West Elm & Pinterest- An Evening With My Ladies

Image via Pinterest

Last Thursday night I spent the evening with my girlfriends at the Pinterest meet up at West Elm in Emeryville. The champagne was flowing and the most adorable (and delicious) bite-sized desserts were being passed with great frequency. I loved being in such a great space with fun, creative people, a photo booth and free food and drinks;)

Cookies and Milk, Satin and Silk

Mini Whoopie Pies

Smilebooth- Hi Adge! 

Sunday Dinners with the Parents

 My parents and I have started a new family tradition, Sunday dinners (a revolutionary idea I know!). Every Sunday we are all free, we switch off hosting a family get together. This weekend was my turn. My husband usually does the cooking as he is far more experienced in the kitchen than myself but this week I took charge. I made use of my cookbook collection and made an arugula salad without the arugula, "jezz's chili" and Jiffy cornbread (that one was not from a cookbook). Ofilio ended up pitching in and made a chorizo mac and cheese. For  dessert we enjoyed mini cheesecakes that I received from my work to celebrate my 5 year(!) anniversary with the company. I did have to explain to my confused Dad why I was taking pictures of the food, but none the less, it was a good night with my favorite people.
Side note: I just saw The Help this weekend and in response to the Miss Myrna letters it was said to avoid the sting of onion cutting, hold a matchstick in your mouth. I tried this while chopping a whole onion and it worked! My eyes started to sting a tiny bit at the very end but it was much better than going in unarmed.

Anniversary Number One

August 27, 2010

A year ago this Saturday, I married my love in San Francisco's City Hall. This was easily the happiest day of my life. The space was grand and beautiful yet the fact that it was just us made it perfectly intimate. We had a church ceremony with friends, family, and a reception the following weekend but this day was just for us. I'm so glad we did it this way and I recommend it to every couple tying the knot. This weekend we will be celebrating and remembering our day, and then we get to do it again next weekend (another reason why I recommend the two weddings;). I hope you too are celebrating something on your days off.

Photos by Lisa Farrer

New Favorite Store -Fishs Eddy

While roaming around the Flatiron district I stumbled upon Fishs Eddy. This was one of the happiest accidents I have ever had... I thought the Anthro home department floated my boat but this place topped it. It's stocked floor to ceiling with beautiful, quirky, functional things for the kitchen (many of them affordable too).  I love setting a table more than cooking so I was in heaven. If this store were local I would have left with more but I had to consider what could come back with me on the plane. Thankfully they have a website so I will definitely be back for more.



My Haul



Picnic in the Park

Sheep Meadow, Central Park

 The main reason we were in NYC was for my best friend's 30th birthday. She wanted to celebrate her milestone with a picnic in central park, so I did a little something to make it more special (and pretty) than just sandwiches on the grass. Romy always makes everyone feel like a queen on their birthday and I wanted to do the same for her, but considering I was traveling and I couldn't make the food or throw her a party, I had to figure out something to do for the girl who does everything for everyone. I figured the most portable thing I could do was personalize the picnic for her. With a few supplies and a little time, I was able to make a public park feel a bit more like her own, and it all fit in my carry on.

Painter's drop cloth became a picnic blanket, with hand painted "copperplate" birthday message

I painted the edges of regular paper plates with the same paint to coordinate

Personalized adhesive circles for the plastic wine glasses and scrapbook paper and labels added for the the utensil pack 

Final color coordinated product

Cheers to the woman of the hour

Picnic in Progress

XOXO