Monday, December 20, 2010

Holiday Traditions- RetroTrend Style


George, relaxing in his favorite Mid- Century chair.

The ice rink that doubles as my driveway is melting nicely and most of the presents are wrapped. I'm feeling surprisingly calm and collected this holiday season, at least for now. Looking forward to seeing friends and family for Christmas and New Years, as well as creating new traditions.

Hosting Christmas dinner for the first time this year- not the usual garlic confit brisket and apricot kugel (insert good Jew here). This year's menu is beef Wellington, fingerling potatoes crisped in duck fat, blanched asparagus, Beaujolais, and a Buche de Noel. Yes, I'll be making the Buche as well. Or tying to. 

Some things should never change, so I'll be watching Auntie Mame on Christmas Eve.

What traditions are important to you and your family?
Which ones have evolved over the years?

No matter how you celebrate- here's to a very happy holiday season.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Shopping Slump + Coupon Code = Weekly Round-Up


I am a good half- Hebe. And I shop for a living. So why is seasonal shopping so hard this year? Barely made it through Hanukkah with the "Let's just exchange one big gift this year" shtick (the iPhone 4 rocks, btw!), but Christmas is looming. Everyone seems to be scaling back, which is fine by me. There is little I need or want.

So while my decorations are up and home- made lemoncello is ready to distribute to friends, I still have a lot of present buying to do. From online stores that will deliver quickly. Of course, lots of purchases are arriving via Etsy, in clever packaging and with thoughtful notes. This makes me strive to avoid big- box stores as much as possible - I'd rather support handmade and vintage sellers.

Are you suffering from a holiday shopping slump too?

Maybe this will help:
This weekend only (starting, um, now) use coupon code "15offyay" in any of my three stores (retrotrendRetroHommeVintage and ObjectRetro) for an additional 15% off.
Many items are already 20%- 25% off for the holiday season, so this is an added "Thank you!" bonus for my loyal blog followers (that's you, guys!), Facebook fans and Twitter followers.

I've used the Etsy on Sale API a few times to create sales and love the results. So it was thrilling to receive an e-mail from one of their founders, letting me know I'd been featured on their blog. That creamy canvas speedy bag? Right here.  Thanks for the feature!

Well, it's 5:08 pm here, which means my work day is over and cocktail hour has started without me. Have a wonderful weekend.
P.S.- If the sugar cookies turn out okay this weekend- there will be photos galore to share!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

In an attempt to blog more consistently, I'll be starting Wordless Wednesday.
Why are you reading and not viewing, you wonder? Allow me to explain. There will be a photo posted every Wednesday, something that tickled my fancy. Without further ado...