Happy New Year from Palm Desert

 

Wishing you a Happy New Year and All The Best for 2011.

Image R.Nichols

Happy New Year!

  

I love this photo above, from the talented Abby at Abby Try Again

I hope everyone had a joyous Christmas and a wonderful New Year! It's been a nice holiday spent with family. Now things are quieting down and we've been trying to keep warm in this gray weather, bundling up to head outside just enough to keep from getting cabin fever, (which is easy to get with an energetic toddler in the house!).

To my readers: I hope your New Year is filled with cheer and the promise of happy times to come. Thanks for stopping by! (photos: abby try again via pinterest, Marie Claire Maison, 100layercake; Domino)

Inspiration 12.24

Via 1. Martha Stewart Living 2. Design Sponge 3. and 4. Coastal Living 5. White Trash Beautiful

A Dog's Rules for Christmas

#1 A big man with a white beard and a very loud laugh may emerge from your fireplace in the middle of the night. DON'T BITE HIM! Believe it or not, he comes bearing gifts.

#2 Don't pee on the tree.

#3 Be tolerant if your humans put decorations on you. They seem to get some special kind of pleasure out of seeing how you look with fake antlers.

Wishing you a happy holiday season
filled with love and laughter with your dear ones
two-legged or four!

Courtesy of Barking Babies

Patricia Gray Inc is an award winning Interior Design firm in Vancouver who blogs about Lifestyle and WHAT'S HOT in the world of Interior Design.
2010 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

Home for the Holidays Christmas Tree

 

Patricia Gray Inc is honoured to have participated along with Linda Sale Interior Design in their 3rd Annual “Home for the Holidays” fundraising initiative benefiting Canuck Place Children’s Hospice at Sutton Place Hotel. This festive fundraising initiative partnered with local Vancouver businesses to create signature trees that are showcased in the lobby of The Sutton Place Hotel for the month of December.  Please drop by and feast your eyes on the beautiful trees and cast your vote for your favourite.  Thank-you to everyone who voted for their favourite tree and helped us raise proceeds for this important cause.

   

The tree is decorated with handmade Canuck Jerseys for each team member, and Gingerbread Cookies to represent the Children of the World dressed in their native costumes with each holding the flag of their Country. Click here to see more pictures of the decorations. For more information, please visit Canuck Place Children’s Hospice or Sutton Place Hotel Home for the Holidays.

Photos top left to right: Patricia Gray with clients Arnold & Audrey Armstrong; Patricia Gray with client Linda McGibbon; Patricia Gray with Sara Tye, Creekside Tile; Patricia Gray with Hanan Arabatlian, Aura Interiors.

Patricia Gray Inc is an award winning Interior Design firm  in Vancouver, Canada who blogs about Lifestyle and WHAT'S HOT  in the world of Interior Design.
2010 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

Twinkling Lights...

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, it seems like everyone's thoughts are turning towards holiday decorating. Some inspiration for the weekend, and my top picks for sparkling lights, garlands and tree toppers...

Images: 1. Martha Stewart Living 2. Sugar Cookies from Abbey goes Design Scouting 3. Martha Stewart Living 4. via Cosmic Dust 5. via That Girl 6. Tree toppers and sparkling ornaments from Terrain and Anthropologie.(Clockwise 1. Wire Tree Topper 2. Santa Lucia Snowflake Set 3. Distant Decembers Tree Topper) 7. Terrain string lights and garlands (1. Silver Bells Garland 2. Star Lights 3. Brass Bells Garland 4. Vine Lights) 8. Party Globe Lights from Restoration Hardware and Planetary String Lights from Sundance

Holiday Collection from Rifle Paper Co.

This is a public service announcement to alert you to the fact that Rifle's holiday collection is just about the cutest thing ever. Shop here.

'Tis the Season

I'm officially kicking off excitement over the holiday season. The stretch between Thanksgiving and New Year's has been my favorite time of the year since I was a kid. Endless plates of traditional food, homemade cookies and pies, festive cocktail parties, spare landscapes punctuated by reds and greens and shimmery lights...I don't get why all of winter can't be so fun.

My Christmas cards are ordered, and I'm not even going to pretend to wait for Turkey Day to get to decorating (and I'm sure the endless loop of Christmas carols won't be far behind.) So, who's with me? Any other early birds on the holiday cheer out there?

Twist on Tradition

Obsessed with this beautiful wreath of feathers from Anthropologie.

Happy Easter

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter

Patricia Gray Inc is an award winning Interior Design firm  in Vancouver, Canada who blogs about WHAT'S HOT  in the world of Interior Design.
2010 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

Last Look: All is Calm

I am adoring this simple, country table setting discovered on The City Sage. With the craziness of holiday shopping and parties in full swing, this makes a quiet, Christmas dinner for two seem positively dreamy...

Guest Post: Peanut Butter Mud Bars via Tommy from Specs Appeal

I hope you guys will welcome one of my favorite Southern gents, Tommy from Specs Appeal, who has been kind enough to share his incredibly delicious recipe for Peanut Butter Mud Bars with us. Trust me, Tommy knows what he's doing -- I feel like I got a crash course in baking just reading this post! Thank you, Tommy!
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What is it about this time of year that makes us want to indulge? Is it the merriment? The omnipresent temptation? The idea that New Year's is right about the corner and we can/should splurge while the splurging's good?

Honestly, I don't usually need an occasion to want to bake (or eat sweet treats), but there's just something about the holidays that turns me into a baking fiend. I blame work. So many potlucks and parties and gifts and...well, you get the idea. This weekend I set out to make some goodies for a few friends, and the recipe that I'm going to show (and tell) here is for Peanut Butter Mud Bars, which comes from The Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook by Jennifer Appel (2001). It's pretty easy and should prove to be a crowd pleaser. Plus, it works year-round.

My biggest tip for baking in general is to be prepared. Read through a recipe at least one time, and make sure you have all the needed ingredients. I know this sounds like a no brainer, but you might be surprised to get halfway through a 'simple' recipe and realize you need corn syrup or something semi-random.

Right along with preparation is setting out your butter and eggs so that they have time to come to room temperature. It makes such a difference because the oven does not have to work to bring those ingredients to the higher (room) temperature, where your other ingredients start. I usually set my butter out for at least 4 hours before I need it and give the eggs about 2-3 hours. Note that this does not apply to pie crusts and most pastries.

But I digress. Also note that you can use the butter wrapper to grease your pan. When creaming the butter and sugar, just let it ride. You may think that it's ready, but it's not. Seriously. Time yourself for five minutes, and you'll see that it's a longer stretch when the mixer is going. Oh, and if your butter is softened, it will mix much more easily. Also remember that baking is a science, unlike regular cooking. A dash of this and a pinch of that won't necessarily work for those sweet treats to turn out right.

After a marathon baking session yesterday, I ended up with two pans of peanut butter mud bars, about 60 chocolate chip cookies, and a sinkful of dishes. :) I hope that you've enjoyed reading this guest post as much as I enjoyed sampling the fruits of my labor. And thanks to Jenn for having me over! Happy holidays, everyone!

Peanut Butter Mud Bars

Ingredients:

Bar

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

½ cup creamy peanut butter

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup chocolate chips

¼ cup vanilla or white chocolate chips

½ cup peanut butter chips

¼ cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)

Topping

2 tablespoons choc. chips

2 tablespoons vanilla chips

2 tablespoons p.b. chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Grease and lightly flour a 9 X 13 baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk (or sift) together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the low speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the peanut butter until well mixed. Add the egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and incorporate thoroughly. Stir in ½ cup of the chocolate chips, the vanilla chips, ¼ cup of the peanut butter chips, and the nuts. Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle on the remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips and ¼ cup peanut butter chips. Allow to sit for a minute or so. Smooth out the chips with a rubber spatula as they begin to melt.

Cool for 20 minutes or so before sprinkling the topping chips evenly over the surface. Let cool completely before cutting and serving.

Makes twelve 3-inch bars.

The Best: Advent Calendars

I know I'm a little late on this post, seeing as we are only 10 days away from Christmas, but one of my favorite childhood Christmas memories was keeping watch over my family's Advent Calendar. It just made the countdown to the "Big Day" seem even more exciting. Here are some of my favorites to save for next year:

A DIY calendar made from stacked matchboxes via Martha. Instructions here.

My favorite one this year: hats and mittens from Garnet Hill. So freakin' cute!

Buckets of Joy Advent Calendar (Garnet Hill)

Hand-crafted pine Advent Calendar (Pottery Barn)

Cotton pouches Advent Calendar -- picture these filled with candy and laid out on a vintage silver tray (NuvoNova)

Brooklyn Advent Calendar (Noveau Designs)

P.S. Don't forget to enter the Downtown Chic Giveaway!