Winter weddings

Although I am not a huge fan of cold weather. I think there would be a lot of options for a cozy winter wedding. I can envision a cozy lodge or mansion for a venue with a fireplace, a coffee bar, white fur shawl, bright red lipstick, charcoal & light greys with black & white & bits of bright red. How gorgeous!!! Here are a few beautiful winter weddings & some others that are my current favs from greenweddingshoes.com Enjoy your snow day(if it's snowy where you are!)

I know I know...

I have been MIA for quite some time now! I blame it on busy-ness & laziness:( but I have SO missed you all & I'm gonna try to be better! I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday & wish everyone a Happy New Year!!!! Ryan & I had a busy Thanksgiving & pre-Christmas celebration in Hilton Head & Atlanta. We traveled to Hilton Head for Thanksgiving to meet up with my family & Ryan's family, who traveled all the way from Boston! All to meet my fam for the 1st time! It was for the most part relaxing & fun,especially one spontaneous night filled with smores & wine around a firepit at one of our fav spots Palmetto Bluff Inn. Luckily they all loved each other. Just a little stressful being the people pleaser I am to make sure everyone is happy & noones feelings get hurt...Luckily, Ryan's parents rock & are very easy to please!! I also have not yet introduced you all to Ruby Marie...my new sweet little neice who is the cutest & best baby ever!!! Pre-Christmas was in Atlanta with my family. We all stayed in pjs to bake cut-out cookies & drink wine. My little sisters Leslie & Lizzy are the coolest kids I know & are so much fun to hang out with! Christmas weekend was spent just Ryan & I and the pup at home in Nashville. We drank plenty of champagne, hung out in pjs, rented a boatload of movies & of course opened gifts. It was so nice to not go ANYWHERE and just relax!! So now you're pretty much caught up. This year is already filling up with summer weddings, trips, and photo shoots for Ryan! I will be sure to update you all on all that! Happy 2011!!

berry boutenniers

listen I'm not saying I'm going to start my own biz making these suckers(never know), but well these were my 1st ones...I think they're pretty rad!...I am putting together a wedding for a wonderful bride who seems to have all the faith in the world in me;) and I have been having so much fun planning her wedding! This is the 1st wedding I have done since I started working for I DO Weddings in August, where I'm doing pretty much EVERYTHING!! planning, coordinating, flowers, bartending(yep!),hair/ makeup, shopping for the bride, put up, tear down, and all sorts of crafts!! Sounds like alot, but truly it has been such a joy!!!! I have loved working with all the brides I have had the priviledge of working with and this wedding has been a blast! The colors for this lovely fall, martha stewart(ish) farm wedding are burgundy & clover green. I wanted to do something simple for the groom/groomsmen to wear that did not have flowers...something more natural looking. What do you think?!

Mexican made easy

I am a huge fan of Mexican food...I crave it & almost feel I could eat it everyday, except for the fact I like a little variety in my menu. On the weekends I watch cooking shows as soon as I wake up for an hour or so, then I am ready to cook up some yummy weekend dinners. As obsessed as I am with cooking shows & looking up recipes, I often just think of things that sound like a delicious combination then write it down, and sometimes never even make again, even if it's out of this world, because like I said I like alot of variety. I thought of this recipe on a Sunday afternoon, (which is usually when I get my inspiration). I think because I'm so in-love with fall & fall meals that instead of an actual casserole, I just wanted to come up with an easy one-pot meal, that was delicious & well of course Mexican. So here's what I threw together, and let me tell you(it must be REALLY good for me to do the following) I ate it everyday for lunch that week! I'm calling it Mexican MoJo, because I did have a dish I already named this, but this one blows it out of the water!! I do not get to exact with my recipes since I'm usually trying to get creative & use what we have without buying too many additional ingredients...

p.s. this makes a freaking ton...so it is plenty for a family of 4 maybe more

1 box Rice a Roni spanish rice
1 fresh jalapeno diced
1 fresh red pepper diced
1/4 cup red onion diced
1 can corn drained
1 can black beans drained & rinsed
5 cubes of frozen cilantro(I get these at Trader Joes, but you can use fresh)
crumbled goat cheese for garnish

cook spanish rice according to package directions(it will have you add the canned tomatoes to the mix)when the rice is almost done cooking add the rest of the ingredients into the skillet, unless you like your veggies softer then you can add in beginning.
*for Ryan I added 1 cooked boneless skinless chicken breast seasoned with pepper after I portioned ours out into bowls. Use how ever much or little you want of ea.ingredient(except for rice & tomatoes)...Enjoy!!!

Wedding goodness

So I have been super busy this summer with weddings....hair, makeup, planning, coordinating, flower arrangments, bouquets, and well anything wedding related!! I have had so much fun!! I haven't been updating you all on these weddings as much as I'd like to...but last weekend I did some prettyness on the bride,Sarah Bell's hair(and her bridesmaids) with a little braid to jazz it up a bit. Last night I met with the beautiful Lauren to do a practice run for her wedding hair. More to come after Sept 4 when I tackle 2 weddings in one day..brides & bridesmaids hair/makeup...Whew!!!

p.s. sorry for the poor pic quality...had my camera on the wrong setting...bummer!!

Go bananas!

So before we left for Cape Cod...I stopped by Marble Slab to surprise my man with some ice cream...and I always know when I go there, there will be nothing for me that has little or no dairy...unless I ordered uh toppings...no good...BUT when I spotted a dark chocolate covered banana with chopped nuts on top I thought about it for weeks, before I finally made Ryan go with me one night after dinner to grab one...yummy!!!! It was huge & yes I managed to eat every bite!!! That's what happens when you let a craving go for too long!!!

Sweet Nothings....

While on one of my favorite blogs here...I was pleased to see she had listed the little things in life she loves...I thought I would copy her & do the same;) Sometimes I find myself looking at all the little bummers of my day instead of focusing on the ...things that make me smile...What makes you smile?? Let's start a trend!!

1.notes in my lunch bag from my boyfriend
2.waking up on Saturday mornings to make a yummy breakfast & coffee
3.that 1st sip of a Starbucks black iced tea
4.hearing old music such as Billy Holiday
5.when I see someone helping someone else out...even the smallest act of kindness
6.the smell of angel food cake cupcakes baking in the oven
7.a freshly cleaned house, with the smell of candles burning
8.crisp air from open windows in the evening
9.the sound of leaves swishing on the pavement
10.fresh flowers

*image of a bakery on Harvard Campus;)