A Thanksgiving Recap

In the months since my last post, I have planned a destination wedding, married my best friend and had an amazing Honeymoon in Thailand. While my posting suffered as I got wrapped up planning a whirlwind wedding weekend in Napa Valley (more to be shared soon!), I'm hoping to make a come back to this here blog. No promises but I should be less distracted. Moving on...

This week, we celebrated a few things. One being my man's 29th birthday. The second being Thanksgiving. While Thanksgiving isn't my most favorite holiday, we love to entertain and hosted this year's meal in our Old Town apartment. To make it even more fun, we served up the holiday in style with our new china and pink and orange florals!

{I am a little obsessed with china ...}

 {Arrangements of orange tulips, pink snap dragons, roses and mums}

In terms of the meal itself, we kept to tradition with a nontraditional Thanksgiving Dinner. Ever since I can remember, my family has done everything to avoid the tried and true Thanksgiving feast. Turkey is not our thing, nor is gravy, cranberries, etc. Call us strange and un-American, but our menu was as follows!


We started with some delicious apps of ...

• Potato/Leek Soup with Cheddar & Dill
• Proscuitto & Melon
• Caprese Skewers
• Several Bottles of Hard Cider (who knew Grandma would love it so much!)

To follow it up, I made ...

• Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Walnuts
• Scallops over Pumpkin Puree with Hazelnuts

Mom showed up with ...

• Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Navel Orange
• Rosemary Grilled Baby Lamb Chops
• A few bottles of Nouveau Beaujolais (tis the season!)

To top it off ...

• Homemade Chocolate Covered Pretzels from My Sister
• Homemade Pumpkin Pie from my Mom
• Espresso ... and more cider 

Jealous of our Thanksgiving meal yet? If not, stick to your turkey and gravy!

Poppin' In

In and out in a flash ...

Isn't this J.Crew suit just adorable for a Wine Country Wedding?!

{on another note, there is no excuse as to why I've been so MIA ... even wedding planning is not a good enough excuse!}

Musical Dresses

Nate and I landed in Chicago at 1a on Monday morning after an impromptu trip to Wine Country. I must say that my jeans felt a little tighter after a weekend of eating and drinking but it absolutely confirmed that our decision to move the wedding to California was the best one we have made yet! Pics from our travels to come ...

On another note, we have FINALLY figured out bridesmaid dresses for the girls. With the swap from Chicago to California, we moved from long to short, shantung to silk and gray to blush. Aren't they pretty?! But, I must say they were not easy to come by ...

After falling in love with the dresses and even more importantly the color, we learned that there were only a handful of dresses left in the country. Girls ordered dresses two sizes too big and back up colors knowing how much I wanted these dresses. We were thinking major alterations! 

Luckily, I worked hand and hand with J. Crew corporate to track down additional dresses in smaller sizes. All in all, I think we ordered 20 dresses for 7 girls, and it all worked out! Extras are being returned, sizes are being swapped and the girls are enjoying the new sale price that was granted to us last week!

J. Crew, I loved you before .... but I love you even more now!

More importantly, I have the most awesome bridesmaids in the world!

Makeover Monday l Extra Seating

One thing I didn't mention last week was my sister's ongoing hunt for a chair for her apartment. I've gone back and forth on whether or not she should have something neutral and classic or fun and colorful. Then I remember my red flowered chair. After 5 years of having that chair as my only extra seating, I couldn't wait to see it go. And so, neutral won. Here are three fabulous options from West Elm. Why I like West Elm ... most items are small scale, modern and reasonably priced. These three all come in at $600 or less. And now I present, the Elton, Sweep and Tulip {in order}!

Wouldn't anyone of them look awesome with the fluffy white pillow posted last week? It's also from West Elm ...

Makeover Monday on Tuesday l Regan's Feedback

I thought I was just barely sneaking in a Makeover Monday post before the clock hit Midnight last night but was having some technical difficulties. So today is a Makeover Monday post on Tuesday!

While, my thoughts for next steps in my sister's place are not yet gathered, I thought I'd follow- up with some feedback from my sister on the pillow options I pulled together for her and some of her biggest frustrations about her place.

She's truly a combo of options number 2 and 3. While her heart knows that option 3 works best with her current apartment, she'd love to fully embrace option number 2 as she's crazy for some texture. Maybe I can create some combination of the two ...

Option 3 with the addition of a fluffy white pillow ... that's texture for you Regs!

Some other items on our "to do" list:

Add a focal point above the bed

Catchalls ... she tells me she needs them left and right!

New dining chairs and coffee table to replace the black leather chairs and ottoman {hand me downs}

Now if Regan and I could just slow down with our regular lives to spend some time on her apartment!

Makeover Monday l Upset with Blogger

Makeover Monday will have to be postponed to Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday because Blogger is refusing to upload my images! So long for making a comeback as Blogger clearly is holding my blogging hiatus against me . . .

Stay tuned.

This bad blogger is coming back!

I've been a VERY bad blogger. Actually, a terrible blogger. At book club last night, my friends reminded me that I've missed two Makeover Mondays and that it has been more than two weeks since my last post. Shame on me! That's what happens when you move your wedding this late in the game ... you get crazy busy. Something I've accomplished while I disappeared from the blogging world ...

Nate and I started our registry at Bloomingdale's and after mixing and matching patterns ended up with this beauty! It's a mix of Vera Wang's " Vera Lace" table setting and Marcesha's "Camellia Painted" and is pretty amazing. We'll have the option to complete the "Vera Lace" place setting with just a few extra pieces, giving us two different looks.

{you can't really tell from the pictures, but the flatware ties in the gold from the plates with a gold band in the center and a gold ball at the end}

In addition to the registry, we've also started to book flights, secure a hotel and dream up a new Honeymoon!

Bye Bye French Rivera, hello ...