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Well girls today is the beginning of the White Denim in Winter Challenge and it would only figure that I'm seriously under the weather with a cold.  I spent Friday night trying to convince myself that I didn't have a sore throat, only to wake up on the couch Saturday morning barely able to swallow.  Tall tales to self continued well into the evening where reality set in:  someone else would be singing Maneater at a local hang out while I sipped hot tea through a straw.

There is no justice in this wicked world.

I am so looking forward to seeing how everyone styled their whites today.  I'll join in on Thursday as the whitest thing I have to offer right now is my dastardly pale skin.  Here's who's up:

• Daniela - D, Etc.
• Nicole - Frankie Hearts Fashion
• Shannan - Merci Blah Blah
• Lyddie - Chic on the Cheap
• Taylor - Curly in the City

Everyone posts at different times so you might need to visit more than once, but I've already seen Lyddie's and she sent me into tears.  Gorgeous!  Speaking of tears does anyone else cry when they're sick?  I spent Saturday night shivering and weeping away to The Holiday.  Oh Jude Law.  Oh Kate Winslet.  Oh romance.  

On that note I leave you with a glimpse into today's outing with the Chef.  Long live boyfriends who don't give a rip about the Super Bowl and running around with plastic cheese on their head while the neighbors get ripped out on pot, screaming and hollering their heads off, using baseball terminology to describe football.  True story.

Well everyone at long last it's here.  Friday.

Earlier this week I was thinking that I really need to develop a better mindset about every day of the week and enjoy the moment instead of dreaming about Friday.  But how?  It equals two days of freedom, carefree sleeping in or maybe getting up early to grab breakfast and then crawling back into bed, and the idea of getting all my laundry folded and put away.  (no jokes.  laundry nerd here) 

Today is especially exciting because Joanna - the designer behind and owner of Brooklyn Thread - has graciously offered to give away the Peach Jade Bead Bracelet to one lucky reader.  It was featured in last week's Pile It On post and will be perfect on its own or layered in with other bracelets.  I have been eyeing Joanna's designs since I started blogging last spring and love her creations.  The color on this bracelet is divine and it is one of my current faves!


GIVEAWAY DETAILS
This giveaway is open to all readers.  Yay!  The entry period will run through 11:59pm PST Thursday, February 10, 2011 and the winner (selected via random drawing) will be announced on Friday, February 11, 2011.

TO ENTER
*All you have to do is be a follower of this free bird via Google Reader and leave a comment with with one of your fave items from Brooklyn Thread

*For additional entries (leave a comment for each one):

• Become a follower of Lifestyle Bohemia 
• Like Brooklyn Thread on Facebook

Good luck everyone!

And now I wish you a wonderful weekend.  If I'm able to get through 5 circuits of No More Trouble Zones without passing out on the living room floor it will be a grand success.  Any special plans over the next couple days?  If you haven't see The King's Speech I highly recommend.  We saw it tonight and it was excellent!  Well, that's it for me.  I'll see you back on Monday for the start of the White Denim in Winter Challenge.  You can find the schedule here.  Woot!

Remember way back when (3 short months ago) when I was waxing on about getting back on the workout wagon and having one last throwdown with those homemade chocolate peanut butter cups as a sayonara?  Well let me just say that once Thanksgiving hit a couple weeks later I entered what I am now calling Holiday Food Coma 2010.  Sadly said coma has carried on to present day and I find myself with more junk in the trunk than I'd care to admit.

So today I returned to Jillian Michaels by completing 4 circuits of No More Trouble Zones during which time I realized I can no longer even properly womanhandle 2lb weights.  It's gonna be a long way back up this dirty mountain.  You see over the weekend I was thumbing through the Williams-Sonoma catalogue carrying on about how fun it would be to try this or that gadget when there they were staring at me from their little cups...X and O s'mores - 8 for a mere $24.95.  Of course I said to myself - challenge! (pronounced shall-onje!)  and decided that much like the Peppermint Bark I would take it to the kitchen and recreate my own.  Shortly thereafter I realized that a return to Jillian was in high order and I have to stop looking in the Williams-Sonoma catalogue.  

These are wonderful and we had so much fun making them from scratch:  gluten-free graham crackers dipped in chocolate with Thomas Keller's marshmallows sandwiched in between.  If you want to give your special someone (ahem, yourself) a homemade gift for Valentine's Day, I couldn't recommend them more highly.


Graham Cracker Recipe - listed here
*Where they call for a gluten-free blend you can use mine listed here*

• Dip one side of each graham wafer into your tempered chocolate and transfer it to a parchment lined cookie sheet for the chocolate to set (about half an hour). 

• One by one dip the other side of each wafer and let sit until just sticky, then put marshmallow on top and add the additional dipped wafer on the other side creating a little s'more sandwich.  

Even though the sun's been shining I'm in some sort of winter funk.  I had to ask myself, "Is it Monday?", but no it goes beyond that.  January is a dirty word.  It's the post-holiday month, a long month, a cold month.  On the wardrobe front it's a time of confusion.  One minute we've got 70+ degrees, the next it's 52.  I know I can't complain given all the snow so many of you are getting, but I'm feeling all kinds of apparel schizophrenia these days.  Argh.

In effort to inject some lightheartedness into my day yesterday (oh who am I kidding?  and on Sunday, too) I spent a good deal of time ooooohing and aaaaahing over Gaby Basora's new Resort line.  You may think that I'm not swooning and crying over Tucker every.single.day like before?  But no dear readers the love affair continues.  I just try to distract myself and watch my pennies because I know Gaby will blow it out of the park come spring.  Her clothing says 60's, 60's, 60's! And I am all about a rebirth.

Based on the following I do believe spring will be coming early this year...

In late September I came across one of Jennine's posts on Eat, Sleep, Denim about wearing White Denim after Labor Day.  I'm always interested to hear and see what Jennine has to say on a subject and was so relieved to hear that she is down with white denim post the long weekend in September.  Who came up with that rule anyway?

I'd been meaning to do a post on it even prior to hearing her thoughts, but somehow haven't accomplished it yet (imagine that *cough cough*). Then the other day I was chatting with Daniela over at D, Etcetera on the very subject and asked if she wanted to do a joint white denim post...then tonight in the shower (I swear the best ideas come when warm water is beating down on my head or just as I'm nodding off to sleep) I got the idea to offer up a White Denim in Winter Challenge.

So here's what I'm thinking - let me know how many of you would be interested in doing an outfit post in white denim right now in the dead of winter.  Depending on how many people want to throw in we can schedule the posts all on one day or stagger them over a couple or few in order to see how different people are styling their looks.  Girls you know I love a pair of white denim - remember this post from waaaaay back in the day??


Anyway - now it's winter so I have a different pair to pull out and wear an entirely different way.  I think this could be a really cool post/set of posts!! So many of you are standing up to your knees in snow drifts while others of us are in sun or partial frost or even experiencing summer in Australia...white denim in winter can be just gorgeous and I think it would be so fun to see the different ways we can keep them relevant in the off season.

Let me know what you think and if you'd like to join in by leaving a note in the comments.  We could coordinate and do the posts beginning after next week (date tbd early next week depending on response) in order to give people time to get their pictures taken and posts completed.  I would be happy to post the schedule here of who is posting whether it's on one day or over a couple, so that each person's blog gets visited.  In the off chance you think I'm nuts - then Daniela and I will be a party of two in our winter whites, but I do hope you'll consider. 

And now I say to you...it is weekend time.  Let the joyous events of free time commence!  I'm off to a wedding on the beach this weekend and hoping to find something suitable to wear while sporting the remnants of a sore throat.  Dear Christian Louboutin....

I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel, and I don't mean the light leading to the afterlife.  Thanks so much for all of your well wishes - my throat's still a bit on fire, but my head no longer feels like jagged edges are being poked into it.  Isn't that special?  Yesterday I even managed to sit up on the couch for more than an hour and carried on cohesive conversation.  Things are looking up!

While off lying about in couch land I managed to finagle the computer out of the Chef's claws in order to stop watching soap operas keep myself entertained.  One thing I'm looking forward to with the return of 70's style this spring is piling on the bracelets.  True, we could do it before - but now it just feels like my inner gypsy can go wild mixing leather, suede, gold, silver, wood and every color in between.  Here are some of the beauties I have my eye on: