Friday Cocktail // Champs + Berries

So sorry I was unable to post the DIY tassel garland yesterday like I promised. I was having some technical difficulties with my computer that hopefully have been resolved as of today. I am really excited to share the tassel garland with you because it is something I've wanted to try for a while. I will save it for next week and will group it with a few other little DIY projects I've been working on for the upcoming bridal shower I am co-hosting this weekend. 

For now, I will leave you with a sweet little cocktail in honor of the "Love Sweet Love" red, pink and white themed shower mentioned above. This is what I like to call a K.I.S.S. idea....aka Keep It Simple Silly {I would never call you stupid!}. Sometimes, we go a little over board with the themes and the color coordination and all the gadgets to make a party great and creative. However, sometimes we need to just dumb it down and take on the "less is more" approach. That is what I am doing with today's {and the shower's} cocktail...

It's a simple recipe...find your favorite champs {anyone watch Real Housewives of OC? Heather is my fav!}, add some frozen berries and voilà! You have Champs + Berries! The frozen berries start to melt and their juice starts to mix with the champs in your glass. Plus, the cold berries keep the champs cool! It is refreshing and delicious!

I used frozen strawberries and raspberries here. I think we are going to be using frozen raspberries this weekend. We may even add a splash of pink lemonade to add some color and to go with the red and pink theme.

Hopefully, I will get a post together with photos from the festivities this weekend and will share with you all Monday for a little Weekend Update! 

I've still got some work to do this weekend to get the house ready and finish up some projects...

Wish me luck! 

As always, you can follow along with me this weekend on instagram and twitter. 

Happy Friday!

4 Favs...Beach Dreaming!

Currently, I am on a shopping freeze for another month...but, that doesn't mean I can't day dream about buying some fun beach items for my honeymoon in 6 months!

 

I am obsessed with this maxi beach dress from ASOS...I can definitely imagine myself strolling down the beaches of Hawaii in this and a floppy hat...

 

I am loving the jewel tones of these gem drop earrings and cuff...perhaps a little much for the beach, but they go with the blue maxi perfectly :)

 

I'm gonna need to buy these jeweled sandals from Nine West as soon as this shopping freeze is over!

 

I'm linking up with Ashlyn and Kristen for 4 Favs! Hop on over and check out some more fab 4's!

 

Berry Smoothie Recipe

This year I am focused on becoming healthy and am constantly on the quest for healthy easy recipes I can make. Breakfast is always tough for me because I typically don't get hungry until about 10am, yet I know that breakfast can be the most important part of your diet as well as a boost to your metabolism. This is a recipe for a quick, easy and healthy smoothie that I LOVE and could drink everyday for breakfast...

 

 

 

{Ingredients}

 

1 c. of frozen mixed berries

1/2 of a banana

1/2 c. baby spinach leaves

1 tsp. flax seeds

1 scoop of protein powder (not pictured - I use vanilla flavored)

1/2 c. Silk Pure Almond Milk

 

Blend together until smooth in blender or smoothie maker. I use {this} guy to make single serve smoothies in the morning. It's the best!

 

*This recipe yields 1 smoothie. Double recipe to make enough for 2.

 

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This week I am busy crafting and preparing for a very special bridal shower I will be co-hosting this weekend. I will share some of the DIY crafts later this week!

 

Friday Cocktail // French 75

As I have been saying this week, I am starting a new cocktail series on the blog. What sounds better than a nice cocktail to end your week, right?

 

The first cocktail of the series is called the French 75 in honor of The Great Gatsby movie coming out today and is a throw back to the roaring 20's. This cocktail is smooth and and sophisticated, just like Mr. Gatsby himself!

 

 

Printable version of this recipe {here}

 

 

Will you be seeing The Great Gatsby this weekend? I'm hoping to catch it Saturday night.

 

Also, happy Mother's Day weekend!

 

If you need some last minute gift ideas, check out this post and this post from a few of my daily reads.

 

Happy Weekend!

 

 

Tomato Mozzarella Grilled Cheese

I have been longing after {this pin} for a while now. I am a big fan of Panera's Tomato Mozzarella Panini, and this is a pretty close copy cat!

 

 

{Ingredients}

 

2 slices of Italian wheat or panini bread

 

a few thin slices of fresh mozzarella cheese

 

2 or 3 slices of fresh tomato

 

3 or 4 basil leaves

 

1 tsp. EVOO {extra virgin olive oil}

 

 

 

{Directions}

 

Heat skillet or Panini press on medium and drizzle with oil. Allow oil to simmer and place 1 slice of bread, cheese, basil, tomato and top with last slice of bread. Cook for about 5 minutes, depending upon how brown you want your sandwich, then flip and cook additional 3 to 5 mins. Enjoy!

 

So quick, easy, healthy and delicious!

 

I used some fresh basil form my mini herb garden...

 

 

 

This was an easy DIY with small clay pots that I painted with chalk board paint. I got the herb plants at Trader Joe's. They are getting so big, I may have to condense them into one big pot!

 

I'm linking up with Katie for Saw it, Pinned it, Did it. Hop on over and check out some more Pinterest inspired projects!

 

Check back tomorrow for my new Summer Cocktail series! :)

 

New Camera Love + Minor Changes

I just wanted to share with you a few amateur photos I have taken since the new purchase of my Nikon D5100... because I'm slightly obsessed...

 

 

One of our pretty yellow tulips before they died :(

 

 

A little on-going project I have going on with some Good Will vases and some pink spray paint for an upcoming bridal shower! Reveal of this project coming soon!

 

 

Another little "project" that is taking up room in the garage is my vintage champagne coupe glass collection. Can you believe I found these beauties from Good Will?! I'm thinking of cleaning these up and starting a cocktail recipe series here on the bloggity-blog...thoughts?

 

These were all between $ .50 and $ .99 each! These little coupe style glasses are all the rage at the current moment and the starting price on some of the popular sites are about $5 a piece. {World Market, BHLDN and Crate & Barrel}

And of course, I took some artsy styled photos of my Cinco de Mayo flowers :)

 

 

 

 

Pretty right? I'm slowly learning the settings and all the little gizmos on my camera. It's so fun!

 

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So, side note - You may have noticed that I changed up the name of the blog...I've decided to focus on the original content of the blog which is event decor and styling, entertaining, recipes, DIYs and little bits of my life... aka a "Lifestyle" blog... I am still working on my event planning and styling business on the side and am so excited for my upcoming events and my first wedding coordinator client in July. I just have so much going on in my life at the current moment with my full time job {which I am thankful for}, planning my wedding, my event business, family, friends, trying to make my fiance happy and convinced that he made the right decision proposing to me {this job is not too tough ;) }, and trying to stay fit and healthy. Also, throw into the mix, a few of my friends and I are working on starting a business together {more on this soon, I'm very excited about it!}.

 

I've decided that this year I need to focus on ME. Yes, that sounds very selfish, I know. This is the year I will be getting married to my best friend and the man of my dreams. I want to focus a lot of my extra energy into making sure this event goes off without a hitch. I will continue to blog about wedding inspiration and look forward to posting all about my upcoming nuptials. Perhaps after my wedding, I will refocus my energy back into wedding planning as a business. I do love the wedding industry and continue to be inspired by so many wedding blogs that I can't imagine myself NOT a part of the industry at some point in my life. For now, I will live my life and feel BLESSED to have this life...

 

That is all...just wanted to keep you guys in the loop!

 

Thank you all for following along with my personal creative journey!

 

Weekend Update

This weekend was jam packed with fun! I'm so sad it's over...Let's reminisce via photos...

 

Friday: Bill and I had a lovely date night on the patio of one of our favorite restaurants, Bonefish Grill...

 

 

We ended the night at the Movie Tavern and saw Oblivion with Tom Cruise. It was surprisingly a really good movie and even had a sappy love story! Great date flick!

 

Saturday: I was planning on meeting a friend and going to the Worthington Farmer's Market, but time got away form us and we realized that it ended at noon and we would not make it. So, instead, we had lunch at the Greek Tavern in Upper Arlington and walked over to the Giant Eagle Market District.

{Dress and sandals: Target}

 

I was all dressed for what I thought was warm weather, but when I stepped outside, quickly realized there was a little chill in the air. So, I changed into jeans and a top for our lunch date, but at least I was having a good curly hair day!

 

 

We enjoyed some yummy gilato while walking around the market! I had salty caramel {delish!} and she had cookies and cream.

 

Saturday afternoon was spent at the garden center and "yardening" with Bill. I potted a few of my herb plants I picked up this weekend. I had these 3 pots that I painted with chalk board paint for an event last year that I thought would work perfect.

 

We also got a few hanging pots of flowers for the back patio...
 

 

We also picked up some pretty pink flowers for the pots on the front porch...

 

 

Also, spent a the afternoon pulling weeds and dead tulips in the front yard...We had pretty yellow and red tulips that bloom every Spring and they died so quickly :(

 

The area in front of our bushes looks so bare now! I think I want to fill it with some new flowers :)

Do you see my little Peony plant that I planted this weekend too?
 

 

I'm so excited to watch these little guys bloom! They are already starting to open up!

 

Saturday night was spent with my friend that just moved to German Village. We spent most of the evening on her front porch sipping on margs and beers. We walked to Barcelona {voted best patio in Columbus} for a cocktail and then ended the night at Roosters for some late night snacks!

 

{top and necklace: Francesca's Collection}

 

Sunday was a pretty lazy day, but I did get outside for a long run at Antrim Park which is my favorite running spot.

 

 

And last but not least, here's the progress of my little Peony buds this morning...

 

 

They are starting to bloom!

 

How was your weekend?

 

I'm linking up with Sami and Leeann! Go check out some other weekend shenanigans or share your own!