Christmas is Here!

Today I am off to New Jersey to see my family for the holidays.  I am so excited to see everyone and celebrate Christmas together!

   Hope everyone has a very Merry Holiday!

Merry Christmas to All And To All a Good Night!

XOXO

Restaurant Impossible: Behind the Scenes

Do you watch Restaurant Impossible with Chef Irvine?

I cannot get enough of the show.  I love that he makes over the restaurant and the owners.  Who doesn't love a good Before and After??

Anyways, the other day my friend LES informed me that Chef Irvine and Restaurant Impossible were filming in Pittsburgh and I knew I had to to get a closer look. 

It happened to be the restaurants re-opening.  I couldn't get reservations, but was informed that I could come down and try and get a seat at the bar...and that is what we did.

They were filming at Del's Bar and Ristorante in the Little Italy of Pittsburgh. An Italian family owned restaurant.

There he is.  ( such a stalker)

This pic. won't cooperate.

We got to see the owners getting a look at their renovated restaurant for the first time.

When we got there they were still working on the renovations.

Chef Irvine would pop his head out and make silly faces.  Seemed like such a great guy.

And now you're probably waiting for me to say that we got into the restaurant and had the food and it was fabulous.  Unfortunately our story ends there.  We waited in the cold for two hours and they still were finishing final renovations, and were not letting people in, so we left, after all it was a school night. 

But It was still worth it to see the show in the works and I look forward to my cameo when the show airs in February.

Weekend Recap: Junior League Holiday Luncheon

     This past weekend flew by as usual.  I enjoyed finishing up Christmas shopping and decorating the house, two cookie exchanges and our Junior League luncheon.

  Our Junior League holiday luncheon is always held at the Duquesne Club in downtown Pittsburgh which was founded in 1873, and is an old social club that has a lot of history. 

   The club houses a lot of neat pieces of art and was beautifully decorated for Christmas

  Pittsburgh in the Steel days

The room looked gorgeous.

I fell in love with the gold and maroon china design

Posing with my Events Co-chair and Membership Director

We had a great turn out and everyone enjoyed the food, cookie exchange, and Secret Santa

I ended up getting these amazing Faux fur slippers from Restoration Hardware for the Secret Santa...I am in love with these slippers.

Steel Magnolia and my holiday shot at the luncheon.

Can you believe Christmas is in less than a week??!....I am getting antsy.

It's Beginning To Look A lot like Christmas...

   Decorating for Christmas has always been something I've enjoyed.  Even growing up I remember going all out and decorating my room with trees and lights.  Still to this day I love decorating, and have slowly acquired quite the collection.  This year was special because DFH and I got our first tree together.  Here's a look at our "holiday" home:

Our First Tree

My mom is the best Christmas decorator.  She has always made our home look gorgeous around Christmas Time, and she inspired me to make my own Christmas "pieces"

This Advent Tree is very special to me.  My grandaddy made it for me years ago and I still enjoy taking off the life saver and putting on the ornament each day. 

I finally made an Ornament wreath ( Post to follow haha)

This tree is also special to me because my parents made it.

I love homemade gifts.

Last year my mom, my sister and I "glitterized" these ornaments.  Such a fun and easy project.

I couldn't resist buying these hand towels

The kitchen tree:

Made up of cookie cutters, dried citrus ( oranges, lemons,and limes) and dried hydrangea blossoms

Do you remember this wreath from Here?

A simple ribbon change made it perfect for Christmas.

I wanted a place to hang Christmas cards which was out of the way, a simple Christmas ribbon attached to a Red Bow made the perfect Christmas card display.  

( Do you like DFH's chalkboard artwork?)

Happy Friday!

Ornament Walk of Fame

    I think it is fabulous that this year several of the department stores have joined with celebrities to create ornaments designed by the stars.  Each ornament purchase goes to a charity.

The ornaments below are available at Bloomingdales for $40.00 and 100% of the proceeds goes towards the Child Mind Institute

Personally my favorite is Kim K.  I love how pink and sparkly it is.

I also love the Michael Kors

Macy's also has a great collection that features 14 celebrity ornaments available for $9.99 each.  10% of the purchase goes to the Make a Wish Foundation

Material Girl

  Emeril

Rachel Roy

These make great gifts and it is an added bonus that the proceeds go to charity.

Ga-Ga for Gaga

    While in NYC with my family over Thanksgiving my mom had heard that Lady Gaga had designed the windows in Barneys New York, and so we trekked up to Barneys and it was definitely worth the trip.

The Entrance Way

 Inside Barneys a whole floor was dedicated to Lady Gaga, known as Gaga'a workshop

Grammy, Mom, and I in Gaga's workshop

I loved the "Do Not Touch" signs

The Gagamachine Window

The Window's she designed were so unique. so Gaga.

Gaga'a Crystal Cave

It was great that money from the sales of Gaga's Workshop went to The Born This Way Foundation.   I love when celebrities use their fame to help others.