Furniture with Wide Stripe

Not sure if I have mentioned it before – but I love love furniture with a wide stripe. It adds so much interest and makes it unique!

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I have been dreaming of good stripe furniture because a couple weeks ago I ordered a settee for my dinning table with a stripe down the middle! Can’t wait for it to come!

NYC Inspiraiton

Couple weeks ago now I headed to NYC for work. I went in early to visit an old friend. I just love having the chance to go. The city is so vibrant and there is inspiration round every corner.

Theater Distric

I had the pleasure of seeing If, Then with Idina Menzel – it was amazing.

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Drink

Visited Acme for a amazing mixed drink – and got to stare at the beautiful crab apple branches at the end of the bar – aren’t they amazing!

The Brandy Library

Next night we  hit up the Brandy Library for a pre-dinner cocktail – look at those amazing built in’s. They were all around the exterior of the lounge.

White Street

Then we hit up White Street -the food was incredible and the interiors were heaven!

White Street NYC

Love those tufted benches!

White Street NYC

And I judge places by the bathrooms – beautiful!

Green Wedding Flowers with Succulents

So after I was looking through old pictures I realized – hello – I never posted flower pics from my friends wedding back in May! They were so fun and I loved making them because they were pretty different from ones I have done in the past. Watson loves flowers tooI always love a good Watson shot – he is so curious about when we have gobs of flowers in the condo!

succulents

First thing is to prep the succulents. If you haven’t done it before – they aren’t a flower. They are a plant. You literally have to remove them from dirt. Clean them off. Then you use floral tape to attach them to wire. Here is a good video on how to if you haven’t done it before. The unique thing about that is – they can last several weeks without being in soil and after you use them in a bouquet you can plant them again and keep them forever!

TNPLH: Green Wedding Flowers

TNPLH: Green Wedding Flowers

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TNPLH: Green Wedding Flowers

I think one of my favorite things about these bouquets was all the textures in them. The hypericum berry is my absolute favorite. It add something so special and unique to the mix.

TNPLH: Green Wedding Flowers

TNPLH: Green Flowers

I was in this wedding too.

finished hand bouquet

You can see here the final product from the day. We did the wrapped satin ribbon, but then over that we wrapped each bouquet with the grooms family tartan. Isn’t that amazing!

Dinner Party Menu

For my dinner party a couple weeks ago I tried a couple new recipes and they were all a huge hit.

First course we started with a Celery Root and Green Apple soup. Now I have made this recipe a couple of times. For starters it is 1. super easy 2. super good and 3. super healthy. I have been making it for lunches (also freezes super well which I like in a good soup). As usual I was all busy in dinner party preparation that I forgot to take food pics 🙂 Anyway check out the recipe here.

Epicurous Celery Root and Apple Soup

Next for the main course I found this recipe on the The EveryGirl. My number one demand for a dinner party entree is that the bulk of the cooking can be done ahead. So for this recipe I cooked the pears/shallots and such ahead, stuffed the pork and rolled it up ahead. Then at that point I put in the refrigerator until the time we were planning on throwing on the stove/oven. It worked really well. I probably did the prep 5ish hours before and it worked perfect. Find the recipe here. I think this recipe would also be amazing with apple instead of pear.

The Every Girl Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

pic from the EveryGirl

I served the pork with and easy side of rosemary red potatoes (also made ahead and kept in the refrigerator – I don’t have a recipe I just wing that one) and some roasted broccoli (I think asparagus would go better however my husband loves his broccoli – lord knows why).

For dessert I love taking advantage of dinner parties as a time to practice ice cream making. yum! This time I made this Salted Carmel Ice Cream from Epicurous – heaven!

epicurous salted carmel ice creamAnyway – I thought the whole mean worked really well together – it was certainly a hit!

Colorful Dinner Party

We all know I love a good dinner party. We are fortunate that both our parents get along, so several times throughout the year we have them over for a little dinner party (see my last party with them here). I often think to myself that having a dinner party is my adult equivalent of playing house (BTW my favorite pastime as a child). I love planning the menu and setting the table. Each time I try to vary what my table looks like – it’s like a game to me.

TNPLH: Colorful Dinner Party

This time I chose to mix a couple different sets to get a unique table. I got these fun new Ikat napkins from Pottery Barn for Christmas – aren’t they cute (and so updated for PB?). So I knew I wanted to incorporate them. TNPLH: Colorful Dinner PartyThen I pulled out my wedding china as the dinner plate, and mixed in my Grandmother’s bowl for our soup course.

TNPLH: Colorful Dinner PartyI also received these fun Crate and Barrel wine goblets for Christmas – I thought the hint of light pink added just an extra bit of fun to the table.

TNPLH: Colorful Dinner Party

As for the flowers, since I had so many fun colors already on the table I went to Whole Foods to create a fun whimsical centerpiece incorporating all the same colors. I just love these fun little green fillers – don’t you (don’t know what they are called but I thought they added a nice touch of whimsy).

IMG_0563Before our guests arrived my sweet adorable husband mentioned “where are the candle sticks?” so at the last minute we added my crystal set from our wedding for the final touch.

TNPLH: Colorful Dinner PartyFor dessert I busted out my Mikasa Chevron side plates – aren’t they s fun? I just love a mess after party pic – still so beautiful. Tomorrow I will share my menu!