Ain't no Sunshine

Day five in Sweden and time going way too fast! Unfortunately I completely forgot my camera cord, so no photos until I come back in January, but to paint the picture for you guys, we have had five days of grey skies and rain. Typical Swedish weather! Ugh, so frustrating.

Spend the day shopping in Lund and tomorrow we'll be heading over to Copenhagen. One of my favorite cities, so I hope it hasn't changed too much in the five years since I was there last.

Otherwise the short summary reads, Swedish water=fab hair and crappy skin, mom's food= fat belly, rainy weather=no exercise, late nights and early mornings=sleepy girl.

Have managed to find some really cool stuff for the house--nothing beats Scandinavian design. Just a few little things for me, since it's really no fun to get clothes with a 10 lbs of extra weight on the belly.

Happy Holidays!

Heading out for the evening, so this will probably be the last blog entry before leave for Sweden—and maybe even the rest of the year. Not sure if I'll get around to blogging while we're away—we have tons of stuff planned. Super excited to spend some time in Copenhagen shopping and walking around. I love that city!

Hot chocolate, Harry Potter and packing tonight =)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, et it Snow

Two feet of snow and I love it! Spent all of Saturday night inside, watching movies, drinking hot coco—all while the snow started to fall outside.

Woke up sunday morning with almost 24 inches of snow.

Santa Claus is back in town!

Here are finally some pictures of the house decorated for Christmas. We ended up not decorating that much since we are leaving for Sweden in just two days! (Woot woot!)

I heard that more snow is moving in over southern Sweden and Denmark, so I hope we won't get stuck somewhere on Christmas Eve. We are scheduled to land at seven in the morning on Christmas Eve so we are cutting it really close in case of a snow delay!

A little Shimmer

Fab little shimmering Champagne colored mini with a little bit of shirring in the front. Perfect all year round.

Golden Cocktail Skirt from J. Crew, $98.00

Scandinavian Handcrafted Bracelets

Voss Traditional Sami Bracelets, $110-$250. Handmade from reindeer leather and horn and braided pewter wire.

It's the Final Countdown

7 days/4 work days until we leave for Sweden! We're so excited to spend time with everyone. I'm crossing my fingers that we'll have a white Christmas this year.

Total Nuclear Disaster

Despite my promises to myself to hold off getting anything for the baby, we bought a new glider armchair last night and it's getting delivered on Saturday. A super cute, winter-white comfy rocking chair. I guess I better get going on the clean up in the [soon to be] baby's room now. It looks like a nuclear bomb hit the place—no exaggeration, a total wreck. Boxes and boxes of stuff that I don't know where to put. I think we need to build some new closets very very soon...

Well, my in-laws are coming over for a pre-Christmas dinner on Sunday so it better be clean by then. My image of a perfect daughter-in-law can not be spoiled!

Rock n' roll Clutch

Love this BCBGMAXAZRIA studded clutch in Charchoal.

Urban Rock Studded Clutch, bloomingdales.com, $298

I think I have a Goldfish in my Tummy

Or at least it feels like I have one swimming around in there.

I think my baby is having party.

Sunday Brunch and Miss America

I have brunch with friends and the hubby has brunch with Miss America. But I still think I got the better deal...even if he said she was super nice! (He did have to drive to Philly in the rain, after all)

We still managed to work our charm and get complimentary dessert celebrating our new babies.

Yummy Gold Sandals

Cole Haan Air Milano Sandal, $198, colehaan.com

Michael Kors Niki Crisscross Sandal, $150, michaelkors.com

Fab Fossil Dress for Christmas

Just got this dress from Fossil for Christmas Eve. I think it's super cute! And it will [hopefully] provide plenty of disguise for a protruding belly.

Whitney Dress, Fossil.com, $88.00

(And they offer free overnight shipping until Christmas)

Holiday Party Dresses

Meet Me at the Bar Graphic Dress, $49.99

Max and Cleo Dress, $118

Both from ModCloth.com

Party Hair for New Years

Gwen Stefani, queen of cool and beauty.

This is how I want my hair to look like on New Years Eve this year. Not sure it will be possible, but at least I'm getting new highlights on Saturday. Goodbye dark roots!

Not just another Saturday Night

Lucia celebration in Manhattan + Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center+ Tappas and Sangria at Sala 19+ Great Friends=Awesome holiday evening.

Trans-Sibirian Orchestra

Friday night concert at the Nassau colosseum. Amazing holiday concert with the Trans-Sibirian Orchestra—they wrote one of my all time favorite Christmas Songs, Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24).

Of course when we thought the show was over, it was just the break between the first and second act—3 hours later my body was so achey.

best of all, the band donates one dollar for every ticket they sell when they tour to a local charity—over $12,000 was raised just from the LI concert Friday night.

Looking Great

Rachel Weitz and Taylor Swift. Always stunning.

Today's Outfit

Kind of slim pickings in the closet nowadays, so I haven't done a Today's Outfit in a while. Didn't realize what a little bit of extra weight does to the fit of clothes—and everyday I get a wee bit bigger. Supposedly I have at least 15-20 more lbs to go. I'll soon be a whale.

Tights, American Apparel; Zipper Booties, lulus.com; turtleneck, GAP; Dress, JC Penny, Belt, Target, Cuff bracelet is from a silversmith from Hven (a small island between Sweden and Denmark)

Preggo Update

For all you who has been asking me for the latest. Just came from the doctors office, freshly drained of 5 vials of blood (I'm guessing there is no blood left in me right now). Running more standard testing. Otherwise, I feel fine, just enormous migraine headaches everyday—the doc said that was a good sign. Lower risk of miscarriage that way. So I'll take that as a good think even if it's terrible annoying. Not even painkillers are helping.

So far, I'm +9lbs (about 4 kg) all in form of something that looks like a beer gut and gigantic boobs.

Elliot Mann Province Bags

I absolutely adore these boho chic Province bags from East Village designer Elliot Mann. One of a kind bags made from fabrics around the world, no two bags are perfectly alike. One of these would be perfect for spring and summer next year. $275.00

New Year's Dress

I found this preggo friendly dress on sale at Banana Republic for only $39.90. Not really into spending too much money on clothes that are not going to be worn again. And let's face it, most cute dresses are not made for a big belly. (Hopefully I'll fit into it still in a few weeks!)

I think it will be perfect for New Years with some black tights and my boots.

Five Great Stocking Suffers

1. I love this tiny wish bone on a silk cord. Make a wish and

when the necklace wears off, your wish will come true. $35.oo

2. 1895 Enameled Bangle. from Henri Bendel.

Will make any girl happy. $88.00

3. Gift Card to iTunes. You can never have too

much music and there are always tons of fun apps

4. Mouse USB hub. For the tech nerd in me. My laptop has only two

ports for USB plugs. Between the printer, phone, my external hard drive,

I'm switching cords all day long. $9.99

5. Gloomaway Grapefruit body buffing cleanser.

Perfect for waking up during the dark,

cold winter. $21.00

iomoi Custom Printing

I just found this online shop called iomoi that has the cutest custom printed stuff—pillow cases, totes, stationary.

I'm totally in love with these really cool pillowcases with monkeys on them! I think after the holidays, these just have to be situated on my living room sofa.

To shop iomoi, click here

Lukewarm for Twilight

I finally got around to watch Twilight and I'm still not sure what the big deal is. I'll probably get tared and feathered for saying that, but I just don't really get the fascination. I agree that it is very romantic and Rob Pattinson is somewhat cute—but enough to cause mass hysteria? Maybe it's because I'm not a teenage any more...

Although, I have to admit that when Dirty Dancing was playing in the movies in 1987, I did see it three times.

I will probably give New Moon a shot and see if it succeeds in making me a fan.

A Girl's Best Friend

Or maybe I should say a pregnant girl's best friend. No it's not diamonds. But those are pretty good too. I'm referring to the Belly Belt.

I promised myself that this will not become a preggo blog, but this is the best thing since sliced bread...or at least close to. I'm able to continue wearing my regular pants a while longer now. I know—not very sexy but quite clever.

Amazon.com, $19.49.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Decorated for Christmas this weekend, but didn't manage to quite finish. The tree is up though and most of the decorations are out, but hopefully after tonight we should be all set. (I'l try to take some photos tonight.

Pretty happy with the weekend accomplishments—I even got around to making Swedish Lussebullar (saffron buns). But I almost burnt them when I decided to run out to the garage organizing boxes in the middle of baking them. I guess that's what happens when you try to do a million things at once!

Friday at Bianca's

So no blog updates for a few days now. Not really sure why...I truly have had the best intentions, but it hasn't really come to fruition.

Friday night we went to Bianca down in Noho and had such an amazing dinner. A tiny little family owned Italian restaurant with super tasty homemade food, and best of all, none of the entrees were over $15. We split an appetizer, ordered two entrees, two desserts, a bottle of sparkling water, two glasses of wine and a cappuccino—all for $73! Come early (or late), they don't take reservations and it gets very, very crowded around 8 pm (the restaurant is the size of my living room, so don't expect to have private conversations)

Bianca

5 Bleecker Street (by Bowery)

Noho, Manhattan

No credit/debit cards though. Cash only.

Christmas Came Early this Year

After agreeing that we shouldn't spend too much money on Christmas gifts for each other this year, last night Rich surprised me with an early present. The classic Chanel bag that I have been dreaming about! (So much for not going overboard for Christmas...)

But I am ecstatic, I guess he does pay attention to my dream "wish list" after all. Supposedly it's sold out in all of North America and it was a fluke that just when he called the Madison Avenue store, someone had just come in and returned this one.

I'm dying to head home to put all my stuff in it =)

Thanksgiving Mania

This year was actually surprisingly calm compared to the craziness that we are used to. Yummy food and fun family reunion in Rockville Center. Thanks Marcy and Jim for hosting us all.

Here are some of the mandatory photos from the family album.

My sister-in-law Debbie, brother-in-law John, Matt, Sam and little John

Rich and Sam

Yours truly

My mother-in-law Alice, my nieces Sarah and Sam

Bro and Sis—Matt and Sam

Rich's cousins Maureen and Jimmy (most photogenic people I have ever seen!)

Sam and I

Cousins—Sam and Sarah