My Blog

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Soundtracks: Happy Little Tunes

My list of favorite soundtracks continues...

I remember the first time I saw Dan in Real Life.. I remember thinking, Start it over! I wanna watch it again! It's one of the cutest movies, with an absolutely amazing soundtrack! Most of the music is done by Sondre Lerche and his voice goes hand-in-hand with the tone and overall feel of the movie. This one always puts me in a good mood, for sure.

Dan in Real Life
Featuring: Sondre Lerche, Regina Spektor and A Fine Frenzy


I really wasn't sure what to think of Where The Wild Things Are when it first came out in theaters. I know it's crazy, but I never read it when I was a kid. Honestly, when I first saw a trailer for it, I was creeped out by the big, weird-looking animal things and I didn't wanna give myself nightmares. Justin and I finally watched it when it came out to rent and I think I liked the soundtrack even more than the movie! Karen O from Yeah Yeah Yeahs composed the entire soundtrack with Carter Burwell and a group of kiddies. Even the song "All Is Love" was nominated for a Grammy as 'Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media'. I thought it was done really well. 


Where The Wild Things Are
Featuring: Karen O and The Kids

xo

Saturday, March 26, 2011

A Baby Shower Inspired by the Jungle

When my friend Tiffany (and old roomie) told me she was expecting, we screamed for a good 5 minutes straight. Of course, some of my first thoughts were, "YEEEE!! BABY SHOWER!" Plans for my jungle-inspired baby shower began months and months ago, after she found out she was having a boy and wanted to decorate his room with a "jungle theme". I really wanted to design my own invitations, since usually I can do it pretty reasonably. I began looking on Etsy for ideas, when I hit the jackpot when I found The Invitation at a shop called Inspired Designs. They do a lot of fun, different invitations, etc, and their jungle-themed invites were absolutely perfect. I picked my favorite and also ordered the matching toppers/favor tags. Samantha was unbelievably helpful and accommodating.. They were perfect. I printed the invites and tags at Bellis and mounted each one to corresponding cardstock (greens, blues, red, yellow, brown) . I added a little twine, for texture. Love!




I spent some time visiting with Tiff's mom to discuss details and I began planning away! As usual, I couldn't have finished everything alone (I guess I could, but it would take me 10x longer!). Lots of help from Tiffany's mom and friends -- Gina, Becky, Trish & Jen!

I decided to do a fun, animal print & colored flag garland, plus a leaf garland to create a "jungly" feel. Tulle poms and some other jungle-inspired details really seemed to create a fun little party!








I found some plain, wooden letters at Hobby Lobby and wanted to do something fun spelling "baby". I originally pictured them, wrapped with twine or leafy, but I ended up painting them yellow, and using my x-acto knife to cut matching animal-print letters to cover them. For the baby onesie clothesline, I originally planned to do 7 onesies, each with a letter to spell out the baby's name, "Charlie". After thinking things through, I decided to do the 3, with a "Charlie" banner above Tiffany's seat.



Favors were white chocolate-covered oreos.. I made them for the first time, and the process was quick and easy, just like the chocolate-covered pretzels. I had to tie the cute tags I ordered onto each one, saying, "Thanks for swinging by!" The "wisdom tree" I made was jungle-inspired, where guests left notes of wisdom or advice for Tiffany. She loved it!







Make your own "Ants-on-a-Log" and Veggies

Fruit with Cherry Fruit Dip

Chicken Salad

Deviled Eggs

Peanut Butter M&M's & "Cookies n' Creme" Pretzel Buttons


{I also made those fun little red pedestal trays!}

Chocolate Chip & Coconut Muffins with Whipped Butter



Feta & Artichoke Tarts



Coffee Punch

Lemonade

Cake was ordered from Strossner's - Raspberry Lemon. Delish!!


Becky, Gina, Me & Tiffany


Tiff and her mom, Tina

Baby games!




So happy for you, Tiffany and Andy! Definitely one of the most memorable showers I've been apart of!

xo


Jungle Images: clkr.com
Invitations: Etsy Shop, Inspired Designs
Fonts: kevinandamanda.com

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Introducing... Little Miss Coco Chanel

Introducing...




Isn't she adorable?!

2 years ago, Justin surprised me on my birthday with our sweet, lil' man, Romeo.. He totally did it again. Another puppy! We have been wanting a little girl for the longest time and she's absolutely perfect. Romeo totally loves his new little companion.. They get along like peanut butter and jelly! Since Romeo still isn't fixed, we are still deciding whether or not to have puppies when she's old enough. We'll see!

It was really fun to go with Justin this time to pick the puppy. When we scheduled the time to go look at them, we knew it was between two girl Yorkies, one 11 weeks, the other 13 weeks. When we finally made it there and spent time with both pups. The older one was much larger and had lots of white in her. She was cute, but definitely not very friendly. The younger one was much more relaxed and sweet.. she even fell asleep as I was holding her suspended in the air (bless her little heart!). We chose the younger one and the moment was so surreal! 

We spent quite a while deciding on a name for our little lovey.. We decided on Coco Chanel, after my all-time favorite designer and one of the most fabulous and iconic ladies in the world. 













xo