Christmas Party::The Outfit

I promised an outfit post of what I wore for the Christmas party and here it is. 
It's a simple black dress that has been hanging in my closet itching to be worn since I bought it. When I saw this dress, I wasn't really looking for another black dress, but this is one I just couldn't pass up. Especially given the price and store it was from. So I went with my instinct and made the purchase. It almost became my birthday dress, but I opted for another black dress for that occasion. In short I was not expecting to find a dress this simple, classy and elegant at Forever21. It shows skin in all the right place but not too much or on the border line. I love the back of the dress which is not pictured. It's open back and I'm usually cautious of those type of dresses. This open back is done in a way that it gives a bit more coverage rather than total exposure. Bottom line, this is a great dress at a great price from found at an unexpected store. I'll be loving this dress for a long time.
In less than 12 hours and it will be 2013. Let's make the rest of 2012 count people.

Dress: F21, Shoes: Limited

Christmas Eve Party::The Food

Hi Lovelies! Happy Holidays!
Hope you all had a great time filled with love, laughter and joy with your family and friends. I know I did and I'm still having a great time with my family. 
This post is going to make up for my lack of food post for a while. I mentioned in a previous post that I was hosting a Christmas Party. I'm happy to say it has come and gone and it was everything I thought it would be and more. It was a gathering of close friends and family with lots of great food. It was beyond great having everyone together on Christmas Eve feasting, laughing, playing games, mingling and chatting. I felt honored that everyone honored the invitation (which I'll post soon) and made time to be there and very grateful to everyone that helped in making it possible. My sister for opening up her home to everyone and the rest of my sisters and friend, Carole for helping with the food and set up.

Today, since we're snowed in and can't go anywhere, I'll be sharing with you the menu for the party. One or two of the items on here didn't make it to the party because of time, but I/we made it the following days and some did not get pictured. Everything was made from scratch with the exception of the meat balls(not pictured) and lemonade mix. There were some favorite at the party, so I'll be sharing some recipes in the future also. If you do see something you like or sounds good and will like me to share the recipe, please let me know.

Appetizers 
Caramelized Onions on Baguette, Tomato Mozzarella Toss on Baguette,  Fruit Platter, Capresse Salad, Oven Roasted Shrimp, Chin Chin, Berry Fruit Salad and Cabbage salad with Honey Mustard Dressing.

Entrees 
 Garlic Mashed Sweet Potatoes,  Meat Balls,  Spicy Gizzards,  Plantains,  Sausage Rolls, Puff-puff,  Oven Baked Scotch Eggs, Spanish Stuffed Peppers,  Cheddar Biscuits, Oven Roast whole Chicken,  Fried Rice and Moi Moi (Bean cake).

Deserts 
 Apple Spice Cake,  Mini Pecan Pie Muffin Cakey Brownies,   Mini Cheesecake, Candied Pecans, Banana Bread, Pumpkin Cake Roll, Lemon Cake and  Peanut Brittle.

Drinks 
 Cranberry Sangria,  Wine,  Strawberry Lemonade and  Lemonade-mix.

Enjoy the pictures.
Berry fruit salad
Pumpkin cake roll
Spanish stuffed pepper half gone
Sausage roll and cookies
Fried rice
Cabbage and mango salad
Garlic mashed sweet potatoes
Moi moi (Bean cake)
Cheddar biscuits
Plantains and Spicy gizzards
Cranberry Sangria
Strawberry lemonade
Oven roasted shrimp and Puff-Puff
Capresse salad
Caramelized onions, Tomatoes mozzarella toss w/ baguette
Candied Pecan
Lemon cake and Banana bread

Highlighting the mini pecan pie muffin in the cake stand and Apple spice cake in the round foil
Peanut brittle and chin-chin
More post to come featuring my outfit for the night and friends and family.

***Update***
 I promised to share the invite above. So, here it is. My sister found this cute ticket themed invite on Etsy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to you all. Have a Happy Holiday!

Love  Always

Grey and Black

 Hi Lovelies. Happy Sunday! Hope you had a great weekend. Mine was spent catching on some lost sleep, working, yes, I know and planning my Christmas party. Funny enough it still feels like I got nothing done and still a lot left to do. I am however looking forward to the end of this week and full week off work. 

I have to say I hate turtlenecks, always feels like I'm getting choked; but when I found this one, I knew I could tolerate it. It's soft, light and free. I paired it with a pleated skirt which I love because I always feel playful in them. There's just something about a full skirt with pleats that moves when you walk. Finished the look with my glass necklace and some black and grey details.
Wish you all a great week ahead.

Top: F21, Skirt: F21, Bag: Limited, Necklace: Limited, Belt: Limited, Coat: VS, Booties: Charlotte Russe

Black & Red Mood

Hello people! Happy Thursday. Hope you are having a great week. I still can't believe Christmas is just around the corner and I'm just as excited as I was last week about this holiday and festive season. 
I've been wearing a lot of black on black lately and in an attempt to consciously shy away from another all black outfit, my red jacket came to the rescue again. I added the red and black scarf for a mix of element and I was ready for another day at the office.

Pants: H&M, Top: Limited, Jacket: H&M, Necklace: Limited, Bag: Aldo, Shoes: VS

Blue and Flowered

Hi Lovelies. Happy Weekend! Happy New Month! Happy Holidays!
I can't believe it's December already. It truly feels like the year has flown by. I remember moving to NJ at the beginning of the year and now we going into our second year here soon. While I'm in awe of how the year has gone by so quickly, I remember we've accomplished a lot at the same time and thankful. I'm beyond happy that the holiday season is here.
For some reason I find myself super excited about December this year. Not to say that I haven't been excited in the past; this year just feels different for me. I was at work on Friday and I could barely contain my excitement at the realization that the next day was going to be the first day in December.  The drive to home from work is more pleasant now seeing all the lit up and decorated houses. It's such a beautiful scene that it plasters a smile on my face. The talk of holiday parties everywhere makes it even more exciting; from work, to church, to family and friends. With all these excitements, I'm trying to always remember the reason for the season and do a thing or two to make it memorable for myself. Few of the things I'm most looking forward to is road trip with hubby, seeing my family and spending time with them and my Christmas party. Yap, officially hosting my first Christmas party with help from my sisters. We'll see how it goes.
Thank Mr. D. for the expression on my face :)
What are you looking forward to this holiday season?

Dress: Asos, Top: H&M, Shoes: VS, Purse: Asos, Necklace: F21

Tweed Element

 Hello everyone! Hope you guys in the U.S had a great Thanksgiving filled with Joy, Laughter, Friends, Family and of course delicious Food. Mr. D. and I spent ours with friends and we had a great time. I have to mention the long weekend. That felt great. Since I didn't do any major cooking, I had time to sleep, check a few things off my to-do list and did I mention sleep? Anyways, still felt like the break wasn't long enough by the time Monday rolled in.
One of the most memorable event apart from the Thanksgiving dinner gathering was hanging out with all my sisters on Google hang out.We hang out and Skype often but never all of us together at the same time. It was like old times, chatting, picking on each other and catching up. Can't wait to see everyone together for Christmas. I'm already counting down.
This is currently my favorite Jacket and I've worn it with just about everything. When I saw the matching skirt in store I just couldn't resist. Knowing I couldn't wear the skirt to work or church because of the length I bought it anyways in hopes that I'll wear it to a causal gathering and that was exactly what I did. On Thanksgiving day I finally pulled out the skirt for a complete ensemble.

Jacket: H&M, Skirt: H&M, Shirt: Limited, Boots: Target, Bag: Aldo

Broken Spells

Hi guys. Happy Monday! Hope you had a nice weekend. Mine was great. My weekend was filled with date nights, movies and birthday surprises. Hubby surprised me with a birthday dinner filled with friends and my sister. Yap, my sister came all the way from Indy. I gave hubby a hard time when he told me where we were going for dinner but little did I know. It was a great night and weekend.
 This blazer was given to me by my sister about let's see...5 years ago. Yap 5 years. I can shamefully say it has never been worn. I tried to wear it, really tired, but every time I put it on, I felt a little mismatch so, it comes right off. It has been sitting at the back of my closet for a long time until last week. Thursday to be exact. I was getting ready for work in a haste, I needed a blazer, pulled this out, tried it on and what do you know! No mismatch. I like to think it had something to do with that day being my birthday. I think the spell of mismatch is forever broken.


Pants: H&M, Shirt: H&M, Blazer: Gift from VS, Bag: Steve Madden, Shoes: VS