cupcakewine

love wine? love cupcakes? wine from cupcake vineyard?! ok- yes please! last night, RC and i enjoyed a delish bottle of chardonnay from cupcake vineyard from here on the central coast! i found this bottle at our local grocer and after today's workday- this chardonnay was the perfect wine-down (did you catch that- as in wind down?!)

while this chardonnay doesn't taste exactly like a cupcake- it serves as the perfect sweet treat!

this light, buttery white pairs well with just about any dish. last night, we enjoyed our wine with grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, rice and vinaigrette salad.

roasted potatoes

one little cupcake

AND beautiful flowers from the husband!
how lucky am i ?!?

what are come of your favorite wines? please share- we would love to try!

candles-without the flame!

i love these new candles. thanks amazon! they are flameless. and they smell good! flameless scented candles? just like a real candle- without the hazard. i am all about the hazard-free! you can ask my family- after one incident, candles were banned from our house... whoops! these candles are great because they have a subtle scent as well (a light, sweet vanilla scent).

i have two on our new coffee table on shorter glass candle pedestals (similar to the black ones in the photo)

note: nothing in our house is themed 'starfish' appropriate- but it just seemed so summery
i bought these on amazon.com and the merchant did a great job packaging the product- so great that they included a december 24th nativity scene (i'm thinking from some sort of christmas/avent calendar?!) anyway- it served as a great (hah!) backdrop for these

most flameless candles are plastic-y and/or too 'white' and therefore don't function well in a hurricane vase or glass container. these flameless candles are great because they are an offwhite wax outside and have flickering led bulbs and they even have a timer (5 hours on, 19 hours off). these flameless candles would be great to have outside in the garden in a metal lantern... hmm, maybe for the fourth of july?

thanks pb for the inspiration!

who knew one could be ever so excited about flameless candles?!

diy bachelorette party banner

i just celebrated with a great group of girls in southern california this weekend. we had so much fun! we celebrated the sassy bachelorette in style! the bride-to-be's sister (a great moh!) planned an exceptional weekend in west hollywood! i made a quick banner to add a bit of decor to the already fab rooms. we stayed at the sweetest boutique hotel!

i pulled in the traditional bachelorette party hot pink color in my pennant banner.

i just love that lime yellow/green and all those bright colors- it's perfect for summertime in la!

(hey! that's our new coffee table aka: my craftyspace)

can you spot that pink crown?! we wore those poolside all day on saturday
&that sweet striped fabric? a great gap tank

you can make your own pennant banner too- its really simple! although i wasn't able to photodocument each step, it's super easy to do it yourself!
1. decide on a color theme that works best for your party/occasion
2.start with a rectangle (i used 8 1/2" by 6") next- measure the middle of the shorter side (in this case half of 6" was 3")
3. use your papercutter (or your scissors) to cut a diagonal line from the corner of the longer edge to form a long, skinny triangle (as shown in the photos above)
4. i used my trusty glue gun to attach all of those triangle pieces to white ribbon and added blingin' stickered letters to spell 'bachelorette party"

ta-da!

we were so busy celebrating i only was able to snap this one photo of the banner hanging on the lovely hand painted blue fireplace mantle.
**how sweet are those blingin' rosettes?!

RC and i will celebrate d's wedding in san diego next month- i can't wait! d and i have been friends since high school- we played softball together and i just love her! what are your simple diy ideas for parties?

do you have questions about this diy banner? let me know- i'd love to help you!

on target

after work RC took me to target to get some solvent to clear our clogged drain in the bathroom. we left target spending $103.17. we went for one item! while at target, we found these great plastic adirondack chairs on sale! we had to have them.

does this ever happen to you? go in for one things and come out with tons more than planned?!

mellow yellow

inspired by the recent lovely summer sun here in san francisco- all things yellow!

anthropologie

world market


esty (sry- all sold out!)

be still

pottery barn

those outdoor party lights would be lovely on a warm summer evening! and how cute is that yellow chevron patterned ironing board? i'd iron each day to look at that adorable, cheery pattern! one day, when i have a craft room, i think those anthro curtains serve as the perfect window dressing. i think i can make something like those yellow flower napkin rings from world market... maybe for the 4th? we will see... what yellow things remind you of summer?

city garden

love gardening?

check out these all of these free events at flora grub here in the city.

on saturday, june 25th at 11am learn about urban homesteading
on sunday june 25th at 11am meet with mike schelp- the dhalia expert, from half moon bay
on saturday july 16th at 11am billy goodnick will hold a classroom all about gardening basics

i'll be celebrating with a bride-to-be during the june weekend classes but will maybe attend the july class. anyone want to join? it's free!

world market find

a few months ago, RC and i found this great coffee table and matching console. it was great because we both loved it! even better- it was on sale- and we had a coupon! double score. we were heartbroken when the salesperson came out of the stockroom to tell us that no stores in the entire state california had these products. it was on backorder from the manufacturer. the manufacturer is based in vietnam :(

the short story- world market offered us a rain check and ordered it for us (and even honored our extra coupon). i was so excited when RC told me that the coffee table was ready for pick up today!


we are putting it together tonight! the console table should arrive sometime late july. i'll post photos of the end project!

beauty goodies from birchbox.com

so i just signed up to receive monthly beauty goodies from birchbox.com! you can read all about this sweet service here. birchbox works to provide samples of high-end beauty products- without the high end price! for just $10 per month (no shipping costs!), birchbox will send you 4 to 5 beauty products packaged in one of their adorable boxes (pictured below).
birchbox.com has been featured in the most recent edition of cosmo, and other magazines such as the knot, instyle, and vogue. birchbox even offers a free online magazine titled the haute box with helpful beauty articles filled with tips and tricks!

birchbox has a lovely rewards program as well. you earn points by referring friends, making purchases or reviewing your monthly goodies. you can use these points towards a $10 credit on any full sized products on their site- how thoughtful!

birchbox serves as a simple way to try amazing products from the brands you love- all without the hassle of visiting multiple stores. after reading about the three amazing women who started this project, you are sure to be inspired!




and right now- when you spend more than 50 dollars at birchbox.com, you get a free gift! just use the code birchboxtravels at checkout.

i can't wait to share what i receive in my july box! well- what are you waiting for? sign up now!

craftybug storage

i like to craft. and when i craft, i need lots of space. to spread out. to see what i'm workin' with. lately, i've taken over our coffee table in front of the tv (you know... so i don't miss any of my law and order episodes). although RC doesn't mind my tyrannical coffee table take over too much, he would prefer that my crafty things not be out and about. our space is cozy, which means that anything left out usually gets in our way.

right now my crafting tools are located in lovely pink storage bins in the garage. this means anytime i'm feelin' crafty i have to rearrange our 'stuff' to get to the corresponding bin-o-crafts. i think its time for some sort of craft storage solution- in house! something that's easy to pull out and even easier to put away. i came across jetmax craft storage at micheals and think it just may do the trick. jetmax storage is durable and made of a high quality MDF fiberboard. i think the white finish is so classy.

obviously, we don't have have enough space for all of these units, but maybe one day i can store all of my craft goodies in the larger jetmax units shown above.

this smaller jetmax mobile craft storage unit will fit perfectly in the closet! my favorite part is the ribbon organizer... and the rolling coaster feet... and the larger drawers to fit 12x12 scrapbook paper. ah- the whole thing is my favorite. RC is working on his car this weekend, so maybe this can be my saturday afternoon project. stayed tuned!

anyone else have jetmax storage pieces? what other craft storage do you use?

diy pinwheels&rosettes

RC is out this week, so i've filled my evenings with crafts, reruns of law and order and smell good candles! my latest fave is this sweet archaeology candle in gardenia scent. one day, when RC and i have a house, we will plant lots and lots of gardenia bushes- they are so fragrant! i pulled this candle out of a box (one of many!) from the garage. it has a nordstrom's sku on it but i couldn't find any links online to purchase more. so sad.

i posted my finished projects here yesterday (a bit backwards in blog-land!) but i wanted to be sure to share my easy diy projects before the upcoming 4th of july holiday!

1. gather all materials

patterned paper, scissors, cutting mat, hot glue gun, brads, wooden dowels (i used white)

2. cut patterned paper into square
i cut mine to measure 6x6

3. fold corner to corner


(great shot of the wedding bling, eh?)

4. once creased, cut halfway to the center- shown best in the second photo below



5. bring corners to center and secure with a dab of hot glue
add a brad to complete the project!




how cute are these pinwheels?!~

using the same materials listed for the pinwheel project i created simple rosettes. these are super easy to make and remind me of science project award ribbons! after making these, i found these lovely diy instructions from paper source (you can even print it out- so handy!).

1. fold longways (hot-dog style!)
it should look like an accordion

for this project, i made lots of different sizes
this large size measure 31/2 inches by 6 inches

2. next, fold the ends together (like in the photo)
i used three sheets of patterned paper, each measuring 31/2 inches by 6 inches


3. bring the middle together and secure with a dab of hot glue
(no hot glue? no worries! you can use double sided sticky tape)

voila!

rockin' rosettes!

use hot glue to attach the wooden dowels.

i'm looking forward to celebrating the 4th of july here in san francisco! we may host some out of town guests! these pinwheels and rosettes will serve as such a simple but patriotic centerpiece. san francisco friends- what are the best places to watch fireworks? what is everyone planning to do to celebrate the 4th?

patriotic preview!

i was inspired this afternoon! i've included a few photos of my finished projects. i will post the step-by-step tomorrow!