Valentine's Day Recap

I know I'm a little late on the recap, but between getting lost and unplugging for a 5 day weekend (one of the perks of working in education) and then going back to a crazy work week, blogging has been harder than ever! One of these days I'll discover some hidden hours in my day.....But until then, enjoy this post about a week late!

 For Valentine's day, I woke up to these fluffy and delicious strawberry pancakes. Served on a heart plate. Because he's good like that. He had me at pancakes. The way to this girl's heart is definitely by feeding me, hands down!! So for Valentine's Day, D and I don't typically go out to dinner or give gifts. Around us, all the restuarants are ridiculously overpriced, so we usually go out to dinner the day after. This year (since we both weren't working on the day) we went out to lunch and this little Thai place around the corner from us that was super cheap (hello lunch special!) and even came with free ice cream. Win-win!

 Just another pic of the pancakes because they are too delicious not to.

 Olive you.

Also got to rock my adorable baseball tee from the talented Jessica Garvin and SaSeaDecor. : )

 At night went to the opening weekend of Rocky on Broadway. Which by the way, was awesome.

Not as great as the films...but still very cool. We went to the second night opening ever, and we heard rumors that Slyvester Stallone made a secret guest appearance opening night. I was hoping the same thing would happen the night we were there because it would have made D's day LIFE.

Sadly, it was a no go. Maybe next time D!

 

One of my favorite things about living near the city is getting to see the gorgeous skyline every day, including the Empire State Building. Fun Fact for any non-New Yorkers: the Empire State Building frequently changes colors based on holidays, sports, special occasions, etc. There's actually a website that will tell you what the colors mean. They even have their own twitter here.

So Valentine's Day in New York was clearly showing the LOVE with red and pink, and sparkles too!

Overall it was a great night with the person I love the most!

And on that note -- Happy Friday everyone : )

xo Steph

I'm running out of things to wear this winter....

But no, really, I am running out of things to wear in this extra long, particularly brutal winter. I'm secretly dreaming about wearing sandals and sundresses or even a light jacket, but it's sooooo hard to even remember what spring feels like when you are knee deep in snow and cleaning off your car to truck it to work for the 54785920 time. Ok, that might be a little on the dramatic side but I'm over this winter, I'm over the snow, and I'm over the same 5 sweaters I have in rotation because they are the warmest sweaters I own. It won'y be soon enough when I can pack away from winter boots and down bubble coat for good! IN the mean time, I'm trying to make my winter wardrobe more spring with lighter colors, some pretty floral prints, and these new spring 2014 Essie colors are just plain fab!

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J Crew silk sweater / Joseph wrap coat / J.Crew stretch jeans / Tory Burch leather booties / Madewell monogrammed leather tote / Tory Burch earrings / Ella Moss beanie hat

So who else is completely over this winter? 

What have you been doing to keep your winter wardrobe fresh?

Happy Wednesday friends!

xo Steph

Happy Love Day!

Happy Valentine's Day all! Hope that whatever you're doing today you are celebrating the love for yourself and others! I'm off of work today for "winter recess" -- which I'll take! The snow over here has taken over and we're living in a current state of snowmaggedon. Tonight D and I are are heading into the city (NYC) to see Rocky, the new musical on Broadway. This was actually a Christmas gift I got for D, and the smarty pants that I am, I booked it for Valentine's day. So it kinda served as a two-for-one gift giving thing. Winning! And Rocky on Broadway is in it's opening week so I'm really excited to see how the movie will be portrayed on stage. And in case you haven't actually seen any Rocky movies, do yourself and your man a favorite and just watch it. I fought it for years thinking the movies looked like stupid cheesy 80's movies, but in reality they are well written, inspiring, and in fact an awesome love story between Rocky and Adrienne. The first Rocky actually won the oscar for best picture in 1976. 

So with that being said....."Yo! Adrienne!"

 

Also remember when I mentioned in this post that I didn't have time to decorate. Well I threw together a little festive mantle just in time for the occasion.

 Also from this post, I may have called D out that he never wrote on my chalkboard last year with reasons why we love each other. Well apparently he took it to heart (no pun intended) and I came home to THIS (see above). An original D created chalkboard. Like really?? How adorable and impressive is that? I didn't even know he had an artistic side?! I'm also really loving the little pink and purple hearts floating upwards.....so very artistic.

And I know my blog has been waaaaay lacking on the outfit posts so this is a quick shot I snapped at work with my doxie love sweater. You probably can't see it but there's a red heart on the collar. So completely valentine appropriate.

Then he made me this. This is a strawberry made into a rose. D's uncle owns an Italian Restaurant (The Italian Cucina) in New Hope, PA and they were asking him advice on some festive things to add to the menu for valentine's day. The clever one that D is, he went on my Pinterest page and searched around to find the strawberry rose. To prove to his aunt and uncle they were easy to make, he quickly made one himself following a tutorial online, and then proceeded to give it to me when I got home from work. He never ceases to surprise me!

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day loves!

xo Steph

Today is a Special Day...

Today is a very special day. 31 years, my parents got married. 31 years later, they are still married, still together, still laughing and still in love. Not only are they my parents, but they are my friends who I love hanging out with, and most importantly, people I really admire. It's becoming more rare to see people staying married for the "long haul" and I really admire what my parents have. Are they perfect? Not at all. (Sorry mom and dad!) But do look up to them and hope that someday I can have what they have? Absolutely. I don't want to make this long and sappy but I do want to tell my mom and dad Happy Anniversary and let you know you how much you taught me about life and love everything in between. You both are amazing people and I am so grateful to call you my parents! : )

Cheers to you guys and to many, many, many, many more happy years!!

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I hope you both have a wonderful day!!

xo Steph

(and D and Tiki too!)

Valentine's Day Decor

Today's #tbt isn't an outfit but my fun and festive Valentine's Day mantel and decor. I haven't had a chance to create a new look for this year other than throwing on a heart garland and calling it a day but such is life. Always busy and never feeling like I have enough time for anything or anyone.

Nevertheless, here is some valentine decoration inspiration if you are looking to decorate your mantel and fireplace. All pieces are from Target's collection last year, and the garland is one I made myself with bakers twine and scrapbook paper.

 I also made a DIY chalkboard out of an old mirror -- and these are the awesome results below.

I had intentions of us using this chalkboard as a daily thing where we would write a reason why we love each other. I started it off with I love D because he "makes me tea in the morning" but turns out D wasn't as up to the challenge and this message stayed on the board for the rest of the month. #chalkboardfail

Have you decorated for Valentine's Day? Anyone else feel like they have zero time to do anything???

As for me, I feel like sometimes I spread myself too thin and never devote enough time to anything or anyone. It sucks and I hate that feeling. I really wish there was more than 24 hours in the day : (

xo Steph 

Everything is Bigger in Texas | Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of the Great Texas Adventures! Unfortunately with the stupid ice storm that hit Texas, we had one whole day lost on the trip -- which on a 4 day weekend is a lot. Especially when one whole day is devoted to wedding festivities, and two other involved travel. But despite all that, we made the best of the trip, tried to see as much as we could in the short amount of time we had, and attempted to take in as much authentic Texas culture as possible. And that would be starting with grabbing some authentic Tex-Mex for dinner and hitting up a dueling piano bar. Complete with cowboy hats, spurs and fiddles galore!

This was probably the most fun night of our trip. I mean who doesn't love rockin' out to Charlie Daniel's band down south. So very Texas. Us yankees didn't even know what to do with ourselves!!

The next day on the trip was the wedding (see pictures from yesterdays post) so the next day we wanted to see some culture. First we visited Houston's Holocaust museum, and I must say it is intense and enlightening all at once. I've actually never been to a Holocaust museum so I didn't really know what to expect. Seeing photographs and images of the human suffering are truly eye opening, and as much as I know about this dark period in history, it makes you realize how we can never let hate take over. We need to love our fellow brothers and sisters and never let such atrocities happen again.

Knowledge is power.

After the museum we got some great recommendations for authentic Texas BBQ. We ended up at this hole in the wall looking place, which always ends up having the best food. And that it did! And seriously the nicest people too! Yes ma'am, no ma'am, thank you ma'am. Where am I? Not New Jersey or New York, that's for sure!

 Everything really is bigger and better in Texas. And smothered in BBQ sauce.

light lunch anyone?

After lunch Amy and her hubby had to catch ther flight back to the east coast, so D and I had one last night before heading back ourselves in the morning. Since our flight was early, we decided to just stroll around the city and head back to the room for some room service and watching the grammys!

This last pic is for my brother Dean. A whole store devoted to getting clothes on credit/layaway. Awesome.

And that my friends was our mini trip in a nutshell. I wish it was longer but of course mother nature likes to throw a little monkey wrench in our plans. But despite all that we had a great time, had some great local and authentic food and took in the sites and culture. So overall -- a great trip was had! : )

Happy Hump Dayyyyyyyyy!

Xo Steph

Everything is Bigger in Texas | Part 1

So I'm FINALLY getting around to sharing my pictures from Texas. Better late than never eh? So the whole reason for going down to Houston, Texas was for my dear friend Anh's wedding. I was super excited because I've never been to the larger than life state and always down for a new adventure. D and I decided to make this wedding trip a mini-vacation so we made it into a long weekend. But once I got notice that our flight was cancelled due to ice storms in Texas,  I knew we were in for a doozy of a trip!

Thumbs down as we sat there with a cancelled flight. Stupid ice storms in Texas.

All smiles when we finally got on the early bird flight the next morning. But boo to us losing a whole day of our trip. Which really sucks when you're trying to take a mini vacation. So much for that whole "long weekend" thing. Also - weirdest thing when you look at your window on the plane and you see....another plane nearby. I have to say that's never happened before, kinda cool and everyone was taking pictures like little tourists.

I wanted to share pics from the wedding first since it was the whole reason for our trip. The wedding was a fusion of both Vietnamese and Chinese cultures so it was a really cool thing for us to be a part of. The gorgeous red dress Anh was wearing was at a tea ceremony in the morning when they families meet and essentially trade their daughter for a suckling pig! When you do a double take at traditions you just have to laugh sometimes. I mean really, weddings are all about giving your daughter away as a dowery right? But I'm getting off on a tangent -- the red dress was stunning and one of my favorites. Also above left was her traditional white wedding dress in the church. 

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Black lace dress: Same, similar, similar, similar

After the ceremony at the church, the reception was held at a traditional Chinese restaurant that had a huge reception area. I was really cool to see all the decor with the vibrant red colors and the gold dragons on the wall (see background) and all the foods were authentic and new to my palette. Which is always fun to try different things.

Love those napkins. And that boy. And these girls.

On top of all the excitement on the trip, I finally got a chance to hang out with my bestie who I never get to see enough of anymore. She is expecting her first bundle of joy, and it was seriously such a joy to see her with her big belly all beautiful and glowing. I was like a proud best friend. I even got to feel my little nephew kick for the first time and I was in awe of how that felt. It's seriously a miracle what a woman's body can do. I'm so proud of her and I can't for little baby D to get here already!

 Overall the wedding was absolutely beautiful and we had so much fun!

Stay tuned for part 2 of our Texas adventure : )

Happy Tuesday friends!

xo Steph

The Classic Valentine Date Night

Happy super bowl Monday! Anyone else tired like me? I really think they should either switch the game to a saturday or make super bowl Monday a holiday because staying up late to watch a game that your team may or may not be even in is kinda lame. Throw in all the junk food you ate yesterday (pico de gallo, buffalo chicken dip, lasagna, wine, brownies for me!) and today I am riding the struggle bus! But anyway, on to Valentine's day which is right around the corner. Whether you celebrate it or not, it's always nice to take time and celebrate the love you have for others. It doesn't matter if you are coupled up or not -- I say it's the perfect opportunity to get dressed up for a night on the town a be fabulous. So grab your husband/boyfriend/best girlfriends and paint the town red and pink : )

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Opening Ceremony red top / 7 For All Mankind super skinny jeans / Christian Louboutin pointy toe pumps / Clare Vivier leopard purse / Kate Spade engraved jewelry / Blue Nile earrings / 14k gold ring / Monsoon faux fur stole / Burberry glove / Nars cosmetic / Nars cosmetic / Bormioli Rocco drinkware

Anyone else struggling this Monday morning with a super bowl hangover?

And who else loves getting dressed up and going out for Valentine's day?

Happy Monday friends!

xo Steph

Also linking up with Still Being Molly