Monday, May 31, 2010

Pretties for Your Feet

Where does the time go?? It's JUNE already! Last week, we had a bout of hot, hot humidity and t-storms. It seems like we just skipped over spring and went straight to summer. :( I'm not complaining though. It was nice not having snow in April.

Warm weather means...lots of cute sandals! Aren't these shoes hot? Especially love the Stuart Weitzman's. They were seen on Jennifer Aniston last summer. High heels and wedges look fabulous w/ short summer dresses and short shorts. It's really unfortunate that my feet can never last in them though. So I stick to flats and flip flops and only wear heels when I know I won't be walking. *sigh* I don't know how you women do it!

[1] MICHAEL Michael Kors 'Amber' Wedge [2] MICHAEL Michael Kors 'Juniper' Espadrille [3] Stuart Weitzman 'Alex' Espadrille [4] Athena Alexander 'Raft' Wedge [5] Steve Madden 'Daarling' T-Strap [6] Miz Mooz 'Waverly' Sandal

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Monday, May 24, 2010

Floral Design Studio: Vale of Enna

I got to help Grace, owner of Vale of Enna, this past weekend with setting up for a modern, purple wedding at the ultra-chic InterContinental Hotel at O'Hare. It was really interesting to see what it takes to set up all the floral arrangements for a wedding. A lot of hard work and elbow grease went into it. The end result was well worth it! Everything was absolutely stunning, Grace!
Floral arrangement by Vale of EnnaFloral arrangement by Vale of Enna
Vale of EnnaFloral arrangement by Vale of Enna

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Brilliant Baby Shower Activity

I've seen baby showers where guests use paint markers or puffy paint to decorate one-of-a-kind onesies before. But this shower I found on The Sweetest Occasion did things a little differently. More brilliantly, I must say. Templates were created beforehand in the shape of cute animals. Each guest got to choose a different fabric that was backed with iron-on paper. They used the pre-cut templates to trace the animals onto the fabric, and then ironed them onto the onesies. I love how they turned out!

[via The Sweetest Occasion]

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Recipe to Try: Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

I've been seeing a lot of rhubarb recipes lately. Pies, tarts, and now a jam. This Strawberry-Rhubarb recipe looks easy enough. I just discovered the photography blog "From Me to You" last week. Take a look. She takes some really beautiful photos!
I think the jam would be delicious with these homemade biscuits. Mmmm...!
[photos via From Me to You & Honey Loves Tea]

Monday, May 17, 2010

Delightful Yellow + Gray Wedding

I've been loving yellow ever since I saw Sarah's beautiful yellow + black wedding 2 years ago. Isn't this wedding so lovely with a palette of yellow, gray, and soft green?



[via Style Me Pretty]

Friday, May 14, 2010

A Nostalgic Meal

I recreated one of my favorite dishes my mom used to cook when I was a kid. It's the easiest and fastest dish to make. All you need is ground pork, frozen peas and corn. I marinated the pork with soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Heated up a pan with a bit of olive oil, and tossed in some minced garlic until slightly browned. Then thoroughly cooked the ground pork until it was no longer pink. And finally, I added the peas & corn and some salt & pepper to taste. Voila! The whole process must've taken me less than 20 minutes starting from the time I defrosted the pork til I was sitting down to eat. I also had some kkak-do-gi (or radish kimchi) that my mother-in-law made. Gotta balance the Chinese food with some Korean! :)

One of our friends just introduced us to steel cut oats. Apparently, they're really good for you. Much better than white rice. You can cook them in a pressure rice cooker the same way as white rice. We mixed 2 cups of white rice with 1 cup of the steel cut oats. We like this mixture a little more than just plain steel cut oats because it's a little less dry. You should give it a try!


Jobie was totally salivating as I was cooking. My vet just told me yesterday that I can add some green beans or peas to Jobie's dog food to fill her up without giving her too many calories. So I mixed in some frozen peas with her kibble last night. She gobbled that up in seconds! She kept licking the bowl and looking at me. Aww... I hate it when she looks at me all sad like that! So after I was done eating my lunch, I microwaved some frozen peas for her. Who would've thought dogs like PEAS! Have a happy weekend! The weather is finally nice again!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Etsy Finds: Floral Hair Clips

An old college friend's wife has opened up a new Etsy shop filled with adorable, handmade hair clips. If I had a baby girl, I'd totally buy them all! The Posie Clippie (the last one) is my favorite. Take a look-see at Jo & Jo's shop.

DIY Project: Colorful Vellum Mobiles

I found a seriously doable (and cheap!) DIY project on Project Wedding. These colorful mobiles would add such a big WOW factor to any shower or party. You can customize it with any color combination. All you need is vellum paper (I think any sort of paper will work too,) an x-acto knife, a ruler, thread, a sewing machine, fishing weights, thread and tape. Click here for more details. I'm gonna have to try this out someday!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Recent Project: Save the Date Postcards

Purple has been such a popular color the last couple of years. I went from having one purple top to having to refrain myself from buying yet another purple shirt. Purple has become one of my favorite colors, and a popular wedding color scheme.

Sue & Mike are having a fall wedding this year with purple as their main color. Sue's only request for their Save the Dates was for a clean & modern look. (I love working with laid-back clients!) I was inspired by the 1000 cranes (yes, you read it right...one THOUSAND) Mike diligently folded for his romantic proposal. How sweet was that?! The first design was the one they ended up choosing.
Save the Date postcardSave the Date postcard
Sue + Mike's Save the DateSave the Date postcard

Friday, May 7, 2010

Tennis, Anyone?

If I can wear these cute, little outfits...yes, please!
via Nordstrom

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Warm Weather = Dresses!

Once the weather starts to warm up, you know wedding season is just around the corner. And with wedding season, us ladies scramble to find the perfect, new dresses. With so many weddings, showers, tea parties and bachelorette parties to attend, I'm always on the lookout. I'm drawn to ruffly embellishments, loose-fitting shifts (for those "fat" days), and waist-defining dresses. Here are few cute numbers I found...

Kate Spade

Banana Republic

Gap
Anthropologie

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Etsy Finds: Pinwheels!

I was surfing around Etsy and found these adorable pinwheel decorations from Twirlie Whirlie's shop. I had no idea how many different kinds of pinwheels there were! How cute would they be for a birthday party or shower?