December!

It's almost December and I can't even believe it! If you'd like to advertise on Michaela Noelle Designs for the month of December, I'd LOVE to have you. This will be a wonderful time for you to advertise products during the holiday season. I can't wait to chat about creative ways to promote your small business, shop, or blog. Please email me at hello@michaelanoelledesigns.com for more info and packages. You can also visit my advertising page to learn more about my traffic and following.

Have a wonderful weekend! We're going to be busy decorating for Christmas! It's the best time of the year :)
xoxo

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Black Friday Shopping Favorites & Sales!

Thanksgiving has come to and end (the day, not the giving-thanks part!) and now it's onto some good ole Black Friday shopping! I've rounded up my favorite stores below along with their discount and my favorite items from each store. I've certainly got my eye on a few things!


1. ASOS: 20% off site wide
Code:GIMME20

2. C. Wonder: Save 30% off 3 items or more, full price or sale + free ground shipping.

Code: GIFTS30

3. Design Darling: 20% off site wide.

Code: THANKS

4. Loren Hope: Save 20% off orders over $100 + free shipping.

Code: THANKS

5. Lulu & Georgia: 30% off purchases over $50.

Code: THANKS30

6. Nordstrom: Save 25%+ off on select brands.

No code needed

7. Serena & Lily:  Save 20% off site wide and enjoy free shipping.

Code: THANKS20

8. Sole Society: Save 33% off all jewelry, handbags and shoes (with new offers being presented everyday at 10am).

No code needed

9. Tory Burch: Save 20% off orders over $300, save 25% off orders over $500, save 30% off orders over $750 plus free shipping.

Code: HOLIDAY

10. Anthropologie: 20% off the ENTIRE store!
No code needed.

Happy Shopping, friends!!! Hope you're all full and recovering from yesterday's events :) Leave a comment below telling me what you have your eye on for the Black Friday Madness!
xoxo

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Joy & Thanksgiving!

*photo by Michaela Noelle Designs. Tray from Laura Dro Designs 

Happy Thanksgiving, my beautiful friends. There's always so much to be thankful for and as much as I try to slow down and give thanks for those things every day, I know it's easy to get caught up and have definitely not done as good as a job as I should lately. It's so wonderful to have this day devoted to giving thanks for all the blessings, family, friends, and lots of yummy food. I truly believe the root to joy is thanksgiving. My joy starts with God, who gave each of us every. single. blessing in our lives. Thank you, Lord!

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song."
Psalm 28:7

Oh, I hope this can always be the prayer of my heart.

May your day be filled with lots of little joys as you gather around the Thanksgiving table with loved ones! The above flowers are just one of the arrangements I made for our Thanksgiving table; I can't handle the pretty hues. Be sure to rest up for Black Friday madness tomorrow ;)
xoxo

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Thanksgiving Touches

*photos by Michaela Noelle Designs 

Tomorrow's the day, and we're running around prepping our home! The tables have to be set and ready for 18 people on Thursday! I can hardly wait. Here are just a few of the little things from around our home. I can't wait to show you more of that centerpiece I put together yesterday. There will be a full video How-To next week!

Have a wonderful day! What are you doing to prepare?
xoxo

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Fashion: My Thanksgiving Day Outfit

*photos by Ashley Slater Photography

I can't believe Thanksgiving is in two days! This year truly flew by, and despite the fact that everyone always says that, this year I really do mean it. With graduation, starting my business, moving back home and few other fun things, life is moving at a brisk pace.

This is the outfit I'm planning to wear to our Thanksgiving dinner, for two reasons, really.  1. I love dresses and boots and 2. It's a shift dress without a waistband, which means I can eat whatever I want without having to worry about my pants still fitting after the turkey ;) Because of their versatility, shift dresses are becoming one of my favorite style of dresses. They can be casual with boots, or worn with pumps or wedges for a night out. Since both the dress and boots I'm wearing above are sold out already, I rounded up some of my favorite items that are similar to each below. I've got my eye on a few of the dresses I included in my picks-- maybe black Friday will be the perfect time to snatch them up!

Want to know a secret, though? After dinner and dessert I'll be jumping into my PJ's, even if guests are still over.  Aren't you always exhausted after Turkey Day? Can you say turkey coma?! :)

What are you wearing to Thanksgiving this year?
xoxo

PS. Scroll down to see the post right before this one. Don't miss out on our Holiday Cheer Link Parties this year!

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Join Us: Holiday Cheer Link Parties 2013

It's almost that time of year again! That's right; it's time for our 3rd annual Holiday Cheer in the Blogosphere link parties! I can't wait to link up with some of my favorite ladies and gather some serious Christmas inspiration. One of the many reasons I love blogging is because of the awesome women I've met who share a passion for the home and style, so hosting these link parties is a wonderful way to meet other like-minded bloggers, show off your holiday decor and glean some creative inspiration along the way, too!

Here's the schedule and hosts:
December 4th: Merry Mantle with Ten June & Our Fifth House {Show us your holiday mantle OR faux mantle!}
December 10th: Holiday Craft with Hi Sugarplum and me! {For the DIY lover, show us anything you crafted up for the season.}
December 12th: O Christmas Tree with Honey We're Home & A Thoughtful Place {We want to see your Christmas Tree!}
December 18th: Recipe or Cocktail with The Lovely Cupboard & Schue Love {Got a favorite food, dessert or cocktail for the holidays? We want to indulge, so do share!}

So, who's in?! Please join us by linking up with one of the hosts for the day {if you link up on one host's blog, it will show up on both} and feel free to share the link parties with your readers on your blog using the graphic below, or this one:

Can't wait to party with all of you! Come back later today to see my Thanksgiving outfit plans.

xoxo

PS. Thanks to Brittany Douglas for creating our ADORABLE graphics for the link parties this year!! She's super talented-- if you need a new blog design, she's your girl!

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Land of Nod Event Recap

Last Thursday night I had the honor of co-hosting a Land of Nod event to celebrate their Toy Shop launch  in Los Altos! Cristin, the talented designer and blogger I interned for while finishing my last 2 years of college, co-hosted with me, and along with The Makery Los Altos and Land of Nod, we had the best night! Over 100 guests showed up and we were able to chat, craft and sip some bubbly {and my oh my, the drinks we were served were delicious!} Luckily we captured some of the fun and I'm here today to share it with you.

Cristin and I created a fun holiday vignette using lots of AMAZING Land of Nod products. If you're unfamiliar with Land of Nod, it's Crate & Barrel's kid's store, specializing in furniture, decor, accessories, toys, and more for your kiddos. In our set up, we created a kids craft area with the play table, adorable stockings, a Christmas tree decked with the cutest pom pom garland and ornaments, and per Cristin's genius idea, we created a chandelier out of brightly hued ornaments. Everyone really loved it!

Land of Nod gave us these dollhouses to adorn and decorate. Cristin made the inside of hers just the cutest thing I've ever seen! She even created valences with left over fabric samples. I did decorate the inside of mine, but the outside was my favorite part with the flowers in the window boxes, wreaths and garland. 

 

All the guests got to take home the 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments! SO FUN!

The Makery hosted our event and if you haven't heard of their shop and live in the Bay Area, get your bootie down there ASAP! It's a crafters dream :) Full of every craft essential you could imagine, the Makery hosts amazing parties, workshops and has unique supplies and decor for custom parties. Everyone who came to our event had a ball making little adornments for their Elf on the Shelf characters. Each guest left with one, which I thought was the cutest thing ever! 

Some Land of Nod Toy Shop items:

That's a wrap! There were 7-8 Land of Nod parties across the whole United States last Thursday, so I feel so thankful to have been able to be apart of the one in the Bay Area!

It's your lucky day! Land of Nod is graciously offering 15% off from Nov 25-27th to my readers! Just enter the code MNDBLOG at checkout. This would be the perfect time to snag some colorful Christmas decor or gifts for the littles in your life.

TOYS & GIFTS | HOLIDAY DECOR

Atlanta

Joni Lay of Lay Baby Lay

Boise

Kirsten Grove of Simply Grove

Charleston

Chassity Evans of Look Linger Love + a former Real Families participant

D.C.

Darcy Troutman of No Monsters in My Bed + a former Real Families participant

Rebecca + Suzanne of A Feteful Life

Kansas City

Carrie + Morgan of Ampersand Design Studios

Los Angeles

Kelly Lanza of Studio DIY

The Honest Company

Nashville 

Raechel Meyers of Finding My Feet  + a former Real Families participant

Salt Lake City / Provo

Kirsten Krason of 6th Street Design School

Small Fry Blog

 Happy Shopping!
xoxo

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Gift Guide: For the Guys

DETAILS | Blue and Red Plaid Shirt / Zip Up Jacket / Long Sleeve Thermal / Gold Watch / Phone Case / Sperry's / Jo Malone Cologne / Lacoste Cologne / iPad / Beer Glasses /  Beer Tasting Set / Toiletry Bag / Bamboo Coasters / Fifty Shades of Chicken Cookbook / Gingham Tie / 

I couldn't call it quits on gift guides before addressing the guys in our lives! I conducted some research by asking my favorite guys in my life what they'd want for Christmas, and the above is what we came up with. A cool new shirt and jacket (the best way to gently suggest clothing you want your guys to wear? Gift it to them :)), some cool glasses for beer, a new iPhone case, the iPad mini, and some other accessories ought to do the trick. 

What are you getting your guys? {I could use some more suggestions myself!}
xoxo
 

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{TGIF} Land of Nod Party Sneak Peek + Happy Weekend!

{Cristin and I made this chandelier out of Land of Nod Ornaments!}

{Cristin, Mary, Michelle & Me at the party!}

It's Friday! I'm really happy to see this day. Boy, has it been an exhausting week! In case you missed all the goodness happening over here, I recapped it for you:

- Stocking Stuffer Gift Guide 
- Hostess Gift Guide
- Wardrobe Gift Guide
- Home Decor Gift Guide
- Our sunrise apple orchard photo shoot was featured on 100 Layer Cake!
- I showed you some updates around our home
- Catch all your holiday must-haves in to & from magazine! It's chalk full of the best gifts for every person, theme, and event!

Last night I co-hosted a Land of Nod party at The Makery in Los Altos, along with one of my favorite gals, Cristin. We had the BEST time! Above are a few snapshots I caught on instagram from our night. I'll be back on Monday to share the whole event and dish on all my fave Land of Nod products! 

Hope you gals have a wonderful weekend ahead!
xoxo

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Featured: Apple Orchard Wedding Inspiration on 100 Layer Cake

A few months ago I went to visit my friend Ashley in Michigan. While there, we thought it'd be fun to style a wedding inspiration shoot together! Since we live across the country from one another but both work in the same industry, doing different things, we'd always wanted to put our talents together and create something really magical. I'm bias, but I think we did it, thanks to our entire team of AMAZING vendors. From gorgeous hair and makeup, the most stunning flowers I've ever laid eyes on, the yummiest and most beautiful cake and treats, and lots of other fun details, we had the best group of creative minds.

You can see the whole feature on 100 Layer Cake! We're still pinching ourselves from when the feature went up yesterday. God is good.

Ashley and I decided on doing a wedding sunrise ceremony with brunch foods. Yum! {And the caterer made the donut holes gluten free for me!!!! Nicest thing ever.} Watch the video below for a few more details from the photo shoot and some commentary from yours truly. 

Also, you may have seen the pretty flowers a special someone sent me for my birthday on instagram a few weeks ago.  God loves to surprise me, so naturally we met at this very photo shoot. {He's the cute one standing at the table in the picture below.} That's all I'm saying about that, but really...this was a very, very special day!

Orchard Sunrise Brunch: A Wedding Style Shoot from Coastline Studios on Vimeo.

And now for some behind the scenes shots, because...well, they're just so fun.

Couldn't get over the stunning florals:

Looking over the details:

Our first conversation ;)  {PS. I was so nervous during this moment...I remember!}

Ash working her magic:

Credits:
Photographer: Ashley Slater Photography / Hair Stylist: Urban Modern Hair / Caterer: Feast Events Catering / Event Designer: Michaela Noelle Designs / Videographer: Coastline Studios / Floral Designer: Spring Sweet / Dress Store: Bridal Elegance GR / Linens and Coverings: La Tavola/ Calligrapher: Studio Albers / Makeup Artist: Jaime Visser / Tuxedo and Mens Attire: Speak Louder/ Veils and headpieces: Which Goose / Venue: Robinette’s Apple House /  Bar cart + Dresser: Fancy Fray Vintage Rentals 

Head over to 100 Layer Cake to see more from the sunrise brunch themed shoot!
Happy Thursday!
xoxo

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