Sunday, February 14, 2016

Peachy Pink Valentine with The Nerdly Beautiful & Table Manners Aside



Happy Valentine's Day, friends! I've been waiting FOREVER to share this post with you :) It's my first double collab post and I couldn't be more excited to partner with the lovely Nini from The Nerdly Beautiful and the luscious ladies behind Table Manners Aside. Nini and I have made a friendship pact to do 5 collabs this year and we wanted the first to be for Vday. So of course we were delighted when Temi and Mari invited us to help with their own Vday themed post! Temi created a decadent raspberry molten lava cake recipe and Nini and I were going to get to be the hand models while Mari composed the perfect pictures. Basically, we pretended to daintily eat Temi's yummy cakes and after the shots were taken we INHALED THEM. Find out how to get this goodness into your own mouth here!

I love TMA's food photography. Mari really knows what she's doing behind the camera! I have to say my favorite thing about their blog is their joint writing voice. It feels like I'm chatting with a sassy girlfriend who is always in-the-know about their favorite restaurants whenever I read one of their posts. Temi and Mari co-write a recurring feature called TMA Mondays where they give you a heads up on their picks of all the happenings on the Seattle food scene. Bookmark their blog for new recipes, Seattle restaurant views, food porn worthy photos and a good time!





After enjoying good cakes and company, we were a bit pressed for daylight to get our outfit shots in so we jetted down to Nini's courtyard for some quick snaps. I love the way these photos turned out! Nini is basically Nigeria's next top model, AMIRIGHT?! The contrast between her edgy twists against the flirty flower crown and princess pink tulle is fab. I asked Nini to send me photo of her dress ahead of time so I could coordinate. I picked up this perfectly peachy fit-and-flare from the Nordstrom Rack clearance section before Christmas and immediately thought of it when I saw what Nini was planning to wear. As the weather warms in the PNW, I'm feeling drawn to the pretty pretty princess half of my closet.

I'm spending this Valentine's day hanging out with husband, brother and sister (in-law) on a sunny sunday in Florida. Sister's whipping up a scrumptious brunch and we have a beach excursion planned for later. I hope your day is filled with reminders of how much you are loved by your own loved ones. Thanks for reading today :)







Thursday, February 11, 2016

His & Hers: Orange, Pink, Plaid and Floral for Valentine's Day



Happy February, friends! It's been a little while since I last posted. 16 posts in 20ish days was a serious accomplishment for January but then I needed to prioritize other parts of my life aka work, husband and netflix :) I'm ready to get back at it again and I'm kicking this month of blogging off with a Valentine's Day inspired outfit post with my blogger boyfriend, Hector. Hector was kind enough to take time out of his busy work schedule to accompany me on a recruiting trip to UCLA last week. We had an absolute blast with our bruin-loving crew. Hector did an amazing job representing Microsoft and I am so grateful to have such cool friends to rep my favorite company with me.

We stayed at Le Meridien Delfina in Santa Monica together. I LOVE this hotel, it's definitely my favorite. I had this vision of a fun and sunny shoot but the weather was not on our side. Instead, we bought a spread of yummy desserts from Bay Cities Italian Deli and had a cookie and cake fest in the lobby. Huge thank you to my #1, Kasey Champion, for taking these photos and putting up with our shenanigans. Hector and I went for a bright and flirty twist on traditional Valentine's Day wear. Orange and pink is a fun and bold alternative to red. I love the pattern mixing we have going on with my busy florals and Hector's bold plaids.

I'm lucky to have such good friends to lollygag around with and I'm happy to say that you'll be seeing quite a few His & Hers posts this month! So see you again soon!





On Kim:
Floral Skater Dress Forever 21, similar options (dark floral, light floral)
Braided Wedge Nine West via Nordstrom Rack, similar




On Hector:
Button Down Brice, similar
Hot Pink Chinos Bonobos, similar
Blue Gingham Scarf Zara, similar
Shoes Public Opinion @ Nordstrom, similar