naytcha

I love birds, and flowers. Flowers are significantly easier to take pictures of, however, so the ratio of birds to flowers should impress you at least a tiny bit. 

Bottle & Bottega

My birthday was last Friday and while I like to think I'm not one of those girls -- you know the type, birthday crazed, celebrations for a month? -- I do tend to seize the opportunity to do something a little different and drag friends along for the ride. Oh and day drinking. That's a theme too.

I've had some doozies -- rooftop BBQ's, beach parties at Castaways, a trip to Arlington Race track, etc. etc. So when another girlfriend who happens to be a fellow Gemini suggested one of Bottle & Bottega's BYOB painting classes to celebrate our respective birthdays, I knew it was just the ticket. Painting? Perfect. That's classy. I'm 29 now, you know.

We grabbed a few more girlfriends for manis and then stopped by Angelina's legendary champagne brunch, which solidified itself in my mind as hands-down the best service in Chicago. They brought over cotton candy for our birthdays, new bellinis and mimosas showed up before ours were even halfway gone, and are truly just the sweetest, most welcoming staff.

Fortified by champagne and cotton candy, we were ready to get our Monet on and headed over to Bottle & Bottega's Lakeview studio. It was cuter than we even could have imagined and they made us right at home with four easels by the window. We set up our spread of cheese and crackers and popped open our wine, chatting and patiently awaiting our impending masterpieces' beginnings.

In all seriousness though, while we're all creative in our own way, no one was expecting all of the paintings (ahem... any of the paintings?) to turn out so, so well. The instructor was really talented at helping everyone feel comfortable and breaking the painting down into very manageable steps... but somehow, it all felt more like a fun time with girlfriends instead of an art class in high school. I'd guess there were between 30-40 people there altogether, mostly groups of women, and I'd wager that every single person left happy, buzzed, and feeling creative.

Two (painted) thumbs way up -- I can't wait to go back and their classes will definitely be making their way into many future girls' outings! I also saw an advertisement that they do "Bump Parties"... private painting showers for mamas to be where everyone hand paints bibs as gifts. I need a pregnant friend pronto, because I'm pretty sure nothing could be cuter.

A very happy birthday to me.

+ iPhone-only pictures ahead! 

  

Backyard BBQ

I finally got a lot of posts transferred over from DeuxChicago, where my sister and I blogged for the last few years. If you've clicked over from DC, thanks for coming by :)

It finally, finally turned into the beautiful Chicago we all live for and I spent a great weekend afternoon at a BBQ, drinking sangria, playing bags and using my friends as my personal photography subjects. They photograph well, what can I say? I really need a dog pronto, that guy was born to be a star.

 

Seastar

Day 5 of the Blog Every Day In May Challenge asks us to publicly profess our love for a friend -- in my case, this could be no one else but my sister. I've referred to her before as my younger-older sister, my best friend for 27 years, my other half.
She is only 18 months behind me but has somehow navigated life at least 19 months ahead of me at all times. When we were five and seven, my mother would send us on "missions" to find things in the grocery store to cure me of my crippling shyness. Ali, barely more than a toddler, would hold my hand and then, when our mom was just out of sight, she'd race to the nearest clerk, belting out "WHERE'STHEKETCHUP?" then march behind them, blazing a trail to the condiment aisle and then shoving the bottle into my hands to deliver to our mom.
When we were 11 and 9, our mom gave us the master bedroom to share. (And if you're wondering, yes, she should be sainted any day now.) In between coordinating dance/gymnastics routines to the Spice Girls that involved careening wildly off our beds into cartwheels and somersaults and exhaustive "floor" routines in our master suite, Ali patiently curled my hair for me and applied nail polish, skills I found impossible to master. While she draws the line at toes, she will do both of these things for me to this day and will forever be infinitely better than I am at either. "Curl AWAY from your face, Toots. No, that's not away. The other way is away from your face."
Yesterday, she came over for dinner, a date we try to maintain once a week. Like sisters will, she gave me advice I didn't even know I needed and certainly didn't want to hear. I remember staring at her, my alien-beautiful sister, my little protector, the knower of all of my secrets, wondering how she ever ended up so poised and so wise. But then it occurred to me that maybe I just take her wisdom and always knowing what to do for granted; that she always has been exactly this poised, this wise, and I've always known it and have never had to question it.
I will happily spend the rest of my life wondering how she does it; so proud to call her my sister and my best friend.

-ll

Unique Script + Handwriting Fonts by Måns Grebäck

When I updated my computer recently, I lost a lot of my carefully collected font collection from over the years.

In rebuilding and looking to update my blog, I was searching for well-curated lists of script or handwriting fonts available for download and found myself less than enthused with the results. If I see Jenna Sue one more time...

I was digging through FontSpace and immediately started noticing a trend in the fonts that I loved: they were all by one font creator, Måns Grebäck. His handwriting fonts are stunning, unique and available for free for personal use and average around $60 for purchase.

He has over 200 fonts available for free here - all perfect for a updating your blog graphics, creating invitations, etc. Enjoy!

Houzz

I'm moving in just a few weeks out of my vintage East Lakeview apartment to a condo in Streeterville and am mildly freaking out. Its always such a rush of excitement, planning, nostalgia, list-making, etc. You're picking up your ENTIRE LIFE and taking it from one collection of square footage to another. Rather humbling to realize your life can be packed up, isn't it?

I've moved a lot in my life, but it never gets much easier. (Except I now know to wrap vases and picture frames in kitchen and beach towels and shove jewelry into my shoes... every inch counts!)

So beyond the lists and the "ONE-LAST-MEALS" at my favorite neighborhood joints, I am trying to remind myself that this is actually really fun. And mostly because I get to decorate a whole new place! Its a BLANK SLATE. I have picked up a fun (but temporary, I swear) penchant for talking interminably about paint colors and whether we should get the white couch of my dreams or be practical and get a darker color.

Enter Houzz, a collection of photos by interior designers, complete with product listings and searchable by room, city, color and style. As much as I love Pinterest, the search functionality is limited at best and on the hunt for some inspiration photos, I am praising the interior design gods for sending me stumbling upon a course that led to Houzz.

Here are some of the photos I've saved to my Idea Book recently - I clearly am loving a soft, gray color scheme.

Have you tried Houzz? How do you find inspiration for home decor? And most importantly, any moving tips?! :)

Contemporary Living Room by Toronto Interior Designer BiglarKinyan Design Partnership Inc.

Modern Dining Room by Minneapolis Architect Peterssen/Keller Architecture

Contemporary Bedroom by Chicago Interior Designer jamesthomas, LLC

Contemporary Living Room by Boston Interior Designer Terrat Elms Interior Design

Contemporary Living Room by Vancouver Home Staging Fluff Designs & Decor

Chocolate + Peanut Butter Popcorn

Oh man. With my limited-at-best self control, there are certain things I regret knowing exist. Carly Rae Jepsen's full-length album and the fact that you can melt parmesan cheese in the microwave into a giant cheese chip, for example. 

This recipe is being added to that list. I really thought this was my own brilliant idea until I did a Pinterest search and discovered its been done many times by many brilliant ladies. So much for originality, but I'm okay with being in the company of others who roll their popcorn around in melted peanut butter and chocolate.

I knew this couldn't really be BAD, but I didn't realize how dangerously, deliciously addicting it would be. Wish me luck. 

---

CHOCOLATE + PEANUT BUTTER POPCORN WITH SEA SALT

This makes a LOT (about 10-12 cups, depending on how much you sneak in the process!) so make sure you have a destination for your treats or some friends on their way, or you and your self control will be left alone with a bucket of sweet and salty goodness. Best of luck to you, friends. 

5 Tb unpopped popcorn

1 Tb and 1 tsp canola oil, divided

1 C peanut butter 

1/2 C maple agave syrup* 

1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Sea salt to taste

Pop your popcorn in 1 Tb of canola oil on the stove or in your popcorn popper. If you only have the microwave bags on hand, that'll work too! But please, someday soon, make it on the stove... you'll be a convert.

Pour the popcorn out on to a large baking sheet covered in foil. Be careful to omit any unpopped kernels!

Combine peanut butter and agave syrup in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for about 1 minute or until it's very liquidy and smooth.

Pour the peanut butter and syrup mixture over your popcorn then toss with a spoon to combine. You might need to use your hands to get all of the popcorn coated, but be careful, the peanut butter and syrup mixture will be very hot!

Next, melt your chocolate chips in the microwave for about a minute with 1 tsp of canola oil. The oil makes it smoother and easier to pour over the popcorn.

Now pour your chocolate mixture over the popcorn and toss it all up to combine again.

Sprinkle with sea salt to taste then set the tray aside to cool and firm up. 

*I got mine from Trader Joe's and I'm a huge fan. Honey or plain agave syrup would work just as well.