mini mountains

I think my wrapping theme this year is going to be black + gold. I found a printable for these mini mountain tops & made a couple today. I think they'll look cute on top of my wrapped gifts this year.

get the free pdf here. 

renningers antiques

our friend brian has been going to the annual renningers antique sale for years & always comes back with the coolest things. we were finally able to tag along this year & we had the best time. there are countless booths (you could be there for days & not see everything) & everything is pretty reasonably priced. here are some of our finds. 

 {the boys found matching vintage western shirts. $10 each!}

 {brian scored these amazing knoll bertoia chairs for his porch!}

{I really wanted these 1950s dairy queen glasses, but restrained myself}

{it was tough for me to resist these as well}

ok, so quick story on this dresser below. six years ago when robert & I first got married, all we wanted for the guest bedroom was a paul mccobb dresser (actually, robert had been wanting one years before he even met me, if that says anything). if you haven't noticed, we have quite a love for mid-century furniture & have slowly been collecting pieces along the way. but in all these years, we never purchased a paul mccobb dresser. not only are they crazy-expensive, but they are also terribly hard to find. we saw one on ebay once & seriously contemplated driving through six states to pick it up. 

our friend brian is a mid-century modern expert & has never seen any mccobb in all his years visiting renningers. so our hopes of finding anything cool were low. after a full day of meandering through the endless rows of booths, we had given up our search, when out of the corner of my eye, I spot it. there, at the end of the row! my heart started beating as I calmly made my way up to the booth. trying to play it cool, I began chatting it up with the owner. "paul who? never heard of him. it's a pretty good-looking piece and all, but I don't know if we really need it. how much you want for it? well, that's more than I want to pay for a dresser. how low can you go? it is the end of the day and all..." yup. and that was it. the all-but-orphaned dresser became ours (and for an amazing price, thanks to my mad negotiating skills!). we were so giddy on the way home that we all stopped for dinner & drinks at red lobster (I'm not kidding. I haven't been there since the early 90s, but let me tell you, that place has spiffied itself up. "extra cheesy biscuits, please!"). victory on all fronts.

{don't worry- I only dropped my poker face after sealing the deal}

{oh, and the red lobster meal came after all of this delicious fair food}

{a corn dog with powdered sugar, you say?}

{nope, it's a fried snickers bar. sounds gross, but trust me on this one...}

{real frenchies were making the nutella banana crepes, so you know they're gonna be good}

{and this is my new favorite. it's called an arepa. basically it's a sweet corn pancake grilled & filled with mozzarella}

neiman marcus for target

what do you guys think of the neiman marcus collection for target? there are some things I thought were cute, but overall was underwhelmed (unlike when jason wu came to target earlier this year). plus, the price points are a little too high for my preference. anything you plan on purchasing from the collection? 

rag & bone sweater, $70. marc jacobs pouch, $70. alice + olive luggage, $180.  altuzarra shaker, $50. altuzarra tray, $80. diane von furstenberg jewelry box, $50. tory burch lunch box, $20 and beverage container, $25.

reservations

well, thanksgiving dinner at that tapas restaurant I mentioned didn't quite work out as planned. turns out the restaurant that took our reservations ended up being closed on thanksgiving (totally reminded me of that seinfeld episode- clip below). so where does one go when almost every restaurant in the city is closed? why cracker barrel, of course (well, it was either that or piccadilly). there is nothing more my dad appreciates than a good deal. we got turkey, ham, 3 sides, a drink & a piece of pumpkin pie for $8.99. it was actually delicious & we ended up having the best time. we pretty much giggled our way through the entire meal ("I can't believe we are those people who are eating thanksgiving dinner at cracker barrel!"). god bless that place. 

 {kara & robert, waiting on a table}

 {you better believe my martha-stewart-mother would never fail provide cute place cards on a holiday}

 {a little pre-meal game}

{thanks to our amazing friends the xides for letting us crash at their place & finish their puzzle}

thankful

boy, we all have a lot to be thankful for, don't we? it's so easy in this society to feel sorry for ourselves & obsess over what we don't have instead of what we do. this year I'm feeling extremely grateful for my health, my faith & the love & support of those around me. what are you feeling grateful this season?

this thanksgiving is the first time in family history that we're breaking a big tradition. after losing pop over the summer, we all felt it would be too hard to go back to the lakehouse
this year without him (thanksgiving was his very favorite holiday). so we're doing something crazy. we're headed to atlanta today to stay with my sister & get this... we are skipping thanksgiving dinner altogether. we're going out to eat at a tapas restaurant on thursday! totally crazy, I know. but I suppose thanksgiving isn't so much about what you eat as it is about who you're with. and I'm pretty proud of myself for trying something new. I have a bit of a problem with change (I'm the one who pitches a fit if a certain food gets left off the thanksgiving day menu. like that one time when my mom tried to make the argument that mashed potatoes & sweet potatoes were basically the same thing!! um... no!)

I did, however, manage to get a little baking in - smitten kitchen's salted caramel apple tart. hopefully it travels well. 

happy thanksgiving, friends! 

dive, dip, duck, dodge and.... dive

is it possible that a first time dad-to-be would find any baby gift "cool"? our friend matt is an avid dodgeball player (he's even played again kesha... or is it ke$ha?) & can be found wearing shorts & a hoodie about 99% of the time. so I wanted to give him something a little more fun than the nipple covers that were on the registry. 

we stole this picture of matt from his facebook page & then just traced it onto freeze paper & painted it onto a onesie (I used this tutorial). paired with a soft baby hoodie from american apparel & it makes the perfect "cool dad" gift. 

nyc in film

and in case I haven't bored you enough with photos from my nyc trip, here's a little video I made as well.