Lyla Belle's Birthday

I can't believe our little Lyla Belle is two years old! This past weekend we celebrated her 2nd birthday with a raging house party. It was good times had by all. We had 25 adults and 12 little kids running around our apartment. The biggest highlight of the party was the guitar player I hired to entertain the kids. She was awesome - and at this age, that kind of entertainment really helped with the party flow. We set the party at 2 hours, which was perfect. Any longer and I think it would've been too much.

A friend gave me good advice and told me to avoid chocolate icing on cupcakes for 2 year olds. She learned the hard way on her white sofa. It was great advice and I felt the need to share it with you. But I did use chocolate on the cake pops I made and those were a big hit. And they were delicious. I'd never had one before this weekend and now I see why they have a cult like presence on the blogosphere. And they weren't that hard to make. They are really tasty and so much fun for the kids and adults alike.

I didn't really have much of a theme going on - we used pink and orange balloons as decorations. Boy do balloons go a long way when decorating! The hats and goodie bags I bought for the kids were from Kelley Cards and they were a huge hit! I loved them. All of the characters were made from stickers, and they were all so cute.

Celebrating Lyla's birthday was a lot of fun, but it was also really emotional. It feels like yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital. Time really does fly. I can't believe she's already 2. And she's a really sweet kid. I can't begin to tell you how lucky and blessed we are with her. She's the most amazing thing in our life and it's so much fun to see her blossom into a little person.


{For the party I made Martha Stewart's perfect macaroni & cheese recipe & it really is perfect! It's a huge recipe - I was able to make two large casseroles out of it.}

{photos from me}

Pink & Sweet

My friend Greta's amazing shop Layer Cake has some of the cutest baking supplies out there. Here are some of my favorites for Valentines Day. I'm in love with the heart twist ties!

{images from layer cake shop}

Happy Holiday!

I hope you all get to have some good ole summer times this weekend! Hopefully a little beach time, run through some confetti, or eat some delicious cake. And most of all, get to spend this weekend with some of your favorite people in the world.

Have a wonderful July 4th weekend and be safe!

{top - bottom}

a favorite photo of mine by christian chaize available here

photos from hello sandwich at the japanese tanabata festival - which is now on my list of must do in my lifetime!

and last but not least, this deliciously, adorable strawberry cake via everything fab

Thoughtful Day updated!

Hello! How I've miss you all!

Well, there are a few things I'd like to quickly stop in to say....I finally updated my website Thoughtful Day showing some of the projects I've worked on in the last 8 months. Please visit my site for lots more photos and projects! I hope you like what I've been up to....

I had an amazing photo shoot with the super talented Jenny Ebert of 1. Art Beauty Life. Jenny was the consummate professional and truly did an amazing job. I couldn't be happier with the results and I have to say, having a professional photographer shoot everything was BEYOND worth it. All of the styling was done by Anne Le Geurn. Do you remember her sweet illustrations I posted about a while ago? Yes, the girl is one talented little lady! Barb of Hatch Creative generously let us have the photoshoot at her amazing loft space called the Nest Event Loft, which you can rent for events. It is an incredible loft located in the Flatiron District - corner building with views beyond your dreams.

Thank you so much ladies!

So, we finally finished the renovations - over 3.5 mths. Stressful, and fun and beyond worth it. I feel so blessed and lucky that I get to call this our family home. I could just pinch myself. I can't wait to share some of the stories, trials and tribulations, and last but not least photos. It was an incredible experience and I'm beyond thankful for it. But I'm still knee deep in boxes and have a ways to go before I can sit down and write and post about everything. So until then, I'll be back to blogging about some of my favorite things and I hope to show you photos over the next couple of months.

Thanks for all of the sweet comments throughout my break - you guys are the best!

Triangles in Squares

Garland, bunting, whatever it is you may call it, have been all the rage for sometime now. And for good reason, they add that special sweet & crafty touch to any decor. I especially love these trompe l'oeil geometric ones by Wunderlust - the color selection is fantastic!

{photos from wunderlust via papier mache}

Delicate & Dreamy

I came across Pilosale's site recently, and I have to admit I'm simply in love with her products. And you can tell each item was made with a lot of love and care. Her eye for detail is really beautiful. Everything is just so soft and gorgeous. Although I am only highlighting a few of her creations, I adore absolutely everything in her shop.

{via small magazine}

Curious Goodness

Happy Monday everyone! I think Mondays are a great day to celebrate with a little sweetness. How amazingly awesome are these chocolates by British chocolatier Curious Chocolates? Aren't they fantastic? The colors, the type, and designs are so modern and fun. I love love love these! And even better, some letterpress love is involved in the process. Wouldn't any of these products make the best little stocking stuffers?

Let Them Eat Cake

I can't get enough of these cakestands from Let Them Eat Cake. They are just pure gorgeousness! I will definitely add these as inspiration tear sheets for my baby girl's first birthday party!

{photos from let them eat cake}

Beautiful Bunting

I am a little bit obsessed with bunting banners and these by Lobster and Swan are my favorite to date! Look at all of the vintage gorgeousness layered on the top banner, and the stitching on the bottom blue one? Seriously, these are just perfection!

{all photos from lobster and swan}

Thoughtful Day for Sunday Suppers

I am sure by now most of you have seen or heard about Sunday Suppers; the past couple of weeks tons of beautiful images have been floating around the internet which has been great! Karen Mordechai, one of the ladies behind Sunday Suppers just sent over these photos of all of the paper items I designed for the Moroccan supper. At the same event I also designed all of the patterns for Amy Atlas's dessert table so I decided to use the same custom designed mandala but compose it to better fit the tablescape and blend with the gorgeous moroccan tiles that were the centerpiece. The patterns were scaled to fit appropriately with each item, whether it was the belly band that surrounded the menu or the tags that hung on the lemon preserves. I just love the yellow of the lemons with the turquoise and gray of the favor tag. A great color combo! All of the menu and recipe cards had their own unique custom designed border that complimented the colorful patterns and mandala. It was such a fun project to work on with so much immense talent. So much work goes into one of these suppers and fortunately for all of us it is beautifully documented by Karen!

{all graphics by thoughtful day and all photos by karen mordechai}

Sunday Suppers !!!

The last couple of weeks I have had the amazing opportunity to collaborate with Sunday Suppers, the brainchild of the amazing and talented photographer Karen Mordechai & chef extraordinaire Casey Solomon. Along with designing the menus & other paper bits for Sunday Suppers (photos to follow) I was given the incredible opportunity to design some patterns for the brilliant Amy Atlas. The theme of the supper was Moroccan so we incorporated that same theme into Amy's dessert table. I designed the patterned backdrop as well some of the other paper elements on the table, which you will soon see. Amy had such a beautiful & clear vision that working with her was a dream. All of the details Amy envisions for her tables are so thoughtfully arranged & put together that her work is not only visually delicious but tasty too! Which leads me to Aran Goyoaga of the famed Cannelle et Vanille. Aran's desserts, if you can imagine, taste as delicious as they look. Which is hard to believe because everything she does looks and is a piece of art! The beautiful center cake was by Love Street Cakes, which was the perfect centerpiece. And last but not least the gorgeous flower treatments were by the lovely and talented Jessie from Rountree. Wait until you see her flowers on the dinner table !!! More pics to come throughout the next couple of days!

The dessert table truly was visually and tastefully delicious! And if you live in NYC or nearby - you should definitely attend one these Sunday Suppers, they are so much fun!

{photos from karen mordechai photography}

Do Re Mi

Have you seen this video? So much fun! A nice little moment to start the week!

{video from youtube via a fb friend}

Sparkle Power

On Saturday we went to a 3 yr. olds birthday party and there was a sweet choo choo train theme and a pinata! I was thinking how cool would it be to have a pinata at one of our birthday parties? I have a feeling all of the adults would get pretty excited over one and I think that these pinatas from Confetti System would be not only awesome but gorgeous too! They would also be great at a casual outdoor wedding reception - I think all of the kids would be pretty stoked to get some pinata time at a wedding reception!

{photos from confetti system}

Summer Freshness

I am sure most of you have seen this by now, but I couldn't resist posting Chelsea's latest party ensemble over at Project Wedding. Amazing! I am so inspired to have a picnic - the colors, the simplicity (i would argue deceptively simple), the flowers, linens, everything is perfect!!!

{photos from project wedding via frolic}

Heart Full of Mom

I have been a huge fan of Hoot and Heart for sometime and what perfect pictures to post going into this beautiful Mother's Day weekend! I think it has rained almost every day the last month in NYC so these pictures have a bit of mood in them which I love.

This weekend is big for Patrick and me - our first wedding anniversary and my first Mother's Day! I can't believe how much has happened in the last year - we have so much to be grateful for! It is crazy how fast time goes - it seems like yesterday that we were in Jamaica.

I hope you all have an amazing Mother's Day weekend, hopefully you can all hug your mom if not send her lots of love! I have been incredibly lucky this last month - my mom was here in Brooklyn helping me transition into motherhood. Her and my Dad rented an apartment down the street and I have to say it was so much fun having them here with us. My Dad took off early (city life wasn't his thing) but my mom just left this last Wednesday. It was sad to say goodbye - but time to be our little family of three. One thing is for sure - moms are the best!!!

Have a beautiful and lovely weekend!!!

{photos from hoot and heart}

A little bit of this and that

A cute little poster from Sparkle Power is being sold for a hard to pass up price. I like.


And how cute is this bunting banner? It is the perfect decoration for a baby shower...

{photos from sparkle power}