My Treat Yourself Wish List

I've shared the geeky and wellness-oriented parts of my Christmas wishlist, so today it's finally time to share the items I'd ask for in order to totally spoil myself. The area underneath our Christmas tree is looking ridiculously full right now, and it's been hard to resist the urge to shake and squeeze those bags and boxes!

1. Spasilk pillowcase from Amazon  2. 31 Bits "Ivy Spritz" bracelet  3. "Education is Freedom" First Book tee from Sevenly  4. Marc Broussard's Magnolias & Mistletoe CD  5. Kate Spade hardshell cell phone case from Samsung

What is the most luxurious gift you've ever received?

clicks of note: to the one place we call home...

get your week off to a colorful start...
LISTEN.

• Not only is Band of Merrymakers a holiday supergroup that includes Natasha Bedingfield, Fitz, Owl City, Christina Perri, and Jason Wade, they have YULE LOG VIDEOS, which is about as close to a fireplace as I'm probably going to get this week (it's going to be 70 degrees on Christmas in Virginia this year! Crazy!)

SWOON.

Hostess with the Mostess

• A festive #GladtoGive holiday party from HWTM.
• At A Cup of Jo, a perfect Brooklyn apartment tour.
• Glam printable New Year's invites from Lia Griffith.
• Style Me Pretty features a festive New York wedding.

SMILE.

• Desktops: Minding My Nest, Mint for Hue, Pish and Posh.
• Holiday movies you can watch on streaming or Redbox.
• Book recommendations based on your fave holiday movies.
• All the holiday drinks and desserts you need.

FLASHBACK.

• Last year I shared my holiday home tour.
• Two years ago, I chose my favorite account of Christmas, wrote to Santa, showed off my chalkboard ornaments and shared a holiday home tour.
• Three years ago, I shared a Sunday Social all about favorites, gave a holiday home tour and ideas for displaying cards, and rounded up my blog loves and my own most popular posts of 2012.  I also shared my December in Instagram.
• Four years ago, I shared my favorite things in our home. 

sunday simplicity.

Lauren Fair Photography via Ruffled

I never thought it was such a bad little tree. 

It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs 

a little love. - A Charlie Brown Christmas

Lauren Fair Photography via Ruffled

DIY Elegant Woodland Wreath

After seeing how similar my Christmas trees and decor choices have been over the past several years (short version: lots of red), I decided to take my Christmas decorations in a new direction this year. First, I decided to challenge myself to decorate for Christmas without red this year. Then, I zeroed in on the idea that I wanted to guide my spirit this holiday season: world peace. Along the way, my vision of a peaceful, natural Christmas evolved into a glamorous woodland mishmash, and I'm happy with the final result.

Every year when we decorate our tree on the day after Thanksgiving, I decorate our wreath to match the same theme. I think it really gives our home a sense of continuity, and hopefully, the way our visitors are welcomed into our holiday home gives them an idea of the warmth and beauty that they will find inside. I'll be sharing our tree and other decorations in the days to come, but today I wanted to welcome you all to the country townhouse, Christmas style.

As always, I began with a simple wreath form from the craft store. This year I took out everything from last year and started from scratch! The first thing to go on was layered gold and burlap ribbon followed by white poinsettias (artificial, of course - I'm pretty sure I got these from the dollar store!). Three flowers in a triangle shape help to anchor the design. I just stick the poinsettia stems right into the wreath and wrap the wires around the faux pine branches for stability.

We loved adding a dollar-store garland and a simple strand of lights to our front porch decor last year, and I think the white lights look really awesome paired with this year's wreath. After adding the poinsettias to the wreath, I wired on some glittered pine cone ornaments (I found them at KMart) and some shatterproof gold and green mini ornaments found last year at Big Lots.

Linking Up:

Flaunt It Friday at Chic on a Shoestring

The Party Bunch at Whipperberry

Share It at The Winthrop Chronicles

#5FandomFriday/The Circle: Holiday Traditions

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. This week's #5FandomFriday topic is holiday traditions, which is also one of the topics for The Circle link-up this month. I wrote about some of our family's traditions back in 2012 for Sunday Social, and it's interesting to look back and see what's changed and what hasn't.

5. Attending a Play - This is a new tradition my BFF Breeze and I decided to start this year. She got a hankering to see a play this fall, and when I found out that one of my childhood dance studio friends who is bound for Broadway stardom had gotten a part in Mill Mountain Theatre's production of 42nd Street we set a date. When we saw that next year's season includes White Christmas we decided a theater must become an annual event! We are so lucky to have some amazing drama venues in Virginia, including the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, which is one of the oldest theatres in America and the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton.

4. Dodgeball! - A few years ago, the P.E. department at my school started the tradition of having a charity dodgeball tournament the last week of the fall semester. Eighth grade's is the last day (and the last hour!) of school before break, so we have the Red team versus the Green team, the kids wear Santa hats to play, and the last round is teachers versus students, with the teachers wearing the most ridiculous holiday/athletic outfits we can put together - one of our Civics teachers played in a Clark Griswold sweater and Captain America socks this year. The kids go crazy cheering for their teams, make posters, and paint their faces, and we don't have many discipline problems that day because they are so happy.

3. Fashions for Evergreens - This is another tradition Breeze and I have and we're trying to get as many friends involved as possible. The beautiful Hotel Roanoke hosts a charity event where local businesses and organizations decorate Christmas trees that are displayed throughout the lobbies and halls of the hotel. Here are my pictures from last year's event.

2. Small Town Christmas Celebrations - I was raised in a small town and love the little community where I live now. Give me a short parade with miniature horses, high school marching bands, baby baton twirlers, and fire trucks over huge floats any time! My town hosts an annual Christmas celebration where the streets are closed to traffic and fill with vendors selling food, crafts, and Christmas decorations. There are also carriage rides, local performers, pictures with Santa, and a group carol sing. It's a lot of fun and we always see lots of friends, students, and family members while we are there. This year we took Breeze's one-year-old niece for her first picture with Santa - which, of course, ended in tears.

1. Family Christmas Gatherings - I think Mr. Q and I are lucky that negotiating where we spend the holidays has been fairly easy so far. Growing up, my family spent Christmas Eve with my maternal grandmother at our house and Christmas Day at my maternal grandmother's house with my huge extended family, but both of my grandmothers passed away when I was a teenager. Since before Mr. Q and I were married, my mom and I have joined his extended family for Christmas Eve dinner and gingerbread, watching A Christmas Story, and exchanging gifts (always youngest to oldest). On Christmas Day, we head over to my uncle's house in the mountains for more yummy food, visiting my cousins, and hearing stories from my mom's childhood in rural Kentucky and Southwest Virginia - I think I learn something new about my family every year. 

my fall {according to instagram.}

Before the Christmas season completely takes over, I wanted

to share a few small moments from this busy fall.

Every year for our anniversary, Mr. Q and I invest in a joint

gift, like a piece of furniture. This year, we got a studded

headboard for our bed. It's from the Better Homes & Gardens

collection at Wal-Mart, of all places, and it's perfect!

I had a very proud teacher moment on our eighth grade field

trip to an amusement park. One of the boys in my group was

very much afraid of heights. When it was time to choose the

last ride for the day, instead of heading for the big roller

coaster they'd been talking about all day, my boys chose

the ferris wheel so that they could all ride something together.

I'm not sure what could be more beautiful than the Blue

Ridge Mountains in the fall - on these days, my heart sings.

Praying for Paris, and so thankful my cherished friends

are safe. Still, always the city of my dreams.

A simple Thanksgiving centerpiece and Small Business

Saturday spent exploring in my adopted hometown.

Pinecones heralding winter at Mr. Q's family home.

The perfect slogan (and much-needed coffee) for the end of the semester.

What moments have you cherished during this 

season of change? Follow me on Instagram here.

My Wellness Wish List

Last week I shared the geeky side of my Christmas wish list, but a lot of the items on my list this year are actually quite practical. Getting healthier is a constant journey for me, and while I was making my Christmas list I thought about items that could improve different aspects of my everyday routine to help me become happier and healthier in 2016! Though these items are useful, they're also luxuries I wouldn't ordinarily buy for myself.

1. Lifefactory glass water bottle - I'm trying to use fewer plastic containers whenever possible, and water just tastes better from a glass container (I tried a stainless steel bottle and wasn't a fan). The silicone cover makes this bottle practical for toting to the classroom, gym, and yoga studio without worrying about breakage! I love the teal color, but they come in a whole rainbow of shades a variety of sizes.

2. Phillips wake-up light - Every single piece of wisdom about happiness and health seems to include  a push to get more, better-quality sleep. I am a night owl, procrastinate going to bed, and therefore am not a happy camper most mornings. This wake-up light is supposedly a total game-changer because it provides a gentle, sunrise-like glow instead of a hash alarm - I think it would be awesome for these winter days when I have to get up before the actual sunrise.

3. Withings fitness tracker watch - Deciding which fitness tracker to invest in is so confusing! While I'm also drooling over the new Jawbone, my friend Sarah has the unique Withings Activite watch and adores it - I like that the watch's inset face provides a very clear visual on how close the wearer is to reaching the daily goal, and that it's a nice enough looking watch to wear to work.

4. Kitchen scale - Since I was diagnosed with PCOS a few years ago, I've been on a low glycemic index diet. A kitchen scale would help me make sure I'm following recipes and help with portion control.

5. Yoga socks - I don't think I need to explain why these would be awesome to have, but isn't the tribal print cute? I'm a firm believer that having attractive exercise gear makes me more likely to work out.

Have you tried any of these items? Do you have any 

wellness items on your Christmas list this year?

clicks of note: to hear those sleigh bells in the snow...

get your week off to a colorful start...
LISTEN.

• I dare you not to smile while listening to Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings belt out their version of "White Christmas" (I'm also really digging those square wreaths).

SWOON.

Michael and Carina Photography via Style Me Pretty

• Loving Alicia's peaceful, shiny holiday home tour.
• A sky blue vineyard wedding from Mirelle Carmichael.
• Style Me Pretty features an elegant Virginia wedding.
• Wedding Chicks features a whimsical bohemian soiree.

SMILE.

• Desktops: I & G, Nifty Earth, Paper Leaf, Roost, Uppercase.
• 15 creative ways to deal with sad days and scary world news.
• DIY holly decorated flats perfect for holiday get-togethers.
• Party-ready holiday hair and makeup ideas from Pinterest.

FLASHBACK.

• In case you missed it: I rounded up my favorite holiday dessert recipes.
• Last year I shared Christmas decorating inspiration from Roanoke's Festival of Trees, rounded up ideas for a wedding inspired by Beauty and the Beast, and my blog loves.
• Two years ago, I participated in a Sunday Social all about the holidays, pulled together emerald green and gold wardrobe and wedding/party inspiration, shared my favorite no-bake cookie recipe, and recapped my December in Instagram.
• Three years ago, I shared holiday advice for letting go of perfect and enjoying the holiday season, and 7 winter date ideas.
• Four years ago I shared a few of the crafts and DIY projects I made for the holidays:  a paint chip mosaic, poinsettia wreath, no-sew tree skirt, and how I decorated our tree.