Heart Cookies

Happy Valentine's Day! Ben and I are not a big Valentine's couple, meaning, we have to make fancy dinner date reservations and get each other chocolate and roses. But otherwise it is one of my favorite 'holidays'. I love sending packages to friends and family filled with fun stationary, candy and gifts. I get so much joy out of it. This year we've also received our fair share of V-day packages...thank you family & friends!

Last year I made these delicious Peanut Butter and Jam heart cookies for local friends and neighbors. See the link for the recipe and below for how I packaged them up.

Have a fabulous day! xoxo


I made the heart with my thumb.


Packaged up and ready to be delivered.

Fun Finds in Vermont

This past weekend we were lucky to get away for a little skiing and spa time with friends in beautiful Stowe, Vermont. Here are a few photos of things I found while we were there.



1) Lake Champlain Chocolates 2)Bright colored UGG slippers...yes please! 3)Boutique on Main Street...my favorite shop in Stowe. 4)Fun sign! 5)Jellies at the Cider Mill. 6)Harvest Market was full of delicious treats and was so chic! 7)Picturesque Stowe gondola. 8)Great postcard design from the Ben & Jerry's factory...we had to take a tour we were in Vermont! 9)Found this fun clutch while boutique shopping. 10)Heart handle at the ski lodge. 11)Après-ski...our newest activity. 12)These guys were everywhere...just like you would expect.

Favorite Four

Happy Friday! Ben and I spent yesterday driving up to Vermont for a ski weekend with friends. We are heading out to the slopes today...hoping it is as beautiful and fun as I remember. One thing I am sure of though is that I will be very sore Saturday. The girls have already booked spa treatments for Saturday in preparation of this.

Here are my favorite four things from this week: (clockwise from top left) 1)Bought new $300+ Cole Haan leather boots on sale for only $39! 2)Actually found my favorite Valentine's candy at the store...Palmer's Double Crisp Hearts...usually impossible to find. 3)Dinner in Philadelphia's Chinatown with Ben. 4)Happy to be spending a weekend with friends in beautiful snowy Vermont.

Have a great weekend...see you Monday!

Ideas

Next week I am hosting a launch party for this blog. It will be one month from when I started posting and I love hosting a party so why not. Here are a few ideas I have for the dinner party...get excited!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Cooking is something I have really started enjoying in the last few years. I think it helped getting married and having my own appliances and kitchen. I love trying new recipes so when my neighbor sent out an Evite for a 'Soup Swap' I was in. Of course I needed to use this opportunity to try a new soup recipe.

I decided to check out the Pioneer Woman blog for a good soup recipe. I haven't really picked up on the whole Pioneer Woman craze, but I had heard so many good things I thought I would give it a shot. While searching her recipes I came across this Broccoli Cheese Soup and I knew my search was over...it sounded too delicious!

After deciding the most important thing, what I was going to make, I turned up my music (a key component to cooking...I ended up with a mix of Norah Jones and Ryan Adams for this low key night) and started chopping and sauteing. I have posted a few pics of my process but you can see a great step by step photo guide on the Pioneer Woman blog.

If you are up for a good soup recipe for these last few weeks of winter I would definitely recommend this one. I will save the actual 'Swap' details until I have experienced it next week, keep an eye out for that post with details in case you would like to host a 'Swap' of your own.


I followed the recipe except swapping chicken broth with vegetable broth so that it could be vegetarian since it is a large crowd and I wanted to be able to accommodate everyone.


Lots of chopping...for how to chop an onion check out my friend Haley's blog Don't Eat The Paintings


Letting it simmer.


Adding cheese...I used Sharp Cheddar and Colby Jack.


Blending with my immersion blender...one of my favorite appliances...so nice not having to transfer to a blender and then back to the pot.


All blended and ready to be frozen until the 'Swap'.


The Broccoli Cheese Soup ready to eat...yum!!!

Society6

Last week I was introduced to Society6... a great site with thousands of art prints, iPhone cases, framed art prints, t-shirts, stretched canvases, hoodies, and laptop skins. The instant I clicked on the site I knew I would be hooked. There is so much unique art that once you start looking through all of them you will have a hard time stopping.

Here are some of my favorites...and the best part is if you like them enough you can get them as art prints or on a shirt as well! Check them out.


Line 1: Chevron 006, I Remember Summer, Vertex
Line 2: Retro Phone, bokeh-ful, let's run away
Line 3: rain rain never go away, she followed her heart, Lake Tahoe Jewels
Line 4: snow spoon & cherry, Typographic Minnesota, Classical Yellow Bicycle

Auto Show

Finally after all the searching we ended up buying a couch this weekend! I'm so excited to show you pics of our new place...we are almost there! This weekend we also had a fun night with friends watching the Super Bowl and of course hitting up the Auto Show. It is a great date night that we have done for the last 5 years. The show is at the convention center in Chinatown so we always end up eating in Chinatown after the show...yum!

As a graphic designer one of the best parts about the Auto Show for me is getting all the brochures. They are always designed so well and the paper/binding is always impeccable. I would love to have the kind of design/printing budget on one of my projects that some of these brochures must require. Here are a few of my favorites.


My 4 favorite...Audi, Mini Cooper, Fiat, and Volkswagen.


Great photo and color in this Fiat spread.


Nice layout in the Audi brochure...and the paper feels like fine leather!

Favorite Four

So happy for the weekend, its been a crazy week! Looking forward to hitting up my favorite date of the year...the Philadelphia Auto Show and of course watching the Super Bowl with good friends.

Here are four of my favorite things from this week; (clockwise starting in the top left) 1)Designed and sent out the invites for the launch party to this blog. 2)New $45 dress from American Eagle that I got on sale for only $8! 3)Had a fabulous day in the Rittenhouse neighborhood Sunday...while we were there we checked out the new Free People store ...amazing decor obviously:) 4)Watching Downton Abbey...our current obsession. This week we spiced up the viewing with prosecco and Di Bruno Brothers cheese.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend! See you Monday.

Daily Routine

Hope everyone is having a good week...mine has been so crazy with the move and trying to unpack but I want to get settled so I am working on the house any chance I can get. Can't wait to show you pictures! Today I am posting about some of the products I use on a daily basis ( in case you were interested...haha:) I am a nanny most of my week so my routine is pretty simple.


Some of my favorite daily products.


For the face I am a fan of Oil of Olay...Toner, Daily Complete Moisturizer with SPF (of course), and for the night I use the Firming Cream.



For my lips I use Lip Smackers everyday...since Jr. High! For a gloss I am really liking Mentha Lip Tint from Bath and Body Works. At night I always use a little old fashioned Vaseline (my mom's routine ever since I can remember:)


For my body I love the smell of Sleep (Lavendar & Vanilla) by Bath and Body Works...so I use their body wash and lotion.


For makeup I love going all out with eyeshadow etc but on a daily basis I just do mascara, have been a fan of Maybelline's Great Lash forever, and Maybelline's Cover Stick for those little red spots.


For my hair I always have an elastic on hand for those moments I just need a pony tail. I usually use Goody's Ouchless elastics. And if I actually decide to fix my hair I finish it off with TRESemme's Super Hold Hair Spray.


I usually finish off my routine with a little spray of Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker.

Sneak Peek

Yesterday's move was a success, thanks to many friends who came out to help us move down 2 flights of stairs. This might not seem like much but it definitely was and could not have been done without all of their helping hands.

Since, of course, we are nowhere near unpacking all of our boxes or being organized I have decided to give you a little peak into what some of the fun things are in our new loft. Enjoy!


Next to our bed.


Mailbox 1D.


Kitchen accessories.


New pink wall. (I LOVE it in person:)


My personal favorite: NO SMOKING