Christmas in the Hudson Valley was pure magic this year. I already miss it. It was a calm, snowy few days where the stress of the world just melted away and there was no limit to pastries, coffee, and sparkling wine. Basically, heaven!

As always, I spent it in the Hudson Valley with the fam, chasing around my precious nephew Otto and hanging out with my brothers.

And yes, one of my favorite gifts was this adorable Pusheen mug 😍 …and a coaster that warms up your cup—I’m the queen of forgetting about my coffee!

It’s been a long time since New York had a white Christmas, so it felt extra special.

My parents’ house looks like straight up Narnia in the snow, so I couldn’t stop myself from pulling on snow boots and trudging out into the fluffy white landscape early in the morning on December 25th to capture the scene.

On Christmas evening we went to my Aunt’s house—another Christmas tradition—and marveled at her enormous tree.

After a year that felt kind of drab, this was a really special way to top it all off. I boarded my train back to NYC today feeling extra grateful (and extra full).

The past year has been a complicated one, full of dramatic highs and lows, leaving many open ends and epic questions unanswered as I careen into 2015. But that’s alright.

I’m ready for a new calendar, a new chapter, a new to-do list. The sun may set at 4PM these days (uugh—the worst!), but I’m ready to infuse as much light into the next 365 as possible.

I mentioned I haven’t been blogging because life has been hectic, but I wanted to share some recent snaps from the past few months. It’s a bit of everything: holiday cocktails, sparkling jewels, mornings cups of coffee after a snowstorm, chipped nails and more.

Hey lovelies. This unplanned hiatus of mine will be wrapping up soon, and I’ll come tumbling back into your lives, covered in grass stains and glitter.

For me, it was a wild summer, in both good and bad ways. I’ll catch you up on what’s been culminating in Hey Mishka land—including exciting Bombay Mermaid news—super soon.

Here are some snaps from the nooks and crannies of my post-summer life.

 10 Things I Love About Summer 

Sleeping in men’s dress shirts / Pink Lemonade / Mixing champagne & pink lemonade / Bonfires & backyard parties / Learning to appreciate New England beaches / Reading books about India in the early morning before it becomes too hot to read such books / Drinking hot tea despite it being too hot to read / Movies about surfing on TV all the time / Weekdays in the woods, weekends in the city / Delusional mid-summer daydreams

Allow me to introduce the hazy summer atmosphere I’ve been living in when I’m not running around the city. Starring the priceless Zooey England and my gloved zebra hand.

May it never end.

A few weeks ago Zooey accompanied me to the woods and we had ourselves a serious helping of champagne and sweet harmonica melodies. I also had a graduation party. Summer has kicked off in a beautiful way. Postcards from our adventures below.

Ooooh summer. You always steal my heart within the first few days.

Escaped the city for the weekend, to Ma & Pa’s. It was nice to look around and see a gradual occurrence of green leaves as I left the concrete jungle behind. It also felt so refreshing to detect the onset of spring and soooo lovely to visit with my little dog Guinness. Home sweet home, indeed.

The grass is always greener.

New year, new post! I’m in the Hudson Valley with the family, going through my new year’s resolutions and thinking about what I want to manifest in 2009.

Sadly, I’m also sick with whatever illness prevents people from swallowing solid foods. This is what most of my meals have consisted of for the past few days: raspberry sherbet and green tea.

Being sick is no reason not to eat prettily! Vintage ice cream dishes and coasters all the way.

Here’s to a new year and new victories…