Poopy Puppy

I know, I know, it's been way too far and few between with these blog posts, but I promise that my life has calmed down a bit and I'll update much more frequently!!

Speaking of calming down (not!), we rescued ourselves a little puppy! World, meet Juliet....

She's brought so much joy to us in the few short weeks we've had her, and I'm pretty sure she is thankful to have been rescued!!

We rescued her from the North Shore Animal League in Long Island, New York. The staff was wonderful, as are all of the medical staff and doctors. For all of you who are considering getting a new pet, think twice before spending a gazillion dollars on a purebred or puppy store dog. While I believe all dogs deserve homes, I am actively against puppy mills. There are thousands of animals, like Juliet, that need homes desperately. Adopting Juliet was inexpensive (under $200!), and beyond rewarding. 

Just look at her face, come on! How could anybody pay thousands of dollars on poorly bred puppy mill dogs, when they can save a love-mutt from being put to sleep?!!

If you are interesting in rescuing, the following are some noteworthy organizations and sites:

North Shore Animal League

The Little Shelter

Pet Finder

Also check out your local human society. 

And um, who doesn't cry at those adoption commercials with the Sarah McLachlan songs?!

Whoops!!

Hmm....who knew moving and home ownership would be so darn time consuming???


I've been MIA for a few weeks, but I hope it's for good reason. We've finally moved into our very first home, and while we are THRILLED that house purchasing is over, we're slightly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of moving and settling into our first place. Over the past month we've hosted at least one dinner party per weekend (often two), painted/decorated every room, started renovating a bathroom, and bought tons and tons of fresh flowers. Alright, so I'm the only one that has bought fresh flowers, but hey, he enjoys them too!!

I've also been working my little hands off with stationary, invitations and announcements. I LOVE having my own office, and I'm already thinking of ways to get a laser printer. While I haven't had time to photograph some of my most recent design adventures, I have been able to photograph the big move...

Enjoy!

iPhone party

Kramer, before he made his way to the back of the closet.

Notice, my closet is season organized and color coded. His isn't.

Our first dinner party. 

My office, slowly but surely coming together. 

I should be packing but....

Instead I would rather be looking at some of my favorite online distractions.

So I know this is a stationary/paper product blog, and trust me, I've been doing a TON of designing, but not a whole ton of printing, since my printer is currently buried among the moving boxes. It will be unearthed soon though, since tomorrow is the BIG day- closing!!- and then moving over the weekend!! Yippie!!

In the meantime, while I wait for my partner in crime to show up with his mothers van to pack, I've been browsing to keep my mind busy...


Have you seen this before? Now that I'll have my own kitchen I MUST try some of these desserts!! Adorable!!!

How about anything from this blog? I'm totally in love - and can't wait to try - recipes from Modern Foodie.

I always vowed to stay away from Martha Stewart, but I'm sorry, these cupcakes make me giddy!

Alright, since I am watching the waistline, thanks to the wedding dress search, I must move away from the food blogs....

This is one of my favorite, favorite, favorite blogs. Makes me feel all warm and dreamy inside....makes me want to sing and dance...makes me want to make everything prettiful!


Hope you all enjoy the updates as much as I do! Tomorrow, when you think you are having the most stressful day ever, just think of me moving into my first place and take a deeeeep inhale- I guarantee I will be a trillion times more stressed than you!

Happy Easter!

This may be my last Easter spent living at home with my parents. While I'm super excited to be moving to my new home, I'm also sad to be leaving the coziest place I know: Mom & Dad's house.

Growing up my mom always had great craft ideas. Easter was (and still is) one of my favorites. As my brother and I have grown up, my mom has also grown out of her kiddie crafts; and while we still have a wooden Easter train that my dad carved when we were kids, we haven't dyed eggs in years. One tradition that we still hang on to is the famed Easter Bunny Cake. It's a simple cake made in the shape of a bunny, with lovely pink ears and fuzzy coconut fur. Yum yum!!

Here are some fun websites I've stumbled onto while looking for Easter ideas I can go once I am moved out:

-This is by far my FAVORITE idea, and I will certainly make these fun Easter Egg Cake Pops next year!!
-I'm very into the whole 'green' idea of living. Therefore I am madly in love with the idea of using all natural ingredients to make egg dye. 
-Drooling over these egg 'dresses'.
-How adorable is the pom-pom bunny tail on these DIY Easter Bags?
-What's better than peeps? Um, how about peeps in hot chocolate! So adorable!

Hope everybody has a fantastic weekend!!!

Oh- and here's a picture of the prized Bunny Cake...

Things I Adore...

Now that NYC is finally seeing the sun again, I can go back to being my bippity-boppity self :).

So next week (cross your fingers and knock on all things holy and wood) my fiance and I will be closing on our very first home. We're excited, nervous, thrilled, and anxious (just to name a few). Of course being me, I've been browsing constantly for decorating inspiration. My newest obsession is the day bed. Don't ask me why, but I think I must own one for the spare bedroom.

ps- if you know of any great websites, please please let me know of them!!

 This one is from CB2, which is an awesome place for great prices and great designs.

 This bugger is soooo up my alley!! Of course, I think everything sold at West Elm is fab!

 

 *sigh* this is love at first sight. Love the orange, and the modern lines, the bolster pillow...Unfortunately I can't afford most of what I lust for when it comes to Design Within Reach

Why can't all day beds be so awesome??

Holy Hurricane!!!

Alright, so I officially believe that the world is coming to an end. Maybe. Ok, so maybe I don't really believe it, but I did just watch the History Channel's 2012 show (for the fourth time- you'd think I'd learn by now) and I'm shaking in my boots. I mean, what else could possibly explain the madness that has been New York and Long Island this winter?? During a normal winter we may get one 'blizzard' that leaks at most 4 inches of snow on us, but no, not this winter, this winter we got SEVERAL blizzards. Real blizzards too, with several FEET of snow.

Last week it was almost 60 degrees out. Beautiful. And then...

WHAM!!!

Four inches of rain, 70+mph winds, garbage pails flying, 'For Sale' signs soaring, wires down, trees crashing to the ground! What on earth is going on!!!??? This past weekend delivered one of the worst storms I've ever seen, and I've seen some cool storms (Jones Beach Theater lightening strike '08- dur!)

Anyway, the weekend started with rain on Friday (which is also my fiance's birthday) and by Saturday the winds were a howlin'! Saturday is my Dad's birthday (Happy Birthday Dad!!) in which he and my mother planned to go out to dinner on their own, while I planned to go to the in-laws and celebrate my fiance's birthday. When the power went out at my house (and most of the restaurants) I invited my rents to come celebrate all the birthdays with me and my in-laws. So off we all marched to Restaurante de In-Law to enjoy an awesome (I mean awesome) Italian birthday meal...and so the story begins...

We were all enjoying ourselves when POP!!! Looked like fireworks going off in the backyard and then WHAM! All the power was out!

So we grabbed the flashlights and went to investigate- turns out a pole went down in the backyard and pulled all the wiring right off the house!

Well- it won't stop us from enjoying a good meal. How romantic, dinner by candle light amongst good company.

Even the firetrucks came by...

Which scared the little one...

But we didn't let a little blown transformer ruin our birthday celebration, some good old sparkler candles, a few birthday boys, and one sad crown was all we needed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD, MIKE and MARC!!

That night we all went without power and it was coooold!!! Sunday Mike's family got power back, but we were still without- so we packed up all of our electronics and headed to my grandparents. After being totally recharged, and fed very well, we headed back home for our second night in the freezing, dark home. Luckily the power came back during the night, but unluckily my car had some damage. So today I took the day off to tend to my car and get her all fixed up bella-bella-nice-nice.

These are some shots I took while wandering around town waiting for my car to get healed. Most of the trees had already been cut back during the night, but the debris were everywhere. Schools were canceled, roads were closed, cars were smushed, houses were crushed...and of course, I was out with my camera.

EEK! I hope the weather calms down soon!!

Some New Things

Here are some of my recent projects. Enjoy!