you say it's your birthday

My handsome man turned 23, crazy how old we are both getting!

We spent the day with each others families; pancakes in the morning with my side and sushi for dinner with jay's side. Always the picky eater, part of my present to him was to try all the sushi I could get my grubby little hands on and I have to say, once I got over the texture it sure is tasty!

After a long day we settled back home for lemon & lavender cupcakes and cuddled up by the glow of the tv for the amazing movie How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (you have got to love Robert Morse's smile).

Sometimes it's just nice to keep your birthday simple with a loved one :)
Jay says thank you for all of your kind wishes!

how many candles?

On Jay: Top: thrifted, Tie: guess, Pocket square: By elle, Jeans: H&M, Shoes: Guess
On Elle: Top: thrifted, Belt: F21, Skirt: thrifted, Tights: target, Shoes: Guess

Although these pictures were taken from a few days ago I think you can still see the excitement from Jay (note: jazz hands). Why is he excited? Why because it's his birthday of course! I'm am going to keep this post simple and sweet because we are about to adventure for other sweet items (birthday breakfast!). I was feeling a need for color and he was feeling a need for something new; one crazy patterned skirt and handmade pocket square later we got that boost of energy we dearly needed!

Happy Birthday Jay! May all your dreams come true! (Birthday adventuring post tomorrow!)

Sunday Song

As we will soon become the birds, I felt this beautifully simple video was appropriate.
Hope the sun shone for your weekend.

-J

Spring blossoms

On Elle: Glasses: Urban, Dress: DIY, Tights: Target, Shoes: Urban
On Jay: Button-up: Urban, Jeans: H&M, Shoes: Urban Outfitters

I once went through a summer of wearing muumuus. Horrified, right? Honestly I don't get why they have such a bad rep; open, breezy and comfortable. Maybe it's the whole 'you-look-like-you're-wearing-a-giant-bag' thing they emit.. Yeah, that's probably why. Although I am mostly over that phase, I still find myself making regular purchases of them as they are perfect for refashions. This particular one was full length, long sleeved, and about 10 sizes too large for me; more than enough fabric to play around with. After a little bit of vertical pleating, and a lot of taking in I'm left with a cute little sea shell polka dotted perfect for the summer.

Jay seemed to be feeling the summer vibes too, as the weather is so close to those perfect days where you only need to be wearing a t-shirt and are neither hot nor cold. Combined with a new shoe color (he is trying so many new colors lately, I'm so proud), it has me yearning to go to the beach, build sandcastles, and drink ice tea. However, I seem to be getting a little ahead of myself since we haven't even had our first spring picnic!

Sunday Song

She is so cute I could put her in my pocket!

scalloped edges

Just a couple of oldies from an afternoon at the antique shop down by the water (our recent photos turned out to be bummers)!

After a quick stop to the candy shop for some salt water taffy (root beer you are the best), we shuffled through the old pictures (always Jay's favorite part) and I ogled at the pricey clothing.

The weather has been getting spring-ier and I'm sure our pictures will be perfect next week. (Especially excited as I've been DIY-ing all week!)

Hope you lovely readers have a gorgeous weekend!

four eyes

Dear Eyes, thank you so much for your still current 20/20 vision; although questionable after long bouts on the computer. However, your gift to me makes me jealous of my fine framed friends who can change styles in an instant.

Despite feeling like a little bit of a poseur, I still have started a growing obsession with collecting frames and sunnies. For the longest time I had been convinced glasses could not work on my face thanks to uneven ears and awkward teenage years, but that all changed thanks to one perfect pair: not circle, not square, but somewhere in between. Unfortunately they broke all too long ago but opened up my eyes to framing my eyes. I like to think of them as an accessory rather than a necessity; turning outfits with a slightly hippie vibe into full on 70s or an office getup into geek chic. Luckily, the current trends are on my side and providing me with cheap vintage-inspired lovelies when I can't find the authentic ones on my own.

1. Prism London 2. Anthropologie 3. Modcloth 4. Fred Flare 5. Etsy 6. Etsy 7. American Apparel

dachshunds & peacocks

On Elle: cardigan: diy, top: urban, belt: f21, jeans: h&m, shoes: oh deer

You know what is amazing? You! But aside from that potatoes, definitely potatoes. In addition to being tasty in any cooking form (roasted with rosemary, fried in a vat of grease, mashed with garlic and butter for some home comfort) they lend themselves to easy DIYs. After scoring this little cardigan for a couple of dollars at the thrift store I felt the need for a bit of vamping up; the perfect solution being wiener dogs of course. Chopped in half and carved, potatoes make the perfect little throw away stamps! Although the sweater did not feel complete, so I added a little embroidery to the collar and it makes a perfect addition to my wardrobe.


Jay, on the other hand, took a piece from my wardrobe; thanks to American Apparel's unisex love. After a few hours of frolicking in the newly appearing sun, any bright pop anxiety disappeared and he realized the joy of color. Although we didn't do anything in particular that day, our eyes were treated to blooming flowers in private gardens and sidewalks carpeted in petals getting us vastly excited for upcoming picnics, road trips to the beach, and garage sale-ing!

On Jay: jacket: urban, button up: h&m, tie: thrifted, pants: AA, shoes: guess

Please stand by..

Right now I am sitting at Victrola coffee munching on a pastry and Jay is sipping his earl gray because early this week our internet decided life wasn't worth living any more. Sorry for the lack of posts, but we should be up and ready by Sunday!

Sunday Song

Lovely video to match a lovely cover. Hope you all have a happy Easter!

Please Mr. Postman

Vintage postcard via flickr

You know what is one of the best things in the world? Getting something special in the mail! With all the extra blank postcards from our wedding invites we thought we would share a little postal love. Although they will not be as lovely as the one above, yours will include a unique drawing from elle and an endearing message from us!

Send us your name and address (we won't stalk you, we swear) to mslaura.mae@gmail.com

You are cordially invited...

I have probably looked at more wedding invitations in the past week than I have in my entire life. After, ogling over the various invites on OnceWed and DesignSponge and wishing I had a glorious budget to spare; I set out to make my own. I have a no-so-secret obsession with patterns and when I'm in doubt it's pattern overload. After searching through my (almost) hundreds of self made photoshop patterns we went along with scalloped waves, soft shades of blue and teal, dotted accents, and snarky comments. Two hours of cutting, folding, gluing, hot chocolate, and one trip to the post office later we are left with 75 sheets of recycled paper, 200 postcards, and an abundance of envelopes. Total cost with leftover supplies= $35