Lovely and white. . .

.

So if I were to do it all over again, I might wear this dress. . . Look at it, just look at it!

.
. . . LOVE It . . .
.
Dearest JCrew, How do you do it? How do you manage to get inside my little head and create exactly every piece such as I would? How do you create such lovely daytime wear, evening attire and then top it off with these lovely wedding gowns? Oh JCrew, how I do love thee. . .

Wedding Season Begins. . .

Each and every year, for probably the past 7-8 years, Ben and I have been blessed to be invited to a number of weddings each spring, summer and fall.

.

As we gear up for our favorite time of year, I find myself shopping for new dresses. . . because probably like most of you I cannot wear the same dress to any of these weddings, I must find a few that I LOVE!!

.

I've got my dress for next weekends beautiful affair in Cincinnati. Sweetbride is getting married and since she is one of my favorite fashionista friends, I must wear something splendid! Check it out. . .It's a lovely dress from Anthropologie. . .I'll be wearing it with a fun chunky bangle, black peep toe pumps, will be carrying a black patent clutch and a lovely pashmina! I can't wait to celebrate with Miss Leslie herself. . .

Now I'm on the hunt for the my Southern California weekend wedding. . .My girlfriend, Sara, is marrying the love of her life, Sean! I'll be traveling with a few of my favorite sorority sisters and their delightful beaus - and we cannot wait to celebrate with these two special friends! I still need a dress, however, so its crunch mode gals!

.

These are a few of my latest favorites. . . Check them out and give me your thoughts!

This first one is a classic, but trendy piece from Jcrew. . . What do you all think about the color?!? I'm fairly tan right now so it just may work. . .It's a classic piece, with a little spice!

This kimono sleeved dress is adorable from Banana Republic. . . I L.O.V.E the color scheme, just not sure about the arms, seeing as I haven't lifted much more than my suitcase lately - may not be the most flattering!?!
This next is a great piece from Trina Turk. I'm sort of obsessed with it - because I think I could totally wear this out to a fun dinner or something later on too. . .




This one is completely impractical - but I'm obsessed with it. . . Jcrew, how do you always do it?!? Please tell me. . . oh and when you decide to go on sale, I may just purchase you! Just can't rationalize the $495 pricetag for a "onetime"wear.

I'm still on the hunt. . . but these were a few of my fave finds this weekend!

The most delightful wedding news. . .

This week I received an email from an editor at The Knot Magazine. Our wonderful photographer, LisaKae, did a fabulous job and then we both submitted pictures to their website!

Well, this week, I was told that they would be featuring portions of our wedding in THE KNOT wedding magazine!

This is a dream come true, as I've been a fan of The Knot even prior to being engaged! Through all of the planning stages I utilized The Knot website as a fantastic resource for wedding planning, especially since I was planning from afar.

Regardless, I don't know any details yet - but I am thrilled and had to share it with you all!!

More to come. . . I promise . . .

Family Favorite: Chicken Paprikash

Bailey Family Chicken Paprikash Recipe:

This is one of my favorite recipes. . . its an old Bailey family recipe that my Grandma Bailey and mom have perfected. Its a hungarian recipe and its delicious comfort food. . . Enjoy!

Ingredients:

- 1 - 2-3 lb Chicken, cut into pieces (or 3-4 chicken breasts, if you are short on time)

- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Margerine or Butter

- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Oil

- 1 cup Diced Onion

- 2 Tablespoons Sweet Paprika

- 1/2 teaspoon Salt

- 2 cups Chicken Broth

- 2 teaspoons Flour

- 1 cup Sour Cream

Directions:

Melt Margerine or Butter with Oil in Heavy Skillet. Dice Onion and add to melted Butter and Oil mixture. Cook onion until clear in color and add Paprika. Stir in Salt and Chicken Broth. Bring to a boil and add cut up Chicken pieces. Cook and let simmer for approximately 1 hour.

Stir Flour into Sour Cream and stir into Chicken and broth mixture, until thickened and smooth.

Serve over noodles, spaetzel, rice or mashed potatoes.

*Note* Do not bring to boil once you've added Sour Cream.

Serve this delightful dish with a vegetable of your choice and a side salad. Dinner is Done!

Sweet Sweet Swoozies. . .

This week my lovely husband sent me this sweet little site. . .and boy am I in love. . . not only with Ben, but also with this new little site! This site is called Swoozies and its wonderful!

They personalize just about anything from invitations, to napkins, to placemats, to can koozies, to tubs. . . need I say more . . . Check out this site, its a great gift giving and entertaining resource!

. . .

Check out these adorable personalized placemats. . . When I was a little girl, my mom had these great personalized placemats that my sweet sissy and I used, so we wouldn't ruin the table! These remind me of them. . .I can't wait til the day I can get some made for my little gals!

Check out these neat utensil tubs, sort of fun for a picnic or a themed engagement gift?!? Love them. . .

Lastly check out these market or picnic baskets. I received one of these from my sweet sissy as part of a shower gift and I use mine just about every weekend when I go to the local farmers market! I'd love to have it monogrammed and I think this is the most precious gift idea. . . I can't wait to order one for my next friend who hosts a shower, gets engaged or has a birthday! Love!!

These are just a few examples of what Swoozies has to offer. . . Check it out!

Oh the best part, I almost forgot, since we are all experiencing these difficult economic times - each of these items is priced at under $20! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?! (I think my sissy is probably bummed, because I know she paid more than that for my market basket!) ENJOY and check out Swoozies soon!

A Beautiful Shower. . .

A few weeks ago I attended a bridal shower for one of my good friends in Cincinnati, Ohio. (See above - myself, Bride - Leslie, and Friend/Bridesmaid - Gretchen) It was hosted by her maid of honor, who happens to be her cute cousin, and her favorite aunt. This shower was lovely and I've been waiting to blog about it until I had the time to really sit down and share all of the details with you all. . .

My girlfriend is one of my sweet sorority sisters and she is just as cute as a button. If you happen to follow any of the other blogs that I do, she is the bride of sweetbride. I have heard so much about her cousin and I just knew that the shower would be perfect, and surely it was.

This bridal shower was held in a pretty room at Maggiano's Little Italy Restaurant. We dined on delicious food like eggplant parmesan, spaghetti with homemade meatballs and of course delicious desserts too!

The color theme followed Leslie's wedding color scheme and it was mainly a light pink and a chocolate brown. There were beautiful vases full of the most fabulous pink and white roses and huge beautiful bowes with pink and brown toile ribbon around them were the centerpieces. . .

Each of us was given a small card that had Leslie's name on it and a small pink and brown vase made out of paper that is designed to be planted and serve as seeds. (What a cute idea!) I happened to find them at beau-coup designs - check them out!

The games were cute and tied directly in with Leslie's interests. Leslie loves to cook and she appreciates Paula Deen's recipes and style of cooking, just like I do! We played a game that was related to Paula Deen. Leslie is absolutely in love with Paula Deen and the game was with her recipes. We had neat little cards with various ingredients for each recipe listed out and on each card, one key ingredient was missing, we then had to list out the missing ingredient. It was a fun and unique game to say the least. . .

We also played another game that quizzed each of us on how well we knew Leslie, they then tied this in by asking her Fiance, the same questions to uncover how well he knew her too. He scored very high marks. . .We all knew he would!

The prizes for each of the games were such a neat idea. Leslie also appreciates Oprah and who doesn't like Oprah's Favorite Things list she publishes and showcases each year? The prizes were all Labeled as Leslie's Favorite Things . . . There were prizes giving gift certificates to Pottery Barn, DSW, and Macys to name a few, there was a signed copy of one of Paula Deen's cookbooks and a number of other great prizes.

Leslie received a number of lovely gifts as well. She received a great mercury glass cake plate (I blogged about it a few weeks back!) and a number of other delightful gifts. Her mom had the most beautiful wrapping on all of her gifts. . . She placed handkerchiefs, white gloves, lace, pearls and then a small black and white picture of the nearlyweds on each gift. They were lovely. She even went as far to gently dye the handkerchiefs in tea so they looked more antique. . . LOVE IT! Check them out. . .

Overall, it was a lovely shower and Leslie greatly appreciated every bit of it. She is going to make the most beautiful bride on her big day in a few short weeks and I felt so blessed to have even been invited to share in all of this with her! Miss Bride, I can't wait for your big day in a few short weeks. . . everyone else make sure you check out her sweetbride blog as well!

Daydreaming of Spring . . .Cottage Living at its Best!

Today I found myself daydreaming of spring

and when it will arrive. . .

When I think of Spring and Summer I think of Michigan! I dream of the lake, my parents beautiful backyard, barbecued chicken on the grill and corn on the cob. I think of summer birthday parties with my family, cool nights spent watching the sunset over the lake and our lovely wedding along the shore of lake Michigan.

I dream of a small little town where I spent many of my summers as a child. . .

I dream of Arcadia.

Arcadia is a quaint, little, almost undeveloped town on the west side of Michigan along the shores of Lake Michigan. It is known for its quiet beaches and fantastic family resort. It has a small marina, one bar, an ice cream shoppe and a gas station. (Now you see what I mean by undeveloped - we love it!)

This is why we love it so much. . . Check out this view. . . PRICELESS!

I dream everyday of the cottage I will one day have in Michigan. . . I think of the visitors we will have throughout the summer months, of the family dinners we'll share outside at our picnic table and of the memories we will make.

It is my dream to find an old farm house that we can slowly renovate into our dream cottage.

Here are a few more pictures of my dreams. . .

I'd like it to have enough room to house all of our family and I'd love for it to be within walking distance to the beach. . .

so we can ride our old vintage bikes down to the beach every day!

I'd love to have a huge vegetable and herb garden, a front porch with lots of hanging baskets and be within walking distance to church.

(See a picture below of Trinity Lutheran in Arcadia - a perfect little old and historic church!)

Here is a picture of my imaginary garden and side yard. . . lovely isn't it?!?

You can soak all of your worries away in our lovely guest bathroom. . .with an antique claw foot tub, of course!

Welcome to our large eat in kitchen. . . we'd have room for everyone to cook and dine in one place! LOVE. IT.

I'd also like to have a wall like this - I love the plates, super cute! Although there wouldn't be any need to wear black heels here - simply sandals! (Leave those crazy work shoes at home!!)

Here is a pictures of one of the guest bedrooms where we can all stay! RELAXING.





I'll see you in a few short years, you can come over and we'll share a delightful bottle of french rose at our old picnic table outside, we'll dine on grilled chicken on the grill and surely a delightful fruit trifle for dessert, we'll have beautiful candles and an old pitcher full of wildflowers on the table. . .



Sound perfect?



Mark your calendars. . .I'll see you in a few years!

Birds. Birds. Birds.

Here is a little update on my birds. . . a few weeks ago I blogged about painting old things white - so they look like new - I found a few birds that I wanted to paint as inspiration for my dining room! I have not had an ounce of time to start on my dining room redo, but I did manage to muster up some time to paint these lovely little fellas!

They were so easy - I simply found the items I wanted to paint, bought a can of white spray primer and a can of white spray paint. I used flat paint - but you could use whatever suits your fancy!

Check them out. . .

Here they are prior to painting. . . I did it outside in my back yard on a sunny saturday!

Aren't they cute. . . I sort of heart them. . .

Here they are after being painted - for now they are perched on our mantle . . . They will soon be in the dining room with the navy walls - but for now, they have found a nice home in the living room!

Here they are from afar - so you can see the start of our finished mantle!!

Oh Dearest Blog. . .

Oh dearest blog. . . how I love thee. . . let me count the ways. .

1. You provide me with a great creative outlet!

2. I love showcasing all of my wonderful finds on a daily basis - there are simply so many talented folks out there!

3. I love the great advice and contacts that I receive from my blog!

4. Lastly, it simply makes me happy to write. . . I wish I had more time!

I am so sorry little bloggy - I've been so busy with my new job and my crazy travels that I haven't even had a free second to visit with you! I promise this weekend to visit this weekend - with lots of great finds, ideas and much love. . .

I promise to write more later. . .