The best day of my life

After waiting rather impatiently for almost 2 months, we finally received our wedding proofs and day-of documentary!

When planning our wedding, we treated it like work (the hubby and I both work in advertising). First we came up with a concept, then we brainstormed tactics that would bring the concept to life. Since we met in advertising we found it all too appropriate to use Mad Men as inspiration. If Don Draper were to go on vacation, what would it be like? Where would he go? How would he party? What would he drink? What would he wear? What would entertain him? Here is our take on what we thought those things would look like.

I'm a big believer that save the dates and wedding invitations really set the tone for a wedding. The point is to get people as excited as you are, right?  There's nothing better than getting a beautiful invitation in the mail that suits the couple who is getting married. It can be pricey, but to me it's a worthy investment. For our wedding suite, we worked with Courtney Jentzen of Swiss Cottage Designs...she was AMAZING! This girl has some seriously cool ideas. So many ideas, that it was hard to decide on just one.

Since we were having a destination wedding, we created a retro style Palm Springs travel brochure with a luggage tag spot glued on the back. Inside was a list of fun things to do and places to see in palm springs. And of course, our wedding details.

For the invites, we stayed with the retro theme. Taking inspiration from the 1963 film, Palm Springs Weekend, our invites included lots of bright colors and fun prints.

At check in, guests were greeted with a custom welcome bag filled with goodies. We stuffed it with inflatable rafts, champagne, red bull, gatorade, sleep mask, hangover kit, pop chips, fun dip and a few other random goodies.

The bridesmaids picked their own dresses from Top Shop based on their body type and budget. My only requirements was to wear sparkly shoes:

The guys also wore Top Shop. Grey pants and vests were paired with a crisp white shirt and black skinny tie:

For the flowers, it was all about succulents, billy balls, bright colors, and feathers:

His/hers signature cocktails were embellished with hand made (by me and a few dear friends) cocktail stirrers and vintage paper straws:

The Aqualillies provided entertainment for guests during cocktail hour:

Moroccan stars, hot pink up-lights, ghost chairs, custom linens and show tunes added to the ambience of the overall event:

And for dessert? Bacon:

Finding the right photographer was one of the most difficult parts of wedding planning. We looked at dozens of photographers before we found one who had the style that we were looking for. Not only was their work unique and beautiful, but Jess was one of the sweetest people we had the pleasure of working with. We couldn't be happier with our choice to tap into the talents of Our Labor of Love to capture the most important day of our lives. To see more pictures of our big day, take a look at the slideshow: http://www.ourlaboroflove.com/showit/elizabeth_and_kj/

We found our videographer by accident. Since we decided last minute (less than a month before the wedding) that we wanted video, our choices were rather slim. After being unimpressed with all of the leftovers that none of the other brides wanted, I got a bright idea: convince my friend who works in the film and video department of my agency to shoot our wedding. Thank god I was able to convince him, because his documentary took my breath away. Take a look and see for yourself:

http://vimeo.com/45983484

What really made our wedding day so incredible was having all of the people we love there with us. A few were missing, but those who were able to make it made the entire weekend special and memorable. Ahhhh, to go back in time...

Working girl's chicken soup

There’s nothing better than a steaming bowl of chicken soup when I’m feeling under the weather. Somehow, someway, I’ve managed to pick up a nasty cold in the middle of July.  For those of you who may be wondering, a fever and an aching body feel worse in a heat wave. Last night I was too sick to cook, so we ordered Chinese takeout—won ton for me. I was hoping it would fulfill my need for chicken soup, but it didn’t. And so I found myself in whole foods this afternoon to pick up the ingredients I needed to cure myself.

As a woman with a job that often keeps me past 5 o’clock, (except for today…I left early because I was still feeling rotten) I’m always looking for ways to simplify a meal. When it comes to making chicken soup, a rotisserie chicken does the trick. Then all you need is fresh veggies, herbs, and some chicken stock and you’re on your way to a delicious and comforting meal.

Ingredients

·      Rotisserie chicken

·      2 quarts of chicken stock

·      3 cups of water

·      3 bouillon packets/cubes

·      1 tablespoon olive oil

·      2 large carrots

·      4 cloves of garlic

·      1 large leek

·      1 large shallot

·      1 medium sized red onion

·      1 bunch of asparagus

·      Handfuls of fresh oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary, and parsley

·      Bag/box baby arugula (spinach is good too)

·      1 lemon

·      ¼ cup of parmesan cheese

·      Pasta of your choice (I used whole wheat alphabet)

The easiest way to make this soup is to get all of your prep work out of the way—after that, it’s just a matter of throwing it all in the pot. Chop all of your vegetables into whatever size or shape your little heart desires, the more uneven they are, the more rustic the soup. 

Collect all of your herbs into a pile on your cutting board and mince them all together. Be sure to remove the stems from the rosemary and thyme—these won’t cook down in the soup.

Heat oil in a large pot and add garlic, onion, shallot, leek and herbs. Add generous amounts of salt and pepper and cook until transparent. Then add carrot, chicken stock, water, and bouillon cubes. Set asparagus aside.

While stock and veggies are coming to a boil, it’s time to shred your chicken. To do this, all you need are your 2 hands and a strong stomach. If you live in my house, you will also need the occasional elbow to knock the naughty cat off the counter. Remove the chicken from the bone (discarding skin) tearing it into bite sized pieces. 

Add chicken, asparagus, and pasta to the pot and cook until pasta is al dente. (NOTE: go light on the pasta. You want the chicken to be the star of the show.) When pasta is cooked, turn off the heat and add in lemon juice, parmesan, and arugula. Stir and serve with a smile.

 My handsome dinner date.

Movin' on down...

farther south in Brooklyn.

After losing a 4-year battle with a leaky window, my husband and I decided to move out of our beloved 350 sq ft apartment. When I say “decided to move,” what I really mean is that in a moment of frustration I did a 5 minute search that resulted in finding the most amazing apartment ever. I have 1 word that sums up why our new place is so completely rad: backyard. Yep, that’s right. In a city filled with concrete, KJ and I have our own, private outdoor space.  No more suffering through mediocre meals just to dine al fresco. We can grill our own feast in the privacy of our backyard.

While the apartment was move-in ready, the same couldn’t be said for the outside. After being neglected for years, it was completely overgrown with weeds and poison ivy. One little detail that I forgot to mention was that we moved 2 weeks before our wedding. As expected, the move was stressful and expensive (we hired movers). But for me, the hardest part was not being able to plant a garden. Because of the close proximity of our wedding, I didn’t want to risk being covered in poison ivy on my big day.

Fast forward about a month and we’re back from our honeymoon. After 24 hours of travel, I was energized and ready to get the garden project underway. I’m pretty sure my husband wanted to kill me when I insisted that we spend our first full day back in the states at home depot, but I couldn’t help it. I was actually looking forward to leaving Fiji so I could go home and play with dirt in my yard (sick, I know).

I had a vision. I knew that I wanted grass, an herb garden, and a fire pit. It was also important for me to have mostly perennials so I wouldn’t have to spend money every year on planting. I wanted to make sure that the yard was green and growing as quickly as possible, so I decided against planting seeds.

Before we got started in the garden, we had 1 little thing to take care of first—the ugly chain link fence on the right side of the yard. Our landlords ran out of money and couldn’t afford to finish the privacy fence, so it was up to us to find a solution. We opted for bamboo fencing to give us a little more privacy, and crossed our fingers that one of the random vines that were growing would eventually do it’s thing (and it did, yay!).

Our first project was digging out the dirt in the back and planting grass (ok, so I guess I did use a seed). We opted for EZ-Seed because it’s guaranteed to grow in any condition, even shade, which we have a lot of in our yard.  And would you believe that grass was sprouting in less than a week? Amazing.

Then we followed by digging up the dirt on each side of the yard which would eventually be the home to a variety of perennials, boxwoods, and of course, an herb garden. I was very careful when curating my perennials to be sure that I picked plants that would thrive in semi-shady conditions. If you don’t give your plants the right kind of environment that they need, they’ll turn on you and self-destruct. Then your left with dead plants and a broken heart—that’s not fun for anybody.

Our last project was to create an area for the fire pit. For this, we (OK, my husband) dug out a patch of dirt and filled it in with stones. We figured this would be better in case of falling embers, and the light colored stones also add a nice contrast to the fire pit. If you are ever placing stones over dirt or grass, be sure to put a weed guard down first. This thin sheet between the dirt and the rocks provides a barrier that keeps weeds from poking through. If you skip this step, you will waste your days pulling weeds and kicking yourself for not putting down the weed guard. So just do it right the first time.

Our last project is to dig out the front section of the yard and replace it with flagstone. We have been putting this off because want to start enjoying our outdoor space with friends and family while the weather is still nice. I’m thinking that might have to wait until next year. We also needed to prioritize the indoor space, which I will be posting about in the coming weeks.  I’m living in a giant work-in-progress and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Stay tuned for the final reveal of the backyard!