The holiday season makes me realize how lucky I am to have the friends I do and be appreciative of the talent around which I'm surrounded.
I've been friends with Jennifer Boles, Contributing Editor at House Beautiful and the founder of the blog The Peak of Chic for a few years. We caught up the other day and I asked her some questions that she allowed me to share with all of you…
ST: Jennifer, it’s the holidays and although it doesn’t get too cold in Atlanta, what do you like about winter and the holiday season?
JB: Taking a deep breath of cold air (it’s becoming a rarity down here!). Good for the lungs. Classic Christmas music by Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, and Johnny Mathis. Very fragrant candles redolent of pine and spice. Eating and drinking too much and not feeling guilty about it.
ST: What DON’T you like?
JB: Wreaths on the front grills of cars. Newfangled Christmas music by Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, and the like.
ST: As a perveyor of everything chic, how do you like to decorate for the holidays?
JB: I keep it pretty traditional, tailored, and classic. Traditional greenery, white lights (though to be perfectly honest I prefer colored lights. Sacrilege, I know), paper whites, red taper candles. I avoid anything too theatrical. I also like those pretty pale pink-y poinsettias that are kind of hard to find and amaryllis. Now that I live in a high-rise, I stick to a wreath and garland on the mantel. Getting a tree up in the elevator is too difficult, so I leave that for my parents’ house. And lately I’ve been burning the Ralph Lauren Holiday Candle, which is to die for.
ST: What inspires you design-wise during the holiday?
JB: I suppose that my holiday inspiration over the last two years has come from Tiffany Christmas (the John Loring book from about a decade ago?) and Nigella’s Christmas cookbook from last year. Those holiday cocktails in there are really good…and lethal too.
