Anniversary Trip

Since the husband recently started a new job and doesn't have much vacation time until the end of the year, a quick weekend trip was in store for our first anniversary. Since neither of us had ever been (but we've heard great things) we headed to New Buffalo, Michigan. Just a short drive from Chicago it turned out to be the perfect trip. There was some time at the beach, bikes rides through town and a trip to the vineyards. We stayed here and although we only went to two we really liked the Round Barn Winery and Brewery (which is the uh, round barn pictured below). There was lots of good food and an amazing farmers market - all around a great trip!

We almost parked our car in the driveway and just moved right into this house. The shingles, the flowers, be still my heart...

This concoction involved pico de gallo, shrimp, guacamole and other spicy goodness:

As I am reading this I realize we essentially ate and drank our way through New Buffalo! But I guess that's the sign of a good vacation, no? The farmers market was amazing - I actually made a joyful noise when I bit into one of the honey crisp apples. Mmmmm...

Belated Birthday

In all the anniversary talk I forgot to mention that somebody had a birthday. Aside from a new lobster toy, a birthday cake and a trip to the groomer she also got a new bed (the other one needed to be thrown away last year sometime). The groomer always puts a bow in her hair that Brad promptly removes as soon as he can catch her, but this time I was able to snap a few of her hanging out with it still in her hair!

Moments of Laughter

This weekend marks our first wedding anniversary, which is both exciting and a little hard to believe (wasn't I just worrying about seating arrangements?) The running joke for the past few weeks has been that if the old adage that "the first year is the hardest" holds true, we're going to have smooth sailing from here on out. Its been a year filled with a lot of unexpected turns and challenges - a few of which we're still moving through - but its true that the hard times just make the good ones even sweeter.

So along the lines of sweet moments, I was inspired by Courtney of Under A Paper Moon who wrote a series of posts about moments of laughter. Because a year after the details were finalized and the cake has been cut, these are the moments I remember. And I am so grateful that they are forever captured on film (even if I look like a total fool in the last one)...

The Marshmallow Test

A friend sent this to me this morning, and its still making me laugh. These little ones are supposed to keep their paws of the marshmallow until the adult comes back into the room...truly torture! {Via BuzzFeed}

Nick Paul

We went to the Renegade Craft Fair over the weekend, and as usual were introduced to some amazing local artisans. I've seen something similar to these recycled beer bottles before, but never anything made this well. Nick Paul does an great job of making these bottles into glasses that have rounded rims and are dishwasher safe. Truly a perfect gift for the hard to buy for beer drinker in your life!

Make Pictures Bigger in Blogger

I've been asked this question several times, so today we're taking a break from regular programming (whatever that is) for me to show my astounding blogger expertise. (I am kidding about being an expert - please don't send me hate mail for making false claims and being an arrogant moron. Its sarcasm, my dears)

So, how do you make your pictures bigger in blogger? Its really quite easy.

1. Adjust your main column width to a size that suits you. Mine is 550px, which means I resize all my pictures to be 550px in width. You can find out how to adjust the width of your columns by people who are much smarter than I am - this tutorial is a good one.

2. Once you've adjusted the width of your picture to match your column width, upload it into blogger and go to the Edit Html tab:

3. When you click on the tab you will see something similar to the following, which makes up the html code for your image:

Its the info highlighted in green and red that interests you. Simply delete all of the green code, so that the line looks like this: style="CURSOR: hand;" Its important to leave those quotations and semicolons intact. Then go to the red text, and change it to say either s640 or s800 (the difference is how big the picture will actually be). I use s800 for my pictures.

I am sure there are a lot of better ways to go about it, and if you use flickr or another image hosting site I think its less complicated. But that's how I go about resizing my pictures in blogger - hope that helps!

Silhouette Pendants

Its nearly impossible for me not to fall in love with anything involving silhouettes, and these are no exception. Lucky Me Beads creates these adorable custom made silhouettes from pictures and makes them into pendants. You can choose a size and also opt to have the pendant double sided. I personally like the smaller sizes, but any of them would make a great gift for your Mom or Grandmother.

Vanity Hand Towels

How cute are these? I love the idea of them spread out on top of a vanity, or even next to the sink for guests to use (or just to bring a smile to your face for everyday use). From the always adorable Anthropologie, of course, found via Poppytalk.

Breathing Space

This house makes me sigh with a mixture of envy and relaxation. Despite the fact that I would inevitably spill something on that ivory fabric less than thirty seconds, I still want to live there. {From Architectural Digest via This is Glamorous}

She's Back!

Filming has begun on the new Sex & The City Movie! I can't completely decide how I feel about a sequel, but that certainly won't stop me from being one of the first in the theaters to see it. Oh how I adore SJP. {Image from here}