Polkat dots and 4 beautiful years

Remembering how four years ago we got married. In the middle of an Island, between families and friends, laughter and tears, dances and masquerades we were planting the seeds of fruitful years to come.

Beautiful ways to use polka dots.

1 image, 2, 3 and 4.

Our weekend visitors

I wanted to share with you what a cold but great weekend we had here at home. Over the weekend we invited to dinner a few friends we didn't get to see during Christmas. I wanted to create a cozier atmosphere and dine under candle light so I moved the dining table close to the open fire in front of my gorgeous bookcase. Did I ever say bookcases are one of my favorite things? I used a generous remnants of Edo fabric by quadrille as tablecloth, took out a few of my amethyst candle holders and got some hydrangeas at Whole Foods. The Capiz Shell placemats are from Crate and Barrel and they are really beautiful. We had a wonderful time in good company and hope we get to do this more often.

all images by/for Julie.

Cozying up inside

By now it's not news how the snow storm has hit the Northeast. Kids are the only ones who are having fun around here. The grown ups of this house are keeping themselves warm inside cozying up in front of the fire and enjoying a good hot coco.

Our Thanksgiving table is ready

I hope you're having a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I set up a very inexpensive table setting with a quick trip to Target and my local supermarket.

Hello Gorgeous

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My files

suziebeezie

A little busy here. I'll be back soon with great posts, I promise.

The return

There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.

Celia Thaxter.

The best does not last forever. Unfortunately. These past two weeks We spent the most beautiful and memorable family vacation ever. We spent the most amazing days discovering the magic of Istanbul, to then go sailing on the Aegian and Mediterranean coast. Thank you to those wonderful readers who are still visiting this blog. I promise to be back blogging soon and perhaps even post some photos of our trip.

Image by Julia Pulino Yenicag for Belle Vivir only, thank you.

Back to basics

As you can notice I decided to make Belle Vivir look more like it was from it's humble beginnings in 2006. It's still a work in progress but so far I changed some fonts and I'll be including more inspirational quotes here and there like I used to do way back.

The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw.

Havelock Ellis

My favorite Macarons

Yesterday we celebrated Lucas' baptism and we had a great time. I decided to go with Madeleine Patisserie macarons because of their incredible taste. And in no way was I disappointed about their packaging, they came in very cute brown boxes with pink silky paper wrapping the gorgeous and delicious macarons. I'll post more pictures of the decorations next week.
I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Between the lines

image from here.

Thank you

I am sorry for the lack of posts this week. I've been busy running around to organize my little one’s Baptism this coming Saturday. I'll be posting pictures this time, I promise. Not everything has been tiring and stressful however. Between running around I made sure to stop and smell the roses, well actually stop and try the macarons. Yummy!! I've been to two new places that I hadn't tried yet in NYC: MacarOn Cafe and Madeleine Patisserie. They were both good, but Medeleine macarons were superb and turned out to be my favorite. The only problem is that MacarOn Café adds a nice touch of detail where the macarons are served in a gorgeous presentation box (below). Not that I'm shallow, ladies, but I love everything with that kind of details. I'll let you know which one I chose next week.

In another note I want to thank Christina and Charlotta. These two lovely ladies have honored me by mentioning Belle Vivir in their fantastic blogs and for the generous gesture of the awards they have granted me. Thank you Christina and thank you Charlotte. You two are fantastic with great blogs and it’s an honor being awarded by you.

picture above from Charlotta.

Picture from Christina.

Cisco Brothers

A couple of months ago I walked into ABC home looking for a sofa or anything else that would catch my eye. I found the cutest sofa with perfect proportions that happened to be comfortable as well. When I inquired about it I was told it was manufactured by Cisco Brothers. I remembered reading about the company somewhere. At first I thought of re-upholstering it but after all the food, water, milk that have spilled on it and after cleaning it with a wet cloth without leaving a stain of course I changed my mind. It doesn't show clearly in this picture but the color is not that bad and I can make it work. The back of the sofa is curvy and it's the first thing you notice as you come up the entrance so I am planning to upholster it in a graphic fabric.
Cisco Brothers is a very respectable Furniture Company located in Los Angeles and its owner is from Jalisco, Mexico. He started working part-time for a small shop disassembling sofas while in High School and discovered his love for furniture making. In his twenties he and his wife were making custom furniture for neighbors out of his garage and Cisco Brothers was created. In not an easy business to succeed in Cisco Pinedo developed his furniture with superior craftsmanship, cutting-edge style, and unparalleled value. In 2006, The company moved exclusively to FSC Pure certified woods on upholstered furniture, using reclaimed hardwoods for a collection of stunning case goods and the use of water based glues and environmentally friendly detergents to wash all fabrics. Today, Cisco Home has six retail showrooms including a gallery at ABC Home Furnishings in NYC and the acclaimed LA Design Center in South Central Los Angeles.

Make me smile

Good morning everyone. I don't have much to post today, we are taking our little Lukie pie to his first classical music concert. But I would love to share with you two really cool websites that make me smile. Make sure to click on cuisine in this one and raise the volume, it's awesome. I know you already know this second one but the intro has been updated and the result is very romantic. Enjoy

Photo by Liz Ham

Our three happiest years

It feels like yesterday when I married my soulmate. What wonderful years these have been. Living with such a considerate and thoughtful man is really a gift or shall I say the answer to my prayers. Happy anniversary my love!!!

10 things about me

The sweet and talented Monika sent me the Honest Scrap Award and I'm about to share with you 10 things about me. After that I will pass the award to 7 other great bloggers out there.

1-I studied Kabbalah for a while and I have a better understanding about life.

2-I absolutely REJECT everything about drama.

3-Sometimes I find myself questioning my obsession with Christmas. Really, it's surreal how happy Christmas spirit makes me.

4-I wear something I don't like to make the person who gave it to me happy but I never display anything in my house that I don't like, regardless of who gave it to me.

5-I am a very grateful and just person, I can easily admit when I'm wrong and trust me that's quite often.

6-I love to dress up. My perfect life would be one full of black-tie social events.

7-I believe that good style has NO race or sex.

8-I am my worst critic. I think there is a lot I still need to change and it's my everyday effort to become a better person.

9-I don't come from a rich family but I grew up with maids until I was 16 and emigrated to this country. At some point there were as many as 5 maids working at the same time in my house.

10-In reference to the last one, I have to admit that I absolutely dislike housework. It's overwhelming.

I now pass this Honest Scrap Award to these very talented bloggers without knowing if they have already been tagged.

Cote de Texas
So haute
Fabulously French
French Essence
Colours Dekor
My marrakesh
This is glamorous

Happy birthday Cutiepie

It feels like yesterday when our little one was born. I can't believe we are already celebrating his birthday. It's been such a pleasure and happiness to have you in our lives. We love you Lucas very much and wish you all the happiness and health in your life. God bless you.

Image from vi.sualize.us

A hot hot book

Some of you may have already heard about Bringing Home the Birkin. I read this book over the weekend and anything I say about it would not be enough. It's funny, young, light and keeps you interested from start to end. Michael's adventurous and lucky move to Barcelona opened a whole new fabulous career no one had ever considered before; country hopping around the world in pursuit of the rich and famous "it" bag. This book is entertaining; after reading it I'm almost certain that the so famous waiting list for a Hermes Birkin does not exist, or does it?

"The summer's most adorable chick-lit book...smart, fizzy, and amusingly snarky, with attitude to burn" -NEW YORK TIMES

"The prose is vivid, the tone lighthearted. Mr. Tonello comes off as...sassy, plucky, optimistic-oh, and he can get you a Birkin." -WALL STREET JOURNAL

And you may be asking what's the point of this post, well this book was so much fun that I wanted to share it with you by giving it away to one of my lovely readers. All you need to do is, if you are a blogger go into your dashboard to the left lower corner and add this humble blog to your followers, I may even be already following yours. If you are a reader leave me a comment and the lucky winner will be announced on Monday the 24th.

An Award

I am honored and flattered to receive these awards from the very talented Electro Geisha all the way from Croatia. Thank you so much Ina, it's rewarding to see someone recognize my work.

The rules to receive this award are:
1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award.
2.Pass the award to any number of blogs that you've newly discovered.

I pass these awards to these very interesting blogs.

Fabulous Finds

Splendid Willow

Chic Coles

Ivy Lane

Sweet as Candy

Hand in hand

The Way I live and the way I feel go hand in hand. Surround yourself with beautiful things and your daily missteps will be more bearable. myself.

Have a beautiful weekend