girls' night.

this weekend is my sister's bachelorette weekend in nashville, tennessee.  here's a little inspiration i put together to get me in the spirit.  and now, i am ready!  well, i have a few more little details to finish tonight.  but then, i am ready! 

lots of champagne and girls' time and dancing in my near future.

xo. di.

*image 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

much love wednesday.

i like to use mondayWEDNESDAY! as a way to reflect on the previous week, to start anew, and to send a little love into the world.  won't you join me?    

today i am grateful for:
 

a long holiday weekend with the family and sister's future in-laws in northern michigan at our cottage on burt lake.  since this is my first post back (sorry again for the radio silence!), here's my weekly look-back.

pictures worth a thousand words:

 {burt lake from the air, so amazing!}

 {worked on TONS of wedding details for sis}

 {lunch in petoskey at city park grill, an old hemingway haunt}

 {our shoreline, as the sun set}

 {puppies}

 {a bloom among the grass}

 {wedding cake tasting}

 {always adding to our wine cork collection}

 

this week's blog love:

• the everygirl's feature on helena of a diary of lovely's london flat was inspiring.  such a unique space.
• i'm going to try the beauty department's snail braid challenge. 
• these outdoor spaces on centsational girl definitely inspire, especially love the outdoor movie theater.
• i seriously want to make each of these drink recipes featured by long distance loving.
• i  have been soaking up all the paper porn in aesthetic outburst's national stationery show recaps.  i need to go next year!
• adore these diy bendable cake flags on poppytalk.

here's to another grateful and love-filled week.  

xo. di.
    
*images by me

pti.

pardon the interruption, dear readers.  my flight back from northern michigan was canceled earlier today for "terrible problems" with the plane.  oof.  i can't get back to chicago until tomorrow morning and i only have internet for a short while, so here i am to say sorry for the lack of post today (as well as for tomorrow), and i should be back on schedule come wednesday.  hope you had a wonderful memorial day weekend.  here's what i enjoyed in between lots of hours of manual labor to get the yard in ship-shape for the summer!

xo. di.

p. s. you can get a little dose of me over on ashley nicole catherine today, with ballet-inspired wedding inspiration.

*image by me via instagram - i'm aspotofwhimsy over there, come say hi!

friday free for all: red, white & blue.

the friday free for all, focusing on a new pop of color each week.

have a wonderful memorial day weekend!

xo. di.

*image 1,2,3,4,5,6

style icon: cat deeley.

the 9th season of so you think you can dance premieres tonight on fox (i'm obsessed with this show btw - 1 of 2 reality shows i watch religiously!), which means i get a weekly dose of one of my favorite style icons: sytycd's host cat deeley.  

she's not afraid to try new looks each week on national television, but two things never change: her gorgeous, envy-inducing hair and her infectious smile.  seriously, infectious.  try not to smile back at the tv.

xo. di.

*images: top row - 1,2,3,4; middle row - 1,2,3,4; bottom row - 1,2,3,4

iced tea.

with a summery-spicy twist!  after trying sopraffina's cinnamon-orange iced tea a few weeks ago, i decided to recreate it at home for the perfect non-alcoholic summery drink.

all you'll need is an orange, cinnamon sticks, and iced tea bags. 

slice up the orange and throw it in a pitcher with the cinnamon sticks while you boil water for the tea.

pour the boiling water over them while adding in the tea bags.  brew the tea as usual, then remove tea bags and place pitcher in fridge to cool for a couple of hours. 

having the orange and cinnamon sticks in place when the hot water is added allows the flavors to come out and infuse the tea.

delish.  and so refreshing.

xo. di.

*images by me

country strong.

thanks to annie leibovitz's editorial with model karlie kloss in the june issue of vogue, i'm starting to get very excited for the london 2012 summer olympics. 

{ashton eaton, track and field}

{dwyane wade, basketball}

{jonathan horton, gymnastics}

{bob and mike bryan, tennis}

{ryan lochte, swimming}

feeling very olympic today.

xo. di.

*images via tom & lorenzo via vogue

much love monday.

i like to use monday as a way to reflect on the previous week, to start anew, and to send a little love into the world.  won't you join me?    

today i am grateful for:

a very social week catching-up with lots of friends + gorgeous summer weather.

pictures worth a thousand words:

 {enjoying sis's shower's peonies a week later}

 {trying new healthy recipes}

 {successful first attempt at the sock bun!  hi to c, my helpful photographer here}

 {added to my penguin threads collection.  cannot resist these beautiful book covers}

 {sunday brunch on a good friend's rooftop}

 

this week's blog love:

• i am so fascinated with this uber-creative wedding invitation suite by quill & fox.
• have you seen these incredibly striking photos of nicole kidman and her daughters for harper's bazaar?  if not, dustjacket has them for you.
• designlovefest has outdone herself with this ethereal style post.
• adore oh, hello friend's collection of beautiful packaging.
• 101 things i love has the perfect travel + fashion pairings.

here's to another grateful and love-filled week.  

xo. di.
    
*images by me

friday free for all: sage.

the friday free for all, focusing on a new pop of color each week.

have a wonderful weekend!

xo. di.

*image 1,2,3,4,5,6

pink lily press.

as promised, today i bring you more detailed pictures of the beautiful designs pink lily press created for my sister's shower.  i knew going in that i wanted to throw a pink + gold + white shower, and after coming upon this new year's eve wedding shoot, i fell in love with the phrase "cue the confetti."  and thus, a theme was born!  i searched etsy for "confetti invitations" and after going through maybe hundreds of results, i found jennifer of pink lily's falling confetti.  i let her know up front that i would also need her to design menus and thank yous and favor tags (oh my!), so she was prepared for all my subsequent emails :)  i had jennifer carry the falling confetti throughout, and then just played with wording and fonts.  and she was fantastic - so responsive, so patient.  i'm still in love with the results!

in another life, i'm a stationery designer.  i love it.  oh and by the way, i used this circle cutter to cut out the favor tags after emily of sparrow nest script answered my cry for help on twitter when martha's small circle cutter turned out to be a bust.  a win for social media!

xo. di.

p.s. this is not a sponsored post - pink lily just did a great job for me and i wanted to share!

*images by me

sis's shower.

fair warning: this post has a lot of pictures.  but there was a lot of pretty at my sister's shower last saturday, and i want to do it justice. 

such a lovely afternoon.  my mom made all of the cake pop favors, cause she's awesome.  she also split the responsibility of making the dessert shooters with one of my shower co-hosts, who is also awesome.  they were all incredibly delicious.  

sources: invitations and all paper design: pink lily press / tassel garland: everly lane design / metallic gold poms: pomtree / gold glitter confetti: wedding ambience / gold dessert flags: dill pickle picnic / venue: addison oaks, michigan / photography by me

more on the paper design tomorrow!

xo. di.

*all images belong to me