New Year's Eve

Happy New Year's Eve to everyone!

Housing

Well my condo search hit a snag on Monday when I found out the short sale I was dying for fell through. What a frustrating process! Last week, I saw a condo in my current building for sale as a foreclosure. I saw it Thursday before I left, decided to make an offer Sunday, got the offer in by 1pm Monday and found out today they accepted my offer!!!! I can't believe it! It has some design challenges but all in all, a great condo.. Will keep you posted on my progress.

I still haven't recovered from Christmas weekend but am extending my website sale until January 1st. Save 25% with code AFTERXMAS on www.kristinpearce.com

xoxo, kp

25% off www.kristinpearce.com

After Christmas Sale

Save 25% off all items

www.kristinpearce.com

Code: AFTERXMAS

Happy Shopping!!!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

What a fun time. My whole family is here at my parents. Lots of wonderful gifts, some planned, some unexpected. My parents got me a flat screen tv, which will look great hung in my new condo, if that ever works out. My biggest surprise was this painting from my niece. She is quite the artist and this will fit perfectly in my apartment.

Another surprise was waiting for me when I arrived here. My Mom gave me back all my old Christmas art from my childhood. Even though they live in a large house with two people and I am in an apartment with limited storage, she is determined to get rid of all my things! I will put these in a scrapbook to keep. They have held up remarkably well for so many years!

Tomorrow, I am having an after Christmas sale on my website. I figured out the coupon code finally! Enter code AFTERXMAS for 25% off everything on http://www.kristinpearce.com/!!!!! Code good through Tuesday, December 28th.

Christmas on Amelia Island

I packed up all my stuff and headed up to my parents house yesterday. It was wierd to leave Miami for Christmas for the first time since I was a child. Hopefully, all my customers planned ahead, because this year..no Christmas Eve meet ups for last minute gifts!!! Last year, I was at the CVS parking lot at 6pm with one of my guy friends buying for his wife!

My Mom was excited to have Christmas at their new house for the first time so everyone is on the way! She has so many decorations around..many from my childhood

this has been around for as long as I remember..

pink flamingo trees


our tree has memorial ornaments for our family pets no longer with us..

Hooked wool angels that my Mom makes..

My one request for the holidays is my Mom's Italian Cream Cake...she just finished it and our house smells unbelievable. This is the moistest, delicious cake.

Italian Cream Cake

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup soft shortening

2 cups sugar

5 eggs, separated

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 can (3 1/2 oz.) flaked coconut

1 cup chopped nuts

Have ingredients at room temperature. Cream together butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy, add egg yolks and beat well. Combine buttermilk, soda and vanilla. To the creamed mixture, add milk and flour alternatively, beating well after each addition. Add coconut and nuts.

Beat egg whites until stuff but not dry and fold into batter. Divide among 3 greased and floured 9 inch layer cake pans. Bake in 350 degree oven 30 minutes or until done (when toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 min. remove and complete cooling on cake rack. Frost cake with thin layer of frosting between each layer of cake.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese

1/4 cups (1/2 stick) butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 pkg. (1lb) confectioners sugar 4x

Have ingredients at room temperature. Combine cream cheese and butter and beat until smooth and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and sugar until thick and creamy. Makes enough to fill and frost 3 layer Italian Cream Cake. p.s. she added a touch of red food coloring to the frosting this time

Yum! I can't wait to eat this for dessert. So excited that it is Christmas Eve today! Wishing all my blogging friends the Merriest Christmas and Happiest Holidays!! xo

this is what the cake looks like inside.

Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends...

I am loving my card this year, designed by my fabulous friend Tracy from Paper & Ink Designs. She is so talented and puts up with my inability to make decisions and is still my friend after all these years!!!!

More Caitlin McGauley Love

Seems I can't really get enough of Caitlin McGauley's beautiful watercolors..and now they keep popping up everywhere!!! She is on my list for 2011 to paint something for me for sure. She recently painted some of her favorite things for Tory Burch's blog. I am sharing here in case you missed it!

As well as these holiday beauties...


You can see more of Caitlin's work here. I am officially obsessed!

Christmas Necklace Giveaway Winner!!!

Christmas Giveaway Winner!


True Random Number Generator

Min: 1
Max: 60
Result:
8
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

And the winner is...JulesTX!!!!

I would have been so happy to send this necklace to anyone who entered, but am especially happy that Jules won since she was predicting maybe not such a fabulous Christmas this year! Merry Christmas Jules!!!!

xo

Sister Parish Design On Decorating

I am always looking to expand my coffee table book collection and when in North Carolina last weekend, spotted my next book on a sale shelf! I am obsessed with design books these days, hoping to get some inspiration for my soon-to-be new condo. Whose advise to turn to but Sister Parish?? Mrs. Henry Parish II "Sister" helped decorate many homes in her day, including the Astors, Whitneys and the Kennedys.

This delightful book has many tips for all aspects of decorating a home and loads of practical advice on decorating. It is a timeless tribute to the inimitable style of Sister Parish seen through the eyes of many of today's influential decoraters. Published at the end of 2009 and written by her granddaughter Susan Bartlett Crater and her last student and Parish-Hadley protege Libby Cameron, this stunning book is a must-have for any decorating aficionado.

The beautiful watercolors are by artist Mita Corsini Bland. You can purchase this book at Amazon. You can still get it before Christmas!

Christmas Necklace Giveaway

Ho Ho Ho!

My Charlotte shopping post is taking longer than I thought to pull together, so in the meanwhile let's do a Christmas necklace giveaway. For this giveaway, I am offering one of my most popular necklaces, the triple strand freshwater pearls with silver starfish, value $125.

To enter this giveaway:


One entry-leave a comment on this post with your email address

Two entries- leave a comment and become a follower of this blog (or let me know you are one)

Three entries-leave a comment, be a follower and share the giveaway news through twitter, Facebook or on your blog.

Enter until Sunday evening, December 19th at 7pm and the winner will be announced Monday morning. If the winner contacts me quickly, this necklace will arrive before Christmas!

Good Luck!!!

North Carolina Weekend Part 2

Still thawing out from my chilly visit to North Carolina this past weekend. I had so much fun even though me going out of town the second week of December during my crazy holiday shopping season was risky to say the least. This is when Blackberrys become invaluable. Sunday, we headed to Meg's parents farm, a highlight on each of my trips. I have been visiting there for years now and there is always something going on..people always stopping by and it's just a very fun place to be. This was also where I had my amazing trunk show this summer...

As soon as you enter the driveway, the festive decorations start on the fence.

Unbelievably, every window has a beautiful wreath

Everywhere I looked, there were Christmas touches..

The sleigh..parked on the porch but when it snows, it gets hooked up to a horse and pulls people around..so fun!

garlands on the back porch

the back door

garlands on the stairway

the Christmas tree, cut from a Christmas tree farm a couple weeks ago

Needlepoint stockings for all the grandchildren..

Ashley's Birthday Lunch..

"Mimi" and her girls..

Me and beautiful baby Elizabeth.

Tomorrow..my Charlotte shopping post...

North Carolina Weekend Part 1

Just returned from a super fun weekend in chilly North Carolina. I traveled up to see BFF Meg, to celebrate little Ashley's 2nd birthday and to meet my new Goddaughter Elizabeth who is 5 weeks old.

She is so sweet!

Friday night, we ate at home and Heather and Devon came over. It was so fun to see everyone.



Saturday, Meg and I headed to South Park to go shopping. More on my shopping exploits this week..but there is some great shopping in Charlotte for sure.

Sunday morning, Ashley had her Birthday Hat on.

She loved her balloons and opened a bunch of her presents. For lunch.we packed up and headed to Meg's parents for a family party. It was getting colder and a little rainy, so everyone was bundled up. I spent a good amount of the party with my camera out trying to get a good picture of the birthday girl. She is too fast and my camera is too slow, so there are a ton of cute shots of the back of her ..



her looking down..

or looking away...

I did catch her with her cupcake cake and cousin Oliver looking on..

Me and Meg and Baby Elizabeth.

I had so much fun..part 2 Tomorrow...