B Merry

There are a lot of little things that make the holiday special. It may be as simple as hearing the bell ringing from the salvation army santa outside the mall or maybe its the taste of peppermint from your candy cane or hot chocolates but one great clear sign of the holiday season is receiving your friends and families' seasons greetings card in the mail. It is the time where you get to hear all about those loved ones adventures from the previous year.

I am glad that no one has completely made the switch to virtual Christmas cards because there is something romantic and classic about receiving mail. Before the age of e-mail the only way of communicating with your loved ones was what we now call "snail mail" but girls tell me if there isn't any one of you who have seen The Notebook that wouldn't be disappointed in finding a love letter or even a postcard in the mail. Men, take notes (then mail it!).

So while I am not sending everyone of my family an updated picture of me and my fish this 2009, I am sharing one of my newest loves this year, my blog. I have really enjoyed finding this way to express my thoughts to others and finding a new outlet for my creativity. There is a great online company Tiny Prints that helped with my creation of my holiday season greetings. You can choose one of many designs and personalize it to your liking! Of course I came up with my tagline 'B Merry' then in the verse inside wished everyone a Merry Christmas and let them know my reason for 'Just B' which as I hope you know is answer B, all of the above.

B Reminded

There are certain scents that remind you of the Holidays. It may be a scent from your mother's homemade cooking, or the fire burning in the fireplace or the smell of peppermint coming from the candy canes. So when you don't live at home anymore, don't have a fire place and try to keep candy out of your house, your best resort is holiday scented candles!

I recently just purchased the White Chocolate Mousse candle from Anthropologie and it is heaven. Just last night I was cuddled in my bed, reading a good book and burning my candle. I almost got to pretend there was snow on the ground. If the scent isn't great enough, leave it to Anthropologie for creating a creative tin that makes you want to pull on your cable knit sweater. Holiday season has the best scents such as Wonderful Cookie also for which I purchased for my kitchen. Someone wasn't lying when they said "this is the greatest time of year".

B Sparkling

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Halloween is over and gone with and already this morning both Anthropologie and Nordstrom have announced free shipping throughout the holiday season. Along with free shipping comes my favorite part, holiday look books! If looking through the glossy pages of your favorite retailers decked out with glitz and glamour of the holiday season doesn't get you excited then I don't know who you are. My favorite look book so far and definitely not my last is Henri Bendel! The glorified New York City department store debuted their holiday look book online today and showed everything I may want for my holiday festivities.

I never collected snow globes as a child but if I was introduced to Henri Bendel's snow globe at an early age I am sure it would've been something I'd be asking for. How can you not love snow and a signature brown and white striped bag? The look book was dripped in nothing less of sparkles and was full stocked with all this holiday's must haves. Also featured in the look book, a new Rebecca Minkoff clutch I saw on Luna Boston just last week and raised the standards for my holiday party clutch for 2009. The talented designer was lucky to have two handbags featured on the Henri Bendel lookbook.  If Fall was waiting for Vogue's September Issue, Winter was waiting for Bendel's holiday look book!