Happy Halloween everyone!

I hope you all had a great spooky weekend in your costumes!  This Halloween is very low key, I didn't attend any parties this year as I wanted to catch up on things at home, and settle back in from traveling this past week for work.  I was ahead of the game this year and finished up my Halloween card crafting by the first week of October.  I made sure I mailed them out a few weeks before so all my lovelies can get into the spirit.  When it came to crafting the ghostly cards, I was inspired by this ilootpaperie card, and found a printable from ohhappyday that was similar!  I used card stock paper, folded card stock, and washi tape all on hand.  I just had to make a quick stop to pick up some more glue!




Every year I do very light decorating for fall/halloween.  You can see from my previous post that I always take out the owls and the porcelain pumpkin.  I forgot the to bring the pumpkin with me when moving but i'll be sure to incorporate it next year! I'll also be sharing my hot visit to the pumpkin patch.  I'll be dressing up today for halloween as belle from beauty in the beast (in the blue dress).  When putting the costume together, I only spent $10.00 on getting the apron on etsy.  Everything else I had in my closet!  What will you be dressing up as today?

Cheers to ghouls and treats!

See previous halloween crafting here.

I'm going to be travelling for work in a few days.  My plans for this past weekend was to run errands, enjoy a good brunch out with M, and craft away.  It so happens that yesterday was a birthday, and national boss day (it landed on Sunday, but Monday is when everyone celebrated).  Everyone in the office pitched in and we got a singing telegram for our own director in the office.  I also crafted up cards to fit every occasion this coming week!

I'll be holding onto the french inspired card until I see the birthday girl for tea next week!  Thankfully, I can say that Halloween Crafting is all done and I can't wait to share next week.  The only thing I'm struggling with is what to wear for Halloween.  Possibly Mrs. Pacman?  A scary clown?  Maybe even batman?  We'll see..

What will you be for Halloween?

It's been exactly a year when rola and I went to New Orleans for a few days.  We stayed at an airbnb and one morning we went for a walk to the St. Roch Market located in the St. Claude avenues for breakfast.  The vibe is just like Downtown LA's Grand Central Market.  I heard many great things including that dinner is exceptionally delicious.  They opened 4 years ago and I was excited to see what goodies they had!

Wedding gifts can go three ways: 1. gift money 2. gift something sentimental or 3. gift from the registry.  M and I attended a wedding a few weeks ago and the bride and groom had everything they needed, so creating a registry was not necessary.  I had to be creative with this gift so when I was out of town with the future Mr. & Mrs. Killian, I brought out my camera and requested if I could take their photo.  The day I took their photo was their 8 year anniversary to the day, and it was exactly a week away from their wedding.  I had the photo printed at Walgreens in a 5x7 and picked it up during lunch.  As for a frame, I automatically wanted to choose one from work.  I came across this frame I knew it would be a fit as gray matches with everything and the walnut inside gave it a rich feel.
Along with the photo and frame M added a few other things that he knew the future Mr. and Mrs. would enjoy.  I wrapped up everything in butcher paper and added pink accents (shown above).  It just so happened the the fabric ribbon fit perfectly with the color theme.  The newlyweds loved their gift.  We had dinner with them a few nights ago, and I saw the frame in a vignette of theirs upstairs!  Cheers to love and long relationships.  I can't wait to attend another wedding!

The last time I was in Downtown LA was at the beginning of Spring this year and ate at my brothers friend's Ramen Restaurant. Downtown is a place that I went to all the time in my early 20's now that I'm older and traffic is horrendous, i'll only go if it's necessary or there's a gathering of some sort.  My good friend was visiting from Norway, I wanted to bring her to a place that had good french macarons and of course Bottega came in to mind.  I've shared the food that I've had but the dessert, is a whole other level!

We all got a box of (5) macarons and of course I got my favorite (3) pistachio's and (2) earl grey's.  We also got (3) iced coffee all in different flavors: regular, hazelnut, and vanilla.  The coffee there is AMAZING and is not phrased enough or at all.  It was the perfect afternoon to enjoy such sweets with great company.  I loved going during the day as the afternoon and dinner get's so crowded it's hard to find a seat.  What places do you like to go to in downtown?