my pretend african vacation

sometimes I like to pretend I’m rich & plan pretend vacations in my head. well I’m adding this one to the imaginary list; cruising down africa’s chobe river on this riverboat. how amazing would that be?!

italian lunch in a cubicle

nothing makes a day at the office better than pretending you're in italy. today the guys & I made a lunch run to whole foods to pick up some wine, cheese & bread, & then to our favorite local italian deli (yes, there actually is an authentic deli in our city) for some cured meats. georgio made us a platter of some of his favorites: proscuitto, salami, mortadella, spicy capicola, artichoke hearts, sundried tomato stuffed olives & pecorino romano. I think we just created a remote branch of the finer things club from nbc's the office.

{ a giant plate of salted cured meats while watching anthony bourdain in tuscany }

{whole foods brand wine on our makeshift cooler table}

{delicious herbs and olive oil}

goodbye cupcakes

my good friend mandy has always been a big supporter of my cupcakes, so when it came time to make a dessert for her going away surprise party (insert sad face), there was no question what I was making- her favorite- vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream icing.

I wanted to decorate them with a little something, but didn't have time for fondant (I'm teaching myself how to make fondant flowers), so I made these little cupcake flags. you can get the template from good-ole martha right here (I altered mine in photoshop to say "good bye" instead of "good luck"), printed them onto cardstock & then attached with glue to party picks. a cute & easy way to personalize cupcakes.

{we miss you, mandy!}

yeah... I could work here

wouldn't you just love to work for this creative company?   it would be hard not to be inspired working in this environment.

helvetica the documentary

and speaking of helvetica, robert & I watched this really interesting independent documentary (titled "helvetica") about the presence of the helvetica typestyle & the impact its had on our culture. the font is so ubiquitous, yet you probably haven't even realized that some of your favorite brands' logos are set in helvetica.

it's a great film & if you appreciate design & typography, you should definitely add it to your netflix queue.

keep calm & use helvetica

love this designer's take on the popular "keep calm, carry on" poster.

what typeface are you?

now this is a really great interactive quiz: "what type are you?" I'm perpetua titling light. what type are you?

typography week

lately I've been crushing on typography, so this week I thought I'd post some of my favorite uses of good type... starting with this print. my designer-husband would definitely appreciate this.

seasonal pillows

goodbye winter thomas paul pillows. 

hello spring thomas paul pillows.

oh, the things that excite me...

stella mccartney for gap kids

check out stella mccartney's second collection for gap kids. below are some of my favorite pieces; I love the way they all fit together. wonder if I could squeeze myself into an xxl?

inspired by: april showers

hoping that these april showers will bring may flowers.

wild at hear printed raincoat, $298. under my umbrella necklace, $50. zetta tall rain boot, navy $25. rainy day friends earrings, $15.  clear spot frill umbrella, £15. cloud cult business card pouch, $8. rain rain go away print, $40. lacquer umbrella stand, $295.

happy easter!

happy easter! here are some easter carrot cake cupcakes that I made for my family. I'll post the recipe later. for now we are all off to the lake. my sissy drove 11 hours round-trip just so that we could find our easter baskets together (um, yea, we're pretty big on tradition... maybe we'll grow up... someday)!

update: recipe is here.

"In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' Then they remembered His words." ~ Luke 24:5-8

french riviera day 5: monaco

{I've never seen so many giant yachts in my life}

{yachts in the harbor}

{pretending to be millionaires for the day}

{monte carlo casino}

french riviera day 4: the market in nice

{beautiful food, as far as the eye could see}

{big blocks of parmingian-reggiano}

{olives}

{the soaps smelled wonderful}