Friday, January 28, 2011

January through the lense of my iPhone

I have purchased some AMAZING Apps lately, but my favorite is Instagram... go get it! A ton of the pics below are w/ the instagram filter. Here is my month at a glance through the lense of my trusty iPhone.

I started off January with a terrible head cold that lasted a week!



Alexis and I hosted January (Chili) Supper Club!


We had a tiny bit of snow for less then 24 hours! yippee!


I worked on my Rosetta Stone FRENCH :)


My hubby decked out in ALL maroon for the Cotton Bowl... we won't discuss what happened to his enthusiasm later in the evening...



Katie Boo and I took a stab at our 1st baby shower decor! VERY FUN craft nights :)



Work has been EXCITING this month! We had Cheetahmail in town from New York for a seminar. (By the way, I had a friend who had to leave early... I turned in her entry to win an iPad at the end of the seminar along with mine... and yes, SHE won. It was really hard for me to be ethical and give it to her... so close!) They took us to the Screen Door for dinner- ah-mazing! Go try it out! (special occasion place/ $$$ )



Sushi date w/ our favorite premarital class friends Joe and Taylor... I heart Deep Sushi. We dominated that plate in 13 minutes. I am not lying. We timed it.



A surprise bday breakfast for Jen's bday at our Friday gals breakfast spot, Cafe Brazil! Sadly, she is leaving us in less than 2 weeks to travel the world for 6 months. LITERALLY. crazy cool!



Date night at our favorite restaurant ENOS! I love lights... year round... indoors and outdoors.


I got to wear some of my new clothes/ shoes from Christmas- hooray for new outfits at work!
(PS I don't have a full length mirror hung up in our house, so I have gotten into the habit of throwing things on and snapping a pic of myself in the elevator on my way up to work to make sure the ensemble looks okay- I guess at that point its too late though, right? haha!)




Hosted my first baby shower!!! YIPPEE!!!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

From wedding cakes to diaper cakes...


It is crazy to think that we just mastered wedding showers and now we are onto bigger and better things... BABY showers!!!! This past weekend all my besties from college flew in and we hosted Annie's very first baby shower for sweet little Lola! She is going to be our "Dream Team" mascot... I cant wait to meet her. Katie and I literally spent HOURS doing the decorations b/c we wanted it to be just perfect and I must say they turned out adorable!

The hostesses (L to R): Amanda, Bromli, Brenda, Alli, Annie, Katie, Me, Catherine

Alli made this awesome diaper cake and check out our adorable food spread complete with a hot tea station! I made little signs that matched the paper we used for the flag banner to call out all the food items and drinks. We even had expecting and not expecting mimosas :) I also took a stab at a centerpiece... we went w/ a "bird + nesting" theme so the birdcage worked out perfectly!


We had a "Wish Tree" station where everyone wrote little notes to Lola and hung them on her tree... we thought it would be fun for her to read them someday :) Our favors were cute tiny bird nests filled with pink covered cherry almonds. We wrapped them in tulle and tied them w/ the same cute pink ribbon from the Wish Tree tags.
We also had a "Guess the Due Date" Game on the same table...each person signed their name on the date they thought Lola would arrive in this world!
It was so much fun to have everyone together again for an entire weekend. I have especially missed Amanda and Bromli in my life... I hate that they are so far away, but we pick right back up where we left off!


I think it came together very nicely and it was so fun and CUTE to see all the loot that Annie picked up.... it didn't quite give me the baby bug... but it was close ;) Annie we love you SOOOO much and are so excited to live vicariously through you during this exciting time. She is going to be such a blessing to us all!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Fresh Tunes

This year I really want to make an effort to grow in my knowledge of music and get out of my comfort zone and listen to new bands and new sounds. I have made some progress...but I know I've just hit the tip of the iceberg, which is pretty exciting!

Below is a playlist of songs I have been listening to this month... some are old favorites that have come out with new songs and some are brand new artists I have always heard of but never taken the time to listen to. I hope you enjoy!

(PS the 1st song by the Morning Benders has an intro which is actually pretty interesting...but listen to the entire song, its really great! My stepbrother Dylan introduced them to me. In love with their style.)




Any suggestions for me? Favorite bands/ songs that I should explore? I am going to try and post a monthly (at the very least) playlist of my progress and so that you can check out some bands or songs that maybe you haven't listened to before.

Hope everyone had a great weekend... I have LOVED spending quality time with my "Dream Team" from college and Annie's baby shower yesterday was such a fun and surreal experience for all of us. I will be sure to post pics and details this week b/c it turned out SUPER cute!

Friday, January 21, 2011

TGIF from my desk to yours!



It has been a LONG week!!!!

So glad it's wrapping up b/c ALL my XO girls are in town from all over the USA for Annie's baby shower! Katie and I were in charge of decorations and I cannot wait to share what we came up with- we got really cute and crafty. Its going to be a fun filled girls weekend full of Lola talk and pink! YAY! :)

Off to get margaritas at Glorias... be jealous.



Thursday, January 20, 2011

I'm going to peak your Pinterest...

I am fully aware that I am not an early adopter of this site, BUT I have just recently finally tried it out and I LOVE IT!!! My lovely SIL Erin introduced it to me and it is a GREAT tool to keep all your online favorite images, products, pictures in one place on various "inspiration boards."

I just dipped my toe into this madness yesterday and I am addicted. The site is called Pinterest and you basically save a virtual inspiration board for yourself. You install a "Pin" on your bookmark bar and whatever site you are on you can choose to "Pin" it on your board without ever leaving the current webpage. Example: You are browsing your FAVORITE photographer's blog and you see an irresitible image OR you are on etsy and fall in love with a handmade painting... all you do is click "Pin it" on your toolbar and it will store it for you on your site!

Here are my pins so far... You can view them as a collective group OR you can break them down by category that you assign.

Like I said, I just started but my categories (boards) so far are:
  • Watch Listen Read- music I can connect to, movies that inspire and make me think, books that I can't put down

  • Wishful Wardrobe- If $$ grew on trees and I could have my dream wardrobe, these would be my picks!

  • Dream Home- Inspiration to build our dream home... someday? A girl can dream...

  • Wish List-my list of (hopefully) future purchases...( or gifts)

  • Take me to...- dreamy landscapes/ places I would like to visit someday

  • J'Adore Paris- Everything that I love about France

  • Creativity and Inspiration- images, colors, photography that inspire

  • Let's Make It - everything DIY/ crafty that I love and hope to try
The cool thing is... much like twitter, you watch live as people pin new images. You can also re-pin other's images that you love and want on your board. You "follow" people that you run across that have great taste or simliar interests and believe me- you will be exposed to a whole new world! See a taste below of boards that I "follow."






Each image is linked to its source on the internet so you don't have to worry about copyrighting, PLUS you can discover new & interesting photography/ fashion/ design sites and blogs where people are pulling their "pins" from.


I know we are all on social media OVERLOAD, but you should give this a try. Before, I used to save jpegs of images / items I loved on a folder on my desktop, but now its all online and I don't have to try to remember where I found all of them- they link directly back!

You can follow me HERE.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Happy Weekend

Weekend To Do's:


Have a good one. My hubs is out playing GOLF on this rainy day- he is crazy- but he wants to show off the new clubs, golf bag, shoes, and shirt. Its cute. Its like the day you get a new haircut and no matter WHAT - you try to see a lot of people that day to show it off ;) Speaking of... I really need a haircut. That will have to happen on another To Do list. Okay- off to undecorate the tree + catch up on this week's TiVo.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Supper Club

Well I haven't exactly completed all of my goals, but I am making a dent in them for sure. As you can remember, I wanted to start a SUPPER CLUB! Well, we did in November and it has been a blast. We have a growing number of about 16 girls that come each month.

My bestie Alexis and I hosted January and we did yummy chili. Charlie and Alexis used to host Super Bowl watching parties in their 700 sq. foot apartment in San Francisco, so we used his secret recipe (who am I kidding- he came over and made it beforehand for us shhhhhhhhh!) and everyone loved it! We had some brie and pistachios for appetizers and played table topics after our yummy brownie/ ice cream dessert :) It was such a fun girls night!


A few snapshots from the evening...






If you are interested in starting a Supper Club here is how we gals organized it.
  • I sent out an email and people signed up to host or co-host 1 month for the year. Therefore, you will have to invest in feeding 15+ gals for 1 night out of the entire year- you can make that work ;) THEN, the next month you and your co-host are in charge of providing the drinks and dessert for the next month's host and co-host. Example: Next month Alexis and I will help Jayne, Rachel, and Erin by bringing dessert and alcohol. Easy as that! So technically you are investing in Supper Club 2x per year and the rest of the time, you just get to come, hang out, and not worry about a thing!
  • Also- there was debate on what night of the week, weekday vs. weekend, 1st Monday of the month, etc. To nip that in the bud b/c lets be real 15 girls schedules- that is a nightmare- so the HOST and CO-HOST (since they are crucial) get to pick when. We have had Saturday and Thursdays so far...its whatever works best for those 2 people. That way there is no pressure, coordination, or hurt feelings- if you can come, you come...if not, you come the next month.
I would encourage it to anyone- its been fun to blend all different groups of friends- elementary, high school, work, college, and post college.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

New Years 2011

First of all... 1.11.11... kind of cool? Feel like I need to do something special or memorable today!

Secondly... was going to tell you a little about our super fun PROGRESSIVE DINNER in Lakewood for New Years Eve :)

It was really fun- the Usrys hosted appetizers, we hosted the main course, and the Smiths hosted dessert/ a champagne toast at midnight! We took our time, didn't pay attention to any type of schedule and just kind of leisurely made our way from house to house. It was fun to change up the setting & vibe a few times and it took the pressure off of 1 couple hosting the entire evening.



Here we are at the Usry's for a table FULL of yummy appetizers!



Then we made our way to our casa for a yummy salad that Nicki made and my mom's famous pot roast recipe! We had 3 CROCK POTS that were ALL GONE by the end of the night... I think people liked them :) I know Grant did. (see below)




Around 11ish...it was time to make our way to the final house of the evening, but alas! My bestie Erin Gracey was currently RINGING in the New Year (quite literally) with her new bling! I had to stop by the oh-so-swanky Bar Celine on Henderson to say hi, check out the rock, and celebrate her engagement w/ her and her family and friends! My mom and Chris had just gotten back from their honeymoon, so they joined in the fun and my mom and I even shared a few dances :)








I am so happy that we were there at midnight. It was a BLAST! (Although I was VERY under-dressed in my non-sparkly dress haha!)


Side Note: Logan hates it when I take pics of just him so he punishes me by doing "Fat face"- no wonder his friends in France call him "Cheeseburger." haha

After midnight we did make an appearance at the Smiths and they even did another countdown and champagne toast for us :) So fun! We stayed until 1:30am when my voice literally gave out... and that, my friends, was the very beginning of my awful head cold. WELL worth it though.

What did everyone else do for NYE? Anything exciting?

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