Linnea + John's Wedding on Once Wed!

I am on cloud nine.  Just got back from wrapping the most amazing photo shoot in the desert.  I'm so excited to share that project with you at the end of the month.  In the meantime, the lovely Emily has made my day by featuring Linnea + John's wedding on OnceWed.

Linnea + John hosted friends and family to a modern and sophisticated affair at Campanile Restaurant.  Their guests enjoyed a pre-ceremony cocktail hour and mingled in the courtyard while the couple hid away upstairs.  After one of the shortest and sweetest ceremonies I've ever seen (it clocked in at 3 minutes, people!) guests enjoyed an amazingly delicious meal prepared by Mark Peel and his team.  And then it was time to party - their stylish guests hit the dance floor and rocked the night away.

I designed the florals and sweets table for their event.  Linnea loved the subtle color and textures of succulents, so we played them up throughout her decor.  My favorite piece is the seating card display we created.  My husband built a wooden box structure that I designed and filled with beautifully blooming succulents.  The tablescapes looked lovely with the succulent and dahlia centerpieces alongside small glass vases filled with single blooms on burlap runners. We cut and stained each wooden plaque before painting the table numbers by hand.

I designed a sweet and savory dessert table with everything from salted nuts to yummy caramels to peanut butter filled pretzels.  Custom gooco'd bags acted as favors for guests to take home their favorite treats.

it was a lovely evening with a fun couple.  thank you Linnea + John for making yes, please and succulentLOVE a part of it all!  xo

Joshua Tree or Bust!

 

You're Such a WILD THING!

I've almost made it through another Halloween:  The cuppies are baked and packed up for delivery and tomorrow night we've got a Halloween party to attend (STILL no clue what i will be).  Then  we're packin' up the ol Prius and heading to Josua Tree for this photo shoot I've been all sorts of giddy about.  I'm FINALLY collaborating with this brilliant lady to design a bachelorette party for UtterlyEngaged.  Our Where the Wild Things Are inspired celebration is sure to knock your socks off....i mean, what's better than a night in the desert with your best girlfriends, a bottle of whiskey and feather head pieces? Check out our inspiration board above, it teases at some of the clever things we've got planned. 

Uggs, check.  Flask, check.  Fire dance, check.  See the rest of you lovely ladies in Josua Tree.  xo

I Vant to Eat a Cuppie...

cookin' up some scary halloween treats.

just married

jaime snapped this photo last weekend at the ace hotel in palm springs.  fabulous, isn't it?  i imagine these paper pinwheels were somehow part of this couple's wedding decor and repurposed for their getaway car.  genius.  and those colors?  me thinks orange and gray is the new yellow and gray.  le sigh.

ah, the sky is falling!

 It's crazy windy outside.  Tree branches falling down, windows banging, dirt flying everywhere kind of windy.  So,here's a much needed dose of serenity.  the kind of serenity you can only get dangling from an elephant...

 

 

i needed that.


photography by elisabeth toll via {a glamorous little side project}

getting crafty

I've been up to my ears in design work and preparing for the upcoming UtterlyEngaged photo shoot next week - and loving every minute.  It's not every day you get to surround yourself with such fun, creative, fabulous ladies: Paige at Bash Eco Events, Courtney of ErinHeartsCourt, Alli from The Dry Bar, the girls at Fiore Beauty.  Insane, right?  It's going to be a blast. 

Who knew work could be this fun! 

one of those days

i'm having one of those days that's filled with high highs and low lows.  Does that make today a wash?  Or just a cruel from the universe.  Who knows.  What i do know is i LOVE these posters from Because Studio I saw featured on designworklife this week.  And they couldn't be more appropriate than today.  half empty or half full?  sometimes it's just both people!

 

creating a place of your own

i always love taking a peek at people's workspaces.  you can tell a lot about a person by how much of their personal life they allow to seep into their professional environment.  from framed photos on a desk, to many years worth of accumulated post it notes - these are artifacts that tell the story of who inhabits that space.  check out these gorgeous (and at times haunting) photographs by artist joseph o. holmes.  he captures "the quasi-private spaces people carve out of their public work lives" with great respect and purity.  what have you done to personlize your own workspace?

Scarlet's First Cuppie

Remember a couple weeks ago when Jaime and Miss Scarlet came over for a visit and left with somedelicious red velvet cuppies?  Well, apparently it was love at first bite - Miss Scarlet LOVES her cuppies.  I mean, LOOOOOOVES.   See for yourself....


Scarlet's First Cuppie from kelly robinson on Vimeo.

Scarlet, dear, auntie Kelly promises there are plenty more cuppies to be had in your little life, so please do your mommy a favor and eat your soup first.

A Scary Good Time

I'm not a big fan of Halloween.  I don't like dressing up.  I get embarrassed for girls who think donning a "sexy Harry Potter" costume is cute.  I prefer to stay home dressed in my Pjs snuggled up next to my hubby.  But this year I'm down right giddy about the morbid holiday.  Why, you ask?

I am collaborating on a super chic Halloween party with one of my very favorite people - Paige from Bash Eco Events!  There will be no flying ghosts or automated plastic decorations in sight.  You see, Paige is a Halloween-hater as well - so we're bound to class up the cheesiest of holidays.

After a wine and fun-filled planning session yesterday we set to creating our inspiration boards this morning.  It came as no surprise that our boards turned out scarily similar.  Check out Paige's version here.  Let's just hope our client likes what we've come up with.  I'm walking straight out if he asks where we're putting the smoking bowl of punch.

The Great Pizza Cook Off

The mister and I are huge fans of cooking shows of any kind.  We dutifully tune in to Top Chef every week and enjoy the occassional episode of Chopped.  I think it's our undying love of good food, and the passion that these "cheftestants" put into every meal they create.  plus, it's just plain fun to critique their choices and roll our eyes anytime one of the chefs gets too cocky - a sure sign they will be given the boot 40 minutes later.  Anyways, after our lovely weekend of nesting and enjoying home we wanted to cook in our kitchen after a very looooong dry spell of mostly frozen meals and carry out.  what better way to re-awaken our kitchen that with a cook-off Top Chef style?

Here are the rules.  This round (there will be many more of these to come) was all about pizza.  We each had twenty minutes to run around Whole Foods to gather our ingredients.  Originally we said we had $20 to spend, but we both went over by a couple dollars (we'll get better at this in time).  At home we split the kitchen table in half with some masking tape and laid out our ingredients.

And then with 45 minutes on the clock we imagined Padma saying, "Your time begins...NOW!"  And we were off.  First, tossing and rolling out the pizza dough.  oil on the pan for me.  a buttered pan for the mister.  things got hectic there at the end.

voting worked this way.  5 points for taste.  5 points for presentation.  5 points for creativity.  and up to 5 points deducted for time (1 pt per minute over the allotted 45).

the results?

chris took 2nd place with his bacon, corn and crispy onion pizza.  he had a bit of a timing issue (no surprise there) and lost a good chunk of points.

and, me, the non-cook won with my balsamic fig, prosciutto and gorgonzola pizza topped with arugula salad!  yippee!!

Picture This: The Weekend

Aahhhh, nesting.  what a lovely way to spend a weekend.  Here's a look at some of the things we were up to.

We drove around town looking at some commercial spaces.  Potentially a fun (and life changing) project in the works for us!

 
After lunch at Father's Office (my second time there this week - sick!) we stopped at Surfas for a bit of cheese and some cuppie supplies.  We stopped in the new Room & Board at Helms Bakery and oogled some couches - very close to purchasing one on the spot, but i need to do more research!

At home, we jumped on our bikes and rode to the park to catch up on some reading and lay under the shade of the trees.

That evening we experienced what felt quite close to cuinary nirvana - a six-course tasting menu at Campanile customized by Taylor, their wine director and our new friend.  Everything was cooked to perfection (with lots of bacon!) and paired with the most delectable wines.  a-mazing.  we waddled home.

Unfortunately, Chris got called into work Sunday.  So i spent the day goccoing some fun projects for the upcoming uniqueLA show and drinking wine with Miss Erin.

Chris came home and we high-tailed it to a matinee showing of Where the Wild Things Are.  beee-u-ti-ful.  we both loved it.  i cried my eyes out, and was all smiles the rest of the night.

Then it was time for the great pizza cook off (more on that too come)...how was your weekend?

“We are eagles of one nest - the nest is in our soul.”

it's not often i quote led zepplin, but it feels right.  the mister and i are nesting this weekend.  that means lots of snuggle time, breakfast together, talk about where to make our home, where the wild things are (!!!!), tennis, making dinner at home and all of the other things we love to do together that we just haven't had time for lately.  he's on his way home from the airport now and I couldn't be more excited.

hope you all have a lovely weekend!  xo

clip it!

 

love these cute paper clips from cranberry milk.  how fun would it be to use them as table numbers on seating cards?  any takers?

via thisisglamorous

is it wrong to be jealous of a 7 year old

 

damn.  these kids have style!  frankly i'm pretty jealous of this little girl's look.  the hair.  the glasses.  the belt.  in love.  Milk is a high-end French child-oriented mag for parents, i'm SO not the target for this one but i don't care.   Not only do they spruce up the kiddos in some fabulous looks - they capture mini stylistas in the making. think the Sartorialist for kids.  check out 7 years old with a better wardrobe that you here.  inspiration for years....

via jezebel

how sweet it is! cuppielove featured on dailycandy!

i am beside myself with excitement today.  cuppielove was featured on dailycandy's Fall 2009 Wedding Guide today!  it's an amazing honor and I'm just thrilled!  to make things even cooler (if that's possible) we're in the company of some pretty amazing people.  like my favorite camera wielding duo - erinheartscourt.  congrats you two.  big love to you both.  there's lots to celebrate, but for now I'd better get baking!  xoxo

my cup of tea

it's all cozy weather and gloomy skies here, but the world of illustrator Catherine Campbell is bright and dreamy.    Her folk inspired drawings combine pen and ink with splashes of watercolor and collage pieces.  She brings a bit of whimsy and delight to the everyday.  I for one, am seeing my morning cup of tea in a whole new light.

visit her etsy shop here

poof!

i think i need this.  would be so lovely in our living room.  so warm and cozy. 
so please stars above, send one to my doorstep?  thanks.

via decor8

wedding day @ SmogShoppe

off to get all the pretty little details set up for Joo + Jacob's wedding today at the SmogShoppe.  I am so excited for these two.  It's going to be such a lovely day.  Can't wait to share it all with you!  xo