Places I Love- Carmela Ice Cream!

Tad and I recently discovered a local ice cream shop...and I think it's become one of our favorite places. It's called Carmela and they have the most delicious (and delicious sounding) flavors- like strawberry buttermilk, lavender honey and brown sugar vanilla bean. But my favorite flavor by far is their salted caramel. It's delicous. Hmmm.

dress- Anthro; cardigan- J.Crew

They even cater for parties and events- and you can request they bring their super cute little ice cream cart! How awesome would that be? So if you're passing through Pasadena, it's definitely worth a stop. It's also sold at the Hollywood and South Pasadena Farmers' Market. Hmmm...I think I might stop by there today...

Diana-Mini Yummy Goodness

Tad got me the hands down, most fabulous cake ever!! How awesome is this Diana-Mini cake made by Cake Sensations in South Pasadena? The details were amazing- it had the dials, buckles, buttons- all down to a tee! The texture of the cake even matched the camera; and not only did the cake look awesome, it was also one of the best cakes I've ever tasted. And in what flavor you ask? Why, red velvet of course!

My hubby did a great job with my birthday, I love him so much! Have you ever had a super cool cake made for you? Besides our wedding cake, this is the first cake I had that was especially made for me- so awesome!

Birthday Dress

dress- Betsey Johnson; shoes- Anthro

Last Saturday I celebrated my 30th birthday with friends and family at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica. I really love the decor and vibe there and I had the perfect dress in mind to wear. I bought this Betsey Johnson dress months ago but I was saving it for just the right occasion. It's flirty, sassy, and sweet all at the same time- I love it!

Do you have a dress saved in your closet waiting for the perfect event to get worn? 

Donut Love

This weekend I celebrated my 30th birthday and had an awesome birthday weekend! My birthday isn't until Tuesday but it was nice to get to celebrate for a whole weekend :) I started off by making mini donuts for breakfast and then had an amazing weekend full of surprises and fun- all planned by my dear husband- he really is the best! We went on a plane ride, had dinner and drinks with friends, enjoyed a 1hr massage, visited the Huntington Library, watched a movie, and ate some really yummy cake.



my best friend Sharon gave me this donut machine as a gift (we've been friends since grade school!) Buy here.



You can buy the donut mix but I made my batter from scratch.

I took lots of pictures on my film camera so I have to wait until they are developed to post! Did you do something really fun over the weekend?

Donut Batter Recipe:
-5 tbsp. butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tbsp. melted butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
1) Mix butter and sugar, and mix in egg.
2) Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together.
3 Add dry ingredients alternately with milk
4) Pour batter into the donut maker and bake for 3-5 minutes
5) Once done, dip tops into melted butter, then sugar and cinnamon mixture

Chocolate Ganache Recipe:
- 1/2 bag chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
1) heat whipping cream in a saucepan until a light boil, stirring constantly
2) Once heated, remove pan from heat and stir in the chocolate chips until all melted
3) Refrigerates well for more uses later!

Friday Favorites

Awesome, it's Friday- and not only is the weekend almost here, mine already started (I have a 3-day weekend)! It's my "birthday weekend" and I can't wait to celebrate with my best friends and family. Tonight Tad has a surprise planned out for me (I love surprises), then tomorrow I'm having dinner with my closest friends before we go out for drinks, and on Sunday I'm celebrating my nieces birthday! And on top of that, my birthday isn't even until Tuesday :)

Here are a few of my favorite things this week:

When I saw this duvet cover at Urban Outfitters last week I was in love! I was even more excited that it came in teal, which is part of the color scheme in our bedroom! It's also very soft and comfortable. The only thing is after I washed it, the ruffles don't like to lay completely flat- but I kinda like this "unruffled ruffled" look!

We finally painted our front door, which was just it's wood color before. Again, we chose my favorite color Teal! It goes well with our blue couch and adds the perfect pop of color to the room.

I posted about this chalkboard pantry door before but I really really love it! Right now, we're using it to write out our Summer Goals and our grocery list. I like making goals every season- it makes things seem much more attainable.

Tad gave me a sewing machine for my birthday and I love it! It's definitely my most favorite thing at the moment.

on sale here at Amazon!

I picked up this adorable fabric at Sew LA last week. I'm thinking of making matching skirts for my nieces!

Well, I hope you have a fantastic weekend! What are some of your favorite things this week?

One Dress Three Ways

Last night I finished my first real sewing project and I'm so excited to share it with you! I made a dress using Kwik Sew's Pattern 3675. I just learned to sew last month and have been taking lessons at Sew LA- it's the cutest little shop ever with the cutest fabric ever! One of my favorite things about sewing is that I'm able to pick my own fabric. I love quirky, whimsical clothing and there's not enough of these in stores!

I love being able to style a dress in so many different ways. So the first thing I did was pick through my closet to see how I could wear this dress! Here are some photos...does anyone know how how I could post pictures side by side on this blog? That would be way cuter :)

cardigan from Anthro; shoes from Aldo

blouse- Anthro; shoes- Seychelles

I can't wait for someone to ask me where I got my dress so I can tell them I made it myself! But what I don't want them to say is.."Um...did you make that, um, dress?" Ha!

For my birthday my husband bought me a sewing machine. I've been practicing making little projects and I'm working on making another dress in this super cute fabric I found- wait till you see it!
Do you already sew and make your own clothes? Or do you wanna learn? It's super fun and addicting!

Chalk Talk

A few months ago I was in charge of finding chalkboards for my brother's wedding. That's when I discovered chalkboard paint! I thought it was the coolest thing ever; and what's even cooler is that it comes in all sorts of colors. Since red was one of the main wedding color, I thought it would be cool to make some red chalkboards.

I just painted the chalkboard paint onto the glass of a frame

I started to imagine all the creative possibilities with chalkboard paint. I thought of painting one whole wall for kids to draw on (but wait, we don't have kids!), or painting the doors in our house like Elsie's (from A Beautiful Mess) bedroom door, but what I really wanted to paint most was our pantry doors. I thought it would be a cool way to write out our to-do list, grocery list, and to keep track of our busy schedule, not to mention a super cute way to write notes to each other!

It took some convincing for Tad to let me do it. But not without a compromise- instead of the whole pantry, he thought maybe I could just do part of it or little squares. I think he'll agree that it is pretty cool, yea?

It only needed two coats and I still have almost the whole can left! I think my next project will be to paint some of the many glass bottles I have lying around (I save anything glass- spaghetti sauce jars, pickle, jars, beer bottles, you name it) and use them as vases. I'll post pictures of those when I finish them!

Have you been inspired by chalkboard paint? I tend to get carried away with things so it's all I can do to contain myself from painting everything- I can imagine the look on Tad's face if he walked into the house with all the furniture turned into a chalkboard! Ha!

Hearts and Stripes Monday

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend- I spent the entire weekend working. Boo. At least it's not so bad in the summer when it's still bright when I get off of work. Tad and I still were able to meet up with some friend's on Saturday night and visit my parents on Sunday for Father's Day. Even though I hate working weekends, I do enjoy having weekday off to run errands and go shopping...and it does make me feel better when everyone is heading to work on Monday and I am still in my pajamas (just a little better) =P

shoes by Seychelles

I got this Effie's Heart Dress from Ruche and I absolutely love it- and how sweet is this giant heart headband from littlehoneypies on Etsy? I must admit that when I first received the headband in the mail, I was a little surprised at how big the heart sat on my head- but after wearing it, I really love that the heart is so giant sized and it made it really fun to wear. Hmm....I'm thinking this might be a good outfit for the 4th of July....

Friday Favorites

Hooray the weekend is almost here- happy Friday everyone!

Lately, my hubby and I have been doing some housework and home improvement- it's now been 2 years since we moved into our home and we've only just finished fully furnishing it. It's been tempting to just order from catalogs and I'll admit that I sometimes want to buy everything exactly as it is in a showcase room. But I really want to make our home unique and to find our very own style so over the past couple years, I've been collecting things here and there to decorate with. It's funny that it's taken me all these years to finally realize my personal style and how I would like our home to be.

Here are a few of my favorite things at home- looking at them just makes me smile!

My version of a milk glass tea station on a vintage-looking tray I found

I'd like to get this petite typewriter working so I can type cute notes to Tad on it

One thing Tad and both both really wanted was a kit-cat clock in our kitchen- I love how the tail moves back and forth

I love finding cute kitchen items- it makes cooking even more fun (one of my best friends gave me the teal pot)

One of my favorite kitchen finds from Anthropologie- giraffe measuring "spoons"

My ever growing collection of vintage cameras- they are so cute!

I still use these 2 all the time- I just grab them off the shelf on the way out 

Vintage polaroid vs. modern-day polaroid (those cat keychains of me and Tad were made in Japan..only in Japan can you find something like this in a vending machine haha)

I put my collection of tea tins (and Star Wars lunch pail) on our fridge- sometimes I fill them with fresh cut flowers

My elephant rag lady- she's from Thailand

My collection of my favorite jewelry- necklaces!

I love reading these prints- they still have to be hung on the wall but for now they are just hanging out

My favorite shelves with our wedding cake toppers

A new addition to the house but now one of my most favorite things!

Ok, I really just love this whole corner! Tad fights me for it though

I really love our couch and pillows- red and aqua is one of my favorite color combinations

I also love our rug; and most of all, I love my doggies! (pardon the dog hair on the floor- it's getting warmer so Buddy's been shedding quite a lot!)

We still have a few more things to do, like frame and hang up our black and white photographs from our film class, paint one room (maybe yellow), hang up a few more shelves, and paint our front door! So stay tuned for more photos to come later!

Have a super weekend! Here are a few fun links to leave you with :)
- I really love this rooster dress- it's so adorable!
- Such a cool iPhone case...hmmm, mine just happened to break so I may have to buy this!
- Check out this awesome fish tank!