In Bloom

Bachelorette Weekend

2012-02-24T08:23:00.000-05:00

This afternoon we are departing for a wonderful girl's weekend in Savannah for my bachelorette! Twelve of my besties and myself are making down to the low country for some good old fashioned girl's bonding time! Excited for a fun weekend, yummy food and hopefully good weather!

{picture perfect it will be}

My sincere apologies for recent lack of posts. Life seems to have gotten in the way and I appreciate your patience! Things can be trying and I have found some comfort both spirtually and aethetically from these sweet verses:

{excerpts from this sweet book}

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo

Magic with Brie

2012-02-16T08:11:00.000-05:00

P and I were invited to a last minute dinner at another couples house last night. I asked innocently - what should I bring? Oh - just a dessert. Simple right? Not a big deal for most but two confessions: I am not a baker and I really don't have much of a sweet tooth (my cheese cravings make up for it believe me!).

I was running late from work and the chance of picking up something from a store was rapidly increasing until I remembered a recent Pinterest recipe I saw (originally from Plain Chicken). I had Brie left over from Valentine's Day and most of the other ingredients for Brie Bites. Let me tell you - they saved the day!

You will need: mini fillo shells (in freezer section), brown sugar, honey, brie and walnuts. That's it!

Preheat oven to 350. Place mini shells in baking pan.

Place a cube of brie in each. The colder the brie is - the easier to cut.

Sprinkle 1 tsp of brown sugar over each.

Add a dollop of honey and a few walnut pieces and they are ready to bake!

Bake for 15 minutes or until brie is melted and shells are browning.

Voila! Easy and very yummy - even the boys went out of their way to say how great these were!

xoxo

Love Love Love

2012-02-14T06:00:00.006-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day loves! I am so excited to cook a special Valentine's dinner with my sweetie - our one and only as an engaged couple! I splurged at my favorite grocery store -Reid's - and hope it turns out delicious!

{cute cards from sugar paper above and below}

{from the fabulous rifle paper company}

{good reminder about love - overplayed but always good}

{french love}

{they look like love in bloom form}

{valentine friendly market}

{i heart bacon}

Hoping for a happy ending for this talented girl....

Love the body you are in. Here are some tips (notice the Charlotte restaurant feature!) at Food & Wine.

Interesting article about French parenting if you have or are planning on little loves! Not only are they skinnier...

Love stories of seventy years here.

xoxo

Art Class for Grown-ups

2012-02-10T06:00:00.001-05:00

My roommate and I recently went to Wine Palette for a fun artsy weeknight "date". Between busy jobs, serious relationships, the list goes on....our bonding time normally consists of watching Revenge or Gossip Girl together. We used coupons for this venue and would definitely go back at full price! It is BYOB and they provide all the materials and teaching. Some other students even brought picnic snacks.

{bartender abbey kicks off the night}

{a fresh start}

{everything you need}

{layers of creativity}

{beauty in the mess}

{our masterpieces}

{TA DA}

Do you have an artsy side?

xoxo

Franny the Wonder

2012-02-09T06:00:00.003-05:00

To my chagrin - I do not have a dog. However - several of my sweet friends have some wonderful furry friends! Today I want you to meet Franny the Wonderdog. She has a precious owner Amelia who sent me this great video of her....

...doing yoga!!

Franny also loves Ryan Gosling and frolicking in the forest wearing balloons.

Next year P and I are getting a puppy (I hope I hope!). Some of my favorite picks are:

Great Pyrenees

Or an English Creme Retriever.

Or maybe a little guy from the shelter. Time will tell :)

Do you have any special critters in your life??

xoxo
B

Valentines in one week!

2012-02-07T06:00:00.001-05:00

Valentine's Day is in one week. Whew that snuck up. Good thing P and I planned ahead for our Valentine's early. We are starting a new budget friendly tradition this year to last our lives! We are exchanging $10 gifts, no more, no less. Should be interesting...

We are cooking a home - a real steak house dinner - using this recipe. Hopefully mine turns out this good! It will be a good chance to use my grandmother's well-seasoned cast iron skillet.

What are you and your sweetie planning on?

xoxo

Silence is Golden

2012-02-06T06:00:00.006-05:00

This weekend I ventured to see my first ever silent movie - The Artist. Even thought it has received rave and tons of award nominations - I was pretty skeptical.

One hour and forty minutes later - all I could think was SPLENDID and FABULOUS. A must see. Will warm your winter spirits. I cannot recommend going to see it in theaters enough. It is playing at the very cozy and sweet Manor Theater here in Charlotte.

Let me know if you have seen it and enjoyed as much as I did!!!

A Texas-y Weekend

2012-01-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

This past weekend P and I headed to Texas for a family weekend with his some of his extended family. We were in Dallas but mostly their ranch outside of the city. It was BEAUTIFUL. Quiet, peaceful, clear starry nights.

Only Suburbans allowed.

Come spring these will be fields of blue bonnets

P's grandparents

It was a great weekend meeting family and relaxing :)

xoxo
B

2012-01-26T06:00:00.003-05:00

This weekend P and I are headed to the Big D - Dallas to visit his grandparents who can't make the trip to NC for our wedding. As I am supposed to be packing for my trip, I started thinking back on my last trip out to Seattle where MY grandparents live. Seattle is AMAZING in summer if you have never been. I spend a month out there as a little girl every summer.

Hope these favorites of my (from my old non-DSLR please forgive) warm your winter hearts! There are lots of pics of blooms :)

{pike place market}

{mom + me}

{poppies on whidbey island}

{rainy but happy fourth of july}

What is your favorite place ever?

Off to pack my cowboy boots...

xoxo

B+P Wedding Inspiration {Part 1}

2012-01-23T06:00:00.004-05:00

We have 117 days til our wedding! Wow that flew by! P and I were engaged in July and I can't believe we are so close to this big day and more importantly the start of our lives as Mr. and Mrs.

This weekend, my Mom came in from Florida to do some wedding planning for our May celebration. We drove up to Asheville to walk the venue. I would have taken pictures but it was very icky weather. I'd rather it be this weekend than the actual big day!

I wanted to share {part 1} of the wedding vision. There will maybe be a {part 2} as I am sure to forget some things.

Enjoy! Happy Monday!

Our venue outside Asheville, NC - The Farm

Natural flowers

Natural bouquet

Bistro lights in the tent

Mom is collecting vintage china

Spackled cake with natural flowers

Tan and neutral linens + white napkins

Ribbons on ceremony chairs

For my pretty friends

I can't show you my dress but I can show you my shoes!

Hope you liked the sneak peek! Now off to the to-do list....

xoxo

Market Adventure!

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday my friends Rachel and Ariel joined me on an adventure to the brand new farmers market in uptown Charlotte - Seventh Street Public Market. It was like a grown-up field trip.

They have a little bit of everything local and organic. We had a ball!

So true! And yes I am a composter :)

Love the chalkboard.

Real fish (tilapia). I never knew what they looked like...

Real meat.

Real milk.

Beautiful chard.

Real butter.

Fresh kombucha. You must try.

For the doggie :)

This is what real honey looks like.

For the fish lover.

For the coffee lover.

Something for the interior design lover.

Me + Rach + Ariel with our goods.

$18=1 dozen farm eggs, 1 lb organic free range beef, chipotle hummus, sprouted bread, chard, kale and bibb lettuce. We were surprised how good of a deal everything was!

If you're in the area please give them a little business!

xoxo

BP (Before Pinterest)

2012-01-18T06:00:00.009-05:00

Sorting through pictures on my computer this weekend, I discovered an old section where I used to copy pictures from surfing blogs and design sources. To keep as inspiration. I remember wishing there was a place I could keep these pictures and the sites they came from. If I only I had invented Pinterest...

Here are a few of my favorites from that old file. My original Pinterest board.

xoxo
B

6 Months!

2012-01-17T08:00:00.002-05:00

Today marks six months of P and I as an engaged couple. It has been a wonderful experience planning our wedding and our future life as Mr. and Mrs.

I wanted to share some favorites from our engagement photos with our wonderful photographers Jen+Chris. We had such a fun time with them and they made what could be very awkward very comfortable - especially for P!

There is always something about black & white.

xoxo

Brynn

January in Bloom

2012-01-16T06:00:00.007-05:00

Confession - I admit I didn't use anything except auto with the camera this weekend. But I did capture quite a few winter blooms in the park. As my blog title implies - I love everything flowers. So it thought it fitting to have a post devoted to such.

After enjoy yummy lattes with P at Sunflour Baking Company...

I walked the park near my house - 4th Ward Park. It is interesting when you pay attention how much is very alive in winter. Here are some of my favorites.

Now we'll see what happens if it snows...

xoxo

Brynn

Yogi Wisdom

2012-01-13T22:16:00.000-05:00

My coworker and I frequent an end of week, late Friday yoga class often. It is an excellent way to wrap up the week and start the weekend fresh. I highly recommend it.

Tonight we had a substitute teacher. It was a huge blessing. She shared a lot of tidbits of fabulous wisdom during our class.

My favorites:

"Everything you need, you already have"

"The soul grows through subtraction; the ego through addition"

Say them each three times. Think long and hard. There are many interpretations.

Her name is Mary Salama - she keeps her class schedules updated here.

Have you been impacted by any gems of wisdom recently?

xoxo and namaste
Brynn

Happy Friday (the 13th)!

2012-01-13T07:21:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday!

I don't know about you but I especially need this weekend! I have guests in town or trips out of town a lot after this weekend so I want to take advantage of a completely free few days.

My list for two lovely days:

- Visiting the new 7th Street Market in uptown Charlotte - right down the street from me!

- Reading more of For Women Only. Excellent book that my bible study is covering for engaged/married girls. Real insight to men! Crazy how different we really are!

- Cooking elk from P's Colorado hunting trip + watching Tebow vs the Patriots - with the roomie and our boys. What a tomboy night!

- Giving myself a DSLR photography lesson with these great tips!

- Catching up on this week's episode of Revenge. Best. Show. On. TV.

- Work on wedding invitation details with P. He doesn't know about this item yet...

What are you doing this weekend? Whatever it is I hope it's a great one!

ps. I'm choosing to ignore Friday the 13th. But here is the story of where the superstition came from. I didn't know that it was such ancient history!

xoxo
Brynn

Housewarming Gifts

2012-01-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

I love gifts and presents. I love receiving them and I love giving them. I also love getting packages in the mail. It is wonderful in a world where we can buy anything, anytime, anywhere - to actually have to wait for something. In this case, I waited for three whole weeks for the perfect housewarming gift to be handmade :)

Ever since I saw this on Etsy - I was dying to order one for someone. Since P and I don't know where exactly we are living after we are married - I couldn't order one for myself.

Then good friends Katrina and Hutch bought their first home. Their stamp just arrived and I was so excited to give it to them.

Arrived promptly in a cutie box.

They opened it tonight.

So we had to try it out.

And it works like a charm.

Have you given or received any excellent housewarming gifts recently?

xoxo
Brynn

Moss Garden

2012-01-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

I love the outdoors. Love fresh air. The woods. God's beautiful creations. I love indoor plants and balcony garden (though now dead since it is January). Plants clean the air and brighten your spirits - read more here. I was inspired by the below to bring a little more of the outdoors in - with moss!

Some moss terrarium inspirations

{bhg]}

{uncommon goods}

So on Saturday morning I set out to make my own mini moss for the indoors. I purchased my moss (only $2!) from Campbell's Greenhouses in Charlotte - the most fabulous gardening spot if you are in the area.

You will need

glass container - shape of your choice

cup of dirt (or more if larger container)

live moss

other plants/adornments

Place dirt, then moss in container.

Water pretty well.

Place indoors!

My roommate - ever patient with all of my 'projects' said it looks like planet earth in a bowl :)

xoxo

Brynn

Soup with Friends

2012-01-09T07:23:00.000-05:00

To brighten your Monday morning -

{tuscany}

{brugges}

{lake como}

This weekend I made soup for friends. We had a wonderful night eating a healthy warm dinner and drinking wine. Butternut squash bisque is yummy and super easy to make.

Butternut Squash Bisque

you will need:

1 large butternut squash

1 whole onion

1 carrot (or several baby carrots)

1 quart vegetable or chicken broth

Rosemary, salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan cheese if desired

1. Slice butternut squash, onion and carrot. Set in cooking pans with two inches of water and roast for 45 minutes for 45 minutes.

2. Once roasted - peel skin off butternut squash. Cube onion, butternut squash and carrots. Place in stockpot. Turn on medium.

3. Add 1 quart of broth. Add salt, pepper and rosemary to taste.

4. Use immersion blender to fully blend - will take a few minutes. Use spoon to check for chunks.

5. Final product should be smooth, thick bisque.

6. Serve with salad (earlier post) and toasted bread - enjoy!!

*tip: leftovers freeze very well. place single servings in ziplog bags for quick weeknight din*

xoxo

Brynn

Winter Salad

2012-01-07T20:57:00.000-05:00

Happy Weekend!

Today we were blessed with warm sunny temperatures - not the norm for North Carolina this time of year. We enjoyed a happy hour afternoon watching the UNC basketball game. It was glorious.

Last night I made a small dinner for friends. The main recipe is coming soon but wanted to share a yummy winter salad we had.

Winter Salad

you will need:

bunch of spinach (much cheaper than pre-washed)
1 beet
1/2 cup of pomegrante seeds
small bit of goat cheese (Trader Joe's has great single serve portions)
pumpkin seeds
olive oil
cumin
cayenne
apple cider vinegar
salt
pepper
herbs de provence (or really any dry herbs)

Wash spinach very thoroughly.

Chop spinach and refrigerate.

Wash and dice beets. Roast with a little olive oil at 400 for 25 minutes.

Beets should look like the below when roasted. The smaller you dice the shorter cook time. Pierce with a fork to test if done. Should pierce easily.

Add the pumpkin seeds with a dash of olive oil, salt, cumin and cayenne. Cook for 8-10 minutes.

Toss spinach, roasted beets, pomegrante seeds, crumbled goat cheese and roasted pumpkin seeds.

For the dressing - mix equal parts of apple cider vinegar and olive oil. Add herbs to taste.

Eat up. Yum! Goes great with soup (recipe coming this week).

Have a restful weekend! I will be drooling over THE best fashion blog EVER - here and watching the debate with P.

xoxo
Brynn

January Everyday Look

2012-01-05T10:00:00.000-05:00

So it is very cold and very after the holidays. I am already drooling over new spring clothes of warmer times to come. Frolicking in the park. Going on picnics. Happy hour afternoons outdoors with no coat on. Doing spring things.

BUT. We have a few months. So in the meantime, I am inspired by the chic, all-black wear of an icon. Perfect for work and play in the darkest months of the year.

Some modern takes on the all black. The outfit where no matching is required. Perfect for work.

Black pants + black top + accessories

I like the additions of red liptick and gold!

Yes it really is universally flattering. {jcrew}

A sassy shoe. {piperlime}

Chunky gold anything. {jcrew}

Ribbon bow earrings! {kate spade}

{gilt}

xoxo

Brynn

Rise and Shine Smoothie

2012-01-05T07:53:00.000-05:00

Rise and Shine!! I wanted to share a small way I (attempt) to start the day right!

I often make veggie and fruit smoothies to kick start a healthy day. Here is what I made most recently:

Rise and Shine Fruit and Veggie Smoothie

you will need:
2 stems of Kale (I like Lacinato)
1 small banana
1 cup of frozen blueberries and strawberries
1 tbsp of chia seeds
1 cup of water

Then blend away!!

Maybe the color isn't great but I promise the taste is!

Smoothies and juices are the easiest way for me to get a lot of vegetables and fruits quickly. I stay pretty full from this until lunch and typically will be inspired to eat healthier all day :)

Some easy substitutions:

kale -> spinach, chard

banana -> apple, pear

berries -> citrus, kiwi, cherries

chia seeds -> flax seeds, protein powder

water -> coconut water, almond milk

*add ice if not using frozen fruit*

*add ginger, honey etc for added taste as desired*

xoxo

Brynn

Winter Reading

2012-01-04T07:49:00.000-05:00

I am a bookworm. Always have been, always will be. The level depends on how much free time I have. Over Christmas break vacation, a lot of free time presented itself. A gem I couldn't put down:

Yes this was written for the 'young adult' set. So although it is 384 pages - you will fly through it. A modern day The Giver/1984/Brave New World + reality television. You will not be able to put it down.

On another note - I am going to see "We Bought a Zoo" tonight with my 'little sister'. I am so excited!

xoxo
Brynn

Florida in December

2012-01-03T11:40:00.000-05:00

I recently returned from a great Christmas holiday, visiting with wonderful family and friends. Here are some favorite pictures - enjoy!

Rustic decor at the very casual but yummy Bait House at Clearwater Beach.

Taken from Clearwater Beach near Frenchy's.

Palm Pavillion Christmas lights at Clearwater Beach.

Sunset from Davis Island.

And now it is 32 degrees outside in Charlotte!! Brrrrrr!!!

xoxo
Brynn

Hello 2012!

2012-01-02T18:24:00.000-05:00

2012 Intentions....

1. Give more of my time and money.

2. Save more money - with an emphasis on margin!

3. Spend more time learning to use my new camera.

4. Master the art of the yoga headstand.

To start off the year right - I am doing a detox of sorts. Very cliche, I know. In January 2011, I ate solely vegan for the whole month. And I felt FABULOUS. This January, I am eating:

- organic fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts

- organic poultry and fish

- no dairy - yes no cheese at all
- minimal sugar and processed foods

Whole Living has a great plan including recipes found here!

Looking forward to a bright and shiny new year my friends!

xoxo
Brynn