In my last post I told you about the gingerbread house we were planning to make. It came from a kit.
We put the sides up.
Then we did the roof and the walkway.
The tree and the inhabitant of the house were next.
Here is the finished product!
It is proudly sitting next to Alberta. We are expecting rain this week, so on Friday I plan to put Alberta outside in a larger pot. She will be the new sentry for my She Shed.
I also started painting a barn owl. I think that the barn owl and the egret are my spirit animals.
Here is Barney, all finished.
I am hanging all my artwork in the She Shed.
This painting is entitled Fantasy Flowers. I have already matted and framed it.
We got big bags of junk for the grandkids again this Christmas.
This is Calista's selection.
The three boys all got this assortment.
Pandi did her usual inspection.
The finished products.
Let's look at some outfits. On December 7th, I wore an outfit that I had set aside to lend to Mimi for her to wear to an event. She decided not to use it, so I wore it since it was all pressed and ready to go.
The jacket is Kasper. It is black with an ivory pinstripe.
Underneath I wore black ponte pants from Express and an ivory tissue weight wool sweater from H&M.
My belt is Escada, and my costume necklace is INC.
On December 8th, my coworker and I had lunch with our counterparts in data submission at our corporate location. I decided to wear my holiday dress from JS Collections.
It is heavily embroidered all over in teal blue and green.
Starting on Monday, December 12th, I did a week of black and gold outfits and a round-up of my various holiday getups. First, a leopard gold foil print top from XOXO.
Black and gold is my favorite outfit combo, so I had plenty of matching accessories.
On Tuesday, December 13th, we had our holiday luncheon at the hospital. I wore a gold leather skirt from INC with an ombre top from NY Collection.
Same accessories, different day.
On Monday, December 18th, I wore a velour skirt with a net ruffle from Persamon
I wore a green velour top with emerald jewelry.
I wore swiss dot black tights and Edwardian style shoes. They are bootie shape, with a Louis Heel and tie at the opening on the ankle with big grosgrain ribbons.
On Sunday, December 17th, our friend Rhonda had a 65th birthday party. I wore lace print pants from INC, with a black wool blend turtleneck. Everyone thinks these pants are actual lace, but they are just a lace print on nice stretchy lightweight twill.
On top, my beautiful vintage jacket from Karen Lawrence. It is black brocade with fur cuffs.
I was off for a couple of days, and then on Friday, December 15th, I wore a plaid lurex skirt from Ann Taylor with a gold lurex cowlneck sweater from Style and Co. The cowl neckline has a lace inset. The gold part of the plaid on the skirt is glittery.
On Tuesday, December 19th, I wore another vintage jacket. This one is a Korean brand, so I can't read the label. It's a stiff taffeta with a leopard print made of gold foil. it looks like it cost a fortune when it was new. i got it at a consignment shop in Garden Grove, where there are a lot of Koreans. I wore black velvet jeans from Faconnable with it.
Once again, a lot of black and gold for accessories.
On Wednesday, another beautifully embroidered dress, this one from Tom Ford.
It has all over heavy embroidery like the teal one, but with sheer panels in between. I have a specific set of aurora borealis crystals that I wear with it.
Fancy hosiery and Steve Madden booties for the finishing touches.
I have been off from work since then. It has been very relaxing and enjoyable.
We went to Christmas Eve Mass at the nearby church. I wore my Calvin Klein red studded Christmas dress. This was it's last chance to make an appearance before Christmas.
The placement of the studs is so flattering. They are silver, copper, and gold, so any tone of metal will work. I always wear gold jewelry with it.
Yesterday was Christmas day. We went over and made Mexican dinner for us, Win and Mimi, and Luke, Ashley, and Preston.
I wore embellished leggings with pearls on them. They are fleece lined.
My top is from Ivanka Trump. I got it ay Boyd's in Philadelphia, and i love it. I wore all pearl jewelry with this outfit.
Here are Preston and Ashley opening their bags. I usually give Ashley a bag of various cosmetics that come in my Birchbox and Ipsy bags. She loves that. She is more adventurous with her makeup than I am.
The two German Shepherd dogs are Annie (right) and Hon (left).
Annie likes to be petted, but Hon not so much. We don't bother him because he weighs 125 pounds.
After work on Wednesday, I did a nice long run through Huntington Beach Central Park. Look at all the beautiful birds that were out. There were very few people, so I guess the birds feel safer and come out.
We have a new inhabitant of our palm tree. We have named her Myrnette, since our last squirrel was Myrna. She left when the trees were trimmed.
We see her running across the fence and taking nesting materials up the tree in her mouth.
Mimi was generous as usual and gave me some money for Christmas. Nordstrom has a fantastic sale at the end of the year, and you can get jewelry for 90 % off. I participate every year, and this year I got two rings with the money. One is Rhodolite and amethyst, and one is London Blue Topaz and diamond.
Preston, Ashley, and Luke got me two gifts. One is a letter board.
I added the "Boys Stay Out" part.
They also gave me a suncatcher.
It's raining out right now, which is wonderful. It's been a good year for rain.
Well, stay tuned. I don't know what NYE will bring, maybe a road trip. Manhattan Beach and Long Beach. It's a pretty drive up through Long Beach, and also when you are right in Manhattan Beach. I guess it depends on the weather.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
