a belated joyeux noël

I got this sweater from ASOS in my normal size, an 8, and it was ENORMOUS. Not in a "Ooh! I'm losing weight and need to size down" way, but in a "did they accidentally send me the wrong size??" way. I traded it in for a 4 and it's STILL too big. If it wasn't out of stock now I would - bewilderingly - trade this in for a 2. I even tried putting it in the drier and it's still huge. But I love the design and (as I've already said a few times recently) I just love saying Joyeux Noël, so this is a must-keep for me!

I feel like the cut-off for wearing Christmas stuff is 11:59PM on Christmas Day but I can't help myself - I need to stretch it all the way until the new year! I wonder if people who get mad about holidays starting too early also get mad about people ending them too late? Hmm.

sweater - asos | skirt - c/o modcloth

boots - amazon | hat - forever 21 (old)

Christmas Style Idol - Elizabeth Taylor

Merry Christmas, everyone! xo Kate

bells and whistles

This outfit was inspired by this brooch, which just screams "kitschy vintage charm" to me! My friend Jessica posted an outfit photo on twitter last week and said an old family friend used to say "I think it's okay to be tacky around Christmas, don't you?" One could argue that I dress tacky all year long, but I just love that everyone gets on the kitschy bandwagon this time of year. At work everyone is wearing silly Christmas hats and reindeer ears, and people come into the store wearing fun sweaters and festive brooches. The shared enthusiasm for all things chintzy, cute, and kitsch just warms my heart completely.

skirt - lazy oaf | shirt - vintage

shoes - bait footwear | cardigan - forever 21

bell brooch - c/o kinks and quirks

2018 Christmas playlist

Here's my 2018 Christmas playlist! I mostly listen to this in itunes instead of Spotify, since Spotify has a glaring lack of The Killers seasonal tunes and that's just unacceptable. But unfortunately you can't embed an itunes playlist, lol, so if you want a true taste of what I'm listening to this winter -- play this playlist and then go on youtube and listen to Joel the Lump of Coal, Cowboy's Christmas Ball, and Dirt Sledding. Oh, and my favorite version of Blue Christmas, by Danielle Dax! :)

My favorite new-to-me finds for this Christmas are I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter by Connie Francis and Looks Like A Cold, Cold Winter by Ingrid Michaelson. My mom is obsessed with that one and we've been playing it on repeat since before Thanksgiving!

Oh, Christmas Trees

As usual I have way too many Christmas trees considering the small amount of space I have (but I love it!!) so I thought I'd post a little round-up and show you guys ALL OF THEM! I only have one tree that didn't make it out of the Christmas buckets this year, and that's my beloved lilac tree (you can see it in my 2012 decorations post here.) It's still in tact (although the years are starting to show on it a bit) but I just couldn't find a spot for it this time around.

My main tree is this 6' silver tree with multi-colored lights. I originally got a full-sized one of these at Target two years ago, but it was so huge and as much as I wanted to make it work it just didn't fit in my little room. But then last year they had the same exact tree in a more narrow size so I immediately snatched it up. This is the PERFECT size for my space and it makes me happy every time I look at it :) This tree is filled with my grandmom's vintage ornaments, mixed in with some vintage-looking ornaments that I've picked up at Target over the last few years.



2018 is the year I decided that I can put full size ornaments on mini trees and I'm very happy with that decision. I put some of my extra deer that didn't fit on the main tree on this little pink one and I love how it looks! Also I used these battery-operated twinkle lights on basically every tree (except the big one) and I adore them! They have a six hour timer built in so I don't need to go around and turn all the trees on at dusk :)



This tree houses all of my Frank Sinatra ornaments! (Someone on instagram called it a SinaTREE and I LOVE THAT!) I collected these for years until they stopped making them around 2014. If you're a Sinatra fan you can still find the old ones pretty cheap on ebay!



Even with photoshop I couldn't quite get the color right on this tree. It's a pretty antique gold color (not as intensely yellow as it appears here) and I have it decorated with my mini-vintage inspired ornaments from Anthropologie. I also recently got that little Merry Christmas tree topper and it really pulled it all together!



This year I decided to add some seasonal touches to my Middle Ages/Black Death shelf, including a pink tree with some Black Death elements like little black rats and skeletons. I just picked up some Halloween party favors and added ornament hooks or wire. I know it's super weird and creepy but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯



This tiny aqua tree was in the Dollar Spot at Target this year for $3. Me and my mom both treated ourselves to $10 shopping sprees at Target a few weeks back and this was part of my haul. Even $10 can get you pretty far at Target if you shop smart ;) I just love the color, it's not quite green and not quite blue.



This is another unusual color -- kind of a very light red/sort of pink. It's just so pretty! This tree houses all of my old deer ornaments that I got at Target about 5 years ago. They're all missing antlers or legs at this point since they are very delicate and I didn't start taking good care of my decorations until recently (probably when I noticed these were all missing antlers or legs!)



This tree is so teensy, only like 12" tall! And it's my oldest tree. I've had this one ever since I started decorating my childhood bedroom when I was in my early 20's.



I've always loved these trees and I finally have one of my own. When I showed my mom recently she said that my Great Aunt Annie (longtime readers might remember her!) had one of these in her house when my mom was growing up, but my grandmom didn't save it when they sold her house :( I would have loved to have that so much, but at least this one will always remind me of my Aunt Annie now!



Finally I have this large pink bottle brush tree. And that makes 10 trees in total! If only I had room for more, lol! ;D

DIY pom-pom snow window hanging

This DIY has been on my to-do list for seven years. I'm not even exaggerating, I got the idea when I was on a trip to Disney World in 2011. I finally bought the supplies to make this *three* years ago. And after shuffling the materials between drawers, I finally did it this week! Phew!

So, in 2011 when I was at Disney I saw a window display with fake snowballs made out of pom-poms and started brainstorming a way to make it myself as a holiday decoration. I'm so happy with how this came out and (like a lot of my holiday decorations) I've been staring at it wondering if it'll work all year long because I don't know if I can bring myself to ever take it down!



Materials needed:

- white pom-poms (the larger size was easier to thread)
- white yarn
- 2 wooden dowels
- a large plastic needle



Before you start, measure the height of the window where you want to hang the garland.  Then cut strips of yarn to fit the window. I varied the length of my pieces so that they aren't all the same. I think it looks more like snow and less like a curtain that way.

Tie a piece of yarn to the dowel with a double-knot and then thread your needle. Start threading pom poms until you reach the end of the yarn, and double-knot again. Then slide your last pom-pom down to the knot. I kept a lot of space between my pom-poms and mixed up the spacing so that it looked like snow. You can move the balls on the yarn, so once you hang up the display you can still adjust them and fiddle around with the spacing until it looks exactly the way you like :)

I did six strands of yarn on one dowel and five on the other (to make room for my hanging plants) To hang up the pom-poms just place the dowel over your curtain rod until it's weight is counter-balanced with the pom-poms in the front. Alternately, you could always do one strand at a time and tape them up or hang them with command strips instead of using the dowels.



This came out exactly how I envisioned it, and now I have a little Disney-style magic in my office! :)

My favorite vintage inspired Christmas decorations

Every year when stores put out their Christmas decorations I immediately start hunting for things that could be mistaken for '50s/'60s vintage. It's usually cheaper than actually buying vintage ornaments or decorations on Etsy or Ebay, and you can buy multiples of something that you really love instead of only finding one.

I thought I'd do a little round-up of my favorite vintage-inspired decorations that I have on display this year! First up is this little bird ornament that I found at Target! It's available online here.



This matching deer doesn't appear to be for sale online, but I found her in the same section as the bird at my local Target. I actually got a few of these exact same deer last year, too, so hopefully this is something they'll be bringing back every year now!



This little ski lift ornament is also from Target this year (but not available online.) I love hanging ornaments around the house off of the tree to add little bits of Christmas everywhere :)



I picked up several of these cute little felt deer! They look so vintagey and cute! These are also from Target and they're available online here.



This picture doesn't do these ornaments justice. They're mini ornaments inspired by the vintage glass ornaments that I love so much from the '50s and '60s! They're from Anthropologie and they might be my absolute favorite looks-vintage-but-isn't-vintage decoration that I have. Last year I made Arrietty a mini tree to match mine and filled it with these ornaments. They're available again this year online right here.



I LOVE these lighted trees and I'm so excited that I found one in a petite size this year. I got mine at Target (not available online - come on, Target! argh!) but it is available on amazon right here.



This little Santa is one of my favorite Disney souvenirs! I bought it in the Germany pavilion at Epcot several years ago and whenever I break out my Christmas decorations this always takes me back to Disney :)



I found these vintage inspired putz houses at Home Goods a couple years back! They came in a big set with half a dozen houses, and I also got a large house to match. They're not online but here is a similar one.



This started out as a light-up Santa face that I found at Cracker Barrel, but after a few years the lighting part detached from the back and so I just turned it into a non-light-up Santa face. I painted the inside white so that it wouldn't be transparent anymore. I've always loved vintage blow mold decorations so I was so excited when I found this one! I can't seem to find it online but maybe Cracker Barrel is still selling it in store.



Last but not least, I got these ADORABLE Mr. and Mrs. Claus pull-string ornaments from Target this year. Aren't they the cutest!? Again, they're not online, but I only purchased them last week so hopefully Target still has them in store :)

meowy christmas

I should have taken a close-up photo of this dress because the print is so cute! It's covered in little illustrations of cats in Christmas wreaths! Cats and Christmas -- two of my favorite things! :) I can't believe Christmas is only three days away now!! I'm excited about it but I'm also prematurely bummed about taking down my decorations and turning off the Christmas music. I know that part of what makes the lights and tunes feel so magical is the fact that they're only around for a couple months each year, but I still get an urge every December to just leave my tree up for 365 days lol.

And I'm pretty sure that I'll still be listening to Christmas music for at least another month or two. Here's my playlist if you want to listen along with me :) I always start Christmas playlists with Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses... it gets me in a festive mood instantly!



Spotify wouldn't let me include some of my favorites, so here are some links for youtube videos for those instead:

Blue Christmas by Danielle Dax
Joel the Lump of Coal by The Killers
We Three Kings by Blondie
The Cowboy's Christmas Ball by The Killers
Winter Wonderland by Goldfrapp

dress - modcloth | shirt - vintage | shoes - bait footwear | wig - keke wigs

heirloom ornaments

Last week my brother and I helped my mom decorate the family Christmas tree. She mentioned to him that when he and his girlfriend get married, he'll get some of the ornaments for his own tree. We have a family tradition of passing down ornaments when a kid gets married and starts their own family. All of the vintage ornaments on our tree were passed down from my grandmom to my mom when my parents tied the knot.

As you probably know, I'm perpetually single. Not just that I don't have a steady boyfriend at the moment, I mean I've never dated before. Ever. It used to bother me a lot but over the last year or so I've not only come to terms with it, I've grown pretty attached to the idea of staying single. At this point in my life, I do not plan on getting married or pairing up with anyone. I feel like it's just not in the cards for me and I'm totally okay with that. But it begs the question -- if marriage is the milestone that initiates the handing down of the ornaments, when do I get mine?! lol!

So I asked my mom if she'd let me have my share now. I'm already 31, I have my own Christmas tree, and I love these ornaments SO much. Ever since I was little they were always my favorite ones to put up, and I dreamed about getting to decorate my own tree with them someday. Well luckily, "someday" is now, because I have an incredibly awesome and understanding mom. Not only did she immediately, enthusiastically agree to letting me have a handful of ornaments, she balked at the eight I picked out and insisted that I go back for four more to make it an even dozen.

I'm super lucky to have a very understanding family that is totally okay with my spinsterhood. I've never once been asked when I'd settle down and find a boyfriend, and I've never had to hear any intrusive hints about my biological clock. I know that a lot of single girls aren't so lucky, and it makes me appreciate my family all the more for it. And if you're in a similar situation and you've been eyeing some family ornaments for your tree, try asking! I think a surprising amount of people my age are unattached and we're missing out on some family traditions like this just because we're not following the conventional road path of life, and nobody really knows how to adjust old traditions to new lifestyles. So we need to make up our own rules! :)

Decorating for Christmas

Remember ages ago when I said I was starting a youtube channel? I FINALLY posted a video! :)

I really have the Christmas bug this year, so I decided to just decorate super early. I know a lot of people get annoyed by "the Christmas creep" but personally I've always loved celebrating it as early as possible. But I totally get it if you're someone who's bothered by pre-Thanksgiving holiday festivities, so just bookmark this post and come back early next month if you'd prefer to hold off on Christmas stuff until December ;)

I'm really happy with how this turned out, but I have to say I majorly suck at continuity. I have not one, not two, but three inexplicable outfit changes in this video even though I decorated my whole place in one afternoon. First I put on a sweater, then I realized I was too hot. So I put on a lace dress. Then I decided to shoot footage of me on a ladder hanging up lights and realized the lace dress was way too short for that shot, so I switched to a long sleeve red dress. But all of those clips are interspersed in the video so it looks like I just kept changing clothes all afternoon lol!

Anyway... hopefully this will be the start of semi-consistent posting. I really enjoyed filming and editing this and I'm really looking forward to shooting more in the future! :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from me and my furry friend to you and yours! :)

DIY Christmas ornament box photo mat

When I was helping my Grandmom decorate her tree this year, I noticed one of her ornament boxes was on the verge of completely falling apart. My Grandmom is kind of quick to just throw things out, without regarding sentimental (or vintage) value so I asked if she ever decided to toss out the box if I could have dibs on it first. To which she replied, "Just take it now!"

It was too delicate to actually use to store ornaments anymore, but the design is such perfect vintage, and it's been around for so many family Christmases (this one has been in use since my mom was little!) that I couldn't bear to see it thrown away. I thought I'd share what I used the box for, just in case anyone else is in a similar situation, with all these beautiful boxes that land somewhere between "too fragile to use" and "too special to throw away."



I decided to use my box as a mat for a festive photo of Arrietty. The box was *almost* 8" x 10" so I just bought a piece of red polka dot scrapbook paper at the craft store to fill in the gaps. I carefully cut the sides away from the box and then taped any rips and tears to create a sturdy mat for my photo. I used repositionable glue dots to hold the photo in place and then mounted it in the frame.

I definitely could have stopped there (and tbh my frame would have looked a lot less DIY/crafty if I had) but I didn't want the illustrations on the sides of the box to go to waste, either. So I cut them out carefully (I used scissors but if you have a delicate box, learn from my mistake and use an x-acto knife instead) and hot-glued them to the base of the frame. Then I used a paint pen to add some embellishments that matched the design of the box.

I'm so happy that I was able to save a piece of our family's Christmas heritage and turn it into a decoration that I'll be putting up for years to come :)