Sunday, December 25, 2011

Holiday Party

Our annual Holiday party was on Friday night and it was, as always, a blast! We served hors d'oeuvres and cocktails. We invited families with kids as well so the menu also had some kid friendly food!
The Menu:

-Spiced Nuts (Recipe here)
-Cheese Plate
-Veggies with Dip
-Shrimp Cocktail
-Nachos
-Fried Mozzarella Balls (Recipe here)
-Pigs in a Blanket
-Spanakopita (Recipe here) (I also added some dill and egg whites to this recipe)
-Assorted Subs
-Endive, Grapefruit, and Avocado Salad
-Chicken Satay on Skewers with Peanut Sauce
-Chocolate Espresso Cookies

Pictures from the Party:

Some of our Holiday decor! The swan is from Pottery Barn

The bar

A Holiday touch- cranberries in the champagne glasses

Our Tree

Chaffing dishes for the Chicken Satay, pigs in a blanket, and fried mozzarella balls

Hors D'oeuvres 

Cheese Plate

Spanakopita

Assortment of Subs

Endive, Grapefruit, and Avocado Salad

Nachos

Shrimp Cocktail

Cookie boxes (Each family brought a plate of cookies for to share)

What I wore: Dress-Macy's Pumps-Nordstrom



HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Holiday Greetings!!

This is my absolute favorite time of year! I love all of the decorations, parties, and beautiful snow (if we had any!)
T-6 days until our holiday cocktail party. We just finalized our menu which I will be sharing shortly! In the mean time here are some fun links from around the web!

25 Interesting Ways to Wear Scarves - I always run out of scarf ideas so I am going be using this vid a lot!


Adorable Cupcake Decoration- This might show up on our party menu!


Fun Video Timeline from Madewell- I spent about 10 min on this link it is very cute!


For all of the "New Girl" fans, a post from Zooey Deschanel with tips for a winter body - LOVE.


Pretty Up-do Perfect for a Holiday Party - I tried this hairstyle and discovered that it works best with slightly dirty hair because it holds better or with a texturizing product


And a Sparkly Dress to Go with Your Hair - Perfect for a fun New Year's Eve!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Time Flies!

Time has definitely flown by! As the holidays are quickly approaching expect more blog posts from me to come! My vacation starts in one week and I have already made a fun list of things I want to accomplish (lot's of reading!) Our annual Holiday party is already in its planning phase so I will post more on that topic as well! Until then... here are some photos I took on Thanksgiving on our walk between dinner and dessert! It's hard to believe that although we had a white Halloween and Thanksgiving that the past week has had temperatures in the 60's! I don't know about everyone else but I am dreaming of a white Christmas! Side note, these photos were taken with my new Nikon D3000 which I absolutely LOVE! I have more photos from the summer that I took with the D3000 on my photography website Looking Glass Photography!




P.S. Make sure to check out Michael BublĂ©'s new album! It combines my two favorite things- Holiday music and Michael BublĂ©!


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

New Laptop!!

In preparation for the upcoming school year I recently bought a new laptop! My decision was the between the Mac Air and the MacBook Pro. In the end I decided to go with the 13in. MacBook Pro because of it's larger amount of space, faster speed, and CD/DVD drive. Along with the student discount on the computer I also received a $100 gift card from Apple to the iTunes store, Mac App store, and the iBook Store! I am now officially in love with OS X Lion! All of the new features are much simpler and very cool! The Mac App store was genius and I have already happily purchased several apps (more details to come)! I've also had a lot of fun using the speech recognition, it's actually surprisingly fun to ask your laptop to tell you a joke! I already have formed a strong bond with my new talking Mac which is why I decided to give it a name... which will be unveiled when I come up with something more original than Mac-y.


Isn't she/he beautiful? In case you didn't notice I haven't come up with a gender either...
          

Sunday, July 24, 2011

New Website!

I recently finished creating my new photography website! I made it on the iWeb application on my Mac which was actually quite easy! Check it out!
 The Looking Glass Photography

On another note...
I just finished reading Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day  by Winifred Watson. I had seen the movie before and absolutely loved it so decided to give the book a try. I have to admit that the movie held my attention and was more exciting than the book! Normally this is the exact opposite! It might have to do with the amazing cast (Amy Adams, Frances McDormand, Lee Pace etc.) not too mention some outstanding music!



Saturday, June 25, 2011

I See Skies of Blue...

We have been without sunshine for the past few days and so now I am longing for some blue skies. I was looking back through my pictures and was immediately drawn to these. Not because the trees were very interesting to look at but because they had beautiful blue skies!



Friday, June 3, 2011

It's That Time of Year Again...

When we have to mow the lawn! Thank god that my Dad volunteers to do this! However even though we may not like our grass long it sure does make for nice photos!

Taken by me in my backyard

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Spring Has Sprung!!

It is finally dawning on me that the cold and dark days of Winter are finally gone! Replaced by warm, sunny days of Spring and Summer! The amazing weather has had me outside with my camera... again!


Taken by me in our local park

Taken by me in our local park

Taken by me at our local park

Taken by me on an awesome picnic

Monday, April 25, 2011

Photo of the Day!

I have officially committed to competing in several mini triathlons this summer! Each one includes a 500m swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and a 3 mile run. I have already started training and can't wait to finish my first one! They all take place over this summer and hopefully by next summer I will be competing in a full triathlon! I'm also really looking forward to when the weather has decided to be nice and give us a few sunny warm days! Until then I will be pretending that this scenery is what I get to look at when I'm running. This picture has become my wallpaper on my laptop and will remain there for inspiration!


(Via Runner's World)

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

New York!!

My trip to New York was incredible!! We spent the weekend shopping, eating, sightseeing, and of course... tons of walking! We stayed at an amazing boutique hotel in the Flat Iron district (check it out here). Our stay was lovely and next time we go we will definitely be staying there again! Naturally I had to bring my camera with me where ever we went so I included some photos of the highlights of the weekend!!


We saw these trees on our drive down and with the stormy background I couldn't resist snapping a photo!

Delicious Enchiladas I enjoyed for dinner at Dos Caminos. One was covered in a chile verde sauce and the other in mole sauce! Yummy!!




Seeing the beautiful artwork at the Met!



My favorite piece from the Modern wing!



A bowl of yummy french onion soup at an adorable diner around the corner from the Met.




Signs of Spring behind the Met!!



Love the lighting on this one!


I can't wait for my next trip to NYC so I can check off the rest of the items on my list that I didn't get to do this time around!
In the meantime check out this amazing store that we just happened to wander into...
www.vosgeschocolate.com




Sunday, March 20, 2011

Photo of the day!

I was lucky enough to spend the past weekend in NYC (Pics to come!) and of course had a blast! We drove in on Friday and by the time we got to the city the temperature had reached 84˚!! That is summer weather people!! Anyway, because 2 hours and 37 minutes ago was the official start of Spring I have decided to post my final and favorite of my Winter photos for this year! This was taken while cross country skiing in the local state park. We went in the early afternoon while the sun was shining and in the perfect spot! Perfect natural lighting + pretty scenery = pure bliss.





Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Academy Awards 2011 Red Carpet

This year's academy awards was filled with many gorgeous dresses! I was finally able to narrow down my top three!


            Hailee Steinfeld in Marchesa



Not only is this dress beautiful it was also partially designed by 14-year old Hailee! I love everything about this dress from the color to the silhouette!



            Mila Kunis in Elie Saab




My absolute favorite part about this dress is the color... closely followed by the stunning lace... not to mention the beautiful layers.... To be honest I think it would take a lot less time for me to tell you what I don't like about this dress. Nothing.

            Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Giorgio Armani Prive



      Absolutely stunning! I cannot get over this dress, the color compliments her skin so nicely! The side            ruching also adds some very pretty, simple detail. Love, love, love!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Photo of the day!

I couldn't help posting a Spring photo in hopes of warmer weather!! I took this photo under a year ago in May. Hopefully my yard will look like this again soon! Other than the pretty flowers and earthy smell of Spring I also love the bright colors that are incorporated into people's wardrobes! I personally can't wait to start wearing floral dresses and sandals!


Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Photo of the day!

We recently received a good amount of snow which has turned everything into a winter wonderland! I looked out the window the other day just as the sun was setting and it was so beautiful I had to grab my camera! This photo was my favorite:

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!!

With the start of 2011 upon us I have decided to put my Christmas gift cards to use and pick what items I am going to spend them on! This year I received giftcards to Nordstrom and the Gap! I can't wait to finally buy some new clothes, it has been way too long! This Winter my wardrobe has been centered around leggings and tunics so I am looking forward to mixing it up! Hope everyone has a great start to 2011!!

                                                
                                                       My picks from Nordstrom:



                                                                                    
                            





My Picks from The Gap: