Harper's Barnyard Bash!

This past weekend was my daughter's 2nd Birthday Party.

Of course I went to town with the details and enjoyed every second of planning.

We did a Barnyard Bash theme since she absolutely loves animals. I found a local petting zoo, Pied Piper who comes to your house and sets up a pen with a little petting zoo. 

They brought bunnies, ducks, a sheep and a goat. Harper was in Heaven!

My friend Lisa, from Larkspur Studios, made me adorable food and drink signs.

I purchased the red and white picnic tablecloths, bandana print cups and cow print plates from shindigz.com

I took regular mason jars I purchased at Michael's and jazzed them up with some jute and bandana print ribbon and filled them with adorable cow straws I found at Party Delights

Fresh sunflowers adorned the tables in farm vases that I found at The Christmas Tree Shops

For the kids I put out juice packs and Horizon milk packs in Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla.

I filled a mason jar jug (also purchased at Christmas Tree Shops) with fresh apple cider.

As a fun Fall activity I purchased little sugar pumpkins at a local farm and put them out for the kids to decorate. I got cute letter and farm foam stickers; a fun and no-mess way for the kids to decorate.

For a creative way to display dessert I got styrofoam rectangular boards and Michael's and hot glued little wooden fences on. 

I used peeps for baby chicks, made mini apple crisps and home made farm animal cupcakes.

I did a candy buffet with different color M&M's (Harpers favorite) and cow tales.

I got these adorable Candy Bags from The Trendy Butterfly

As give outs for the kids I got books and tied each one with red baker's twine a little tag that said "Oink, Cluck, Baa, Moo, Just want to say Thank You!"

We also had face painting and balloon twisting from Blue Balloon Parties

The kids had a ball getting their face painted like their favorite animals. 

Harper decided on a butterfly. Not exactly a farm animal but she still looked super cute!

 I know the party was a success because Harper has been asking me for "another birthday" everyday since Saturday, which of course makes it all worth it!

Falling for Fedoras

As the days are getting cooler I have been in hat envy. It's not yet chilly enough to need a real winter hat but I am loving the look of a Fall fedora. In neutral brown, black and grey they go with any outfit and are a super cute accessory. 

Below are some inspiration pictures I have been drooling over.

Below I found some super cute and super affordable fedoras to accompany your Fall wardrobe.

Paul Smith Annie Stitched Fedora

UO Staring At Stars Scout Panama Hat

Jcrew Panama Fedora

Madewell Biltmore Felt Fedora

Topshop Clean Edge Fedora

Nordstrom Felt Fedora

Here comes the flower girl

It's been a busy month of weddings around here! 

We were in Napa earlier in the month for my cousin's wedding and last weekend we had my brother and sister-in-law's wedding out on L.I.

Harper was the flower girl and if I must say so myself, she was the cutest darn flower girl I ever did see.

As you know by now I am an avid fan of etsy. I went on there to look for an unique and special dress for her, and of course I found one.

I found the etsy shop Olive and Fern.

All of the dresses are hand made by Beth, who was a pleasure to work with. 

I sent her Harper's measurements and the dress showed up a few weeks later.  It was even cuter in person.

Harper looked adorable and did a great job walking down the aisle, basket of petals in hand.

The bride, my wonderful sister-in-law, looked gorgeous and glowing and the night was a truly special event!

Congrats Brad & Jaymie!

Pretty Pumpkins!

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year! 

I love the crisp chill in the morning air, the smell of burning apple and cinnamon candles, spiced cider and pumpkin coffees. Cozy fall sweaters, the changing color of the leaves.

If you love pumpkins as I do but want to "jazz" up your display a little bit this fall, I pasted some pretty pumpkin photos below. Whether you prefer chevron, chalkboard paint or glitter, sky is the limit on how fun and creative you can be.

Send me some pics of your decorated pumpkins and I will display on the blog!

Happy Fall

The first day of Fall is this Sunday, even though it has definitely felt like Fall all week long. 

With temperatures in the 60's and nights dipping to the 40's, the chill in the air makes me crave spiced cider, apple picking, pumpkin pie and cozy sweaters. 

Even though I am sad to leave Summer behind the below images will hopefully get you excited for the fabulous Fall season ahead!

Pizza Party

My brother is really into making his own pizza and has gotten quite good at it. So, it was a big treat when he came over this week and whipped up some delicious thin crust pizza for all of us.

He gets his dough from a local pizza place. You can go into pretty much any pizza joint and ask for dough and they will sell you however much you need. 

He says the key to a good thin crust pizza is getting the dough nice and thin and using a good quality pizza stone. He puts the oven on 500 degrees and puts the pizza stone in there to get very hot. 

Construct the pizza on a separate wood board and make sure to use ample amounts of flour under the dough so it doesn't stick. Then carefully slide it onto the hot stone in the oven.

His speciality is a truffeled mushroom pie and a bbq chicken pie.

For the truffle mushroom pie (pictured below) he uses a truffled mushroom pesto that he buys at Murray's Cheese in NYC. If you live in the area I HIGHLY recommend stopping by Murray's and picking some up. It's ridiculous! If you don't live by a Murray's you can get the same kind of spread by pureeing mushrooms, garlic, Parmesan cheese and truffle oil. 

We spread the truffled mushroom pesto on the pizza and then topped with fresh mushrooms. Baked it in a 500 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes until it was crisp and bubbly and then topped with a drizzle of truffle oil. It was seriously out of this world!

For the second pie we used BBQ chicken cutlets, shredded mozzarella cheese, sweet onion and fresh cilantro. 

We started by lightly covering the dough with RAO's Marinara sauce and the shredded cheese. We then used diced chicken cutlets in BBQ sauce and thinly sliced sweet onion. Again we cooked this in a 500 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes and then sprinkled with fresh cilantro.

Both pies were so good I can't pick a favorite. 

Good thing I didn't need to as we had plenty to go around!