Tim Gunn on the Plaza.

Jamie and I were able to attend the event on Saturday where Tim Gunn debuted the new spring 2012 collection for Kate Spade New York and Lucky Brand Jeans on the Plaza. Tim Gunn is the Project Runway mentor and a fashion guru that we all know and love. The event included Tim discussing the new fashion trends as well as a great Q&A session.

Tim was able to include some of his Tim-ism’s during his visit such as “carry-on” and “make it work”. 

Here’s a few other great tips he provided (and I will immediately be doing!):

• Everything in your closet should multitask except your wedding dress. Shop your closet!
• You don’t have to wear heels – flats are comfort and style.
• Whatever you wear, try it on first!
• White is on trend this spring.

Were you able to attend? If so, what did you think about it?

Enjoy,

Ellen

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/25/3573563/tim-gunn-makes-it-work-on-the.html#storylink=cpy

Setting the Table: Fashion Friday with Quinn.

As part of the continuation of our popular Setting the Table series, we asked our friend Quinn to share her fashion inspirations and outfits. The best part – she is our newest feature fashion contributor.

Do you remember her previous posts?

Enjoy,
Ellen

Stripes Party.

Did you eat the wrappers to Yikes Stripes Fruit Stripes Bubble Gum because your older brother told you they were edible? Or was that just me?

My guess is most people think they have more solid in their wardrobe than any other print. I am definitely one of those people. Until recently when I realized stripes were starting to become a more popular choice. They are so simple and wonderful. They can be nautical and preppy or edgy and pop. They make it easy to mix and match colors with and can be worn as a dress up or dress down. If you’re going to branch out on a pattern start with the stripe. Florals and polka dots can be too trendy or young while stripes continue to be worn.

Some of my stripes: 

Check out my blog here.

xoxo,

Quinn

Spring to Summer Hair

I can slowly feel it. The air is changing and now so is my hair. I can style it to look perfect inside, but I am exactly like the many commercials, as soon as I step outside – things change. Luckily, there are some great products out there to help. Here are a few of my favorites and how I use them.

P.S. I know Keratin is HUGE right now. I am going to ask my trusted hair expert on some advice on these products and will report back!

Au revoir,
Jamie

Its a 10 Miracle Leave in Product I add this in when I am combing my hair right after the shower. This product helps to maintain that “just styled” texture and look all day long. Its a must when traveling, because it works in all environments.

Moroccan Oil I add this product after I have styled my hair, although my hair stylist also adds it before she blow drys my hair. I think it depends on your hair type, but I like to add it to the ends to add moisture and tame fly aways.  Warning – a little goes a long way!

blow pro – ready set blow I know I have raved about this product before, but its a new one for me, so I am still in my honeymoon phase. It protects hair from blow drying and the environment, and on top of that adds volume. I would use this or It’s a 10, but not both at the same time.

Hair Tie package from Mane Message Another repeat, but with summer coming up, I know I am not alone in always having a hair tie handy. These double as a bracelet and with fun colors you can match to every outfit. I just wish I could have invented these! They are wonderful – dont break your hair, are light so sometimes I forget I have it in and last a long time.

Mustache Party.

Mustache Sticks from Etsy.

My husband’s birthday is in March and my birthday is in April, so we decided to celebrate turning 29 together by throwing a Mustache Party for our friends at our home. My husband has a mustache approximately four times a year so the theme was perfect. He loves to grow one for events and to surprise people. And, Jamie and I are no strangers to mustache events. At my bachelorette party, we all used Sharpies to draw our mustaches on for pictures.

I ended up sending out informal facebook invites by February for people to save the date. I got the creative from Pingg.

For this event, we wanted people just to attend and have fun. We were having guests coming from out of town and we wanted them to relax and party. We decided to get a keg, light food and of course we provided the mustaches. I bought a pack of 36 mustaches for people to select which one they wanted to wear.

The mustache menu:

• Hot roast beef sliders – Jamie’s recipe
• Caprese skewers
• Hummus with pita chips, carrots and bell peppers
• Mustache sugar cookies

The mustache drink:

• Pony keg with Boulevard 
• Pitcher of water with lemons

The mustache decor was purchased from The Cupcake Social on Etsy:

Mustache Banner

Mustache Cookie Cutter

Here’s how the night turned out:

The banner hanging in our dining room.

The mustache sugar cookies.

The mustache options in the blue cups.

The table of appetizers.

Veggies for the hummus.

Roast beef sliders.

Caprese skewers.

We had a fabulous time with our friends. Thanks to all who attended! I am already planning next year’s birthday bash.

Enjoy,

Ellen

New Orleans Vacation: Part One.

My husband and I went to New Orleans for the French Quarter Festival. We arrived on a Wednesday and left on a Sunday after lots of plane delays. I do love a vacation but hate traveling!

While my vacation wasn’t as glamorous as Jamie’s trip to Paris (part one and part two recaps), my husband and I still had a fabulous time enjoying the architecture, jazz music and lots of great food. I am also making my vacation recap in a two part series – today will be about the beautiful city and the next post will all be about the food including a recipe from my favorite dish!

French Quarter.

We stayed at the Astor Crowne Plaza and the location was amazing. It was in the French Quarter and right at the end of Bourbon street. It was nice to be at the end so it wasn’t as loud and crazy with all of the party people. It was also the perfect distance to the French Quarter Festival and we could walk everywhere we wanted to go – even the Hornets basketball game!

Us at the Court of Two Sisters.

I was in love with all of the architecture and antique shops. I could have spent a lot of money putting all new furniture and accessories in our house.

Horse street posts.

I couldn’t help but fall in love with the striped ceiling in the walkway for the Court of Two Sisters. I would love to paint a ceiling like this in our house.

We even walked all of the way to the French Market. It was extremely busy with tourists and I am glad we made the trip. It had all of those gift items you would want to take back to remember New Orleans as well as lots of local food.

We only came back with a magnet (we collect one in every city we travel to), some new clothes for me for my birthday and a picture for our home. We spent the rest of the money on eating well.

Enjoy,

Ellen

Built-In Hutch Makeover.

As I mentioned before, I wanted to update the current shelf styling of our dining room hutch.

We have a built-in hutch at our house which is one of the reasons I loved our dining room when we were looking to purchase a home. I am always changing the hutch out to have either all pictures or showcase my collection of antique glass jars. But, I have decided I want to highlight some of our dishes and still incorporate my antique glass jars.

Here’s the before (pre-living room updates):

And, here’s what it looks like now:

I am happy with the result but I am sure I will want to change it in a few months. I am thinking about wallpapering the inside of the back of the hutch and then putting the shelves back in. Don’t tell my husband since as we are still tearing down all of the wallpaper in our house! But, with this current refresh, I didn’t want to spend any money to update the hutch.

Did my previous post inspire you at all to do a makeover? If so, let me know what you did!

Enjoy,

Ellen

Happy Birthday to Me.

 Today is my 29th birthday. I will be celebrating it with friends and cake. Oh, and a mustache party.

Image source via Etsy.

Don’t worry – details about the mustache party will come!

Enjoy,

Ellen

Fashion Friday – Bright Colors

I love spring and the opportunity to mix and match fun colors and patterns. Here is a great outfit for the weekend for a date night, bbq with friends or shopping on the town. I saw a lot of cobalt blue and other bright, vibrant colors in Paris, as well as flower patterns. I mixed in striped shoes and a more masculine bracelet to round out the ensemble.

Au revoir,
Jamie

Green Floral Top from Piperlime

Cobalt Blue Skinny Jeans

Strip flats from Tommy Hilfiger

Bracelet from BCBGeneration

Recipe: Caprese Salad

Who doesn’t love a caprese salad? It’s our constant side dish during the summer but I couldn’t help it this year – I had to start early!

Recipe: Ellen
Photo Credit: Ellen

Ingredients for two servings:

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Fresh basil (about 10 leaves)
• Fresh mozzarella (if your grocery store has the kind that they make there – use that!)
• Vine ripened tomatoes (1 tomato)
• Salt/pepper

Directions:

1. Clean and slice tomatoes. Place decoratively on the plate or cut up in squares and put in a bowl.
2. Drizzle lightly with balsamic vinegar.
3. Cut up mozzarella. Place decoratively on the tomatoes or cut up in squares and put in the bowl.
4. Drizzle lightly with balsamic vinegar.
5. Add fresh basil. Place decoratively on the tomatoes/mozzarella or cut up and put in the bowl.
6. Add salt/pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and more balsamic vinegar. If you are putting everything in a bowl, mix it all together.

The recipe is so easy but I know everyone has their own adaptation to it. I love getting all of the ingredients from the farmer’s market (I even grow my own tomatoes and basil!). I also have added watermelon instead of mozzarella and it was delicious! I am thinking about adding pesto next time. What do you do differently? Please share!

Enjoy,

Ellen

Paris Vacation :: Part Two

After we left Reims, we went by train to Dijon. Thats right, where Dijon mustard is made. I had a delicious crepe with chicken, cheese, mushrooms and of course Dijon mustard for lunch on the first day. We wondered the streets, following these cute little plaques on the sidewalks that were owls. These owls lead you to the next monument or site on the walking tour. This was more oriented to Families with kiddos, but I enjoyed it just the same. From Dijon, we went to Beaune which is a small town about 15 minutes away and more in the middle of the vineyards.

We stayed at this adorable little B&B, which was a perfect stop in the middle of our trip. It was comfy and so cozy, that we felt comfortable just relaxing in the room. The Chez Marie is owned by Marie and her family, who was not only a awesome hostess with a wonderful fresh, homemade breakfast, but also helped map out our stay in the quaint little town. She told us about the best wine cave to go to, but to also go to an actual wine tasting room to experience all the region had to offer.

Wine tasting area in the cave

First stop in Beaune were the Caves Patriarche Père & Fils. At one time these caves were so long they went under the entire stretch of the town, which it felt like it still did when we were walking through the spooky halls of the cave. This tour had videos set up through out, so you could wander at your leisure,  and enjoy the tasting down in the actual cave. They had over 20 different wines to taste, mapping out the Burgandy wine region. After this tasting, we stumbled our way over to the wine tasting room, where we could learn even more about the wines and try from many different vineyards/houses. It was a great day and I ended up bringing home a few bottles in my luggage (and they didnt break – hooray). 


To finish the trip, we went back to Paris to a different hotel. It was a perfect spot and had a beautiful wall paper that I loved. We ate like queens through out the entire trip – finding grand French cuisine, delicious treats and pastries and always sipping on wine. 

Wallpaper (more grey than this picture shows)

Afternoon treat

One of my must sees on the list was the original Chanel shop, where Coco once lived. You can see the staircase, but can not really access that area. 

Waiting for Chanel to open

Another stop was to the Moulin Rouge of course! I really wanted to see a show, but I must admit, it was a little out of what I had budgeted for. None the less, it was a great site to see. 

On the plane over to Paris, I started to read The Paris Wife. It is from the perspective of Hadley, Ernest Hemingway’s first wife. It was very nostalgic to read this on the way, during and then finished it on the way home. I recognized most of the places mentioned in the book and felt even more connected to the history that was among the streets of Paris. I can truly say I loved the city and the countryside of France. It was a wonderful vacation and it already has me excited for another adventure!


Au revoir,
Jamie