Sunday, June 24

Birthday Bridal Shower


An amazing bridal shower/birthday weekend, the end of my school year coming up next week, and many other busy moments in my life have been keeping me from this blog.  But I refuse to wave the white flag.  Next weekend marks the beginning of my summer vacation, and I'm promising to get back on track with some well-planned outfits.

In the mean time, settle for a picture of a dress I purchased months ago from Banana Republic.  I loved this dress so much, I knew it had to be saved for something very special.  

Dress: Banana Republic
Heels: Nine West
Pearl Earrings & Pearl Bracelet: Ross Simons
Bow Bouquet: My beautiful family and friends

Tuesday, June 12

Bold Stripes



Shirt Dress: Gap
Sandals: BC Footwear

Tuesday, June 5

Summer Quinoa Salad

I've experimented with quinoa and all of its superfood goodness a few times, and I finally reached a favorite recipe!  I mixed many of my favorite summer foods together and found a great dressing for this super easy salad.


  • 2 cups cooked quinoa 
    • (I cook it in vegetable broth rather than water, just to add some flavor.)
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 large tomato
  • 1 can garbanzo beans
  • chopped cilantro and parsley (to taste)
  • 1 cup frozen or fresh corn
Dressing:
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • salt and pepper
  • 6 tsp olive oil

*Let the quinoa fully cook before mixing in the other ingredients and adding the dressing.
*Add some chopped jalapeno for a punch!

Monday, June 4

Bridesmaids Dresses


Although my blog is lonely and desperate for attention, I'm happy to report that I've successfully crossed off a few items on my wedding to-do list!  Bridesmaids dresses are such a huge decision, I figured I may as well show the world what my girls will be wearing.

Alfred Sung Dress in Twirl

After months of agonizing over this decision, I'm so so happy to say that the dresses are ordered and now all we have to do it wait.  Unfortunately this decision was one of the most difficult decisions I've made yet about this wedding.  Months ago, I went back and forth (and back and forth) over color choices, fabric options, cut, etc.  I thought I'd go with JCrew dresses, then I thought that pulling off a mix and match look would work.  Unfortunately, mixing and matching certain colors proved to be super difficult and stressful.  Ultimately, my sister and mom tried on a lot of options and chose this style.  In all honesty it probably wouldn't have been my first pick, but when I saw it on my soon-to-be sister-in-law over the weekend, I'm really happy with the dress.  The quality is very nice, and although the dresses will require some tailoring on the girls, everyone was happy to find out the dress has pockets!  It's very flattering along the waist, and the skirt flows out a bit more than this picture suggests, giving it a bit of a vintage feel on the bottom... and every aesthetic decision I've made at about this wedding has been "vintage" thus far, so that makes me a happy girl.

I learned a lot about going through this mess of choosing bridesmaids dresses.  Some decisions are much easier than others during the planning process.  For me, the big decisions (such as venue, music, food) were all very easy, but as I get further involved in the details, there are a million options for every one decision and it's incredibly over-whelming.  Over the past month, I've finally been able to say good-bye to staring at color options for my bridal party, and I'm not going to spend another second obsessing over styles of lanterns that will be hung at our reception.  I'm still going to obsess over the perfect flower combinations and the just-right pair of heels, but I'm really getting excited to make decisions on the most important choices.  I can't wait to sit down and work out our ceremony choices, and choose our vows!  Because sometimes the party planning overshadows the wedding planning, and none of us should forget that a lifetime of marriage is waiting for us at the end of that aisle.