Happy New Year

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right"
~Oprah Winfrey~

Be happy and safe,
See you back in 2010!

Marcela & Clara

White Wednesday

around old, classic Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hope you enjoyed our walk...

Thank you Katherine for hosting another wonderful White Wednesday!

I wish for...

Christmas Eve is always a very exciting and long day for us. Throughout the years, we have kept our Argentinian tradition of opening gifts at Midnight, something that our kids always appreciated: no need to wait until Christmas morning to be surprised!

This year, Christmas Eve Dinner was at Clara's.
The house really glowed!

Candles, glitter and twinkle lights lent the perfect atmosphere to a special night...

At the dinner table, each one of us received a little Christmas ornament.

Our names and the year was written on each one...

Before the food was served, Clara asked us to write on a little piece of paper she had prepared, our wishes for 2010.
Some shared their thoughts: health, work and love were popular...some other wishes were secret...

Finally, each one of us rolled the little piece of paper keeping our most precious thoughts and pushed them inside the little ornament.

Our little Christmas balls became our own time capsule!
Next year, on Christmas Eve will open them up...will our wishes change?...will our wishes come true?
Only time will tell.

Happy Monday!

Mondays always mark beginnings:
the first day of the working week,
the first day of school,
the first day of our diet!
But today is a very special Monday:
today it's the last Monday of 2009!

We found these words by the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho and decided to share them with you. Make of this Special Monday everything you'd like it to be,
a day full of hope and possibilities,
a day full of renewed energy that will last the whole 2010!

"It is always a need to know when a stage in life is over. If you insist in remaining in it, more than the necessary time, you lose the happiness and sense of the rest....Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience....The only way to save our dreams is by being generous to ourselves....If you have a past with which you feel dissatisfied, then forget it, now. Imagine a new story for your life and believe in it. Focus only on the moments when you achieved what you desired, and that strength will help you get what you want....When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

- Paulo Coelho -

Merry Christmas!

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful"
~Norman Vincent Peale~

Wishing that the beauty of the Season will stay with you and your family all year long!
Marcela & Clara

A spoon full of bling...

Just wanted to share with all of you a great Giveaway!
Sweet Rita from Tesoro Fino has a set of sterling silver teaspoons looking for a new home...
these pretties have been decorated with some bling and you could be the winner...

Just visit Rita at Tesoro Fino and follow the instructions...
you might just find another gift under the Christmas Tree!

Christmas project.

Remember these?

Huge old chandelier crystals found at La Maison Rustique Show in Temecula...

With the help of some vintage music paper, pearls, glitter and vintage ribbon they were transformed into these...

Fun, one of a kind ornaments!

Simple, fun idea to keep your imagination going...
Hope you liked it!

Come in...

the house is finally ready for Christmas...

This year, my family and I, decided to have a very simple Christmas.
I decorated a very small tree using my vintage ornaments (mainly because they were the easiest ones to access in the garage)...

...filled vintage bowls with more ornaments...

...and displayed some pretty pink ones under glass cloches...

Because we just came back from a trip and because we are all old enough to understand that we have a lot more than we need, the number of gifts have been drastically reduced...
which helped reduce the trips to the mall, the parking space fight and the stress level.

This post was supposed to end in a very different way but...

As my Daughter and I drove home today from school, we saw a family of 5 asking for help.
The Dad lost his job and now holds a Please Help sign. The Mom was helping the kids with their reading and writing...
When we got home, less than a mile away, our little Christmas tree didn't look so little anymore...and the words "simple Christmas" took a completely different meaning...

That must be the "Magic of Christmas",
the moment when we all realize that

"Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts"
~Janice Maeditere~


I'm just so happy that my Daughter was there to share that moment with me!

The bad weather...

we had these past days,
a little stomach bug,
a much needed Christmas shopping,
and a Back-To-Reality time after a trip to Argentina...

are keeping us from Junkin' and Blogging...

but we promise to come back very soon!


Miss you all,
Marcela & Clara

White Wednesday...

The Spirit of Christmas is all over Clara's beautiful home...
and as you can imagine, there is plenty of white here to photograph...

Beautiful arrangements on every table...

and lots of ornaments, new and vintage...

Silver trays and glitter for sparkle...

And what about her blue Christmas?
Chippy paint and touches of her now favorite color...

inside a corner piece in her kitchen remind us that Santa is really close....

In the meantime, I'm trying to get rid of my "Grinch" mood and do some Christmas decorating...

Do gold-sprayed pumpkins count as Christmas decor?????

For more wonderful white inspiration visit Kathleen at Faded Charm!

Junkin' Monday #14

After 2 weeks of not Junkin' not even the cold weather was able to keep us away from the Flea Market!
We found some great stuff this time but we are sharing only a few because we didn't have enough time to photograph the rest before it got dark...sorry!

Our first treasure is an antique jewelry box in need of some serious TLC...

The trim around the edges was broken and it needed a good cleaning, but look at the amazing tray inside...and the cute little mirror!!

We love the hardware...

We added new-old trim and a crocheted piece with a vintage bling topping it all off...
It will be hard to let this one go!

Our second find came from the same booth, a wonderful and very interesting Italian sconce...

Metal and wood with beautiful original paint and the most perfect patina...

Don't you just love the colors?...We sure do!
Wired and ready to be enjoyed...

Our final treasure, a gilded floral lamp...
The base was exactly what we were looking for: a little shabby, a little glamorous...

...but the lampshade was a little too predictable.
In order to achieve the new look we are going for, we came up with something a little more unexpected...we got rid of the simple white satin cover and we dressed the lampshade "skeleton" with burlap, vintage lace and a fab vintage brooch with rhinestones...

Now is totally ready to be adopted by a good family...

Today's picks will help us add a little glam to our new Country Roads space!


Wondering what else we got?...You'll have to come back in a couple of days and take another peek...
Now, how about if YOU show US your new treasures?