at home

creative connection sd / april

Here's a little look at last night's Creative Connection San Diego meetup.

There were so many talented features. Ana of We Love Citrus had the cutest raffle prizes (and business cards)! I really wanted to win the raffle, but I'll just have to visit her cute shop instead ;) Vanessa of Hello Vanny made our name tags and sign up sheet. They looked so great! Marie of 12 Signs Wine was also there with her selection of wines for us to taste. I told her that I'm more of a beer girl, I don't enjoy sweet wines, and that I haven't found many white wines that I like. Since she's the expert, I let her pick something for me. She made me try a chardonnay and I loved it!  I forgot to buy a bottle, but I'm going to make sure and order one soon. Bethann was our photographer this month. (I've blogged about her before.) Her work is always great and I can't wait to see the photos!

This month we had the meetup at Isari's studio in Solana Beach. It is such a beautiful and inviting space. So many pretty glasses, plants, cards, furniture, props, ribbon, and anything else you would need for event design. I'm glad we had the chance to visit because it was on the very North end of Cedros. I'm always on the South end, so I didn't even know this was there. It's definitely worth knowing about ;)

From these photos, it looks like there was only about 10 of us, but there were many more attendees. It was so much fun! Jessica and Marissa always do a wonderful job at hosting such a great event. I remember my first time going to CCSD. I was so anxious the whole day and especially on my way to the event. When I got there, Jessica and Marissa were so welcoming and it was very refreshing to talk with so many female creatives. It has been so inspiring and encouraging to make these connections with other women making their way in a creative field. I really look forward to every meetup. It's funny because I've talked to so many introverted women who confess to getting that anxiety before going to an event like this. But we all keep coming back. It's such a wonderful group of women. I would really encourage you to come if you can.

two lovely ladies

1. Pat Perry is a crazy talented artist + illustrator.
2. Dan Mountford is just as crazy talented, but in photography and graphic design.

on the menu / quinoa salad

This is definitely a favorite in our house. It makes a great snack in small portions, but is a nice light meal as well. It has a good amount of protein in it- pecans, chicken, and quinoa. (Did you know that quinoa is a complete protein?) It's also easy to make if you have some of these ingredients ready to go. I usually keep cooked quinoa and chicken in our fridge for easy to assemble snacks or meals. (The biggest motivation for this is to avoid the dreaded hanger.) Since I've been doing a great job at actually keeping plants alive, I planted some basil. This means that I always have fresh basil when needed. I also have green onions. They're not exactly planted, just re-sprouting. Did you see this on Pinterest? It totally works! It's great for us because I usually have some in my little mason jar. The dressing I like best is Trader Joe's Ramano Caesar. If we're out of that, I normally use a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

That's it! Hope you guys enjoy this recipe. Like I said, it's one of our favorites!

chiced / 4

Earlier this month, I posted this color crush. Remember, I mentioned a DIY with that color scheme? Well, here it is [finally].

For some reason, our coffee table had me stumped. Philip built it, I love it, we use it constantly, but I didn't know how to style it. Luckily, just as I started to give up, Jessica posted about that very thing on her blog. Perfect! I now had a general idea of how to go about decorating our coffee table. I would have loved to just go out and buy a tray, but my list of things to buy for our new place isn't shrinking. I figured, this was a good time for a little DIY.

It was pretty simple. I bought everything at Michael's (except for the painter's tape, which I already had). Michael's sells two sizes of trays (I went with the larger one). All the paint that I bought was from Martha Stewart's line. 

1. Paint your tray the base color

2. Once it's dry, tape off your design and paint away!

That's it. Easy right? If you want perfect lines, make sure to measure and press firmly on the edges of the tape. I like that ours isn't perfect.  ..PS: Here's another design idea for such a project.

Now that I had the tray done, I needed to actually style the coffee table. Ours is pretty simple. Below, I say "how it's styled for now" because knowing myself very well, I will most likely tire of this arrangement. I'm pretty ridiculous in that way and have to learn to let things go. Anyway, for now, we have magazines, the tray, fresh flowers, coasters, and a candle. All of these items are things we constantly use/ enjoy having around. The coasters and magazines are easy to use and put back neatly in their stack so it doesn't get too messy. Eventually, I would love to have a little stack of interior design books with something like this perched on top. All of this is usually pushed to one side of the coffee table. Until our dining table is done, this is where we eat. 

How do you have your coffee table styled? Is it something that gets used a lot in your house or just something to prop your feet on?

vol. 3

Last week was all fun stuff. This is what happened:

1. I made lavender lemonade using this recipe I found on Pinterest.
2. Our house plants finally got planted.
3. I went to an art show at the raddest apartment complex (thank you, Azy for the invite).
4.We watched our nephew while his parents went out for a date. I thought it was adorable when him and Philip fell asleep.
5. I had a very pleasant train ride on a gorgeous sunny day.
6. I had way too much fun with these two crazy ladies... Like, way too much fun.
7. I finally got my nose re-pierced.
8. I got to see my dad and the beach all in the same morning.
9. Patrick and I took Philip to work more than once.
10. I took way too many photos of Sarah's amazing home.

on the menu / lunch + dessert

I normally don't have dessert with lunch, but today was an exception. Last night I made mocha silk pie and OH. MY. GOODNESS. It is SO delicious!! I followed a recipe from The Pioneer Woman's website. I've had it on my Pinterest board forever, but never thought I could tackle it. Instead of telling myself that I'm not good at baking (like I have for so long) I decided to just practice a little more until I can do it. My family got me a stand up Kitchen Aid mixer for my birthday, so now I have no excuse!

I don't have any pie tins in my house. Instead, I divided the mixture into some ceramic soufflé dishes and tiny ceramic pie dishes that I have. This works out better, because the tiny ones are great servings for just me. I should share the ones in the bigger soufflé dishes with someone else (but honestly, I could totally eat one by myself). If you like coffee flavored dessert, I would definitely give this recipe a try! It will save you the  cost of going out a few times each week when you get a craving for it...oh, is that just me that does that?

Inspired by / Sarah Shreves

photography + styling | Sarah Shreves

hair | Cami Ewing

make up | Lauren Feist

model | Andrea Nakhla

Sarah's photography truly tells a story. I'm always blown away by her shoots- this one especially. She says on her website that she wanted to do a little red riding hood shoot for a while now and that when it finally happened, it was quite the adventure. Read about that story and see more of these lovely photos on her website.

Battle for the couch

Patrick stole Francine's spot on the top of the couch. Now Francine is watching him from across the room waiting to make her move... Do your pets like to climb to the highest spot on the furniture?

home inspiration / house plants

I have a few house plants around our loft and no matter where they are, I feel like that space looks 10Xs etter! Even when I move them into the kitchen for watering, I think my kitchen instantly looks alive. I definitely plan on getting more, but I was extremely inspired when I found these photos. It's the home of designers Bonnie Ashley and Neil Downie of Bonnie and Neil. They design amazing home products, so of course their home is adorable. I love the draping plants displayed in their gorgeous shadow boxes. Such a great way to liven up a wall (literally).

Home tour via The Design Files

Photography by Armelle Habib

color crush / 1

1 | 2 | 3 (a little notecard I have on my desk) | 4

I've been very inspired by this color combo lately. It was the inspiration behind a DIY coming up in a few days. Can't wait to share it!