First stop of our Italian Vacation: Florence

Words, words, words. How do you find the right words to sum up Florence? In short – our time here so far has been absolutely wonderful. We’ve managed to fill our days with museums, unbelievable food and even making new friends along the way. On our first morning we woke up extremely early because we hadn’t yet adjusted to the time difference and we found the city all to ourselves! We also ended up being second in line to visit the Ufizzi Museum, which is known to have a four hour wait if you don’t arrive early. That evening we sat next to a lovely couple: she being a goldsmith from California and living in Italy for years mastering her trade (see her work here) and he being from the area. They helped us to fill our itinerary with must visit local eateries. Today we are off to our next destination – Bologna which is rumored to have some of the best food in all of Italy. I’ll keep you posted on my findings :)

Image 1: The view from the Ufizzi

Image 2: Enjoying pizza in a piazza (I’ve conquered two pizzas so far)

Image 3: Relaxing and the Duomo which we hiked to the top of

Ciao! We're headed to Italy!

Dress, Sunglasses, Fedora, Sandals, Bag

You may have noticed that things have been quiet here on the blog as of late but it’s certainly not for lack of activity!  Christoph and I are headed to Italy for a nearly two-week vacation! 

Not only have I been making plans for us while we are in Italy, I’m also working away to get my clients set up to continue business as usual while I’m out.

Phew! Much to do!  Luckily I’ve already thought through my packing list!  Any recommendations for things I should do while in Italy (Florence and the surrounding areas) send em’ my way!

Growing Away: Garden Update

Still loving my little fire escape garden.  Huge change in the last month is that the tomatoes are coming in! Around five of them actually!  Super excited for those babies to be ripe and ready.  I've been using up the basil like nobody's business!  I'm talking chicken pesto pizza and bruschetta on the regular.  The salad on the other hand - I think I let it go too long without picking and now the leaves are turning a little yellowish brown.

Oh well, live and learn!

Fashionably MADE: Blue Dress

It has been a while since I sat down with my sewing machine! I absolutely love my latest Fashionably MADE outfit!
Dress-Stacy, Necklace-Kate Spade, Shoes-Harajuku Lovers

I had spent most of the past Sunday afternoon moping around after the hard drive on my Mac crashed for the second time……since I bought it in April. Yeah, wiped clean again. Luckily I had backed up in the past few weeks and the guy at the Mac store was super helpful (he probably noticed that I was on the verge of tears).

Anyway, since I was computer less on Sunday evening I decided to pull out some fabric and see what I could whip up. The dress was EXTREMELY easy to make. I made it to fit loose and pulled it in with a tied bow out of the same material. Literally, this took me less than two hours to cut and sew because the material is a non fraying cotton jersey so I left all the ends unfinished!

What’s Fashionably MADE? Read THIS.
Want more Fashionably MADE Outfits? Click HERE!

Oh, and P.S. – go back up your computer now!

Custom Wedding Details for a Lovely Couple

A few months back I was commissioned by lovely couple Kate and Geoff to help bring in some fun details for their wedding day!  Their charming wedding took place at Gundlach Bundschu winery and was full of details. I made them a guest escort window out of an antique glass windowpane.  Kate had also found a paper mache elephant that she was using as her guest book so I made a sign that red “wish us well on our adventure together”.  There were a few other details that aren’t pictured.  Hop on over to the A Savvy Event Blog to see more pictures of this lovely day!

Want me to create a custom wedding piece or product for you?  Be in touch!

Images: BLR Photography

The Birthday Pup

I show GREAT restraint on a daily basis not to bombard you with pictures of our adorable pooch Ginger on instagram and facebook. But on one day a year – her birthday (today) I have no qualms about indulging myself and going a little nutzo on Ginger pictures. So here you have it, happy third birthday G-Dawg!

 I don’t know if her second year was quite as exciting as her first year, but she certainly did have some fun.Ginger in the running for repping her hood the best according to 7x7 Magazine! Ginger getting the lead picture on our Style Me Pretty wedding post (seriously guys, she made the first picture of the post!).

Can't wait to see what the next year brings for this adorable pup!!!

Tasty and Easy Beet Salad Recipe

A few months ago during a Feather Love Workshop I had a beet salad prepared by Nicole of Gjelina and I’m still thinking about it!  I love beets so I decided to try my hand at recreating the salad from memory and I’m pretty pleased with the results!

Tasty and Easy Beet Salad Ingredients:

- Beets (3 Medium to Large)

- Orange Juice (4 ounces)

- Avocado

- Grapefruit

- Hazelnuts

- Aluminum Foil

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees

- Cut the top leaves and end of root from the beets

- Scrub them like a potato

- Wrap each beet individually in aluminum foil

- Bake for 1 hour (a little more/less depending on size)

- Let them cool
- Peel the skin from the beets

- Cut the beets into pieces and place in a bowl

- Marinate with orange juice

- Top with sliced avocado and grapefruit

- Sprinkle on hazelnuts

This salad is pretty amazing to eat and so colorful to look at!  Hope you’ll give it a try!

P.S.: Thank you Nicole for the inspiration!!!!!  All of the food you prepared was amazing!

Three Year San Francisco-aversary

Today marked our three-year anniversary of living in San Francisco (whoa)!  Before moving here I had been dating Christoph for two years, was living alone in this Laguna Beach studio and I had never lived in a town with a population above 65,000 people.  I was absolutely terrified at the idea of living in a city but I decided to go for it anyway.

Today, I just can’t see our lives anywhere else.  I love San Francisco. 

Here are a few reasons why this city is so special to me:

Favorite San Francisco Moment: Giants World Series Parade

Favorite Night in San Francisco: When we got engaged

Favorite places to eat in San Francisco: Sandwich, Burrito, Pizza, French, Italian

An lastly, this SF Chronicle Editorial which sums it all up.