Celebrating Christmas as an Adult

I'm going to preface this post with a quick note that I am not religious in any way, making Christmas more of a family get-together (+ presents) than any sort of religious celebration or gathering, but somehow it's long been an important date in my life. Be prepared for a slightly rambling post, but if you bear with me, I appreciate it!

Learning to celebrate Christmas as a single, childless adult is weird. This realization has been coming on for a while now, but this year I've become a little obsessive over the changes adulthood (and single-hood) brings to holiday celebrations. Growing up, Christmas was split between my mom's side of the family on Christmas Eve and my dad's side on Christmas Day (which only half-counts, because those grandparents were Jehovah's Witnesses and don't believe in holidays). Over the years, celebrating with my dad's side faded away (for a lot of reasons I don't want to go into on the Internet), and Christmas with my mom's side became more important as my grandpa's health faded and we treasured each year we had with him. If you've been with me for a while, you may know my grandpa passed away this spring, and it feels a little like the strings that held the family together have unraveled a bit. My grandma is still with us and rather healthy for her age, but his passing was a catalyst  of change for family celebrations, especially as we don't have any young children left who we need to put on a happy face and play Santa for. This year, we're not even celebrating on Christmas Eve because there are too many families' schedules to work around. Last year, I ended up at a bar with friends when I had nothing else to do Christmas day...any bets on where I'll be this year?

A touch more backstory on where this is coming from (and maybe getting to the point of where it's going)—my mom's family isn't huge, but all the adults are married, engaged or in long-term relationships. One is even expecting a baby this spring—the only ones showing up stag are a recently divorced aunt, my widowed grandmother, a 19-year-old cousin in college, and myself. It makes family celebrations a little awkward, especially as I've no plans to settle down anytime soon. I've even considered traveling out of the country at the holidays (smart thinking, Hallie!) instead of freezing to death in Iowa in future years—a few days at home will more than suffice, as opposed to the two weeks I'm currently subjecting myself to.

If you celebrate the holidays as a single adult THE single adult, I'm curious—how do you make them feel special??

*image via

Celebrate the Holidays with Minted

Minted is becoming well known around the web for their incredible selection of affordable artwork (which I've browsed more than once to find pieces to fill out the gallery wall for my apartment), but I was even more excited to discover recently that they have a wide array of custom stationery and cards available for any season, including the holidays—and how cool are some of their custom wrapping paper options? 

Since sending out hand-written, personalized cards to friends and family is on my to-do list right now, I was especially drawn to the New Year's and Holiday cards section, where you can customize your photo, font and tons of other small details (want thicker paper or gold foil accents? They have you covered). If you're worried about receiving them in time for the holidays, fret not! There's still time to order and receive them before Christmas, and you can always blame their slightly belated arrival on the weather—it has been doing something akin to blizzarding in NYC, after all. Since I don't have kids to brag about and I'm the perpetual single adult in my family (more on that later), don't be surprised if you start seeing more photos of me with my dog—or if one ends up on a card in your mailbox!

*all images via Minted.com

This post was sponsored by Minted, a site I truly love and support. Thanks for supporting the brands that make Blonde in this City possible!

Gift Giving: Pet Illustrations

Some of you may remember (and by some of you, I mean those of you who have been with me since near the beginning) this post from last fall about the real love of my life-my dog, Mollie. While scouring the web for inspiration one day, I stumbled across the blog Momathon, authored by illustrator Chris Olson, and a doodle she'd done of a dog (you can view it here). 

Having grown up in a house full of animals with lots of canine companions over the years, I immediately contacted her to see if she accepted custom/commissioned requests and we got to work! There are currently four dogs at my mom's house in Iowa, two of which are hers-Zeus and Tigger, my dog, Mollie and my sister's dog, Zoe. Short of going into a sappy story about pets, I'll tell you they're incredibly special to us. There was a lot of back and forth between Chris and I over a few months and I received the finalized artwork from her just before I headed home at Christmas. The holidays were a bit crazy and my mom and I have been working recently to get them printed, framed and on display.

Now, I'm sharing them with you!

Zeus & Tigger

Mollie

Zoe

Zoe was the hardest to capture in a sketch, mostly because she never sits still and I didn't have many great pictures of her to send short of asking my sister for one and ruining the surprise! I'm amazed at Chris' ability to capture their expressions and personalities in a simple pen & ink sketch. For comparison I pulled the images that inspired the top two drawings, along with one of Zoe.

If you're interested in commissioning Chris, I cannot recommend her highly enough! To view some more of her sketches, click here. You can also visit her other sites for her design work here and here.

Have a great weekend!

xx

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays to all!

There are many reasons I have been out of touch these last few weeks, the final one involving my travel plans and the extreme delays they suffered for the holidays. I am finally home in Des Moines & snug in my bed, having been blessed to spend time with family & friends since my arrival.

I am so thankful for every opportunity I've had this year, especially the amazing people I've met who've only begun to impact my life. I can't wait to see what next year will bring! I am thankful to you, whoever you are, reading this, for giving me inspiration. May you be blessed in all your days to come, too.

image via

I'll be back later this week with regular posts & all the things I need to catch you up on!

xx

P.S. It's cold and snowy here, so the image above seemed so fitting! Winter wonderland.

Decorating for the Holidays (Tree-less style!)

I have always celebrated Christmas with my family, but moving halfway across the country kind of throws a wrench in the whole decorating-holiday-spirit thing, especially when you: a. Have roommates b. Two of those roommates are Jewish c. Will actually be home for Christmas this year (unlike last year, where I DID spend it in NYC, with cousins).

I decided I had to go out and get some sort of tree this year, albeit one that is only a foot tall and is actually a potted plant. It is now wrapped in Hanukkah lights, representing the beautiful multi-cultural apartment I live in!

I haven't been home a lot this month to get much other decorating in, but I wanted to share some of the beautiful inspiration I found for decorating without a tree. These ideas are so adorable, I'm already feeling inspired for next year!

1/2/3/4/5/6/7

Completely adoring that wreath of glass ornaments! Such a fun way to add color and holiday cheer to a room.

xx

Small Gifts...for Her!

I leave for home in less than two weeks, and I finally have my focus on gift-giving!

As much as I'd love to share some of my real pics for the lovely ladies in my life, I don't want to give anything away before they get their presents...so instead, I've rounded up some of my other favorite small items (and maybe one not so small painting) to gift any woman in your life. be it a mom, sister, friend, all under $100.

C. Wonder Tote, $78, comes in five classic colors to store everything needed for a holiday party

Fresh Sugar Gift Set , $28, has three of their mainstay products for the beauty product lover

Julep Winter Collection 2012, $34, includes classic red & gold with some of the season's hottest colors

luluanddrew Metallic Confetti Painting, $81, adds a shiny pop of art to a room (16x20)

west elm Figurative Owl Mug, $10, cute & cozy, perfect for tea, coffee or hot cocoa on any cold day

D. S. and Durga Poppy Rouge Perfume, $94, crafted in small batches & full of beautiful floral scents

reWined Champagne Candle, $28, makes any room smell like a party (I have the riesling right now!)

Zara Combination Knit Gloves, $25.90, sleek, classic, warm...what more could you ask for?

Baublebar Hexa Bangle (Emerald/Azure), $24 each, spices up an arm party with rich color

xx