DIY Wild at Heart Gift Basket

I'm so excited to finally blog about a gift basket that I made for my dear friend's 22nd birthday.  Through some creative thinking, I came up with a gift basket idea that I knew she would love. 

The idea began when I was shopping online for Bare Escentuals make up.  She loves my Bare Escentuals eye shadow, so I thought I would find some to get her for her birthday.  I ended up finding a make up kit (complete with eye shadows, mascara, and lip gloss) called "Pretty Wild."  I ordered it right then, thinking that it described her perfectly.  (Plus, it was a great deal!)  It was shortly after I ordered the makeup set that I found the bedazzled liquor bottle idea on Pinterest.  Ah!  I had to do it!  After thinking about the bedazzled bottle of Tequila and the makeup set "Pretty Wild," I came up with the idea of making her a gift basket that had a theme.  The perfect theme that came to mind? 

Wild at heart! 

Here's the finished basket, and a breakdown of what I did, what I got, and roughly how much money I invested in this project. 

So, here the basket is all put together!  I basically made a list of things I knew I wanted in it, and then shopped to find the best deals.  Here's a breakdown of the things I purchased, and did not make: 
-The silky leopard print panties with lace trim at the top were purchased at Ross for $2.99.  She laughed when she saw them, and I knew a pair of fun, wild panties would be an inexpensive touch to add to the basket.
-The glittery frame with pink gems was exactly what I was looking for, and I found it at Ross for $4.99.  I wanted one for myself too!  I put a picture of us at a rooftop bar in LA to keep with the "wild at heart" theme.
-The polka dot box has a wine opener in it that says, "I drink better than I cook."  It was a funny Ross find for only $2.99, and I knew she didn't have a wine opener in her apartment.
 -Finally, the "Pretty Wild" makeup kit.  I ordered it online at a great sale price (less than $20.) 

Now for the DIY touches! First, the basket.  I looked everywhere for a sturdy, cute, bright or animal print basket. I ended up having to go to the Dollar Tree, just because I knew they would have bright colored baskets. (They have a ton there of all shapes and sizes.) To make it cuter, I glued gems leftover from bedazzling the Tequila to the front to make her initial. So, this monogrammed basket was $1.






Okay, so my bedazzled liquor bottle looks nothing like the fabulous ones I found on Pinterest.  But, I was at least able to add some sparkle with gems I purchased at Wal Mart and my handy hot glue gun.  The roundness of the bottle did make this project a little difficult, and gems did eventually fall off.  But I'm sure that's bound to happen.  Regardless, she loved it!

This was super easy to make.  The frame I already had, but it was originally purchased at the Dollar Tree.  The letters were a great buy I found at Target in the scrap booking section.  A pack of them for $.99!  Beware, they are VERY glittery.  I knew I needed to have something to show the theme of the basket, so I simply glued the words to a piece of paper and framed them.  Only $1.99 and super easy.  Plus, I love how it turned out!

Since I wanted to somehow incorporate chevron into this basket, I used a piece of ribbon that I already had to tie a bow to the basket for an extra touch.  I then used sharpies and glitter puff paint to add the chevron design to the ribbon of the bow.  It was just an easy touch to add since I had everything for it already.

And, ta da!  The finished basket.  She loved her birthday present this year, and I loved putting it together.  Now I'm constantly thinking of random gift basket themes I can make for special occasions.  I'll keep my blog updated with any more!

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Winter Date Idea: Christmas Lights

Now that the Holiday season is upon us, my husband and I get to do one of my favorite winter time dates: making hot chocolate to go, hopping into the car, listening to Christmas music and driving around looking at Christmas lights.  It's nearly free, relaxing, and very enjoyable.  Here is some inspiration from our most recent light-viewing car ride!

 Hot chocolate to go, check!

 

Just some of the pretty lights we saw!

 

 

 

It's such a wonderful time of year to enjoy the simple things.  Happy Holidays to all!

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Vacation Bucket List

 I love to travel.  When I'm traveling, I am fully aware of how amazing each moment is.  So different from day to day routine, moments I experience while on vacation are cherished because I realize  they are moments I won't be getting again anytime soon. 
     Today I'm reminiscing about the road trip I took near the end of summer.  I (and two of my favorite people) traveled to San Diego, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.  Though  these are all places I have been before, I loved visiting them again.  I am a planner, and of course, made sure I would make the best of every last moment.  While doing my research, I made a "travel bucket list" based on things I knew I wanted out of my road trip.  Vacations are overwhelming, with everything being so "in the moment," and I knew that if I made a vacation bucket list, I wouldn't miss out on things I really wanted to do simply because I forgot about them during vacation mayhem. 

Here's my list:

Now I'm going to share my vacation bucket list in pictures and in more detail. While I did do everything on the list above, I'm not going to share pictures of all of them because it's a pretty long list!

Random Roadside Stop:
This is a road trip must! I love road trips because you are not on an airline's time frame. If you see a place that sounds interesting along the way, you can stop! While on our way to San Diego we stopped at Bravo Farms in Traver, CA. It was the perfect place to stop for a break from driving. There we got to explore the inside of a seven story tree house and try delicious free cheese samples. It was a very good choice for our random roadside stop.

Night Time Hot-Tubbing:  This we did in San Diego. Of course it had to be at night, since the days are so hot in Southern California!

 

All Day Beach Day
This was probably the first thing on my list. My first trip to San Diego, I was there for a conference and didn't have time for a beach day, so I knew it was a must for next time. We spent the whole day at Ocean Beach lounging, snacking, reading, exploring the pier, and playing in the water. The weather was perfect, and I already want to go back!

Happy Hour
Vacations are great because you actually have time to go to happy hour in the middle of the day! During our all day beach day, we walked over to South Beach Bar & Grill in San Diego and got great deals on drinks and appetizers. After hearing great reviews on their fish tacos, I ordered the baja and it was delicious. Happy hour is always a good idea!



Shopping
Okay, this is a must for any vacation.

Sunset
We waited patiently for this beautiful San Diego sunset. So lovely!

Night Time Beach Exploration
I love going to the beach at night with a couple of flashlights. The tide has gone down, and you never know what you'll find washed up on the beach. While we were in San Diego, we visited Coronado Beach on Coronado Island. We had so much fun running down the beach, exploring, and writing in the sand.

Lifeguard Tower
I've always wanted to sit on a lifeguard tower! Maybe it's from when I used to watch The O.C. in high school, and it was Marissa's place to hide out from the world. Regardless, we couldn't resist climbing on top of this one and snapping a photo!

Find the Best View
Here I am at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. This was actually my third time at the observatory. It is simply the best view of LA! Plus the observatory building itself is so cool, I enjoy just walking around and taking it all in. The next time I go to LA, I'm sure I'll make a trip up to the observatory for a forth time!

 
Coffee at a Local Coffee Shop: I actually blogged about this coffee shop in a previous blog. We got our morning coffee at Cafe Audrey while we were in Hollywood.

Sushi in LA
I had to put "sushi in LA" on the list, because I'm from a smaller town where I don't get to have it very often. My restaurant of choice was (I have to admit) influenced by the Hills. I love the show, and saw the prices at this particular locale were very reasonable. I was super happy with the sushi there, it was delicious! I would definitely go back.

See the City Lights
I love being downtown at night, amidst the city lights. We went to the the rooftop bar at the Standard Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The view was phenomenal! I may blog more about this bar later in one of my Out & About posts, but for now know that the view was fabulous. And we went on a Tuesday so there was no cover charge!

Macarons: I love macarons! These delicious little treats are no where to be found within a 100 mile radius of where I live, so I knew I had to find at least one while on vacation!

Walk of Fame
This was my second time on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, but during this trip I had more time to see some of the newer stars. The Walk is such an iconic part of Hollywood, and I love that we were able to walk around at our own pace, snapping pictures of some of our favorite celebrity stars. Here we are with Cameron Diaz's star!

Start Each Day Pool Side:  Need I say more? Each hotel we stayed at had a pool that we graced with our presence each morning of vacation!

Adult Slushy
Okay, so we had to get one of these obnoxious large adult slushies while we were in Vegas. It was a great way to fight the heat, and they tasted delicious. The flavor possibilities are countless, but I stuck with one I knew I couldn't go wrong with: margarita!

 
 VIP Club/ Rooftop Party
 These two items on the list we did at the same time. We met a club promoter who got us on the list for Pure nightclub at Caesars Palace. The best part? It was on the rooftop with awesome views of the strip, and with our VIP bracelets we got free drinks until midnight!

 
Pop Pink Champagne: I made sure to bring a bottle of pink champagne (my favorite!) to pop in our hotel for our first night in Vegas.

Cosmos at the Cosmopolitan
YUM! This was actually my second time getting cosmos at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, but my friend wanted to put in on the list and I couldn't turn down these delicious cocktails.

 
Eat Out at New Places: This one is a given. Eating out is a huge part of being on vacation. The point of this one is to make sure that we didn't waste any opportunities to try new things. No fast food or restaurants I can have any time I want.

Try a New Drink:

My first coconut margarita (from Cabo Wabo in Las Vegas) and my first time trying Sake (from Cafe Sushi in Hollywood.) I love trying new things!

 

 

Making a travel bucket list is now going to be a vacation-planning must for me. I really feel like it helped me get everything out of my vacation.  I can't wait to make another one!



 

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Let's Decorate: Simple Ideas for the Kitchen and Dining Room

Today I've decided to share a few decorating ideas that I've used for my own kitchen and dining room.  I'm all about decorating on a budget, especially using what I already have or what has been given to me.  I'm going to start with the main focus of my dining room wall.  (My dining room is open to the living room and the kitchen, so aside from a partial wall that has a door to the deck, there is one main wall.)  Here is a picture:

The shelves were given to me from my mom, meaning they were free for me.  She had them already and never used them!  The theme of my kitchen/ dining room is wine and coffee.  This wasn't a planned theme, it's just based on things I've accumulated/ things that were given to me.  I love it though!  Here's a breakdown of each shelf:

The wine glass is from a wine tasting event put on by a club I was in during my senior year of college.  The bottle of wine is a commemorative bottle of red wine from "The Last Taste," an event that I attended (and helped plan through another club I was in) on my graduation day.  The grapes I already had from a long time ago, and the coaster I found at Goodwill for 99 cents.

I hung this little "Tuscan Olive Oil" picture above the center shelf.  It was handed down to me from my mom.  Lucky for me, I have a mother who likes to update her kitchen from time to time; meaning I get to capitalize on the things she gets rid of!  On the shelf, I made a black and white canvas simply by purchasing a blank canvas from the Kraft Warehouse along with a small sheet of fabric I liked.  I then cut the piece of fabric down and stabled it to the back of the canvas.  Very easy and fast!  The wine glass was a gift from my best friend.  It's a Breakfast at Tiffany's wine glass, so I had to use it for decorating rather than its actual purpose (since I adore Breakfast at Tiffany's.)  I put leftover gems and fake diamonds from my bridal shower inside the glass, as well as a tea light. 

The smallest shelf is the simplest.  The small white vase was 99 cents from Ikea.  I had made a bunch of "flower pens" by taping a sunflower to a pen, and I just stuck one of the pens inside the vase.  So, the white flower shown can also be used for writing. :)  The glass vase was from the dollar tree, as well as the white stones inside of it.  I placed a tea light inside as well.  Very simple and very inexpensive. 

Next I'm going to share a little project I used for my drop-down cupboards.  (Drop-down cupboards were a must, and I had a blast deciding how to decorate them.)  Here's one section of the cupboards:

 

This idea was not planned.  I was browsing at Goodwill with my mom, when we came across this four pack of silver cups that were still in the box.  We immediately thought they were adorable, and snatched them up for only $1.99.  We went to the Dollar Tree next to find some flowers to put inside.  I stuck to yellows and whites because it was summer at the time, but I am thinking about swapping them with red flowers for the holiday season.  I love how they turned out!

Here is my favorite part of my drop-down cupboards!  The two coffee "art-works" were hand-me-downs from my mom's kitchen.  The "cafe" lettering was a gift from my mom.  The wine glasses were left over from my bridal shower, and the little champagne buckets I will break down below. 

 

I love these little champagne buckets.  I found two of these little silver buckets at Goodwill for 99 cents each.  You can't tell very well from the picture, but they have grapes on them.  I knew they would be perfect for something, I just had to brainstorm!  From then I decided that I could put mini champagne bottles in them and make cute little champagne buckets!  How adorable.  The little grape hand towel was an awesome touch I found at the Dollar Tree.  They came in a two pack, which was perfect.  One for each bucket!  And finally, the mini bottles of champagne I was able to purchase in a four-pack.  I used an old hand-towel inside the bucket to position the bottles perfectly, and voila!  They are just the touch I wanted for my cupboards!

These are just a few home decorating ideas I've used in my own home that are very inexpensive.  Getting creative with things I've found at Goodwill and the Dollar Tree, plus using what I had already or what was given to me, I have been able to decorate on a budget.  More ideas to come!

 

Happy Saturday!

 

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Out & About: Cafe Audrey

On a recent trip to California, I visited Hollywood for a short time.  While doing my vacation research (looking up places to eat, see, etc) I stumbled across this adorable cafe called Cafe Audrey.  Since I wanted to veer away from the usual Starbucks, which I have all the time, I was excited to find a local cafe for my morning coffee.  After looking a little more into Cafe Audrey, I was very excited to find that it is a little cafe completely dedicated to Audrey Hepburn.  It was then that I knew I had to make this little cafe my morning coffee stop while I was in LA. 

The cafe is located on a side street that is right off of Hollywood Boulevard.  There is indoor and outdoor seating.  The decor of this cafe is really what makes it a worthwhile stop.  It is so adorable.  Here are some pictures I took while I was there:

The front of the cafe, and classic black and white decor.

This is the menu.  The prices were good- cheaper than Starbucks.

The reason I said the decor was what made this cafe visit worth it is because the coffee was just okay.  I ordered an iced vanilla latte, and I would have much rather had one from Starbucks.  It tasted good, I just don't think it was strong enough for my taste.  I probably could have asked for an extra shot of espresso and loved it just fine.  Oh well- next time I'm in the area! 

Here are our coffee drinks of choice!  Cheers! 

This wall, shown below, was my favorite part of the whole place.  What a great dedication to the classic icon!

I recommend this little coffee shop to any Audrey Hepburn fans that are in the LA area!    

  

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Wedding Details: Breakfast at Tiffany's Inspired Bridal Shower

For my second post in the "Wedding Details" series, I couldn't help but share my bridal shower.  Thanks to the advice of a creative bridesmaid, I made the decision to have a brunch inspired by one of my favorite movies, "Breakfast at Tiffany's."  With a lot of help from from friends and family, it came together perfectly.  In this post, I'm going to share all of the fun, inspired, and lovely details. 

Decorations

My bridal shower was held at my mom's house outside.  We used my parent's outdoor tent, tables borrowed from the office where I work, and chairs rented from a local party rental store.  My sister-in-law set the table beautifully, using china that she had purchased for me (my bridal shower gift!) In the center of the tent we hung a chandelier that I already had. (You, unfortunately, can't see it in the pictures.)

 

We, also, scattered fake pearls and diamonds over the table.  The centerpiece consisted of white carnations (from Safeway) in a clear vase adorned with a pink bow, and an adorable little chandelier borrowed from a coworker.  The Tiffany blue tablecloth with the white runners was a surprise from my mom and my sister-in-law, made to (of course) look like the signature Tiffany blue box.  It was perfect!

Menu 

Since my bridal shower was a brunch, the menu was important.  I wanted simple and elegant menu items.  Here is what we had:

• Fruit Tarts
• Mini Pancake Skewers
• Petit Fours (mini cakes)
• Fresh strawberries and blueberries
• Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups
• Cake Donuts

The cake donuts below were purchased from a local bakery.  They came plain, so we bought frosting (turned pink with red food coloring.)  Pink sprinkles were the final touch!  Yum!

The donut tower was an adorable idea I coldn't resist.  I found it from a blog that is full of wonderful ideas for hosting a Breakfast at Tiffany's themed bridal shower.  Here is the link: Eat Drink Pretty Breakfast at Tiffany's bridal shower.  The bacon, egg, and toast cups were an idea I found on Pinterest.  They were simple, delicious, and provided us with something to eat that wasn't sweet.  Our menu was simple, but very tasty.  You can never go wrong with brunch!

                                                                                

 



Next, beverages. One of my favorite parts of the bridal shower was probably the mimosa bar. It was so adorable. And what is brunch without mimosas?   Our mimosa bar was made up of three options to have with champagne:  orange juice, V8 Splash tropical (makes such a yummy mimosa!) and peach juice (for bellinis.)  We also had strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries for garnishing our mimosas.  We decorated the mimosa bar with my Breakfast at Tiffanys wine glass (with fake diamonds and a tealight) and my Breakfast at Tiffany's poster.  The labels I made by simply printing directly onto pretty scrapbook paper I already had.  The other beverage options we had were sparkling pink lemonade, bottles of water, and coffee. 

 

 



Games

Games are a very important aspect to a successful bridal shower.  After all, who wants their guests to get bored?  The good news is that there are tons of great games out there that are easy and fun.  We stuck to four basic games.  The first game was an ongoing game that lasted throughout the brunch.  Upon their arrival, each guest was given a pink ribbon necklace and informed of three words that they could not say throughout the shower, or they would lose their necklace.  The three words were my groom's name, wedding, and marry (in any form.)  If someone was caught saying any of these words, the person who caught them got to take their necklace.  At the end, whoever had the most necklaces won a prize. 

The next game was the purse game, one of my favorites.  One of my bridesmaids had compiled a list of things that she read off, and we had to look in our purses to see how many of the random objects we had.  It was similar to a scavenger hunt.  It was so entertaining to see the random things that we all had in our purses.  At the end the pair that had the most items in their purse got to pick a prize. 

 

 

We also played the classic "How well do you know the bride and groom" game.  This one is self-explanatory.  The last game we played was the "toilet paper wedding gown" game!  This was too much fun.  The guests broke up into three teams and had rolls of toilet paper to design an award-winning bridal gown on their appointed team model.  The best part?  Since I was the bride, I got to be the judge!  After the teams had five minutes to create their dresses, the models had to strut their stuff for all of us as I decided which team won.  This game is a bridal shower must!
 

Details

I love details.  They really can make something good, great.  Here are just a few details from here and there that helped make my bridal shower special. 

These champagne flutes were favors for the guests at my shower.  My maid of honor and I used chalkboard spray paint to spray paint the bottom of the glasses so that we could use them as place cards as well.  We put a small bag filled with after dinner mints inside the glass as well.  They were adorable and very simple favors!  Champagne flutes were a neccessity as well because we had champagne, and since I didn't want to buy a lot of champagne flutes for myself, it made sense to turn them into favors and let the guests take them home.

 

Another favor (which was also a dessert item) were rose and salted caramel flavored macarons in adorable Tiffany inspired gift boxes. This was such a special detail that was absolutely perfect for the shower. I love macarons! And these boxes were fabulous. My mom found and ordered them online. They were a great find!

Below is the gift table.  We decorated it with white and pink balloons, pink peonies, and white carnations.  We also placed a couple heart candles by the vases as well.

 

 I found these beautiful pink peonies at Coscto.  They were very inexpensive and absolutely ideal as they are my favorite flower.  They are stunning.  These lovelies were decorations for the buffet table.



 

Here, two of my lovely bridesmaids are making my "bouquet" out of all of the tissue, bows, and ribbons from the bridal shower.  The bouquet is for me to use at my rehearsal dinner.

 

And then, finally, below is a picture of my maid of honor and myself.  The last details are fun details for the bride.  My maid of honor got this adorable bride to be sash for me which I was to wear at my bachelorette party.  Below I am also wearing a giant diamond ring pin, and a cute tiara that says bride to be, both gifts from my mom.

 

  

For me, planning an event is just as fun as attending one.  I love all of the details and possibilities.  Needless to say, I had such a great time at my Breakfast at Tiffany's inspired bridal shower!



 

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