how to: 4th of July nails!

Happy 4th of July!

Time for fireworks, beach towels, hamburgers and patriotic fingernails :) If you want fun stars and stripes nails like mine, here's how to get 'em.

Yesterday, thanks to Lindsay who sent me a link to Lovely Little Details, I discovered the Nail Art Pen. And that's where the idea for patriotic nails was born. Here are your key players:

- red, white and blue nail polish. 

I used OPI's The Show Must Go On for red, OPI's DS Magic for blue and a Wet 'n Wild white.

- the white nail art pen

- precision and skill, or at least a steady nail painting hand

~

There are a couple of options for patriotic nails. On my fingers I chose to paint actual stripes but on my toes I just did alternating red and white nails to represent the stripes, ya dig?

 After you have your base nail polish decided and completed, that's when you get to use the pen! I practiced first on my toes, dotting white dots on the blue polish. Here's how they turned out:

Let me tell you something, it's weird photographing your feet... Let's move on to the fingers.

For my fingers, since the nails are longer, I decided there was room to test out the true precision of the nail art pen and try out stripes. So I painted 4 fingers red and my thumb blue. (any excuse to photography my pretty ring ;) haha)

Looking good so far.

The stripes on the left hand are definitely a little straighter than the ones on my right hand since I'm right handed but it was do-able. And the result is pretty cool, I must say.

Good luck painting and Happy 4th of July!

picnic dinner

On Tuesday night, while it was storming outside, Linds and I had some friends over for dinner! Everyone helped out and we made a delicious meal. And since there were 6 of us, we decided to go picnic style and spread a blanket out on the living room floor to enjoy the feast.

hi ladies! thanks for coming over!

On the menu: 

Salad by Caitlin

leaf lettuce

strawberries

almonds

feta cheese

dressing: EVOO, white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar

Fried Okra by Tori

Marinated Grilled Chicken by Lindsay

and steamed veggies

for the marinade: 

2/3 soy sauce

1/3 worsterchire sauce

garlic salt

cajun spices

Homemade Mac and Cheese by yours truly

cooked macaroni noodles layered with shredded cheddar cheese

top with a mixture of eggs, milk, salt and pepper and bake at 350.

and Peach Cobbler for dessert

I told you it was a feast :)

the breakfast debate

Last night we had a fantastic impromptu picnic dinner in our apartment and I loved it. I'll share pictures and the menu a little later but first I need your thoughts. While we all gathered in the kitchen to toss, fry, bake and grill this delightful meal, the breakfast debate began. A debate that has been going on for centuries I'm sure, around water coolers all over the world.

~

In which order would you put the following breakfast items?

waffles

pancakes

french toast

~

Please note that these photos may or may not be in the order I would put them in as I do not want to sway any of your decisions. I'll put my order in the comments. 

Alright friends, have at it. And may the best breakfast food win.

ps - one more thing ... let's just say that the obvious winner of all of these is cinnamon buns and I think we can all agree on that, so they are not on the list :)

summer livin'

I wouldn't mind lounging in either of these lovely places this summer.

photos via Design*Sponge and oh, hello friend

dream vacation: Villa Mandarinas

Today I'm dreaming about summer vacation and Villa Mandarinas in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico has got to be the most beautiful place.

Seriously, look at these pictures and tell me you don't want to go there. Not possible.

The view. The windows. The colors. Even the bathrooms are gorgeous!

Who's going with me? ;)

found via 

garden of love

The Post Office has some beautiful new forever stamps called Garden of Love and I think they are just so pretty! 

I may or may not have used them on some important wedding envelopes ;)

sights from my (long) weekend

I'm back! Here are some photos from my long traveling weekend.
I actually visited 4 different states! How fun is that?

 

I missed the little blog. Thanks to Lindsay for guest posting while I was away.

How is everyone? What did I miss?

guest post: The Crescent of My Eye

Of all the places I’ve ever been, New Orleans, Louisiana is my absolute favorite city. One day I hope I am fortunate enough to call the Crescent City my home, but until then I will daydream about the next time I get to visit – whenever that will be. (I hope it’s soon though!)

A couple of summers ago, my family took a little trip to Louisiana. My dad grew up there, so we drive down every couple of years and take in the sights, sounds, scents and of course… the tastes. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend you check it out. It’s an incredible, culturally rich city full of people famous for their southern hospitality with a Cajun flare! Here are some of my favorite sites from NOLA.

St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter

Café Du Monde and its famous beignets

 

A Bayou in St. Martinville, where we took a swamp boat tour

The Tabasco Factory on Avery Island

Jax Brewery

Oak Alley Plantation on the Old River Road

Have you ever been to Louisiana?

guest post: Wax On, Wax Off

Last spring I took a trip to New York City with my mom. She had never been and I wanted to go visit some friends of mine who moved there, so we packed our bags and hopped on a plane to the Big Apple. There are so many fun things to do in NYC, it’s hard to know where to begin. I wanted my mom to see all the famous sites, but I also wanted to experience new things I had never done before. So we decided to take a trip to the Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, and let me tell you, that place is worth every penny.

We rubbed elbows with the stars…

…enjoyed a cooking class with Rachel Ray…

…found our dopplegangers…

…made some new friends…

…and had a few thrills!

It was definitely the most fun museum I’ve ever been to, and I would love to go back. Have you ever been to Madame Tussuad’s?