How To Dress For Special Occasions

Holiday Outfits Ideas

♥ Family Dinner Party ♥
It's a family gathering party and it's a dinner party, so it's very important to make sure that we have a semi-formal, right below knee dress that can keep us comfortable moving around in the house.















♥ Work Party ♥
Going out with colleagues, all we need is simply a professional outfit that doesn't show too much of our skin.















♥ Wedding ♥
A long, simple and elegant gown is a must for wedding. The dress will make you stand out and feel special without upstaging the bride!

(Early) Bah Humbug!

Just let me start off by saying, I cannot believe Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK! What happened to November?

I've read that retailers started skipping Halloween and Thanksgiving and moved right to Christmas to try to get people to open their wallets a little sooner this year. Every year, I keep saying "gotta start holiday shopping early, gotta get started early" but I'm definitely one of those last minute people freaking out at the malls; standing in the store trying to justify buying a activity kit for a 5-year old for my teenage sister or yet another pair of slippers for my mom. What can I say, without a tummy full of turkey, I just can't bring myself to start my holiday shopping!

Every year, I try to propose to my family to just enjoy the company of each other during the holidays, rather than waiting to rip open gifts - but I'm met with 20+ people laughing in my face (I've got a HUGE family). Whatever happened to Holiday Spirit? How do I buy gifts for that many people, WITHOUT breaking the bank? This year, I'm approaching my gift giving different, I'm going all sentimental (I recently took up photography) and giving all the adults a framed, artfully designed photo of their children (last year I bought them all lottery tickets)- hopefully they'll like it! The little kiddies will get toys and clothes, as usual and the teenagers will get money! Done and Done!

What are some of your gift ideas this year?

Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes

The turkey may be the star at Thanksgiving dinner but great side dishes will make your Thanksgiving meal even better! Here are a few of our staff's favorite holiday recipes:

Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients

* 2 (15 ounce) cans cut green beans, drained
* 3/4 cup milk
* 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
* 1 (2.8 ounce) can French fried onions
* salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium casserole dish mix together green beans, milk, cream of mushroom soup, and 1/2 of the can of onions.
3. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until heated through and bubbly. Sprinkle remaining onions over the top, and return to the oven for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Mac and Cheese
Ingredients

* 4 cups cooked elbow macaroni, drained
* 2 cups grated Cheddar
* 3 eggs, beaten
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Once you have the macaroni cooked and drained, place in a large bowl and while still hot and add the cheddar. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and add to the macaroni mixture. Pour macaroni mixture into a casserole dish and bake for 30 to 45 minutes. Top with additional cheese if desired.

Garlic Mashed Red Bliss Potatoes
* 3 pounds red bliss potatoes
* 4 cloves garlic
* 3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
* 1/2 to 1 cup heavy cream, room temperature
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* Special equipment: potato masher

Directions

In a large pot, cover potatoes and garlic with water by 1-inch. Bring to a boil, add salt and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain potatoes and garlic well. Put back in the pot and cook over low heat to evaporate the rest of the water. Mash in the butter. Add heavy cream in stages until desired consistency reached. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Butternut Squash
* 2 butternut squash, halved and seeded
* 1/2 cup margarine
* 1 cup light sour cream
* salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place squash halves cut side down in a medium baking dish with enough water to cover. Cover, and bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until tender.
3. Scoop squash from skin into a medium bowl, and mix with margarine and light sour cream. Whip until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. There's no gift-buying stress, no disposal of dying trees, no neighborhood competitions to decorate your house. Just food. Lots and lots and lots of food. Just thinking about it puts me in a gravy, turkey, potato and pie induced dream-like state. And I'm thankful to be able to have any food to eat at all and thankful for the friends and family that come together to share the meal.
This year I think I will also be thankful for the "borrow from your boyfriends closet/leggings go with anything" trends. These will definitely help keep me comfy when I insist on having "just one more taste" of 10 too many dishes. Is it wrong that I've been planning my outfit for a few days now? I'm deciding between slouchy boyfriend jeans with an oversized blazer or leggings with a comfy sweater. Any opinions? What's your most chic outfit that still gives you room to breathe?

Chadwicks Cares about Charity

This past weekend, we had a sample sale for all employees and their families and friends. Throughout the year we gather so many samples of product that are not for sale, just for sample purposes. It was an amazing turnout! It was nice to see the enthusiasm in family and friends with their great finds and at the same time to be helping charity. We were able to raise 11,000.00! What a great feeling with a tough economy to help out especially during a season for giving. The best part about it is that I had no idea until my mother-in-law went up to pay and she said "$26!" I feel like I'm stealing, and the person collecting the money said, "No mam, you are not stealing you are actually donating to charity". What a great feeling to know all of the proceeds were going to charity!

Chadwicks Cares

The fight is year-round (not just October)

Good morning! I'm Rob from the Marketing team and as many of you know, we started selling "Change" T-shirts in October. $5 from every sale is going straight to the American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. They run in four sizes (S-XL), two colors (black & white) and six "Change" messages. The black shirts do not have the ACS logo on the back, but the white shirts do. Click here for details. (You can use a promotion code on these shirts too!)
Countless families have been effected by this disease whether directly, through a close friend, or someone in their community. Help us join the fight as our goal is to raise $25,000 for the cause by the end of 2009. Here's a picture of my two girls. They love these shirts (well... anything connected to Dad's work is fun for them)!