a little while to warm up to the idea of reading Lonny on my computer, which is like an online sister to Domino with the former staffers to give it street cred, but the issue that went up today was gorgeous. So much eye candy. 
I finished the wreath last night once I'd replenished my hot glue stick supply. All I had to do was add some extra ruffles and fill in some of the holes. I have to say, it does look pretty fabulous.
We're going to do the rest of our decorating tomorrow night, and I'm very excited. I've been feeling so left out in the neighborhood! 
While I was tearing my guest room apart the other day, I came across a tupperware container full of these garlands from our wedding. I had no idea where they had wandered off to, so finding them was such a pleasant surprise! I knew when we made them that I would like to incorporate them into my holiday decor as a way of remember our wedding. Plus, a bibliophile like me can never get enough to typography- and book-inspired decor.
I'm not going to pretend I can be as exhaustive as that tutorial I linked to, and I also didn't take incredibly pretty pictures. I had my eyes on the prize for this one. But I can help you along a bit. You will need:
Tear out a ton of pages.
Fold them in a way that intrigues you. I do not believe there is a right or wrong way, except for maybe accordian folding, which would require much more gluing. You will need to squirt little dabs of glue between the folds to secure them, then place a line along the flattest side and stick it to the wreath, with the pretty foldy part toward the outside.
Like so. Repeat, many many times.
Eventually, you'll finish the first layer and you'll start a second layer right on top of that, and another and another until it starts to look as full as you imagined it. This takes some time, but is a fairly mechanical process. 
About halfway through the process (holy blurry picture, Batman!), I decided it was bow time, which is always a source of struggle for me. I can never seem to wrangle ribbon into pretty bows, which is why I praise the Internet Gods for the myriad tutorials out there. Martha Stewart's site has a particularly useful bow guide. 
I'm still not done, but I went ahead and hung the wreath from the china cabinet until I can replenish my hot glue provisions. I think it looks sort of fluffy and romantic, but I'm wondering what the neighbors will think? Nary a poinsetta in sight!
What would we all do without friends who have trucks? Miranda and Travis saved us again this weekend, which was jam-packed with rearranging, decluttering and organizing.
We bought this Federal-style china cabinet with George Hepplewhite-style drawer pulls off Craigslist. Although the wood is quite pretty, I'm not a dark wood kind of girl, at least not in an apartment that gets almost no sunlight. 
I was excited to finally display all my pretty things in one place. The William Rogers silverplated dessert plates came from Plantiques in Newport News; the Wedgwood pieces were my grandmother's and the gravy boat is from Crate and Barrel.
The jadeite cake stand is a new purchase! I spotted it at the Williamsburg Antique Mall (my fave!) and had to have it. The teal pressed glass sundae cups are from there, as well.
For our honeymoon, Sean bought us the creamer and sugar bowl from Heath Ceramics in San Francisco. Their color is more green than you can tell in this picture. The dessert plates also came from Plantiques.
Another new purchase! Zinc placecards from Paper-Source.
I was most excited to have somewhere to stash my linens, especially because I just bought a pretty white linen tablecloth in Alexandria, along with a taupe hemstitch linen runner.
And voila! The only scary part is that the whole thing wobbles a little when we pad by it, so I've been walking very, very quietly. Also, the glass is loose in the right pane there, so that will eventually have to be addressed.
Today, I'm admiring hat storage in fabulous homes. Remember when men regularly donned chic chapeaus? Nope, I don't either, but I love to fantasize about it. These clever fashion-as-decor hats belong to Tom Wolfe, up top, and Herve Pierre, below. Both homes have been documented on The Selby.
