Happy New Year! (and make it so!)

via lollaloves

champagne wishes

New Year's Eve is upon us and for many, that night means champagne. If I headed out to celebrate this year, I would definitely partake, so I was thinking maybe I should prepare some fancy, fizzy drinks here at the homestead.
Whether you decorate the flute or add a little something to your bubbly, nothing says "Happy New Year!" like some champagne wishes.....

Images courtesy of sheknows, divinepartyconcepts, babble, pinterest, favim, cupcakesandcashmere

Thursday, the #1 new year's resolution, and Etsy

"Skinny Love" (8x10 print) by Subject2Change

In case you're wondering what the most popular New Year's resolutions are - usa.gov keeps a list of the top promises we make to ourselves. They are all there: money management, exercising, getting a better job, and giving up those pesky vices of alcohol and cigarettes. The biggest is, of course, losing weight and that's where this Thursday post means to step in.

Here are just a few Etsy finds meant to let you embrace the word "skinny" without actually having to extract your sweet tooth or deny yourself the pleasure of french fries. With these items you'll be considered "thin" while maintaining your already lovely form. So go ahead - get yourself a muffin and then visit with these Etsy items...

Oh, what thin fingers you have!

"6 Mixed Metals Basic Stackers" by brightsmith

"Mushroom Stacking Rings" by crownsnestmountain

"Skinny Sterling Silver Forget Me Knot Bow-Tie Ring" by PaupersBounty

Skinny belts = skinny waists.

"Skinny Elastic Rainbow Belt with Twist Buckle" via thedapperapple

"red leather dress belt thin brass buckle" via dahiliafound

"Vintage 1970s Skinny Studded Belt" via OldBaltimoreVintage

And who needs all that material when your neck is like that of a swan's?

silk "Vera" scarflette via happydayvintage

"Vintage Silk Skinny Tie" via CometSalvage

"Fine Jersey Scarf in Mauve" by JamesAnthony

I just wish all resolutions were this easy... Happy mid-January!

The Year in Lists

Image courtesy of strawberryluna

It's the end of the year, and so the annual "best of" lists have been written and spread across the world of information. I love these lists, comparing them to my own, arguing with them, using them to fill in gaps in my cultural literacy. Actually, I just love lists. Their orderliness gives me hope for my own cluttered life.

So please enjoy this list of my favorite 2009 lists:

Best Under-The-Radar Books of 2009 (part of NPR's comprehensive list of the Best Books 0f 2009)

The New Yorker Blog's Best Ten Films of 2009

All Songs Considered Reader's Poll Results for the Best Music of 2009 (where you can also listen to all the picks in their entirety)

The Chicago Tribune's Best TV shows of 2009

The People's Choice Awards for the Best Podcasts of 2009 from PodCastAwards.com (And if you'd like some personal recommendations, I consider myself a podcast connoisseur.)

And of course, PC Magazine's Favorite Blogs of 2009 (where sadly you will not find Hiving Out listed. Of all the nerve.)

Enjoy browsing and feel free argue with these lists in the comments. We'd want to hear your picks!

New Year's Eve

"I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. " - Harry Burns, When Harry Met Sally

A decade ago I spent New Year's Eve with Vivi- neither of us fans of the hoopla and both of us apart from our respective terrible boyfriends. We had plans to go to a party and then we didn't have them, so we spent the night walking in the freezing cold of Boston looking for a perfect spot to ring in the new century. It is a long story that ends with us eating pea soup and rice pudding, grabbing the first cab we could at 12:01 to get out of the single digit frigidity and getting back to my apartment for some When Harry Met Sally.

I love that movie and the quote I posted above. What I love most about that New Year's Eve however, is that I finished the century with the person who was with me through all the best and worst times of our adolescence, the person I laughed and cried with the most, the person who inspired and comforted me. I am always grateful for that (and that the aforementioned terrible boyfriends are not the lovely gents we call ours today). 

Happy 2010!

Image courtesy of leavemethewhite.com

if I MUST make a resolution...

Forget resolutions for the lot of the year - I'd rather just focus and enjoy each and every one of those 365 days when I'm actually in 'em (hey! I think I just tricked myself into a resolution... oh, the power of the New Year! You've caught me in your evil web once again!!)

image via dreamcatcher

gold in the new year

by *littlemewhatever (via weheartit)

I love the glitter of gold against the barest and palest of backgrounds or up against dark or worn wooden - it's so earthy yet ethereal... perfect for the new year, don't you think?

"fleur de lis structured multichain" by white owl

by loou

decorative wood and gold candles by jeanpalle

by toriejayne (via Somerset)

by Elizabeth*ann (via this is not my work)

"vintage 1950s gold embroidered handbag" on DearGoldenVintage

via loveyourchaos

by Cavallius Design (via Mackin Ink via it's mary ruffle)

by Virginiaz (via simple blueprint)

by Burcu Avsar (via Love. Obsess. Inspire.)