A Wonderful Winter Weekend

At least, it was as wintry as it gets in Huntington Beach. On Friday, our neighbors had a party complete with faux snow and a faux Santa. I ended up getting in a snowball fight with Weston, Vince, Kevin, and other assorted neighbor kids. I was greatly outnumbered, and defeat was imminent. But it was fun!!!

On Saturday, we had the Holtzman family party. Here's what I wore:

Since you can't see in this picture, I will break it down for you.

My Carlisle purple and black pants, a black Peck and Peck sweater, my trusty Escada blazer, and Sam and Libby boots. It was very comfy. But the focus was on the kids. They all started by making rice krispy treats crafts. Poor Benjy was a tad bewildered, but he soldiered on.

Our niece and nephew from Arizona brought their two little girls, Emma and Lily.

Emma is 4, and Lily will be 1 on the 26th. We gave them each a bag of toys, complete with fairy outfits.

Of course, our grandson Preston was there. He got a bag full of toys as well.

Here he is, holding up one of his treasures.

Little Calista was there - she is 7 months old. She had a little cold, and was a little out of it, but she did about as good as a kid her age can do. In other words, zero meltdowns.

 

 

Her big brothers loved their gift bags too. Joseph is a big fan of Frozen. He knows all the songs. All 6 of the kids got Frozen stickers in their bags.

Benjamin is a big fan of hats. So he and Joseph both got one. I asked Joseph to model it for me.

We had the party in the nursery at the LDS hall. It comes complete with a fully stocked kitchen and gobs of toys for the kids to borrow and play with. Benjy particularly liked the telephone.

He also loved his bag of toys.

So that was the Holtzman Christmas. Yesterday, after cleaning the yard and having one of Doc's famous omelets for lunch, we took the dogs down to Farquhar Park for a romp.

After they ran around there for a while, we headed down one of the streets to Dwyer Middle School. It shares an athletic field with Smith Elementary.

That person is Doc, and the tiny black speck is Elli. I was across the field with Kenni and Vinni.

It was T shirt and shorts weather. Today will be around 74 degrees, and Xmas day will be 66. Not bad. After that, we watched a movie, then I worked out for the first time in 4 days (due to my cold) and then got ready for 2 1/2 days of work before I am off for 4 1/2. So here is what I wore:

More brocade pants, this time in green. I topped them with a gold lurex cowlneck. Here's a closeup of the pants.

You can see a bit of my Ann Marino shoes here. They are on their last legs.

I topped this outfit with a safari jacket by Cache.

It's sort of an olive color, all shot through with gold lurex. It has big shiny gold buttons. Here is a closeup of the fabric.

For my necklace, I wore an emerald and diamond necklace.

On my arms : on the right, an emerald and diamond ring, and my J Crew crystal link bracelet.

 

On the left, my Montana green peridot and a costume crystal stretch bracelet from Saks.

So that's about it for this marathon post, except for the linkup. Today, it's Jen from www.fashionablyemployed.com. She looks a lot chillier than we do !!! Hop over and take a peek!!

Baby, It's Cold......Inside!!!

Aargh. I started to get the cold that has been going around these parts. So I tried Doc's proven remedy course.

1) Sambucol black elderberry syrup.
2) Oscillococcinum crystals - place under tongue and let it dissolve.
4) Echinacea Plus Elderberry tea.

I feel a million times better. All that's left is a slight sore throat.

So I told you that Doc wanted 3 bean salad for Christmas dinner. I went to Costco and to Smart and Final, and neither store had it. So I got the ingredients, whipped out my Good Housekeeping cookbook, and made a big batch.

I also finished decorating the cookies for the party tonight. I used 4 different decorating schemes - coconut with dried cranberries, Hanukah M&Ms, regular M&Ms, and crushed candy canes. The frosting is cream cheese.

Some of the cookies are huge. The stars are much smaller.

So onto today's outfit. It is a mélange of blue tones. The skirt is Misook and the blouse came from Kohl's. A good example of mixing high and low end.

 

 

 

 

Under the semi-sheer chiffon blouse, I have a bright royal tank covered in sequins. The sparkle comes through the chiffon, and adds a nice special effect. I decided to also go for a mixture of blues in my necklaces.

The shorter one is Liz Claiborne, and the longer lariat was a souvenir from Las Vegas this summer.

My shoes were another story. I originally had on a black suede pair of pumps with gold embroidery, but they seemed uncomfortable, so I changed to black suede Maryjanes by Isaac Mizrahi. I have had them for a long time. I have pretty big feet, and when I wear pointy toed shoes that need extra room for the toes, I literally have clown sized feet. Well, there are worse things in this world to bear than giant feet.

For my arms. I went with a costume blue enamel ring with a green stone, and a diamond dust bracelet on my left arm.

On the right, another costume ring, and a gold bracelet with light blue topaz.

 

Today, I am linking up with Tara at www.pennilesssocialite.blogspot.com for Favorite Fashion Friday. There are lots of holiday and other outfits posted there. Have a great end to the work week!!!

It's Almost Chrissssstmassss - Hissss !!

Last night, I baked a big batch of sugar cookies for the party we are going to tomorrow night. For our family party on Saturday, Doc wants three bean salad - I lucked out, all I have to do is buy a couple of big cans. We are also bringing artichoke hearts and anything else that looks good when I go to Smart and Final tonight. I will be decorating the cookies tonight as well, so maybe I can remember to take some pictures.

So onto my outfit. All of the SSSSSs in the title refer to my snakeskin peasant blouse. The neckline is actually a faux drawstring, which I think I like better than the real thing because there is no adjusting of the gathers needed. I got it at Stein Mart. My black leather skirt is very old, from a store they used to have around here called Wilson's Leather.

On top, I wore my Karen Lawrence jacket. It was 50 degrees outside this morning, and that's pretty cold for SoCal. (Sorry, all you Midwesterners and East Coasters.) Since my neck was bare, I wore a scarf thing made of furry balls.

I used a wide black leather and elastic belt to give this very comfy outfit some shape.

I also wore my favorite JCP necklace.

Since it looked as though silver would be the metal of the day, I wore matching silver spaceship rings. On the left is onyx, and on the right is mother of pearl.

I broke out a pair of shoes that hasn't gotten much lovin' over the past couple of years. I love the way they look, but they squeak when I walk. They are made by Kathy Levine. The heels are plastic faux bamboo.

So, you ask, why is my neck bare and cold? Because I wore my hair up today. I do that every now and again. I coat it thoroughly with hairspray, so it needs no fussing, it needs no nursing (a little Rolling Stones reference for you there.)

Yay !!! It's Thursday!!! So I am linking with Alice at www.happinessatmidlife.com for Throwback Thursday. I guess the Wilson's skirt qualifies me for that. And also, with Tara at www.mixmatchfashion.com for What I wore to Work, because obviously from the background of my pix, I am in my office. Have a great day!!!

The Christmas Ninja

Today, I am a vision in black. I had planned to wear ivory pants with this outfit, but it rained again the last two days, and I didn't want to ruin my ivory pants, so I went with black. Here is the outfit, with my jacket on.

The jacket is vintage, by Karen Lawrence. The pants are so old that I don't even remember where I got them. The turtleneck is Joseph A, from Macy's. Here's how I look without the jacket.

I am wearing a sweater vest on top, even though it's hard to see. So I took it off to get a shot of it. It's made by Cristina V, and I got it at Stein Mart.

It has faux fur trim around the shawl collar. Let's get a better look at the beautiful jacket. It's made of black on black brocade.

That fur peeking out is the fur on the vest. The jacket also has deep faux fur cuffs. The fur is so nice that it looks and feels real.

Here's a closeup of the trim on the vest.

For necklaces, I love gold with black, so I wore both the long pearl Joan Rivers interchangeable piece, as well as the short neck wire that comes with the set. I used the pearl dangle for the short version.

For shoes, my trusty gold and black Spiegel "rain" boots.

Classic gold jewelry completes this look. On my left, my wedding set, and on my right, a garnet/diamond ring accented by some thin costume bands with gemstones.

Since it's Wednesday, it's time for What I Wore at www.thepleatedpoppy.com. I need to go see if any of my ninja brethren are playing along!!!

I'm Like A Bird, I'm Gonna Fly Away

This blouse that I am wearing has sleeves that allow me to take off and soar (if I wanted to). Here's the before:

And here I am, about to lift off.

The chiffon blouse is by Bisou Bisou, and the leather shift is Romeo and Juliet Couture, from Neiman Marcus. Since the dress is sleek and solid, I decided to go with patterned tights.

I had to be careful putting them on, because it's easy to get the vertical pattern twisted like a candy cane (although that would fit the season!!)Since the blouse is red and black, I chose my Calvin Klein pilgrim shoes.

See, I did keep them straight. For jewelry, I went with my matching garnet necklace and earring set.

You can see how the dress has a slight ostrich texture to the leather. I continued the red accents with my rings. I didn't wear bracelets today, because of my long flared sleeves. But on the right hand, a fire opal, and on the left hand a marquise solitaire with a fire opal band.

So that's about it for today, except for the links. First, Lauren at www.stylelixir.com for style Session Fall Fashions linkup. Then, Saumya at www.myriadmusings.net for Style Swap Tuesday. Go check it out!! Now, I am going to prepare my belly for the department potluck at noon. I will take pictures of all the delicious food. Have a great day!!!