Lust List #3

K.Slademade Personalized Mint Pouch | Chance Striped Top | Chance Beach Towels | Antique Brass Sphere | Charcoal Throw | Rebecca Minkoff Wedges | Home Depot Brass Pendant Light

Just a few items that I'm into this week... I heart them all, but my faves are the wedges (of course), the personalized mint pouch (perfect for my big bags) and the super cheap pendant light. I currently don't have a place in my home for a pendant or two, but the look and the price tag of that one makes me want to figure something out... 

What are loving, lusting and/or liking?

A Chic Lakehouse Retreat

Summer is unofficially here and I'm sure some of you will be heading to the lake for a little R&R. If that's you, I wish I could join you! While I really enjoyed my trip to NYC, my heart is normally set on places that are peaceful and quiet- places I can clear my head. Spaces by the beach or a lake do the trick for me. If I ever had a lakehouse, perhaps it would look something like this one designed by architect Bobby McAlpine and interior designer Susan Ferrier...

Cozy huh? I suppose my favorite space is the kitchen. I could see myself cooking for my family there. I love the artwork and seating around the island.  The dining room is equally as beautiful. The linen slipcovered wing chairs and all of the nailheads on the credenza make me happy. I'm not loving the blue carpet in the bedroom, but I think I would live with it if I had to. Could you??

Photography by Erica George Dines

NYC: The Food

I will be honest in saying that eating really good food in NYC was very high on my list of priorities during my visit. I made it a goal to eat well at every meal and to savor every bite. Well, I did just that. Here are a few places I loved. I would recommend each and every one of them...

We made it a point to visit Chelsea Market for brunch. After all, it is the home of Food Network and to some notable bakeries and restaurants. One of the first places we saw was Eleni's bakery. Those cupcakes looked amazing, but I was good and bypassed them so that I could fully enjoy brunch at Friedman's Lunch. I downed a delicious mimosa + ate everything on that plate. Very tasty and very fresh...

Have you heard of Beecher's?? This place was new to me, but we are now very familiar with each other. They make the BEST cheese. This was their signature Four Year Flagship cheese that I sampled twice - on two different days. They are also known for their macaroni and cheese. It is rich and creamy with a little bit of spice. I also sampled that twice - on two different days. Mouth-watering I tell ya...

Perhaps my favorite restaurant was ABC Kitchen. The decor was amazing and the food was super fresh as it is all organic and local. I found that table of fresh vegetables to be quite beautiful. It was too dark to photograph the food I ate (veggie burger w/ minted yogurt on a housemade whole wheat pita), but I promise, promise, promise you it was good. 

Ok, so me and the macaroon met for the first time during my trip. I now see what all the hype is about. These were from Laduree and they were SO incredibly good and fresh. You can see that I thought chocolate would be my favorite, but the lemon one stole my heart. Note that I ate these all at one time as I people-watched on a bench in Central Park... :) 

If you love sushi, then Lure Fishbar in Soho is the place to go. I heart sushi and this place did not disappoint. The sushi was extra fresh and I left the restaurant full, yet wanting more sushi than I ate. Very good...

Can you tell I like fresh food??

A few other restaurants I loved...

Otto Pizzeria: The decor was amazing, their spinach salad was the best I ever had, the thin crust pizza was authentic and fresh and everything was very reasonably priced.

The Boathouse: This gorgeous restaurant is right on the edge of a little lake in the middle of Central Park. The food is a bit pricey, but SO worth it. I had a the Scottish salmon with Meyer lemon and a side of cheesy polenta. Fabulous...

Pastis: I had lunch at this famous little French bistro located in Manhattan's meatpacking district. I loved the ambiance and the food was delish. I ate a really cheesy, delicious croque madame for the first time and I'm still thinking about how good it was.

Now if you will excuse me, I'm off to eat a salad and schedule a Pilates class... :)

xo,

NYC & BlogFest 2012

Hi friends! I hope you are enjoying your holiday. It feels like forever since I have done a post! I took last week off so that I could be fully present on a little trip to New York City. I attended Blogfest 2012 and had a good time! The sponsors put on a 3-day event that included a tour of Elle Decor's Modern Life Concept House and Kips Bay Decorators Show House- both of which included some beautiful decor. The event also featured speakers like Newell Turner, editor-in-chief of House Beautiful and designers Thom Filicia, Alexa Hampton and Darryl Carter. Darryl was a dream and if you haven't seen his work, you must check out his portfolio. It's incredibly beautiful and just my style...

All of that was fun, but what I took away with me the most were the people that I met. I finally met some bloggers in person that I "met" through blogging. My roommate Marianne was just as wonderful as I knew she would be. When I met Melissa and Erica, I felt as if I had known them for years. And talented designer Amy Vermillion made laugh so hard that I cried at dinner one night. I haven't laughed until I cried in forever, so I am thankful we met! I also met several other bloggers for the first time that I look forward to following in the future. 

And of course I spent lots of time sightseeing! I was the girl with the big camera around her neck who stopped in the middle of the streets and sidewalks to take photos! Yep, that was me. And you know I ate GOOD, really good, too good. I'll share my food photos with you tomorrow and more photos from NYC throughout the week!

Happy Memorial Day and a thank you to those who have served and are serving time to protect us!

xo, 

Having A Little Fun...

Hi there... I hope you had a great weekend! So, I'm having a bit of fun this week. It should be very pleasurable and I plan to take that quite seriously... I hope that's ok with you. :) I will be back next week to give you all of the details! Have a great week!

Image by me

xo,

Lust List #2 {Totes}

1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | 5. | 6. 

So, I'm addicted to totes. I always have been. I carried them instead of backpacks when I was in school. I used to be the person that would buy the products on special at makeup counters to get the free tote. And with the exception of lipstick and gloss, I didn't wear makeup and still don't! If someone questioned my tote collection, I would promise them that they all serve a different purpose. That's my story and I'm sticking to it... :)

These are just a few of my current faves. The Hermes tote is just a big dream that will probably never come true, but I like it nonetheless. Are you a tote lover, too? If so, which one of these is your fave?

Bold + Rustic

These two spaces are so incredibly lovely. Would you agree? I love the boldness of the black drawers and French La Cornue range in that perfectly styled kitchen. And I think I will love white subway tile and open shelving for life. The rustic vanity and the frosted shower entry make a beautiful statement in the bathroom, right? The mirror in front of the window is unique to me, but I think I like it...

If only these spaces were mine... Where is a winning lottery ticket when I need one??

Images 1/2 

Happy Hour: Coconut Mango Mojitos

It's 9:02 PM on Monday night (last night). I'm watching Father Of The Bride for the 500th time, well maybe the 600th time. I heart that movie... I'm also exhausted and wish that someone would magically appear and bring me a glass of that mouth-watering, delicious looking mojito + a pitcher of it on the side for refills. Just the color alone is quite fabulous and refreshing...

Right now, Annie's walking down the aisle in that classic lace dress that I can't see myself wearing, but it looks really beautiful on her. Oh and don't you just love Franck? Such a cute movie...

Anyway, back to the mojito. I found this drink on Jessica's blog, How Sweet It Is. It is probably one of the most amazing food blogs out there. I love her wittiness and her honesty  + her recipes and photos are gorgeous. I highly encourage you to check it out and make this sweet drink in your spare time. I'm pretty positive your taste buds will appreciate it... :)

Weekend In One Pic

Hi there! How was your weekend? I hope it was good and that all of the mothers out there had a great Mother's Day. Well, I only have one pic for you today, but it explains some of my weekend. Let me tell ya a little about what I did and a few things I learned. Can you relate to any of this?

1. The perfect fitting pencil skirt does exist.

Proper-fitting pencil skirts are hard for me to find. They are either too big in the waste and perfect on my thighs or too big around my thighs and perfect in the waist. Anyone else have that issue? Well, I found this green pencil skirt on sale at J.Crew over the weekend. It fits perfect in all the right places. I almost screamed in the dressing room. I got home and styled it with this necklace in tortoise.

2. Colored jeans are not for me. 

I think I tried on about 10 different pairs of colored jeans this weekend ranging from skinny to skinny cropped to regular to boot cut. None of them looked good on me. Not one.single.pair. Oh well. My closet will be a little less colorful this summer.

3. Stella perfume by Tocca is heavenly. 

I bought a travel-sized bottle of Stella perfume by Tocca over the weekend. It smells like heaven. I've always assumed that heaven smells good...

4. I'm a compulsive list maker. 

 By Sunday afternoon, I had three to-do lists running in my house over the weekend. Some even have duplicate entries. Crazy... I need to get that together. 

5. S'mores can be made in the microwave.

This is good news and bad news for me. The good news is that it's possible and that they are sinfully delicious. Just put a marshmallow and a piece of chocolate in between two graham crackers and pop it in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds. The bad news is that since it's so easy, I have had one each day since Friday afternoon. I need to get that together, too.

6. "Simple" always seems to be better.
Every Mother's Day, I usually hang out with my mom, make her a good meal and buy her a nice gift. I didn't get to see her this Mothers Day, so I sent her a nice handwritten note and a few lottery tickets (she loves playing the lottery). She was so happy. I think she thanked me 4 or 5 times over the weekend.

So that's a few highlights of my weekend. I also read some mags - from start to finish. I love when I have time for that. The "101 Designer Secrets" article in the May issue of House Beautiful is definitely worth checking out. And Real Simple magazines never disappoint right?

Tell me how you are!

xo,

Friday's Fancies: Blues & Stripes

Dress | Sandals | Watch | Bag | Sunnies | Earrings

Happy Friday!!! I hope you had a great week. Well, it's the first week in I don't know how many weeks that I have participated in Friday's Fancies. It feels good to be back!

So, I'm completely aware that neons and really bright colors are the trends for spring and summer. And I do have a few things that are pretty bright, but items that are basic hues have permanent places in my closet. I have always loved basic blues. Blue is just so fresh-looking! And if you saw yesterday's post, you know I am loving stripes right now. So cue - the dress. Love it. I love the shape, the pattern, the little collar - very cute.

I have paired the dress with staple items that I think every woman should have in her closet - a camel-colored bag, a chunky gold watch and flat sandals. And yes, every girl should have diamonds - even if they are faux. Right?

So what's up for the weekend? Of course, one of THE most special days of the year is on Sunday. I wish all of the hard-working, selfless, loving, caring mothers and mothers-to-be out there the most lovely Mothers Day.

And Mom, I love you.

xo,

Stripe Front + Floral Back

A tank that perfectly blends stripes and florals is a tank after my own heart.

Cute, huh?

It's by Anthro - of course.

Absolutely Gorgeous...

I'll be honest in saying that I follow many wedding blogs. I love looking at the flowers, the dresses, the setting, the rings - I love it all. Plus I think it makes me a bit happy to see other people so happy. So I wanted to take a little diversion from the usual topics today to show you what I think are some of THE most beautiful wedding photos I have ever seen. This is actually an editorial shoot that the talented Jose Villa shot for Mag Rouge Magazine. The dress, the hair, the jewels, the setting and heck - even the guy are just absolutely gorgeous...

So stunning right? You can see more beautiful photos from this shoot here.

Almond & Lemon Blueberry Cookies

So last weekend, I had all these plans to make something brunch-like for Mother's Day. But I just wasn't feeling it. Ya know? I felt like something sweet and something fruity (i.e. something sweet and sort of healthy- well, sort of). So I did a little research and found these almond-y, lemon-y cookies with blueberries.

And well, they are kind of heavenly... They are sweet, tart and have this cake-like consistency that is similar to that of a scone. And I heart scones. A whole lot. 

If you are looking for something sweet and sort of healthy (sort of) that tastes like a scone, then here is what you need and what to do...

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 cup of sugar

1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup of slivered almonds, toasted

1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/3 cup of whole milk

Zest of one lemon

1 teaspoon of almond extract

1 cup of fresh blueberries

Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together in a small bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together using a hand or electric mixer. Add the egg yolk, milk, lemon zest and almond extract. Make sure the mixture is well mixed. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches. Then, gently fold in the blueberries and toasted almonds. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. I love that part because it gives me time to clean up my disaster of a kitchen before the cookies are baked... :)

Line baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Scoop the mixture using a mini ice cream scoop or two small spoons. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned on the edges.

I put these cookies out during lunch at my office yesterday. They were gone in about 15 minutes. No joke.

Let me know if ya like them...

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