gifts

I spent Christmas weekend with my boyfriend's hilarious family. I'm always a little sad that I don't get to see my own family but I'm pretty used to it by now. My brother and sister in law sent the most awesome box of gifts. Actually, my friends, boyfriend, and his family all got me the most wonderful gifts. I just wanted to make a pile of it all and then curl up in bed with it. Hope you all had a lovely Christmas with your loved ones!

PS I also spent a few hours on Christmas Eve painting these to fill all of our orders.

Happy Holidays!

I can't believe it's Christmas weekend already. Where has the time go? I've been so consumed with Love Toast that I haven't been able to post here much. I'll be back after the holidays though. What are you guys up to this weekend? I'll be spending it with my boyfriend's family stuffing myself with yummy fried fish. 

Happy Holidays!

His & Hers coffee mugs

I just learned today that these mugs that I hand-painted for a Love Toast photo shoot was re-posted on Tumblr over 31,000 times! Holy moly! In just the past week that I posted the image I've received so many emails asking me where to purchase these mugs. We've been in the process of designing an online shop to go along with our blog. Hopefully I can share that info with you guys very soon! I'm so excited to be a mug making machine! : )

i love you more than...

I stumbled upon this plate at Urban Outfitters when I was Christmas shopping. My boyfriend always says, "I love you more than..." to me and "french fries" has been one of them. Gave me a good laugh.

kitty keycover

A friend gave this to me as a gift the other day. Isn't it so cute? The "I-saw-this-and-I-thought-of-you" gifts are always the best!

dry shampoo

The past week, when I was pulling super late hours trying to finish everything in time for the Love Toast launch, my BFF told me I've been "walking around looking like a homeless person." I looked the way I was feeling, extremely exhausted, with bags under my eyes and terrible skin. I haven't had time for much else and couldn't even think about squeezing in a shower. Sad, right? On Monday, I stopped by Lush for a gift for my friend and spotted their No Drought dry shampoo on the shelves. I must've looked like an addict when I went up to the counter. I was shaking, could barely speak, and said, "I..I need this." So this is my solution for being too busy to shower. Dry Shampoo. 

celebration

For the past few months, I've been so consumed with working on Love Toast. After the launch yesterday I was finally able to have a nice night out for dinner with my boyfriend. He's been so supportive (proofreading my writing) and understanding (when I'm too busy to hang out), I feel like I owe him so much more than a dinner. We went to this fun little Indian restaurant, Panna II, in East Village. The restaurant is covered in these hanging lights. I thought I was going to have a bad headache at first, but my eyes adjusted and the place just felt so festive. It was a perfect celebration. : )

Introducing Love Toast!

Oh gosh, where have I been? The past few months I've been consumed with my new project, Love Toast, that I've been working on with my best friend. Love Toast is a new wedding blog featuring distinctive weddings and sharing interviews and tips from industry insiders. Please take a moment to check it out and let us know what you think! Cheers!

life sized to-do list

We stayed at the studio until 1:30 am last night trying to get all of the last minute things ready for the launch of our new site, Love Toast. It's overwhelming but we're coming along slowly but surely!

crafting party

I had so much fun last week staying up into the late hours crafting for our holiday photo shoot. My best friend and I felt like we got a flash forward look into our senior citizen years and, I must say, I think it's gonna be pretty rad. I can't wait to share the post with you on Love Toast on Monday!

serious and silly

I came across these photos from my brother's wedding the other day and it made me laugh. Our mom hates it when we make silly faces in pictures. We make her very proud. : )

(photos taken by Kate Connolly)

Happy December!

After working on a holiday shoot yesterday and then coming home to watch the Rockefeller tree lighting last night, I am officially in the Christmas spirit. I may even be moved to go out and buy the Bieber Christmas album! (Was anyone else uncomfortable watching his music video with Mariah Carey)?

Happy December!

Thanksgiving continued...

I know it's December today but I still wanted to share the photos from Thanksgiving last week. This Thanksgiving was extra special for so many reasons. It was my sister-in-law's first time hosting, it was the first one my boyfriend was spending with my family, it's one of the few that I spend with my brother, and we had planned a very special surprise for him.

My brother and his wife did an amazing job hosting. Dinner was absolutely wonderful and the table set-up was so beautifully done.

Before dinner, we went around saying what we were thankful for. It was my first time doing this at dinner and made it so much more special. It was so incredibly touching to hear what everyone was personally thankful for and made me that much more appreciative of everything we have in our lives. 

Next was time for my surprise. Since I could not attend my big brother's Bronze Star ceremony the following week, we decided to throw him a ceremony of our own. Just as he was about to take a bite of his dinner, I had the sound of trumpets blaring from an app on my phone as a cue that the ceremony was starting. It was so hilarious to see my brother look at me as if he was going to kill me for having my phone go off during dinner. (He was holding the carving knife as well). 

The look on his face was absolutely priceless when my boyfriend came in to present his award as President Obama, donning the mask and all. That made the silliness of it all so worth it.

 My boyfriend downloaded an app where you can record your message and have it play back in Obama's voice. I'm still laughing just thinking about it.

He presented him with our homemade versions of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medal and a bottle of Thai whiskey. (I'm sure this is customary). 

God, I love this guy so much and I'm so grateful to have him as my big brother. I am so proud of his strength and valor.

I also stitched him a little Purple Heart pillow and pinned his medals to it. My brother told me that the Purple Heart started as a quilt that people would stitch to comfort the families of the injured soldier, so it was actually sorta fitting that I made him the pillow.

He always has been and always will be my hero.