Tasty Caprese Sandwich

I love caprese salad. Which is weird, because I have never liked tomatoes. I never eat them (except in salsa or ketchup, or something else where they don't actually taste like themselves). Somehow all of the other ingredients in caprese salad make the tomatoes taste pretty darn good. I also don't make food that often, my expertise is closer to putting fruit in yogurt or heating up something frozen. It's terrible of me! My dad is an awesome cook, and I never tried to learn from him, I just kept letting him make me delicious pasta sauce from scratch. So for all I know, I could have a knack for it, I've just never tried. Well, today Jose had his first day of substitute teaching, and it was for a kindergarten class, so I thought after all of the herding of small children he'd be doing all day, it might be nice for him to come home to a prepared lunch. I got home a few minutes before he did, and I put together this little sandwich I dreamed up last night (I made him two, and one for myself). It was soooo delicious, and simple!


I toasted an English muffin, spread some pesto sauce on it for a little extra kick, added a slice of tomato, crumbled fresh mozzarella on top, added basil, and finished with balsamic vinegar.


Jose definitely approved, by the way. I think it's kind of pretty too. Looking at the photos makes me want to eat another one! Yum! It goes really well with a blackberry Izze.

Weddings I Love

Even though I've been married three years, I still can't seem to tear myself away from wedding blogs. It's probably not good for me, because sometimes I see a fantastically done wedding, and almost wish I could go back and make ours a bit spiffier. For the record, I totally loved our wedding and I thought it was pretty perfect. I just think some of these people are so amazingly creative and there are so many ridiculously awesome things going on in the "wedding world" now. So I wanted to share some of the weddings that make me weak in the knees.




The photos from this wedding just took my breath away. It was truly a masterpiece of creativity and design. It's one of those weddings that makes me go "Shoot, why didn't I think of that?" and it is simply perfect. Eunice and her sister Sabrina are the minds behind Hello!Lucky as well as the adorable book, Handmade Weddings, so of course everything would have to be visually stunning. The parade, the stage, the dress, the tent, ummmm... basically everything about it was genius. You can see tons of other details about their day here, including DIY projects with instructions, and you can even buy their stationary, customized for your own wedding.




Here is another one I wish I had come up with myself. Jenna and Jon had a Coney Island carnival theme (so you know I love it), and it was executed in such an elegant but playful way. I totally adore their invitation suite, inspired by tickets, covered in stripes and circus fonts, and emblazoned with little elephants. They married under the Brooklyn Bridge, and their officiant swallowed fire! There were balloons, paper hearts, and a very pretty handmade huppa. Their reception was like a circus tent, and they even had a hula hoop performer. What a creative and unforgettable way to get married.




I'm sure everyone has seen Elsie and Jeremy's wedding, but if somehow you haven't, you have got to take a look! Elsie is definitely one of the most creative blogger gals out there, so of course her wedding was a whirlwind of DIY and thoughtful handmade touches. You can tell that so much thought and love went into each little detail. The menu for the reception was quite amazing; gelato, tasty drinks, and the prettiest treat table. They had breakfast for dinner, including heart-shaped pancakes... how sweet is that?




I believe I found Ginny's blog, My Favorite Color is Shiny, through her gorgeous wedding photos, and if you look at them, you can see that she's absolutely serious about loving shiny things. Ginny and Ed's wedding was a lovely 1920s-inspired event, and even the guest dressed in period attire. Ginny looked like an absolute dream in a shimmery vintage drop-waist dress. I love the colors, the lanterns, the photobooth, and especially how blissful the two of them looked through the entire day. You can see much more here, and watch their beautiful video.




I have loved the art of both Nik and Jessica for many years, so of course when the two of them got married, it was bound to be totally fantastic! Bowling alley wedding, oh my goodness! They both looked so spiffy; check out that eye-popping dress Jessica is wearing. Of course everything was brilliant design-wise; kitsch and rockabilly all around. I especially love the fawn cake topper, made by Jessica (she sells them in her shop). These two are so cute and bad-ass at the same time!




Michelle has been an online friend of mine for a number of years, in fact I even remember when she met Robert. Their engagement photos were so fantastic; they posed at Disneyland and in front of the famed Cabazon Dinosaurs from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. They are so cute together! It seems like they always have so much fun, and of course their wedding was no exception. There were tiny origami cranes and colorful origami flowers everywhere, their cake toppers were Luke & Leia Leo people, and they even had a piñata! Most importantly, they just look so happy and in love, the photos made me tear up a bit.




This was one of the most inspirational weddings to me as we were planning our wedding. Karyn and Sean included the most amazing little details, but unfortunately the photos are all private now so I can't link to them! The couple designed their invitations, as well as cake boxes, gift tags, and even paper cones for the cotton candy they served. The paper goods were marked with their nickname, "The Dreamies" and sweet little illustrations. They gave personalized polaroid film as favors. The color palette was full of lovely pastels. I believe seeing their pictures inspired me to use a bubble machine in front of our reception tent.




I followed Tamera's wedding planning process on her blog, and I couldn't wait to see how everything turned out in the end. Well, I have to say that Tamera and Sean had one of the most magical, whimsical, and beautiful weddings I've seen. It took place in the woods of Vermont, and what a perfect setting. There were so many handmade elements; personalized invitations in wooden boxes, a wonderful feast, the loveliest decorations. Tamera even made her dress. Incredible!




Here's another carnivalesque wedding that I love (do you sense a bit of a pattern here?), shot by Josh Goleman, who also took the photos of Ginny and Ed. Adam and Halli had a lot of help from their friends and family in putting everything together for their wedding. The venue was decked out in gorgeous fairy lights and balloons. I love the little bit of striped fabric behind them during the ceremony, like a tiny piece of a circus tent. The entire event truly looks like a carnival, complete with loads of fun and dancing, plenty of tasty food, and a kissing booth!




This one is more of an honorable mention, because it's not a real wedding, but a set up for one heck of a great photo shoot. My heart jumped when I saw it! Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while knows that I adore Water for Elephants, both the book and the film. Photographer Marilyn Nakazato shot this beautifully styled take on what Jacob and Marlena's wedding might have looked like. They even shot it at one of the locations in the movie! I think everything is absolutely gorgeous, and I love that they used cotton candy, candy apples, popcorn, and circus cookies. The photographer and vendors really captured the look and feel of the story quite well.




OH MY GOSH. I've been working on this post on and off for a couple of weeks now, and right before finally publishing it, I was reading Dot Girl Blog and I discovered the most butterfly-inducing wedding photos I have ever laid eyes on. Dominique and Ron definitely outdid themselves. Look at the outfits! Her headpiece! Their decor! They even had an In-n-Out catering truck. Oh my word. It's almost beyond words, guys! You have to look at all three parts of this incredible wedding. Why am I not friends with these people?!

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

We're looking forward to throwing a super amazing ten year anniversary party!

Wonderland Treasures

It may not be very original of me, but I have always loved Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I love the story, and I like many of the films as well. Especially dear to my heart is the totally ridiculous 1985 tv movie musical I grew up watching on VHS. You have to see it (John Stamos and Carol Channing, why not?). So for this Much Love Monday, I decided to share my little collection of Alice trinkets. This amazing handkerchief was given to me by my friend Phillip, who is a master of finding really nifty obscure vintage pieces. He also found the Disney Alice paper doll with lots of cute outfits.


As for books, I found a big beautiful copy of The Annotated Alice at the public library shop as a discard. Camille Rose Garcia's illustrated book is just amazing. She is one of my favorite artists, and I think her style goes so well with the story. I used to have the Little Golden Books version of Alice in Wonderland when I was vey little. There are home movies of me at about age two "reading" it upside-down, while I actually tell the story of Snow White. I couldn't find that copy among the boxes of my childhood books so I snapped this one up at a used book store.


Jose's grandma gave me this cute little tin of mints.


These postcards by Emily are so darling.


My Mad Tea Party painting is one of the pieces I'm most proud of.


Also, if you are interested in winning my Dessert Girls print and Cats in Costumes, or any of the other goodies Donna is very soon giving away for her Blog Party, don't forget to comment here, plus you can see my feature post here and comment for an extra chance at my items.

A Week On My Own

Jose has been away for a week visiting family while I stayed home to take care of the kitties, so I've been on my own, trying to keep somewhat busy and entertained. It's been a week of get-togethers with friends, eating with Mom and Dad, watching way more television than I can usually stand, reading, organizing, list-making, and a lot of snuggling with Lily.


He will be back tonight, then we'll have one more day together before our summer comes to a too-soon end. I love summer, I will be so sad to see it go.