My 10 Best of '09

1. (TV) Greek - It's fun, witty and reminds me of my sorority days. Can't wait for its return on Jan 25th!


2. (Music) Cobra Starship - They were my favorite break out band of the year by a landslide. Plus Gabe Saporta went to Rutgers when I did, that's another point for them.


3. (Home) Pacific Coast Pillow - Since I sleep best when I'm at the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills, it was only natural that last time I pulled off the pillow case and looked for a manufacturer's tag. Found it! Ordered it! And now I sleep on it every night. Best pillow ever!


4. (Bag) Treesje Asher Tote - Like it so much, I bought 2 - electric blue and fuchsia! I love the style and quality of these bags and am extremely impressed by the brand's customer service.


5. (Etsy) Etsy changed my life over the last year. But, right now I'm giving snaps to my favorite seller: Lowleepop because 2009 was the year of the baby! So many people added little munchkins to their family. I discovered this seller on Etsy early in the year (who is sweet and amazing to work with) and made the Emergency Baby Rockstar Kit my signature gift.


6. (Restaurant) Redd - Unpretentious, incredible service and quite possibly the best food I ever had. If you'll be in the Napa Valley area, make this a stop on your list.


7. (Movie) The Hangover - I have never gone with the critics picks when it comes to movies. I want to be entertained and escape reality - not sit in a theater for 2 hours and ponder life. The Hangover most certainly did entertain and it now has a close place in my heart next to Wedding Crashers for my favorite comedies.


8. (Technology) Google Reader - At first I fought Reader hard. I just couldn't get used to it, but by the end of the year I was an addict. It allows me to follow all the blogs that I normally do in about 1/10th of the time. If you know me, you know I'm all about productivity.

9. (Accessory) Statement Necklaces - What better way to rev up any outfit than to add a pound of jewels and chains to it? I'm so happy this is a trend continuing into the new year because I went a little purchase crazy in '09.


10. (Hotel) Solage Calistoga - It was love at first sight when we arrived at Solage. The grounds are stunning, the rooms are cute and private, the bicycles they give you are ton of fun (except when I fell off mine) and the breakfast goes on the most delicious list.

Oh Christmas Tree...

Finally charged my camera so I can show you some of our holiday decorations. This year we had 2 trees. Next year, I plan on 4-5. I just love the way each is decorated differently and the warmth it adds to a house during Christmas. Here you can read about my need for the wood tree just for cards. Currently we have a colorful tree in our living room with all of our special decorations on it (usually a real tree) and a white tree in our dining room. Next year my husband wants a white NY Yankees tree in the home office and we will likely add a tree to our foyer. Below are some photos of our dining room and our stockings. I may change some of the dining room table decorations around and add some red for Valentine's Day - easy switch!

Christmas Eve Cooking

This will be the 3rd Christmas Eve we are hosting at our house, so I guess that makes it a tradition now. We have family over and we invite all of our Jewish friends to experience Christmas as a night without the movies or Chinese food. If you're Jewish, you understand exactly what I mean. We aren't a very traditional family. In fact, for as long as I remember, we usually have catered Italian Food. This year we decided to switch it up a bit. Our menu is all "comfort food". Here's a sampling of it below:

Honey Glazed Ham
Pulled Pork Sliders
Fried Chicken
Sweet Potato Casserole
Creamed Spinach
Mashed Potatoes
Mac & Cheese
Biscuits
Caesar Salad

The sweet potato is everyone's favorite and I always get requests for the recipe. So here it is!

Makes 1/2 tray
4 eggs - well beaten
1 1/2 pounds of canned yams - drained and mashed
2 cups of sugar
2 sticks of butter - melted
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Mix well in bowl and pour into a greased baking pan.

2 cups of brown sugar
1/2 cup of flour
2 ziploc bags filled with pecans and chopped finely
1 stick of butter - melted

Mix well in bowl and pour over sweet potatoes as the topping.

Bake for 30-35 minutes on 350 degrees.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Another Day...One Step Closer to House Beautiful

When we got married, we bought a new construction home. I love that everything was brand new, never used and a completely vanilla (as we often called it) blank canvas, just waiting for our touches. The downside to our purchase was that we found the house after the builder made a lot of decisions. So we weren't able to choose the cabinets, tile or fixtures. Since we know this house isn't our final destination, we don't want to go too overboard with making expensive changes that we'd never see a return on. The answer was to pick and choose what absolutely needed to go and bring in great furniture, fabrics and decorating to complement what was here. The current project? Our great room fireplace. The mantle has nice detail, but the builder put these heinous decorative medallions on it. As you can guess, bubbye. The inside of the fireplace was painted tan. Blah. The faux logs. Yuck. The beige marble surrounding it all. Ick. In an effort to Vanessa-ify it - the tile is being changed to stainless steel bricks, the medallions removed, the inside painted a bright white and the logs swapped for crystals.

I can't wait to show you pics of the finished product!

Snow Day - Top 5

It's our first snow day of the season and it's been a ton of fun. We stayed home, wrapped all of our Christmas presents, baked and relaxed together. Here's my snow day top 5.

Cashmere leggings. Comfy, cozy and perfect for keeping warm and toasty.
The fireplace. There's nothing better than snuggling up in front of it and watching the snow fall.Feel good movies like one of my favorites, Can't Buy Me Love. Who doesn't love a little teenage Patrick Dempsey?
It's not as good as the Giggle Noodle of the 80s and 90s, but it brings back memories of snow days as a kid.
MightyLeaf's Earl Grey tea. As a year round tea drinker this is my absolute favorite. It's served at fine restaurants and hotels worldwide and if you try it, you'll know exactly why.
For those of you experiencing the snow this weekend, stay warm and most of all have fun!

Look For Less

If you're looking for a budget-friendly alternative to my favorite Topshop leather jacket (the one I love is gray, but they have tan also in a slightly different style) check out this look for less from Forever 21 for $39.80.

The Topshop version retails for $330. If you have a Student Advantage card you get 10% off, which makes it worth signing up for the card which is only $22.50 for the year.

New Shoes Cure The Blues

In my funk over the Trinity pumps, I found something I like equally and will serve another purpose. Surpisingly, they are also Dolce Vita. I love that there's a heel, but it isn't too high that I feel like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. The suede is classy, but the height super sexy. The best part? They were on sale at Lord & Taylor + an additional 20% off. Score!

This is Fashionably Depressing

The Dolce Vita Trinity pumps I dearly loved...were a bust. I went to purchase them last night and they were just awful. The toe curled up in a Wicked Witch of the West sort of way and the toe area was so short that you saw each and every one of my piggies.

If I dream it, I have to have it.

I can never do anything the normal way. Case in point - Wedding invitations. When I got married, I couldn't pick anything in a book. No way. I had to dream it up and have each and every piece a la carted to my idea of perfection. Then in decorating my house, I needed to have drapes, chandeliers and even bedding custom made because what I imagine never exists. Very often, my annoying taste and imagination falls on to my husband's shoulders. The latest? Christmas! We have a tree in our living room, one in our foyer and I want another in our dining room and formal living room. The year I'd like to add one of the 2. However, I won't just plop one there. It needs to have a purpose. The purpose I imagine is a wood or stainless tree with no leaves that will house all the holiday cards people send us year after year. I want it to be 7' 6" tall. Below is my inspiration. Poor Jordan.

Sample Sale Alert

I often get emails about great sample sales happening in NY or LA. I know they don't benefit everyone reading this, but I'll post them anyway. If you score something great, drop me a line to brag!