Some Enchanted Evening....

Every now & then we receive an invitation to someone's home
which seems like a gift within itself.
I mean, think of it...being invited into the home of friends
during the Christmas holidays is pure joy, isn't it?


And exciting !





These little twinkling lights represent exactly how I feel.
Happiness.


Today, ALL of the women of "By Invitation Only"
will be attending a virtual Christmas Party...the inaugural party in
the splendid new home of Tina @ THE ENCHANTED HOME.


Set the stage:  Party to be December 23rd, the absolute best
time for a beautiful Christmas event.  The dress is formal. The night is
snowy, the music is playing, champagne is being passed around.

& all of us finally get to meet each other personally !!!
so it is a HUGE BIG EVENT !!




Those of you who follow Tina's beautiful blog already know how sumptuous her new home is,
it requires "dressing UP."


each of us have the same post going on today.
what on Earth will we wear to this party ?





well immediately I was drawn to this gorgeous Giles Deacon red dress

or this Giorgio Armani

but, no...they were too spectacular and would call attention to me, the guest,
when I wanted our hostess to have all the glory, as she should.


So I went to my closet & found a little black dress from 2010, and I knew
it was perfect.
Long sleeved, high-necked, lining to the floor.
But after that I changed a few things from what I would normally wear...
in honor of the Christmas season I had to have RED...red earrings (my own design), 
red handbag, and nice little red leggings stopping just at the top of those D&G lace booties.
And, do I LOVE those booties !
Then the feathered headband just had to be added, the outfit wasn't complete
without it.

Can I tell you how much I've been looking forward to this post?

Getting to see, at the same time as our readers, what each one of us has chosen to wear.   
You know, most of the time we blog about interiors,

our hobbies, our children, our holidays/vacations, and lifestyle issues.

We almost never get to see the "real" woman behind the blog, even though we "know"

her through her words.  


This might be a fantasy post, however, I believe each of us will

choose something we really like and something we would actually wear to an event like this.

Do you know how much someone's fashion style says about them?

Volumes.

And, finally, we had to choose a Hostess Gift for Tina.

A gift for the woman who truly does have everything.

Once again, I went through a list of lovely little gifts,

in fact, I will devote a post to this later this week, but nothing seemed to hit the spot

until I saw this necklace, which is a part of a collection we did a few years ago.

A long hand-beaded chain of 14k Goldfilled wire

& Chalcedony rondelles, a hammered gold horseshoe element,

with a large Chalcedony pendant.

I will put it in a little red velvet pouch, and wrap it

like Sande @ A Gift-Wrapped Life would do.

Along with welcoming all our readers from around the world,

 I wanted to bring

something important to everyone's attention...

one of our original members,

Yvonne @ StoneGable

 said good-bye to blogging in her post today.

I adore Yvonne & I will miss her emails and her posts.

However, she is to be congratulated for having the courage of her convictions,

making a return to her teaching and speaking engagements on behalf of our Lord.

She said she must follow her heart.


Perhaps, Yvonne has brought up a valuable point for all of us to remember,
especially now at our holiday season and the celebration of Jesus's birth.


Have a splendid & merry Christmas-time.

Members of "BIO" please link up below