weekend inspiration

It's bittersweet that this is the last weekend in July already. We plan to enjoy it as much as possible, starting with a do-over of the concert in the park & Eastern market (it rained last weekend). Hope you have fun plans! Here are some inspiring things to end the week:

Vintage save the dates, perfect for adapting as party invites (from ruffled).
This photo of the flower market in Bangkok (by alkeemi).
Cute summer fruits print (by lucile's kitchen).
A good looking cheesecake that secretly uses no sugar, butter, or flour.

chocolate cake adventures

Ever since seeing It's Complicated, I've been in the mood to make a chocolate frosted cake from scratch. I finally made one a few weeks ago to take to our family reunion (so as not to eat it all myself) and used Ina Garten's fabulous recipe. It calls for coffee in both the cake & frosting, a surprise ingredient that makes it impossible to eat just one piece.

(finished cake)

I hesitated about the coffee ingredient because we don't drink coffee and I pictured myself buying one at Starbucks just to put in the cake. Then I realized they make convenient packets (of course) that you can add to water to make coffee in under a minute.


(baker's chocolate & instant coffee packs)


(frosted, slightly lopsided cake)

Here is the recipe for the cake if you'd like to make it. It comes from Ina's book, Barefoot Contessa at Home, one of my favorite cookbooks. The next dessert on my list from the book is her chocolate sorbet - yum!

emersonmade: confetti dress

I know emersonmade is already everywhere, but I can't resist posting about it when the line includes a cute confetti dress. A confetti dress! With pockets. I love it.

(photos emersonmade)

trader joe's

I know, I'm such a dork for posting about this, but this weekend I rediscovered how awesome Trader Joe's is. Everyone always raves about it and I've gone before & liked it, but I rarely shopped there because it's not on our main street of shops. Oh, I've been missing out...

Saturday we happened to stop in, and I was giddy impressed to find grass-fed meat, organic cheese & yogurt at better prices than our grocery store, and of course specialty things like wine, gourmet candy & snacks, and pantry items. We grabbed a few things we needed and were on our way, but now I'll definitely make routine trips there for certain items. Any other loyal TJ shoppers out there?

weekend inspiration

We haven't had a weekend home since June, so I have lofty plans that involve a sparkly clean house & time spent trying some new recipes. Tonight we're also going to a concert in the park, and then exploring the historic Eastern Market in Detroit tomorrow - it's 6 blocks long so I plan to bring a big tote bag & wear comfortable shoes. Hope you have a fun weekend ahead.



Sunny coastal kitchen (via stacy).
Beach tote tutorial (I still plan to do this summer).
Ice cream sandwiches.
Jamie's chickpea salad, on my recipe list (image by david loftus.

popsicle cards

Popsicles look perfect done in watercolor...

(photos by fine day press, found via style notes)

upon a fold

There are so many sweet little items from the shop upon a fold. Among many things, I love their washi tape and am convinced that I should finally order some so I can be like all the cool crafters.

(photos: upon a fold, found via oh joy)

They also carry those o-check balloon cards that I posted last summer.

fresh bruschetta

Bruschetta is one of my favorite things to eat in the summer. This weekend I happily scored 3 little organic tomatoes from my dad's garden (his fourth of july variety that are finally ready). I paired it with some fresh basil I had on hand, picked up some french bread, and enjoyed my first bruschetta experience of the season.

tomatoes from the garden:

the last pieces of bruschetta:

Simple bruschetta:
Garden tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic + red onion, drizzled with olive oil + balsamic vinegar, spooned on top of toasted french bread, topped with (not shown) mozzarella cheese.

flowers: studio choo

I love checking in on studio choo for a little dose of pretty flowers, their arrangements always look so effortless...


(photos small stump + studio choo)

weekend inspiration: color

Here are some of my favorite photos from this week (amazed at these colors!). And I would love to organize my closet by color, but I don't think it would have the same effect as all these pretty dresses...

colorful dresses (via black eiffel):


cozy bedroom (Jan Baldwin for Waterside Living):


colorful shelves (via color collective):

(photos linked to source above)

Hope you have an awesome weekend planned, we're off to a big family reunion. And this is totally off topic, but if you want to see a fun movie this weekend, go see Despicable Me, it's hilariously cute and we laughed the whole time (Steve Carell + Kristen Wiig = genius).

clothing: summer skirts

One summer my sister in-law Sarah said that she was determined to wear skirts as often as possible. It's a great idea because they're comfortable, lightweight, and always look cute. I like these vintages ones from to be determined:

(photos by to be determined)

1 nautical stripes, 2 red roses, 3 color block, 4 black floral

diy: rope stool cover

Martha has this way of making me want to do projects that suddenly feel urgent to complete. We've had this kitchen stool since our first apartment - I bought it planning to paint right away, but after 3 1/2 years it hasn't been touched. But then I saw this stool cover tutorial in Martha's craft book, and within the same week I had gathered all of my supplies and we whipped this out in an hour:

I chose sisal rope for a nautical look (not the most comfortable, but we don't use this stool for seating). We measured and marked the center of the stool top, used liquid nails glue, and repeated the steps of winding rope & gluing until it was covered. I like how it turned out and plan to finish it off by painting the legs white....someday.

bike card

I really like this Hooray Bike birthday card from rachel ink. I also think more people should ride their bikes around with a four-tier cake strapped to the back. It would just look prettier...

Speaking of bikes, Q is helping me fix up my vintage one. I got it last summer and it says it's a Columbia Bromleigh. It needs new brakes, tires, and a paint job, so I'm considering white or glossy red, signed in calligraphy along the side.

new shop

The new shop is now live. I'm super excited (& relieved) to finally launch the site - still have a few features that will be added soon, but here it is so far...

shop preview & happy weekend

Here's a preview of the new Hooray shop, which is going live on Monday at noon. I've added new products and will be running the shop through big cartel (I'll still be on etsy, too, but with big cartel as my flagship shop). I'm so excited, I think I'll eat ice cream all weekend long. :-) Hope yours is a good one.

summer entertaining

Jen from the haystack needle is vacationing in Maine and asked me to do a few posts about summer entertaining over on her blog. Today's post is about stocking your home with entertaining essentials, and tomorrow is all about fun party themes. I've shared a peek below but check out her blog to see more. Hooray for summer parties!

credits, board 1: photo 1 + 2, bottle, table linens, lantern, string lights
credits, board 2: photo 1, 2, 3, 4

dai due supper club

Something on my list of things to do someday is go to a supper club/meal hosted on a farm. I read about this one - Dai Due supper club - in Country Living and this blog post recently. They're based in Austin and serve seasonal & locally sourced feasts, with live music, on the lawns of their farm. Sign me up all summer, please.



(photos dai due)

They also share weekly recipes here.

lake michigan

This is what Fourth of July weekend looks like along northern Lake Michigan. If you'd like to see more, come visit our state...



We lounged on the beach, ate good food, and drove to downtown Pentwater for fireworks on the beach. I took pictures of cute cottages, bicycles, shops, sailboats...and we bought things like our favorite cherry bbq sauce, pizza & grinders, and sno kones. Now we're home, tired, and so ready to go back.

balloons & happy fourth

(more on my flickr)

Last weekend while driving to visit my parents we spotted a big balloon launch in Howell, and took a bunch of fun photos passing by. There is something so amazing about seeing a sky full of balloons as you go along...

I'll be back next week to launch the new shop collection! Have a sweet July weekend.

summer things...

We're going to our friends' cottage on lake michigan over the Fourth, and anticipating it has really put me in the summer mood. June flew right by but hopefully we'll get more chances to enjoy summery things soon like campfires, bike rides, sailing, reading, and enjoying the sun. Meanwhile, I'm loving these images...


(1 marie claire via here, 2 domino, 3 ascot friday via here, 4 AT, 5 helen palmer via design sponge)