Living

  • Stay At Home Sushi Night

    I am by no means a sushi expert but I love to host a stay at home sushi night. Our good friends who moved to Eastern Washington stayed with us last weekend and I was excited to treat them to a tasty Seattle Sushi evening. It’s not a secret that we have great seafood in Seattle and our friends were ready to indulge in some great sushi they have been missing on the Eastside of the mountains. I started the evening by offering Sapporo beer and my spin on a Sake Spritz. The original recipe I found called for Plum Sake and mango-flavored seltzer water, so why not add mango…

  • A Sweet Strawberry Shower

    I showered my oldest friend on Saturday with a sweet strawberry baby shower luncheon. An intimate group with individual cheese and fruit plates and all things strawberry made for a lovely afternoon and I am sharing all of the fun details of this delicious baby shower theme below. The Color Palette I originally planned a totally different shower and had to change locations and themes last minute because of Covid. The original shower was going to be a luncheon at our local country club and I picked this pink rattan invitation to match such event. When forced to change venues, strawberry was an easy theme choice because this dear friend…

  • Peach-O-Rama

    Each July, Metropolitan Market celebrates “Peach-O-Rama” (yes, I rolled my eyes too when I first heard the name) when they bring massive amounts of ripe, ready-to-eat peaches, into their grocery stores. Metropolitan Market’s Peach-O-Rama event is now more than twenty years old now, and permeates not only their produce department, but also their bakery, deli and prepared foods. Every year, we not only look forward to being greeted at the front of the store with slices of sweet, ripe peaches to sample (remember when things such as samples existed?!?) but also the store’s ready-to-grill marinated chili peach pork tenderloin in their butcher shop case that they offer during Peach-O-Rama. So…

  • Celebrate the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale with a Vine Street Cocktail

    TGIF! We made it! And we have the perfect Friday night COVID activity for you to celebrate with! Make yourself a Nordstrom Vine Street Cocktail, get comfy on the couch, and browse Nordstrom’s Anniversary Sale items that are available to preview starting today (July 24). For the first time due to COVID-19 and in lieu of a print catalog, Nordstrom is giving giving everyone the ability to preview all sale items online. This way, you have plenty of time to save your favorites to your Wish List and check out faster when it’s time to shop. Plus you cannot get into any trouble because the Anniversary Sale items are not…

  • Our Favorite Outdoor Toddler Items (And what I wear while I’m chasing them around)

    We buy ALL the things as parents; some are a hit and some are a miss. These are our biggest hits and the things that we truly use multiple times a day anytime it isn’t pouring rain outside: Bounce House – My mom told me I was insane when we bought this for Joey for his 3rd birthday but I think it’s been our best parent purchase ever. We use it both indoors and outdoors so the kids can get all their crazy energy out rain or shine! Scooter – We take a scooter ride every. single. day. Joey recently upgraded to the razor scooter but started on a 3…

  • Girlfriend Goodie Bags

    Happy Friday! I’m spending the weekend with girlfriends (and children) in Chelan and made little goodie bags for us to enjoy while we are here. All of the necessities for a weekend of fun in the sun. Whether you’re planning a girls weekend, bachelorette party or a birthday celebration hopefully this provides some inspiration! Also… my friends’ husbands will be there and mine will not (he’s going to my brother’s bachelor party) and I am slightly terrified to have the boys on a mini vacay solo so wish me luck! Here are all my goodie bag necessities: Retro Sunglasses Tie Dye Tees (homemade – directions here) My favorite Pink Bubbly…

  • My Favorite Wedding Details

    Chris and I celebrated our 6th anniversary yesterday and I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorite things from our wedding… there are aspects I would change, things that were fine but these are the things I loved so much and hope they can provide a little inspiration in your own wedding planning process! On that same note, I am SO sorry for everyone who had their wedding planned and had to reschedule or cancel because of Covid – the wedding planning process is difficult enough without the stress of a PANDEMIC – I can’t even imagine.  Intimate Rehearsal Dinner             We kicked off our destination wedding…

  • My Festive & Inexpensive 4th of July Purchases

    We spend the week of Fourth of July in Lake Chelan at my parent’s cabin and I do my best to have us all wearing red, white and blue the entire time we are there. It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year, helped by the fact Chris and my anniversary is the 5th, and having us all in coordinating red, white and blue just makes it that much better! Here are the new fun festive pieces I found for my fam and myself for the lake this year: Fitted Tie-Dye Ribbed Tank / Old Navy Rose in the USA Graphic Tee / Vintage Crew Neck Red White and…

  • Father’s Day Weekend Recap

    (and Chrissy Teigen’s Everything Bagel Breakfast Bake) Its Monday and we are not quite ready for the weekend to be over! We had a fun-filled, food-filled Father’s Day weekend and wanted to share all the details with you.  Friday night we celebrated Juneteenth with Edouardo Jordon’s Red Punch (recipe here), red velvet cupcakes and cookies, watermelon, our favorite almost homemade Trader Joe’s cornbread, and Fried Chicken Friday takeout complete with mac and cheese, coleslaw and fries from The Counter at Old Ballard Catering Co.. Only $28.00 for an 8-piece chicken dinner with your choice of three sides (add $3 if you choose mac and cheese as one of your options), The…

  • Juneteenth

    About a week ago, The New York Times Cooking newsletter showed up in my email inbox including a very pretty picture of a strawberry cocktail and a link to Nicole Taylor’s story entitled “A Juneteenth of Joy and Resistance”. Admittedly, it’s the picture of the strawberry cocktail that caused me to open the email, read the newsletter and then clink on the link. Nicole Taylor’s story describes how the coronavirus and protests over the killing of George Floyd have complicated the upcoming celebration of Juneteenth, the June 19th holiday that honors the day in 1865 when, Taylor writes, enslaved Africans in Galveston, Texas, learned from Union soldiers that they were free, two years…