Welcome back to the monthly edition of Where Bloggers Live! I am lucky to have joined a terrific group of bloggers who give a peek into the places and spaces where they spend their time.
Today's topic is...The Best Gifts I've Ever Given or Received. This was a harder topic than I expected because there have been so many good ones in the many years of my life. And I have shared many of them in this post about my gifted and thrifted art and collectibles, so check that out if you haven't already.
So I gave myself a slightly tweaked topic for today's post: My 2024 Birthday Gifts, which was top of mind because I just had my birthday this week!
Let's start with gifts from my husband, who definitely kept his presents to a theme. I'm sure you can guess that theme, too!
It's just not December if I don't get my yearly rabbit calendar! It lives in a prominent position right outside our kitchen, and my husband and I use it to remind ourselves and each other of appointments, deadlines, and tasks.
This whimsical tea towel is from an Etsy shop...
As is this tea mug that is entirely accurate. I appreciate that the message and image is repeated on both sides of the mug so I can see it no matter which hand I use to drink (I almost always use my left hand, which often puts the cute stuff on the side I can't see).
This area rug is like a William Morris/Alice in Wonderland March Hare fever dream in the best possible way. It took me a while to decide to put it in the living room, but as soon as we laid it down, I remembered that many months ago I had mentioned to my husband that I'd like a rug for our living room...and promptly forgot all about it. Apparently he ordered one right away...but by the time my birthday finally came around, he'd forgotten why. So I guess you could call this gift a surprise to us both even though it shouldn't have been.
My mom ordered me these tops from Christopher & Banks (where I know my size exactly), which you will see in outfit of the day photos to come. I gave her some vague information on colors that I could use in my wardrobe, and she picked out a bunch of winners.
She knows my taste so well that she actually ordered me two tops that I already own, having bought them at the end of the summer! I wasn't sure if I wanted to hassle with returning them, but then realized that I could keep them and turn them into sleeveless versions to wear in the summer with short-sleeved jackets and cardigans. Then from the extra sleeves fabric I could make something else, perhaps a matching headband for each one? I have these two set aside to do this very simple alteration in the spring before the warm weather arrives.
I can share the debut outfits for these two tops (the original sleeved versions) that I've worn this fall.
I wore the palm print top in the easiest possible way: with jeans. That's a very common pairing for me when I get a new shirt because (1) it makes it easy for me to focus the attention on the new piece and (2) it gives the new top a good test run. I jazzed up the look with a layered #neckmess and my palm (or perhaps Monstera leaf; I call them both "palm") pendant necklace and did some low key print mixing with olive leopard calf hair flats.
My daily bracelet stack was all DIY except the top gold spacer bead bracelet and bottom white pearl bracelet. The pearl bracelet came with a matching pearl necklace I bought from Kohls; I liked the bracelet but as I mentioned in this post about memory wire bracelets, I require them to offer plenty of breathing room to feel comfortable on my wrist, and this one borderline. So I restrung it, adding a couple extra spacer beads on the underside of the bracelet so it fits better now. {stretch bracelet tutorial}
I forgot to take a photo of them on my ears, but I also wore these pretty warm pink and olive green DIY bead soup earrings that I made to coordinate with this scarf that has a similar color scheme to my new top.
I saved the long-sleeved blouse for the cooler weather and wore it with a denim skirt and grey cardigan vest. This is the extremely rare case of you seeing an outfit of the day the day after I wore it (I'm not usually that on top of downloading my photos) but I made a special effort because the timing was too perfect.
I matched my burgundy tights and boots to the variety of warm purple/wine colors in the blouse.
My layered necklace is a very recent DIY creation that I made using primarily beads from the October 2024 Curated Bead Box called "Silver Shadow." I added some dark grey crystals, the flat rectangular stone beads, and the focal beads from my stash. My husband thought "Silver Shadow" sounded like a hero from a 1940s comic book, and to me it is very reminiscent of the Silver Shroud comic book/radio character in Fallout 4. So I'm calling this one the Silver Shadow layered necklace to bring a little superhero styling to my spreadsheet-updating work day. #spreadsheetSuperhero
I was back to my usual DIY paper bead bracelet set based bracelet stack with this outfit, starting with a set made to coordinate with a different blouse in a similar color scheme (though that one has a black background). I added supplemental bracelets in a range of grey tones to lean into the colors of the Silver Shadow necklace. {bicone paper bead tutorial} {tube paper bead tutorial}
Another day, another pair of easy DIY bead soup stack earrings (aka "3 beads on a stick") that I made to go with the paper bead bracelet set I'm wearing in this outfit. The earrings draw on the warm pink, lavender, and burgundy/purple "sunset" shades in the top paper bead bracelets. You can't really tell in these photos because my hair is still past my shoulders, but I cut about 4-5" off my hair this past weekend! It's still long enough to feel "long" but is definitely easier to wash and wrangle. There's something nice also about chopping off the drier ends of my hair as the winter weather arrives in full force, bringing with it plenty of extra dryness.
Thanks for joining me in a walk through my rabbit and wardrobe centric 2024 birthday gifts!
Next month's topic is My New Year's Resolutions...and, well, I don't usually have any. We'll see if 2025 is any different.
In the meantime, visit these lovely bloggers as they share their best gifts given or received:
Bettye at Fashion Schlub
Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Em at Dust and Doghair
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Leslie at Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After
Do you have any favorite gifts given or received that stick in your memory? Do you have anything like my rabbit-themed items that you get frequently as gifts? Have you ever gotten a gift that was a duplicate of something you bought yourself?
Blogs I link up with are listed here.