{custom monogrammed c. wonder clutch}

I have been wanting to share this custom monogrammed C. Wonder clutch I grabbed before the holidays, but didn't have a chance until last night when I snapped some shots before I took it out to dinner in Paris for our much anticipated reservations here.  After we arrived in Southern California for Christmas, we headed straight to Fashion Island to do some last minute gift-shopping since we didn't want to carry gifts in our suitcases.  I was most excited to check out the C. Wonder store that is there since it's one of the only locations outside of the East Coast (partly we were gift shopping here, but mostly we were there for my own selfish reasons).  I'm not a huge fan of their clothing line, but the accessories and housewares are always amazing!

You can customize quite a few of C. Wonder's products on their site and during the holidays they had the embroidery service on-site in stores so that you could take home customized goodies that same day.  How could I possibily pass up adding a $10 monogram to purchase!?!  I opted for the simple striped clutch and then proceeded to agonize over what color thread to use for my initials- ultimately I choose the hot pink, but metallic gold was a very close runner up.

Unfortunately, as I was adding links to this post I discovered that C. Wonder doesn't have this clutch on their site anymore.  I'm hoping they bring it back soon because it's such an easy and affordable gift idea! You can find a similar customizable clutch here in the meantime.  Or you could buy this one or this one and take it to a local embroidery store.

UPDATE 02/10/14: C. Wonder has re-stocked their monogram clutches in new patterns for spring right here!

{fall boots round-up}

I just spent the last month and a half searching for the perfect brown leather fall boots to fill a void in the boot line-up in my closet.  I thought my weeks-long search was over when I made this purchase last month, but I actually returned those after my shoe repair guy candidly told me they weren't worth the price tag by a long shot.  I only had a couple criteria I was trying to fulfill in a pair of boots: they needed to be brown leather (I already own these black boots which I loooove), they had to be flat, and they had to be something that would last me for years to come.

In this search, I probably tried on at least 20 different boots across multiple shopping trips not to mention the amount I looked at online and I ended up pulling the trigger on these Frye polished leather riding boots (pictured above).  Saying I'm obsessed with these boots would be an understatement- I have paraded them around for every house guest we have had in the past couple weeks, already worn them out ten times or more and refused to store them in the closet opting to have them displayed near the front door so I can stare at them.  In the interest of saving you some shopping time, I created a little round up of my favorite fall boots (most of which I have either tried on, already own or have analyzed in person!).

Also- in other news, I am currently in New York City to shoot some fun video segments so make sure you are following me on instagram to get some behind the scenes sneak peeks!

1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  

{shopbop friends & family sale picks}

Shopbop has 25% off the whole site right now for friends & family- which is seriously amazing but its giving me some anxiety because there is so. much. good. stuff.  Here are some of my faves (and honestly if you have to pick just one thing I would pick the Stuart Weitzman over the knee 50/50 boots because I already own them and I probably love them more than my dog).

dresses:  1 |  2  |  3  |  4

bags:  1  |  2  |  3

jackets:  1  |  2  |  3

boots:  1  |  2  |  3

{office rug shopping}

I recently went on a little shopping expedition on RugsUSA specifically looking for a rug for our 2nd bedroom which serves as my office/closet (and if we are being honest- I take up way more than just the closets in this room- it feels good to admit it. thats all.)  I recently moved around the whole set up in this room, but you can see how it originally looked in this post.

This room happens to be on the corner of our building and is consistently 10 degrees colder than other rooms in our place which can be an issue in the winter so rug would definitely make it a bit more cozy. It took me months to finally decide on a rug for this room- mostly because I don't think we will have a 2nd bedroom in our next place so I wanted to choose a design/color that could work well with our other furniture.  Here are a few of my favorites that I debated between and be sure to check back next week to find out which one of these I eventually chose!!

clockwise from top left: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 

{packing for a park city wedding weekend}

I could not be more excited to be on my way to Park City, Utah to celebrate the wedding of two of my favorite friends, Ben & Terra.  Ben and I went to school together through elementary, junior and high school and Terra was my maid of honor.  On top of all that, Chris and I actually lived with Ben & Terra for two and half years in our Silverlake house when we first moved to Los Angeles so this wedding is really close to my heart.  Ben and Terra have been together for over 12 years so they aren't just having one night of wedding celebration, but a whole wedding weekend which meant that I found myself packing for a lot of different events!

I have been travelling quite a bit this summer and I don't normally do run downs of my packing list, but I am so excited to wear all these outfits that I thought it might be fun to share a little peek at my suitcase contents!

 {dress from ASOS, INC jacket (similar here), vintage gucci clutch (similar here), Target belt, Zara shoes, Forever 21 shoes}

 {bridesmaid's dress from fashion district in DTLA, Zara leather jacket, Bibi Lou heels (similar here), vintage glitter clutch (similar here), Forever 21 necklace, Flutter Fetti}

{Akira maxi dress, Forever 21 fringe top, Akira floral shorts, Zinke one piece swimsuit (other color available here)}

{what I loved this week}

on instagram: Two ideas I am totally stealing: @sodressedup's peonies in a champagne trophy bucket & this restaurant in Atlanta's idea to serve personal trays for DIY bloody marys! Also this tank top in @carlyhaslee's photo is perfect.

on pinterest:  This silver fringed heart is amazing- it would be so perfect as a photobooth or dessert table backdrop (plus I think it would be pretty simple to execute).  I am so inspired by all the summer outfits popping up in my pinterest feed- especially this one that mixes chambray and neon. 

on the blogs: You know that feeling when you stumble on a wonderful blog you have never heard of and then spend an hour going through all their posts from the past year?  Yeah- that just happened for me with Luxe Report.

in the magazines:  I want to re-create this entire Cali- Persian menu from the latest issue of Bon Appetit. 

in real life:  This weekend we are dog-sitting Emma the french bulldog and Finley the boston terrier.  I'm in heaven. 

on the internets:  This video literally had me bawling- while this kid's story is heartbreaking it is also one of the most inspiring things I have ever seen. 

on my wishlist:  Oh. My. God.  This Alice + Olivia dress is just perfect- the cut is gorgeous plus I love the surprise in the back and the leather details (and it comes in this color too!).  Target does it again with this fabulous black/white rug.  Another dress with a party in the back- this one's price tag is fabulous too! 

Happy Weekend!

{our wedding photo album}

I am so excited to finally have the physical copy of our wedding photo album in my possesion!! I have been working on creating this book for a couple months now- continuously tinkering with different photo choices and layouts.   I chose to use Blurb's photo services for our wedding album because I have always had such a great experience with them (you can see the series of photobooks I made with them as well as a link to a super helpful review in this post).

I chose their biggest format which is 12" by 12" square for our album since I knew that all the photos I would be using would of a high enough quality to handle the huge size of the pages.  Initially I debated keeping with a simple one photo per page layout to really highlight each and every shot, but in the end I wanted to include sooo many photos that this would have been unreasonable.  The book includes a variety of layouts from 1 or 2 photos on a page to 4 photo collages to two full page photo spreads.  I only included two pages of text in the entire book which are our wedding vows that we each wrote and surprised each other with during the ceremony.  Blurb just released a line of thick "pro-line" paper which is 140 point paper which costs extra per page, but worth every single penny.

Our book ended up being about 240 pages since I decided at the last minute to include 80 or so pages at the end of my favorite photobooth shots.  Initially I thought the photobooth pictures should be in a separate book, but there are too many great shots that really capture the feeling and emotion of the party/reception that I couldn't leave them out. 

Although the pictures are not as high of quality as they are in the actual printed book, you can see the entire book in digital preview format right here.

**no compensation or sponsorship has been provided to me by Blurb- I really just love their service and quality product!

Here are a few snapshots of our album:

{a library of stationary}

If it wasn't already pretty apparent, I reaaaaaally love paper goods, especially beautiful stationary and correspondence cards.  People so rarely send regular mail these days that it makes the act of sending and receiving notes that much more special.  I have always had a pretty large box filled with stationary for any occasion (most of which was leftover from my high school job working at a paper store believe or not), but all the events of the past year have really been cutting into my supply of cards.

I have had my eye on this set of Russel + Hazel stationary for some time, but the price was just a bit higher than I would prefer to pay.  Until recently when the entire set went on sale at Nordstrom and I scooped up a box of each different design and two boxes of the "thank you" set! Links to the individual stationary is below each photo so you can get some for yourself (unfortunately the "change of address one is the only one still available on Nordstrom's website).  If you don't already have a good stash of cards then this is a great place to start- the designs are simple, but the color combinations are amazing.  Plus all the envelopes are lined in corresponding colors!

 {these simple thank you notes are what first drew my attention to this line of stationary.  I love that all the cards in the set are a simple flat card rather than a traditional folded version.}

 {gold foil gets me every time. every. single. time}

 {I love the unexpected citron color of the "oh how did you know" set. The "fancy that" set reminds me of something you would see in a Kate Spade store.}

 {The playful phrases on the "oh how did you know" and "fancy that"cards could really be used for an array of purposes- especially just a spontaneous note to say hello}

{I love this layout for a "change of address" announcement- this little box would make a great gift for newlyweds who will be re-locating}

{The only blank notecard in the set is also the one that is hot pink with a fabulous gold foiled edge.  I love that even though this card has no phrase or graphics it still has ton of interest from the over saturated paper color.  Perfect for any note that doesn't conveniently fall into one of the other sets.}

{weeknight vegetarian}

While our regular dinner party menus might lead you to believe otherwise, we often try to cook vegetarian meals especially on week nights at home.  One of my favorite blogs for great vegetarian meal inspiration is Sprouted Kitchen which features the only two things you need to make me read a food blog: amazing photography and even tastier recipes (and a new book)!  We recently whipped up her recipe for shitake mushroom & lentil tacos for a quick weeknight diner for two.  Don't let the vegetarian nature of these tacos fool you because they are full of flavor in addition to being quite healthy!

{our holiday cards}

You might remember the holiday cards I reviewed for Minted back in this post.  While I did end up using Minted to print our holiday cards, we actually ended up using their "Big Picture" design with allows you to upload you own full bleed photos to both sides.  As with many people around the holidays, we had the best intentions to take a real photo for the card with the Chicago skyline in the background or something festive, but time got the best of us.  We decided to simply use one of our favorite wedding photos and then get a little more creative with the back of the card...

{zara home line launches}

Remember over a year ago when I was pleading with Zara to bring their fabulous home goods line to the US??  Well....their home products just launched online in the US today and I pretty much want one (if not two!) of every single thing!!  Here are a few of my favorites with links below- go shop here!

1. casper urn, 2. black vanilla candle, 3. side tables, 4 fur throw, 5. silk eye mask, 6. gold drip teapot, 

7. gold rim wine glass, 8. gold dipped carafe, 9. tray with stand, 10. skull candle, 11. gold mirrored tray

{monogram shopping}

With our wedding only 4 months away, I am getting more and more excited to use my new last name especially in Monogram form!  My personal monogram will look a little crazy since my new initials will be NZX, but that hasn't stopped me from doing a little research on all the different things I will be able to use them on after April....

 {monogram pendant necklace}

{personalized stationary}

 {Pottery Barn pillows}

{door monogram, this one is my personal favorite and it's a great price for only $42!}

{new wall decor}

A couple weeks ago Chris' sister surprised us with an early wedding gift from our registry.  She gave us the white resin deer and moose from ZGallerie!!  (As a side story- Chris' parents actually thought it was a mistake when his sister told them what she bought for us because they were confused why we had registered for taxidermy.)  We have wanted these for a long time and always thought they would look wonderful on each side of our bed.  Since our walls are bright white, we picked up some pre-cut unfinished wood "shields" from Michaels Crafts and stained them with a dark Varathane wood stain.  

I apologize for the poor quality of these photos; the darkness in our room plus the white animals on white walls make these very difficult to photograph!