BLEUBIRD BLOG

WELCOME 2014

happy new year everybody! we spent our new years eve at home, working on the new blog site and sipping on champagne. the new site was supposed to launch today but it looks like the export of this blog and all of it's posts and comments is going to take a couple more days to swap over. thank you for your patience while we work to get it up and running.

in the meantime let's talk about new years goal shall we? i made a few... i want to work harder, play harder, travel as much as possible this year with my family and focus more on the positive things in life and leave any negativity at the door. i also have two new and exciting business ventures that i am diving head first into that i want to grow, grow, grow and be successful. another fun goal that i have is to bake bread once a week. my friend robin is gifting me with some of her sour dough starter and i just bought this book to get started on my wonderful journey to home baked bread. i have big plans for you 2014. let's do this!

i would love to hear some of your new years goals. it's interesting how sharing just a few of our own ambitions can inspire someone else so heavily. feel free to join in on the discussion in the comments below.

happy new year my friends and thank you for your patience while the new blog platform is under construction. xx

photos above from prospect goods.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

happy holidays! we had a lovely christmas break over here. i can't believe how quickly it came and went. on christmas eve we invited some friends over and had a relaxing dinner. artichoke dip, honey roasted ham, beer cheese soup, along with plenty of christmas cookies and a giant present shaped cake that our friends so thoughtfully made for us. after opening up our christmas jammies and watching christmas movies, we tucked the kids into bed and popped a bottle of champagne for santa duty.

the next morning the kids were up by 6:30 and rushing down the stairs to see if santa had come. good news... he did. i made a delicious soup inspired by the big kids grandmother. she makes a ham and bean soup with the leftover ham from the night before. i made a few changes, but it was easy and delicious. this is what i did...

you will need:

1lb white beans
3 quarts chicken broth 
the ham hock or shank
2 1/2 teaspoons herbs de provence
1 small diced onion
1 cup diced celery
1 diced carrot
2 cloves garlic diced
tabasco or cholula hot sauce to taste
salt and pepper to taste
fresh parsley or fresh chopped onion as a garnish 

in a medium sized pot, cover beans with water. bring to a boil and then turn heat off. let beans soak for 2-2.5 hours.
meanwhile put the ham hock/shank in another large pot, cover with 2 quarts chicken broth. add herbs de provence. bring to a slow boil and then simmer for one hour. add vegetables, beans and half a quart of chicken broth. cook for another hour and a half adding more broth as needed. afterwards the meat should pull away from the bone easily. discard bones. add hot sauce and salt and pepper to taste. enjoy! it's really good.

i hope you are all enjoying the holidays. we need to take down our christmas tree and decorations which is always a little bit sad. i can't believe the year is almost over. i am excited though, my new blog site will be launching in just a few days. i will no longer be using typepad. may this little space rest in peace. i will keep you posted on the change.

have a good weekend. i will be back on monday! xx

GIFT GUIDE / 08

this final gift guide is inspired by a new family tradition that we started last year. when i was a little girl, my family celebrated christmas a lot differently than we do in our house today. christmas eve was the big celebration. everyone would gather at my grandparents house, we would eat a ton of food and christmas cookies and then gather by the tree to open gifts together. the grand kids were visited by santa while everyone slept and were the only ones with something to open on christmas morning. the adults spent most of christmas day watching football or taking naps. when i left home and started a family of my own, we decided to change things up a bit. we have a nice dinner on christmas eve and save the unwrapping for morning. i enjoy this practice much more, but in honor of my family's christmas eve celebration, we decided to start a new tradition of our own. we each open one gift. that gift is a new pair of pajamas to sleep in. we then celebrate christmas morning bright and early and stay in our new jammies for most of the day. here are some of my favorites...

one / rxmance lounge pant, $115. two / snowflakes sleep set, $48. three / baby footed stripe one-piece, $29.50. four / green and red long johns, $28. five / june crew neck, $42. six / plaid woven sleep pants, $10. seven / navy star long sleeve pajamas, $39. grey and black sweatpants, $20.

MY HOLIDAY PICKS FOR BARNEYS NEW YORK

i was asked by barneys new york to put together a list of my holiday picks for the whole family. i love barney's, so of course i agreed. here are just a few of the things i put on my list... 

men / sorel cheyanne boots, $115. cashmere beanie, $98 women / gold initial necklace, $235. alexander wang wallet, $179. beauty / nars black eye paint, $25. rodin olio lusso hair oil, $65. kids / jellycat teddy bear, $28. malo faux shearling booties, $94. home / le labo home scent, $160. diana vreeland memos - the vogue years, $55.

to see all of my holiday picks, visit thewindow/barneys.com.

*this blog post is in partnership with barneys new york.