Oh, Christmas Tree...

I love that here in New York there are tons of trees pretty much every couple of blocks. We got ours yesterday and were told to let it settle for a little while before putting any ornaments, so we did just that and is ready to be decorated.
For now here are some pictures of trees I've seen around :)

 Beautiful trees at Tribeca

How cute are this white ones at Loft store?!

Love the way some buildings make their lobby fancy!

This one is pretty impressive, it actually looks huge in person!

And here is ours awaiting to be decorated :)

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for reading!

xo,

Marcela

Sopa de Pollo

Cold weather calls for a good, hot soup.  It's been raining in New York and yesterday was really cold, perfect for a Sopa de Pollo (also know in South America as "Cazuela de Pollo").  I make it my own way and the way I learned it so Professional Chefs please don't judge me :)

What you need:
6 chicken legs
2-3 corn
4-6 small potatoes
1 carrot
1/4 squash
1/2 onion
1-2 garlic cloves
4-5 tb spoons elbow pasta
Cilantro
Salt
Black pepper (optional)

Direccions:

In a medium to big pot fry chopped onion, garlic and chicken legs until it gets light golden.

Add 4 cups of water.  One by one start adding carrot, potatoes, corn, salt and pepper.  Let it cook in medium for about 20-30 min.

When it starts boiling add squash and elbow pasta.  Cook it for about 10-15 more min. until everything is well cooked.

Serve hot and sprinkle chopped cilantro for flavor.  Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

xo,

Marcela

PS: The last picture with my yummy soup on a plate mysteriously disappeared from my camera.  Will take another pic when I make more soup, which will be sooner than later :) Thanks!

Wine...

Hi everyone!  Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend!  Now we are all into the Holiday Season, aren't we?!  This will be a month full of celebrations and get together with friends and family around a nice glass of wine :)

I found this great article at House Beautiful magazine where Mr. Adam Strum from Wine Enthusiast Magazine gives great advices on Wine Refrigerators.  Mr. Strum mentions that a popular misconception is that most people think they can only keep white wine in the refrigerator.  He says that white, sparkling wines and roses should be chilled between 44 and 48 degrees and red ones should reach up to 62 degrees. I love this little refrigerators, do you have one at home??




1, 2, 3, 4. All via Bed-Bath and Beyond

Here are some great wine glasses I found:

Can you believe this nice wine glass is $1.99 at Ikea?


I love this monogrammed from Pottery Barn, they make a great gift for the Holidays!







And what about this festive ones from Crate and Barrel





Of course Riedel are always a classic


Do you have a wine refrigerator at home?  Do you store the red ones or keep them at room temperature?


Thanks for reading!

xo,
Marcela

Thankful

Image via One Charming Party

I'm incredible grateful for what life has given me, for my husband and my beautiful daughter, for what I have accomplished... for life.
Living away from home makes you feel a little misplaced sometimes and I'm thankful for the friends I've made who have became our new family.

Hope you all have a beautiful day!!


Thanks for reading!

xo,
Marcela

Table Settings

Hi everyone!  Hope you had a beautiful weekend.  This is a very special week, I love Thanksgiving.  I think is a beautiful way to celebrate Family, Friends, Life.
Here are some fun table setting for a little inspiration.


Via Style me Pretty


Via Camille Styles






3/4/5 Via Pinterest


Via Pinterest

Are you hosting a party this Thanksgiving?  Would love to hear what you have in mind for setting your table.  Please feel free to link a picture with your favorite table setting!

Hope you have a great week!

Thanks for reading!

xo,
Marcela

My week...

I can't believe it's Friday again!  I feel that days are going faster lately, next week will be Thanksgiving and with a blink Christmas will be here, love it!!

Here are some snaps of my week

Ice Rink at Rockefeller Center getting ready for the season!

Manicure with my daughter.. We picked festive colors to get into the spirit of the Holidays :)

Best pizza in NYC at Rigoletto on the Upper West Side.  Not only they had the best pizza with the best crust but that chicken empanada was just delicious!!!

Really cool cover of building under construction on Park Ave.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Thanks for reading!

xo,

Marcela

Last minute dusting

As the holidays approach faster and faster there's so much to do and so little time! Are you hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year?  I'm sure one of the things on your to-do list is cleaning your home.  That is one of the not-so-fun tasks, certainly not as fun a preparing the turkey, gravy and all that yummy food that will let us with a few extra pounds that weekend.  If you're running out of time to clean your home you can definitely call our Company and we'll be happy to help!

In the meanwhile I want to introduce you one of my favorite tools to give a quick touch up to your home:  Duster Extender.

Why I love it:

- It extends up to three feet. 

- When is not in use you can put if back to regular size for easy storage

- You can get to those hard to reach places without much effort or risk since you won't need to stand on a step ladder to get to the top of wood furniture, corners, door and window frames, ceiling fan, etc.

- Not only to reaches high but also low places such as baseboards or under very low furniture where the vacuum (or even the regular Swiffer) can't get to

- Works wonders on blinds

- The head can move to different positions for easy cleaning

- At $8.99 you can't go wrong with it!

Do you have a last minute touch up routine?  Please share with us, would love to hear from you!

PS: This is not a paid post.  Comments are genuine and my personal opinion, I really love this stuff! :)

Thanks for reading!

xo,

Marcela

My Personalized Blog Planner

Few weeks ago I read this post from  I heart Organizing. This is one of my favorite blogs where you can find lots of great ideas and inspiration from a pro and she had the answer to my questions!  How to keep track of your blogging posts in an organized way. Without a doubt I placed my order via etsy and the very next day my own personalized blog planner was on my computer!

I was sooo happy!  I printed it and brought my little treasure to Staples to have it spiral bound.

I do like to write things on paper rather than going digital.  I have to plan my week (or actually weeks) ahead because I need to organize our schedule with clients and there are changes we need to make on the road, sometimes last minute changes and need to reschedule our cleaning visits so I need to have a clear view of our next days.  I have tried many ways of keeping my calendar digital, but I just can't get used to it. Is there any digital calendar that you use and like?  I would love to hear your thoughts.  In the meanwhile I'm enjoying my blog planner so much!  I do have to thank Jen from I Heart Organizing for creating this beauty!!!

Thanks for reading!

xo,

Marcela

My week...

Hello!  I hope you all are enjoying your weekend!
It has been an intense week, we are all in process of recovery after Sandy.  Even though we were lucky enough to be home safe and never lost power it's still hard for a lot of New Yorkers.

Here are some nice things that spiced up my week!

Breakfast with  my daughter at my local coffee shop Chipped Cup

Ohh it's that time of the year.  The holiday cup from Starbucks just makes me so happy!

Christmas tree at Macy's is already up!

Grand Central ceilings.  I just stare at them, they are absolutely beautiful.

Snow in New York....  in November!!

Thanks for reading. Have a beautiful weekend everyone!!

xo,

Marcela

Marker stains

My daughter loves to draw and she's GREAT at it!  The only thing is that she likes to draw on a piece of paper on our coffee table.  More often that I would like our poor little table gets markers stains, like this...

OMG!! What to do!!!!

Ok, count 1-10 and then let's try this...

Yay, it worked!!!!!

I love you Scour Off!

I love happy endings, don't you?


Thanks for reading!

xo,
Marcela

Election Day

Hello everyone, hope you all had a nice weekend!
It's really cold here in New York but I guess that hasn't been an obstacle for voters to go out and vote for their favorite candidate.  Did you already vote?

Here are some nice treats you can make while watching the news tonight and wait for the results :)

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Image 1/2/3 via Pinterest


Via Martha Stewart

Thanks for reading and happy Tuesday!

xo, 
Marcela

I'm back!

When I said on my last post I would take the day off because it was my birthday I certainly didn't mean two whole months off!!

It was a great Summer, my parents visited us and they stayed with us for an entire month and we had a blast!  They traveled more than 13 hours to see me and my family so it had to be worth the time :)
I want to thank to all of you who kept checking my blog and send an email to check in.  I have been thinking a lot about how I should keep up with blogging posts and I want you to know that I will make all efforts to keep writing on a regular basis, probably not every day but at least two to three times a week.  I have lots of new ideas that I will share with you, I'm excited!
In the meanwhile I hope you all are doing well and my prayers are for those of you who are on the East Coast and were affected by Sandy this week.  My family and I were lucky enough and still have power/water/heat and I thank God for that!

Thanks for reading!

xo,
Marcela