Champagne & Cupcakes

Oh yeah.... Happy New Year!

2012-01-06T16:02:00.001-06:00

What is that saying, "better late than never."

Anyways, I just wanted to wish everyone all the best as we enter a new year! Hoping this year brings you love, peace and joy!

2011-12-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

Over the course of the week I thought I would share some my favorite items that I've received recently as gifts and some of the items that I currently have on my Christmas wish list {hint, hint to my Mother & BFF!}.

Today I wanted to highlight some items that are on my Christmas list from a fabulous new store, C. Wonder! C. Wonder is a great little store that has clothing, shoes, accessories and home decor. I have yet to visit the actual C. Wonder storefront in NYC, but the website just launched and all I can say is that I want ten of every item because it all looks so cute!

Some items that I just LOVE:

Chinoise Coffee Mug- $8

Ikat Coffee Mug- $8

My dining room chairs are covered in Ikat fabric and think these

coffee mugs and nesting bowls would be a perfect addition!

Ikat Nesting Bowls- $58

Chinoise Nesting Bowls-$58

I adore this sweet little elephant plate too:


Elephant Plate- $38

Can't go wrong with these lovely gold bamboo hoop earrings either:

Bamboo Hoop Earrings- $28

This cuff is just sheer fabulous!

Petal Cuff- $98

These flats are such a gorgeous shade of rose and even better they are only $78!

Patent Leather Ballet Flats

And of course, I need a little something to match the rose colored flats:


Stripey Sweater

Have you beent o C. Wonder?

I would love to hear what's on you Christmas wish list?

Vintage Mirror Redo!

2011-10-04T09:00:00.002-05:00

I thought I would share a picture of my faux bamboo mirror that I just re-finished a couple weekends ago and finally got around to hanging yesterday.
I bought this mirror a little over a year ago off of Ebay. I paid a whopping $55 and at the time I actually thought $55 was sort of pricey. Little did I know just what a steal of a deal I got because vintage bamboo mirrors can be quite expensive!

The mirror was originally red with gold accents. The picture below leaves much to be desired, but I knew that with a little paint it would look a thousand times better and it does, at least in my humble opinion it does.

What initially attracted me to this mirror were the lines. I loved the pediment and the finials on each side. It was never my intent to remove those pieces of the mirror but in the end you can see that I did remove them. The pediment and finials were loose and after thinking about it I decided that for the purpose of hanging the mirror above the sofa it was better just leave those pieces off, otherwise the mirror would have been too tall to hang above the sofa. I did save the pieces in case I decided that I want to re-attach them at a later point.

(Excuse the mismatched pillows, I am in the process of having them recovered)

Close up:

The mirror looked a little lonely all by itself above the sofa so I added some vintage botanical prints that I picked up at an antique store a while back. I really love the way it looks with the prints on each side!

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

2011-10-03T09:00:00.021-05:00

There is nothing quite like starting your day off with a good o'l fashioned, made from scratch breakfast! Ever since I saw Pioneer Woman make lemon blueberry pancakes on her new cooking show a few weeks back, I have been dying to try them. Yesterday was my perfect excuse to make a batch of these yummy pancakes as I had some friends coming over in the morning and I knew these would be a big hit- and they were, not a single pancake left!

I was surprised at how super easy this recipe is. It really does not require all that much more effort then if you were to use a ready made pancake mix (not that I have anything against Betty Crocker and her Bisquick Box) and the results are much tastier IMO.

Recipe for Pioneer Woman's Lemon Blueberry Pancakes:
Ingredients

1-½ cup Cake Flour
1 Tablespoon (additional) Cake Flour
¼ teaspoons Salt
1 Tablespoon (heaping) Baking Powder
3 Tablespoons Sugar
1-½ cup Evaporated Milk (more If Needed)
1 whole Lemon (maybe 2...depends on your lemon)
Zest From 1 Lemon
1 whole Large Egg
1-½ teaspoon Vanilla
2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
1 cup Heaping Blueberries

Preparation Instructions

Heat heavy skillet or grill over medium low heat.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix evaporated milk, juice of 1 lemon (more if lemon isn't very juicy), and lemon zest. Allow to sit for five minutes, then add egg, vanilla, and melted butter. Mix to combine.

Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients. Stir gently to combine. Splash in more evaporated milk if mixture is overly thick. Stir in blueberries. Again, check to make sure mixture isn't overly thick.

Melt butter in heated skillet. Drop batter by 1/4 cup measures and fry pancakes on both sides until golden.

Serve with softened butter and warm syrup.

Obsessed with....

2011-09-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

Starbucks' Salted Carmel Mocha:

Image courtesy of Google Images

Last week I tried the salted caramel mocha offered at Starbucks for the first time and let me tell you it is so good! It has overtaken the pumpkin spice latte as my new favorite hot beverage at Starbucks. There is something about the combination of sea salt, buttery caramel and chocolate that I just love. Yes, it is true that this is not the healthiest of beverages, but seriously, it is so delish that it is worth the extra thirty minutes on the treadmill. If you love salty and sweet, you might just want to give this a try.

Happy First Day of Fall!

2011-09-23T09:00:00.004-05:00

Although today is officially the "First Day of Fall," the weather in Texas certainly does not reflect that it is Fall. The temperatures in Dallas are still hovering near the upper 90's. It's sort of hard to get into the spirit of Fall when it's so hot and dry, but hopefully we will see a change in weather in the upcoming weeks.

Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year- this might just have to do with the fact that my birthday is in October! A few of my favorite things that I look forward to each Fall are:

Crisp Fall mornings & the leaves changing color- I love to take walks each morning through the piles of falling leaves. The oranges, yellows and red colors of the leaves are just so pretty to see and the air is always so fresh and crisp.

Pumpkins- Pumpkin patches, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pies, pumpkin decor, pumpkin everything, I heart pumpkins and can't get enough of them!

Candy corn- Sugary sweet goodness that just makes me smile every time I see it in the stores!

What are your favorite things about Fall?