Shower Tablescape

Inspiration for our July shower we're hosting...
prepare to see a ton of future DIYs

Love the look of the leaves in the vases. Planning on using shorter cylinder-shaped vases.

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LOVE these. Thinking about hanging them in the trees along the walkway and off the balcony. Now to decide the color scheme...

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Napkin Rings. Self-explanatory.

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Big fan of mason jars. Big fan of twine. Together? Perfect.

Planning on using as candle-holders with votives.

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Any other lovely suggestions?

Stella & Dot

I went to my friend L's apartment on Thursday for a Stella & Dot party. I've heard of people having these or attending them, but I've never looked for myself.

WOW.

They have some really cute stuff!!! And turns out they are the old Banana Republic jewelry designers. Remember when BR had the best jewelry for a solid 2 years then it just tanked for awhile? Yep. Stella has one of their designers!!

1/2/3
I got these and love them. And an even bigger surprise? The arrow necklace is by Maya Brenner whose E necklace I wear 24/7!

This La Coco Concept is a great idea. You start with a chain and add on the bling! Talk about a necklace that multi-tasks! I think this would be a fabulous gift for Moms out there!


Have you ever bought anything from Stella & Dot?

Wedding Time!

It's finally here. Prince William is marrying Kate Middleton! tomorrow at 3:30 am!

I'm so excited to see what her dress looks like!

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And the procession through London.

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But I have to say, I'll be happy when it isn't covered 24/7.

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I'm going to a Royal Wedding party on Thursday night. I'll let you know how it goes!

Will you be watching the Royal Wedding?

Easy Dessert Decor

I love festive decorations. I think balloons can make a party and I always look at what's on the table.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't care if there's nothing at the party but my friends, food, and wine!

I wanted to make my dessert for Easter a little bit more festive for the table. After working with stamps lately I thought it would be a fun touch to add a Happy Easter topper to the cake.

All you need for this is:
-Toothpicks
-Stamp Pad
-Stamp
-Paper
-Tape
-Pen

Just stamp the image on the paper.

Cut around the shape.

Write whatever your heart desires.

Tape a toothpick on the back.

Ta-Da! You're done!

And same goes for the eggs...I just cut out the shapes, taped, and jammed them into the cake haha

I plan on making something similar to this for my brother's wedding shower.

Shots of the Weekend

I had a really great weekend.

Friday was take-out and on-demanding Country Strong.
Has anyone seen it? Holy depressing story. I'm not a huge Gwyneth fan but she did nail it!

Saturday was my blind blogger date with Allison. It was SO fun. We hugged like old friends when we met at Hot Chocolate in Wicker Park and instantly I felt like I'd known Allison for 10 years. We waited in the lounge for a while and chatted before our deeelish brunch.

Of course, we started with an appetizer. Doesn't everyone start brunch with an app? ha.

Mini doughnut sticks with raspberry preserves. So good.


But better when washed down with a blood orange Bellini
(a new twist that was thoroughly enjoyed)



I then ordered the Brioche French Bread



and Allison got the Quiche. Both were a hit!




After a couple hours of story-telling and many a laughs, we braved the bi-polar Chicago weather for some shopping.

We scoped out Vintage Underground which has so much jewelry you could go blind and decided we're definitely hitting up more thrift stores and possible estate sales when the weather changes.

It was a fabulous day and I'm so happy we met up. Now we're on to planning date number 2 :)



Oh and I saw Superwoman on the way to Wicker Park. No big deal...

Weekend Plans

A quiet Friday night in to unwind from the long week.

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Brunch with Allison at Hot Chocolate in Wicker Park. I have been drooling over their menu!

photos via

Hoping for a White Sox winner on Saturday (not hoping for the cold rain)

And working on the shower invitations on Sunday....

What are your plans this weekend??

and I just don't feel like doing the FBFF questions this week, whoops.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

From one Irish girl to another...Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day

Enjoy the luck of the Irish...

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And for those of you in Chicago, enjoy the annual dyeing of the Chicago River!

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Have a happy St. Patrick's Day.

May your day be full of green beer, corned beef & cabbage, and some good luck :)

Lucky Seven

I'm setting this up to post while I'm on vacation, but I really hope Carrie is feeling better by now! I'm copying her post and writing 7 things about myself.

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Here we go...

1. I am really weird with changing the time into fractions. When I look at the clock and it says 6:48 I immediately think 1/8th. Super lame, huh?

2. I studied abroad in Italy in the Spring of 2006 and could speak decent Italian while I lived there but as of today I can say literally 15 words. So sad.

3. I keep all my shoes in their boxes. When they don't come in a box I have to go out and buy a clear container for them.

4. I grew up going to the movies all the time and I still go a lot now. Let's put it this way, I've seen 6 of the 10 Best Picture Nominations.

5. I've had a broken toe (dropped a pop can on it. OUCH!), broken wrist (backpedaling in 6th grade basketball) and a broken collarbone (i was a huge baby. let's just put it that way.)

6. I once found over $600 in a parking lot. My mom called the police and reported it. After 30 days nobody called to report it missing so I got to keep it. Score!

7. I got stung by a jellyfish the last time I was in Maui. My brother and I swam over a small reef. I stood up. My brother screamed. There was a small blob of a jellyfish on my stomach right next to my bellybutton. Honestly, it didn't even hurt. But the blisters afterwards...they hurt.

So you're all tagged. What are 7 tidbits about you??

Happy Friday!!!

The week is over so let the fun begin!


What are your weekend plans?


I leave tomorrow for vacation and am counting down the hours!!

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I'll give you a couple clues as to where I'm going.

It's 9.5 hours from Chicago.

It's warm & sunny.

We'll be whale watching.


Any guesses?!?!

Also, if you'd like to do a guest post while I'm gone, I'd love to have you here on Pursuit of LLT!

And the Freebie Friday #5 Winner Is...

The winner of this week's Freebie Friday is:

Daniela from D, etc!

Congratulations!!!

D blogged about the giveaway and only commented once for that so I had to enter two additional entries into the giveaway!


Please email me at PursuitofLLT@gmail.com with your address and your canvas tote will be on its way!

Oscar, Oscar

I absolutely love the Oscars. The red carpet, the winners, the speeches. You name it. Here is a list of the 2011 Academy Award Nominees along with who I think will win in the more mainstream categories. Sorry, I don't get Sound Editing and Sound Mixing...

There were some surprise nominations along the way this year...Jeremy Renner for The Town. That was unexpected to me. He definitely was good but I was surprised!

Best picture

"Black Swan"

The Fighter"

"Inception"

"The Kids Are All Right"

"The King’s Speech"

"127 Hours"

"The Social Network"

"Toy Story 3"

"True Grit"

"Winter’s Bone"

Actor

Javier Bardem, "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges, "True Grit"
Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"
Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"
James Franco, "127 Hours"

Actress

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Winter's Bone"
Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"
Michelle Williams, "Blue Valentine"

Supporting actor

Christian Bale, "The Fighter"
John Hawkes, "Winter's Bone"
Jeremy Renner, "The Town"
Mark Ruffalo, "The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush, "The King's Speech"

Supporting actress

Amy Adams, "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter, "The King's Speech"
Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"
Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit"
Jacki Weaver, "Animal Kingdom"

Director

Darren Aronofsky, "Black Swan"
David O. Russell, "The Fighter"
Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"
David Fincher, "The Social Network"
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "True Grit"

Animated feature

"How to Train Your Dragon"
"The Illusionist"
"Toy Story 3"

Adapted screenplay

"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"
"Toy Story 3"
"True Grit"
"Winter’s Bone"

Original screenplay

"Another Year"
"The Fighter"
"Inception"
"The Kids Are All Right"
"The King’s Speech"

My picks are in BOLD but the ones I had trouble with I Italicized because I'm so torn!!

Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay were the hardest ones for me to pick.

Do you watch the Oscars? Who are your Oscar picks?!

Freebie Friday #5

It's the first Freebie Friday of 2011!!

And why not start the year off with a chic canvas tote?

Look cute. Pass on plastic bags.

It's a win, win!

Don't mind the wrinkles...yours is still in the packaging. This one is mine and has gotten some use and abuse :)

J.Crew Canvas Bag!

TO ENTER:

1. Follow Pursuit of LLT & leave a comment!

For extra entries:
1 extra entry: Follow me on Twitter (@PursuitofLLT)
1 extra entry: Tweet about the contest
3 extra entries: Blog about it

For every extra entry please leave a separate comment.

Contest will run through Tuesday, January 25th at 11:59 CST.

Good luck!

Leaving On a Jet Plane

My friends & I are off for a weekend to celebrate L's final days as a single woman.

Via

The weather is acting a little bipolar right now in Austin and it might be rainy and chilly for us.

That's ok. Rain + 60 degree weather > Chicago weather.
You gotta take the good whenever you can, right?!

Via

After our weekend of debauchery, L will be well on her way to becoming Mrs. A.

It's going to be a fabulous wedding and I can't wait.

Via

What does your weekend entail?!

Austin Bound

I'm heading to Austin in 2 weeks for a girls weekend with my friends. We're celebrating L's bachelorette party and I can't wait!

I've never been to Austin, so I don't know what to expect.


If you have any tips or pointers, let me know!

Via

I always like having a trip on the books and now that my TX weekend is approaching it's time to think ahead!

To 2011!

I was lucky enough to celebrate the New Year with a visit by my friend, J, who lives in Denver. She came in on Thursday and we spent the whole weekend eating, drinking, and LAUGHING!

We had sushi and wine on Thursday and finally saw Black Swan.
AKA Terrifying. Creepy. Incredible Performance.

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Friday we shopped. Got our Make-up done. Rang in the New Year with friends. Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.




Saturday we Brunched. Lounged. and had Due's for dinner. SO GOOD.




Sunday it was time to say goodbye which is always sad. But the weekend was so fun I'll be laughing about it well into the New Year.


What did you do for New Year's?

Holiday Traditions: The Walnut Room

Oooooh, Ahhhhh!

Holidays are a time for traditions and The Walnut Room is just that!

The Walnut Room is a dining room in Marshall Fields, umm I mean, Macy's.
Marshall Fields will always hold a special place in my heart!

Anyway, around the Holidays they bring in this HUGE tree and each year there's a different theme for the decorations. I'll still never forget when it was Harry Potter and I hadn't heard of it yet and my Mom and I were like umm owls? This isn't very Holiday-ish. Little did we know!

The room is full of tables that start around the tree and move outward in a huge circle. The room is always full of excitement and holiday cheer. I don't even care how corny that sounds. It really is wonderful.

The theme of the tree this year is The Believe Symphony. It's whimsical and glittery. The perfect combination for a Christmas Tree.

And now onto the food! I started with the Poinsettia which is a cute way to say champagne & cranberry juice :) I had the Chicken Pot Pie and my Mom had the Butternut Squash Tortellaci. We split the Frango Mint (which is only at Macy's, well was only at Field's...) ice cream pie.
Frango Mint Ice Cream Pie = YOWZAS!!

I've been going to The Walnut Room for lunch or dinner with my Mom for as long as I can remember. My Grandma used to come with us too. It's a fun girls day and we usually go Christmas shopping after we've enjoyed our meal. It's definitely a tradition I hope to carry on forever.

If you're ever in Chicago during the Holidays you should stop in The Walnut Room even if only to see the tree!

Freebie Friday #4

Guys, where have I been?! I haven't done a Freebie Friday in forever!! Time to change that around!

As the end of the year approaches it's time for me renew my magazine subscriptions. I have to say, I love magazines. Fashion, Gossip, Decor, you name it, I want it.

So here's the gist. I'm going to give one of YOU a subscription to one of THESE magazines!

Do you want a Health & Fitness magazine?

Cooking or Home magazine?

Travel Junkie?

Fashion with Brains?

Fashion and Shopping and Relationships Oh my!

THE LOW DOWN:
To enter you must
1) Follow Pursuit of Love, Laughter & Travels
AND
2) Leave a comment saying which magazine you'd like!!

Additional Entries:
1) 1 extra entry: Follow me on Twitter @PursuitofLLT
2) Tweet about the contest!
3) 3 extra entries: Blog about the contest and leave me a link

For additional entries, please leave a separate comment for each!

The giveaway will run until Monday, December 13th at 11:59 CST.

Good Luck!