life

sparkly summertime cocktail party

07/02/2013 by Jennifer 5 Comments

Last weekend, my roomie and I had some friends over for a girly night of cocktails! We made it potluck style, which made the planning really easy. I realized that I really appreciate potlucks! Why doesn’t everyone make every party a potluck? It adds such a community kinda feel. :)

The evening was very sparkly and fun. We hung up a sheet and my tassel garland (from EverlyLane) and took a ton of pictures. I called them “DIY selfies” because we used my self timer remote. Those things rule. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the party:

Later, I’ll share each of the cocktails we made! Have a good Tuesday. :)

Hello from Portland!

06/24/2013 by Jennifer 4 Comments

I love this place more than words can explain. It’s a little bittersweet because I don’t know when or if I will actually move here (I’m a summer girl), but it always feels like home.

Today, we are in Mt. Hood. The purpose of this trip is to celebrate my grandma’s 85th birthday, which was last month. I love family vacations so much. We all travel from California, Oregon, and Washington to meet at a central (woodsy, beautiful, lush) location…it’s a tradition.

Even though this is a vacation, I want to stay motivated and inspired creatively. It’s not hard when I’m around people like my family members. I think we really feed off of each other’s creative energy and I am thankful for that. I have been writing lists and ideas out, and I can’t wait to share them! Just as soon as I have regular internet access.

Have you done anything fun to kickstart your summer? This is the season I get most excited about, so I make every excuse possible to celebrate. :)

(ps. photos are from my Canon 7d but are edited with Afterlight and A Beautiful Mess App.)

she & him & wine tasting

06/24/2013 by Jennifer 1 Comment

Yesterday was so much fun. Sara and I went to a little wine party in Napa because her dad happens to be a wine member at a ton of places. We were served delicious paellas and huge chocolate and vanilla macarons. Um, holy moly. I could get used to that.

Afterward, we did some more wine tasting at another winery before heading off to Berkeley for the She and Him concert. I have no words. It was perfect. If you live in the Bay Area of California and you haven’t visited the Greek Theater, I suggest you do that asap. It’s our favorite venue. :)

I hope you all had a great weekend. Right now, I’m in Portland hanging out with my cousin. Soon we’ll go over and meet the rest of the fam in Mount Hood. I’m a tiny bit obsessed with Oregon if you haven’t noticed, so I might be overinstagramming. If you’re into that, feel free to follow along @earlgreyjenn. :)

First Day of Summer

06/21/2013 by Jennifer 2 Comments

Today is a GREAT day. Wishing you all a beautiful summer solstice!

xoxo

(photo is from Gualala, CA, my favorite place in the entire world)

Making Time

06/14/2013 by Jennifer 3 Comments

These days, I have too much time on my hands. Sometimes I consider my extra time to be a good thing and sometimes I get restless and feel crazy. Because of my temporary “endless summer” state, I can do so many things that I would normally not have time for. It’s cool. But it is causing me to take my free time for granted. It’s like that moment when you get tired of summer and you just want to go back to school already. Except there is no school. Just a part time job and some e-courses (which I really, really love).

source

I like to think that having time and making time are two very different things. Having time is super easy and wonderful, but making time is so meaningful. I want to get to the point where blogging (or crafting or having coffee dates) is a privilege. The past couple of weeks were such a huge wakeup call. I wasn’t scheduled to work very much, so my days and nights were really long. I don’t want to have all the time in the world to have fun. I want to crave it.

So! I have decided that I need to become more intentional with this Earl Grey dealio. Sometimes I am exhausted and just want to create filler posts full of pretty pictures and be done with it. But I have bigger plans, and I need to remember that.

’20s style wedding – dresses for the lady guests

05/30/2013 by Jennifer 7 Comments

On Monday, my friend Kat got married to her true love, Cameron. It was nothing short of magical. I didn’t get many pictures but just imagine with me – trees, bridges, creeks, a large barn decked with white christmas lights, pink tablecloths, jars covered in gold glitter filled with white flowers. Breathe in, breathe out. I couldn’t take it. It was the best.

In addition to all of these pretty decorations, it was twenties themed!!! I found out at the last minute because I guess I don’t pay attention to wedding invitations very well. I searched for a flapper/art deco/shift style dress and it seemed like all of the ones I really liked were a million dollars or sold out. Here are some dresses that I loved:

one, two, three, four

I’m all about the scallops. That last scalloped sequin dress is my absolute favorite. Someday I’ll find it and wear it to every fancy event I attend. I ended up going for this lacy dress from Modcloth and some Anthro earrings that I love. Also, brown flats and a black cardigan. It was chilly!

I was worried the dress would be too fancy for a wedding, but lots of people were a little fancy too. I love this dress, but I found out that the slip underneath is super annoying. You win some, you lose some I guess…

Here are some iPhone pictures of the wedding. I stole a few my roomie Sara’s phone. It was a beautiful night, full of dancing and…lots of dancing. I liked it. :)