Happy New Year!!!

To all of my family, friends, and fellow bloggers/readers, may the New Year bring each and every one of you lots and lots of happiness, success, good health, peace, love....and a little bit of sparkle. Cheers!!
















And here I am in all my sparkle glory last New Years with my darling God-daughter :-)

{images via brent foster photography, the glitter guide, tig-fashion.blogspot.com, tealandteach.blogspot.com, pinterest}

Happy 2012!!!

XoXo,

Iris

Tory Burch Lucite Logo Cuff (LOVE)

I'm back!!! Phew! What a week that was last week. So happy Christmas is over with. Still not back in full blown blogging mode, but I wanted to (finally) share this amazing little cuff from Tory Burch that I bought for my dear friend. I am so in love with it, going back to get one for me. It's so unique and fun....I really did almost keep it for myself. What do you think? And as you can see from the first photo, I bought my other friends on my "nice" list little goodies from TB, too :-)





Any gifts you wanted to keep? Please do share :-) Hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas.

{all photos by me}

XoXo

Iris

Christmas Stress!!!

Every year....I can't wait till Christmas is over. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas itself. It's so beautiful, all of the lights, the jolly music, yummy treats, but I really really hate the stress the holidays bring each year. As much as I try not to stress, it always happens.
So, I can sure use one of these right about now...



But I have to keep reminding myself...


Because after all, things could be worse...right?



Hope everyone is having a stress-free week before Christmas week :-)

{all images via Pinterest}

XoXo

Iris

Favorite Combo...Green and Leopard

I LOVE leopard anything and right now I am loving leopard and green.
Check out the green and leopard eye candy...

Like this gorgeous velvet green sofa with leopard pillows. {via porchlightinteriors.blogspot.com}


Dramatic leopard wallpaper and a bold green desk...Yes Please!!! {via athoughtfuleye.wordpress.com}


A closer look


Veronica from one of my favorite fashion blogs, Bittersweet Colours, wearing simple green sweater and a lovely leopard scarf...both from H&M.


Gorgeous coat on Anne Hathaway


Love it!!! {via Pinterest}

Little pop of green. {via theglitterguide.tmblr.com}


Cute little plate...for rings at bedside or keys in the entry. {via zhush.com}



What a stunning living room. {via Vogue}

Plants always brighten things up. {via Pinterest}


Lovely closet with green and leopard accessories. {via beaulifestyle.blogspot.com}


The always fashionable Ashley Olsen (or is this Mary Kate?)...love the emerald ring.



I needed a little pink-me-up today..been sick with a cold all day, so a little dose of pretties always makes me feel better.

XoXo

Iris

Yummy Cinnamon Pumpkin Squares.

Here is the recipe from the cinnamon pumpkin squares I posted yesterday....so delicious. Enjoy



1 box yellow cake mix
1 jar pumpkin pecan butter (found in jelly/jam aisle)
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon


Reserve 1 cup of cake mix- set aside. Mix remaining cake mix with ½ cup melted butter and 1 egg. Press lightly into the bottom of a 9x13” pan.
Mix 1 jar of Pumpkin Butter with 2 large eggs and 3 tablespoons of milk- pour over cake mixture.
Mix reserved cake mix with 1 tablespoon of flour, ¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup of soft butter and 1 teaspoon cinnamon- crumble over top of Pumpkin layer.
Bake 35-40 minutes at 350˚ until golden. Cool and serve.

Happy Baking!

XoXo

Iris

Sunday Randoms

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was pretty uneventful...but it was relaxing. Here are little tid bits of my weekend.

Anyone else catch the eclipse? I sleep with my blinds open because I love to wake up to natural light...and at times the brightness of the moon hits my face and wakes me, but I don't mind because it's beauty is just too great to dismiss. I had to grab my camera and take a photo (sorry, but this is the best I could do at 3:30a.m. half asleep).


Last night I played around with a new technique on my camera...fun, fun, fun.Christmas tree lights. Metal star hanging from ceiling. Framed wall with lights.


And remember from here that I won some pillows? Well, here they are....love them! Oh so beautiful. Can't wait to put them out in the Spring.


I also spent some time making these Christmas gift tags.


I bought this scarf from here a couple weekends ago, but I am sooo loving it and wearing it a lot. It's so cute!


Lastly, Peter found a great recipe for Cinnamon Pumpkin squares...so I had to try it out and they came out DeliSH!!! I will post recipe tomorrow (super easy.)



XoXo,

Iris

Oh Baby!!!

Yay! I can finally post about nurseries and adorable baby things. Nope, not pregnant...but I am going to be an auntie for the first time, so technically that gives me the okay to blog about a bunch of baby mumbo jumbo without looking like a crazy ;-) I am so excited that my beautiful sister is expecting her first baby. Her and her hubs are ecstatic and I couldn't be happier for them. Of course, I called dibs on helping decorate the nursery. She has already chosen yellow as the wall colors (hoping to change her mind by posting a crap load of gorgeous nurseries). We'll see how this goes, she has more of a traditional "modern" style as opposed to my bohemian, vintage, quirky, funky with a bit of modern style...so I may have to bite my tongue a lot in the process haha.
So, to start I wanted to go with BIG style...Elle Decor style. Get inspired Big Sister. Yellow Walls?


Well, how about a striped yellow and white ceiling?? Love this nursery. The black wall is so-not-traditional for a nursery.



How beautiful is this nursery? Love the colors...and those stuffed animals are just adorable.


Love the pops of coral. I really really like coral in nurseries.


Wow!! one word...Royalty!! And, well of course, my little niece/nephew is going to be all royalty.


My Oh My!!! Gorgeous!! Love all of the details. So unexpected for a nursery and I love that. I love to see nurseries catered to moms too, because after all, they spend hours on end in there (yes, I know dads...you do too bla bla bla).



And I saved the BEST for last ( well at least for me). I LOVE THIS!!!! Sooo my style. Talk about sensory overload for the poor child haha. Thinking of having a nursery like this at my place for when the baby is visiting (ok now I'm talking crazy).


So this is only the beginning of my baby madness...can't wait to find more inspiration. And I can't wait to start shopping for the little one. He/she is going to be one spoiled baby.

XoXo

Iris

Holiday Chocolate Covered Oreo Yumminess

I make these every year...so easy...and OH so good. They are extra sweet. And the Oreo is a nice surprise when you bite into this decadent treat.
Here is all you need. White or milk chocolate chips (the good kind), Oreos, sprinkles or glitter to decorate, and Oreo molds (not pictured).



And Voila! You get delicious chocolate covered Oreos that will be the hit of any holiday party.


You can decorate how you like...or leave plain.


Blue glitter for the snowflake to pop.


These make cute gifts too.



Mix of white and milk chocolate.


Hope everyone enjoyed the (cold) weekend.

{all images by Me}

XoXo,

Iris