Letters and Inspiration

So I'm sorry for the hiatus. Again. I really need to get my act together and stop apologizing. Ok, I'm not sorry I took 3 weeks off blogging. I needed a break and something to inspire me. Yes, I believe in Muses, but thankfully they don't rollerskate or wear shredded jersey dresses like Olivia Newton John in Xanadu.

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But I did find a new movie to add to my favorites list (The Princess Bride, all 3 Pirates of the Caribbean, Chris Pine's Star Trek, Keira Knightly's Pride and Prejudice, The Holiday, seeing a trend?): Letters to Juliet. Amanda Seyfried is not one of my favorite actresses. I thought Mamma Mia! was horrible (sorry Meryl). But Seyfried delivers as a wanna-be journalist searching the Italian countryside in hopes of rekindling a 50-years-dormant romance. Molto romantico.

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I respect two things about Seyfried's character: first she is a fact checker for the New York Times. She is awesome enough to work for that hallowed publication, but I can totally relate to the misery of verifying other people's work while secretly dreaming of something bigger. Secondly, she follows her own advice. I won't spoil the movie for you, but it's always refreshing to see someone live how they preach.

It also doesn't hurt this film that Christopher Egan (cold, emotionless Brit Charlie) is a total fox:

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I wonder what my Shakespeare professor would say about such an iconic character like Juliet taking on a completely modern occupation, even if it is through her secretaries. If you have doubts, just grab the girls, some cheap red wine and enjoy!

Cheers, Kate

Wow

I wanted to share a few fun links today from across the web. The first is an interesting event blog called The Pink Toast. You can read about Danielle's Bat Mitzvah in 5 installments, but here's a sneak peak:


I can only imagine what this 13-year-old will grow up thinking about her wedding. I wish there was a way to check back in 10 or 15 yaers from now...

On to our next link, The Knotty Bride posted up a brief article on lingerie which was mildly inspiring. Alison led me to a great new online shop asos from the UK. They have dresses from £15 to £250 (about $30 - $500) I did find this cute jersey dress I'd love to have for the holidays:



and at £26, it's not at a bad price either. And along with this great jumpsuit (which doesn't look like a jumpsuit at all):

 

at £50, I'd sure make my British friends proud for at least stepping away from my pearls and cardis.

And of course, last night's Emmy Awards has people talking fashion. This Oscar de la Renta on Lea Michele from GLEE made me a little giddy and Emily Blunt's flowing Christian Dior one-shoulder dress wished I had my other half around to float around in a bedsheet pretending to be a Grecian goddess. InStyle of course has a great gallery up of photos from the red carpet.

 Hopefully this has give you a bit of inspiration for a happy Monday!

Cheers, Kate

Bembo's Zoo

The other day, I stumbled across this great little site: Bembo's Zoo.



As you can see from this image, the creator builds animals on your screen from the letters in their name. I love E elephant and U unicorn the best. Check it out and stretch your imagination. What would you build out of the letters in your own name?

Cheers, Kate

Love is in the Air?

This summer has definitely been a big one for romance. In June, a classmate of mine Andrea got married in Greensboro, and yesterday Southern Weddings posted photos of her wedding shot by Abigail Seymour. I love the classic monogram:

and these adorable Elon cupcakes:

and who could resist these traditional North Carolina favors: Krispy Kreme doughnuts in adorable boxes reading "Glazed and delicious from the new Mr. & Mrs." So precious!

Next to their cute favor boxes, I just had to leave this great photo of Andrea throwing her bouquet. Check out more photos in the Southern Weddings post and on Abigail Seymour's blog. Congratulations! I can't wait to borrow some of your fabulous ideas!

In July, Adam and I went to Jake & Kim's wedding down in Durham. You saw a photo peek here, and here's a snapshot of me and Adam all dressed to the nines:

and I snagged this adorable photo of the happy couple off Facebook (all my pictures were blurry thanks to the ambient low lighting and my point & shoot camera) thanks to Brian Mullins Photography:

There are some amazing shots up on Brian's blog! I love how you can see the reflection of Kim and Jake in the piano. So classic! And to top it all off, the next day, Adam proposed in the Duke Gardens!

Then in the last two weeks, I had two sorority sisters get engaged as well. Congratulation Lisa and Alison! You can read Alison's adorable engagement story here. And to top it off, The Wedding Chicks are giving away customized DIY wedding invitations with this classic bicycle built for two design:

Photo source.

Just enter in your info, pick your colors, and each file will be emailed to your address. Get your invitations here.

So all this romance has to make a girl wonder, is there more in the summer air than just humidity?

Cheers, Kate

The Anthropologist

I love artistic collaboration, and Anthropology creating an online art gallery is a natural project for the eclectic company. Called The Anthropologist, the site started out with an incredible work by Jim Denevan. Jim works are transient, completely subjected to the whims of nature. They are, after all, natural art. In this video, you can get a glimpse of Jim's latest work on Siberia's Lake Baikal. Listening to the ice crack under his clamp-ons is just incredible.

[brightcove vid=326251151001&exp3=97785566001&surl=http://c.brightcove.com/services&pubid=96978055001&w=300&h=225]

Read Elle's post about this new artistic venue here, and check through the archives for other artists The Anthropologist has featured like Derek Henderson and Dona DeMari.

Any other great online art venues you've come across?

Cheers, Kate

If It Comes In Pink

Photo source: Lil Bit Old Lil Bit New

My friend Chelsea just unknowingly introduced me to my new favorite website: Make Mine Pink. This is a great little place full of online vendors whose wares are, of course, pink! Be careful wandering around the marketplace, the system for searching these stores is pretty basic. But if you're looking for something particular, it's a great place to start.  

Some things I found that I love include these great Fleur-de-Lis bookends ($19.99) from Vintage to Vogue:

 

Photo source: Vintage to Vogue

this Alice in Wonderland style teacup bird feeder ($18) from Forget Me Not Dreams:

Photo source: Forget Me Not Dreams

and even these fun rose rings ($12) from CarolineAlexander:

Photo source: CarolineAlexander

These boutiques are a great place to find vintage and hand-crafted items of all sorts and at reasonable prices. There are even vendors for furniture! I'm sure Adam will love that. Happy pink hunting!

Cheers, Kate

Vogue Heritage Must-Haves

Last week, Vogue issued a list of 'heritage brand must-haves,' and I have to say I'm a fan. Jenna Lyons (my idol), the new president of J. Crew, sorted through some classics that have been around for quite a while. She put together a few looks using the J. Crew couture line. So if nothing else, you get to peruse through some exclusive, expensive items. Take a peek here:



And flip through the modern look-book of some of fashion's oldest brands including Timex, Baracuta, Barbour, and Saint James: Vogue Heritage Must-Haves.  Anything you felt should have been on this list?

Cheers, Kate

DIY: Twister Board

My girlfriends in college were obsessed with Twister. Not to say we played a lot, but a Twister board had accompanied us out for the evening on several occasions. I came across this precious DIY project for a custom twister board:



 

Photos from Polka Dot Bride.

This bride-to-be used circles of colorful fabrics on one side for the playing board, and used squares on the other for a fun picnic quilt. I'll be sure to try out this project soon! Anyone have quilting tips?

Cheers, Kate

Pink Living

Sorry for the delay in posting, I've had a busy weekend. Adam and I went down to Duke for a wedding on Saturday night. We also made a pit-stop at the J.Crew Warehouse sale in Winston-Salem where I scored a few good items including:

the Impressionist Floral Silk Dress (which I wore to the wedding on Saturday night):

the Black Blossoms cardigan:

The silk Blakely Wrap Blouse:

As well as a pink haberdashery blouse, black skinny pants, and a perfect tan ruffle neck racket that I have been eyeing for a while. Some serious finds!

The wedding was beautiful, the bride very gracious and Southern, the groom his usual goofball self. We had salad to start, and I'm aching to find out the vinaigrette recipe, followed by delicious chicken and crab cakes for dinner, with a yummy wedding cake finish. I'm proud to say I'm one of the few ladies in attendance who kept my heels on all night.

On Sunday, we went to the Duke gardens for an adorable picnic lunch:

We went for a stroll through the grounds. Here, Adam asked me to go to his fraternity formal with him, and I was hesitant to say yes. Here, we played bocce and drank cheap wine in the middle of the day to relax from senior year stress. Here, we began our graduation festivities with a reception held for the Duke 2009 seniors. This place has quite a few fond memories.

And five minutes after this photo:

He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! Then he even had champagne waiting back in the picnic basket. How perfect! My awesome pink engagement dress? A flirty INC floral jersey knit. All weekend I carted around my new pink Coach bag Adam gave me when he first got home last week, just to take my pink to a new level. My mom did tell me to wear something cute just in case!

Sunday night we went out to celebrate at Lauriol Plaza in Dupont Circle for lots of margaritas, another bottle of champagne and a few good friends. And, as if the phone hadn't been ringing enough all Sunday, Monday morning at 8:30 am I had my first "Wedding planning!" text from my mother. I'm glad she's so excited too!

My future husband is being sweet enough to let me use pink in our color scheme, and I'm going to try to ease him into the idea of letting pink be part of our more daily life. Today I found a great new photography blog for company Enchanted Dream Weddings & Affairs with some amazing interior design photos of how to incorporate pink into your lifestyle. This is my favorite:

Hopefully this helps make pink seem less intimidating, hunny. I'm so excited to start planning!

Cheers, Kate

Just Released Lilly Pulitzer E-Cards!

Today stationary company cocodot announced their release of new Lilly Pulitzer e-cards. These great cards come in your favorite Lilly patterns and are ready for all occasions. 

While an e-card will never replace the courtesy and thought put into a hand-written note (Lilly makes note cards too), these e-cards do offer another fun, fantastic way to send out special messages to your friends, families, and co-workers. What will you use Lilly to say?

Cheers, Kate

Men's Style: The Black Suit Alternative

Style Me Pretty posted up a great post today of Sutherland Kovach Studio's black suit/tuxedo alternative shoot. These great styles prove that vests are still in fashion, and that there are great ways of matching unsuspecting colors. Take a peek at the post, any other great menswear you've seen lately? Pass it along so we can all make that special guy in our lives a little more stylish!

Cheers, Kate

Hot Colors, Cool Nails

InStyle Magazine  posted up a gallery of the top 15 nail colors this summer. I took a browse through them, and while I'm always astonished that nail polish can get so expensive, I did find a couple new shades I'd love to try. Here are my top four. Click on the picture to go get more information about that polish.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="399" caption="American Apparel in Summer Peach $6"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Nails Inc. in Eden Grove $19"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Blow $14"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="TopShop in Parma Violet $10"][/caption]

 

 

DIY Removable Wallpaper?

Today I stumbled upon a new obsession: Oh Joy! a great design, architecture, and fashion blog run out of San Diego. There was a discussion from a few days ago about the prospect of wallpapering a rental apartment, along with lots of suggestions of what to do.



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Readers suggested wallpaper designed to be removed, using starch and fabric, and putting up painters tape then attaching the wallpaper to it with double-sided take. Read the entry here. Any thoughts?

From Inspiration

Lately I've spent a lot of time perusing sites that might not be content-appropriate....wedding blogs. They are dangerously addicting. Like this fabulous post about a Nashville wedding on Style Me Pretty. The bride and groom counted their lucky stars as their venue was severely damaged by the recent floods but opened just 5 days before their event. Just remember before viewing these photos, real life isn't like this every day. But it can be some days.



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Cheers, Kate

Hollywood Hair in Real Life?

I love Elle. It's like a 250-page piece of modern art encased in glitz and silk. An article today talked about how Hollywood is going long and luscious again.

I've been attempting to grow my hair out for almost a year now, and after a brief snafu (my last stylist cut my hair to a right-sided part instead of a left-sided part. oh well), I'm seriously debating extensions. I've never dyed my hair except for once or twice with wash-out dyes, so I'm not sure how synthetic locks will fit in with my own.

Of course the rich and famous, like Ashley Greene and Reese Witherspoon, don't have to worry about that problem.

Here's also a great Elle Video  about extension application. Maybe once they could use a blonde so I know what I'm getting into.

Have you ever tried over-the-counter extensions? Please share tips and recommendations for the chronically cropped.

Cheers, Kate.

A Silver Screen Soire

Clearly, I am working on being a bit more proactive about keep up with the trends. Today I became obsessed with Nonpareil Magazine's June 2010 issue: A Silver Screen Soire.

 

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I am totally obsessed with so many of the ideas in here. There's a DIY for lanterns shaped like Lord of the Rings' fireworks, table settings based on The Great Gatsby and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and three pages of chocolate-based recipes. I can't wait to try out the Breakfast at Tiffany's hair style and maybe do some baking. Great edition for some classic inspiration!

Cheers, Kate

Behind the Name

decided to do a little research because I’ve been having an existential crisis for about 5 years now. I don’t like my first name, Jenna. The fact that Kiwis and Brits pronounce their E’s strangely is just an extra tick against it. But perhaps I can find some evidence supporting this.

BehindtheName.com: JENNA, Gender: Feminine, Usage: English. Variant of JENNY. Use of the name was popularized in the 1980s by the character Jenna Wade on the television series ‘Dallas’.
Name-Meanings.com: JENNA, Gender: Female, Origin: English. Small Bird

BabyNames.com: JENNA, Origin: English. The meaning of the name Jenna is Fair Phantom. Diminutive form of Jennifer. Jenna Fischer (born Regina Marie Fischer), actress.
Zelo.com: JENNA, Gender: Female, Origin: Arabic. Meaning: Small Bird 

BabyCenter.com: JENNA, Gender: Girl, Origin: English. Meaning: Form of JENNIFER - fair spirit
ThinkBabyNames.com: JENNA. It is of Arabic origin, and its meaning is “heaven”. Also fanciful alteration of Jenny with the -a ending; diminutive of Jennifer; variant of Jean (Hebrew) “God’s grace”. The name is made famous by a character on the TV series “Dallas”. Jenna is also used for blends and compound names. See also Genna. First Daughter Jenna Bush; actress Jenna Elfman. Jenna has 8 variant forms: Genna, Jena, Jennabel, Jennah, Jennalee, Jennalyn, Jennarae and Jennasee.

Wikipedia.com: Jenna is a female given name. In the Western world it is a variation of Jennifer or Genevieve. Jennifer is of English origin and means white. Jenna is also an Arabic name meaning heaven.

Apparently I am a fair, white, small bird or phantom from heaven on the show Dallas. At least my parent’s didn’t totally lie to me when they said it meant “little bird” in Arabic. I should be grateful they didn’t name be Jennasee or Jennarae.





Credits: Fair. Small Bird. Phantom. Heaven. Dallas.

Year of the Tiger 2010

This year, in honor of 2010's Year of the Tiger, Barnum's Animals Crackers has teamed up with an unusual partner - Lilly Pulitzer! I stumbled across a box of my favorite childhood snack unexpectedly in the Giant snack aisle near my office. Decked out in signature Lilly pink and green with authentic Lilly jungle animals playing across the box.

While I was a bit disappointed that the actual cracker's hadn't changed shape, it was nice to see such a great effort by two classic, niche brands. Both are arguably household names, though I'm sure the houses where Lilly Pulitzer is common place might not be the same as these treats, and they have teamed up to support the World Wildlife Foundation's mission to rescue tigers across the world. According to the box, there are only 400 Sumatra tigers still in existence, with just over 3,000 tigers alive in the wild. Barnum's is supporting the WWF with a $100,000 donation. And Lilly is sending its fans out across the country searching for these boxes. Good luck Lilly Lovers!

Year of the Tiger 2010

This year, in honor of 2010's Year of the Tiger, Barnum's Animals Crackers has teamed up with an unusual partner - Lilly Pulitzer! I stumbled across a box of my favorite childhood snack unexpectedly in the Giant snack aisle near my office. Decked out in signature Lilly pink and green with authentic Lilly jungle animals playing across the box.

While I was a bit disappointed that the actual cracker's hadn't changed shape, it was nice to see such a great effort by two classic, niche brands. Both are arguably household names, though I'm sure the houses where Lilly Pulitzer is common place might not be the same as these treats, and they have teamed up to support the World Wildlife Foundation's mission to rescue tigers across the world. According to the box, there are only 400 Sumatra tigers still in existence, with just over 3,000 tigers alive in the wild. Barnum's is supporting the WWF with a $100,000 donation. And Lilly is sending its fans out across the country searching for these boxes. Good luck Lilly Lovers!