I LOVE LAUREN MOFFATT

we've been hit with a wave of warm weather here in new hampshire

{finally!!!}

and i'm pulling out all the sundresses to keep as cool as possible.

these lauren moffatt pieces are so girly and fresh

and look amazingly light weight for the days we've been having.

sunday at the aquarium

i spent a sunday in boston with mr. wonderful and his family . . .

a tasty lunch of lo mein, veggies and vegetable rolls

at quincy market and faneuil hall,

a lovely little walk near the water and visit to the new england aquarium

and a stop back at quincy for some much needed ice cream

{cool mint soft serve with chocolate sprinkles . . .

yummmmm.}

i always say mr. wonderful and i are ridiculously goofy together . . .

here is a recorded account.

{the seal is me . . . duh.}

late late night or eaaaaarly morning?

last night mr. wonderful's flight from florida was delayed

and he didn't get in until 1 in the morning . . .

since i was charged with picking him up and dropping him at his place,

it was a late . . . er . . . rather, an early morning for me.

this will be me later on today.

that is, of course, after i finish a full day's work.

good thing it's a three day weekend!

i hope you all have some fun planned for your monday off.

if the weather and our schedules cooperate,

mr. wonderful and i are headed to the new hampshire coast

for some fun in the sand and sun.

. . . and maybe some cool activities on saturday and sunday too.

have a great weekend, all!

ladies, let's be honest- do you feel fat?

a couple of days ago, one of my fave bloggers posted

this little tweet:

and it got me thinking about that . . . those models allllways make me feel like a fatty!

{actually, any models make me feel chub-a-lub}

beach season is coming, my bikini is waiting and i can't help myself-

i feel guilty whenever i eat anything remotely unhealthy!

what is that all about???

sometimes i feel like no matter how skinny i get

i will forever feel fat.

case in point- and i know i'm not alone-

i recently lost a good bit of weight without really trying at all . . .

i know, i know, a woman's dream right?

WRONG!

i still look in the mirror most mornings

and feel just so . . . ugh.

isn't that terrible? like, was there a time when

i was ever happy with what i saw? will i ever be?

at the same time, we all know that our country is notoriously overweight . . .

so are those airbrushed and liquefied models on the page

a reflection of what we should be or are they taking it too far?

what does healthy and hot

{because, let's face it ladies, we all want to be both}

look like and how do we know when we get there?

leave a comment or find me on twitter!

{fabulous swimwear & skinny models via jcrew}

sick day pampering sesh.

a little pampering always makes me feel loads better-

in spirit, for sure, if not in body too.

last friday i stayed home sick from work and lucky for me it wasn't anything

that stuck around for too long

{don't you just hate those little bugs?}

but after tossing and turning in bed that morning for the better part of a few hours,

i decided just to get up and do something relaxing if my body wasn't up for

napping for the rest of the day.

so, i ran myself a bath and tossed together this easy little mix

that i found on one of my fave new websites,

the beauty department.

now maybe you're too cool for anything associated with lauren from the hills

{or as i remember her, lc from laguna beach}

but this site is absolute girly fun overdose and i highly recommend it

for anyone looking for anything from up-do tutorials to home beauty remedies.

and this little recipe for homemade scrub from ingredients easily found

in your kitchen was just the thing i needed to baby myself a little

when i wasn't feeling too hot.

lemon & olive oil salt scrub

5 tbs salt {the recipe calls for sea salt, but i only had regular and was just fine}

1 tbs olive oil {i used 1 & 1 /2 tbs}

1 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice

combine the salt and the oil first, then add the juice.

scrub, scrub, scrub.

~~~

i used it over my elbows, feet, knees and even gently on my face.

{salt is a disinfectant and olive oil a moisturizer and both are edible; how could i go wrong?}

the results was a slightly more relaxed, less queasy, super soft abby.

a couple episodes of my so-called life

and one very good night's sleep later and i was back to myself on saturday.

now i kind of want to try some more homemade beauty remedies . . .

got any tips??

{recipe & image via}

birthday girl.

one year older.

i think i'm gonna treat myself to two cups of coffee today

and momma g and i are headed to the bvi

for saturday morning birthday brunch this weekend

{i'll take brunch over fancy dinner any day}.

pink pucker up.

hey, girls, what do you think about this look for the summer?

i'm not really a lipstick girl . . .

i usually just smother some aquaphor over my mouth

{best moisturizer on the planet}

before running over the door,

but this look is pretty, feminine and not too prissy.

is it too bright? what do you wear during the summer?

~~~

still super wet and cloudy here in new hampshire . . .

momma g and i went for a nice trail walk between rain showers yesterday

and were so desperate for summer weather that we cooked

smart dogs with hot honey mustard on whole wheat buns and spicy beans

and fruit salad for supper in hopes of coaxing the sun along.

mr. wonderful is gone for the next couple of days in FL with his family,

so i'll be keeping myself busy and {hopefully} dry

'til he gets back . . .

hope you had a terrific weekend.

happy monday!

{via}

something like my mondays.

BSS | Breakfast Interrupted - Behind The Scenes from Bruton Stroube Studios on Vimeo.

even the best laid plans . . .

good thing i think well on my feet, huh?

TOO MUCH FUN.

does anyone else feel like this today?

. . . don't you feel like this before some saturdays?

it's been a crazy couple of weeks and i need a day to do absolutely

NOTHING.

probably won't be getting in much sleeping in,

but i definitely plan on sitting on my bum and watching at least a movie

{or maybe two???}.

oh boy oh boy, do i loooove the weekend.

i hope you have some relaxation planned too!

edit: home to rest today . . .

wrote this post ahead of time when i was feeling tired but grand

but today i just feel downright crummy.

taking some time to get back on my feet and hopefully

i'll be back on my feet pretty quick.

being sick is absolutely no fun!

{via}

pre-beach days round up

oh my goodness, it does not feel like the end of may right now.

we've had rain all week and it looks like we might be

in for more through the weekend

{not to mention mr. wonderful and i just went sunglasses shopping for him

before his vacation to florida- cue major pouty face}.

so i decided to compile my fave beach picks for this summer . . .

can all of these things please get in my closet {or my hands} right now?

the beach is probably my favorite place in the whole world-

momma g and i put our chairs by the water and

drink cups of hot coffee in the early morning

and sister and i walk for hours talking about everything under the sun.

and we always stop at a gas station for

a popsicle on the way home,

which tastes sooooooooo good even though

i'm always freezing after a day on the new england coast.

ah, beach days . . . please come soon!!!!

and if that's not enough summeriness for you,

here's a sweet new video from roxy to get you ready to wax your board

and hit the waves hard.

{glasses, suit, bag, shirt, beanie, sandals, sweets}

a happy birthday to mr. wonderful!

best friend//buddy//comic book movie companion//fellow blog enthusiast

always makes me laugh 'til my stomach hurts//lifts heavy things

best hug-giver on the face of this earth//encourager//boyfriend

here he is wearing some oh-so-glam imax 3d glasses and texting.

or tweeting. or both.

last night we baked his birthday cake together from scratch.

he is clutch when you need to mix dry ingredients

and simultaneously cream sugar and butter, let me tell you.

yellow cake with raspberry filling and vanilla butter cream.

it turned out deee-lish too, if i do say so myself.

then we watched julie & julia . . . because after baking up a storm,

i need to watch something of culinary inspiration.

and being the amazing bf that he is,

he totally indulged me.

visit him to leave some birthday love!

{happy birthday, johnny; you're the best!}

in the next 10 years . . .

i want to visit every one of these places.

i've been blessed to travel to some incredible places-

italy, greece (athens & delphi), india and a summer trip across the 48.

and these are a just a few of the many spots i want to take

adventures to in the next couple of years.

i love trying new foods, seeing places i've read about in books

and meeting people from all over.

i want to see my passport stamped until it can be stamped no more!

i think first on my list is paris . . .

because a girl MUST see paris!

where have you been? where do you want to go?

where we went yesterday.

it was super wet and cool for a mid-may day,

but we scampered off to see the chihuly exhibit at

the museum of fine arts in boston,

soaked shoes, hair and all . . .

i'm not going to lie; sharing an umbrella with your honey is really fun.

anyway, back to the exhibit-

i could go see this {and probably will!} more than once;

it was completely mesmerizing.

the most vibrant colors i've ever seen . . .

these pictures don't even come close to doing the glass art justice!

if you're in the boston area at any point,

i hiiiiiighly recommend checking this one out!

{tip: go through your local library to snag discounted tix.

since you can get into the exhibit with general admission and we hit up

our library a few days earlier, we got in for less than $10 each!}

the rest of the day we just spent wandering around boston . . .

sharing noodles in quincy market, walking through the public garden

and trying on sunglasses at urban outfitters.

TONS of walking and absolutely a delightful date day.

ah, weekend.

thank goodness blogger is back.

how many of you were suffering with it's absence?

i usually blog for work in the morning

and the fact that it was not going to happen no matter how much i pouted

made me very antsy.

but everything seems like it's back up and ready to go . . .

just in time for the weekend!

the next few days are a bit bonkers for me-

tonight we have a bunch of relatives rolling into town to say with momma g and me

and i have a night of baking planned with mr. wonderful's sister-in-law.

i'm waking up at the crack of dawn to take my dad to the airport

{literally at like 5 am!}

and then we're holding a burial service for my dear sweet grammie

who passed over the holidays.

then i'm off to a one year old's very cute and frilly

pink and green themed birthday party.

kind of a weird juxtaposition for the day,

but i'm okay with it.

it's almost poetic, really.

on sunday, mr. wonderful and i are doing the unthinkable . . .

we're playing hookey from church

{gasp!}

to take a little date day down to boston.

we neeeeeeveerrrrrr skip church,

but we're running out of time to take a day for fun activities out and about . . .

{we may stick around for worship and then sneak out . . .

we love going to church together too,

so either way we pretty much win.}

so, sunday it is.

{via}

eat at republic.

i love good, healthy and tasty food that is vegetarian friendly . . .

especially when i don't have to cook it!

republic has turned into one of my fave places to grab a bite

in manchester . . .

it's easy and accessible,

yet fosters an atmosphere slightly more upscale than, let's say, your local cafe.

the food is highly influenced by mediterranean cuisine

and is mostly locally sourced.

the prices are fair and the waitstaff lets you linger as long as you like.

in my book, that makes a place a winner!

better yet, this is a spot that can be enjoyed by carnivores and vegetarians . . .

the town where i live doesn't have many places that cater to

vegetarians or vegans

{okay, let me rephrase that . . . places that cater to us

where you actually want to eat the food}.

and if you find such a place, chances are your carnivore friends

aren't going to care much for it.

well, not at republic.

mr. wonderful and i stopped in during yesterday's date night

and we both walked away feeling happily full . . . not sluggish and stuffed.

and the meat-eater and veggie lover agreed- it was tasty!

tip: if you're a small eater like me,

you can actually split meals at this place.

they're huge!

{via}

summer looks i love.

i'm lucky enough to have a job that doesn't require me to wear a button-up blouse

and boring slacks every day . . .

and i'm given a lot of room to wear creative, pretty and yet professional ensembles

that reflect the artistic nature of the studio.

a girl's dream come true, right?

because we're often outside and on-location,

i have to think out a lot of what i wear to the studio.

interesting blouses and structured, clean jeans,

sundresses and breezy skirts

with gladiators are convenient and classy standbys

for a girl who can go from a marketing meeting to holding a diffusion panel

in the middle of a busy downtown road during a photo shoot

within 10 minutes of one another.

i've been scouring the web for neat ways to tie back my hair

{so long now}

and pretty clothing combinations that will keep me from

hitting up the same boring basics day after day.

how do you dress for work during the summer?

does the heat outdoors and cold inside drive you up the wall when you're

determining what to wear each day?

i know it drives me crazy!!!!

{sorry, can't remember sources . . . i'm terrible at that, but they're mostly from pinterest}