I want this.

My friend Sarah is so creative. Look at the adorable flower headband she made herself! Honestly, I wish I was better about doing this sort of thing, and it's so much cooler if you're wearing something you can say you made! If you're feeling crafty, follow Sarah's directions here. 

Layers of Paint

(Photo by Amrita via The Share Bee.)

Pretty Pretty

Love this print by Jennifer Comstock. 

African Inspired Upholstry

I've always been a huge fan of using African fabrics to cover western-style furniture. I've covered end tables, stools, and ottomans with fabrics I brought home from East Africa, and I love to see the trend making its way into more mainstream design. My best friend and business partner, Eleanor, sent me the link to the before/after pictures of the chairs above on Design Sponge. The others at the top are from Anthropologie (and they have the hefty Anthro price tag to prove it - $1698 for one!)

Sonoma

We had so much fun in Sonoma on Saturday. Unfortunately, even though I brought my giant camera I didn't do too well capturing the day. From top, there's beautiful Lydia; wine glasses for the 15 people on our tour; Lyd, me, Julie, and Kimia at our last tasting; Caitlyn, our amazing organizer, and Pat; and the view from where we ate our picnic lunch.

Can't wait to do it again next weekend with Natalie and Amy in town!

Happy Weekend!

One of my favorite things that has come from working at Kiva is my new and improved love for donuts.

Not that I never loved donuts. We used to get them on the way to church on Sundays when we were little (my parents' brilliant way of getting us out of bed happily on Sunday mornings!). When I was in 8th grade running for President of the middle school, I promised my first act as Middle School President would be to bring donuts to the every person the next morning. (I won, and I came through with donuts from Donut Den!).

But until recently, I haven't been that into donuts in my adult life. I lived in Winston-Salem (home of Krispy Kreme), and for the five years I lived there, I never once at a donut. Now that I work at Kiva, though, I have at least one donut a week. And not even the fancy San Francisco kind of donuts like Dynamo. I go for the cheap kind sold on Mission Street, and my very favorite is a cake donut with icing and sprinkles. 

This weekend, my amazing friend Caitlyn organized a PARTY BUS to take us on a wine tour of Napa and Sonoma. I can't wait! Maybe I'll bring some donuts for the road...

Happy weekend everyone!

Wedding Party Invitations

Now that I've sent these out to all of my house party and bridesmaids, I can share them with you all. I wanted to do something creative to ask my friends to be in my wedding party, so I borrowed from Once Wed's Paper Doll Bridesmaids cards. Each set of seven paper dolls was folded into a single card asking each of my friends to be in my wedding. It ended up being quite an undertaking with all of the different hairstyles and all the cutouts, but I really loved how it turned out. 

Yellow and Gray

Love this cute wedding on Once Wed. Love the gray and yellow. Love it that the bridesmaids got to accessorize themselves and choose their own shoes. 

Biking in the Country

This image makes me really want to bike more. I usually ride my bike to and from work, and if I'm really ambitious, I might take it across the Golden Gate Bridge to Saulsalito (ok, this has happened once!), but this picture makes me want to go on a country adventure on my bike.

Photo by Krisatomic

Bastille Day at the DeYoung

Speaking of Paris, last night Caitlyn and I went to a Bastille Day party at the DeYoung. It was amazing! Not only did we meet people in powdered wigs, hoop skirts, and even one old woman wearing nothing but lingerie, but we also got to enjoy endless macaroons, truffles, breads, cheeses, and open bars. We tried absinthe (woof!) and heard about where you can get a Marie Antoinette gown made on short notice. And, on top of all of that, we got to see the Birth of Impressionism exhibit from the Musee d'Orsay. This is most definitely going to be an annual event.

P.S. Unfortunately this picture was taken with my iPhone, but hopefully you can still get the picture of Caitlyn in all her fluted glory.

Paris

Paris has been on my mind a lot lately, maybe because it's been getting so much airtime on all of my daily blog reads - here, here, and here, for a start.  I've been really lucky to get to go to Paris twice this year already, and I'm SO thankful that Jonny is back in San Francisco rather than working in Paris. But still, I'm itching for a reason to go back!

New Caledonia

Jonny gave me this awesome book for Christmas, The Earth From the Air. It shows all these neat aerial views of different parts of the world, and the heart on the cover is a picture of New Caledonia.

Last night we booked our honeymoon flights and hotel. We had been saying forever that we wanted to go to Thailand, but after doing some research and finding out that it'll be monsoon season, we decided to go to New Caledonia instead, and it looks amazing. Here is one of my favorite pictures of the island: