Holiday Fashions

Herve Leger Uncontrollable Dress

Tejani Bracelet

Herve Leger Uncontrollable Dress

Dress:  Herve Leger;  Shoes:  Calvin Klein;  Bracelet: Tejani similar Here; On nails:  OPI You Only Live Twice

Herve Leger Cyclone Dress

Kate Spade Necklace

Herve Leger Cyclone Dress

Christian Louboutin Pumps

Dress:   Herve Leger similar to this one that's on my wish list;  Pumps:  Christian Louboutin;    Necklace:  Kate Spade;  Bracelet:  David Yurman similar Here

I had a really tough time this year finding cocktail dresses to wear during the holidays.  Every time I found one I loved, my size was sold out.  I had terrible luck this year.  Finally, I gave up and decided to try out Rent the Runway, a company that rents out high end designer clothing.  I hesitantly signed up not really knowing what to expect, but just the thought of getting my paws on one of those Herve Leger dresses was enough for me to take the plunge.  And I was not disappointed.

Since I could rent a dress for $25 with every dress I rented at full price, of course I decided to try out two different Herve Leger dresses.  I was so excited when they were delivered to my door.  I had so much fun wearing them.  I told the Murph I wanted one if I could ever grab one I like on sale.  I thought I would like the one shoulder cyclone dress the best, but the winner was the black uncontrollable dress.  If I can find that one deeply discounted, it will be mine!

Since the deal was if you rent one dress, you can get another dress for $25, I rented two more dresses.  This one by Milly is the one I ended up wearing to my own Christmas party.  I love the sparkle and my Jimmy Choo's were perfect with the dress.  I rented a gold Trina Turk dress as well, but it didn't go with the Jimmy Choo shoes as well so I chose the Milly dress.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to wear the Trina Turk dress before I had to send it back to Rent the Runway.  Four days is just not long enough!

Milly Chained to you dress

Jimmy Choo Vamp

Dress:  Milly Chained to You;  Shoes: Jimmy Choo Vamp;  Necklace:  Tejani

Herve Leger Dresses and Kate Spade necklace all from Rent The Runway.  All shoes and other jewelry are mine.

I highly recommend renting if you want a high end designer dress for a special occasion where you will only wear the dress once or you can't afford to spend $1,000 on a dress. I will say it is really hard sending them back if you rent one you really love.  I wanted to keep all of these!

Christmas Party

Friday night we had our 2nd annual Christmas party.  It was a small gathering since it's so close to Christmas and we had several friends who couldn't make it because they were either out of town or had other family obligations.  We put 7:30 on the Evite, but when nobody was here at 8:15 we thought for sure that nobody was going to show up.  The Murph and I got excited and thought we would be able to put on our pj's and watch a movie.  Then everyone showed up at once.   We ended up having about a dozen people.  We thought they wouldn't stay long and move on somewhere else for a late night drink or two somewhere other than our house, but at midnight they were all still here.  Everyone seemed to have a great time.  The Murph and I ended up having a great time after we got over the disappointment that we wouldn't be able to put on our pj's just yet.

I made sausage balls, sweet and spicy nuts, crab and avocado on toasted baguettes, stuffed olives, 2 kinds of chips and dips,  fruit and cheese trays, and ricotto and honey bruschetta  I picked up a veggie platter, cheese straws, petitie fours, wedding cookies and peppermint bark.

Everybody brought their choice of wine to drink, but I made a champagne punch with cranberry juice and frozen orange juice and had soft drinks and other bar mixers and liquors set out, including egg nog and rum.

I didn't get a lot of pictures of everyone once they got here and the Babysitter showed up late and refused to have her picture made because she knew they would be all over Facebook the next day.  So these are all I managed to get.

Everybody must have had a good time because nobody would leave so The Murph had to throw them all out promptly at midnight.  It was way past our bedtime.  We are not in our twenties anymore!   We slept in on Saturday and were totally useless the entire day.  

We didn't even get our workout in on Saturday which is almost unheard of!  I made up for it today by running 10 miles with little L (former Running Nazi) and then going to the gym and spinning for 30 minutes and about 10 minutes of weights.  

After running I finished up the rest of my Christmas shopping early this morning and picked up a honey baked ham at the HoneyBaked ham store.  I love those things!  It was great not having to wait in lines or dodge traffic!  No crowds at the mall yet!  Only us runners that early on a Sunday morning.  I was home by 10 a.m.  

Now I just have to wrap everything and get ready for my family and the Babysitter to come over Christmas day for lunch.  And the Boy comes home tonight from his dad's house.