Christmas at my House

I thought I'd share a few pictures of my Christmas decor this year.
I have been wanting this Santa head (which I placed next to my front door) for several years. My friend had one, but it seemed to be long gone and I wasn't able to find one anywhere. This year when I went to Pottery World I discovered it in the 50% off room... Score! Finally found it, and half off yay! Gotta love a deal!

As I placed my ornaments on our tree this year I came to the realization that I must be obsessed with Santa heads haha!

I found this wreath and the three trees half off after Christmas last year.

My handmade bear that my friend's mom made...how talented is she???

One of my favorite ornaments. I was able to get two more rolls of the harlequin ribbon on sale at Ballard Designs last week.

The Pastry tree in my kitchen.

The girls...trying to get both of them to sit still for a picture is challenging, I'm hoping to get a better picture today for our Christmas card :)

Chocolate Espresso Pot de Creme

Tonight my friend Amanda hosted a Christmas party. She asked me to make the desserts for her, which I love to do. In addition to the lemon mini cheesecakes with raspberry sauce that has become a staple in my repitaur, I wanted to make something chocolate. It had to be something rich and decadent, and in individual servings. I immediately thought of Lava Cakes.... but still wanted it to be something a little different. I remembered these cute little Pot de Creme pots that I had, and thought they would be perfect. I found a recipe on Epicurious that had high reviews, and was simple enough.

They sure were cute! I hope that Amanda and her friends enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed making them.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Today My friend Charlotte and I drove up to Pottery World in Rocklin Ca. for a little Christmas inspiration.

And there was a ton of it! It was so nice browsing all of their wonderfully decorated areas. There was a theme for everyone. There was whimsical and sophisticated. I gravitate more towards the whimsical, but enjoy looking at it all.

There was even an area that was very naturey, if that's a word???

The Polar Bears in the White area.

This was the Candy Cane area. Very Whimsical!

We loved the Snowman hat for the tree-topper. Charlotte purchased one for her Snowman Tree. I'm so glad you got that Charlotte!

There were Santa Clauses and Elves everywhere. Pottery World definitely took a lot of time and thought in their displays...very talented decorators!

Entrance into Winter Wonderland.

And my personal favorite Santa for the kitchen.

Thanks Charlotte, I had so much fun!!!

I'm Back

It has been SO long since I have created a post. I have seriously neglected my blog. There has been so much change in my life lately that it's taken some time to adjust. But with the holidays coming up I'm feeling some inspiration.

This last weekend I did the desserts for a baby shower. The color scheme was one of my favorites...brown and pink. It was so much fun working with these colors!

Chocolate and Strawberry Cupcakes

The dessert table arranged by my very talented and good friend Andrea
(I did not make the professional cake on the right)

Sugar Cookies, Cake Pops, Mini Lemon Cheese Cakes (plain and with raspberries and raspberry sauce) Andrea created the lovely flower arrangements.

Thanks for the kick in the pants Charlotte and Sue! ;)

And be sure to check out Sue's inspiring post at Rue Mouffetard on my favorite...White Kitchens!

Fun Finds

Is it my imagination or has Restoration Hardware seemed to have gone in a different direction?

Here are a few things that I would love to have, but have no place for.

Always love wire baskets.

I don't know... if I was the lucky owner of this piece I think I would just have to make it work somewhere ;)

All Moved In...

And I have a little dilema. There are two niches here on each side of the entry into the dining room. The sofa sits in front of the entry with just enough room to walk through. I'm thinking of a couple of different things for the niches. One being these sconces from Pottery Barn. They are 20 inches long, so they would fit nicely with a little room on top and bottom.

The other idea I had was maybe a couple of glass shelves in each niche for photos etc...

Although I would love to hear any other ideas that you may have.

If The Shoe Fits...

The other day as I was walking across the parking lot where I work to the Bakery ( to get my diet Coke fix) I spotted this little foot/shoe just like this laying there, all by itself. It just made me wonder who lost their foot? Was it part of a ballerina on a Birthday Cake, that no longer has a foot? Or just a child's toy missing it's foot? I suppose I will never know.

It Was a Beautiful Day

We took a little break from packing and moving today to take a road trip to one of my favorite places. On the way we usually see these planes taking off and landing from Travis Air Force Base, but today we got a really good picture of one going right over us.

First stop Napa Style in Yountville.

Grey Sea Salts.

Isn't this the cutest? I have always loved it in the larger size, but this little one would be perfect on a counter or buffet.

Last stop Bouchon Bakery for their fabulous bread and Macaroons. I seriously want to learn how to make them.

And our last stop in St. Helena, Fideaux, to get the girls some yummy treats too.

The weather was perfect. It was nice getting away from the heat for a little while.

Sierra's Dessert Table

A couple of weeks ago I made the dessert's for a birthday party. The colors were bright pink, and black. I'm really happy with the way everything turned out. Unfortunately, my pictures were some how lost, as were Tommy's (what luck???) Andrea, who made the beautiful flower arrangements and helped me with the desserts did get a few, and I wanted to share them.

There were strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting, as well as the small cake on the top pedestal. Cream puffs, sugar cookies, lemon mini cheesecakes with raspberries and raspberry sauce (you can barely see them to the left on the second picture). Not pictured were Bakerella's cake pops and coconut chocolate chip blondies. Hopefully the next party I do I'll get more pictures ;)

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