work in progress

hi everyone! i hope you all had a fabulous valentine's day - mine was very low key, which was perfect. sam insisted on staying in and making me dinner, and i acquiesced - i'm so used to cooking for the two of us, and stubbornly set in my way of doing things in the kitchen, that it's really hard for me to sit back and let someone else take the wheel. fortunately we recently re-organized our furniture, so our sofa has a prominent seat in the kitchen (i finally admitted to myself that, while a sofa in the kitchen might be unusual, it is the place where it will get the most use) so i settled myself on it and watched him mix a batch of pasta from scratch, rest it, struggle with the machine and then proceed to make what was honestly the most divine fettucine alfredo i've ever had - topped with wilted spinach, sauteed mushrooms and crispy prosciutto. lesson learned: i should take a seat on the couch more often.

ever since setting eyes on the stella mccartney resort 2012 collection, i've been smitten. i've googled and ebayed obsessively, hoping to find the (seemingly not even for-sale yet) white dress covered in bows at an audrey-friendly price (i know this will never happen) - and it finally occurred to me that, of all the over-priced designer clothing i've fallen for, this was probably the most easily DIY-able. so i bought a spool of ribbon, picked a well-fitting but infrequently-worn dress from my closet, and proceeded to obsessively tie and pin ribbons onto it.



sadly, i'm a pretty good idea person and initial energy runs high; but after sewing on the first half of the ribbons, i lost steam, so i'm wearing this carefully so's not to stick myself with one of the many pins poking out of the skirt and sleeves.

dress: madewell
shoes: thrifted
bows: added by me

i'm pretty excited with the way it's looking so far. a good cocktail dress is so essential - you can tell i think so, as i have a closet full of them and yet 9 nights out of ten you'll find me at home with sam, wearing comfy pants and a t-shirt. still, i love having a cute, well-fitting dress to slip into - an outfit no-brainer for when i DO go out.

. . . which is where you come in! brooklyn industries contacted me not long ago to see if i'd like to do a giveaway for my readers (another no brainer.) i've loved the brand for a long time - my love for red pants started with a pair of theirs a few years ago, and i've admired their simple but flattering silhouettes ever since. i picked this cute dress of theirs to give away - yours, for one lucky reader who leaves a comment.



so. . . enter away, and i'll pick a winner this friday. be sure to take a look at their new collection, too - lots of good stuff to see.

so much to post, and what feels like so little [free] time. i'll be back soon!

xo audrey

days gone by

which, a simple google search reveals, is the english translation of "auld lang syne." (**the more you know**) (or at least, it was news to me.)



dress: jill stuart
shoes: c/o seychelles
tights: HUE
flower brooch: thrifted

just a quickie today! sam and i were back up in connecticut this weekend for new year's day - a good friend has the misfortune of a december 31st birthday, which generally means that there is no shortage of parties on his special day, but not-a-one for him. his lady changed that this year, renting out a party bus to drive us and several of his close friends around hartford. i'm more of a dinner-party, champagne toast, dance with friends type of girl on new years, but i have to admit i had a pretty good time hopping from bar to bar. and it was a perfect excuse to snatch up this dress that i've been coveting for months upon months, for a fraction of even the sale price it's listed for on shopbop - one of the many benefits of living in new york city, i suppose.





so. . . this is pretty much everything i could want in a dress. bright colors, whimsical shapes (yes, i used the word "whimsical" and yes, i do kind of hate myself for it), gorgeous pleating. . . if i could wear it every day, i would. and it was warm enough saturday night to throw my go-to sweater over it and walk out the door.

and i THINK i'm a couple steps closer to finding a way to style this overgrown pixie cut into something i like. it requires the assistance of a blowdryer, which is a bit more high-maitenance than i'm used to, but i think i'll suck it up until it's long enough to throw into a ponytail.

and i'll leave you with one last shot of some food porn - i wouldn't feel right completing my first post of the year without it. i thought these macarons matched my outfit pretty well, so here they are: grapefruit curd flavor, made just before the new year.



i hope everyone had a fantastic new year! 2011 had to be my best year yet - i married the love of my life, found my dream job and am pretty much as happy as could be. i wish the same to each of you.

xoxo audrey

in sickness and in health

hi there friends! as far as wedding posts go, this'll be the meat and potatoes - the ceremony, the portraits, a lot of kisses. if lots of smooching isn't your bag, this may not be up your alley. but let's not waste any time, shall we?

sam's little sister, sheila, is one of my absolute favorite people of all time - she's hilarious, smart, sweet and wise way beyond her years. we asked her to serve as the minister for us, and she wrote some really beautiful vows. i have no idea what she and sam are giggling about.

sam's older sister, rita, led her daughter and sam's niece, sunny, down the aisle as our flower girl and she was perfect! she can be a shy kid so it was a nice surprise that she seemed to really enjoy it. (and you can see our moms in the front row! my beautiful mama on the left side, and sam's seated on the right.)

my beautiful bridesmaids. (a better look at them soon.) my older sister, emily, is wearing my cutie-pie nephew pete, esther is in yellow, then ashlee, erika, rachel, amy and katie.

sam waits with his groomsmen (his best man is his older brother mike, and then his friends johannes [who makes a mean lobster roll,] brendan, tj, tommy, ryan, and mike) and my poppa walks my down the aisle.












honestly, i can barely remember the vows. i was just staring at sam, grinning like an idiot. i remember he had a hard time getting the ring over my knuckle, and i remember saying i do, and trying not to kiss him too hard in front of all our friends and family. we walked back into the house, hugged everyone we could get our hands on, and then went back out for portraits.




first up, bridesmaids! emily is my older sister, in the red; esther my younger sister, in yellow; ashlee is an old friend from chicago, in the seafoam and headscarf; katie, in blue, introduced sam and i in brooklyn; rachel, another friend from chicago whom i followed to new york, is in the bright green; and erika, the brunette in purple, is another dear friend from chicago, as is amy, the blonde in purple who now lives in portland, oregon. whew! i told them all to pick a bright color and get whatever dress they wanted, so long as the hemline came to their knees-ish. i'm really happy with the way all the colors turned out. and i have to give a HUGE thank you to seychelles - the sweetest people ever - they outfitted not only me, but several of my bridesmaids in the shoes of our choosing and i am so delighted with mine!


that's my sam.


the whole crew.


and now, forgive me, but a round of obligatory sam and audrey kissy shots:




i changed into my original dress for the end of the photos and the reception - much better for dancing (and much less of a disaster if i spilled something on it.)

my siblings and i. . . (colin, my little brother, is on the left, then emily, me, and esther,)

and my wonderful parents.


all right. . . i'll wrap up tomorrow. thank you guys so much for all your sweet words, as always - i really have the nicest readers ever, it always blows me away. if anyone has any questions about anything or would like advice, i'm happy to chat, anytime.


yep, that's me, blowing the jump shot.

it's a blitz!

well, the big day has come! i got my wedding photos in the mail on friday afternoon, but had to race off to connecticut to celebrate someone else's big day; so i'm finally posting them now. i wasn't sure the best way to do this - there are a LOT of pictures, you guys - like, several hundred of them - so i did my best to just edit them down to a reasonable number, where you can get an idea of the night. . . and there are still about a hundred. so i think i'll break this up into two posts - one leading up to the actual ceremony, and one during and after.

i spent most of the morning of the wedding at sam's parents house - the wedding was in their backyard - helping fill balloons, finish off desserts, make signs for food, and all the finishing touches. my great friend veronika put together the cake for me and i put the little topper i'd made of sam and i on top; my old boss (who happens to be eric from top chef just desserts, aka "the nice one" if any of you watched that show!) came in super early to help and was a total rockstar, bruleeing about a hundred creme brulee spoons, making buttercream, and baking cookies. and of course my mom, dad, brother and sisters filled the pinata, blew up balloons, tied ribbons and made the whole thing possible.

i left to head to the hotel in the afternoon, where my sweet friend jess did my hair and makeup (with a little help from my bridesmaids.)

my mom had helped me design a vintage-inspired veil, and sam surprised me by sending a gift along with a friend at the last minute, as i was getting dressed - a vintage pin i'd been eyeing at the jewelry store a couple days before. it matched my dress perfectly.


or, i should say, matched my ORIGINAL dress. i decided a couple weeks before the wedding that i wanted to surprise sam - he'd seen my wedding dress (i am terrible at keeping secrets) so i asked my little sister if i might be able to borrow her dress for the day - a beautiful, simple j crew gown. it fit pretty perfectly (although the girls were rather jumping out of it,) and it actually matched my veil much better. i ordered a rhinestone belt from etsy to spice it up a bit.


but i'm getting ahead of myself! once hair and makeup was done, we raced back to the house (and we were LATE! the first shuttle beat me there, and i wasn't even in my dress yet!) i ran into sam on the way in, and helped him straighten his tie -

before dashing into the bedroom to change into my dress and wait to walk out. meanwhile, kendall, our lovely photographer, snapped some photos of the invitation, food, cake and flowers -

i made the invitations with paper & ribbons from paper source, my sewing machine & typewriter, and handwritten lettering.

the dessert spread -



five different macarons, almond lemon blueberry tarts, blueberry and apple pie pops, rosemary vanilla bean creme brulee spoons, and truffle-goat cheese-stuffed potatoes, all homemade. there were also lobster rolls, mini quiches, malted chocolate chip cookies. . . and barbecue for dinner.

i cannot say enough good about our florist, a friend of sam's family - paula at pentimento floral. i know absolutely nothing about flowers, and kept on referencing pictures i'd seen online, and she absolutely blew me away. my bouquet was a masterpiece (you'll see tomorrow,) and all the centerpieces were ridiculously gorgeous as well.


i dyed the napkins on by one, a green ombre to match the invitations - we didn't really have "wedding colors" as much as every color we could possibly bring into it. i ended up using succulents with little name flags for placecards.

aaand the cake! my friend and former coworker veronika volunteered to make it for me, and at first i resisted - i really wanted to do everything myself - but i'm SO glad i relented in the end. she made a simple vanilla bean genoise, and i made a lightened strawberry pastry cream for between the layers, and a rosewater vanilla buttercream for the outside. i fashioned a little audrey and sam out of fondant the week before the wedding - it's hard to tell, but sam's got a little fish on the end of his fishing pole, haha.

back in the bedroom, kendall snapped a few photos of me as i got dressed and anxiously waited to walk out.


and i'll leave it there for now! shit - i only got through about a third of the photos in this post, so i may need to break it up into three - it feels so obnoxious to post so many photos at once. i promise the ceremony will be up tomorrow!

xo audrey