Life

Tasting.

This weekend I experienced perhaps my favorite wedding planning meeting to date: the tasting! I consider myself quite an expert in this category, as eating is pretty much my favorite thing in all the world. It felt like a big relief to go through all of the details and taste every little treat, narrowing down our choices to make the perfect menu. One of my favorite choices that didn’t make the cut were those mini ‘adult’ root beer floats (I’d be lying if I said I stopped after just one).  Now, how do I go about getting invited to more of these tasting events?

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Home

Spring Styling.

In the age of online shopping, sometimes I just get a little burst of joy when a really great catalog pops up in my mailbox. Which is exactly the case when the Spring Boden catalog arrived this week. To me, it feels so bright and fresh and playful — and the styling is spot on. In fact I was almost as excited about that vintage bar cart in the background of one of the models as I was about the adorable patterned pencil skirts! img067img06859602395040371485_xiSTM1jQ_c

Color block cardigan, Pencil Skirt, Wedge boots

Life

Birthday Weekend.

I’ve been off-line for a few days doing something very important: celebrating my birthday! I’m a very lucky girl and came home to freshly baked funfetti cupcakes by my fiancé and opened some amazing presents (hello, how gorgeous is that pink zebra wrapper paper?) My favorite gift? A new instax mini camera! It was a hit at the bar; I snapped some instant photos and handed them out to friends as ‘party favors.’ Here’s hoping the rest of year 28 is as fun as this weekend was!

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Charmed.

I poured over the new arrivals for Spring at Kate Spade today and stopped my scrolling right at this nifty charm bracelet. I feel like it’s sort of cheating to buy a charm bracelet already stacked full of charms, no? I’ve always admired the one that my Grandmother wears, knowing that each charm she has commemorates a special occasion or memory — but I guess you have to start somewhere right? Perhaps this is a good time to get collecting!

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Life

Cake, flowers, and monograms.

A few random musings are what I have for you today… first off: my birthday is on Thursday and I have one thing on my mind. Funfetti Cake. Somehow my grocery store was sold out of the mix (didn’t they know it was my birthday?) so I’ve been looking up a few homemade recipes (here and here).

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This weekend we also tackled some wedding planning tasks — I got to work pulling together inspiration images for our florist (who happens to be one of my fabulous bridesmaids!). I’m so excited to see all of these ideas come together, I’m thinking beautiful giant peonies, some pretty little billy buttons, and pops of bright pink blooms.

floral inspiratoin

And it will come as surprise to no one, that as we worked on our wedding registry this weekend there were plenty of monogrammed goods added to the list. I’m certain I would have registered for a monogrammed vacuum, had that been an option.

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Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Home

Sprucing things up.

I spruced up our bedroom recently with a few new accessories that were under the Christmas tree! We have slanted ceilings in our bedroom which can make decorating a challenge — but my parents gifted me the perfect little gold starburst mirror that fits perfectly in the in the spot above our bed that I’ve been trying to fill for a year and a half.  And I added a new Dwell Studio citrine zebra pillow that has been on my wishlist forever; it’s the perfect pop of color against the poppyseed walls!
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Entertaining

A New Year’s Eve Fete.

It normally takes about 3 days to fully recover from New Year’s Eve, right? I’m working on it — it’s so hard to get back into ‘reality’ mode after a long holiday! Which is why I’m a little late sharing some pictures of our annual New Year’s Eve bash. Having a few extra days off after Christmas gave me the time to craft some fun decorations and think up some tasty dishes and cocktails. It was a great way to kick off 2013, and I hope it sets the tone for many more fabulous parties to come this  year (like, ahem, a pretty exciting wedding coming up in May). How did you celebrate the New Year?

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Recipes

A New Year’s Eve Signature Cocktail.

This year I’m serving up a punch for my signature cocktail: Champagne Clementine Fizz. It’s a little pink, and a little bubbly, and with the cute bows I found at the craft store to tie on my champagne glasses — it’s even a little glittery! Want to whip up a batch for yourself? In a large drink dispenser, combine two bottles of champagne — feel free to use the cheap stuff, I promise no one will know, one bottle of sparkling clementine soda (you can find this at Trader Joe’s) and a few ounces of St Germain or another elderflower liquor to taste. Mix it together and throw in some frozen cranberries for color and to keep the drink cool. Cheers to 2013!

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DIY Entertaining

New Year’s Eve Tinsel Trees.

A poor selection of flowers at my local Trader Joes this week inspired me to whip up a sparkly centerpiece for our annual New Year’s Eve party. I hit the Christmas sale section at the craft store and gathered up some tinsel garland and metallic tissue papers. With a hot glue gun in hand I wrapped some tinsel garlands around foam cones to create two tree-like pieces. With the silver and gold mylar tissue paper I layered strips of hand-cut fringe around the third cone. I topped all three with sparkly drink stirrers that I also found in the Christmas clearance bin at Target to finish them off!

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NYE Tinsel TreesTINSEL TREE

And of course I couldn’t pass up all of that discounted tinsel, so I used the extra pieces to outline some cardboard cut-outs of 2013 and strung them up on the wall — it’ll be a perfect backdrop for some festive photo-ops!

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Life

A lovely little holiday.

I’m back in action after a truly awesome couple of days celebrating Christmas. I got to see a little dusting of snow on the ground while visiting my parents in NY — which just makes the holidays feel a little more special, am I right? Vintage gifts seemed to be the theme this year, I gave my mom a vintage milk glass ice bucket with sparkly gold details for her bar, and she  surprised me with an antique silver footed bowl, some shiny-brite ornaments, and teeny-tiny framed painting (the bow detail in the frame stole my heart). Hope your Christmas was just as lovely!

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