how does your garden grow?...

over memorial day weekend my friend tasha and i decided to do a little gardening. because i have zero personal outdoor space i took it upon myself to plant the lonely urn we have outside our building stoop...


did i mention tasha lives directly behind me? it's like being in college again having your friends just down the hall! she has the greatest little outdoor space which she transformed into a little urban oasis...and it's kind of our new summer hang out spot...can you tell why?...


she likes to cook so she potted lots of herbs to pick from for her summer meals...



and she's trying out one of our shared favorite flowers, peonies! they've already started to bloom...


more to come as the 'gardens' flourish!

beach season is back...

so what's your beach style?...

courtesy of coastal living

this is mine...

1. kenneth cole new york roses bikini from garnet hill
2. XL disk earrings from calypso st. barth
3. kansas mix wrap bracelet from chan lu
4. crinkle cover up dress from victoria's secret
5. desperado straw cowgirl hat from amazon
6. fergalicious saucy flip flop from dsw
7. straw & leather oversize 'safari chic' tote from overstock
8. orange cabana stripe towel from sunfitters
9. braziliant by essie
10. aviator tech by ray-ban

playing in my head...

thank you pandora for introducing me to wiretrees...

Happy 2nd Birthday Reese...

ummm, can we just talk about how my goddaughter is turning 2 today? holy freakin' cow, i can't believe how fast time has gone. i seriously remember getting the calmest phone call from her momma saying they were on their way to the hospital to have this baby...and how i drove like a bat out of hell to be there in the waiting room to hear that my best friend delivered a brand spankin' new, perfect little girl, reese elizabeth!...


and wasn't your 1st birthday just yesterday or something?...


her turning 2 makes me realize how fast we grow up. i always used to hate when my dad would say, 'slow down, don't be in such a hurry to grow up'...now i understand what he was saying.

cocktail season is upon us...

clearly i have booze on the brain with my last 2 posts...there's just something about this warm weather that makes me thirsty for an alcoholic beverage after a long week of work. i would love to have one of these dispensers for summer cocktail parties, wouldn't you?...

wisteria

bellacor

amazon

cost plus world market

pier 1

pottery barn

pottery barn

crate and barrell

new favorite drink at my new favorite spot...

there's a new-ish place around the corner from my apartment that is quickly becoming a favorite of my girlfriends and mine...lolita. my favorite drink there is a bourbon smash, but i can only have a max of 2 drinks, otherwise i'm in the hurt-box the whole next day. the boyfriend is a bourbon guy, me not so much, but these are gooood...i'm sort of craving one now...

INGREDIENTS:
4 lemon wedges
4 sprigs mint
1 ounce simple syrup
2 ounces bourbon whiskey

METHOD:
In a bar glass, muddle 3 lemon wedges and 3 sprigs of mint. Add the simple syrup and whisky. Fill the glass with shaved ice. Garnish with the remaining mint sprig and lemon wedge.

currently reading...

this is our new book for book group in june and i'm really looking forward to reading it...if i can ever find the time. i've been super busy at work and on 2 side jobs... i need some alone time to catch up on such things.

m.i.a...

sorry people, i've been mildly out-of-my-mind busy lately...i promise i'll get back to blogging more regularly when i get my s@*t together...

what to do with the extras...

as you know, i'm always looking to do something creative with leftover fabric scraps. and this sweet little fabric mobile totally satisfies that urge..as seen on everything etsy...

musical heaven...

i can't even begin to tell you how amazing the adele concert was last night at the house of blues. she is INCREDIBLE, no joke, i have never seen an artist better live than on her own album. she just solidified herself as probably one of my most favorite singer/songwriters of all time. best money i've ever spent....



and of course she got super emotional when she sang this song...she says she still 'misses him every day' (even though he's married now...what an ass for leaving her)...



a band called civil wars opened for adele last night, they were actually pretty good too..



and i really loved their rendition of michael jackson's billie jean!...



and check out these youngsters belting out adele's rolling in the deep, love it...

cooking for the week...

don't know if you're like me, but i find it difficult to make time to cook for myself during the week, and i hate to spend $10/day on lunch at work...so i do all my cooking on the weekends for the entire week. yesterday i made a couple of easy soups, like this one from hannaford's 'fresh' magazine. it's soooo good!...

20/20 last night...

did you catch the 20/20 special about mother/blogger stephanie nielson last night? if not check it out here. she and her husband survived a horrific plane crash and their whole family is learning to live again, together...amazing & inspiring. now this is family, this is love, this is commitment.

a snapshot of fun...

i'm a self proclaimed dork, i love photo booths. i think they are great photographs to have forever to capture the fun of the day, whether at a wedding, a birthday party or even at an amusement park. oh happy day has a great tutorial on how to make your own too...

a cultured night...

last night my girlfriends i went to see the dale chihuly exhibit at the mfa. it was actually a really nice thing to do on a friday night, the museum is open until 9:45pm and there are pretty much no crowds so you really got to get up close to the work without fighting your way around people. we walked around the rest of the museum too and saw the americas wing, the 20th century artist collection, as well as the bank of america photo collection which in on display at the moment.

but the chihuly exhibit really was spectacular. the shear scale and assembly of such massive installations was captivating and the colors as vibrant as i've ever seen. i've heard comparisons of this exhibit to that of an alice in wonderland sort... clearly my camera phone images just don't do them justice...


the show opens up with his newer works, the 'ikebana boat'. imagine such a thing floating down the river?...


the 'mille fiori' installation was also quite unique, like a secret garden...

the hanging pieces were wonderful & wild....
this happened to be my favorite though, the 'neodymium reeds' which are long glass rods sticking out of freshly cut maine birch logs, was simply stunning...i want this installation for my house...


on a side note about the mfa, did you know your tickets will allow you admittance back into the museum for 10 days after? pretty sweet deal i'd say.

obscene bandages...

as someone who cuts her hands an abnormal amount on god knows what, i think these band-aids from urban outfitters might be just the ticket for me...

floral rosettes...

this made me smile this morning...


looking for something creative to do with all those small scraps of fabric that you have stashed in a cabinet? check out this wonderful and super easy idea for fabric rosette pins i saw on polka dot bride made today...


what's even more adorable about these is that this couple made them as gifts for their wedding guests to wear, love it!