Sandy

A heartfelt thank you to all of our rescue workers who have been working around the clock as the jersey shore evaluates, cleans up, and regroups. Life here as we know it has changed forever. Our houses are destroyed and our favorite stores and hangouts have been washed away to sea. If we're lucky, our families and friends are safe. It will be years before we fully recover but we will recover.

With the help of organizations like these we'll rebuild our lives, and our homes. Please donate, if you can, and help the jersey shore get back on its feet.

Thankful

[author's note: this post was originally meant to go out last Thursday. In my allergy related, drug-induced state,

 I never pressed publish. Good thing, too, because now, even without power, I have a post for you all.

Sandy, be good to us. ]

Sometimes all it takes is the world's slowest moving week coupled with a massive allergy attack to make one really appreciate the little things in life [ever notice how the people who say fall is beautiful happen to be the same people who don't have allergies? I get it - summer's over. Bring on the frost and kill the pollen. PLEASE.] Not much can keep me going through the fall allergy season - but here's a peak at what is currently working.

[gorgeous sunsets off the boat]

[ice cream with sprinkles + a side of sprinkles]

 

[Orange lipstick + a fun Halloween manicure]

[leather pockets]

[Friday night wine club]

Baby Cupcakes

I've been looking for any excuse to craft lately and with the house hunt back on and a wedding in the not too distant future I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities soon. In the meantime, with no house to decorate, wedding to craft for, or even (shock horror!) a friends bridal shower to plan, I'm in a bit of a crafting rut. Luckily, my cousin's baby shower was this weekend. Unluckily, I have no experience with baby showers, never mind baby crafts. I found this picture on Pinterest and decided how hard could it be? As far as crafts go, it's definitely on the easier end of the spectrum. And, like me, you'll probably make your "cupcake", decide it looks nothing like a cupcake and try, try again. The best advice I can give you is make all four at once, place them in the cupcake box and then decide if any need to be re-rolled. There's magic in the cupcake box and things that don't normally look like cupcakes suddenly look adorable inside that box.  

Here's what you'll need:
4 onesies
4 baby socks (2 pairs)
Cupcake box (I found mine at Michael's)
Cupcake liners
Scotch tape

Each cupcake is made from one onesie and one [single] sock.

 

Fold the onesie in third's and the sock in half.

 

Using the toe of the sock as the piece sticking out, roll the sock into the onesie. Experiment with how tightly you do this. [Too tight makes the cupcake appear taller than is realistic but too loose and the cupcake looks like a blob.] Purposefully roll "down" so each roll is not even with the last, giving it a more stacked look. You can see this in the picture directly above. The picture to the left is the underside of this cupcake - don't  worry about how this looks. It's going to squish into the bottom of the box anyway.

Use scotch tape to hold the rolled onesie in place, put in a cupcake liner and voila! Onesie Cupcakes! Like I said before, wait until all the cupcakes are done and in the box before deciding to re-roll. You'll be shocked how much better they look once they're in the box surrounded by other cupcakes. That said, I wound up re-rolling the red cupcake four times before I was happy with how it looked [meanwhile, my nine year old sister rolled the yellow one on the first try and it was the best looking one in the box.]

One of the things I loved best about this gift idea is that, for family and close friends, it's the perfect "little something extra" that I find myself so often needing. This craft cost me under $20 and took no more than 30 minutes to complete. Additionally, for those people whose shower you aren't attending but probably should buy something for (neighbors, children's friend's parents, coworkers you only see and work with occasionally...) it's a really easy and inexpensive way to acknowledge this time in their life.

Comment below if you try it out and let me know how it went!

In pictures

Monday's are always hard. And I'm off to support a friend who just started her own business selling Arbonne products. I'll fill you in if it's worth it. Here's to hoping it is =)

Here's the weekend in pictures. Fun times filled with babies, pumpkins, and a bit too much champagne.

 

 

Hello There

It's Friday?! Already?!

Typically, I'm counting down the minutes starting on...oh...Monday evening until the next Friday but not so much this week. You ever have a week where you hit the ground running at 7:35am Monday morning and just don't come up for air? Like, at all? That was this week for me.

I got quite a bit accomplished though, happily. And I'm looking forward to a weekend filled with relaxation: a baby shower, a dinner date with grandma, and a football game with dad and fiance on Sunday. Sadly, that football game on Sunday means I'll be a no-show at the premiere of my always inspiring cousin's pilot episode. See the information on all of that here. [Love ya, Mike. Maybe you can pick me up a copy?] Follow Mission Possible for updates on their amazing journey.

Happy Weekend.

Bag Girl

Every girl has their vice. For me, there is a magnetic field from my very soul into the heart of either the shoe or outerwear department in any store I walk into. I stopped counting the number of coats I own back in '05 when the world's smallest dorm room (née closet) had no more hangers and I used two jackets as a pillow until my mother came with more hangers (since buying my own hangers would have been ludicrous)

However, this past weekend was the celebration of both my fiance's 27th birthday and a close friends 30th (and my mom's xth...she'd kill me if I said more.) My friend's husband bought her this gorgeous, long-loved-from-afar Prada bag and I've since been on a bit of a handbag kick. I don't think I'll ever justify spending more than $100 on a handbag - mostly because I treat mine terribly - but  when I hit the sale racks at Charmin' Charlie and T.J. Maxx this winter, here's where my inspiration will be coming from.


I first confessed by love for all things neutral here and this bag certainly doesn't disappoint. Steve Madden incorporated snakeskin, gold accents, and a metal chain without looking over the top or show-stealing. Well played. 

Marc by Marc Jacobs is kind of like a long way of saying can't go wrong. The leather is so soft you want to snuggle with it and the color-blocking ensures an effortless match to almost any outfit. 

Clearly I'm living out a color-block moment but this Pour La Victoire bag is perfection (and it's currently on sale at Piperlime - run! don't walk!)

What's a handbag wishlist without a little Rebecca? I'm pining after the first one for it's classic shape in this season's hottest color and the second one tells me story: winter kidnapped summer and hid her in a handbag. She's bursting to get out but winter is putting up a fight. Basically, it's the story of my soul.

                     

 

After All

When I began this blog a few months ago, I wanted a place to discuss and explore the things that inspire me everyday. The very first week I began my Weekend Book Review as a way to discuss with my readers one of the things I love most in this world: reading. Since then I've discussed a number of books, as well as fashion trends, shopping tips, and beauty tutorials, to name a few. I've spent weeks trying to decide how to incorporate my love of travel into this blog in a way that speaks to me. I'm not interested in discussing basic travel tips [however...pack at least two days worth of necessities in your carry-on for international flights. Don't have the room? Lose your luggage for three and a half weeks in a country where you can't even recognize their letters and then tell me you don't have room. Trust me: find room.] nor am I interested in discussing the beauty of touristy hot spots [although most of the ones I've seen are indeed beautiful].

I was very fortunate to have my first international travel experience as an extended one. I was in Europe for months, as opposed to days. Perhaps its because that was my first experience, and I had no other "travel traditions" to speak of, but I have traveled internationally numerous times since then and pride myself on being a traveler, not a tourist. As an example, I was in Rome for over a month before I made it to the Colosseum and if you asked me for ten must-see places in Paris, the Eiffel tower wouldn't make my list.  Don't get me wrong, the Eiffel tower is fun [and my name, along with my fiance's, is etched into the cement at the southern corner on the second floor walkout] but I prefer to walk the less crowded side streets and find the tiny patisserie in the center of Montmartre where the locals are.

I immerse myself in the culture, and have made a fool of myself on multiple occasions as I attempt to speak the language [I once ordered a "what time is it lamb chop" at a fancy restaurant in France after I decided to speak only in French and mixed up the expression "what time is it" with "I would like to eat..." The stunningly gorgeous waiter laughed at me for days.]

I'm still working out the details on how, and in what context, but I can't wait to bring my love of travel and introduce him to all of you.

Sunset in my favorite city in all the world. Can you identify it?