Love is in the Air?

This summer has definitely been a big one for romance. In June, a classmate of mine Andrea got married in Greensboro, and yesterday Southern Weddings posted photos of her wedding shot by Abigail Seymour. I love the classic monogram:

and these adorable Elon cupcakes:

and who could resist these traditional North Carolina favors: Krispy Kreme doughnuts in adorable boxes reading “Glazed and delicious from the new Mr. & Mrs.” So precious!

Next to their cute favor boxes, I just had to leave this great photo of Andrea throwing her bouquet. Check out more photos in the Southern Weddings post and on Abigail Seymour’s blog. Congratulations! I can’t wait to borrow some of your fabulous ideas!

In July, Adam and I went to Jake & Kim’s wedding down in Durham. You saw a photo peek here, and here’s a snapshot of me and Adam all dressed to the nines:

and I snagged this adorable photo of the happy couple off Facebook (all my pictures were blurry thanks to the ambient low lighting and my point & shoot camera) thanks to Brian Mullins Photography:

There are some amazing shots up on Brian’s blog! I love how you can see the reflection of Kim and Jake in the piano. So classic! And to top it all off, the next day, Adam proposed in the Duke Gardens!

Then in the last two weeks, I had two sorority sisters get engaged as well. Congratulation Lisa and Alison! You can read Alison’s adorable engagement story here. And to top it off, The Wedding Chicks are giving away customized DIY wedding invitations with this classic bicycle built for two design:

Photo source.

Just enter in your info, pick your colors, and each file will be emailed to your address. Get your invitations here.

So all this romance has to make a girl wonder, is there more in the summer air than just humidity?

Cheers,

Jenna Kate

Back From the Nap…

So I wanted to apologize for my hiatus the last few days. I’ve been in a blogging nap, both from lack of inspiration and from being busy in real life (sort of). Here is a mini life-update:

Friday, we took our usual office outing to Murphy’s Irish Pub, where I of course followed along with The Unicorn Song, doing all the hand motions. I even went to bed at a sensible hour.

Saturday, I attempted to bleach my hair with good old-fashioned lemon juice

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but alas the sun was not cooperating on the project. I also successfully organized my scrapbooking stuff, which I will begin to work on tonight. Then we had an office-sponsored Washington Nationals versus the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game.

  vs   

Photo source and source.

The Nats lost 2-9. And later that night, I attempted diplomacy with my fiance’s friends. I also learned that ‘tear-away jorts’ are in fact my biggest fear.

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Sunday, I came into the office for a few hours to jumpstart some work for this week. My massive allergy attack that ensued prompted me to pop a Benadryl when I got home. I woke up several hours later with my best friend banging on my apartment door coming to borrow a dress for a wedding San Francisco this weekend.

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So now we are back at Monday. I have successfully tapped my beauty-product-obsessed sister for skin care advice, and will try to persuade her to write a few guest posts to share her knowledge with you. I have also scheduled a job interview for a position in Colorado starting in January, which means I don’t have to feel guilty going to Monument with Adam or about spending two months with him in China at the end of this year.

I have also decided to put John Frieda to the test. I’ve been unhappy with my hair color for a while now, and I’ve never dyed it (that’s right, 100% natural blonde here folks). So I’ll be testing out some of the JF products to see if they do in fact improve my blonde from a brassy corn field color back to a more champaign beach blonde shade. So keep posted for that project.

Photo source.

Anything exciting happen yet on your Monday?

Cheers,

Jenna Kate

Where’s My Hotel?

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Can you find your hotel room? Check out this new eco-friendly tree resort in Sweden. Click here for the resort’s website for more photos and booking info.  I can’t wait to go with Adam!

Cheers,

Jenna Kate

If I Was a Signature Drink I’d be Strawberry Lemonade…With a Twist

Last night I met up with some Dukies and a few UVA Cavaliers (Don’t judge, VTech is my Virginia school) in Dupont Circle. We ended up wandering down to U Street where we found a great little bar with no line and an amazing air conditioning system. With the heat wave in DC at the moment, it was a critical decision to get out of the heat. While one of the boys was ordering Yucca fries with a tangy mayonnaise sauce, I caught a glimpse of the cocktail menu. They had this delicious glass on their list:

a Strawberry Lemonade. The ingredients were listed as Vodka, fresh strawberry purée, and fresh lemon juice which they squeezed out of a lemon wedge in front of me. I’d definitely call that fresh.

Because the girls and I became immediately obsessed with this drink, I searched for a recipe. This one adds seltzer water, but it suggests using Absolut Citron or another lemon-infused vodka, which is exactly what I will do for my next roof-top party. I’ll probably skip the seltzer water in favor of a fresh, traditional lemonade flavor without the added bubbles. Thanks www.Chow.com for your user-submitted recipe section where I found these instructions:

• 2 ounces vodka (ideally lemon-infused or citron)
• 2 ounce freshly squeezed lemonade
• 1 ounce strawberry puree (doesn’t need to be strained)
• 1/2 ounce club soda or seltzer water
• Half strawberry or mint sprig for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a separate container, purée strawberries using a blender or hand-held immersion blender. Extra puree can be frozen for future use.
2. Fill a highball glass with ice.
3. Pour vodka, lemonade, strawberry puree, and seltzer water in glass and stir to combine puree with other ingredients.
4. Garnish with half or whole strawberry or mint sprig.

Again, I would skip the seltzer water, and the recipe suggested using any type of berry to make the purée. I’ll definitely try raspberries, but I’d be curious how blueberries might taste as well. Definitely an experiment for August! Share your favorite summer cocktail and I’d love  other recipes to try! Try and stay cool!

Cheers,

Jenna Kate

Pink Living

Sorry for the delay in posting, I’ve had a busy weekend. Adam and I went down to Duke for a wedding on Saturday night. We also made a pit-stop at the J.Crew Warehouse sale in Winston-Salem where I scored a few good items including:

the Impressionist Floral Silk Dress (which I wore to the wedding on Saturday night):

the Black Blossoms cardigan:

The silk Blakely Wrap Blouse:

As well as a pink haberdashery blouse, black skinny pants, and a perfect tan ruffle neck racket that I have been eyeing for a while. Some serious finds!

The wedding was beautiful, the bride very gracious and Southern, the groom his usual goofball self. We had salad to start, and I’m aching to find out the vinaigrette recipe, followed by delicious chicken and crab cakes for dinner, with a yummy wedding cake finish. I’m proud to say I’m one of the few ladies in attendance who kept my heels on all night.

On Sunday, we went to the Duke gardens for an adorable picnic lunch:

We went for a stroll through the grounds. Here, Adam asked me to go to his fraternity formal with him, and I was hesitant to say yes. Here, we played bocce and drank cheap wine in the middle of the day to relax from senior year stress. Here, we began our graduation festivities with a reception held for the Duke 2009 seniors. This place has quite a few fond memories.

And five minutes after this photo:

He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! Then he even had champagne waiting back in the picnic basket. How perfect! My awesome pink engagement dress? A flirty INC floral jersey knit. All weekend I carted around my new pink Coach bag Adam gave me when he first got home last week, just to take my pink to a new level. My mom did tell me to wear something cute just in case!

Sunday night we went out to celebrate at Lauriol Plaza in Dupont Circle for lots of margaritas, another bottle of champagne and a few good friends. And, as if the phone hadn’t been ringing enough all Sunday, Monday morning at 8:30 am I had my first “Wedding planning!” text from my mother. I’m glad she’s so excited too!

My future husband is being sweet enough to let me use pink in our color scheme, and I’m going to try to ease him into the idea of letting pink be part of our more daily life. Today I found a great new photography blog for company Enchanted Dream Weddings & Affairs with some amazing interior design photos of how to incorporate pink into your lifestyle. This is my favorite:

Hopefully this helps make pink seem less intimidating, hunny. I’m so excited to start planning!

Cheers, Kate

‘Obscene’ Mannequin Upsetting Town

In the news this week, a naked mannequin upset a Nebraska town. The fake figure was seen wearing “a pair of pants around its ankles and wearing shoes but no other clothing.” I would be interested to know if it had a head, arms, and legs, as most mannequins don’t. Read the Yahoo! News article here.

While searching for odd or funny mannequin photos, I came across one adjusting her thong panties, two mannequins standing suggestively at forever 21, and an interesting store front display of mannequins begging to be rescued. Please be aware these are not kid-friendly photos.

I always find it interesting that we so easily ignore odd or bizarre things going on around us. I’d love to hear your stories of anything like this mannequin fiasco that you have seen or experienced!

Cheers, Kate

 Photo source.

The Greenbrier

According to Lilly Pulitzer’s Facebook update today, The Greenbriar in West Virginia is the East Coast place to be this Fourth of July weekend. Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Gardner, Ben Affleck, and Brooke Shields are going, so it must be cool. [Photo Source.]

I took a virtual wander around the resort and was entertained and impressed. Want to try your hand at falconry? No problem. Want to eat the wonders of a “renound chef [and his] culinary brigade?” Go ahead. Need room for your kids? How about staying at Heritage level accommodations with two to four bedrooms. I wonder who won the spacious seven bedroom Presidential Suite – Brooke and Jessica must have had a walk-off to determine that one.

How about being at the grand opening of the Casino Club! Scheduled for tomorrow, this “102,000 square foot facility” has over 300 slot machines and a measly 30-plus gaming tables. I’m sure you can fit in family time between hands of Black Jack and Poker.

But for the regular travelers out there, you can book a family package for $250 a night with kids staying free, or pay just $125 if they want their own room. You can golf the famous Old White Course, a new addition to the PGA Tour, FedEx Cup series in 2010. And you can take advantage of the ‘Wild, Wonderful, West Virginia’ through kayaking, white water rafting, and mountain trail rides. Then relax at the spa with signature treatments and natural mineral waters. For a fun, adventurous weekend getaway, I’d sign up in a heartbeat. As long as there weren’t any celebrities blocking the view with their egos.

Most Expensive Cities

 Yahoo released a list of the world’s most expensive cities today. Not surprisingly, most of them are in Japan, and the rest are in Northern Europe.

Number One? Tokyo:

Source.

Have you been to any of these?

Come Check Out the Oil on Our Beaches

CNN Money posted up a great gallery today with ill-conceived advertisements taking a hit on the oil spill disaster.  Apparently the travel industry isn’t the only one trying to take advantage of the situation, like this ad for Spirit Airlines.

New York Sports Club released an ad saying “Exercise sharpens the brain. Oil execs come in asap.”  You even get a week free membership to the gym if you are an executive or you are “tired of their excuses.”  Bravo NYSC for donating old towels to help the clean up effort and call out execs for poor management.

The other ads listed include an airplane flier for PETA blaming the meat industry for rises in oil prices and usage, as well as a couple of cute aliens laughing at the Gulf.  The tagline: “Let’s not be the joke of the universe. Make Earth proud.”

Site Feature: Design*Sponge City Guides

Thank you Ross, Communications Career Counselor at Elon, for pointing out this awesome new site to me!

Design*Sponge is a great blog that happens to have a series of city guides. I took a peek at the DC guide and was thrilled to find it neatly broken up into various popular neighborhoods: Adam’s Morgan, Dupont Circle, Georgetown, and Old Town Alexandria were some of the bigger ones. Now at least I have an idea of where to start when I move to Alexandria next week.

They also have a section called ”Product Guides” with great lists like picnic accessories for under $100, jewelry storage for under $100, and luggage ideas. There’s even a DIY section with great activities like this portable sunshade.  Definitely a cool site to check out for lots of ideas!