Home for the Holidays | Part I

Holiday decorations and I have a bit of a love hate relationship. I absolutely love how they look and the way they make our home feel especially warm and cozy but let's be honest, they are a lot of work! Growing up we were not allowed to decorate for Christmas. My sister and I are Jewish as is our father and my mom is Catholic. My father would not allow my mom to have a stitch of Christmas in the house! We couldn't even put white lights on our house and it wasn't until I was 18 years old that my sister and I put our feet down and insisted that our mom have Christmas tree that I really started decorating for Christmas! 

Fast forward a few years and then some and we now fully decorate our home for Christmas; complete with two Christmas trees, my husband's holiday village from his childhood and other meaningful objects that we've collected along our journey together. It's really important to me that our home feel festive for my husband, our friends and family. For as much work as the decorations require the amount of joy that they bring, especially to my husband, and the memories that we make during the holiday season make it all beyond worth while. 

My goal for this weekend was to at least get our trees up and some of the inside decorations done. The eight foot tree in our living room fits beautifully into our large bay window and the only piece of furniture we have to move is small side table! The eight foot tree in our great room is an entirely different story! More on that later possibly? Needless to say we managed to get both trees up, and lit this morning and in between giving our two Saint Bernards baths and other some other errands I also managed to get some of the more prominent decorations up. 

I've mentioned how important it is to incorporate meaningful objects into any design and one of the things that I love to do is to use objects in ways that perhaps they weren't designed for. For example I have this coaster by Ben's Garden near our front door that I use as a small decorative piece. I have several of these with different sayings on them and change them out throughout the year. 

Last week while I was popping into Whole Foods I came across these adorable petite Rosemary trees. I added some miniature ornaments and a festive bow. Its the perfect size and it smells wonderful, and after the holidays I'll transplant it to our garden and have additional fresh rosemary for cooking. Full disclosure the Rudoplph the Red Nosed Reindeer towel that is placed in our guest bathroom is probably the kitschiest piece of our holiday collection, but it wouldn't be the holidays in our home without him! 

Let's just say there aren't many Hannukkah decorations and I'm not one for clutter so over the years I've found a few special Menorah's. This one is my favorite. I love the symbology of the tree and family and this one is made from iron with a particularly beautiful patina.

 I am hoping that tomorrow I will be able to get the ornaments on our trees and the remaining decorations up! 

Cheers, 

Molly 

The Great Bathtub Debate

To stand or to build, that is the question? In the past several years freestanding bathtubs have made an extraordinary comeback. There are many variations and designs, they range from extraordinary simple to incredibly ornate. The tubs themselves, as well as the plumbing fixtures that accompany them, can be stunning and are often designed to become statement architectural features. While there is no doubt that some of these freestanding tubs are works of art, I don't find them to be very practical.  

First and foremost there is no where to set anything! Part of the allure and stunning aesthetic  of a freestanding bathtub is exactly what the name says, it's freestanding and therefore intended to stand alone, This poses a challenge if part of taking a bath is the experience of taking a bath. For me this includes bubble bath, or bath salts with essential oils, a candle, my book and maybe a glass of champagne!  With only a small lip to most freestanding tubs there is simply nowhere to place anything.

Don't get us wrong, a freestanding tub can be stunning when centered in a large window or even in the middle of a beautiful bathroom but seldomly are the tubs themselves located in close proximity to a towel rack. Nothing is worse than getting out of the warm bath and having to walk more than a step or two to get your towel or tracking water across your floors!  Some people are okay with freestanding towel racks and don't mind having something else out on their bathroom floor. My personal preference is to have towels elevated and away from the floor, it makes cleaning the floors themselves easier and also helps to keep towels clean and fresh. 

Don't get me wrong, I am by no means a fan of the 1980's enormous built-in tub with a deck the size of an aircraft carrier, but I do prefer a built in tub to a freestanding tub, especially if you plan on using your bath tub more than a few times a year.  There are so many beautiful materials that now come in slabs that the built-in tubs bathtubs of today have the ability to be sleek, elegant, and practical. Pictured below is one of our favorite built-in tubs from the former Foster Residence located in Malibu, California. 

In order to be practical freestanding tubs require accessories such as a thoughtful accent table or stool and well placed towel bars. If one realizes the additional requirements from the very beginning of the design process and accounts for said needs then we think a freestanding tub can be a jaw dropping element of a bathroom. However,  if a design is created to look pretty and lacks practicality then to us it's more of a vision than design. As with any good design it's all in the details, so whatever your preference may be there's a thoughtful way to make it as beautiful as it will be functional. 

Cheers, 

Molly

Pumpkin & Spice

This past weekend my husband and I hosted one of our favorite annual events, our wine dinner. More on that in an upcoming post! Given that it's officially Fall and we've had a few days here and there where it's actually felt like Fall is in the air it's gotten me in the mood for some seasonal treats! When I do cook or bake which isn't too often I like to keep things simple and healthy. I found this recipe for Pumpkin Bread online years ago and it has become my go to. I decided to make mini loaves as part of the favors to give our guests at the end of the evening. 

The recipe was pretty healthy to begin with and uses egg whites and yogurt, however it called for oil which I substituted with apple sauce. I like to add chocolate chips for a little sweet treat. 

The Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 large egg whites

1 cup pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1/4 canola oil *substitute with apple sauce

1/3 cup low-fat plain yogurt * I used non-fat vanilla yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

* 3/4 cup chocolate chips = sweet treat!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Spray metal loaf pan with nonstick spray

Mix brown sugar, egg whites, pumpkin, apple sauce, yogurt and vanilla

Add flour, wheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda

Stir until combined

Pour batter into pan and bake 45-50 minutes

Let cool 10 minutes

I wrapped the loaves and tied them with a simple bow and note that said, "A Sweet Ending to a Wonderful Evening!" 

Cheers!

Molly

Live what you love!

My husband sometimes thinks I'm crazy because I love to curate and style everything, but he's realized that it's something I truly love to do! Last week we decided to enjoy a quiet evening at home, the weather was lovely and it was the perfect opportunity to relax together and have a little wine + cheese in the backyard before we began to cook dinner.

I could have easily taken some crackers from the pantry, sliced some cheese and thrown it on a plate and been done, but what's the fun in that! Instead I grabbed a simple white tray and thoughtfully placed some cheeses, a couple of types of crackers and a few other goodies. Given that this was an impromptu decision we didn't even have some of the items I would usually have included when making a charcuterie board. Don't ever worry if you don't have "everything," that's what improvising is all about and chances are you will be the only one that knows or notices! The entire process took only a few minutes more that it would have if I had just tossed everything on a plate and it's the small details like this that create ambiance and make something as simple as enjoying wine together a memorable experience. 

I always try to consider what kind of experience can I create, whether it's for a dinner party, a gala or even just my husband and I in our backyard on a random Tuesday.  My husband works incredibly hard and I really wanted him to truly relax and for us to just unwind and enjoy some time together, so I made the charcuterie board, turned Sonos on with his favorite XM channel, grabbed some flowers I had sitting in our kitchen and my favorite vessel for chilling wine + champagne and headed outside. My husband is ALWAYS in charge of the wine selection in our home so that was his duty for the evening. I arranged everything outside and with wine in hand, my husband turned to me and said, "Sweet Pea, you always make everything so beautiful!" I knew I had succeeded, my husband was able to relax and together we had a wonderful evening.

Cheers,

Molly