pop. fizz. clink.

the glitz and sparkle of new year's is always my favorite.

i don't usually enjoy going out out tonight because of the cost, and i'm cheap :)

but i love a party at home!!

{i've never hosted myself, and its something i'd really like to do.

next year's my year. mark your calendars.}

camille styles and kate spade worked up a little party inspiration for us all. and if i were to throw a nye party, i'd certainly hope it looked at least a smidge this glam:

^  those are screaming my name.

i. will. be. having a white russian milkshake tonight.

vanilla ice cream with vodka and kahlua poured on top.

holy yum.

but i guess the party decor isn't 100% crucial to a great nye party.

this might be:

because who needs food?

just kidding.

i like food.

this is the fridge you have out in your garage.

but i'm actually really excited about my plans tonight.

going out with my dude, to a little get together.

i have a most fantastically badass outfit planned.

the snow just started here in kc and it's unloading...

not planned to stop until tomorrow morning!

and i really am planning on a white russian milkshake.

white russians, snow, sparkles and....my outfit = awesome.

{if my outfit turns out half as cute as i'm hoping, i'll share on instagram : @jabarrier. follow.}

happy new year's everyone!!!

see you bright eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow morning ;)

JILL

flowers for friday #126

last friday of 2012!

have you accomplished all you wanted to in this fine year of ours?

i guess there's still a spot of time left.

#notimelikethepresent

happy friday to you,

now go make this the best weekend 2012 has seen yet.

love you lots.

JILL

{via oncewed}

new dolls in town.

i have my cousin's 2 baby girls in the family.

one is 2, the other is 7 months.

you know my obsession with making dolls, as seen here,

so a day before christmas i decided i wanted to make some to give to the girls.

i love the ones jenny komenda made so i modeled them after hers.

i used only fabric i had in my stash, only running to hobby lobby for the pink and purple felt.

i think i was most excited for their hair :)

i didn't know exactly how the first one would turn out so i didn't even pause to take a photo. just when it was 80% finished.

voila.

i was kinda in love.

so i rushed to make the second.

as you know, i like color. and i like pattern. and i kinda like it when those two things are crazy and not totally matching, alot. so that's what i did.

once i get to a point where i'm almost finished, i get scared to do anything else for fear that i'll ruin the good thing i have going. so i almost left them without a face... but my mom thought that might creep the girls out.

so i pushed on to make their faces.

and i actually thought i ruined them, with those with those big, blank, hollow eyes... but waited until they had a mouth to decide if i needed a re-do... 

and thankfully, that's all that was needed.

a cute little, french, pink, puckered pout.

(made with a sharpie. i almost lost it, because what's more permanent than a permanent marker?)

getting packaged up to meet their little ladies.

and.....

approval!!

they loved them.

and so did my cousin :)

did you all have a great christmas?

were there any homemade dolls amongst you?

JILL

merry christmas.

i hope you and your family have a joyous christmas.

wishing you all the happiness and peace.

JILL

hot chocolate and marshmallow... men.

i just made these cookies and wanted to share in case you're sitting around wandering what cookies you could be making on this christmas eve....

my mom and i made these hot chocolate cookies with marshmallow filling.

they're a big hit.

mix all your stuff together.

#messycook

and... here's the stuff to mix together.

(we just bought whole almonds and pulsed them in the processor until they were ground. i'm sure you can buy ground almonds at whole foods or something. and i bet a magic bullet would do the trick if you don't have a food processor.)

roll out thin. recipe said 1/16".

they're going to be sandwich cookies!

cut.

we used an old teeny tiny lil copper gingerbread man.

he felt festive.

they're awesome because they hardly spread when baked.

i'm always looking for recipes that don't spread.

here's a chocolate one in case you are, too.

make little sandwiches with your men, or any other shape you picked,

with marshmallow frosting.

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING:

1 cup room temp butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1 7oz. jar of marshmallow fluff

cream butter in mixer until fluffy.

add sugar, mix.

then add fluff.

mix.

pipe it out.

we tried using just the fluff for the middle as the recipe suggests, but it spreads and is really sticky-messy.

we googled and found the marshmallow buttercream above, and it was perfect.

on your cookie, or your finger.

they are 'hot chocolate' cookies but it's really just a glorified name for a chocolate cookie. there's no hot chocolate involved. but i'm not mad.

they taste delicious and were/are a big hit.

merry christmas eve!!

JILL

flowers for friday #125

happy friday weekend!

i thought it'd be better late than never, right?

i hope you're doing all sorts of festive activities today.

i have 2 gifts left to buy and i'm sorta dreading going out there. i'm sure it's going to be one big hot mess of people who procrastinate.... like me :)

have a very merry weekend.

JILL

love.

i've had a tough time with what happened last friday.

i know it wasn't the first time, but i pray to God it's the last.

i've had multiple nightmares since.

the last of which was last night.

they're awful.

and i wake up and am filled with the same empty sadness i felt on friday.

i don't know if its the age and innocence of the children, or the upcoming holiday.

i definitely know it has alot to do with the senselessness of the whole thing.

i don't want to come on here and be a debbie-downer

but all week, i've had a hard time coming on here and being my usual sugary-sweet, life-is-good-self.

i'm taking stock of my life,

hugging everyone a little tighter,

smiling a little bit more at people walking by,

and making sure those whom i love, know it.

no one can make any sense of what happened or why,

i'm just praying for everyone involved.

time on earth is far too short.

live it up.

and love.

love alot.

show evil and violence who's boss.

{and vote for tighter gun restrictions.

because these things don't need to happen.}

JILL

2 turtledoves...

and a

partridge in a pear tree

holiday party need a holiday drink?

i found this recipe for a

'partridge in a pear tree'

from a fab house wife.

lots of holiday drinks, including my white russian with cinnamon, seem a little too heavy and creamy to have more than one. or even one. sometimes a weighty cocktail just won't do.

this one seems like it would be light and refreshing yet still get you feeling festive.

1.5 oz pear vodka

.5 oz lemon juice

.5 oz simple syrup

champagne to top it off

rosemary for garnish

i'm tempted to throw some rosemary into my simple syrup to get a little of that flavor into the drink, i love herbs in cocktails. and i love rosemary.

and i love you.

there you have it.

JILL

gilded little guy.

with tassles.

i finished my pom pom garland this weekend!! i just have to wait for some daylight to shoot it, and then i can share. it's the only diy i had for decor this christmas and i'm pretty pumped about it.

i wouldn't mind, however adding these to the mix.

there are tutorials all over pinterest with clever and awesome things you can make with plastic little animals. i wanted to make these cut in half, gold magnets you see everywhere, so i bought some online. a whole package for 2 bucks.

should have known because when they got here, they were the little ones. too small for magnets but they are still going to be used, because now i'm going to make them into birthday candle holders.

these ornaments (you can find the whole tutorial here)

are looking really fun.

i might just do it, but time's running out so we'll see if it happens.

does anyone know the best place to get some good animals?

happy monday.

JILL

flowers for friday #124

with mistletoe, amaryllis and poinsettias.

merry friday.

JILL

{via coco + kelley}

chic... plywood?

it can happen, apparently.

that kitchen speaks to somewhere deep inside.

i always think color is king, but this seems so clean and fresh to me.

i know i can love both at the same time.

along with my thoughts that color = not boring,

neutral mixes = not boring, either.

this isn't even the first time i've mentioned my love for neutral spaces, or even the idea of white with wood tones... but it somehow still takes me a little by surprise each time i fall in love all over again.

see more from my past here. here. here and here if you'd like. and there's prob more that i'm just not remembering.

you can see the whole kitchen here.

happy friday.

JILL

tail feathers.

yay or nay?

because i'm definitely a yay.

with a side disclaimer: (just like with my fur coats and deer head, etc....) they should be purchased as vintage, or handed down. because then it's better to end up on me/my walls where i will cherish the thing, than in a landfill. or, they should die of natural causes, such as old age, or dysentery (kidding). and then you might as well use what God gave you (like mounted butterflies).

that is where i stand on that. always have. always will.

these birds are just so pretty.

hotel st. cecilia in austin

jeffrey bilhuber

see the whole house here.

lonny

unknown (unfortunately, bc from the look of it, i'd probably love this whole house.)

there was a house 5 minutes from our house growing up, that had peacocks and llamas and a few other exotics as pets. they had a huge yard, with gorgeous landscaping. and then these animals just walking around like yard art. but you could tell they were loved as a part of the family. whenever we were close, my brothers and i would always ask to drive by real slow and we'd stare. its still there. i haven't driven by in a long long time. but i'm hoping other kids enjoy it as much as i did.

maybe that's where my fascination started.

happy thursday.

JILL

merry. and bright.

have you seen the new december lonny?

in love with this colorful bathroom:

in love with the pink and red for christmas.

a la carrie.

i've been busy making poms in various colors any free second i get.

trying to get it done before december 25th. (ha.)

in hot pink.

cranberry red.

black and white.

mushroom.

and mint.

can't wait to string them all up.

if it ends up happening,

i'll be sure to snap some pics for ya.

JILL

{images via lonny, camille styles, citified blog, sex and the city, and me}

flowers for friday #123

i have no excuses as to why you get these on monday.

i was off on friday trying to get 5 clients' photos out the door this weekend for their christmas cards. so i sat in my pajamas at my computer all day. could have posted this, but didn't.

sorry.

i love our friday flowers.

hope you do, too.

it's actually one of my favorite parts.

so here you are.

better late than never.

i'm so into winter whites and creams and tans and neutral mixes right now.

love love love.

JILL

{via etsy}

marchesa

have you seen the neiman marcus/target collection?

i went into target friday night (big exciting friday night plans, huh? :)

...for dog food.

and left with a whole bunch more than dog food.

they have some great stuff right now, and not just with the nm collection.

i stopped dead in my tracks when i saw the marchesa dress for little girls.

wouldn't it make a killer winter wedding flower girl dress?

and for $99, it's probably the same price as the way less cute, run of the mill one you'd get at david's bridal or somewhere equivalent. but its marchesa.

if you are getting married in the next 3 months,

and you have a flower girl or 3 without anything to wear...

jump on this:

with some white tights..... and maybe a fluffy white cardi. i die.

i kinda also want the gold cocktail shaker.

and the tracy reese holiday sparkler...

and if i also had a little girl who took her lunch to school...

she'd be taking it in this from tory burch.

happy monday.

and your flowers from last friday are on their way.

slacker.

JILL

one of my dreams.

i have lots of dream houses.

lots and lots of dream ideas floating around in my brain.

but when i saw this house in greenwich, done by jeffrey bilhuber...

i thought to myself, "self, that is one of your dream homes."

hands down.

i have said this before but when it comes to my own house and making my own decisions, i get sceeered. i know what i would want to do but then i chicken out and do a little bit less. then i see spaces like these and i think, why the hell not? i shouldn't care an ounce about what others think because they don't live there, we do. and if we are happy, then our home has fulfilled its duty.

but seriously. i want to raise my kids in an environment as

colorful and creative as this.

i'll stop talking and get you on to looking.

but it's good.

(and you'd never gather it was that spunky from the outside)

(this kitchen is my favorite!)

all very traditional shapes.

but done in a not so traditional colorway.

bright blues and purple.

orange and yellow.

pink. red.

toned down in toile and stripes and florals, with different shades of brown.

i could go on and on.

it's pretty great.

and as for my sparkly gift guide i had ready for you this morning...

my computer and i aren't on the best terms as of late, because it ate it.

it's nowhere to be found.

not in the folder where i left it last night.

not in the 'recycling bin'.

done-zo.

so i'll re-gather those things and hopefully have it for you tomorrow.

stupid thing.

happy thursday.

JILL

wrapped up.

after talking about it twice... (sorry)

here it is. (finally)

cute gifts for under $25!!

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

for most of the ladies on your list :)

there's another one scheduled for tomorrow with a little more bling.

merry christmas.

JILL