After the holidays, I like to strip down my decorations before I put them all away. I call this “transitional decor.” It’s when you just aren’t ready to let go. Packed away are the Santas, the snowmen, the sleighs.

I leave out the decorations that are more fancy and speak to New Year’s. Here I grouped vintage finials. Using sticky candle wax, I secured the finials in candlesticks and thin vases. This gives me the height want. I also snuck in the spoon trees I did for eHow a few years ago. (I remember when I got the assignment to make “spoon Christmas trees.” I was not thrilled. Then, I made them & have been in love ever since!)

You know I love a White House Christmas! This throw back pic is from 2014 when I was the luckiest girl in the world designing White House Christmas decor. This is a “pop up” book display that I designed with my friend, and artist, Jenn Lange. We made four for the East Room Fireplaces.

They were riddled with DIY challenges, but for now, I’m just remembering how beautiful they were!

Red carpet! Shiny statues! Beautiful people! I’m in. There’s nothing I love more than Oscar Week (ok – maybe a good DIY) and this morning I’m going back to my Access Hollywood/Gossip Girl roots. Tune in to NJ 101.5 in the 9 o’clock hour (ok 9:08am exactly) to hear Bill Spadea and I talk everything Oscars. Leo! Rocky! Brie! Giftbags! (Maybe that should just say giftbags – they’re worth over $200,000 this year!)

NJ 1015. w/ Bill Spadea & me. 9:00 hour. Be Oscar ready.

Honored to be invited to design and decorate the Grand Hall at the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion. Tours start Monday, December 7.

Here’s a sneak peak of the decorations. Be sure to check back for a full reveal once First Lady Frances Wolf unveils the decorations!

Tune in Christmas morning to catch me talking about Christmas with the First Ladies! If you can’t because of Santa’s arrival make sure to set your DVR!

One thing I love about the holidays is using colors that you already have in your home and making them festive. Here I used my blue and white dinner ware and paired it with timings of silver and white. You can have a blue and white Christmas with just adding touches of ornaments or colored foliage to really pull your look into a cohesive decor.

I am thrilled to be speaking at the Smithsonian Museum this evening on the fashion of two iconic First Ladies, Jackie and Michelle!

Ok Trendy Tuesday still is not coming naturally. And yes, I missed it last week. But I’m back! This cute shirt was only $7.00 at H&M, proving again, I have no excuses.

And shocker! I  saw my new shirt in an On Cor Frozen Food commercial! Not exactly what I was targeting, but I will take it. If it’s good enough for a commercial director and stylist on a national ad campaign, than it’s good enough for me.  Strange, the woman in the On Cor commercial looks oddly younger in her shirt than I do. Her house is also cleaner. Guess that’s the magic of TV.

PS along with my killer fashion instinct, I’m also fine tuning my modeling.

And, from behind, we could be twins!

With sadness, I note the too soon passing of White House Chef Walter Scheib. Walter was the White House Chef for eleven years and served both President Clinton and President George W. Bush. He was funny and charming and helped me often when I was writing my book, Christmas with the First Ladies.

These are some pics Walter shared with me a few year ago. He loved his job, did it brilliantly and always was humbled to be working in the White House. RIP Walter.

One of my favorite things about summer is when these signs pop up, letting us know fresh produce is just steps away at the farm store. I mean, what about a giant strawberry doesn’t make you happy?

And who can resist fresh eggs when they’re marketed like this?!

I’ve taken the fashion challenge. Ok, in full disclosure this was my New Year’s Resolution that I am just getting too. (Resolutions don’t actually expire until 12/31. So I’m still ok). Why now? Honestly, I didn’t have much choice since at any moment the crew from What Not to Wear could come out of retirement just to save my sad fashion state. From here on out, it’s Trendy Tuesday. (Sorry people, I did not think a whole week was reasonable or possible). Here are the rules: must be trendy, must be Tuesday, must not cost a lot of money. To start the shirt I scored at the Lilly for Target free for all. Here’s the blog post if you missed the blow by blow bit.ly/1RCannt.

I brake for farm stands…who doesn’t!!!! This week amazing asparagus and everyone’s favorite, peonies.

Here’s my no fail tips for both: blanch asparagus for one minute in boiling water for perfection. Now for those peonies, if you ever cut them fresh and brought them into your home, you know you’re asking for an ant invasion. Prevent this by filling a bowl with warm water and a drop of dish washing soap. Dip the peony in the water, submerging the flower. Roll slightly, and the ants should come sliding off. Shake flower gently. Arrange. Peonies will dry in no time.

Yes, Brenna asked where I stash the citric acid. My first thought was, why does she think we’d have this? My second thought was, should we?? We do encourage DIY in this house, but this felt like we might be getting into MacGyver territory. Short answer is that she needed it to make bath salts. First round, looked like above, and sadly, had no fizz.

But we don’t give up. Especially when the possibility for making a huge mess is at hand. Here’s the second round. Some fizz, but still not up to par. Update, while we still have no citric acid (its on the grocery list, which I have been begging them to make for ages), we are also now currently out of baking soda, food coloring and coconut oil. But I think she’s closing on success. #bathsalt #bathbomb #bath

Happened on an empty church. Felt blessed.

My friend’s Bacholorette Party is coming up (really? I haven’t outgrown these??), and the invitation said “Lingere Only” for gifts. How I wish I could bring even one these!

Just amazing…from the Philadelphia Flower Show. Love creative people.

Oh, what I wouldn’t do to go ride this bike!

Ok, I shared with you in horror that we have no vases in the hotel house. Mom saved the day last week with some mason jars for Brenna’s flowers. Here we are at Valentine’s Day though, with no vases again. A problem I’m happy to have — since we went 11 months without a need for a vase! Thank God, this whole family is getting back on track. Just one more reason I love milk that comes in glass jars. Happy Valentine’s!

A little known pet peeve of mine has to do with wreaths. I can’t stand when they are hung at the wrong height. And I can’t stand when they are the wrong size. And, it’s very common for both things to occur at once. Why? Why? WHY?

Now I know this is a first world problem. But I can’t help myself. I see these wreaths all over. I just want to fix them. Which is why, I became particularly obsessed with the garage wreath. That’s right, it was hanging just as you see it. And, I saw it at least twice a day, as I had to pass it on my way to the main road.

My first reaction was surprise: Look at that wreath! What is it doing way down there, thrown over the garage door handle??? Someone probably didn’t get to finish decorating, and just put it there so it would be out of the way.

But as the days wore on, it was clear the garage wreath was not moving. In fact, as I looked at it more closely, I wasn’t even sure it was a wreath. Just a wild looking circle type thing with gold garland flying off it.

Several scenarios crossed my mind. #1: The owner put it there, meant to move it, and just got used to it. Decided it didn’t look that bad. Thought maybe it was ok there afterall. This has happened to me. This theory had potential. I felt compassion for the decorator.

Theory #2: The owner thought it looked good there. This theory seems particularly absurd, but I guess it could happen. Not sure how this leaves me feeling toward the owner. Very hard to believe this could be it.

As the days went on, I noticed the garage wreath had a type of wild abandon about it. It’s garish gold garland haphazardly caught the wind. It did have a certain confidence about it. A certain joy. A certain individuality about it. Then it hit me, Theory #3: I bet there’s a reindeer car behind that garage door. And with that, I fell in love with the owner. ( If you missed the reindeer car bit.ly/15bAttV )

This happy snow heart was made by boot heels, and melted my heart. #snowisnotsobad

UPDATE: I knew this pic reminded me of something, and I finally got it. Check out July Resolutions — which I still think is the perfect time for change. (As I struggle, with my New Year’s Resolution!!!) bit.ly/15ABYTM

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Great to be invited back to CNN to tape their Christmas Day Show! Michaela always cracks me up (she promised next year to bring her Grandma’s rum cookies!), and as usual, a typical selfie. Thank you to those who noticed that I broke down and bought a blue dress. I was getting way tired of that red one.

It’s always fun to wake up early and hang out on the set of Fox & Friends! Love host Ainsley Earhardt! Check out the link:

bit.ly/1GStNCB

And look who I bumped into, Gov. Mike Huckabee!

Ok, that is a lie. There was no red carpet. But here’s my pics! Tim Gunn said it was perfectly fine I am wearing the same red dress over and over because it works, and it’s not cliche. That’s verbatim people!

You know I really like Genevieve or I would never agree to stand next to such a tall goddess for a pic.

After spending countless hours researching the Johnson’s for “Christmas with the First Ladies,” it was a thrill to meet Lynda Robb Johnson — I mean she got married in the White House!

And Susan! She killed it as a member of the 2014 White House Decorating Team!!!! Thank you Susan for all your hard work — I loved working with you!!

Finally, Cousin Courtney, who makes an appearance from time to time on this blog. Thanks for all the help!

Bring some Christmas cheer to your kitchen with these vintage fork ornaments.

Brenna’s Turkey Nail! Better yet, she did it left handed. Gobble! Gobble!

There are no limits with where this nail art will go!

The Junior League of Princeton was nice enough to invite me to their fabulous showhouse on November 15. I told them all about the First Ladies and they gave me lots of amazing ideas for Christmas….be showing you soon!

Okay, we’re coming up on the one year anniversary of the ice storm that took our house out. It took ten months, but the unsound structure was finally knocked down. Even though its been incredibly sad and frustrating, this felt like progress…finally!

Another eHow challenge make a Christmas tree with plastic spoons.

If your carved jack-o-lanterns are ready for the trash, head back out for November pumpkins. November pumpkins are sometimes on sale, and the easiest way to decorate for Thanksgiving.

Here’s another fireplace with great bones! Sorry, you know I can’t help myself.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping Halloween decorating simple. This year it was part of the fun.

It’s so easy to make a house with amazing architecture look scary!

We love this little guy! When my youngest wanted to make a spider I asked her what she needed. Materials list: black pipe cleaners, two styrofoam balls, googly eyes, black paint.

Now, I would have been tempted to make this more complicated. But why? He’s adorable, nice and big. We painted him black, used a skewer to hold the two styrofoam balls together (my contribution), glued on the eyes and pushed in the pipe cleaner legs. Then we put him outside to scare my oldest daughter, who happens to hate spiders. Could she really hate him?

Brenna, age 11, is suddenly crazy for nail art. Sure our house smells like a nail salon, and we should have bought stock in nail polish remover, but I’m still loving it. These back to school converse nails just make me happy!

Who knew, our back to school look wasn’t complete until we had these!

My friend Liz Bushong of Serve it Up Sassy served up this fabulous woodsy wedding cake at a recent summer wedding. It would be perfect for fall too…just think flowers in oranges and yellows. Of course, my favorite part is the cake stand…nothing short of a tree trunk with moss. Divine. (I thought twice about that word, but it’s the right one to use!)

The cake is just as amazing under wooden beams as it is under the great big open sky. Check out Liz’s book Serve it Up Sassy and her website www.lizbushong.com. Thanks Liz!

I was so lucky to be invited to the set of Hallmark’s Home & Family. I have been a huge fan of Cristina Ferrare for years, and Mark Steines isn’t bad either.

I was there to show them how to make Betty Ford’s Cranberry Tree. It’s a very traditional decoration — the White House had one on display in the Red Room each Christmas for thirty something years!

Check out the video and learn how to make one for your home!