Weekend wrap up.

This weekend was perfect. Not only was it nice to have 4 days off, but this is always one of my favorite weekends of the year because now the Christmas season is in full swing. Stone and I were so lucky to spend Thanksgiving with our friends Patrick and Lacey and their wonderful family. Lacey and I spent the morning cooking stuffed mushrooms, roasted vegetables and corn casserole... The dishes all turned out incredibly and we topped it off with two pies (one chocolate walnut pie and one fudge pie... so delish).

One of the great things that their family does on Thanksgiving is to go around the room and share what you are thankful for that year. Well, as cheesy as it may sound, it was really special and a tradition that I would love to continue with our family. Stone and I have so much to be thankful for this year, on the top of our list always is our supportive families, our incredible friends, our health, our salvation through Jesus, and we are of course thankful for each other. Beyond that we are so thankful that our transition to California has been easy, we are thankful for the month and a half this year that we lived as roomates with Stone's parents and lastly we are thankful for all of our photo clients and for a successful business.

Back to our weekend...

Stone and I also went and got our Christmas tree! A real tree is definitely a must for me... Christmas just would not be the same without that pine scent. As Stone and I were picking out our tree, we overheard about 3 other couples having the same argument as us... All of the guys wanted to browse in the 3-5ft section and we were all begging for at least a 7ft tree, which I thought was typical and funny. So we have a large tree in our small apartment and even though it is a bit squished, it is perfect. We watched a couple classic Christmas movies while trimming the tree and decorating our place, and it looks great if I do say so myself (I will have to show you photos soon).

Lastly we had Thanksgiving dinner round two with a bunch of friends on Saturday, and who can complain about another dinner of turkey and sweet potatoes?! It was so strange to be able to have a Thanksgiving dinner outside, and it is not dumping snow on us. The jury is still our on how I feel about this, I love the snow, but usually when I am in it I am complaining about it :)

I hope your weekend was just as wonderful, spent with friends and family! xo.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have to tell you that Stone and I got rid of our cable about 2 weeks ago... which has been completely fine so far. There are so many other options these days and we are happy to save the money. However, I woke up this morning with a terrible thought in my head... "what if I wont be able to watch the Macy's Parade?".

Well, it would have ruined my day completely. I have never missed a parade and I was not about to make today the first time. Thankfully I found it online to watch (whew!), they even have a live chat going too (for all of the diehard fans of course) and it is pretty funny because there are only about 4 people contributing to it.

I hope you are snuggled up in your robe this morning watching the parade too. I now have a loaf of pumpkin bread in the oven and cannot wait to spend the day with Stone and some of our friends filling up on turkey and pie :)

Have a wonderful day. xo.

Have you seen this?

I am in love. With both Glee and Gwyn that is...

Shel's Etsy picks.

I have found two shops on Etsy recently that I have wanted to tell you about. The first on I love for gift wrapping this Christmas (and year round) as well as decorating. I think that this garland would be a great addition to your Christmas tree this year or a fun spice to liven up your mantle. Either way, the garland comes in beautiful colors and designs AND to top it all off she is having a big sale! Can't beat it.

The second is a beautiful furniture and textile store that finds all of their fabrics from Asia then creates their one of a kind pieces. Of course, I am in love with all of the pillows and lampshades, but what I am really eyeing is the sette... of course the most expensive thing on the site!

Garland by Kristina Marie

Furniture and Textiles by Material Recovery

Some ideas for your feast.

I put together a list of Thanksgiving dishes (traditional and non-traditional) that I have seen lately that all sound pretty incredible! I will be making a couple of them myself this holiday and cannot wait to share with you how it all turns out. On Christmas my family sticks to traditions when it comes to our meals, everything is exactly the same as the year before and years before that. But, Thanksgiving is always open for new dishes and experimenting, so here's to that, and good luck in your kitchen this Thursday :)

xo.

Cheesecake-stuffed Pumpkin Cupcakes by Dish Towel Diaries

Stuffed Portabellos with Herb Sauce by Sprouted Kitchen

Parker House Rolls by Pioneer Woman

Wild Rice Mushroom Pilaf with Cranberries by Real Simple

Brownie Pecan Pie by Bakerella

Brie with Roasted Cinnamon Plums by The Kitchn

Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese by Martha Stewart

Spinach Pie with Goat Cheese, Raisons and Pine Nuts by My Recipes

Pumpkin Creme Brule by White on Rice Couple

Homemade Twix Bars by Not Without Salt

Roast Pumpkin with Cheese Fondue by Gourmet

Turkey Sloppy Joes with Rosemary Rolls by White on Rice Couple

Tuesday tunes.

I am still listening to Ellie Goulding and still loving her. This cover of Bon Iver 'The Wolves' is so soothing and beautiful. Enjoy!

Sneak Peek: Jenny and Josh Married!

Such a beautiful couple and wedding! Fall in Vail could not be a make for a more incredible setting. Go here to see more.

Weekend wrap up.

My brother in law left yesterday, and, it is so sad because basically the moment his plane took off the sun decided it was time to finally come out. It was a pretty rainy and chilly weekend, which I did not mind because it finally felt a bit like Fall outside! It just would not be right to celebrate Thanksgiving with 80 degree weather! Anyway, we were able to play a game of chicken foot, take him to one of our favorite pizza places and Stone took him out surfing.

Yesterday, after church we headed to Honey's, which is a really great breakfast spot with never-ending coffee (that is the way to my heart!). Our friends Chris and Laura have just bought some cruisers so we decided, in celebration of the sun coming out, that we should head to the beach and ride. I have never gone bike riding on the beach, but I loved it! Such a cool experience :) If you ever come visit the west coast, I definitely recommend it.

Hope your weekend was wonderful. xo.

Have a relaxing weekend!

Stone and I spent the day in LA meeting with clients, which was so great, the drive back from LA, however, was so exhausting. 3 hours of exhaustion to be exact. Either, way it is great to meet with new clients and I so love hearing how people from all over the world end up meeting each other. He is from Sweden and she is from LA, but, they met in New York. So incredible!

We are laying pretty low this weekend. My brother in law is in town and so we spent the night having pizza, catching up and playing chicken foot (of course).

I am really loving these Silhouette pendants.

A good stocking idea from the NY Times!

The Mrs. Lilien Holiday Shoppe could not be any more cute.

Ban.do shoe clips are fun to spice up some flats :)

Cupcakes and Cashmere has put together some fun guides under $25 and under $100.

I am pretty excited to see this movie... you have to love a romantic comedy, and one with Reese Witherspoon!

Sweets in a jar. Could it get better?

WTF? posters, pretty funny. I personally like the one with the sharks.

Have an relaxing weekend! xo.

Anthology Magazine

I definitely love a good printed magazine. Secretly, I spend hours at bookstores just sitting and reading through them so I don't have to buy them :) Don't tell anyone, though.

However, these days, now that reading blogs and news online has become a part of my mornings, it is nice to have the option of online magazines (even if it is just bits and pieces from the full mag) as well. Anthology is a new magazine that has just launched and will come out quarterly. The mag is filled with beautiful photos, design ideas, articles and much more. You can also get the full print version as well as reading a couple of the articles which are available online. Best of both worlds!

Because, let's all be honest... nothing is better then actually being able to dog-ear pages that you find inspiring. Here is what the founders of Anthology have to say about it:

[Anthology is] A new quarterly shelter and lifestyle print magazine that takes a narrative approach to its coverage of home décor, travel, design, entertaining, and culture. We envision the magazine as a collection of stories shared with readers.

Go hear to read their blog and go here to start flipping through pages online.

Music by Andrew Zuckerman

'The music project features dynamic portraits of over fifty musicians of all ages, from across genres, who provide their perspective on one of the most universal and yet unexplainable art forms. Music is available as a book, which includes portraits and interviews as well as access ti a feature length film.'

Andrew Zuckerman Music Trailer from Andrew Zuckerman Studio on Vimeo.

I should have thought of that: Weddings

One of our favorite wedding blogs to look through, Green Wedding Shoes, posted recently about the idea of having a 'DIY Cupcake Topping Bar'. The photos from this one in particular look incredible and let's be honest, wedding cake is rarely that amazing. This also gets your guests involved and gives them a fun thing to do during the reception! I also love the entire set up of the bar with the vintage drawers and hollowed out pumpkins. So creative!

Looks absolutely incredible! It is making me want to throw a cupcake party of my own.