Perfect

I love this. I might have to get it.

How did I not know . . .

I love the Mad Men Barbie dolls . . . I'm not much of a doll collector, so I don't know if Santa will bring them - but I love them! Check out this article.

Egg Nog French Toast

I was off work today, so I made myself french toast for breakfast. I had some egg nog creamer that I substituted for milk. It was yummy!

1/2 cup egg nog creamer
2 eggs
teaspoon of vanilla
I added some freshly ground nutmeg

Thank You Veterans

Thank you to all of the patriots who have served and thank you to all those who will serve. I feel so lucky to live in the greatest country in the world, where freedom is protected.

CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know we haven't had Thanksgiving yet, but I am getting pretty freaking excited for Christmas. A friend had an open house at a gift shop last week and it really got me in the spirit. She had cute cocktail napkins and some great smelling candles - I have been burning the Christmas tree one.

We are having our annual Christmas party this year and I am already preparing. I need to get the invitations out. I didn't think people sent them out this early, but I have already gotten one from a friend for the same night. I looked on etsy and I found the cutest items from this seller. Check her out!

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy one. Here is our little moosehead.

Fun for fall!

I love my new pants . . . you can get yours here.

A Little Perspective

I found this in the blogging world. I am sharing it here and on my facebook page. I hope any readers I may have, will take a second to read it. It's from Vicky Bell's blog and it's a letter she wrote to her daughter.

Sunday Graces & the Weekend of Nothing-ness

Sorry for missing last week, we had company in town. This weekend the hubs and I both pinky-swore to each other that we would not make any plans. It was wonderful. It was the weekend of nothing. Friday night we ordered pizza and caught up on our shows or "programs," as my grandparents used to say. Saturday we hung out around the house and did some little projects. Today, I did the weekly grocery shopping and then cooked up a storm. I'm going to freeze the majority of the food, it makes it so much easier during the week. I think hubs got it right when he said "we have enough food for a month."

For this week's edition, I am going to share part of an article from House Beautiful. In their November issue they did "101 Party Do's & Don'ts." Well our scanner isn't hooked up and I don't have the patience to type all 101. So, I decided to pick ten items that I completely agree with and ten that I don't really agree with.

10 items I am down with:

1. Don't be afraid to throw a party because you think it will cost too much. You can have a good time for $10 with a bottle of wine and a bag of nuts. Thomas Jayne, Designer

2. Music should be just loud enough so that people have to talk above it slightly. Alexa Hampton, Designer

3. Don't serve only white liquors because you're afraid of spills. Richard Mishaan, Designer

4. Don't impose a dress code on people . . . leave them to their own devices and just see what turns up. Larry Laslo, Designer

5. Don't run low on the hooch! David Jimenez, Designer

6. The host's mood sets the tone. Emily Eerdmans

7. Always start with an empty dishwasher. Chesie Breen

8. People with big personalities are best in the center of the table. They can help carry the conversation from that place. Michael S. Smith, Designer

9. Not everyone drinks alcohol. Have fresh-squeezed juices and other delicious choices so you can mix a "mocktail" or two. Preston Bailey, Event Designer

10. Turn off cell phones! Joan Michaels Designer

10 tips that I don't necessarily agree with:

1. Always do favors. Amen Wardy (I don't think favors are necessary at every party, I feel like this has gotten a little out of hand lately.)

2. Put lamps on your buffet or server. Jan Showers (I just prefer candles. I am aware of the fire risk.)

3. Have beverages visible from the moment guests step in the door. Matt and Ted Lee (I think offering to get your guests a beverage is the better approach.)

4. Don't use assigned seating - allow guests to mingle and let the evening evolve organically. Deborah Lloyd. (Those of you that have been readers for a while know how I feel about this. If you are having a sit-down dinner, assigned seating is a must.)

5. As a host, don't sit at the head of the table - presumptuous and archaic. Darryl Carter (I believe that the host and hostess should sit at the heads of the table. The hostess sits at the head closest to the kitchen so that she can better accomodate her guests.)

I have to admit, when I was reading this article last night I thought there were a few more I disagreed with. I guess not! I agree with the other 96 items. This is a really great issue if you enjoy entertaining. Happy Sunday all!

Sunday Graces - The Gracious Guest

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind full of entertaining. We're on a self-imposed hiatus until mid-November. I decided to compile, what I think are, the top ten ways to be a gracious guest. As a disclaimer, these are my personal opinions. I’m sure everyone has their own idea of what makes a gracious guest and I would love to hear from you . . . so comment away!

1. A gracious guest comes to the party on time and not a minute before, unless, you are a very, very good friend (read – bestie) or an immediate family member and you have come to help with last minute preparations. I know I am always grateful for family members who come early.

2. A gracious guest never comes empty-handed. Whether you bring flowers, wine, candy, or a baked good . . . you should bring something.

3. A gracious guest never brings their children to a party that they are not invited to. If children are invited, their parents should watch them.

4. A gracious guest does not over-indulge on either food or alcohol.

5. A gracious guest mingles with everyone at the party and does not pick and choose who they converse with.

6. A gracious guest always offers to help clean-up. However, a gracious hostess would never allow it.

7. A gracious guest does not dominate the conversation and allows everyone a chance to contribute. That being said, a gracious guest also contributes to the conversation and does not remain silent throughout the night and stand in a corner.

8. A gracious guest does not over-stay their welcome.

9. A gracious guest does not leave the hosting house intoxicated and then proceed to drive home.

10. A gracious guest always acknowledges the host and thanks the host for inviting them.

Sunday Graces

This week's edition is going to be short and sweet. We had a cocktail party last night and I am recovering today. The party was wonderful and I think everyone had a great time.

I recently purchased this book and I love it! I have always been a huge fan of Junior League cookbooks. I found a used copy of Party Receipts from the Charleston Junior League. This is where this week's tip is coming from.

"The key to a sucessful party is planning and preparing ahead so that you can have as much fun as your guests." I couldn't agree more with this advice. The more I entertain, the better I get at preparing ahead of time but it's still a challenge for me. It really does make the party so much more enjoyable when I am not stressed beforehand.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and I hope that everyone has a great week coming up!

RIP Madras Flip-flops

You gave me two great summers. We saw some beautiful places and did some fun stuff. However, you've seen better days and it's time to part ways. I'm hopeful that J. Crew will reincarnate you next summer. XOXO - EC

Sunday Graces

Pictured above is the current state of my dining room. I am getting ready for our little cocktail party next weekend and I've been polishing my silver. Experience has taught me that it is much more fun and MUCH less stressful to be lighting candles instead of polishing silver right before your guests arrive. I've done both and although the smell of Tarn-X is unique (think sulfur), I prefer scented candles.

As I was polishing my tea service, I was inspired for this week's Sunday Graces. Many of you probably already know this, but I can never remember. Which pot is for tea and which is for coffee? I then thought of the old nursery rhyme, "I'm a little teapot short and stout," but I wanted to look it up just to be sure. Well, after looking through all of my etiquette books, none of them address which pot is for tea and which is for coffee. So I am going to assume that the nursery rhyme is correct and the pot that is "short and stout" is for the tea.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

The Fixer-Upper

I just finished reading this book and it was a very cute story. I like books with happy endings. Without giving too much away, the story is about a single girl who loses her job and moves to a small town in Georgia. She’s moves there so that she can fix up an old family home and get it ready to sell.

One of the story lines throughout the book are the house projects she is completing. I have to say its motivated me to get some projects done around my house! I haven’t read any of this author’s other books, but I will be sure to check them out.

New Favorite Song?

I can't decide if its Mad Men or this song that I really like. In any event, its been on repeat for a while. Check it out -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q98pbT-ok3s

P. S. it takes a few seconds for it to start or my computer is slow :)

Sunday Graces

Sorry that I missed last week's Sunday Graces. Since tomorrow is my second anniversary, I decided to do this weeks post on traditional anniversary gifts.

1st - paper

2nd - cotton

3rd - leather

4th - linen or silk

5th - wood

6th - iron

7th - copper or wool

8th - electrical appliances or bronze

9th - pottery

10th - tin or aluminum

11th - steel

12th - silk or linen

13th - lace

14th - used to be ivory

15th - crystal

20th - china

25th - silver

30th - pearls

50th - gold

We Must Never Forget

New Curtains!

Guess who just saved $300.12 on curtains? This girl! Our second anniversary is coming up on the 13th. The "etiquettely correct" gift is cotton, so I decided that we would get some new linens for our bedroom.

We originally had white curtains and while pretty, they did a poor job of blocking out the light and I love my beauty sleep. I have had great luck finding curtains at J.C. Penney's - so that's where we headed tonight. I found curtains by American Living. I couldn't find a picture online, probably because they were on clearance, but they are a really pretty chocolate brown. They have a nice button detail at the top. They were marked down from $80 to $5!!!!

I am hoping to find a pretty white quilt for the bed and I think I am going to order this bed skirt. A white bedspread is so relaxing to me. Sorry I don't have any pretty pictures for this post, but hopefully I will have some when the bedroom is all put together.

Urban Prepster

Maybe I've been away from the preppy/blogging world longer than I thought. How many people know about this website? I just found it and I am having to pry myself away . . .

A Sequel to The Preppy Handbook???!!!!

I just ordered this on amazon. I am so excited! I love the original Preppy Handbook and I am anxious to hear what the same author has to say about these crazy times we live in.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

While I am a bit sad that this weekend signals the end of summer, I am thrilled about our destination. We are headed to the Holy City! We're going to see my brother and his cute new wife. I'm sure the weekend will include lots of good food, some boating, pretty scenery and maybe a few cocktails. Hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend!

Sunday Graces

(Photo from Southern Living)

This week's edition of Sunday Graces is going to be short but sweet. I was flipping through my "newest" etiquette book. I use quotations because it's not actually new, but it's new to me. It's a Vogue Book of Etiquette from 1948.

Although I love many of the things I've read in this book, I especially love this little clip because I think it is so thoughtful. The heading is "table manners of the hostess." The paragraph says that the only way a hostess's table manners differ is "that she must never eat so quickly as to finish everything on her plate before every guest has finished." The thought behind this may be obvious to many of you, it's to keep any slow eaters company. How sweet!

This weekend was very fun and I finished it off with a long day at the beach today. Hope you all have a great week coming up!

Weekend Menu

We are having some family come visit on Saturday. Whenever I am having company, I like to plan out my menu in advance. It makes things so much easier. Here is what we are having:

For dinner on Saturday night, I am going classic Americana; burgers and brats. I am going to make my mother-in-law’s famous cheesy potatoes and a classic pasta salad. As an appetizer, I am going to make homemade salsa and cheese dip. The cheese dip is another recipe I inherited from my mother-in-law, it's so easy. I use a small block of Velveeta, a can of Rotele, and a can of chopped green chili’s. I’m sure most people know about it, but just in case, I thought I would share. It's always a hit at bbq’s.

For desert, Coca-cola cake. This is one of my favorites. Here is the recipe I will be using, courtesy of Southern Living.

Then for breakfast on Sunday morning, I am planning to do a traditional breakfast casserole. Anyone have any suggestions? Please show me some comment love.

Shopping Finds

On Saturday night I went to dinner and did some shopping. My friend and I were laughing because it felt a little like high school.

The Gap was having an amazing deal on jeans. Buy one, get one for $20. The bestie and I decided to both get a pair and split the deal.

I'm bringing the sexy back with these babies.

Banana Republic was also having a great sale . . . PLUS, all of their sale items included an additional 25% discount. I found a very cute plaid, button down with a ruffle. I think they must be sold out of it online because I can't find a picture. After the sale it was only about $12.

Sunday Graces

(Emily Post ~ Emily Post Institute)

In keeping with the name of my blog, I decided to have a new feature. It’s going to be called Sunday Graces. This feature will be centered on etiquette and social graces. I collect etiquette books and this is a subject that interests me. I would also like to hear your thoughts on these or any of my posts.

My idea for this week is the handshake, particularly between men and women. I seem to have misplaced my most current etiquette book. After three hours of searching, I have found a lot of books that I’ve been missing, but not my etiquette book. I debated waiting until tomorrow to do this post, but a promise is a promise and I don’t want to disappoint what few readers I have. That being said, I have a few other books that I will be relying on.

My inspiration for this post was something my husband told me. He had been told that, when being introduced, a man should never extend their hand to a woman until she extends hers. I personally like this idea. Often times I am confronted with a “gentleman” whose hand I do not want to shake. However, I shake their hand so that I don’t appear to be rude. Always the lawyer, I decided to go on a search for some support for my position.

I began with a 1948 edition of Vogue’s Book of Etiquette. Under Introductions, the author states “the one who is being presented must not be the first to offer his hand.” They hold this to be true for all introductions, regardless of age or gender. Under the European Etiquette section, there is a line that I loved, “women offer their hands to men.”

I went next to more current etiquette books. Lizzie Post (How Do You Work this Life Thing) briefly mentions handshakes, saying only “shake hands when you introduce yourself. Use a firm grip and actually shake two or three times.” She makes no mention of who extends their hand first. Next I decided to consult her mother (Peggy Post, Excuse Me, But I Was Next). Well the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Peggy says much the same as Lizzie but adds a bit more detail under the dating section. She writes “used to be that a man was supposed to wait for a woman to offer her hand before he extended his . . . today, it doesn’t matter who puts out their hand first.”

In conclusion, it seems that this rule may be somewhat antiquated. No offense to Peggy Post, but I personally would like to know why it no longer matters who puts their hand out first. My grandmother used to say “a man will only treat you like a lady if you demand it.” I think there is something to be said for that. In my opinion it boils down to a certain degree of respect. I feel that in general, our society has become too casual. What do you think?

Goodnight lovelies and thanks for reading.

TGIF

That's all I got! Check back on Sunday . . . I am starting a new feature for Etiquettely Correct. Its going to be called Sunday Graces. I'm excited!

Introducing Buddy

Since I went on my blog-atical, I got a little four-legged friend. His name is Buddy. His mom is a chihuahua and his dad is a yorkie. He is feisty and a handful - but also very cute (most of the time).

PS when I say his mom and dad, I don't mean me and CH, I mean his dog parents :)

Blog-atical

After reading Downtown Southern’s post where she mentions her vacation from blogging . . . I determined that I took a sabbatical from blogging.

Here is a snippet of my conversation that I had with my cute husband tonight:

Me: I’m going to call my break from blogging a sabbatical

CH: A sabbatical, eh?

Me: yes, that’s what it was, a sabbatical

CH: I think the correct term is actually blog-atical. Blog-atical, when life stops being nice and starts being real.

I love that he makes me laugh . . . and that he is the cutest.

Philadelphia Story

I watched this movie for the first time tonight. I love old movies. I suppose I like this one in particular because it has two of the best actors ever, Katharine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart. I love both of them and their chemistry in this movie is fabulous.

One of my favorite things about old movies is studying the way people used to live. It was so much more glamorous than it is now. People actually dressed for events as opposed to coming as they are.

What are some of your old favorites? I’d love to know.

Mama Loves a Cocktail Party!

I love both going to cocktail parties and hosting them. You know what a cocktail party means . . . a new cocktail dress! In September, the man I live with (yes, that’s my husband) and I are having a cocktail party. We are having some of his work associates over.

Over the past few years I have learned that behind every great party is a great plan. Great planning has to start early. We decided to have hors d'oeuvres and obviously cocktails. I haven’t decided what kinds yet. Does anyone have any ideas? I also don’t know if I should go with a theme . . . thoughts on that?

As long as we’re on the subject of party planning, I bought this book recently. I love it! I often find that when I get a new party-planning book they recite basic etiquette, such as, you should always greet your guests at the door. Um, thanks for the tip, I never would have thought of that! This book has a lot of clever ideas and easy solutions. One idea they have is for a table protector under a tablecloth. They write about how normal table protectors are often bulky and uneven, I couldn’t agree more. They suggest using a thin fleece blanket. I plan on doing this – I just haven’t found the right blanket yet.

I want to be SHREDDED!

I read about this workout from another blogger, E, Myself, & I , and I am so glad I did! I bought the dvd and the hand weights today at Target. Her dvd has three workouts, all different levels, and they are all 20 minutes long. It's perfect for people on the go. Her challenge is 30 days. You do the work-out for thirty days and eat well and you might lose 20 pounds. Well, I don't know that I will lose 20 pounds but healthy eating and working out never hurt anyone.

I think its perfect for days when I need a quick work-out and its too hot outside to run. I might have a new favorite quote. It goes something like this - "if you want results, you have to work them, they aren't free." Thanks Jillian!

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

We watched this movie last night. It was really good, once you got used to the subtitles. Parts of it were violent, but they didn't dominate the plot. I enjoyed it because it had a surprisingly happy ending. I've found that to be kind of uncommon for a murder mystery.

I am looking forward to the American remake. Hopefully I will have read the book by then!

It's hard to believe its been over a year since my last post. I was almost afraid that I had forgotten how to navigate blogger!