Have a great weekend!

Amazing cake found on frangipane

Aahh, Friday. I'm looking forward to a relatively mellow weekend after last weekend's awesome-but-debaucherous activities. We still have tons of dessert left over - an incredible ice cream cake from my birthday party, an untimely delivery of Girl Scout cookies, cupcakes (from my baking experiment) and some other sweets that just need to get out of this house stat! Perhaps we'll invite a few friends over for an impromptu dessert party and see if we can polish it all off. Sunday I'm going to a friend's baby shower so that too will no doubt be filled with sweets galore. I'm really going to have to get my butt in gear after this week is over...

What about you? Any big plans this weekend? Are you still in a sugar coma from Valentine's Day? Hope you have a mellow or fun weekend (depending on which you're craving) and see you back here Monday!

Stood up by the snow and movie sequel anticipation

Well, the big 3-day snow never materialized (despite 50mph winds, I've yet to see a single flake of snow), so I'm left feeling a little stood up. Good thing Val broke some big news this morning to cheer me up a bit. Yup, that's right: Zoolander. Sequel.

What really, really, ridiculously good news - makes me want to go get an orange mocha frappuccino! (If you're not getting any of these references from the first movie, just skip this post now...)

So what has Derek Zoolander been up to for the past 10 years? Perhaps this?:

Image from MTV's Photoshoppers

And in case you need some cheering up too, here's a little something to leave you on a good note (or a ridiculous one). It's yours truly doing Derek Zoolander's signature pose, the "Blue Steel." Since we couldn't have a breakdance fight right here on sea*life*style, let's have a Blue-Steel-off. Ready, set, go:


I think mine needs some work... (and I need some self-tanner immediately!)

Just kidding about missing tights...

Photo found on Pretty Pieces blog

Bleck. I just heard we're supposed to be getting more snow - starting as a mix this afternoon and going through Saturday night. Spring? Bare legs? What was I talking about?? Guess I'll have my tights a bit longer...

A love letter to tights

Now that spring is coming, bare legs will be back. I'm going to miss my fall and winter tights. :(


Photo by Ellen von Unwerth, as seen on dress design decor


Photo by Corrie Bond, as seen on delight by design

When I was a kid, I thought of tights as scratchy, confining tubes of death...maybe because they came out of a plastic L'egg. Last year I recently rediscovered tights and my world changed. Skirts all year round? No problem! No worries of cottage cheese peeking out? Hurray! Not receiving comments about my palest-legs-ever? Bonus!

Don't get me wrong - spring is my favorite and I love a good short - but I am going to mourn my season of not worrying about self-tanner, shaving or cellulite.

Goodbye, tights, it was great while it lasted. See you next fall.

(Who am I kidding? Winter will be here for another two months. I wore tights and a skirt on Saturday. I still have plenty of time. But I keep seeing catalogs with bare-legged girls in Milan. Damn you, J. Crew!)

Once you pop, you can't stop

Are cake pops the new cupcakes?

Photo by Youkeun Oh Photography, as seen on Sandy a la Mode

You know how cupcakes were everywhere in 2009, replacing cookies, pastries and even wedding cakes as the dessert of choice for various parties? I'm sniffing a new trend in party patisseries and it's cake pops.



Cake pops by Bakerella


Cake pops as seen on Amy Atlas' blog for Town and Country Magazine, as photographed by Karl Juengel

They're pretty, not overly indulgent, easy to eat (bite-size and only one hand needed!), and probably pretty cost effective, I'm seeing these puppies popping up at kids' birthday parties (think about it - so much less messy for little hands!), baby showers, and on Amy Atlas-esque dessert tables all over the place.

Do you think cake pops will be the next big thing or just a flash in the pan dessert trend?

And in case you're interested in trying to make a batch of cake pops yourself, click on the following link for DIY instructions from the foremost professional cake pop-er, Bakerella (or from an at-home pop-er, Sandy a la Mode).

Smell like a man, man

Whaaat?

Link (in case you can't watch the embedded video): click here

B and I saw this last night and thought it was hilarious. Even this morning it's seriously cracking me up. Enjoy...I'm on a horse.

Beware your ovaries now: Evan's 1st birthday party

Now that we've discussed pulling your own baby out of yourself (ouch & weird), we can move on to the much cuter side of having a baby: baby parties! Or in this case, a first birthday party. Sara, your biological clock is going to start ticking so loudly after this (sorry, Dan).

First off, the setting:
(click on photos for larger image)

I loooove that poster and the balloon arrangements are adorable too.

The plush stuffed animals on wheat grass in fun giraffe-print boxes are brilliant centerpieces - cheap, easy to put together and super-cute!

I honestly think my favorite thing about this party is the party hat design. Aren't they lovely? I love the mix of papers - but of course all kept within the color scheme - plus the piece de resistance: the pom-pom toppers! Custom "E" (for Evan) tote bags for favors aren't too shabby either.

Aunt Sandy's cake pops look delicious, as does that tower of mini-cuppies. But the best food offerings at the event (in my opinion) were probably this amazing combo:

1. Kogi BBQ (I'm dying to try this LA landmark. It's a traveling truck that serves up Korean Mexican tacos and BBQ, day and night, and tweets its location out to its 50,000 followers. And it's supposed to be amazing. Yum!)
AND
2. The Fry Girl's mini donuts - hot mini donuts, made on the spot for guests while they watched. Mmm.

And let's not forget the cutest guest in attendance, the birthday boy:

I'm not usually one for putting kids in suits, but this little guy is rockin' it (that and the mini Chuck high-tops are pretty amazing too).

All photos by Youkeun Oh Photography, found via The City Sage.

What a difference a home stylist makes

Michael Penney of Canadian House & Home recently posted these home makeover shots from Country Living and I died a little bit when I saw what a difference some subtle restyling makes. It really made me think about how a home can go from nice-enough to amazing given the right styling. Now if only I could get my own home stylist to tweak my house...

Here are two examples from one home:

The living room before was nice enough. I like the hardwood floors but I immediately thought the furniture looked like it was floating. A rug was definitely in order. Here's the after:

Isn't this after incredible? I didn't even notice the sofa shape before, but once moved against the window and accessorized with a throw and pillows, I love the shape of the back. The rug makes such a huge difference in anchoring the furniture too. All they did was add accessories (notice the main furniture is still the same, as is the wall color) and the room looks a million times better.

The bathroom in this house was also very standard. Not bad per se, but pretty dull:

Again, this after is gorgeous! It's a little country for my style (I'm pretty sure that's all due to the garden-y wallpaper), but the crisp shower curtain (hung high to accentuate the space) is so much better than the glass doors, and I am so into that mirror. I should be, since I own it. Can you believe I got it at Tarjay for 40 bucks? I have it above my fireplace mantle.

So what do you think? Aren't these re-styled rooms above-and-beyond what you ever thought the befores could be? It just goes to show how those houses in magazines get so beautiful: stylists.

All photos from Country Living, as photographed by Lucas Allen.

How to be your own baby doctor...?

Okay, don't judge me for A) having seen this and for B) actually blogging about this, but I was so freaked out I had to share.

After reading a tweet from @thelilbee that said "Kourtney Kardashian pulled her own baby out of her in delivery. I just watched it on DVR. CRAZY!" I knew I had to see it for myself. (Thank goodness for tv shows being online these days.)

In case you also have a strange urge to watch this weirdness too, here's the video clip from "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" on E! (skip to 26 seconds if you just want to see the weird self-birthing part):


Click here for the link (in case you can't watch the embedded video).

I mean, WTF?!? Do people just pull out their babies from their own vajayjays these days? Does anyone else think this is weird? And she seemed so calm - no sweating, crying, swearing, nothing - she just reached down and pulled the kid out. So. Weird.

"Hey Mom, Livie's on the internets!"

I read Style Me Pretty every day, even though it's a wedding blog. I'm obviously not planning for a wedding, but founder and editor Abby is one of the more well-known bloggers out there (she partnered with Google on their Google Docs Wedding Templates, for goodness sake) and some of the wedding ideas shown on SMP are pretty translatable for parties in general (not to mention the large helping of overall girlie eye candy on the side).

So imagine my surprise yesterday when I came across this gorgeous California vineyard/farm/lavender field wedding:



This wedding was my god-sister's (I know "god-sister" isn't really a thing per se, but we grew up with her family and her mom is my brother's god-mother, so how else do you say "someone who is almost family"?) and took place in June 2009. I couldn't make it out to CA for the event, but my mom and dad were there. As you can see from the above photo, the ceremony took place in a lavender field; my mom said it smelled amazing. It looks like the entire shindig was pretty incredible. And didn't Livia (the bride) look beautiful?:




Glad to see that all the hard work Livie and Sylma (her mom) put into the wedding came across....and look ma, Livie's famous! :)

If you want to see more pics, read up on the details of the day, or find the full list of vendors, it's all included in the post on Style Me Pretty. Photos by Anna Kuperberg.

You're speaking my language....

Designer Muro Buro is clearly picking up what I'm putting down...

I totally get this sentiment. Unfortunately, B doesn't feel this way, which explains his bewildered look as I'm straightening hanging prints on the wall as we're running out the door or folding towels to look pretty even though we're just going to use them. But sometimes you just want stuff to look nice, ya know?

As seen on design is mine.

Green (screen) acres - Hollywood's altered reality

It's amazing what tv and movie productions are able to create with a small set and a green screen these days. Check out this clip from Stargate Studios showing what's real and what's been "green-screened" - it's pretty amazing:


Link (in case you can't watch imbedded videos - iPhone wut): Watch here.

As seen on Roblahblog.

Rain, rain, go away

Hand-painted watercolor card by Anna Fraser, as seen on design is mine.

It rained all day yesterday and it's still raining this morning. It seemed kind of dreamy and relaxing as we went to sleep with the soft sound of it last night but I doubt it will seem as sweet when I have to head out of the house this morning and into it. Wish I could stay in bed today. Ah well, I guess this rain is better than another monster snow storm, right?

Is it raining where you are?

Amazing birthday weekend

I'm late in posting today. I have no excuses. All I can say is that I'm still recuperating from a busy, busy, super-fun weekend of birthday activities. From photo booths to free pretzels, mani-pedis to a ladies lunch, and an awesome surprise party, I had the best time celebrating with my favorite people.

I'll be back tomorrow with regular posting, but in the meantime, I'll leave you with these two shots from Saturday night:

How can a girl be anything but happy with amazing friends like this?:

Thank you, Kim, Sara, Val (and Sarah, who sadly is not in this photo) for an awesome girls day surprise. That's me, grinning like a lunatic, second from the right.

And of course, the biggest thanks go to my lovely B for an amazing four-day celebration of me becoming old:

I love you, babe.

Both photos taken by Eric Reinhardt, our photographer extraordinaire Saturday night.

Thanks to all of you for coming Saturday night!

Be back tomorrow, hopefully with a clean house, a refreshed liver and ready to roll with new posts for the week!

xo, r.

Have a great weekend!

Photo from quite cheeky

Cheers to a fun weekend! It's Mardi Gras, the Winter Olympics are still in full swing, and I believe my birthday festivities will be continuing (oops, not supposed to know that).

Hope you have a great one! See you back here Monday!

Tiny dancer

Holy moley, check out the munchkin in the orange shirt - she is working it (skip the first 11 seconds - they're marking to start - but make sure to watch from :13 on - it's sick!):

Link (in case you can't see the embedded video on your iPhone): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aNnWFe5wU8


Via a tweet from @designsponge.