CLOSED for Construction!

Working on a new and improved website for 2014!  My shop will be closed until later in January.  Please stop by then to see the new site and blog. ~ xoxo ~ Joy

White Chocolate Peppermint Martini

Christmas is almost here and I wanted to take a moment to thank YOU!    And share a favorite holiday cocktail.....a White Chocolate Peppermint Martini - the perfect drink for the holiday season! 

I made a batch up for happy hour tonight and decided to snap a few photos along the way....does this not look YUMMY? !!!!

It starts with these fixins'........

First crush some peppermint candies..........

Then dip a glass in a small plate of Marshmallow Sundae topping....then dip again in another plate with the crushed peppermints.

You'll end up with something beautiful like this......

...now take some more of the Marshmallow Sundae topping and drizzle some inside the glass and then place your glasses in the freezer for a bit.

In a shaker with ice, add the following ingredients to make 2 martini's:


4 oz. Vanilla Vodka
2 oz. Peppermint Schnapps
4 oz. White Chocolate Liquor
2 Heaping Tablespoons of softened Peppermint Ice Cream

Shake for a minute.  Remove the glasses from the freezer and pour the mix from the shaker into each glass.  You can sprinkle extra crushed peppermints on top for extra yumminess!


Enjoy!

As this year winds down to an end, I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who comes to visit my blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and website too.  Your support and friendship means everything to this little business of mine and I never forget that without you, it would not be possible to follow my dreams and passions every single day.  I hope the new year will bring you and your loved ones many blessings for a year filled with love and happiness.  

Merci mon amies ~  Joy

 

Just Listed......

Popping in during this busy week to share just a few of my newest (old!) jewels listed on my website....

xoxo ~ Joy

In My Studio...

....and sorting my newest one of a kind creations to list on the website this week! 

Stay tuned...... xo Joy

On My Nightstand...

At the end of a busy day, I really love to curl up with a good book while snuggled under blankets in bed.  It’s a great way to relax and wind down from the day before heading off to la la land.  Two new books hit my nightstand last week that I want to share with those of you who enjoy French history and anything related to Marie Antoinette….

Marie Antoinette’s Head – The Royal Hairdresser, the Queen and the Revolution, by Will Bashor.  Just published last month, this new biography about Marie Antoinette’s hairdresser, Leonard, is a fun read.  It’s been reviewed as being “The Devil Wears Prada comes to Versailles”.  I found my copy on Amazon, HERE

Marie Antoinette’s Versailles by Cecile Berly.  This book is beautifully photographed and features the public and private places of Marie Antoinette at Versailles.  The book is produced and sold in France, but there is an English translation available from the boutique bookshop at Versailles.  I ordered my copy online direct from Versailles and received it in less than a week.  You can purchase a copy too by going to HERE.

 

xoxo ~ Joy

Holiday Sparkle....

Just in time for holiday parties and gift giving!  

Just a few of the special treasures headed to my website next week :)     ~ xoxo Joy

Plan de Paris - Turgot's Map of Paris in 1739

As the renovation process with our new home dragged on....

I was planning how I would decorate our new space.

There was one piece of artwork that we had been saving for a special place and I knew exactly where it would go.  Come on in and see the "after"......

I had been wanting a copy of Turgot's Historical Map of Paris published in 1739.  While in France, I searched the flea markets and book shops of Paris searching for a vintage version of this perfect souvenir.  I had no luck.

We finally found our map in Kansas City of all places!  We had seen it on a shop wall and the owner offered it to us at half price because he was taking it down to decorate for the holidays.  It was very large and since we were flying we turned down his kind offer.  It was one of those decisions you come to regret. 

This past May, about a year and a half later, we returned to that shop and I mentioned our regret over missing out on that opportunity while chatting with the shop owner.  "You're in luck" he said!  He had stored it in the basement and he kindly offered it to us at a great sale price.  This time we said "YES"!  We packed it in large shipping tubes, crossed our fingers that it would find its way back to Florida and it did....and now it hangs in our new living room....

According to Wikimedia.org.... 

"Turgot's map of Paris is possibly the most ambitious urban mapping ever undertaken. Shows the whole of 18th century Paris and offers a wonderful perspective on the city prior to Baron Georges Eugène Haussmann’s 19th-century redesign. Turgot, who held the mayor-like office of Prévôt des Marchands de Paris , commissioned Louis Bretez and Claude Lucas to produce this map in 1734. Oriented to the east on an axonometrical projection, this map is best understood as an aerial view where in every building, window, tree, shadow and park is shown. It took the team nearly five years of exhaustive sketching and surveying to assemble this masterpiece. In order to produce the thousands of sketches and surveys required to complete this map, Bretez was issued a permit to enter every building in Paris."

As my husband is an Urban Planner and I am such a dork about anything related to Paris, I feel like this is the perfect piece of art for our home.

And it's also useful!  While reading my French history books, I can go to the wall and locate the exact building or streets to put everything into perspective.  Not to mention that I am easily distracted during TV commercials and find myself retracing our steps when we were in Paris last year.  I see something new every time I look at it.

See Notre Dame?



...and the Louvre....

...and the Tuileries Palace which long ago burned down.....

Although the shop we purchased this from no longer has this map in stock, you can find a copy at Restoration Hardware, shown below....

 

...or with Majesty Maps,  HERE

 

 

xo ~ Joy