'Tis the Season!

Because my husband, Matt, and I are leaving on December 20 to spend Christmas abroad and our home is still in what I consider a chaotic mess, I have decided not to go all out and decorate for Christmas as I normally would. That in conjunction with living in Southern California with temperature still in the 70s, it has not yet felt like Christmas season. However, I decided to treat myself after work today and go shopping at the Grove, which is always wonderful during this time of the year. They had a beautiful tree, lights galore, and fake snow falling from the sky. Plus, I finally started working my way down the Christmas list. And now it's beginning to feel like Christmas:

I also went shopping at one of my favorite stores, Anthropologie, and couldn't decide on what I should buy myself as a pre-Christmas treat. I took these photos in the fitting room to text to my best friend, Annie, in order to help me decide. Yes, we do this on a regular basis.

I just love the way this halter dress fits! It's ultra feminine, but flattering for my body type. I imagine it with my skinny citron colored belt.

And this halter top too! I like the idea of the skirt, but the fit is nothing special.

In the end I decided to buy this column dress. I'm only 5'1" (and a half) so the fact that this dress seems to lengthen me is quite important. Thanks to the wisdom of Annie. I'm sure I'll still end up buying the halter dress at some point though. Anthro keeps restocking that dress in various shades, fabrics, and patterns so I'm counting on them not selling out. Otherwise, I may feel the awful regret of not buying it.

Also, once I put up the pendant light above the dining table, it cleared out a large box from my living room and I reorganized Matt's musical instruments again. Here's a tom serving the function of an end table, which is far better than just adding to the clutter in the corner.

I'm also planning on buying a spotlight floor lamp for the living room and am debating on which one I should buy. The first one is from Pottery Barn, the second from CB2, and the third from Home Decorators. I like the last one, but read some reviews saying the material is not well-made and the metal crumbles somehow.

I also really like the above Pottery Barn one, but it's nearly twice as expensive as the CB2 one below and I don't know if it's really worth it. Especially since I do like the CB2 one as well. They create such different atmospheres for the room and it's hard to decide which goes more with the type of space I want to create.

I also came home to discover our coffee table cart at my door!! I cannot wait to put it in place, but I'm waiting for Matt to come home from work to help me. I'll post pictures of it soon!

As for Christmas decorations, I think the most I'll do is make the dining table more Christmasy with some wrapped presents and ornaments. We'll see how much time and energy I have.