Saturday, January 11, 2014

New Year's Eve 2013/2014

 Dress: Love Your Peaches (they are having a sale right now)
Boots: Doc Marten
Necklace: Wendy Baker
Earring: etXarte
Glasses: Lafont, gift from SB
Nail Polish: Argo from China Glaze
As I've mentioned previously, Super Boo got me a fabulous new camera for Christmas, but we don't completely know how to use it yet. I say we, but he is the one who has been playing around with it & learning. I am intimidated. I tried watching a video, but there were too many words in it I didn't understand. Kate told me I should take a class. I told her classes are for rrreeeaaallly old people...and stupid people (I don't really believe that second part). Then she hit me because her sister took a class on how to use her camera. The point of this is, I only took a dozen or so photos on NYE with my iPhone. The pictures taken on our Canon Rebel were all too dark to use. So I had to recreate my NYE look to get photos to post here. 
Kate took these photos of herself on NYE day wearing this cold shoulder animal print dress from Vicky Tiel via Gwynnie Bee. That night, she blinged out her bra straps & it looked super cute & festive. Angie wore a dress from Igigi via GB, but I have no good pictures to share...so you will have to trust me when I say she looked great in it. 
Super Boo & I hosted a NYE fondue party at our house. We only just got home from the airport at 1am that same day, so we didn't have a lot of time to get everything together. I'm such a procrastinator though, that I would have done everything just as last minute even if I'd been home that whole week. I did have recipes chosen already & grocery lists made & the amazing S. Boo. 

We had 4 pots going for our main meal: classic cheese fondue (Gruyere & Emmentaler), Cheddar, peanut oil, & homemade chicken stock from Angie. For dipping, I made chimichurri, garlic aioli, & horseradish mustard. There was tempura beer batter to dip things in before plunging in oil. We had many things to cook/dip: shrimp, chicken, bread, potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, & mushrooms. I'm really listing it all here so that the next time we want to do fondue & I've forgotten it all...here it will be! 
For dessert there was caramel & chocolate fondue in which we dipped many yummy things, including pound cake that Angie made, brownies made by Daniel, strawberries, candied ginger, homemade caramel, oranges, apples, bananas, & a variety of flavors of gourmet marshmallows. 
And of course there were many bottles of champagne & other sparkling wines. Because, Kate. And NYE. And I like sparkling things! Above is Kate trying to saber a bottle of bubbly...I think she broke a bit of glass off the rim. 
Angie & Olive with her party hat on. 
Above is NYE 2011/2012 (I'm sorry, I can't just use one year, I get confused), the last time I wore this dress. Kate & I were at L'Etoile for dinner. My hair was longer. 
Super Boo got me these fabulous leopard Lafont frames a decade ago. I don't wear them nearly as often as I should. This lovely Wendy Baker grape goddess necklace comes out to play even less frequently. I love them both!
We couldn't quite seem to capture the shiny-ness nor the eggplanty-ness of these boots.
At some point over the years, Kate & I stopped exchanging Christmas presents & chose to unwrap our gifts to each other on NYE instead. This year she got me a gigantic new make-up case, a Kiyonna dress that you will see here at a later date, & a cast-iron pig friend! One of my goals this year is to become friends with a pig because they are cute, & intelligent, & I would like to get to know one better. 
I was told years ago that in order for something to be a collection, there needed to be 3 of them. So I got Kate a collection of vintage sweater-clips because necklaces often hurt her delicate girlie neck & she thought sweater-clips might be a good solution to add some decoration to an outfit without adding pain. 

6 comments:

  1. A super fun post! I love your fondueness and that panne green dress is so pretty on you! Well done...xow

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    1. Thank you Ms. Wendy! Your necklace was the centerpiece of this outfit.

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  2. I miss your fabulously and warmly decorated house. Still fondly remember a magnificent tea party there. Eggplant Docs! Magnificent, and nice idea to pair them with the warm green velvet.

    Congratulations on your Rebel. I recommend sitting down with the manual (and a delicious beverage of your choice) for an hour or two, and taking another few hours just to experiment with different settings and shots around your house or yard. Expect many bad photos and exposure mistakes, but expect some nice artful surprises, too!

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    1. Sarah, you are too kind. I haven't had a tea party in a while...those were lovely.

      Thank you for your helpful advice. I've tried the manual, but I think you are right, I need to experiment without fear of making mistakes...because of course those will happen!

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  3. That dress looks gorgeous on you! And awww, doggie in a party hat. :-)

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    1. Thank you!! Olive is always the center of every party *smile*.

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