Candy-striped Christmas

These 2010 Martha Stewart Living images struck a cord with me so I've been saving them to share for almost an entire year! Already a fan of a turquoise-Christmas (don't turn up your nose unless you've actually seen it), I love the easy mix of a turquoise and candy-stripes. 

Mis-matched stockings + simple hearth = too cute

Wreath with some fabric instead of a bow and a hook.

How easy is this centerpiece?

This combo manages to still look warm. 

Simple red & white ticking looks seasonal and classic.

How cool was your dad?

I was just reading Tina Fey's Bossypants because a book club I belong to, but have yet to attend, read it last month (I never finished it).  In it she refers to her dad as "bad ass" which I got a big kick from.  She also described his cool style sense (so stylish even black guys thought he looked cool). While I wouldn't call my own dad a "bad ass", I do think he was, and still is, pretty cool. 

Certainly very few folks can rock a moustache for decades and still look suave.

Eleazar "Chiqui" Romero's always had a keen sense of style, and pretty much always dresses to impress, and I love seeing 1970s photos of dad with friends, me, my mom, and his dogs.


Dad and his dogs Poco & Che in Honduras, early 70s.

Present day, Dad at Boston's Exchange Center sitting in front of a MassPort photo of himself.



Mamma Mia! & Red Riding Hood

I'm sure I've mentioned that my twins have a little obsession with the musical Mamma Mia!  I think it started in utero:  the movie was released when I was on bed rest while pregnant and my doctor vetoed my plan for an outing to see it in the theatre.  I really like ABBA.

Anyway, the girls watch the DVD and listen to real ABBA tirelessly.  They also do reenactments of the main character, Sophie (played by the lovely Amanda Seyfried) and her friends reuniting and singing "Honey, Honey" (this is very amusing). 

The girls also adore fairy tales particularly Little Red Riding Hood.  We've read at least a dozen versions (their favorite is my mom's from the 40s which has adorable illustrations, a particularly cute Red, and best of all shows the dead wolf at the end because three-year-olds are a little morbid).

Somehow they saw a trailer of their favorite actress in a red riding hood, and now all they want is for me to let them watch the movie.  This simply can't happen since the film Red Riding Hood looks too scary even for me, but they still ask regularly thanks to Verizon Fios on demand ads that play on a loop while I'm looking for episodes of Caillou.