Audrey, we need you.

...If you look good, you feel good, you're in a good mood, you radiate that goodness to people you come across, you feel good about yourself, and motivate yourself to be good at what you do.

Vanity is good.  van-ity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others.

CASE IN POINT

:maybe it sounds silly, but if I feel like a mashed-up-asshole, I don't really care to do much of anything, let alone GOOD:

Looking good doesn't mean spending a wad of money on designer labels, that's not what I'm getting at here, but why are there so many women that don't take pride in what they wear anymore?  I'm sure it's no easy task, or a comfortable one, squeezing into an outfit that cuts into you.  Audrey, Audrey, we need more like you.

"There is more to sex appeal than just measurements. I don't need a bedroom to prove my womanliness. I can convey just as much sex appeal, picking apples off a tree or standing in the rain." - Audrey Hepburn

I love her quotes so much, she didn't just say them, she lived them through her philanthropic work, and looked great doing it.  In her later years, acting took a back seat to her work on behalf of children. She became a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF in the late 1980s. Traveling the world, Hepburn tried to raise awareness about children in need. She understood too well what it was like to go hungry from her days in The Netherlands during the German Occupation in WWII.

 

Old Hollywood Inspiration

Yes, I know, the wedding isn't until July 2012.

Here are three looks that I am currently loving.

1. Elizabeth Taylor's fair skin and bold eyes with perfect brows.

2. Ava Gardner's natural but done look, lips look great even in b&w.

 

3. I love Adele's complete look.  The peachy colors and dramatic
but not over done eyes,  the hair too.
She's so gorgeous.



NYC Quakes and Hurricanes

We live in Edgewater, NJ, which is situated on the Hudson river over looking NYC. 

This week I

A. ...felt my building sway while sitting in my 23rd floor Manhattan office and thought I was going crazy until I saw my blinds moving and my water bottle dancing like it was in the movie Jurassic Park.  Not a subway, not construction, or terrorism (thank heavens) but an earth quake... really!?

B. ...am looking up ways to prepare for a hurricane... yes hurricane,  possibly a category 2... headed right to NYC where I work (hey at least it's on the weekend) and across the river where I live. 

And to think I was going to do a tutorial on how to make fresh ricotta cheese this weekend!

Here's some tips for my fellow natural disaster buddies.

1. Secure your windows and brace outside doors - we rent so we can't do that.  To make sure the window's don't shatter if broken put tape in the shape of an asterisk * on the windows.

2. Make sure you've got flashlights with extra batteries... better yet a rechargeable flash light.  Invest in some Yahrzeit candles (pronounced y-uh-t-zite), it's a 24hr candle used in the Jewish religion to honor a person that has passed.

3. Plug in that landline phone.  A phone that doesn't rely on electricity is key if the power goes out.

4. An AM/FM radio will keep you tuned into the latest news on weather and conditions.

5. Pay attention to evacuate orders, especially if you live in a high rise above the 10th floor.

6. Get organized.  Keep the family's IDs, medications, contact lists and a change in clothes in water tight or Ziploc bags.  Don't forget personal effects, like feminine hygiene products, toothbrushes and diapers.
Keep it in a bag, preferably a backpack, and get ready to grab it if you have to evacuate.

7. Make sure you have things like hoodies, blankets, and rain ponchos.

  

8. Bring inside loose, lightweight objects, such as lawn furniture, potted plants, garbage cans, garden tools and toys.

9. Anchor gas grills and propane tanks, close up and secure patio umbrellas and retractable awnings. 

10. If you're stocking up on canned goods, don't forget to pack a can-opener.  Throw some granola bars or non-perishable food items in your bag too.

11. Remember fresh water. A recommended gallon of water, per person, per day

12. First aid kit complete with a utility knife, such as a leather man.

13.  If you have kids, I would recommend one toy packed away to help soothe them in the event of an evacuation.

Rustic Engagement Party.

Here's the inspiration board (one of many) for our engagement party. 
My fiance picked the poms... kidding.
Although I love actual candles... it's not wise to use them in a 1930's pavilion with hanging poms and drunk guests.  I want to to be a laid back romantic with easy up and easy down. 
Since it is going to be September, sub the spring mix of flowers with rich fall tones and sprigs of fragrent lavender and rosemary from the garden.  Yellow is the primary color... but not primary yellow... more like a warm rich yellow, kinda like : summer's last hurrah - yellow. 

Note: summer's last hurrah for a paint color is so appropriate, no?  yes.

I love inspiration boards, do you ever use them when planning?

por favor!



Courtesy of Pizzazzerie



Engagement party is inching closer and my excitement is amping up along with the never ending ideas...

Right now let's just talk favors!

I have a few different ideas that need to meet certain needs.

1. Cost effective
2. Eco-friendly
3. Yummy

It shouldn't be too hard right, except I've been researching this for months now, and have too many ideas.  I usually say...

"One can never have too many great options."

In this case one can, and does.

Here they are folks, ideas for the favors.  In no particular order.

1. Seasoned (by yours truly) pumpkin and/or sunflower seeds.

2. Made with love 4oz mason jar pies.

3. From the garden Rosemary and basil infused olive oil.

4. Festive Fruit infused vodka.

Or I could make my life easier with:

5. Cookie assortment A and B.
6. Candy assortment.

Please visit the links to the various how-to blogs I found for these items.  I will post the winner and my own personal how-to  (with a few modifications I'm sure) once it's decided...

Barbie!

I learned how to be a woman from a lot of really great women.  My Mom, Aunt, Bubbie, Great-Grandmother...oh yea and...

True Story.

My family saves everything, if anything, I am the one to say -it's time for this to go.  Choice objects are part of the pry-it-from-my-cold-dead-hands category...childhood dress up clothes, musical instruments, and Barbie.

Recently, I went through some of my childhood goodies to prepare and share.  Besides costume jewelry and silky leopard print scarfs, I found my Barbies and put them aside for someone special.  I was a girlie-girl with tom-boy tendencies.  Thinking of the women who taught me about women-hood.

Some things that come to mind:

Shiny jewelry and brooches from my G.Grandma, nail polish, my G.Grandma's bright colored lipstick (that doubled as rouge for her cheeks, which I do also), the fascination with watching my Aunt apply make up and do her hair, for work, putting in Bubbie's earrings before she'd leave for work in the mornings- The smell of Obsession by Calvin Klein mixed with the Oil Of Olay ( which I always thought was one word - pronounced Oil-vah-lay), My Mom having the amazing ability to put you in a head lock, eat a sandwich with dirt and mulch on her hands after gardening, and then get gussied up.  I loved getting hand-me-downs (still do) from all of the above.  HMM... I should do a post about hand-me-down fashion.  That could be a fun one. (Insert Family Guy Tangent here)

 At 6:30am before work, I took out the Barbie's from my childhood complete with the circa late 80's-early 90's ball gowns and mismatched shoes.  Some kids may be jaded and see "Old Barbies."  Not this kid, she immediately lit up and recognized a Jasmine (from Aladdin) doll that I had when I was her age.  I still have her original clothes, and the pants for the missing Aladdin doll.  It was special to see someone appreciate them as I did, once upon a time. Watching her dress up the dolls with the clothes and accessories strewn about the floor made me a bit nostalgic and got me thinking back to what I loved when I was a little girl.  More importantly, things I hope to share with this little girl.  As I got ready for work she helped me put my necklace on and wore my flower barrette on her dress.

 Things that Barbie taught me:

+ You CAN BE : a Vet, Singer, Race-car driver, Mommy, Interior Decorator, Dolphin Trainer, Artist, Designer, Chef at the same time (these are actual roles my Barbie played).

+ Fake it till you make it: No Barbie Jeep for the Beach trip? One opened VHS box (remember them?) an empty paper towel roll and tape and ta-da- Barbie and Skipper are crusin'.  Eventually, I recieved a Barbie RV... sweet.

+ You CAN GO anywhere: It's noon, where's your 3 year old?... At the beach, at the movies, on stage, at the zoo, at Grandma's house.

+ Be Fashion Forward : Paper towels with arm holes, colored with markers, and cinched at the waist with Ribbon are so in this season.  Getting bored with your locks?  Give your self fun streaks of color using markers and your G.Grandma's sewing shears to keep it interesting.  Have your Grandmother give Barbie a phone number tattoo on her back- so you can call her anytime.
Also- Barbie can pull off any look : cow girl, beach babe, fairy, movie star, and mom.

+  Men never dress up: Barbie is in a full length ball gown, complete with matching purse (since she can't clutch anything) and even has her gold glitter shoes on... Ken is in his jeans and tee with only one shoe.  :Barbie looks at Ken and rolls her eyes: Ken : " What?! This is all I have to wear."  Funny thing is : Ken is actually telling the truth.

+ Make time for fun : It's not easy being a Singer, Vet, Mommy of 5, Dolphin trainer and Artist : but Barbie always makes time to go to the beach and the ball.  Not to mention keeps her Dream house pretty neat.

 + Be a go-getter:  I can remember the Barbie Dream House, the Sports Car, the Jeep... I don't recall a "Wall St. Ken"  FUN FACT: Barbie has had 125 careers in her 50+ years.  You go girl! 

THE Engagement Postcard and Venue

As promised here are the front and backs of our postcards designed by yours truly.  We hope that everyone will hang the post card on the fridge for a little while.

Post cards are really a win:win.  Postage is cheaper 0.29, less paper, and you get to make a nifty little website to handle all RSVPS and etc...

I'm pretty excited to take out my calligraphy pens to address them to everyone!

Here's where we are hosting our engagement party... so in love with this place.

  



It's rustic with it's charming 1930's structure, wood floors, and open air views of the city and the back ground creaking of Hudson river boat basin.  There's even a beach on the edge.  The Palisades is one of my most favorite places to explore.

One second you're in dense forest, look down and you'll find a 500 ft

drop of rocky cliffs where it's interesting to drop pebbles off the end and listen where they land.  Look across and you'll see Manhattan, the GWB and the little red lighthouse (built in1880) that not many people know exist.

FUN FACT: that little red light house was built before the George Washington Bridge (built in 1931)...there's a great children's story about it. 

Also, there are abandoned mansions that are hidden in the woods from the late 1800's, check out this site too for better pictures.  The Cliffdale is the one that's most intact, a lot of others just have the foundations. 

John D. Rockefeller Jr., bought the surrounding area in 1930s, in an attempt to halt over-development of the cliffs spurred by the newly built George Washington Bridge.

In 1933, Rockefeller donated the land to the Park Commission with the request that the cliff line be returned to its natural state. In the following years, numerous turn-of-the-century mansions were bulldozed, including Cliffdale Manor.

Back story... Steve and I and our friends Lucy and Eugene went exploring and found The Cliffdale mansion... from climbing into a hole in the floor of the mansion... Lucy and I got poison ivy on out arms...Steve and Eugene... well they watered the bushes, so use your imagination as to where they were itching.

When planning a party what are some ways you are green and save some green?

311 at jones beach

 

I don't know about you, but I love 311, especially in the summer time.

For my birthday my fiance got 4 tickets to the Jones Beach NY amphitheatre for 311, Sublime with Rome.

My bestie, her bf and us went together.  Then we had another friend come and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Here are some pictures from the memorable, but still hazy event.

FYI: Jones beach doesn't allow you to buy alcohol unless you pay extra for a VIP ticket... so we tied a water bottle to Steve's belt buckle, rested it in his shorts, and made him well endowed with Bacardi.  The 5 of us split it with ice cold summer coca-cola.  YUM! 

Jones Beach is an amazing venue, it has a stage in the water and as your watching the show you have a great view of the beach too. 

It smelled concert-wonderful, a well balanced combination of sea breeze, fragrant inhales/exhales, and summertime.

Sublime with Rome had great energy and even broke out a few new songs, but no one can replace Bradley for Sublime... Must say that 311 must be getting older because I didn't feel it as much with them, the crowd was lame too, we were one of the only people dancing in our section, oh well- their loss.

Jones beach is great!  Even in 101 heat ps it was the hottest week in
ny history that week, we broke records.

Catch any good shows this year, music festivals?  Please share/comment below.

the allure of autumn

Taking the maxi into fall, add a cozy sweater
for ultimate comfort. *



falling in love

As a summer baby, I live for all things summertime... Usually I begin to get bummed around August and start dreading the cold to ensue.  But then I remember the clothing racks start to change from bright colors to richer hues I can't help but get excited for fall.

Here are a few things are making me look forward to gusty winds.

working with

fun and easy dresses for work - rich colors like crimson, burnt orange,  mustard and emerald - maxi dresses with boots and sweaters for fall - thick wool tights in patterns - long duster coats -  a cross body saddle bag/ satchel that can last and transition seasons and needs, seamlessly - menswear - heeled loafers

* courtesy of Harper's Bazaar

After spending the summer  in long maxi dresses and skirts ,  I'm not ready to give them up just yet.  Adding some extra layers to a neutral colored maxi, or a rich colored pattern should satiate my need to avoid fussy outfits on the weekends.



Perfect for the working gal. I'll take one of each please. *

  I have a wrap dress that is light weight and navy that I am in love with.  I think I must wear it every week.  However it requires ironing (eek) and let's face it, I wore it to death.  I'm looking to spruce my 9:30-6 closet up with fun and functional dresses.













Love love love this



            Finding the right bag is hard... Men who are reading this laughing and rolling their eyes : shut up.  Men who get it : about time.  I cannot wait until I finally find the right leather bag (that isn't my rent for the month) for my needs.  I am searching for a future pass-er-downer for my yet to be had daughters that lasts and looks better with every wear.                     

                                                                     

Menswear* adds a whole new sex appeal on women.  Before last February, I lived in jeans and leggings.  After landing my job in Manhattan I needed to seriously update and grow-up my wardrobe.  Before then, I had never owned a suit.  With a crisp suit and a pair of killer heels I was strutting up 8th Ave like I owned the avenue.   I wouldn't mind strutting in a leather pair of loafers this fall. 





Love this emerald color.*

I must admit, until lately  I never pictured my self in this color.  If you're not careful you may turn into an early St. Patty's day float model.  I think paired with the right neutrals I (maybe) could pull this color off.





I have a thing for long trenches.  As it gets colder in the winter I have to begrudgingly put them away.  A warm duster would satiate me until spring time when I could once again wear my beloved trenches.



Duster*



The art of website masking for your wedding website.

Venue picked and booked, check.  Wedding suit, check.  Everything else ...

I must say that it's so great to have a supportave team mate in this wedding process, Steve has wonderful and sensible logic, while I can let the creativeness take over.  Case in point: Steve: Did we fill out the contract to book the place?  Me: These paper lanterns would look great it the reception loft....

It takes two.


Which comes to the least fun part of a wedding (for most) duhhun ddduuun ddduuuuuN ... budget.


Like fucker, budget is a six letter word.

I will go right out and say our budget is... $10,000.00*

*things not included in budget are, suit (already purchased), engagement/wedding rings, honeymoon, wedding dress.  My logic is A. They were purchased before said budget, and B. Are like presenats to ourselves, yes that's what I am going with.

I am no mathematician, my fiance teaches Physics and Chemistry (therefore he is).

I am great with budgeting, I clip coupons from the Sunday paper filing them in alphabetic order for our hour+ shopping trip.  I'm a sale-a-holic and rarely purchase anything at retail.  A fiscal budget... such as what percentage to be alloted to what... I'm clueless...

Enter Wedding Wire.

We already knew that to save paper, hence trees, we would be utilizing a wedding website that could post multiple pages such as multiple RSVPs (Engagement, Shower, Rehearsal, Wedding), Maps, Accomadations, that way our invites would be lighter.

The websires are neat, but behind the scenes we can use an app to balance our budget.  You simply enter your dollar amount and it separates where your budget should go, everytime you save money it redistributes the saved money amonst your categories; Catering, Transportation, Accomidation, Attire, etc.

The website templates aren't cheesy and feature designs from Martha Stewart and Several Stationary companies.  There is also no advertising space on your site and you have the option to completely customize it.

Another great thing is IT'S FREE!  Some other websites try to bundle things like Your Own Custom Domain Name included... for 60.00 bucks for a year, not terrible, but when stretching a 10,000.00 budget things can easily add up.

Here's a secret...
You don't need to pay that much.  If you use a free site, for example weddingwire.com/mrandmrsneff.  Build it and then you can purchase your own domail name (mrandmrsneff.com) from a place like GoDaddy, then use a feature they have called masking.

Masking takes mrandmrsneff.com when you type into web address bar and fowards it seamlessly to weddingwire.com/mrandmrsneff.  No one will know but you (and now you guys since I'm sharing).

Which ever place you buy your domain name from, I use GoDaddy for 11.99 for a year, will have masking directions.  I use GoDaddy for this blog and when I called them I spoke to a real person, who walked me through the steps on how to do it. 

ps I am not endorsed by GoDaddy.

multiple cakes

Everyday on my walk home I pass a cake shop down the street.  It makes everything from cannolis to wedding cakes. 

Every time I see the Styrofoam models of 3, 4, and 5 tier cakes, the less I'd like to have one. 

"I know this person is allergic to this, or this person hates this frosting, this one despises fruit on a cake, this one loves fruit on a cake... "

and the list goes on.

So why not have an assortment of cakes for everyone to choose what they want, or don't? 

The bride and groom get their own cake, and everyone else can choose from an assortment.  Our cake we'll then freeze (maybe).



The cakes pictured (courtesy of Warfel's Sweet Shop) are $20 each and serve 16.
If we could find something similar we would need 10 of them for $200 + tip.
Not bad, the average wedding cake starting is at least $300.



I must also admit I have anxiety about having a tiered cake, I can just imagine it toppling.

I know we are sending 150 invites, supposedly the magic number of no-shows is 20%. So approx. 120-150 people will be there.  The average round cake serves 10-16 people... therefore 10-15 different flavored round cakes would be great, and I'm positive the cake place down the street would gladly give a discount.

Tiramisu-Strawberry Shortcake-Cheese cake-Devil's Food-Yellow with Chocolate Icing-Coffee Crumb Cake-Coconut-German Chocolate...The pictured cakes look amazing, they are only local in VA.

Cupcakes, Cream Puffs, and Cannolis

I also like the idea of one cake for us and matching cupcakes for guests.  I wouldn't mind serving giant cream puffs, cannolis, and eclairs... we do so love them. 

What dessert could/would/did you pick for your wedding, did you find that everyone ate/enjoyed it, or where there lone slices?



South Africa, Denmark, China, Belgium, Israel, UK, Canada, Germany, and Turkey

I recently started using a new form of blogger that's really streamlined.  One of the pages I was oblivious to, until a couple of days ago, was my stats page.  Usually when I hear stats, I cringe and remember school.  In this case it's pretty neat. 

Apparently I have readers all over the world, I never knew.  I can't believe there are some out there reading about this random little blog which takes place in Edgewater, NJ.  AWESOME!  See not everyone from New Jersey lives like what's shown on the Jersey Shore, a lot do, but not everyone!

So... hello readers, I wish you well.  I hope that wherever you are, you are trying some of the recipes, DIYs, or perhaps planning your own wedding.  Please send me your blog (if you have one, and if you don't it's really cheap therapy) so that I may read what's going on in South Africa, China, Belgium, Israel, UK, Canada, Germany, Denmark and Turkey. 

*merhaba!
Wow Turkey, number two on the list, huh?!
A little fun fact about me... I have visited before, and It was a lovely experience.
*hello in turkish.



















What a powerful tool this interweb is.  It's something my generation takes for granted.  Rarely does anyone say "This is pretty swell."  Really now?  What do you own that can do all of the following;  buy anything, find a great scone recipe, learn how to apply winged eyeliner, aid in starting a revolution, is a resource for anything, and can get lost in just sitting... can your juicer do that?  Nope, mine can't either.

Happy surfing.