Champagne + Strawberries

A decadent + delicious combination.

Last evening I prepared these lovely spreads for the party we'll be attending tonight. The strawberries were surprisingly easy to make.

To make the Champagne & St. Germain jello shots, in a medium saucepan combine 3/4 cup champagne or Prosecco with 1/2 cup water plus 2 tablespoons white sugar. Sprinkle 2 packets of Knox gelatin over the mixture, allow to soak in for 1-2 minutes. Gently heat (very low) for 5 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 2 tablespoons St. Germain elderflower liqueur.  Pour into a 8x8" baking pan, refrigerate several hours. Cut + serve. Makes 25 shots.

Recipe from Jelly Shot Test Kitchen

au revior 2011

ban.do

happy. happy

Happy New Year.

So our party lost steam before it even got started resulting in an unexpected cancellation-

but that's not stopping us from celebrating. 

Plan B is in full effect, attending a friend's party.

 All's well that ends well I say. 

I'll still be meeting my 3 requirements for a successful New Years Eve...

sipping tall glasses of bubbly

wearing a scandalously short & sparkly little black dress

a midnight kiss with my mister 

I mean really,

who could ask for anything more?

Here's to 2012. 

A little NYE sparkle

When did Old Navy get cute again? Glad their buyers finally wised up and realized that there's more to fashion than fleece & denim for the whole family! I think any of these pieces would look fab at a NYE fete.

flats; $18

lace top; $37

dress; $45

earrings; $7

Style Parade 12.25.11

This is what I wore on Christmas day. I took a page from the J.Crew style handbook and mixed sequins with knits (and of course a little fur) for a festive holiday frock. I've been looking for a reasonably priced sequin skirt since last December so I was more than thrilled when I found this one at H&M.

The mister & I spent the day with my family. The present unwrapping is quite the event in our home - instead of everyone opening gifts at once we like to take turns so every gift get the attention it deserves. Per usual my brother set up his Lionel toy trains around the tree, while we watched and snacked on the generous bounty of food the my mother meticulously prepared.

Sweater: Old Navy; $30. Skirt: H&M; $29. Gray tights, Faux fur: Forever 21. Boots: Target.

Manicure: OPI for Sephora; Leotard Optional w/ Traffic Stopper Copper topcoat

Black + gold: formal holiday entertaining

This year we decided to host a Christmas Eve formal dinner for my husband's family since we would be spending Christmas Day with my family. Days before I decided I needed some new dishes for such an occasion. My other set, being white and square is only a set of 8, which is a constant annoyance to me since our table seats 10. I was craving something different so I went the complete opposite direction: black round plates with gold chargers. As soon as I started setting the table I was in love!

The chargers are from Z Gallerie and have a nice texture to them. I mixed and matched the pebble & wood grain patterns. The best part is that I got them on sale for $2 each. Yeah!

I've been obsessed with mixed metals and hot pink lately so I definitely wanted to incorporate them into the tablescape. I'm sure many of you have seen this gray & hot pink tablescape over at Bright.Bazaar. So inspiring. Anyway...my graphic starburst runner was a gift from my mother last Christmas and proved to work perfectly purely by accident. How does she always know? I guess mothers truly do know best.

I picked up these monogram coasters for free with my Kohl's cash. Even the mister got excited about these.

We did plated serving to minimize the commotion of passing at the table. We started with a crisp pink lady apple salad with celery, basil & smoked gouda drizzled with apple vinaigrette.

For the main course I made pork loin stuffed with sun-dried tomato pesto & feta cheese with a dry rub of garlic, oregano & thyme and a balsamic reduction. I served with my mother's decadent cream cheese & sour cream whipped potato recipe and a petite helping of curried asparagus.

Here's everyone doing their best Brady Bunch impression.

sources...
Settings:
Napkins: Dwell Studio for Target
Flatware: Crate & Barrel
Gold Chargers: Z Galllerie
Black plates: Ikea
Glassware: Z Gallerie & Pier 1
Drink coasters: Food Network, available at Kohl's

Tablescape:
Runner: gift from mother
Starbursts, glass votives: Crate & Barrel
Mistletoe frosted candle holders: Home Goods
Ornament vase & white votive holder: Ikea
Minimalist tree: Jewelry holder strung with Martha Stewart tinsel yarn

Merry + Bright

Wishing you a Happy Christmas

Thanks for continuing to read,

-Stephanie

Style Parade: 12.21.11

I bet you thought I stopped getting dressed. No, just haven't been able to get the timing right since the light is no good after 4 o'clock in the afternoon. As it is I barely had enough light to shoot this today. I'd like some cheese with my whine, preferably a nice smoked gouda.

The place where I'm freelancing invited me to their holiday luncheon. It was at a posh country club and thought it appropriate that I was wearing some preppy argyle. 

I recently picked up this luxurious real mink headband from Rose and Thatch. I'm very smitten with it. I felt fancy all day.

Sweater: H&M

White blouse: Gap

Shorts: Lauren Conrad (Kohl's)

Maryjanes: Kohl's

Headband: Rose and Thatch

Casa holiday tour

It's time for the winter home tour. Here's the holiday mantel. I mixed it up a bit this year by adding the autumn wreath and a bit of mid-century flare with the starburst ornaments on the wall. My mom gifted me the starbursts a while back and I'm loving them in their new local.

I filled the side table lamp with ornaments. The December print is from an old typography letterpress calendar. I love recycling calendars as art.

I'm loving the trimming on the newly finished banister this year. Although I'm fairly certain I scratched the railing a bit with the garland. Perhaps I should have added a felt backing to it. Oh well, another thing to add to the list of house fixes...

The dining room fixture got a festive makeover as well.

Here's the dining room table centerpiece. The hexagon mirrors are from Ikea, starburst is from Target and the votives are from Michael's.

I decided we needed stocking this year after finding these silver glitter monograms and yes, more black snowflakes at Target. The glitter silhouette ornaments are from this etsy shop.

I kept with the same gold, rust & blue theme for the tree this year. Loving the fact that I got all my shopping done early so it's not so bare under the tree.

Initially yours... jewel toned gift wrap

I went a little color crazy with the gift wrap this year - royal blue, fuschia berry, green gold, pewter & chartreuse. Pink for girls and blue for boys, more or less. I find that by making packages really beautiful it makes the whole wrapping thing less of a chore and more of a fun craft activity.

I added monograms using gold glitter glue, which at first I though was a brilliant idea because it will make it easier to find each recipient's gift under the tree until I realized we have a lot of "M"s in the mix.

I made round tags from pewter scrapbook paper. It's difficult to see but that's a wax seal with our monogram on the chartreuse raffia.

It's a shame that all this wrapping will eventually end up in the trash bin. The greeting tags are a free printable from fellow fellow. Everything else is from Michael's Crafts.

I like my chairs Alfresco

The mister & I had brunch at Habana the other weekend, then picked up the new Alfresco lounge chairs from Crate & Barrel. I finally got to putting them together last weekend and I'm so pleased with how they look with the new flagstone. I think the colors match perfectly. 

We saw some heavy rain Monday & Tuesday so sadly these guys are huddled under our second floor balcony because I've had rotten luck finding covers for them yet. Sadly the $10 vinyl ones didn't last through the year so I'm thinking I may need to splurge on some higher quality ones. Crate & Barrel also sells these sage colored covers. I like that they're not black and made of polyester fabric. Any advice on durability? Feedback is much appreciated.

In other news I've picked up some more contract work. yay! Less time to spend on home projects but I certainly enjoy the work.

Modern + minimal

Don't get me wrong - I love the glitz and glitter of the holidays; trees and grand displays but there's just something about keeping things simple. The understated elegance of clean lines and shapes.

sources:
West Elm
Living at Home via Pinterest
AM Radio
Sweet Paul via Casa Sugar

Wants vs. Needs

Out of curiosity, I searched keywords "Want" and "Need" on Pinterest.

WANTS:

NEEDS:

//Click pics for links.

Christmas in New York

This is going to be one of those gratuitous picture posts. Last Saturday the Mister & I attended In-N-Out Burger's annual holiday party. It was positively the most decadent party I've ever had the pleasure of attending. The theme was Christmas in New York. As we arrived at the Disneyland Grand Ballroom we were welcomed by an archway of falling "snow".

We received this map (above). That's how massive this party was - we needed a map! Kudos to the design team - I love that they used subway signage to mark the various themed rooms & cuisine. 

The main ballroom was Rockefeller Plaza and was decked out in romantic shades of black & red. 

The main bar featured the statue of liberty. The next room was Central Park.

Okay, seriously these photos don't do this room justice. This snow-covered bridge complete with animated icicle lights hanging in the trees ushered us into a starlit winter wonderland...

Street lights and park benches surrounded by 14 foot gorgeously lit trees. We decided to eat in this room. We had pizza from Little Italy and pastrami sandwiches from the Carnegie Deli. And of course some yummy desserts...

I loved all the different expressions of the gingerbread men.

The next room was Coney Island. This area was so much fun!

They had carnival games, bumper cars & a photo booth. We ate hot dogs, cotton candy, candy apples & soft pretzels.

Thanks In-N-Out for another fabulous fete!