May 19, 2013

weekend brunch + a sunday snack

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for brunch this weekend we ate: toasted bagels with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, sprinkled lightly with salt and pepper and drizzled with a balsamic vinegar reduction, paired with some brightly colored red strawberries on the side. we ended up walking to the store this morning for most of the ingredients then came home, quickly whipped it up and sat down to our sunday morning meal ritual which of course included lucy. today we watched the episode where lucy, ricky, ethel and fred are in paris. lucy and ethel go to a fashion show and lucy wants ricky to buy her one of the dresses they saw at the show ... a completely classic lucy .... one of my favorites.
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the rest of the day we sort of bummed around the house which is honestly kind of a rare occurrence for camden and i to both do together. - but it was one of those off and on rainy days and nothing sounded more appealing to us then to spend it relaxing within. we made our favorite cookie recipe just as one of the first bigger rain storms rolled in. the house was immediately filled with the smell of warm, buttery, chocolatey, cookies while the rain puttered down making a soft "tink-ing" sound on our newly installed air-conditioning that sits awkwardly in our living room window. after the cookies had finished baking, we propped the oven open to warm our slightly-cool home, poured ourselves a large glass of cold milk and sat down to watch breakfast at tiffany's with our warm gooey goodness in hand. i seriously wish all days could be just like this. 

May 16, 2013

a chalk white arrow giveaway

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today's giveaway is from the gorgeous designer and jewelry store, lisa leonard designs. lisa and her team design all the jewelry along with a few other fun things including my beautiful twig necklace shown above. today they are offering one of you lovely readers the chance to win a $50 gift certificate to her store.

to enter: head on over to lisa leonard designs and sign up for their newsletter, then come back here and leave a comment below to let us know you did. you may receive an extra entry for liking them on their facebook page, just be sure to leave a comment for each. this contest is open only to chalk white arrow readers so double check you follow along here as well. the contest ends one week from today, good luck!

May 14, 2013

dwelling small #7 - fresh flowers

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*or decorating with fresh flowers when your home is small and budget is even smaller 
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i love decorating our home with beautiful fresh flowers, especially during the spring and summer months but don't always have the money or storage for pretty vases to display them in. i find myself looking for reusable solutions that look just as good yet more unique than the alternative. the key for me is to keep the flowers and arrangements simple, this way the overall look compliments itself. i also love using filler flowers as it helps keep the overall cost down while still achieving that effortless look i'm going for.
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^^ mason jars: we tend to use mason jars for just about everything around our home and decided why not flowers too? i love the idea that you can purchase a dozen of these at the store for under $10 and have an end look that is enchanting with just a few elegant flowers placed inside. 
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^^ frappuccino bottles: i always hate throwing glass bottles away and reusing them as a vase for flowers works brilliantly. just peel away the sticky label, smother the sticky residue left on the bottle with peanut-butter, allow to sit for an hour or so, then rinse the residue off with a sponge and warm water. be sure to clean the inside well and you're set.
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^^ soup cans: i can't take all the credit for this idea as i found it on pinterest, but it's still a fantastic one nonetheless. i think a few flowers in one of these soup cans looks really sweet and i love the idea of reusing them. you can see how to prepare the can as well as the original idea here.
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^^ soda bottles: a few years ago after drinking this mexican sprite, i kept the bottle wanting to reuse it for something … anything. it eventually became the perfect vase for plopping a few flowers in and i really love the way it turned out.
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May 13, 2013

i wore this when ...

i walked to city creek i walked 7 i walked 2 i walked 6 i walked 4 i walked 5
... to do meet up with camden for an afternoon bite and to do some last minute mother's day shopping. it has been a summer kind of hot around here really, and i'm not sure i fully approve. what classic utah behavior, to have such quick brisk springs then without any warning .... boom! it's summer. however, saturday was perfect for a walk to city creek under the big shaded trees where the air stayed a good ten degrees cooler. have i mentioned this is one of my favorite things about living downtown? ... all the big leafy trees. i know this may sound a bit strange, having this as one of my favorite features of where we live, but coming from a newly built area with only those little scrawny trees having just been newly planted, it's really quite refreshing.

i wore: jacket, j.crew // lace sweater, urban outfitters // necklace, pink lemonade c/o // pants, madewell // shoes, blowfish c/o // hat, target // purse, vintage coach

p.s. pink lemonade is offering chalk white arrow readers 20% off their next purchase. enter code "arrow" at checkout.