#HFTFBOSTON WITH BOSTON BLOGGERS

Usually, I'm the type of person who waits until after Thanksgiving to even think about anything Christmas related. I'm the one always whining "but it's too eeeeeeearly!" 

A little over a week ago, Boston Bloggers held their Home For The Holidays event at the Wayfair.com offices. And man oh man, did it give me all the holiday warm and fuzzes. Even though it was only the beginning of November. The day was filled with crafting and party planning tips, sprinkled in with some real blog talk. Heather Armstrong of Docce was there to open up the day with a key note (that girl is hilarious), and we also wen't in depth about SEO with the Wayfair team. Abby Larson, the founder of Style Me Pretty, was on hand to talk about setting the perfect tabletop styling, we made gift tags and holiday buntings, and talked menu planning for the holidays, too. 

Thanks Allison and Kate for putting together the perfect event (as usual!) And thanks to Wayfair for hosting and providing the cutest little gifts for us under your tree :)

last photo by Surabhi of Third Eye Chic. See all of her amazing photos from the event here. 

#BOSBLOGGERS

This past tuesday night was spent at another amazing Boston Bloggers meet & greet. We all gathered at Highball Lounge for drinks, tater tots, photo booth action, and mingling. It was such a lovely evening! But then again, it always is when you’re in a room with all these ladies (and gents) :).  Thanks Kate and Allison for throwing the party, Highball Lounge for hosting, and The Danger Booth for providing us with such hilarious photos! 

***Photobooth photos by The Danger Booth

dress: Anthropologie

jacket: H&M

glasses: Warby Parker

cardigan: JCrew

scarf: thrifted

necklace: c/o L’avenir

bag: Megan Nielsen Patterns

shoes: Melissa // Shoemint

SWEET

Last week, Sweet Cupcakes hosted a small group of Boston Bloggers at their Newbury St. location for a little get together. It involved tasting a bunch of delicious cupcakes, coffee, and hearing all about how Sweet got started. All in an adorable little storefront decorated in a pretty soft pink and white. Seriously, it was like eating cupcakes inside of a cupcake. But anyway, I loved hearing that each day’s batch of cupcakes are made fresh that morning. You won’t get any stale cupcakes here! (Don’t worry, any left overs are donated). But that’s not even the best part. You guys, they deliver. If you live in Boston or Cambridge, you can get cupcakes delivered right to your door. Even same day. I think I’m in love. 

We got to taste their Guinness flavor cupcake, for St. Patrick’s Day, of course. But I actually looooved their carrot cake flavor. And I usually don’t even like carrot cake. Seriously, you should try it. Next time, I must try the bananas foster!

Thanks to Sweet, and to Allison and Kate for hosting such a fun little event!

BOSTON BLOGGER DINNER PARTY

Last night I travelled out to the South End for a fabulous blogger dinner at Boston Chops. Georgina did SUCH an amazing job throwing all of us such a fab party. From the awesome giveaways right down to the sparkly details scattered across the tables, it was all so magical. Plus, any opportunity to catch up with all my favs is going to be an alright night :). 

Oh, and this is what I wore. As usual, I didn’t take any photos at the event. So you’re left with just an outfit post. My bad. 

shrug: Celapiu

tee: Gap

dress: Modcloth

glasses: Warby Parker

fleece lined tights: H&M

boots: Steve Madden

IN MY LIFE

» I usually post ‘In My Life’ posts on Fridays. But I didn’t have one last week, and I have a special Valentine’s Day post scheduled for this week. And I have A LOT to share. So Tuesday it is. It’s getting crazy up in here. 

» Attention Boston Bloggers! I’m honored to be guest curating this round of Blog Better Boston’s {hub}LINKS! The theme is ‘handmade’. So submit any DIYs, recipes, favorite handmade finds, etc. Or even show some love for your favorite handmade businesses! Submit here, and I’ll be picking my favorites after 2/18. So get those links in!

» Have you heard of StyleUp? It’s a really cool daily email that sends you the weather forecast for the day, as well as an outfit inspiration photo to match said weather. And hey, if you live in a climate similar to Boston, you may see me in your inbox every now and then :)

» Oh hey look - I was in a Buzzfeed list. Too bad it links to a pin, and not my actual post. 

» Last week, Boo made chocolate truffles. AMAZING. He’s pretty good in the kitchen, that one. 

» This cat acts as a keyboard prop as his owner works on the computer. So funny. 

» I’ve been trying to remember to also upload my outfits to Modcloth’s style gallery. See my gallery here (let’s be friends). And see me featured in one of their blog posts here. 

» Treasury love : one, two, three. 

» I love Madalynne’s list of 2014’s Best Sewing Blogs. Although I don’t concentrate on sewing with this blog, it is still a pretty big part of my life. And I read a lot of sewing blogs. This is spot on, and even introduced me to a couple of new favorites!

» A few things on my wish list : this roomy bag, this  floral dress, this pretty kimono, and this bell sleeved sweatshirt. 

» Are you on Instagram? Follow along! My username is : hollyjollydolly

{hub}LINKS

These local bloggers were chosen to represent the best of the best holiday themed blog posts in Boston via Blog Better Boston’s new {hub}LINKS. They wrote about holiday fashion, cocktails, entertaining, gift guides, and more!

Show these blogs some love:

• Kneadle + Bread tackles the task of finding the perfect hostess gifts.
• Mon Petit Chou Chou shows us how to make a delicious holiday cocktail.
• FiveToNine finds the perfect gifts for our four legged friends.
• MOPA stays warm during the snowy winter weather by baking with her family.
• A Daily Dose of Vitamin D puts together a festive outfit for holiday gatherings.
• Shell Chic’d decorates her bar cart for holiday entertaining.
• Cobbs Hill introduces us to beauty products to help you shine all season long.
• HollyDolly demonstrates how to create a simple DIY Holly pin for your hair.

Want to be featured in the next edition? Sign up for the {hub}LINKS newsletter and submit your posts!

Repeat Offender // Boston Bloggers

This is quite possibly one of my favorite outfits ever, so it was a no brainer to repeat it. I’m sure I’ll wear it a couple more times this winter, too. And it just so happened it worked perfectly for last night’s Boston Blogger’s holiday event. You know, with the sparkles and all. Nothing says holiday party like sequins :)

Speaking of the blogger meet-up - it was such a fantastic night! It’s always fun to get together with everyone, and catch up with some girls that I haven’t seen in forever. And without fail, I always meet a bunch of new faces to add to my blog roll. Every time. This city is full of such talented people! Thanks to Allison and Kate for being so awesome and organizing these events for us :)

sweater: Naomi and Lavender

faux fur snood: Jack Wills // Buffalo Exchange

skirt: JCrew // Buffalo Exchange

clutch:  LilaLu Bags // Crompton Collective

booties: Steve Madden

In My Life

We’ve got a week of NEW things! So without further ado…

» My NEW posts on Design Diary this week - Basic Sewing Supplies you should have, and How To Keep Your Creations From Looking Homemade.

» Speaking of Megan Nielsen, her NEW collection of patterns have been released today! Seriously, go check them out… they are fricken adorable. I’m so excited to get to work on them!

» Please welcome two NEW sponsors to HollyDolly - Loly In The Sky and Amanda of Indie Jane!

» NEW Boston bloggers to be added to my blog reader : Elissa of Style Wire, Katherine of Style Tab, Alyssa of Ruffle and Curl, Smita of Hogger & Co. And so many more! One of these days, I should do a round up of all the lovely Boston ladies that I’ve met. 

» Lastly, I’ve done a tiny bit of an update to HollyDolly. Not much - just a few changes to the sidebar, and I’ve added a NEW shopHollyDolly page. 

What I Wore: Boston Blogger Meet-Up

Wednesday night, I attended my first Boston Bloggers meet and greet, organized by the lovely Katy and Alison, at Lansdowne Pub in Boston. At first I was nervous, like I always am - going into a large group of people I barely know. But my nerves quickly went away, as everyone was so nice and inviting. I got to spend a lot of time chatting with my friend Amy, I finally got to meet the wonderful Annie, and I was introduced to a whole bunch of new bloggers that I can’t wait to follow along with. One new friend included Michael of Gingham and Leather. It was so refreshing to meet a fabulous male style blogger. You should definitely check out his blog - it’s awesome!

And, of course, I didn’t take any photos. Typical. Next time, I swear. 

 

shirt: Anthropologie (similar)

skirt: vintage, altered

necklace: Stella & Dot (won in a giveaway)

booties: Boutique 9 (here)

A Boston Blogger Holiday Mixer

worn on December 11th, 2011

On Sunday I attended a cute little blogger mixer hosted at the LF store in Harvard Square. After meeting up with Jamie (A First Impression) and Sarah (Fadass), we headed to the store for some good old bloggy-girl fun. We styled up some LF clothing for a little photoshoot, decorated santa hats, drank some delicious hot cider, and had a little yankee gift swap. I was lucky enough to get some coffee cozies handmade by Sarah hereself! Score!

dress: BBDakota via Hautelook

belt and tights: Anthropologie

necklace: Stella & Dot; won in a giveaway

purse: Coach

boots: Frye

……………………………..

And now onto photos from the event:

Clockwise from top left:

Sarah, Jamie, Lei Ann, me

last two photos taken by Jamie of A First Impression

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See more photos from the event on LF Harvard Square’s facebook page here.

Thank you to the girls at LF. I had a bast!