Beautiful photos, delicious recipes

Move over allrecipes.com.. HELLO, TasteSpotting! Thanks to Sarah, I now have a new recipe site to feast my eyes on! Mmm...It's 7:00am and my stomach is gRowling! The food photos are beautiful, and the recipes sound mouth-watering. There are a few recipes I already have my eyes on for Halloween. Eek...that's tomorrow! Well, I better get my butt to the grocery store...


Here's a fun photo from the site. It's Cheeseburger Pumpkin Art! Do you see it?? The buns are the pumpkin and the "sesame seeds" are big pumpkin seeds! It's too cute!


Have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Another foodie find!

I found Piggy's Cooking Journal on TasteSpotting. Her photos are simply amazing and the recipes she has are fairly simple. Definitely things I can see myself attempting to mimic. Have a look for yourself.

weekend visit to Iowa

Nina & I went to Iowa for the weekend to visit Sarah. We drove over to Des Moines to check out the Farmer's Market and some nearby shops. I had fun taking pictures of all the little treasures at this awesome antique shop. It was the biggest and cleanest antique shop I've ever been too! We spent the rest of the weekend chit chatting and eating. There isn't much to do in Iowa. Poor Sarah. Chin up, girl. Only 1.5 years to go!

Ugh...dunno why my photo collage shows up so small! I don't know how to change the blogger settings. I think that's the problem. Any ideas??

Jimmy Choo for H&M

Jimmy Choo is debuting a wallet-friendly collection at H&M in mid-November. Here's a heads-up for the designer-loving fashionistas out there. (Found via My Fashion Life)

Stuck in a rut

I'm working on a little project for a friend, and I'm in a bit of a design rut. So I've been surfing the blogs for creative inspiration.

I love the Color Me Pretty feature on Decor8. Leslie does an amazing job with her color inspiration boards. Her photography, the styling, the color combos, the water colors... WOW. Talk about creative! Definitely check them out! What do you do when you're stuck in a rut? Where do you go to find visual stimulation?

"Pretty Random Objects"

These vases by Pretty Random Objects are just stinkin' cute! (found via Craft Lovely)

Parent-Child Dance Shoes

Haha...aren't these cute?

found via Design Mom.

Can you say, "AWW..."??

It's amazing how the internet can bring people all over the world together. The famous Bakerella from Georgia was able to help a guy in Canada propose to his girlfriend (an avid Bakerella fan.)

How clever!

Found these awesome works of art by David Sykes on a new blog I stumbled upon, "say YES! to hoboken." Aren't these just too cute?? The balloon one is my favorite. Seriously clever!

Light Breakfast
Spaghetti Hoops

Owls are everywhere!

I never noticed just how many owl products are out there until My Owl Barn left me a comment the other day. Now I'm seeing owls EVERYWHERE! Cookie cutters, stationery, ceramic vases, clothing...

Bake It Pretty

Night Owl Paper Goods: heard about this company awhile back when there was a giveaway for their calendars. Love their wooden goodies!
Kate Spade
Threw in this lovely KS necklace in there just because...

New-to-me blogs I'm following

It's turned out to be a lovely Saturday afternoon here in Chicago. Finally...after days and days of dreary, chilly, wet weather, the sun is out! I just wanted to make a quick post of the blogs I've just subscribed to. Hope you'll be inspired to make something new! I definitely have! I'm currently working on some holiday card designs. I'll post them up when I have some good ones to show. Enjoy the rest of your weekends!

I'm blushing...

Christine gave such a sweet review for the wedding stationery I made for her on Project Wedding. I'm so happy she loved everything! And I'm glad she was willing to let a newbie designer be a part of her big day. It was a huge project, and it all turned out so well! Thanks, Christine!!

See more reviews of Milk Tea + Polka Dots on Project Wedding.

You can see images of the paper goods here, here and here.

Spreading Halloween Cheer

For the creative mommies out there, I found a fun activity you can do with your little ones to spread Halloween cheer to your neighborhood. Apparently, lots of neighborhoods around the country have this tradition of "boo'ing" their neighbor-friends. It's a Halloween take on "Secret Santa. " It sounds like an über cute tradition!

Here's all you have to do: secretly leave a small goodie bag (or Boo basket), a Boo poem, Boo instructions, and a Boo sign on 2 of your neighbor's doors. Then the neighbor is asked to Boo two others and the chain reaction begins! For more ideas, go to Blonde Designs and Highlowaha.

5k's, 10k's, half-marathons, marathons...

So what do you with all your medals and runner's bibs after the races are over? I found this clever way to display all your race memorabilia here. My sister is running the Chicago Marathon this Sunday. Go downtown and cheer on all the runners!

Currently admiring...

I actually ended up ordering these Jcrew boots I was admiring here last month. I tried them on at the store, but they didn't have the color I wanted. So when they arrived at my house last week, I ripped open the box to try them on. I was really disappointed though. I had to shove my calves into them because they were that tight. I never have that problem. It's usually the other way around...the shaft is too loose. And the foot was super big. I felt like I was wearing men's shoes. They were ridiculous. If they weren't so big in the foot and too tight in the leg, they would've been perfect. The rubber soles felt really comfortable. *sigh* And so my quest for boots continues... I'm really liking the skinny ankle cords. The length just might fit like regular pants. I'm gonna have to give them a try. Isn't that blazer pretty cute too? Oh and I love the skinny jeans w/ those stinkin' cute, ruffly grey heels. Gosh, I love ruffles.

A lovely lavendar baby shower (cont'd)

This was my very first time hosting a shower. So I was so glad that everything went along smoothly. There was a perfect amount of food, the games went on without a hitch, and everybody left happy. Phew! The parents-to-be, Sam & Kyoung-hee. Congratulations, guys!