A surprise for my American girl

Plane ticket: $200

Tickets to the Nutcracker: $25

American Girl everything: $1,000,000 

(might as well have been)

4 hot chocolates (per day): $20

Being able to surprise my 8 year old with a Christmas trip to Chicago: 

Priceless.

We have a WINNER!

Thank you to our wonderful readers (and new followers) for all of your comments. It paid off! We have a winner for the "Christmas Memories" candle. 
Drum roll please.... 

NEESHA ALLEN! YOU ARE OUR LUCKY WINNER and can make some Christmas Memories of your own with this deliciously scented soy candle from Heather's fab Etsy Shop, Sawgrass Candles. Thank you Heather for your generous gift and Neesha, Merry Christmas and Enjoy!

We have some Christmas Memories of our own. We remember when it actually FELT like Christmas...

Ah yeah, good times. This was last year. It was 32 and snowing. 

And here we are just yesterday. That's me in the red bikini and Ann in white (and our hot husbands) as we grill out in the back yard. Ok, not really. The heat is getting to me (I'm a little delusional). It is going to be 73 today and sunny. Not quite feeling like Christmas, but perfect if we were celebrating the Fourth of July. I hope that wherever you are, you are making lifelong Christmas memories. 
Enjoy your weekend,
Bye bye birdie...
A&H

A very drastic before and after

DISCLAIMER: What you are about to see is the BEFORE (and it is not pretty).
I recently had the privilege of working on a renovation project and was blown away, I'm talking speechless, over the before version of this space. This is REALLY what it looked like before. My delightful clients did NOT do this, it was this way when they bought it, but it is still one of the worst "before" spaces I have ever seen. Take a look...

 The floors were all tile, the built-ins were, well some shade of red paired with plum, oh yeah, with mint accents.

 Below was the entry to the study It was inspired by, I'm not sure what?

A rainbow perhaps? Hmmmm. And now for the after...

 We put in hardwoods (out with the dated tile), took out the "architectural rainbow" above and selected all new furnishings that reflected the couples love for a well-traveled collected look. 

The TV was moved above the mantle and the built-ins were ripped out (as fast a humanly possible. 

 

Reclaimed river wood was added as a mantle.

The previous accent wall got new accents. Not to be confused with the new kitchen, see the old kitchen below.

The kitchen got a total gut with all new cabinets, new appliances repositioned for better function, new tops and the giant (almost) one story hood above the range, got relocated and shrunk to a normal size. Kitchen and Bath Galleries did an amazing job with the new kitchen and were kind enough to trust me with the decor. 

 The couple liked the blue (color only) in the original countertops so a bright blue exotic granite was selected with stainless backsplash tiles and blue accents. We added this above the breakfast table to update the lighting (it felt a little like Applebees pre-remodel). 

Quite a drastic change, don't you think? Tell us your thoughts and you will qualify for Friday's Sawgrass Candle give away!
bye bye birdie...
~H

A Good Scented Giveaway!!!!!

Cute Heather over at Etsy's Sawgrass Candles has generously offered one of her candles for a holiday give away!

One lucky winner will receive a 12 ounce Christmas Memories candle. If you win, that is one less thing you have to buy! Though, we suggest keeping it (her candles are amazing)!

To Win:

Follow us for 1 chance

Leave a comment on ANY December post for another chance

Go visit Heather's Etsy shop and tell us you visited for another chance. Her candles are so beautiful that you may want to buy some for those on your nice list.

We will pick a winner on Friday... So, hurry and enter!

Bye, bye birdie.

~A&H

A Little Strung Out...(again)

I know it is a major blogger faux pas to re-post BUT in our defense jet lag is real and set in for me on day 2 after being home. 3 a.m. seems to be the new 7 a.m....ughhh... So, I am re-posting my sweet baby angel post from last year because once again this is how I am feeling and I left all my creative juices in London...

A little strung out...

This is the angel my parents put on top of their tree every year. I am sure she used to be pretty. She is 50. About 10 years ago we started calling her the crack angel. About 5 years ago my brother took her mug shot. My mom does not think we are funny. I think we are hilarious!

This is kind of how I feel... A little strung out with last minute things to do....

Minus the crack part, or the jail part. Though a night with undisturbed sleep away from home does not sound bad.

(kind of brings all new meaning to 'Angels we have heard on high')

Anyway, Hooper and I hope your Christmas is Merry and Bright. (Not police car flashing light bright, tree light bright!)

Enjoy your weekend! 

Bye, bye birdie,

~A 

Jolly Good Times

 On the second day, we ventured over to the famous Portobello Market (us and a million other tourists).  While it is major shopping/attraction, it was totally worth it! Of course they prey on tourists, like us, but... 

 We loved this art booth and bought a piece or two. 

 Ventured into this amazing men's clothing store where all of the walls are covered in metal scaffolding with vintage sewing machines lining the walls. It was an architectural masterpiece! We made our way to a few auction houses...

 Hoping this finds it's way above the mantle at the house in the mountains... waiting to hear from the auction. 

 Some more killer pieces from Lot's Road Auction. See here...

 We purchased this for the house from Portobello market and it was almost too big to fit into the cab.

 This piece of art needs a new frame, but was a gift to our hostess (who loves peacocks).

Ann is coveting this nude oil painting that we picked up at the market for the house in the mountains. 

We capped off the day at Harrods. It was beautiful and the windows were amazing.

It was a whirlwind trip but oh so much fun!

Bye bye birdie,

A&H

Ann and Hooper's European Vacation

What NOT to do while in London:
When quoted price of goods at country antique fair say: Are you sure? That seems really low??
Begin to speak with British accent while bargaining so not to be recognized as stupid American.
Hold out hand full of pounds and pence and tell vendor to pick because we have no idea what they mean.
Mistake nanny for potential new client.
Go to swanky cocktail party decked out in Ann Taylor.
Beg to visit British IKEA

We are home and had a blast!

When we arrived, we played tourist and took the double decker bus tour. Aside from the fact the we were freezing and Ann kept nodding off, we got to see all of the sites in a 3 hour tour. Here are some of our highlights...

Big Ben is killer and lucky for us none of the London bridges were falling down (there are bridges everywhere...who knew?)

Since neither of us have been to London, it was so cool to see everything. Friday morning (early) we took a ride into the country to the antique fair. We shopped literally until we dropped and had huge success finding one of a kind pieces for the mountain house. We would love to show you all of them, but you will have to wait for the big reveal. In the mean time, check out some of our fave purchases...

 JUST KIDDING! Doesn't it remind you of the hats at the royal wedding? BTW (no sighting).

How great is this? What a find -- 60's lucite in perfect condition.

Future coffee table, circa 1800's

Future powder room mirror.

We are so glad to be home... We were greeted in the airport by husbands, 7 kids and "Welcome Home" signs!  The adventures were plentiful and the fact that we traveled together and made all of our flights was a miracle. It was a serious case of the blind leading the blind! We have lots to show you and we will as soon as the jet lag wears off!

We are home and had a jolly good time. Our lovely 

hostess-with-the- mostess gave us mugs that say:

And that is exactly what we did...

Bye, bye birdie,

~A&H

Guest Blogger: Sissy from Blue Hydrangea

Birds of a Feather have flown the coop. Yep, Hooper and Ann have headed over the pond to England. Lucky girls. The Brits have a lot to offer...

Like all things Union Jack.

In any shape or form..

It always looks good.

They also have Wills and Kate...

Harry Potter

Barbour Jackets

And Wellies.
All good things.

Sadly they also have warm beer...

Kidney pies...

And well, this.
But the good far out weighs the bad. Don't you think?
Ann and Hooper, hope you are having a royally good time, and if anybody ask you to shag, I suggest you politely decline.
XO Sissy