every bride needs a wish come true...

Back in January I posted about our storage bench (used to organize handbags) and mentioned that I'd love to add this pillow if budget permitted.  A few weeks later I received the most heartfelt note along with a gift certificate to purchase the pillow.  This sender was the amazing artist, Patricia from pve design.  Not only can she put together beautiful illustrations, but she has a way with words that warm your heart.  

I really can't put into words how much this note and sweet gift mean to me.  I will keep her note and save it to store with all special items that relate to our wedding day.  

And, of course I will keep the pillow front and center for a long time!

I absolutely LOVE it!  It's even more stunning in person (if you can imagine that).  The fabric has a gorgeous gold sparkle that I can't get enough of. 

 Caitlin Wilson has many more delicious pillows if you're in the market.  

Thank you again Patricia for making a wish come true!

a {short} week recap

1. refinery29 shop crawl was a blast last week {pictured: me, caitilin & taylor} 

2. favorite gluten free pancake mix with blueberries & cinnamon added on the patio

3. delicious treats on the shop crawl

4. san francisco sunset

5. goodies from fresh, i swear by their products & customer service! 

6. view of golden gate on our way out to sam's on the ferry {highly recommend the crab sandwich}!

7. wine at prima palate 

8. cutest shop/salon in tiburon...picked up a candle & lantern shown in photograph 

9. the birds drafting off the back of the ferry!

10. smores' on the patio in the evening 

hope you all had a nice weekend!

*all iphone pics {most are from twitter}

*first photograph is from taylor

recap of a creative industry meet up!

Last night I attended a party hosted by Enjoy Events Co. & Edyta Szyszlo Photography and I thought I would share a few photographs. This was also the launch of enjoy events co. a new planning & design company based in the Bay Area specializing in weddings, showers, rehearsals...and any other event you have in mind.  Ran by Megan & Emily pictured above.   Anyway, I can't even put into words how busy I've been so I'm so happy I got to make it!    

It was held at Eel & Ermine

how cute are the handmade name tags nailed to the vintage door? 

gorgeous flowers surrounded the shop

delicious donuts from dynamo donuts (i tried the bacon one. yum!)

stunning pieces all made in shop with vintage fabrics! they do custom pieces too!

megan, emily, emily & shaunna

curbside by spencer on the go. had one of these yummy sliders!

beautiful bracelets by Maria of bachman's sparrow & sweet emarie of the collection modeling one for me!

megan, emily & amanda

Amazing night surrounded by so many talented people!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

deliciously organized 2010 {a few of my favorites!}

In January, a little paper was added to dress up a medicine cabinet:

In February, the 10 habits of Highly Organized People were discussed {I should re-read this!} and a spring makeover in the bedroom:

In March, I finally tried the mercury glass!

 and there was a series on getting organized, including organizing your health

 In April, we had a beautiful Spring her in Boston and I made a skirted table

 In May, we got engaged!

In June, fresh strawberry butta and organic body scrubs were made

In July, the bench got a makeover

makeup brushes got organized...

and lastly, a trip back to California...

In August, we finally made it to Martha's Vineyard

and made a very easy go-to meal

In September, I met some wonderful bloggers

& made a trip to Montreal

In October, I tried making apple crisp and apple pie

In November, the bedroom got a little fall makeover

and in December, I thoroughly enjoyed making these ornaments!

thank you so much for reading in 2010!  it would not be the same without you all!

can't wait to see what 2011 brings~

happy new year!!!!

anyone doing anything fun tonight?!!!

*Striped Storage Boxes were originally purchased white from IKEA and then gray paint was added to create stripes

almost forgot...guest posting today!

I'm guest posting today over at Emily's blog while she's away on her honeymoon!

Congrats again Emily!

recap of nyc {little late!}

Wow! The past few days have been crazy...we left for NYC at 7:00 a.m. Tuesday morning and arrived home at around 1:00 a.m. that night.  I have to say that overall I had a blast at the show.  BUT, total letdown that there was no blogger mention considering the effort that went into making this day happen.  Bummer.  You can read more about the show, here and here.  Also, we were asked to wear bright colors to the show.  I'm typically more a neutral gal, so it was much more difficult to do than I thought...

When we arrived, the first two bloggers we met were Camila and Marianne. You would have thought we had known each other for years.  I met several other bloggers from that point on and it was a WILD whirlwind trying to keep up...literally felt like speed blog dating. I will say, honestly, every person I met was someone I wanted to spend more time with.  I wish I would have had more time to talk/meet other bloggers AND wish I would have taken more photographs with the ones I did meet!  

A group shot out front of the studio:

{photograph via}

Yvonne, Stephanie, Linds, Emily, Jill, Me, Marianne, Rosanne

{photograph via}

Marianne, Linds, Stephanie, Camila, Me

Our driving group {minus Jill who is taking the photograph}:

Linds, Stephanie, Emily & I

The after party was held at The Collective.  LOVED this venue.  The staff was incredible and the decor was fabulous!  Camila worked with The Nest to throw together the event {thanks for putting this together!}.  The Nest staff was also wonderful, really down to earth and extremely sweet.  They had a bar cart challenge that ended up sparking my interest...had to throw something together with all the fun props!  You can see what Linds, Camila and I did below...we are being a bit silly in one of them.  Also, you have to check out the work of the photographer at the event, Trent Bailey. I love his short film on the first page of his website!  The below three photographs are by him. 

All in all, it was an amazing day.  I met so many wonderful people that I wanted to spend more time with.  To be honest with you, our group had a strict deadline to get out the door and I hadn't had a chance to talk to a lot of people...so I'm embarrassed to say that I started having conversations like this {post champagne, hadn't eaten}, "Hiiiiiiiiii I really wanted to say hello before I left, so hi!".  Yeah, bad.  Anyway, so nice to meet a lot of you.  Still bummed out that I missed many others...next time?

excited!

I'm heading out tomorrow to NYC {for a quick day trip} to attend the Nate Berkus show...AND I'm thrilled to be meeting some of the bloggers that I chat with daily! A lot of effort has gone on to put together a blogger audience, an after show meet up, blogger profile pages, etc. and I'm very grateful to the people working to get us together.  Thank you!  If you're going to be there, can't wait to meet you! If not, I will try and do my best to take a lot of photographs and report back.  Although I won't be needing a suitcase, I still have always loved the bright colors in this image!  Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Bake-N-Blog

Because I needed one more thing on my plate, I decided to join in on the Bake-N-Blog event going down on Staci Edwards Design today  {thank you Staci for putting this together!}.  I'll take any excuse to bake a cupcake.  The low down: We {bloggers} picked a cupcake from ming makes cupcakes, and are to briefly explain our baking experience and discuss how delicious they are.  Here is the cupcake I chose:

This cupcake is truly easy to make, but the only "experience" I had was when I threw in a huge can of crushed pineapple into my mix...because? I clearly didn't look at the recipe to specify the can size. Whoops!  Threw in a 20 oz can instead of 8 oz can!  Cupcakes for everybody!  I adjusted the rest of the recipe to work with my totally just blew it move and baked them as directed.  

They turned out absolutely delicious and I highly recommend making if you enjoy this flavor. I, of course, found out from my fiance {mid bake} that he didn't prefer carrot cake...

anyone else going to give it a try?  let me know your thoughts if you do!