Monday again?

I feel like I say this every Monday- but HOW is it Monday already?

I guess that's the problem with working Saturdays/Sundays. Sigh. 

Here's a look into last week via Instagram:

1. clearly our landlord thinks safety is important

2. missing wisconsin farmland 

3. vitamin c

4. blog swap package from sarah

5. dressing up a grey t-shirt

6. best mug, best show

7. mexican joy

8. the shoes that got away

9. actually wearing eye shadow. say whaaaat?!

10. shadows in shockhoe bottom

11. RVA murals

12. gingham & green

13. sunday snacks

14. breakfast

15. i'll take one of each.

Follow me on Instagram  here friends!

Does your landlord tape your fire alarm to the wall?

Happy Monday everyone!

xo, lp

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 Psssst! I also happen to be guest posting for Ashley while she's in Mexico [jerk]- so make sure to go HERE to see it!

Friday's Fancies #18: Date Night

This week's Friday's Fancies theme: date night. 

Usually when we go out it's somewhere fairly casual, so I usual stick to basics like skinny jeans and black heels, with light shirt and some pop of color either in jewelry or a clutch!

jeans  /   shoes  /  necklace  /  blouse  /   clutch

I'll be working through the weekend, and won't get a chance to wear a cute outfit like this- so if you're all out, have a drink for me!!

What's your go to date night look?

[make sure to head over to {longdistanceloving} for more!]

the best moments

having your sweet 2 year old niece grin when she sees you and throw her arms out for a hug saying "hi auntie yaya (lala)!!"

seeing two stunning and wonderful people get married in the most tasteful and elegant way.

taking the time for an early morning photoshoot with your love.

Michael and I went back to Wisconsin for the weekend for his sister's wedding. It was much needed, and well enjoyed. Besides seeing Michael's whole family, we saw my parents, both of my sisters, and my ADORABLE niece Lydia. To sweeten the deal, I got to see lovely blogging ladies Carly & Lauren.
It made us realize how lucky we are to have such wonderful family, friends- and how much we miss the amazing Midwest! There will be more pictures to come- and I'm not even going to apologize about it....

Can we all agree my niece is the cutest thing out there? Good. 

**all photos taken by Louisa of louisa marion photography/ Rivets & Roses. when pinning/sharing/etc please give proper credit!

Oh How Pinteresting #9

How is it possible I'm still tired from the trip?! Ridiculous.
Thus, I'll just let this week's OHP speak for itself, okay? Good.
--------------------------

Favorite Place Setting [glowing bottles]:

via

Favorite Shoe [spring green]:

via

Favorite DIY [ping pong ball lamp]:

via

Favorite Necklace [new present from Louisa!]:

via

Favorite Recipe [refrigerator pickles!]:

via

Favorite Bag [perfection]:

via

Favorite Top [sunny day]:

via

Favorite Interior [perfect night sleep]:

via

Holy crap that bed looks so comfortable right now. I think I need to be there. Like, yesterday. Gah.

Has anyone tried refrigerator pickles before? Success or failure?

Fruit Leather Failing

By now I'm sure you've all realized I have no problem sharing when a project or recipe doesn't turn out quite the way I wanted it to. Well, if you like failures, today's post should be quite fulfilling for you.

I really like fruit leather, and have since I was about 5. Everyone teased me for liking it for years, and somehow now it's becoming cool? WHAT?! Not fair. Well, if you go to the snack aisle in Target you can find about 15 different kinds of it now. Being that I'm no longer called a granny for liking it, I thought I'd try my hand at making it. There are recipes all over Pinterest, and they all include fruit, sugar, lemon juice, and water. 

Easy, right? How could you screw it up? Well, my friends, choose the recipe that tells you that making it on wax paper will work, and THAT'S how you screw it up. I read it and thought "Hm, that seems odd!" but figured the cook must be right. I know realize they must have meant parchment paper, because fun fact:

WAX PAPER IN THE OVEN MELTS LIKE A CRAYON AND STICKS TO EVERYTHING.

Okay. I'm sorry. I'll calm down. 

The deal is, the pieces I managed to pull off were delicious, so when I'm done being frustrated I'll make it again. 

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

- 2 cups worth of chopped strawberries

- 1 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice (and zest if you have it!)

- 1 Tbsp white sugar (more or less to taste)

- 1 Tbsp water

- Parchment paper

- Tiny bit of butter or crisco

HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN:

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees (this shouldn't take long!)

2. Chop up your strawberries and throw them into a sauce pan with the water and lemon juice.

3. Cook on medium low until the strawberries are bubbling slowly.

4. Throw the strawberry mixture into a food processor or blender with sugar and blend until smooth.

5. Line cookie sheet with PARCHMENT PAPER, grease/butter lightly and spread mixture until even. 

6. Place in oven and cook for 6 hours at 150. Yes, this is a long time. I know. If your oven doesn't go as low as 150, keep it as low as it'll go and slightly prop the door open! You don't want your leather to burn!

7. Let it cool, and peel it off!

Now please, please, please use parchment paper. Otherwise your wax paper will melt in with your fruit leather, making it impossible to peel off. This is what you'll end up with:

 Pathetic, I know. Also: heartbreaking. 

 I feel a little ridiculous peeling the stuff off in tiny pieces but after waiting for it for 6 hours, there was no way I was going to let it all go to waste! The tiny bits I got were delicious. 

 Anyone ruined any recipes lately to make me feel any better? 

Do share.

xo, lp

busiest weekend ever.

Whoa. 

Somehow Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun all mashed together and felt like about...8 hours?

I went back to the Midwest for the first time in 6 months, and FYI- it's 1:19 am EST.

Michael and I just got back in town a little bit ago and somehow I'm running on enough adrenaline to share some Instagram shots of the trip. If there are spelling errors I apologize- proofreading doesn't exist at 1:19 am. It's a well known fact.

The weekend was full of wedding bliss, amazing food, and sprinting through O'Hare. Yup. Sprinting. More on that later.

Hope you all had as wonderful of a weekend as we did! 

1. pastels & packing  

  2. selected baubles   

  3. reunited with my love at the airport

4. richmond international   

5. plane necessities  

 6. tarmac sun

7-9. madison capitol building at all hours of the day&night

10. photographer seester  

 11. early morning photo shoot  

  12. the cutest bug

13. beauty & the beard  

 14. wedding details  

15.  uw madison band concert spectacle

16. wi life: meat raffles   

  17. home of the best salted caramel shake on earth

 18. red pants, say what!?

I promise there will be more [coherent] trip updates to come...happy monday you good looking people.

If you don't already, find me on Instagram HERE! 

Friday's Fancies #17: Picnic Pretties

I'm still in the Midwest, so I'll keep this post short!

For this week's Friday's Fancies, {av} had us create an outfit we'd want to wear to a picnic! Well, instead of a full outfit, I thought I'd take some inspiration from a picnic- in the form of gingham. I have entirely too much of this pattern in my wardrobe, which I'm completely okay with. 

If anyone would like to add the Tory Burch gingham earrings to my collection, I wouldn't be upset...

green gingham / blue gingham /  pink gingham shorts / tory cuff and earrings

Happy Friday! 

(Don't forget to follow along on the trip via Twitter or Instagram)

Which gingham piece is your favorite?

book it

I'm here today...but...I'm not.

As you're reading this I'm either in the air or propped up somewhere in an airport enjoying a nice layover.

Michael & I are on our way to celebrate his sister's wedding back in the Midwest!

I won't be in the blog world much, but if you'd like, follow along with me on our trip via

Twitter or Instagram!

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For today I had to share some amazing bookcases I've found recently out on those interwebs.

I love books, but MAN I love cool bookcases even more. 

[nerd alert].

1. USA? YES.

Source

2. I already made a jewelry tree, why not a book tree? 

Source

3. Genius inventions for shorties like me

Source

4. Mint & Rainbow

Source

5. This looks amazing, no?

Source

6. Dizzy

No Source Found via Pinterest

7. Waves? Blades of grass?

Source

If you need me this weekend, I'll be the girl at the bar eating copious amounts of cheesecurds. Mmm-mmm.

Which bookcase is your favorite?

xo, lp

Oh How Pinteresting #8

This week's OHP is all over the place. All I can say is if someone wants to buy me that JCrew top, I wouldn't argue.
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Favorite DIY [scallop love]:

via a newfound treasure

Favorite Recipe How-to [caramel spirals]:

via

Favorite Place Setting [tea time]:

via

Favorite Shoe [MK, of course]:

via

Favorite Interior [rainbow pillows]:

via

Favorite Accessory [chain gang]:

via

Favorite Outfit [nautical neon]: 

via

Favorite Home Accessory [pop of pink]:

via

I'm loving those wedges and and neon flower pots!
Which are your favorites this week?


xo, lp

Homemade Bruschetta

Here's the deal- I don't really like tomatoes.

I know, you're all riveted. Great start to the blog post Laura, great start.

For some reason the texture and smell of raw tomatoes by themselves gives me the heebie jeebies.

That being said, the bruschetta I make is the closest I ever get to eating them...but that's it tomatoes- don't push your luck.

Today we'll be making this:

Yeah, uh-huh. It's good. This recipe is meant for two, so double/triple as needed!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED (serves 2-3):

1 medium tomato

4 basil leaves

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbsp worth minced onion

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp olive oil

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 ounce mozzarella cheese

french bread

HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN:

1. parboil tomatoes: bring water to a boil, remove from heat, throw in tomatoes for a minute. this will make it super easy to peel the skin off!

2. dice up your tomatoes- getting rid of the nasty, slimy seed part. [shudder]

3. mince garlic and onion, and  chiffonade your basil.

4. throw sliced bread in 350 degree oven to toast lightly

5. mix all ingredients, place on bread, cover in cheese, and top with basil and black pepper.

6. bake at 350 until cheese is lightly melted!

bah. raw tomatoes.

parboiling makes skin removal easy peasy

dice.

mince.

chiffonade.

mix it up.

top it.

melted perfection.

Now, if you're looking to make this a little more healthy (or are a terrible person and don't like cheese) skip the mozzarella! This would still be good served cold instead of hot. I mean, clearly my vote is pro-cheese, but that's just me.

Now, along with my cranberry pecan dip, this is one of the best things to make for a small gathering- quick, easy, and delicious!
What's your go-to party snack?