By now, you should all know my love for pumpkin-everything. It’s sort of a problem but I problem that I’m choosing to ignore.

We’ve all seen the quote… probably more than once. But today, I needed to read and re-read it. What a great reminder that through struggles and hardships (hello new small business owner), following your dream will indeed lead to a happy and fulfilling life.

{ have a wonderful week }

Are you getting sick of me talking about fall yet? Can you tell I’m just a wee bit excited? Well, I hope you can bear* with me for another fall-inspired post because today it’s all about the cocktails!

This drink is so easy and not to mention TASTY! A little advice: mix the apple and cranberry juice with the vodka first. Then, blend it up a bit {electric blender works best} to give it a little froth. Top with ginger ale and pour it into a glass full of ice.

BOTTOMS UP, FRIENDS!

** yes, it’s “bear” not “bare”… just in case you were wondering. 

Let’s go out on a ledge edge here and take things up a notch.

jcrew | baublebar | dsw

The temperatures are slowly dropping but don’t cover up with those big, chunky sweater just yet.
Let’s have a little fun…

1. transition your summer-like pieces (a cotton, peplum top perhaps?) into your new fall favorites
2. mix and match. prints and patterns CAN go together.
3. always add a little sparkle.

How do you incorporate your pieces into a-year-round-season-favorite?

Pumpkin Patches. Chunky Sweaters. Boots. Apple Cider. Fall is officially here. My {absolute} favorite time of the year. And, it just so happens that I also love weddings. {gasp!} So let’s combine the two, shall we?

In my opinion, fall is the perfect time to say I do. The weather is cooling off. (yes, please. I’d rather not sweat off my makeup and make pit stains in my dress) The leaves are changing. (hello gorgeous photos!) and let’s face it, pumpkin flavored everything is available! (while this may not be important to everyone, it is to me. I’m pumpkin obsessed. Yep, we had pumpkin whoopie pies on our big day!)

So, if you love fall, maybe an autumn wedding is the perfect fit for you.

:: here’s some inspiration to get you started ::

You might think that all fall wedding have to have dark colors (plum purple, browns, etc). But try this- stick with the pale hues: peachy orange, cream, soft yellow and then, add in a little punch with pops of rustic green.

Would you do a fall wedding? 

Hi friends! I hope you had an awesome weekend. Like always, it went by too fast. {sigh} Anyway, I wanted to share a quick and easy meal that I made on Monday night. If you’re like me, you need quick and easy AND something super healthy after coming off a weekend of the-not-really-caring-attitude

So, here it is :: Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai (ish)

{recipe}

1 spaghetti squash (an awesome alternative to pasta or rice)
2 cups of shelled edamame (a frozen bag is easiest)
1 egg, scrambled 
3-4 green onions, chopped
handful of peanuts, chopped
2-3 Tbsp of sesame seed, toasted

dressing:
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp white rice vinegar
a pinch of garlic powder and ginger

directions:

Bare with me. I kinda made this up along the way but here’s how I made it…
First, cook the squash. Either in the oven (usually takes about 45 mins) OR in the microwave (which takes about 15 mins. Super easy.) Here’s a link for step-by-step directions if you need it. While the squash is cooking, boil the edamame (per directions) and cook the egg. Once the squash is done, cut it open, seed it and start pulling out the squash. I recommend grabbing a fork and scraping it out so that it makes nice spaghetti strands. Place all of the squash in a bowl and pour the dressing on top. Next, fold in the green onion, edamame and egg. Sprinkle some peanuts on top for a little garnish and eat away! 

A couple of weeks ago, during the final days of summer, we harvested a few summer squash and a handful of tomatoes from our backyard garden. Our garden didn’t do so great this year (hello drought of 2012) but I really wanted to make something yummy with our “crop”… so I searched for a new recipe to try.

After doing a quick review of my favorite cooking blogs, I stumbled across this recipe from thefauxmartha. It was exactly what I was looking for… light. filling. delicious.

one change I made: I used rice, no bake lasagna noodles to make this recipe gluten free. they taste very similar to regular noodles but they do take slightly longer on the stovetop. 

Now that it’s officially fall, I’m gearing up for hearty meals and warm soups.
{now, if only the weather would cooperate with my cravings…}

Happy Eating!

The mister and I are still coming off the high of celebrating our one year anniversary. We took a little getaway weekend escape together and then spent yesterday (the actual anniversary) hanging out, going through every photo and reading our anniversary notes that we had guests fill out at our wedding. (I highly recommend doing something like that. It was SO much fun reading all of the well wishes from our family and friends)

So…in keeping up with our wedding and bringing back wedding wednesday, I thought I’d share some of the details from our big day.

holy moly, me oh my, you’re the apple of my eye…

As some of you may know, that amazing, little song, Home, was the theme of our wedding {side note- It’s also where the paper + styling studio name came from} that was exactly one year ago today. I’m still not quite sure how a year has come and gone but boy has it been wonderful. So today, I want to wish a happy first anniversary to the love of my life, best friend and partner in crime. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life having this much fun with you…

dancing down the aisle to “She Said Yes” by mumford and sons

Stay tuned tomorrow as I highlight some of my favorite wedding details from our big day for Wedding Wednesday!