Fancy Japanese Manicure

 

While in Japan I asked my friend Rie where I could get a fun Japanese style manicure.  I've read on a few fashion blogs that Japanese girls have the most fun and wild nail styles... so I knew I couldn't leave without that as a souvenir!!  She set up an appointment with her friend in the town Niiza outside of Tokyo where she grew up and still lives.

Rie's friend Mihoko runs her fun nail business Duca out of her home.  She told me she had a regular job for a while, then decided that designing nails was something she really wanted to do.  She trained for several years before she opened her own business.

She had the most adorable apartment.  Everywhere I looked was so cute and you can tell she put a lot of thought into each little vignette. 

It made the experience much more special because I felt like I was getting such a special manicure that not just anyone could get.  You had to know someone who knew her:)

She had so many cute designs to choose from, but I decided to go with her "Scandinavian Style" design.  I put my own stamp on it by getting a little kitty cat on my ring finger.

Kimono In Kyoto

Just back from an amazing journey to Japan to visit my BFF Rie.  We studied Interior Design together at LSU back in the day.  While there we went to Kyoto and had an extremely 'girlie' weekend during the first part of golden week:)  One of my favorite things was trying on an authentic kimono.

We went to Okamoto in Kyoto, Japan.... and we even made the blog, (everyone does...;) They had a room full of different options.  I had to choose the inside kimono, outside kimono, belt & rope tie.  After I choose these items downstairs, we went upstairs where we stood in front of a mirror while someone dressed us (very tightly FYI).  It cost about $50 to rent the kimono and we were able to wear it around all day.  Before we left they gave us a little bag to carry and shoes.

The best part?  You can leave your bags there and pick them up at the end of the day! 

Mom's Surprise 60th Birthday "Library Theme" Party

My sister and I planned a surprise party for my mom's 60th birthday recently down in Louisiana.  My mom is a librarian, so we did a book theme party.  We had so much fun making decorations out of old book pages.  Check out the wreath my sister made above!  Lots of help from Etsy too, loved using these pastel library cards, teal straws & teal twine. 

Pasta Shells with Chicken & Mushrooms

Life has been very busy lately, so I've been cooking a lot of quick simple meals that aren't necessarily "blog worthy".  This little recipe was really tasty and fun to photograph, so I'm sharing it with you:)  I love that it uses fresh ingredients and I can pull it together in about 20 - 30 minutes.  Enjoy!

 

You Make Me Feel "Squishy" Inside!

Ava had a Valentine's Day party at school last week, so I made these "squishy" inside" valentines for her to pass out to her classmates.  I got the idea from something I saw on Pinterest, then changed the design to make it a little more bright and fun.

I found the fun chevron background here, pulled it up in photoshop and added a white box with 50% opacity, then added the text on top on a new layer.  The only tricky part was doing the reverse side upside down so that when I printed it, I just had to fold it in half over the top.  I put the play-doh in a snack size zip lock and stapled the tag I printed to the top.

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day:)