Lovely Ladies at the Gala Dinner!

• Bobbi @ NHerShoes
• Melissa @ Trying to Heal
• Mara @ What’s For Dinner?
• Diana @ The Chic Life
• Ashley @ This Valley Life
• Lauren @ Whole Wheat or Bust!
• Sheri @ Pork Cracklins
• Amanda @ The Buttery Bean Counter
• Krissy @ Krissy’s Creations
• Chrystal & Amir @ the duo dishes
• Joy @ Joy the Baker
• Greg @ Sippity Sup
• Irvin @ Eat the Love
• Tracy @ Shutterbean
• Stella @ Brave Tart

Emily and I with our Bloom Gin cocktails (sooo good!)

Hope you enjoyed meeting our new friends! Anyone you think we missed that we really need to meet? Let me know!! Also, Stella at Brave Tart posted about getting the most out of Twitter this week. It is a great recap from her session and I highly recommend checking it out. Her words have encouraged us to finally crawl out from under a rock and be active on Twitter. (Follow us!)

Lastly, I met Joy of Joy the Baker at the Tasting Pavillion. I was impressed that she is the same person and has the same voice on her blog, Twitter, podcast and in person. It is so easy to become a different person online, but she stays really true to exactly who she is, and I think that’s why she’s so successful. Also, she had heard of our blog before (knew we both had married Matts) and I was a little shell shocked. I had a little moment of blog-celeb fever. Ever get that?

If you’re not already an avid reader of Pepper Design Blog — and if you’re not, what’s your problem? — make sure to head over there today! The lovely Morgan interviewed me on my design inspirations. It was a big honor and thank you Morgan for thinking of me! I seriously was all kid-freaking-out-in-a-candy-store when she first asked.

Reference: Me as freaking out kid in a candy store

While you’re there, be sure to check out her designs, party inspirations and totally cute wardrobe style boards. Oh, and she also has an adorable new baby named Liv who has the cutest nursery.

And if you’re stopping by from the interview, thanks for coming and I hope you enjoy your visit! We recently celebrated our one year blog-iversary where we did a round-up of favorite posts, which include design, recipes and a lot of other fun stuff.

Thanks for stopping by and happy Friday to you all!

The fact that you only use one bowl makes it that much more delicious!

If you want to start your day off right, try making some of her delicious scones.

A little subtle advertising with that scone? haha just kiddin!

And you can’t forget the chocolate suicide cake… I must make one of these soon!

Mmmm... Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate!

A few weeks ago, I visited Caity and joined in on a mock top chef competition that she had with her friends.  The pictures are nowhere to be found, but let’s just suffice it to say our secret ingredients were sour cream, lychee and garbanzo beans — for dessert!  And if you wanted to know what Miss Caity looks like, here is a picture of us from Thanksgiving 2009.  She came to visit her family out by my house, and joined my family for a trip to the apple farm.

Okay, Caity and I checked out the brewery too!

Hope you have a wonderful Friday!

And you know what?  You have already seen Jessica over here — during my birthday giveaway week last year.  She made that fun gumball necklace which so many of you wanted to win!  Here is another necklace that she made.

Jessica blogs about her family and all of the crafty things that they do at Happy Together.  She makes some fabulous clothes, both for adults and children.  Her daughter is the cutest model ever… and I can’t wait to see baby #2 (she is due later this year).  Here is one of her fabulous Anthropologie refashions:

I love this Sailor dress that she made for her daughter.  She usually posts a tutorial of what she made so that you can do it at home.  I have made some of her fabric flowers, but I really want to do one of the Anthro shirts.  I need to just go for it!

And I just love what Jess does with her hair.  It always looks fabulous! At one point she actually posted a tutorial of how she does her hair for her photos… the secret is a bump it!!  And yes, I totally got one after reading about her using one!

One of the first things I found on her site was her bachelorette gift set.  It is fun and encourages intimacy between newlyweds.  I have given it (with a few modifications) for a few of my friends at their bachelorette parties.

She started up an etsy shop a few years back, and sells fabulous patterns like the one below.

I highly recommend following Jessica and seeing whatever crafty inspiration she comes up with next.  Whether you sew, crochet, or simply hot glue, she has the craft for you.  Let me know what you think of Jess over at Happy Together, and tell her we told you to say hi!

[all images from Jessica @ Happy Together]

Source: Hostess with the Mostess/www.Hostessblog.com

Jennifer Sbranti is the magic behind the Mostess; an entertaining guru and editor of one of the web’s best party planning resources. She even manages to get her design skills to work as she enhances photos with whimsical touches to bring an extra dose of fun and professionalism.

Source: Hostess with the Mostess/www.hostessblog.com

This site has been a gold mine for party décor ideas, especially for an upcoming baby shower I’m helping to host. No, it’s not for me (duh) or Megan. Her parties have personal and unique elements that give us a glimpse into her creativity. Thankfully, she gives us a peek and tells us how she does it. Plus, the stuff she uses is often pretty affordable. Don’t forget to check out the party themes section of her site. Not only does it include tablescapes and decor tips, but a menu complete with food and drink suggestions! It’s one-stop party planning, I tell ya.

Source: Hostess with the Mostess/www.hostesswiththemostess.com

I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling like throwing a party! Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!

Bobbi started N Her Shoes about 2 years ago when she began training for the Boston Marathon.  It has been really cool to watch her blog blossom and grow more successful as time has gone on.  She posts daily pictures of her meals, which definitely inspires me to make healthier food choices.

Bobbi is also a major running and exercise enthusiast.  She also has 3 or 4 jobs — I really think she is Superwoman or something!  But back to the exercising, she always shares her workouts and ideas for what the rest of us can do at home.  She makes exercising look like so much fun that it inspired me to get off my lazy butt and start working out again.  I will post more of my personal eating healthy/working out story on Friday, but for now I will share this little tale.  Bobbi encourages her readers to make their workouts unique and enjoyable, like her circuit training is for me.  When push comes to shove, she runs and exercises because she loves it — and that is very evident in her blog.  So I love to dance around the house to fun music.  And my friend (hey Sarah S) just made me a sweet mix of dancey songs (includes Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, and Miley [have to have Party in the USA!]) that I can use to do circuits with. Here you can see Bobbi doing a workout with her cute dog Bosco. haha

Head over to N Her Shoes and say hi to Bobbi.  And come back later, because Bobbi may just be making an appearance on our blog!

So when I just happened to click through to (the blog formerly named something similar to that show, but is now called) Young House Love, I was quickly smitten. I was inspired by “The Youngsters” a.k.a. the lovely, fun and unpretentious couple, Sherry and John Petersik. They fell in love, bought a house and chronicled their adventures as homeowners. Their work has been featured on TV and in popular magazines, and their website has many useful tutorials.

(All photos from Young House Love)

Their design aesthetic is clean and modern, but marry cool with warm tones to create a relaxing and welcoming vibe. Basically, they make it look easy. While I have a tinge of jealousy in my “why didn’t I think of that?!” moment, I find myself wanting to come back by the hour to see what they have done.

My love for them has led to Matt rolling his eyes every time I start to say, “Well, John and Sherry did this…” It turns out my friend Jillian is also a die hard fan, so we talk about them like we were BFFs.

What I mostly love about them is their budget-friendly ways, can-do attitude and all-around friendly nature. Although, I do have a desire to mess up a throw pillow or two. You know, since they seem so perfect.

While you’re checking them out, don’t forget to bookmark their how-to section!

So, are you a John and Sherry fan yet?

Laura also encourages her readers to organize in fun ways and shows pictures of organizational tools that she loves (i.e. storage bins).  She occasionally has challenges (like February was a 28 day cleaning challenge) and also what she calls Storage Stars. They are awards given to readers who come up with great storage solutions.  For instance this “closet where one did not exist before” was featured last week.  Very cool.

[all pictures from orgjunkie.com]

Laura’s pictures of organizing containers and her inspirational stories spur me towards cleaning and organizing.  Whenever I am feeling the need to clean, I click over to Org Junkie to really get my gears in motion!  Have you ever read this blog?  Do you have any inspirational organization/cleaning websites that you love?

For those of you who got a ring on it, so to speak, or even for those who haven’t received official confirmation quite yet, I present to you a wonderful wedding planning site: WeddingBee.com.

WeddingBee has brides under cute pseudonyms blog their way through the planning process. Reading through the ups and downs of planning is like having friends right alongside you. Perhaps my favorite part is the can-do spirit of the bloggers. Many of them tackle their own projects — Miss Poodle even made her own dress! — and show you how to do it. They also manage to find good deals and inspirations that were very helpful to me in trying to figure out the world of weddings.

(Source)

The above belt is Miss Lace’s take on a bridal belt — it’s DIY and looks like something you would find in a J. Crew catalog!

A while back, I also bookmarked this macaron recipe from Mrs. Perfume. These would be cute for the baby shower I”m planning soon.

(Source)

Another post you should check out is the easy updo by Mrs. Sea Breeze that you should definitely check out. As if the blog portion weren’t enough, they have other super helpful wedding planning tools like classifieds, a forum, galleries and more. Be sure to buzz on over!

A word of caution, they have a ton of bloggers, which can make your RSS reader fill up quite quickly!

Do you have a favorite blog that you think NewlyWife readers should know about? Let us know and we’ll consider featuring it in an upcoming post.