Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy (almost) Halloween! What are your plans for the weekend? We're going out for Italian food with some friends tonight, so I'm saving my appetite for a giant piece of lasagna. And I'm excited for the Halloween parade this weekend! Toby's going to be either a wolf or a tourist. Hope you have a good one, and here are a few great posts from around the web...

Pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies? Yes, please!

Alphabet bookcase.

Let's go backyard camping.

Love this wedding dress.

Do you think this ponytail styling lotion really works? If so, that's genius.

Awww, such a cute print.

Rethinking sweatpants.

What a lovely wintery shot.

Ooh, I want to go on a photography getaway.

40 clever advertisements.

This beautiful bride wore this beautiful gown!

Kate Spade's adorable inspirations.

Have a good one! xo

(Photo from the new 3191 Quarterly)

Friday giveaway!

Today's giveaway is from Penelope's, a wonderful Chicago-based boutique. They're offering one lucky reader a $200 gift certificate. They carry pieces by Built by Wendy, A.P.C. Sessun, Rachel Comey, and other amazing lines, so you could get some really fabulous pieces. (I'd go for this adorable dress and some "very tight" jeans:)

For a chance to win, please visit Penelope's and leave a comment below. A winner will be chosen at random on Monday. Good luck! xo

Update: Liza is our lucky winner. Thanks for playing.

Two pretty things

This agate locket.
This woven wrap.

Both for carrying your loved ones close to your heart.

Van Gogh tilt-shift

Have you guys ever seen tilt-shift photography? By playing with depth of field, it makes real cities look like miniature models (see examples here and here). Well, Serena Malyon, an art student, used Photoshop to give the same effect to Van Gogh paintings. Aren't these beautiful? See more here.

Toby in a swing

Last weekend, Toby went on a swing for the first time! He was pretty nonchalant, but Alex and I were totally into it. So sweet to see his little leg warmers sticking out; and the swing was almost as big as he was. We also thought he looked hilarious in Alex's glasses, although when we got home, I suddenly realized that we had inadvertently made him look just like the kid from The Hangover. :)

Emersonmade

Emersonmade's clothes keep getting better and better. And she's making shoes now, too. P.S. The striped sleeves sticking out of the trench coat are so cute!

Paris versus New York

What an awesome series by graphic designer Vahram Muratyan. He calls it a "friendly visual match between those two cities." (I love the tipping one!)

(Via Smallest Things)

Wednesday giveaway!

Today's giveaway is from Ruth Barzel, a fabulous jewelry designer in Washington D.C. She's offering one lucky winner a $100 gift certificate to her shop. She has lots of pretty pieces under $50; my favorite is this gray shell pearl necklace, which would look good with everything. Her pieces would also make great holiday gifts!

For a chance to win, please visit Ruth Barzel's shop and leave a comment below. A winner will be chosen at random tomorrow. Good luck! xo

Update: Sarah Wondering is our winner. Thanks for playing.

Missing phone?

Whoa, this is genius! You know when you lose your phone, and you have to ask a friend to call it for you? Well, if no one's around to help, you can go to this clever website, enter your number, and it will call your phone for you. Ha, I just tried it; it really works!

(Via Swissmiss)

Mabo

Oh my goodness, how cute are these striped clothes? They're from Mabo, a new children's collection made in the USA. Love.

P.S. If Toby wore these pants, I think I might have to eat him.

Birthday dinner

Thanks for all the sweet birthday wishes for Alex! Last night, to celebrate, we went to Recette, an amazing little West Village restaurant. We had a lovely table right next to an open window, so we could feel the crisp fall breeze as we ate. We toasted with Champagne and then shared lots of small plates, including sunchoke soup, beef carpaccio with burrata cheese, and salt cod fritters with lamb ragu (they had such cool combinations of ingredients). It felt so magical to dress up and go out on the town, just the two of us. xoxo

Double Angel Braid Headband

Start along one side of her face and make an angel braid.  This is a braid where you only pick up hair from one side.  I pulled the hair from the front of her face as shown below.

Next make a parallel angel braid as shown below.  Do this to both sides of her head. 

 Below is a picture of the other side of her head as well.

 Take all 4 ends of the braids and pull them to the bottom, back of her neck and secure them together with an elastic.

 Below is a top view of the finished hairstyle.



The Smiths

When Alex and I first started dating, I'd go over to his Brooklyn apartment and we'd drink wine and order dinner. (I remember always getting insane butterflies when I walked up the stairs to apartment! He would lean over the banister to say hello, and I would get all heart-pound-y.) Anyway, he'd usually put on music by The Zombies, Love and The Smiths, so I thought he might appreciate these clever limited-edition prints.

(Via Mixed Plate)

Agony Aunt?

If you're anything like me, sometimes you just want to get stuff off your chest, to someone who won't judge you and will just listen & help in any way they can.
I have always loved helping other people with their problems, be it big or small. I was the one people would come to for a chat, for help or for a shoulder to cry on. My mums best friend is a doctor of psychology and she says that i should be in that field of work, as much as i'd love to, i'm definitely not clever enough. Writing essays was never my forte. However, I have the gift of listening & truely caring about how other people feel and doing the best i can to help in anyway i can. I've always been this way. My mum says i'm too empathetic for my own good.

So i guess the purpose of this post, is just to say that if any of you ever wanted to have a rant, have a moan, get some advice, anything..please feel free to email me. I have had people emailing me with problems before, and i've always wanted to help in some way. I'm no expert, i know that, but even if i just manage a smile out of you, or just listen, then that's something. Making other people happy, makes me happy. Obviously I'm not here to judge anyone, and i definitely won't. Anything you ever email me will be completely confidential & even if i don't know much about the subject in which you want to talk about, i will always try. I cant say i'm extremely wise when it comes to things like relationships, friendships, money, lifestyle etc etc but hey, im here if you wanna chat!

My email is in the sidebar to the left should you ever want to use it :)

Images courtesy of weheartit.com

Happy birthday, Alex!

Dear Alex,

Happy birthday! We love you to pieces! You make us laugh, give pitch-perfect advice, and cook up the most delicious pasta Bolognese (with capers!). You're hilarious to gossip with and such a joy to confide in. It's awesome that every TV show you watch includes the words "Mega Disaster" or "Haunted History," and I know that you secretly want to shave your beard sometimes but I love that you never do (thank you).

We feel so lucky to be your family.

Joanna + Toby
P.S. See you tonight!

Scrabble anyone?

I love playing Scrabble, it's what i call a good "brain game". Although, gone are the days when you'd sit around with friends/family on a regular basis playing old school board games...it's more "drinking games". This doesn't mean you can't wear scrabble though ;)
I've seen scrabble jewellery popping up recently, rings, bracelets, necklaces etc..and i definitely knew i had to have something of the scrabble variety, as i actually don't own any personalised jewellery.
When reading Victoria's blog VIPXO, i noticed that she had decided to start making and selling her very own personalised scrabble jewellery. BRILLIANT! I love it. It looks good worn alone and amongst other bracelets.



If you fancy your very own personalised scrabble jewellery, email her at vipxoblog@gmail.com
Bracelets range from £4.50-£8.50 depending on the length of your name/what you'd like on it.
Rings are £4 (she's still waiting on the bits to make the rings, so you will have to wait a wee while before you can grab one of those..I am definitely going to get one)
P&P is free :)

♥

Puppy!

Oh my goodness, what a shot!

(By Tim Flach, via Swissmiss)

Choppy haircuts

Want to hear a weird secret? When you're pregnant, your hair gets thick and glossy, but a few months after your baby is born, it starts to fall out! It's crazy; I'm officially balding with a full-on receding hairline. Apparently it does grow back, but in the meantime, I'm thinking of getting a choppy haircut to make it look thicker.

Anyway, aren't these two pretty? Perfectly easy and messy.

(Photos from J. Crew and Elle Canada, via Kate Arends)

Baby cousins

This weekend, Toby and I had a Skype date with my cousin Olivia and her daughter Bo. We were in New York, and they were in England, but we felt like we were in the same room. (Skyping is so amazing; I'd never really done it before.) It was awesome to have the babies meet face-to-face (even though Toby was a little cranky), and breastfeed simultaneously across the Atlantic. :)

Someday Summary - Sunday

That title is quite the mouthful. I dare you to try and say it 10 times over without slipping up...let me know if you did it ;)

The photoframe above is a picture of me and my dad when i was about 3. On a beach in Cornwall. I love it. I look so crazed.

I'm sorry these posts are quite frequent. I actually really enjoy writing them because they fullfill my desire to blog without me sitting here slaving away over a long, photo galore blog post. Although some days, i do love to do that for you, so I won't neglect them don't fret.

♥ Today has been pretty poop. I feel tired, frustrated & very unappreciated by people closest to me. I'm one of those people that tries to sprinkle everything rubbish with a bit of positivity, but today I am running low on the tinkerbell dust & quite frankly, I could do with a cuddle.
♥ I am loving that winter is creeping up. I am the biggest fan of hot chocolate, and finally, I can start cracking open the cadburys hot choccy, marshmallows and whipped cream. It also means cosy nights under blankets and in your comfiest jimjams & candles everywhere. It also means Christmas is not far away!
♥ Chocolate Teacakes - 89p from Lidl. Sunday life saver ;)
♥ Anybody watch Piers Morgans Life Stories with Cheryl Cole last night? I know a lot of people have a lot of love for Cheryl, me being one of them. After watching the programme i definitely just ended up loving her more. It's so easy for people to judge her and they seem to forget she's only human like the rest of us, dealing with normal shit but under a magnifying glass. I must admit, i shed a few tears. It was very touching & definitely had me wandering why the people you love can so easily hurt and betray you. It also left me wandering if Ashley Cole was sobbing into a box of Kleenex on his own feeling like the biggest idiot in the world.
♥ Currently reading Hot Tramp I Love You So & Strikers & Spikers

How to Make a Poof

I recently got asked how I do my daughters poof.  I am going to attempt to explain

With my oldest daughter we often times just pull her hair back and use the bobby pins to push the poof forward.  I also use a straight end comb (rat tail comb) and put it evenly under a small layer of hair in the front and pull slightly.   This smooth out the hair and poofs it up.

However if we want a bigger poof.  This is the trick we use.

 Start by making your parts and pull the rest of the hair out of your way.

Next make a part in the center of your hair for the poof.  Move the hair across the front of her face out of the way for a moment.

Then pull the back half of the hair into an elastic and push it forward and secure with bobby pins.  **If you criss cross the bobby pins they say in much better.

Now take the front piece of hair and comb it over the poof and secure it with bobby pins.  If your daughters hair is too thin to stay with just bobby pins use an elastic and then use the bobby pins to push the hair forward.

.