Chocolate.....diamonds!

It's no secret as I've mentioned before, I am a chocoholic, if it wasn't for the guilt I would have it every day!!!!  Oh yea!  But now for us chocolate lovers, what could be better than "Chocolate Diamonds".   Several years ago, these diamonds were just known as "brown diamonds".  Well that has all changed with the popularity of the Chocolate Diamond by many celebrities and women in general.  The Chocolate Diamonds of today, are mined and designed in a much higher quality than ever before.  The colors are deeper and richer and make for the most unique stunning jewelry for those women who want something different and beautiful.  Just love these gorgeous pieces, mostly from Le Vian or Na Hoku.




This is the one that I've hinted BIG TIME to my husband for a Christmas gift

 

 

Annual Christmas Shopping in Orlando...

For the last eight years, me and my family make our annual Christmas shopping trip to the Mall at Millenia in Orlando, less than two hours from our home.  We get up early in the morning, go out to breakfast and arrive just after the mall opens.  My husband will drop me and my daughter off, and he goes Bass Pro and every golf store in the Orlando area.  Then we will meet up for a very late lunch, and finish shopping at the mall together.  I cannot begin to say enough about the Mall at Millenia, it has everything, my daughter and I spend about five hours there and love every minute of our time together.  The holiday decorations are spectacular and it's just a warm beautiful enviornment for holiday shopping.  After shopping, we will go to International Drive and then head to Downtown Disney for all the beautiful decorations that only Disney can do.  Though my daughter is now 24, she still loves to go to the Rain Forest Cafe for dinner, not so much for the food as it is just fun and a great place to unwind after a long day of shopping.  She feels like a little girl again and for that short time, I do too.  After dinner, we will go to Ghirardelli's for a hot chocolate, and stock up on all kinds of chocolate....can we say YUMMY!!!  We will then walk around listen to all the Christmas music and just enjoy the rest of the evening.  And on our trip home, we just spend that quiet time talking about the day and how God has really blessed us in so many ways, especially to have each other.  I'm getting so excited, we are leaving in just a couple of weeks, just hope it is cold out, like it was last year!

Cinderella's Castle - just beautiful

Downtown Disney

Downtown Disney - Planet Hollywood

Ghirardelli

International Drive

Rain Forest Cafe

Just love all these planters and fountain at Downtown Disney

Epcot ready for Christmas

Fill em' up!!!

The Mall at Millenia

Disney Chirstmas Store





Teal and metallics, a great holiday combination...

I just love the color teal and copper together, especially for Christmas decorating.  It reminds me so much of the beautiful desert southwest, and using  metallic copper, gold and silver just adds that special glitz for the holidays.  The pictures below are ones that I either found on Picasa, Z Gallery, two of my own, or other Internet decorating sites.  I particularly love the metallic glass bulbs hanging from the second level. I'm seriously contemplating trying to make them for the cathedral ceiling in my great-room, which I normally never have decorated in the past years.  My daughter and I have been going to Home Goods about every 3 or 4 days, they are constantly putting out new decorations, and they have so many unique beautiful items.  I don't know about anyone else, but it seems as though the holidays are coming so quickly this year, so...I think starting next week, I will begin putting up some of our Christmas decorations, and hopefully, to have them all up including the tree before Thanksgiving.



Metallic drops




From Crate and Barrel




Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills a few years ago




Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills





Mercury Glass with the soft teal




This tree was found on Picasa - beautiful colors





Snowy white and teal





The leopard ribbon is stunning





Gold net ribbon with the bright metallic - gorgeous




Part of my fireplace mantel from 2009




Palm in my front yard, Christmas 2009



Stunning



What a great idea with metallic glass bulbs, so unique



Peacock feather wreath found on Picasa

Pine cone dipped in teal paint

Tiffany & Co Christmas Ad

From Z Gallery

Beautiful glass copper ornaments

Candles from Z Gallery

Metallic wreath found on Picasa

Poinsettias....

There is no flower out there that signifies Christmas more to me than the beautiful poinsettia.  Today there are so many varieties and each year there always seems to be yet another unique one we've never seen before.  For me, I just can't have enough around my home during the holidays.  Living in a warmer climate, I plant them all throughout my yard around palm trees and in other garden areas.  I collect huge ceramic pots and plant all kinds and colors I can find in them throughout my back yard with landscaping lights and in my Lanai with miniture white Christmas lights.  The best part is when the holidays are over, I will cut them back, and plant them in a shaded area of my yard and they grow until next season.

A few years ago, my daughter and I went out to Los Angeles to have Christmas with my family who lives there.  My husband did not go on this trip with us, and I think he was glad in the end, because it actually turned out to be one big shopping trip.  We arrived days before Christmas, so there was still some shopping that needed to be done.  We decided to drive down to Costa Mesa in Orange County to The South Coast Plaza.   I've been to So. California dozens of times, but never to this mall, so one would think when we pulled in, I would be so excited to see all the fabulous stores and the size of this wonderful mall...well, the first thing I noticed was the beautiful landscaping...thousands of red poinsettia in a curvature design outlined with pure white Cyclamen, it was stunning!   The last picture below is the combination of those that in an arrangement.  So, I'm on a mission this weekend to find the white Cyclamen and get them ready to plant in my front yard with the bright red poinsettias.  Not only is the combination just so perfect for the holiday season, but it brings back the most indescribably wonderful memories of that trip, and after all that's what Christmas is all about, being with the ones you love, making beautiful memories and being so grateful that we have God in our lives.

Here is a wonderful website you may like to visit.  It's the Paul Ecke Ranch in Encinitas, California.  It has the history, legend  facts, myths, etc. of the Poinsettia...along with some great information especially the one listed under "product catalog", 2011 Ecke Summer Poinsettia Catalog about the Polar Bear poinsettia.