Fondue For All!

We had some of Chris’s friends over for a fondue dinner last night and I think it’s safe to say we ate like kings. For the six of us, we had cheese fondue, swiss-pickle balls, two kinds of meat, three veggies, two batters, three dips, salad, and both chocolate and caramel for a huge plate of dessert dippers!

(I think this is what happens when three couples are excited to dust off their fondue pots for the first time in a long while and go slightly overboard with the fixin’s!)

We had a great time with lots of laughs, full bellies and leftovers for all. First dinner party in the new apartment – success!

Looking forward to many more.

A Classic Combo

I’ve recently discovered the blog Sweetapolita and nothing makes me crave vanilla cake and a chilled glass of milk more than this beautiful photo below.

My favorite cake combo of all time? Vanilla cake, vanilla frosting. Don’t mess with a classic.

I may attempt to make this beauty below someday soon but I think it’s safe to say it won’t taste anything like the one in this photo even with Rosie’s virtual guidance.

Can someone pass me a fork?

Photo from Sweetapolita

Spiffed Up

As you can probably tell, I’ve been working on a few updates to the blog and it feels fantastic to have broken through my creative block and created something I’m happy with. It also feels amazing to exercise my design muscles after a long time as well!

There’s so many amazing blogs out there with talented people sharing design secrets, DIY projects and styling ideas that I feel continually inspired by their work. Thank you to all for sharing your ideas and secrets – I hope my blog accomplishes the same!

Thanks for reading, linking, sharing or pinning!

Go Patriots!

This photo perfectly captures one of my favorite new memories in MA.

For a girl who grew up with no professional teams in my home state, this was a big moment. SUPER BOWL!

Design Delivery

What’s better than adorable designs delivered directly to you? Only a few things in this great world!

The New Home Ec blog posted links to 20 adorable Valentine’s Day printables, including this adorable “Je t’aime” card below from the awesome Amy Moss of Eat Drink Chic.

Click on the image above to visit her site and download a PDF of the card and the envelope for free! Thanks for being so generous with your talents, Amy!

Red Carpet Awards

Thank goodness for the glitz and glam of the Hollywood awards season to distract us from the cold winter lull that takes place after the holidays.

Last night I placed myself front and center the television with some chinese take-out, red wine and my phone (for texting fashion hits and misses to my mom and friend Christine) for one of my favorite Sunday nights of the year – The Golden Globes.

Poor Chris had to stand in for far away girlfriends/sister/mom and listen to me chatter on about over-rated movies (Midnight in Paris), new shows to DVR (Downtown Abbey), and how terrible Meryl Streep always looks.

In exchange, I only watched the red carpet arrivals during commercial breaks of the NFL playoff game until the show officially started. So although most of the red carpet looks I only caught online and during the awards show, I was still able to assess just about every dress in the building and I avoided lots of mindless blabber from Ryan Seacrest and Carson Daley.

Here are my takes on this year’s red carpet fashions:

BEST USE OF COLOR:

Paula Patton in Monique Lhuillier and Kwiat

Kelly McDonald in Neil Lane

MOST FIGURE-FLATTERING:

Amber Riley in Neil Lane

FABULOUS USE OF SEQUINS:

Salma Hayek in Gucci

Julie Bowen in Reem Acra (have to point out I dislike her hair)

 Diane Lane in Reem Acra & Neil Lane

BEST IN RED:

Stacy Keibler

MY TOP THREE: 

Julianne Moore in Chanel Couture (the hair, makeup and accessories are perfection!)

Sofia Vergara in Vera Wang (love the color and sleek side-swept hair)

 Shailene Woodley in Marchesa (that’s actually not a strapless dress, it has a sheer top!)

Dream Bakery

Some days I want to push aside the rest of the working world and just make pastries all day long.

If my wish came true, this is exactly where I’d love to be:

Bobbette & Belle, Image from simple+pretty. Thanks for the great find, s+p!

L.O.V.E.ly rings

L.O.V.E. these simple and sweet rings. And would L.O.V.E. to have one adorning my digits.

Sydney Evan ring in rose gold

Gold Wire Love Ring – FabulousWire on Etsy

Speak LOVE ring – rebeccating on Etsy

Stacked LOVE sterling silver ring – daskajewels on Etsy

Girl Space Meets Boy Space

I love the way our apartment is coming together and now that frames are on the walls it finally feels like home. It’s been a fun challenge to merge items from both our styles in our living space and I think we quickly realized we’d have to find middle ground between man-cave-meets-country (him) and IKEA-meets-girly-glam (me).

The one place we easily come together is the kitchen and for him, my love of Anthropologie and European kitchen items seems to meet his approval as well. (Thank goodness!)

I was a spoiled girl this Christmas season with lots of goodies for the apartment so we’re set – YAY! – but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few more items to put on my wishlist for the future, right?!

That is, of course, with my roomie’s approval…

1. Beurre Butter Dish, P.O.S.H. 2. Soap dispenser, Target stores 3. Bare Bulb Filament Pendant, Restoration Hardware  4. Espresso cup set, P.O.S.H. 5. Stainless Steel Kitchen Scale, Amazon.com 6. Hungarian Mason Jars, Restoration Hardware 7. Staub Dish, Anthropologie 8. Pillow, Anthropologie     

Blushing Bride

My gorgeous friend Christine was married in November at a beautiful and intimate wedding in Minneapolis and her awesome wedding photographer recently posted the pictures on her site. I had to share them because I love Laura Ivanova’s photography and I’m so happy for my friend, the stunning bride!

 

Check out more of Laura’s work on her site!