Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Having been raised in Singapore, I obviously didn't grow up celebrating Thanksgiving. Rather, we would have Thanksgiving food- Turkey, Ham, Green Bean Casserole and the works- on Christmas eve. And then, my Church friends and I would celebrate "Thanksgiving" on the 31st of Dec by gathering together and sharing what we were thankful for that year.

Isn't it weird how we appropriate what is an American holiday and make it our own?

Anyway, now that I do live in the United States, Thanksgiving is my one of my favorite holidays because it means two things- food and family (or friends). This year, I am spending Thanksgiving with my brother and Co. down in Orange County. I am always THANKFUL for having family so close by.

On another note, aren't these Thanksgiving themed platters pretty? I would order them for myself but really, I am never going to host Thanksgiving dinner at my place for a long time more. But someone really should get them. They are too cute to not have on your thanksgiving table.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Gobble Gobble!

Details:

Sesame Letterpress Harvest Entertaining Platters
West Elm 
$15-$31 each

Thanksgiving Printables

With Thanksgiving a little more than a week away, don't we all have things to be THANKFUL for?

Back in college, my coach would randomly pull out her "10 things I'm thankful for" notepad and pass it around. She would have our team fill them out individually and then we would share one item on our list with everyone. I always found I was thankful for things like "Wednesday morning off from practice." You can see my priorities were a little different back then.

Either way, taking the time out of our busy collegiate athletes schedules to be mindful of what we were thankful for always proved invaluable (and it got us out of 15 minutes of practice :D). Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity to do the same and why not do it in style.

The good folks over at Silverbox Creative Studio created these beautiful Thanksgiving printables that can be downloaded and cut into strips. Strips can not only be used to jot down what we are thankful for, but can also be used as napkin rings, tags for branches of trees or even a thanksgiving paper chain.

Enjoy and Happy Wednesday!

Merci

Being a foreign student in college was not always the easiest thing. I was always the "kid" without family at all of our swim meets and functions. I always felt silly during our team's parents weekend when we did the whole stand-up-in-front-of-everyone-and-introduce-yourself-and-your-family bit. "I'm Nicolette, I'm from Singapore and I here alone."

That being said, I was always very fortunate to have many friends whose families "adopted" me and took me in, whether for a home-cooked meal, or hosting me over spring/Christmas break. As such, I am always on the search for the perfect hostess gift to show my gratitude to my "current" adoptive family. Flowers were great when it was a local dinner, but sometimes I had to board planes to get to my adoptive destination and flowers don't last. Household ware was always cute but hard to hit the nail on the head if you don't know the adoptive home's decoration theme. Cards after the fact were always a must, but I hated (and still do) showing up empty handed. So like I said, I am always on the hunt for the perfect hostess gift.

This set of vintage wooden blocks that spell out "Merci" are right on the money and a great way to say thanks! I love the mix of the shiny gilded letters and the bold pop of blue. The company that makes the blocks also offers personalized blocks, so you could also spell out the last name of your host family. Which ever route you choose, these charming wooden blocks would make a sweet addition to a desk, table or dresser of any hostess with the mostest.

Details:
Merci Set of Gilded Blocks
Cabin 7
$31.00