My "Run-In" With Martha Stewart

This past Friday, Dac heard at work that Martha Stewart was in town for a book signing that night. When I heard this, I hopped online immediately (thinking, how on earth did I not know about this?!)...only to be severely disappointed. The price tag for admission was $75, which would mean $150 for both of us to go. As much as I love Martha and daydream about having her life or being as crafty and just all around on TOP of it as her, I just couldn't justify it.

I wasn't willing to give up there, though. We went down to the Plaza, to Unity Temple where she would be presenting, just to "see what was going on." I was convinced I could somehow bump into her or at least catch a glimpse. It turned out being much easier than I thought. We just walked in through the back door, and we think we could have easily just walked into the auditorium and sat down and nobody would have noticed - too bad we're such goody two shoes nerds. I DID see her through the glass doors of the auditorium though, so I decided that would have to be sufficient.

You can tell that's her, right? Because it totally is. I was in the same building as Martha Stewart!
And I found out why the admission ticket was $75... because her whopping 6 lb. book is $75 itself:

via Martha Stewart website

So while I wasn't willing to spring $75 for this book at the moment, I definitely do subscribe to her magazine. Martha Stewart Living is a monthly source of happiness and inspiration for me. I just got the December issue on Friday (ironic?), and it is full of great stuff like...

Wrap Stars:
A life goal of mine is to be able to wrap presents like Martha - always so pretty and perfect.

Brownie Bow:
A clever idea to stencil a shape onto a brownie! Bow stencil available on Martha's website.

Doily Runner:
Who knew doilies could look so cool and un-granny like? All it took was a coat of metallic glitter!

Very Special Storybooks:

This was my favorite idea in the magazine by far. Martha turned photos of her granddaughter Jude into storybooks as a gift for her first Christmas. Much better than simple captions in a scrapbook, these fictional stories Martha created will be a fun and special keepsake for Jude to treasure. Adorable.

Nice to meet you, Martha.

Seasons Greetings

Part of me hates to deal with anything Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but that part of me has to get over it. Figuring out your holiday cards are usually early on the to-do list - and if they're not, they usually end up on my "that'll be great for next year" list. If any of y'all are still searching, I pulled together some of my favorites this year. There's only one photo card on the list, from my favorite source for those - minted.com. Beautiful products and good customer service.

My mom and I talked about ordering a set of the "Music Notes" (below, #4) just to frame because they're so cool. Anyone else have suggestions for card sources? What's the best card you've ever received? My favorite every year comes from our friends (and our amazing wedding photographers) bobbi+mike. See their most recent Christmas card here (which has links to their past cards, including my very favorite, inspired by "A Christmas Story" found here).

 

1) 12 Days Reality Check

2) Christmas Crackers Letterpress Cards
3) Good Cheer Letterpress Cards
4) Music Notes Holiday Cards
5) Tis the Season
6) New Years Burst
7) Pop Fizz Clink

IHWSH - Perfume

"A woman who doesn't wear perfume has no future." - Coco Chanel

That seems a little extreme, but it's never a bad thing to smell good! We're always on the lookout for new scents we love...so this week's "I'll Have What She's Having" features perfumes that we either already use or are dying to try:

Katie's Picks:
1. Kate Spade Twirl - My current favorite, this perfume is pretty and perfect. And I love the bottle!
2. Hanae Mori - My officemate at the firm when I was in law school wore this perfume that summer, and I fell in love with the scent. It's light and airy and sweet.
3. Clinique Happy Heart - An old favorite (and a great price!)
4. Michael Kors - One of my roommates in grad school (SuperMAM!) wore this and it made me want to be just like her. Now, I love to wear it in the winter, because it's the strongest perfume I own.

Jayne's Picks:
5. Chanel Chance - Sam (our brother) gave me this for my birthday, and I love it! It reminds me a little of Dolce and Gabana Light Blue, which I wore all through college.
6. Daisy by Marc Jacobs - My favorite everyday scent, and Dac always compliments it. The description says it is floral, with a vintage edge - and I agree.
7. Wonderstruck by Taylor Swift - I want to be her, so I figure I will probably love the scent she selected. Like her songs, it is inspired by her personal life.
8. Vera Wang Lovestruck - Leighton Meester says this is "the perfect amount of sophistication." I'll take it.

Feeling a Little Romantic

Daylight savings has ended... which means darkness at 6:00pm. Rather than being depressed about this, I thought I would look at the bright side. Nighttime is more cozy and romantic, right? So in the spirit of romance, I wanted to share some pretty things in my favorite romantic shade... pale pink. I love pale pink combined with gray (who doesn't) and other neutrals like beige and cream, and also navy blue. Here are some pretty things I've recently found whilst Pinteresting, reading blogs and shopping around...

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7

How awesome would this bar look against a light pink wall? I really want this thing...

SKOL bar via Bunny Williams

Some other little chic pink things:

Chroma Candle Stick: Anthropologie / Pumps: Jessica Simpson (zappos) / Top: Romwe / Lamp: IKEA / Shoes: Hunter / Tumbler: IKEA / Knob: Anthropologie

One last bit of pink inspiration during the dark nights of winter ahead:

[via Pinterest]

Issues With Magazines

Anyone else love magazines as much as I do? It always seems like a special treat to find one in my mailbox after a long day at work. My favorites include Real Simple, House Beautiful, Lucky Mag, Martha Stewart Living, InStyle, and US Weekly (I love US Weekly except when they put "Teen Moms" on the cover...I'm also pretty sick of seeing Kim Kardashian anywhere right now too, but that's a topic for another post.)

As anyone who has helped me move in the last decade can attest to, I have a problem throwing the best magazines away - they are full of inspiration and gorgeous spreads! (I still keep all issues of "Real Simple" in magazine files on my bookshelves. Someday they'll be collector's items, right? I'm sure I'll be able to sell them on ebay and fund our future childrens' college educations! Right...)

A few years ago, I started tearing my favorite pages out of each month's issues and collecting a pile of those pages instead of whole magazines. While this pile took up a lot less space, it wasn't easy to look through and one knocked over bottle of Miller Lite on the coffee table could've ruined the whole she-bang. So I found an inexpensive binder (mine is from Target) and bought a giant pack of clear page protectors to make my ever-expanding inspiration book:

Eventually, I'd love to separate it with tabs to make it even easier to find what I'm looking for in the binder (i.e. paint colors I love, Art, DIY projects, gift ideas, etc.). It's fun to have my favorite pages from 3 years of magazines all in one place! Anyone else love magazines? Have a recommendation for one I might be missing?

PS: All this talk about magazines reminded me of one of my all-time favorite marketing campaigns:

Source

Vegas with Grace

This past weekend I went to Vegas with fourteen of the most fun gals I know, to celebrate Erin Gracey and her upcoming wedding (two months to go)!! As you can see in this pic, the attire for the weekend was (in the words of Rachel Roberts) "sequins or bust"!

MANY exciting things happened over the brief 2.5 days we were there, but here are just a few of my favorite highlights...

SHOPPING! Some fabulous purchases were made, including Erin's wedding shoes. ;) This is at the shops in the Venetian (where we stayed) - and yes the sky is fake:

Dinner at STK (in the Cosmopolitan):

And the dance party dinner turned into (the DJ was really good, and we couldn't help ourselves). Whitney won the prize as the dancing queen:

The "personal" shower that Erin's sister and mom threw. It was amazing. I couldn't believe the party they packed in their suitcase and then put together in their hotel room...

Me with Erin. (I got my dress at Express and really love it - the back is the best part.)

There was one particularly special thing about Erin's shower that I wanted to share with you. Her sister Erica deserves major props on this one, because it was just the coolest and sweetest thing ever. Earlier in the day, she had Erin write down answers to questions that her fiance Matt had already answered (things like "What was your favorite date?", "What of Erin's would you throw away?", "When did you know you wanted to marry Erin?" etc.). She had to write what she thought Matt's answer would be. I'm sure you've heard of this game before, but this time there was a very special twist. As Erin read out the first question and shared her answer and it was Erica's turn to share what Matt's actual answer was, rather than reading an answer she opened her laptop... and pulled up video footage Matt had pre-recorded telling us the answer. He had recorded an answer for each of the questions - some of them funny/entertaining, some of them touching/sweet (he walked us through a photo album of a trip they had together when he knew he wanted to marry her, and the tissues were coming out). Matt's ability to ham it up on camera contributed largely to just how awesome this was, but the idea itself is just adorable and perfect. We all got to learn a little more about their relationship and just how much they love each other (as if we didn't already know)!

I was honored to be a part of this fun, funny, special weekend. #VIVALASGRACEY!

Confetti Betty

When Jayne and Mom came to DC about a month ago, I was bound and determined to get their help with a few projects around the house. After I saw this confetti canvas on Pinterest, making something similar was added to my list:

 

From the Mint Love Social Club blog

I thought it might be cool to incorporate a little more color, so my mom and I picked out a few sheets of thick paper and some shiny tissue paper at Michael's, along with a giant canvas (I only buy these when they are at least 50% off.) I already owned a circle punch (mine is from Michael's, but I couldn't find it online. This looks similar.)

The process is as simple as it looks - we cut circles out of all the thicker paper using the punch, then traced and cut circles from the tissue paper by hand. Jayne and I spent about 30 minutes playing around with the circles on the canvas until we came up with an arrangement we liked. During the process, I took pictures to see if we liked it on the camera, which we both thought was helpful.

Then we just used Elmer's glue to glue them down. I watered some glue down in a little bowl and used a paint brush to attach the tissue paper circles. If I were to do this again, I would probably use spray adhesive. To make sure everything was secure, we used books (Henry's law school books came in handy!) to weigh down the circles overnight. 

And here is the finished product, hanging above our bed:

I'm happy to have something on the wall...I like it, but I'm not in love with it. I think it might look better once we paint the room. I do love making our own art because it wasn't expensive ($25 for the canvas and approximately $5 for the paper), so if I want to change it up down the road, no big deal. I could always cover the canvas in fabric or add more to the circles to mix it up. Plus, I was able to customize it with colors that I chose (the curtains in our bedroom our navy velvet, so the navy circles pick that up.) Anyone else have ideas for large, inexpensive art?

PS: I added this to the "Fall Pinterest Challenge" submissions over on one of our favorite blogs, "Young House Love." See the challenge those professional bloggers took on here.