lovely jubbly london

Happy 2010

 

New Years Eve in NYC started with snow. We'll be somewhere over the Atlantic when it's midnight, so Happy New Years to you all!

 

Columbus Circle

 

Lighted trees outside the Shops at Columbus Circle.
 

Christmas 2009

 

Christmas Eve 2009 at my Aunt's house

Christmas has come and gone as has our time in Florida. It really flew by this time and apart from pictures taken in front of the tree on Christmas Day, we didn't take many. Most of the time was spent baking apple pie (above), apple tarts, cinnamon rolls and cooking full dinners on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We all feel like we've gained 10 lbs but we've certainly enjoyed ourselves! 

I hope your celebrations were full of good food and fun with the family too.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

winter wonderland

Saturday night, 19 December at 9pm, UES

Saturday night the much anticipated blizzard finally started showing signs of its arrival and by Sunday morning everything was covered in snow. Seeing the pretty snow definitely improved my mood and believe it or not, my bag* was finally delivered around midnight even though the snow was falling pretty solidly at that point. I was sure the blizzard was going to become a huge excuse, but happily I was wrong.

Sunday morning, 20 December at 11am, Central Park

*Sure enough the bag was obviously rifled through (and not by TSA) but nothing of value was in it for the taking so we were quite lucky.  

 

blizzard

lizzard watch is in effect! We have gone from one snow to another. In case you haven't guessed, we're in the US for Christmas and NYC is expecting a blizzard today and tomorrow. 

Luckily we headed to the US on Thursday so we missed the delayed flights in London. Our plane got on the runway and all the sudden, the snow and wind started. I have a feeling if we weren't on the runway, our plane would have been delayed or cancelled. But that isn't the extent of our travel adventure... let's just say it has been a long journey.

It all started when we didn't get on the flight to NY and ended up having to go through Dallas. We were flying standby so were happy to be getting to the US since the flights were all so full. They gave us our boarding passes and we were debating on waiting for the Chicago flight or going to Dallas when the man told us our bag was on the plane so we had to go. So after a 10 hour flight to Dallas guess what? Our bag wasn't on the plane. And the rule? You can't file a missing bag claim until you reach your final destination. Wonderful. I stood there and argued with the man a bit and said I wasn't leaving until at least a note was in the system because I didn't want there to be any question later. Luckily he complied after trying to convince me it was in NY already.

Since we had bought duty free items (last minute Christmas gifts) we then had to check one of our carry-on bags to NY. At this point I was thinking, great we'll lose that bag too (we didn't). We then get on a 3 hour flight to NY and arrive almost exactly 24 hours from when we started and file our bag loss. By that point they knew the bag was still in London and it was heading to Dallas the next day. Whatever. I was too tired to argue.

We then get to my mom's and call London direct and ask them to send the bag to NY instead of routing it through Dallas and they say it shouldn't be a problem. So we finally get to bed at around 2:30 am NY time (7:30 am London time). So all day yesterday we call and call asking about our bag and of course no one knows anything. They tried to tell us it would take at least 8 hours to clear customs so should be arriving with us Friday evening. When we called today they tried to tell us it was still in London. Another call to London confirmed it was in fact in NY and arrived at around 1 pm yesterday. Why has it been sitting in JFK for over 24 hours?! After calling the delivery company today they claim it should be here by 10 pm but at this point I am not counting on it. They will probably blame the blizzard on any more delays even though it isn't even really properly snowing. 

So that is the extent of my past 48 hours. Hopefully tomorrow will be a new day and a winter wonderland which will cheer my mood. I must admit I am feeling a bit bah humbug after all this...

and please forgive any grammar or spelling errors- I am still exhausted.

Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische

winter watch 2009 update

 

the snow started falling mid-morning

by mid-afternoon it was starting to stick
 

winter watch 2009

To be honest, I thought it was a bit bitter yesterday. But today? 

Today it is a whole other level of cold...

 

 

santa of selfridges {circa 08}

The last of last year's Santas...

 

It's kind of blurry, but Santa rides the tube.

Relaxing in the bath with a book. 

Santa does the laundry.

Santa and Paddington go for a spin.

Santa contemplates his options. Would Mrs Claus approve?

And my personal favourite?

 

Santa the Choo cobbler.
    

Christmas Tour of Homes 2009

Welcome, to my Christmas home tour! I couldn't really go all out like I wanted since we're in rented accommodation this year and didn't want to add too much to my "fix" list before we vacate, but I did as much as I could with what I could find!
Let's start from the outside...
 It's a bit hard to tell, but I hung the ribbon wreath in the window so it wouldn't get ruined by the rain. The wreath tutorial you can find here. I also suspended some felt snowflake ornaments. I would have made a wreath for the door if the husband would have trimmed that bush like he promised. It's nice to have someone to blame, isn't it? 

Anyway, come on in!

I wanted something on the door so I made up this bow quickly. I did have it on the tree briefly, but decided it was too light and I didn't want to waste a good bow so here it is.

 

With the leftover ribbon from the ribbon wreath I made this quick door swag. Simply cut ribbon and tie it round another piece. Easy!

  

I bought a huge roll of ribbon at Costco and was able to make a few different kind of garland for the dining room. 

Close-up of the wrapped ribbon garland. I followed these directions.

 

Ribbon garland like the kind on the door. Here you can see it's just knotted.

Our nativity tealight holder sits on the mantle.

  

Let's move into the living room...

Here you can see what is inside the window a bit more clearly.

 

We've got greenery garland on top of the armoire. Since my tree is a baby this year, I used some of my extra ornaments here.

and the pièce de résistance...

 

The tree!

(Above you can just see a bit of the ribbon now on the door!)

 

 and that's all folks! Click here for the rest of the tour or to join yourself.