Infusing grandeur into otherwise drab Monday mornings with five things/ideas/events for the week:

I. With my mailbox bursting at the seams with holiday party invitations, I’ve found myself running out of cocktail dresses.  Social media makes it nearly impossible to rewear, so recycling my favorite LBD won’t work this year.  Shopping for something de rigueur, I found the perfect solution in this darling tulle skirt.  The ballerina-inspired piece comes in every color you can imagine.  Pair it with a cashmere sweater and you’ll have the most coveted accouterments this season.

II.  And while we still have the Etsy page pulled up, I think you need these gilded porcelain swallows.  When I first moved into my apartment, the Gossip Girl episode featuring Blair’s guest bedroom with Paul Villinski ink-colored butterflies debuted.  Obsessed with the aesthetic, I recreated the look in my dining room.  Though I can’t bear to take them down, if I was currently looking for something 3-D to adorn my walls, the sophisticated birds would be my first pick.

III.  On the topic of decor - let’s just redecorate your whole place.  I haven’t been able to get this picture off my mind since I found it while searching for tablescape inspiration yesterday.  After doing a little investigating, I learned that taxidermied peacocks are the interior design piece du jour, which means that they are incredibly difficult to find at a reasonable price.  The rarity coupled with the fact that it would be a teensy bit creepy to have a dead bird staring at you prompted me to find this striking life-size faux peacock. Now I just have to find a place for it in my already over-designed apartment…

IV.  If you’re anything like me, you haven’t finished your Thanksgiving menu.  This used to be something that I painstakingly planned weeks before the food-focused holiday, but with almost more work than I can handle (a very good thing) Turkey Day is taking a backseat this year.  One dish that I can promise will be on the list is Truffle Mac and Cheese in individual serving dishes. Relatively easy to make and always a crowd-pleaser, even if I don’t get around to making my typical feast, I know that these will be a hit.

V.  Though I wouldn’t typically think about purchasing gift wrap this early, I couldn’t resist snapping up Gray Malin’s outrageously beautiful paper the second I saw it on the popular photog’s Instagram.  Pair it with candy-striped butchers twine to step up your gift-game this season.

Have a wonderful week!  xx tt