Monday, March 18, 2013

The Manly Home




Women definitely dominate the consumer market where home decor and fashion are concerned,
but there are so many fabulous things out there for our manfriend's enjoyment.


A few of my favorites for the manly home.

 
Guess who wants to register for Waterford glasses in our house?
Two hints: Not me, and not the corgis.


I bought these Arteriors chairs at an interior design auction for Brian.
They were just perfect for his mid-century inspired manly office.

 Brian is a cigar lover, like many men and there's no end to the array 
of smoking accessories. Love this Waterford tray from Etsy


I was at the Briar Shoppe in Houston over Christmas and laid my
eyes on this amazing lighter from Corona.
It was a tad out of my price range this Christmas, but hopefully it will show up
in Brian's stocking next year.



And I love, LOVE this Hermes Humidor.
Be still my heart. Not sure how "manly" it is, but if I can endure cigar smoke,
he can endure an orange lacquered box.


Can we talk about Woodland Spode?
My mother has it, as does everyone else I know.
Brian wants it for our everyday china. Am I the only one who doesn't like it?
There's something about woodland creatures and neutral florals that don't 
inspire me to eat/decorate.


And a few of my favorite men's fashions.


A coworker introduced me to Peter Millar, and I'm obsessed.
They have amazing colors in their line.  


 There is very small pool of good looking, well-priced men's clothing these days.


Everything has just gotten SOOO trendy. Or utterly heinous.
I mean, if your manfriend wants to wear a shirt with rhinestone monkey emblazoned on the back,
that's his business I suppose, but YUCK.

Another men's brand I'm really into right now is Southern Tide.
It sort of seems like Vineyard Vine's deep southern cousin.

They have fabulous colors as well.

Brian needs these turquoise shorts for spring.
NEEDS.


Brian generally sticks to Cole Haan loafers, but I'm dying over the beauty of these TODS driving mocs.
Santa, can you hear me?


I don't love jewelry on a man----a wedding ring and watch are just about all I can get 
on board with. This vintage Rolex is TO DIE.
Mmmmm 1960s glamour.

 Lastly, but not least-ly.....The navy blue blazer is so BACK in my mind.
My dad gave B a Ralph Lauren blue blazer that he never wore at Christmas
and Brian wore it on Saturday night. You forget how something so classic can be so good-looking.

Come to think of it, they don't look half bad on women either!



Clean and Classic.


Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Wedding Wednesdays----Picking a Venue



 SO, are ya'll totally ready for wedding planning deets?!

Well, I'm ready to share.

I have to tell you that about 6 months after I started doing Wedding Wednesdays (almost) every
wednesday, a random reader commented "Omg, Congrats on your engagement! So exciting!"

And all I could think is....."Well, this is awkward"

As my mother says, I've been planning this day since before I could walk.
And I'm so excited to get started with the REAL-LIFE plans.

Today I would like to talk about venues.
Specifically, the two at the top of my list.


Both are special in their own way.

Hoffman Haus is a small property with tons of little cottages and then a main house on the property outside which you can get hitched and inside which you can have your reception.

Cute, quaint, a little bit country and oh so charming.

Take a gander.





And then there's Becker Vineyards.
One of Brian and my favorite haunts for wine tasting in Fredericksburg.

Big plus? The Lavender Fields on the property.
Where you can take romantic photos like this.



You can also get married outside here, under this pretty tree.
And they have a pretty indoor/outdoor situation at their "Lavender Haus".



So, I have to know, which venue would ya'll vote for?

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Cooking Ahead


In an effort to save money and kind of control the amount of crap that goes 
into our bodies, one of my New Year's resolutions this January was to cook more.

I work late a lot, and this resolution was probably doomed to fail from the start.
Nothing inspires a desperate search for bad/expensive take-out like getting home at 9 pm.

I've found that we stick to the "eating at home" thing most when I cook something on Sunday that we can eat for the better part of the week. 

This Sunday I made two recipes from RealSimple.com, which is the best source for 
easy, cheap and SIMPLE meal ideas.

So I made Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower and their Easy Meatballs.

Delicious and (somewhat) nutritious.

I love how they sneak in the veggie intake with cauliflower.

I follow the recipe pretty much exactly, except I double it, and 
add about 1 1/2 cups of asiago or parmesan.

And the recipe for the Easy Meatballs.

We've just been heating up the macaroni and adding a little jarred marinara to the meatballs
and I've been sautéing a veggie each night to go with. So far I've added asparagus and garlic spinach to the mix.


By the way, can we talk about how much I want this pewter flatware?



I think it's just timeless, will wear well and go with everything.


They have a similar version at Pottery Barn
but I'm not sure I like it as much.


And this pretty set from Neiman Marcus.

If anyone has any other great "cook-ahead" recipes---Send them my way!

Monday, March 11, 2013

A Perfect Proposal

 via Lonny

So, last Friday night (March 1st) I was just sitting around minding my own business.

And who decided to propose marriage to me?


THIS GUY.

 I won't bore you with all the deets, but the short story is that he had a massive nosebleed for about an hour and a half before subsequently popping the question.

A combo of a minor cold/The drying effects of Mucinex/Massive Nerves

He cancelled our (bogus) dinner plans with friends, and off we went to Ellerbe's, my favorite restaurant in Fort Worth, to meet my mom, dad and sister.

It was perfect. I thought we were meeting the afformentioned friends for a post-dinner celebratory drink.

The afformentioned friends consisted of 6 people. Three girlfriends and their three husbands.

What I walked into, was no less than 37 of my closest friends.

SHOCKED.

 Friends, New and Old.



This girl (Lauren of The Semi-Designed Life) floored me.
She sent a bottle of champagne to Ellerbe's as a present because she "couldn't make it".
Oh, really? I about lost it when I saw her.


My high-school girlfriends and college girls all made the journey from Houston.
 (The shot on the top is from our senior year of high school, the bottom shot is the engagement night, 8 years later.)
 It was an awesome weekend with family and friends.
Here with my sister, Brian, Brian's brother Justin and his girlfriend Mary.


Our post-engagement celebration was held at The Usual, my favorite bar in Fort Worth.
Home of the delicious French 75, lots of mid-century interior inspiration and the best craft cocktails west of the Mississippi.

And this whole shindig was masterminded by this little lady.

Miss Morgan.
 

We met during our semester abroad in Florence. We both came with our respective best friends. 
And the four of us became inseperable.

 Callie (on the far left) now teaches 4th Grade in Houston and Blythe lives with her husband in DC.
Morgan and I both still live in Funkytown.

And spend almost every waking moment together.

 And she's been rooting for Brian and I to be betrothed for quite a while now.
So she helped him plan a fabulous surprise party.
It was PERFECT.

I'll leave a lot of this for Wedding Wednesday,
 but for those of you who just can't wait......

We're thinking April 2014, we're thinking Fredericksburg, TX, and I'm thinking
Fancy Garden Party.

 I don't have everything worked out yet, but I'm thinking black and white (lots of stripes)
gold and pink/blush/peach.




 When I say gold, I mean sparkles.
I looked at a wedding venue yesterday and one of their rules was
"no glitter".
I almost burst out laughing, and promptly put it at the bottom of the list.


Are you wondering what I wore?

Call it foresight, call it divine intervention, but I had an itch to go shopping earlier that week.

And I bought this stunner from BCBG.


And this H&M mint tweed motorcycle jacket to top it.
 And added this Forever 21 necklace.


Watch out folks.....Wedding Wednesday's are about to get REAL legit.

And I promise this won't turn into a wedding blog.