25 Days: Day 6 Dinner Party

Today was a very cold day for leaving the house - luckily the only 'outside' we did was between the car and the chapel. After church Ben got settled on the sofa with some sports on tv - as per his usual Sunday afternoon routine - and I got started on a salad for dinner. I put together the Art City Salad from the Art City Trolley restaurant in Springville. My sister-in-law Kate brings it frequently to family dinners and I would be content to eat the entire bowl. Romaine lettuce, bacon, red onion, mozarella cheese, candied almonds, and yummy poppy seed homemade dressing.

We took the salad to a dinner party hosted by some friends in the ward. Brandon & Michelle and Charlie & Audrey both have the most darling three-children families and it's always a laugh and great company when we get together. Audrey hosted tonight and cooked a juicy brisket - yum! It was a dinner of firsts - her first time making brisket (from their own raised cow), my first time attempting the salad, and Michelle's first time with an au gratin potato recipe. What a terrific meal it turned out to be as most of the plates were licked clean by dinner's end. Also, the cheesecake was very good. Another first for Audrey. Had to tell them about my daily Christmas posts, and had to capture the evening with a photo, taken my Audrey's son. He did a good job... got us all in there!

25 Days: Day 5 Basketball & White Elephant

Today after a few Saturday errands in nasty stormy weather - Ben and I went down to the BYU basketball game at the Delta Center. It was fun to relive the old days in a way - gosh how young those students looked in the student section! Some of Ben's family was there too and the kids all had a great time. Ben even let me get some cotton candy - yum!

Ben loves little Halle - and Halle was enamored with the "cat" - Cosmo the cougar

Afterwards we made a caravan up to Sara's house for Ben's family's White Elephant party. She was so great to host all of us. Best gifts? Dancing holiday hats (think harry potter sorting cap?), the classic singing bass fish, and snuggies of all types.

25 Days: Day 4 Temple & Festival of Trees

Today was a crazy day at work. Derek helped me get ready for a segment on Studio 5 this coming Monday. Saying he was a huge help is an understatement. The show asked me to come and do a piece on "non-traditional holiday color schemes." I'm excited and I think the things we put together will look good on camera.

After work I went to meet the YM/YW at the Salt Lake Temple for baptisms. I am so lucky to be part of the Young Women program and I try not to miss their trips to the temple. They are an incredible bunch of kids and it's great to be with them.

Ben came to our post-activity dinner at Crown Burger and we joined his parents at The Festival of Trees... yes, we made it! It was an unbelievable madhouse, but really fun. We were only able to stay about an hour and a half because of closing time but I'd say that was about perfect, especially having the husbands with us. Oh the trees and gingerbread we saw!

25 Days: Day 3 Oranges & Orson Gygi

Today I went in search of whole cloves, oranges and star anise - for a project like those pictured here. Star Anise is very hard to find locally. My inventive and informed colleague Derek said I might find them at Orson Gygi. What? What is that? I called them, they had it. It is located in the design district in Salt Lake (35oo s. 300 w.) and is both a culinary arts center and a large store that I'd describe as a mix between Sur La Table and Costco. Of course I was totally overwhelmed but I think Taryn and Mom would have had a ball there.

25 Days: Day 2 Pumpkin Penne

I worked late tonight trying to get a head start on tomorrow. Missed opening night of the Festival of Trees. They have beautiful trees, but more importantly, they have a large assortment of gingerbread houses. My family has a gingerbread contest during Christmas and it wasn't so serious until Ben joined the family. (I'm not sure if anyone else considers it serious, but he sure does. We stay up late for nights in a row to put the finishing touches on it.) We saw a commercial for it and he's been excited ever since. We'll try to make it before it's over on the 5th.

Tonight I made Penne with Pumpkin Cream Sauce for dinner. It's been a while since I've cooked and I actually made it to the grocery last Saturday for the ingredients, go me! This dish is seasonal and delicious. It's a 30-minute meal too, perfect for the cook with little patience and hungry mouth[s] to feed. I recommend about 4 times the salt you'd normally use on a plate. Oh, and extra cheese too. In talking to my sisters and mom, the field research shows that women like/appreciate the dish more than men. Ben gave it a 6 out of 10 - 'noh bad'! Gotta love Rachel Ray, and gotta be serious about any recommendation from Taryn.

25 Days of Holiday Posts

I'm so excited for the holidays this year - there are so many happy things about the season. I decided this year I want to do as much as possible to enjoy it... see concerts, visit the lights, attend holiday parties, make holiday treats (or just eat them), smell evergreen garland, make a snowman, plug in twinkle lights... (any other suggestions?)

25 days just goes by too quickly, as evidenced by disappearing October & November! The season is here and then it's gone... bringing dreary January, ug. I certainly won't be planning social engagements every night between now and Christmas day, but I plan on blogging every day anyway. I hope it turns out to be fun instead of bothersome to me and outright annoying to anyone reading this. MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS - and let the fun begin!

Thanksgiving 2009

Ben and I had a great Thanksgiving. We didn't have his whole family together on the actual 'day', but managed to get together both before and after. Meghan & Cody were in town for a few hours before heading to St. George and of course we jumped at the chance to catch up with them. The picture above was about a third of the group that turned out for lunch.

Then on Thanksgiving Day morning, I suited up (didn't mean to dress like a sniper/black cat) and met with Emma for the Park City Turkey Trot. What a race! No, I've never blogged about running before, don't go looking for it. Or anything involving exercise for that matter. BUT, Emma asked, and needed a running mate, and how lame would it have been to wimp out of a 5K? Yeah, that's bad. Emma probably remembers me as this gym-going fit person from college (we were in the same BYU ward at Liberty Square seven years ago - memories!) Now we're in the same ward again - she has two kids and is in incredible shape, and then there's me.

I had a great time even though it looks here like I nearly died. We started the race at 8:30 and the temperature was somewhere near 13 degrees. Eek. I was afraid of those darn side cramps, they always get me! I never got a side cramp, but I did have some serious swelling in the thigh area. I felt like I was running with the legs of a sumo wrestler. Odd! Thus putting serious pressure on what seemed like toothpick ankles. Why? Was it the cold? Maybe. Was it the fact that I haven't run since my last 5k attempt in 2007 with Taryn & Mom in SF? Probably more like it. The highlight for me was being passed by a troupe of seven year-olds.

Emma was a terrific coach and very patient! It only took me three days to be able to walk and attempt stairs again... and now, I'm nearly inspired to get in better shape. My sister Lindsey said she was so proud of me. She just completed the Catalina Island marathon three weeks ago. Talk about mountains vs. molehills. She is my hero.

Later that day, Ben scheduled golf with his dad and Matt. I thought it would be good to go along to walk off the build-up in my legs. These men are die hard. Half the course was covered in snow and they still played 9 holes with a snow-matching ball. :) Ben will do anything for golf. It turned out to be a nice day in Farmington.

For Thanksgiving dinner, Ben and I joined his parents and Amberly and her darling girls for a most fabulous buffet at Little America. What a treat. I decided that I'd burned thousands of calories earlier during my 3 1/2 mile run, why not stuff myself? Delicious mashed potatoes & gravy. yum.

As per holiday tradition, we made it to the movies and saw Christmas Carol. NOT a kids movie. I was frightened myself at a few points. The effects were cool, (see it in 3D if you get the chance) but it was not a kids cartoon. I'm making an appointment to watch Muppet Christmas Carol - I'd rather associate the story further from the way Dickens intended it.

Sunday the whole family met at Kathy & Jed's for a 2nd Thanksgiving meal. Isn't the old saying, "where one is good, two are better?"

Baby Cameron

Ben's sister Kate had her newest baby, Cameron, on Tuesday. This is #4 for the Hendersons. He is as sweet and precious as ever. Only seven pounds, he is just a tiny little picture of perfection. Uncle Boo promised to come and meet you soon, Cameron, hope you like the puppy blanky. Congratulations Jim & Kate!

Apothica - and the perfect shade

I have been feeling out of sorts ever since Stila left Nordstrom. On a random errand to the Gateway last week, I walked into Apothica to smell some Mistral Verbena, why not, and walked right into a huge Stila display! Who knew and didn't tell me? It was so exciting, as trivial as it sounds. Suddenly, I'm in a buying mood. Had to pick up some Stila bronzer - I love it and wear it year round. (shade #2)

I've also lately been thinking that I need a better lip solution. I haven't worn lipstick for years and all the glosses I have seem to be so colorless. Tricky because I don't want too much color for everyday... I tend to play up my eyes, and my bronzer of course. After trying a few different products, I found it! Go with me on this.

Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil
I love this pencil, it's fat and you can easily wear it like a liner or all-over shade. It's also smooth like velvet, hence the name. The color I bought is called Sex Machine. I didn't realize it was called that until after I committed... I swear. I'm only divulging the name because I think it is THE perfect color... just enough pink to have some life but still fabulously nude.

Smashbox Limitless Long Wearing Lip Gloss
I like the idea of tinted lip gloss, but worried that it still wouldn't look great without a lip liner. This gloss (shade:Forever) has the pencil's there-but-not-there qualities and a similar nearly perfect shade. Pair it with the pencil for more color, but alone it has the most glamorous shine. Even the girl behind the counter had to know what I was wearing... how's that for inventive?! Challenge: find your nearest Nordy's, Sephora, or Apothica - and try this combination for yourself. Feedback requested.

Three Years

In a way, three years have flown by. In other ways, I feel like we've known each other much longer than 'three' sounds. Three is such a small number in the scheme of forever, but certainly every year is worth celebrating! Every day is worth celebrating, really.

Ben and I had a great dinner at Ruth's Chris in Park City - we holed up for the weekend and treated it like a mini vacation. The weather was perfect, beautiful snow-covered ground and trees paired with sunshine. Ben gave me a dozen roses and I gave him a dozen cupcakes. :) Gotta love So Cupcake in Holladay... and gotta have a reason to spend $15 on twelve mini cupcakes.

I like the timing of our anniversary - it is the start of so many other fun holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas/New Years & my birthday in the middle of it all.

Rubbing Shoulders with the Rich and Famous

Well, I suppose the terms "rich" and "famous" are relative. To me these people are famous or at least well-respected in the design industry. Successful, published, trend-setting, etc. At both High Point and Las Vegas markets we bumped into and planned to bump into the following celebrity designers:

Elle Decor magazine had an event to publicize its newest book, Style and Substance, and their Editor-in-chief Margaret Russell was there to sign copies. It was fun to see her in person - she is so classically pretty. And certainly as petite as she appears on camera. She was one of the judges for Bravo's (late) design reality show, Top Design.

Right behind us in line to meet Margaret was Tobi Fairley, a designer from Atlanta. She was featured with several other 'up and coming' designers in Traditional Home Magazine this year. I remembered her name and when someone came up to her entourage and said, "hey Tobi!" I put the pieces together. She does beautiful things - here is a bedroom of her design.

In Las Vegas we went to the Safavieh showroom and were treating ourselves to breakfast danishes and quiche, when some lady came up to us and said, "Don't you KNOW who that is?? It's Jamie Drake", like we were idiots. I didn't recognize him and on top of that he wasn't hosting anything, he blended right in. We went over to meet him and he was very nice. Jamie Drake was named by Traditional Home as one of the "20 Icons" of design and also named to the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame. He is incredibly well-known and in my opinion, incredibly talented. I love the way he uses pink.

Darryl Carter is a another very respected designer, based on the East Coast. I love his combinations - the color he uses is subtle and soothing and he has a great attention to detail without being overwhelming. His rooms are livable but each of them also has it's own personality/style. He designed a furniture line for Thomasville that is fantastic. Great proportions and beautiful shapes. He also came out with a book called The New Traditional. Thomasville hosted an event to debut Darryl Carter's pieces. He himself was there - signing books and gifting them! He was tremendously nice.

Last but not least in any way - Candice Olson came to HP for one day to introduce a furniture line she designed for Revco Intl. She is probably the most recognizable designer right now in the U.S. and Canada. Her show Divine Design has run seven seasons - and she's about to launch a new show on top of that. She wrote a book that I think is super fabulous - complete with her incredible renderings of course. She also has her own upholstery, art, lighting and rug lines. Meeting her was a MUST for me. I've been watching her since she began and still love her creativity and glamorous transitional style. In my opinion, she was doing 'transitional' before the word 'transitional' was even coined.

What an incredible treat to meet her. There were only a few people in front of us when we got there - and it still took 25 minutes to get to the front... Candice was chatting with everyone as if they were friends of hers. She is even more vibrant and personable than she appears on tv. Kathy and I talked with her for a while and heard all about her new projects and things. She is so genuine which is refreshing considering her busy schedule and fame. I told her that my mom and I have a tradition of watching multiple tivo-ed Divine Design episodes when I'm up visiting Montana. Mom LOVES Candice and likes to pick apart the ingenious design elements that she comes up with. I think Candice really liked the story, if I do say so myself. :) She wrote a personal note to my mom and when I got home I mailed it along with a book and our picture to her. Mom was silent, then squealed in excitement and disbelief... yes, I actually can keep a secret! She had no idea that I would be meeting Candice. It was so fun to surprise her that way - thank heavens for web-cam chatting.

High Point Market - October 2009

Prepared for a long post? Last week Kathy and I spent a week in High Point, NC for the bi-annual home furnishings market. What a whirlwind trip. I keep describing it like being in a casino in Las Vegas - "what day is it?", "what time is it?", "how long have we been here?"and "did I wear this yesterday?"

Speaking of wearing the same things over again... it turned out to be bitterly cold for four of the six days. What to do? I bought an open sweatercoat a few weeks ago as an afterthought, and all of a sudden I wondered how I ever lived without it. I wore it everyday.

Equipped with our 600 page Market Guide, we had little time to waste. There are over 130 different buildings - and 15 of them house multiple if not dozens of showrooms. It can be very overwhelming, especially if your boss would really like to see everything. Needless to say, we didn't see it all - but we gave it our best. Here are a few of my favorite finds.


Natural Curiosities - an L.A.-based company- had some very cool pieces, including prints placed between sheets of lucite and hung from hardware that had them almost free-standing from the wall. Very fun... and so was chatting with their owner - a 30-something who had the style, accent and London-esque qualities of Jude Law.

Who can resist a life-size taxidermied peacock? It was only $3600. I have a fascination with peacocks. I almost had a peacock-themed wedding... quashed by the thought that forever people would say, "who was that Lauren girl?" "OOH yeah, she was the one with that peacock wedding, how frightening!" This bird was so beautiful. I want it - except for this... how does it ship and how would you ever pack it if you moved? "Can someone in the front seat hold this for 15 hours?"

Loved this beautiful display at John-Richard. All faux amaryllis and sprayed metallic branches, ready for shipment. This reminded me of the trip Taryn and I took to see Linds - we took the train down to NYC for a day and went to Saks - the columns of the huge two-story main level were covered in beautiful white branches...floor to ceiling, like the most glorious Preston Bailey winter-wonderland. The chair below was another great find at John-Richard. I loved the more feminine shape of this classically-known bergere. Add the flax linen and contrast piping and it becomes timeless. The set of transitional bullseye mirrors below was in the same showroom - how lovely!

Wesley Hall has a great permanent showroom that is several thousand sq. ft. This was one of their upstairs groupings. Beautiful light fabric combinations and double ottomans. Their upholstery is the best in quality and comfort I've found. They have great fabrics in-house and even better custom capabilities.

This is the facade of Market Square. Many of the buildings at HP have been converted from old warehouses and factories. This building is square in shape and has an encased courtyard with two large water towers and all kinds of above ground pipes, all painted red.

French Laundry Home and Justin Camlin were two lines I was saw for the first time. Sometimes casegood (wooden furniture) and upholstery companies will combine to make their showrooms more complete and cohesive... these two made a fantastic pair. I loved the freshness of the furniture with it's unexpected detail and painted finishes. French Laundry's pieces were all covered in linen and rice grain sack fabric. This slipper chair was my favorite, and so cozy!

Had to stop by NDI - they do fantastic faux botanicals for residential, commercial, and some of the most fabulous hotels in the world. I loved this display with the virbinum against the muddy charcoal wall. It costs $600 but think of all you'd save on cut flowers over a lifetime, right?

Barclay Butera had an absolutely beautiful showroom front and center on the first floor of IHFC - called Interhall. He is so good. He is a designer who also has a furniture line, and showrooms in Newport, Park City, & New York. If only the guy working the floor hadn't followed me trying to make me feel uncomfortable, I would've taken more pictures. I'm buying his book.

How stunning is this barstool? Beautiful shape considering it is basic... but did you notice the nailheads? This was at Charleston Forge, but was a barstool custom-designed by a one of their desiger customers. I HAVE to track down these nailheads.

Paul Robert is another terrific upholstery line that we carry. They had some great pieces and lovely new fabric introductions. This calligraphy fabric is definitely a trend, in fact, I think I saw something similar online at Potterybarn?

Paul Robert showed a lot of slipcovered furniture - a return to shabby chic? The detail I loved on this was the ruffled flange on the cushion and the pleated skirt. At Legacy Home, a bedding company, we saw a bed with almost this same chocolate/robins egg combination, complete with flange. This looked like that bed concept made into a chair.

Market wouldn't be market without my drooling over the Baker showroom. What's not to love?

Somerset Bay is my most favorite casegood company right now. They have stunning pieces in all kinds of painted finishes, and the quality and attention to detail is what makes it. A few weeks ago I placed a dining set in cream and white in a client's house. It looks so fabulous and I can't wait for the barstools to arrive. I have been lusting after the above secretary since we first laid eyes on eachother. I've seen it done in a dark finish with a creamy interior - so incredible.

Mom, this banquette is for you! Old Hickory Tannery is known for their crazy frame/fabric combinations ( I saw a chair done completely in shaggy sheepskin), but this piece was just outstanding to me. I love the square frame with rounded thin arm & pillow back, nailheads in all the right places and the dressmaker skirt.

Decoupage/re-bound books are becoming more and more popular. I think I posted on some parchment colored books from Vegas market. These have calligraphy on the spine and were also rubbed with a metallic paint. Had to have a dozen for the showroom.

We stopped by Roma - a great art/frame company based in Italy. At first I thought these laquered frames were a little garish, but they grew on me. I wouldn't be surprised to see this as a new trend. What do you think of it? (hard to take a picture of a mirror without getting yourself as it turns out)

Harden is a fantastic company - the epitome of classic, American-made furniture. I loved the transitional lines of this chair and I can't even explain how comfortable it was.

One of the most enjoyable things about market is that most of the showrooms have their own fresh floral arrangements. Potted orchids everywhere, among other unbelievable arrangements. How goregous is this? The antique iron urn, white lilies and all that beautiful greenery - heaven!

Saw this chair in Sarreid - made of old reclaimed radiators and miscellaneous pipes. Who sits on that? I told Kathy that would make a great 'time-out' chair. The salesperson walking with us said the buyers for Anthropolgie were in earlier that day and bought 50. Go figure!