Stella + Dot

Recently I fell in love with a necklace and found out was from a company called Stella + Dot. As I browsed through the website I realized that the company offered at home parties. I thought it was the perfect reason to invite a bunch of girls I have met over for cocktails, holidays and shopping. I can't wait to have my Stella + Dot party! What better a reason to get together after work then a little shopping, sipping bubbles and meeting girlfriends.

Check out their website. They have everything from glamorous big necklaces to leather cuffs like the ones below. I would like to get a few of them and stack them on top of one another just like in the picture.

When you sign up for an at home part the "stylist" brings over lots and lots of her items and sets up a little shop in your house. I'll be adding martinis and cookies right next to the jewels.

This metal necklace with flowers is OH so what I'm drooling over. Hhhhmmm, maybe Santa will bring it to me at the party.

They offer so many cuff bracelets. I have seen them in many magazines and never knew that this was the company behind the one with the big blue flower, love. What great gifts for Christmas, Bridesmaids, your wedding?

Enjoy doing a little Holiday Shopping at Stella + Dot!

xoxo~Becca

Christmas on Las Olas

Tomorrow night I am heading downtown Fort Lauderdale to a little holiday cheer filled event, "Christmas on Las Olas". Las Olas boulevard is only a few minutes from our house and is lined with cute shops and nice restaurants. Being that this is my first year away from chilly winter weather I am REALLY looking forward to the night to get me in the Holiday Spirit! Even though the street is lined with Palm Trees, tomorrow they will be covered with Christmas Lights and maybe we will be drinking hot chocolate.

They actually bring in snow machines, in the past Starbucks had a Snow Mountain, there is an ice skating rink, choirs singing carols, Santa is around (good I need to give him my list!). I can't wait! If you are in the area stop by from 5pm to 10pm on Las Olas Boulevard.

Thanksgiving for Two

This year it was just Beau and I for Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving for two. It definitely was not the same without a loud house full of family, but that being said, it was still so nice. This was mine and Beau's first Thanksgiving Day in Florida, I decided to still make it a big one. A nice relaxing day at home with a big Thanksgiving Day feast! It was pretty difficult cutting the recipes into smaller servings, however, I still made a 10 pound turkey for two!

The day started with a Breakfast Feast.

Fresh Coffee with these adorable napkins made by fabulous sister Charity at Chartreuse.

I made these baked eggs I had read about here. You use sliced bread, bacon and eggs. Such a cute way to serve all of the yummy components in one.

Freshly squeezed grapefruit juice! I've been eating these all week from a box in our office, so fresh and citrus season in Florida is just starting, yay!

For dinner it was simple table setting for two.

My glittered pumpkins I made earlier in the week added a little bling to the table, mixed with modern candlesticks by my dad, bundles of wheat and a few antique votives.

A little Beaujolais Nouveau to accompany the meal was perfect.

The day was topped off with a short Skype session to my parents and my 86 year old Gramie who was amazed at it. It was almost like we were together, but not...I'm looking forward to Christmas! But I have to say, it was a really nice day. I am thankful! I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and all that we have to be thankful for!

xoxo~Becca

Wedding Wednesday

I have always loved a Fall themed wedding.

How about a Thanksgiving themed wedding!

{Gorgeous NYC Fall wedding!, Image from Karen Wise Photography}

{Beautiful table decor for a Thanksgiving wedding. Image from Wedding Splendor}

{I am loving this Thanksgiving themed wedding board from With This Favor blog.}

{Amy Atlas always has a beautiful dessert display!

I wonder what her personal dessert table looks like on Thanksgiving.}

Thanksgiving Day Table Decor

This Thanksgiving it going to be just Beau and I in Florida for Turkey Day. Making Thanksgiving day dinner for two people is becoming a lot of work. Even though there are only two of us I still want to make all of the trimmings and have a pretty table. Here are three simple table ideas that I am going to have at my house on Thursday. Dress up your table! Have fun!

Silver Creative has templates for napkin rings here. Each strip has

a place for guests to write what they are thankful for. Simple but so pretty.

A few years ago I made these glitter pumpkins and placed on the buffet. I always love a little glitz! Now with Martha's line at Michael's, it makes them way easy to make. Get the directions on her site here.... and be ready for a little glitter all over you for a few days!

Wheat is such a simple chic arrangement. I have had two bundles on my dining room table for weeks. Place them in glass vases, tie a ribbon around them. Voila, beautiful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo~ Becca

Mrs. Lilien - Holiday Shop

I am totally in LOVE with Mrs. Lilien Blog! {I have posted about it before, LOVE!} Well, she is fabulous and has put together a Holiday Shoppe with a few of her favorite gift ideas....it's brilliant!

Shoe Bling from Ban.do ~ As if I wasn't already in love with their headbands enough! Now they create shoe bling!

I am going to a wedding in two weeks and this bottle of "Mazel Tov" wine is a MUST!

I love, LOVE these glasses!

What a great Hostess gift these coasters are!

Thank you Mrs. Lilien for always been just so amazing!

xoxo~ Becca

The Royally Engaged

I have a pink Juicy Couture tshirt that says "Prince William is a Fox". I use to wear it out in college and it was a great conversation piece and yes....I really did think, well, maybe, I could be William's Princess (hee hee hee hee). Well ladies, the time has come, Prince William is off the market. Kate Middleton and Prince William are getting married! How sweet and happy do they look!

The fact that Kate is wearing Princess Diana's engagement ring is pretty amazing. I am sure Kate looks at Princess Diana just like I did when I was a little girl, as well, a Princess, an icon, however she just so happened to be her fiances mother. Wow, it is absolutely gorgeous, but I wonder if she also looks at her hand and thinks "I'm wearing the family jewels". I like how Prince William describes him thinking he would lose it before proposing, "I would be in a ALOT of trouble!" Um, yes. But I also loves how he says he had a super romantic proposal, sweeeet.

I mean really, how cute is she! I feel like she is just beaming!

Do you think their wedding will be a big Fairytale Celebration like Princess Diana's? Will Kate wear Vera, Carolina, Monique, I wonder? Do you think she will hire a planner or I am guessing that Buckingham Palace has a royal wedding planner, now that sounds like my dream job!

Ooooo, I love her hat in the picture below. Wow, they had been engaged for weeks and couldn't tell anybody. That's not easy, especially since well they are the next royal couple.

I remember my sisters and I had these Princess Diana paperdolls. I wonder if Kate will get her on paper dolls? Gosh, these bring back memories! Maybe that is where my slight royal obsession came from. Funny.

Really! I think I need a Kate & William teacup set!

Have an extra 15 minutes I have to say, watch the full engagement interview below. It's really sweet. I love how William says they have a good giggle, so cute. They just seem happily and love but also, sweet Kate, so nervous and no idea whats ahead. Good luck and congrats to the happy couple!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/16/prince-william-kate-middleton-interview_n_784424.html

xoxo~ Becca

Wedding Wednesday

Isn't this inspiration board pretty! I love the mixture of grey and nude. It is romantic and well, so modern and elegant. Maybe a pop of hot pink would be a nice addition, but I think this alone is sophisticated. I nice combination that caught my eye. Happy Wednesday!

{image from Snippet & Ink}

xoxo~ Becca

Wynwood Art District - 2nd Saturday

This weekend Beau and I went to Miami for a night out in the Art District. The second Saturday of every month all of the galleries in the Wynwood Art District stay open until 10pm. Some of the galleries offer wine, snacks and sweets. It was nice to be out and about looking at art and browsing through stores with my beau.

I loved watching through the window as the artist sketched this dancer.

Beau and browsed through this outdoor furniture store. AMAZING items, maybe some day we will be able to afford the $4,000.00 outside lounge chair that I fell in love with. Or how about this amazing outdoor, bath, gorgeous. My oh my.

Isn't this art sculpture of paint, brushes and models neat?

I liked these pretty paintings, they kind of reminded me of pretty flowers.

I had to stop in this store and check out these fun dog lamps. If I can't get a real dog maybe I can get a lamp?

It might have been wine in a plastic cup but it was fun to walk around the streets drinking vino and looking through stores and galleries.

Loved the yellow painting behind the bar. I could put that in my living room for sure.

I'm looking forward to heading back in a few months. There are some great stores there, Jonathon Adler, Waterworks, Marimekko....Christian Louboutin..... maybe some day I can get my own shoe art:)

xoxo~Becca

Sunday Soiree- Emiy is getting married!

{image courtesy of Em's facebook page}

One of my besties is getting married! Emily's fabulous fiance George proposed to her the weekend before we had our girly weekend in Philadelphia and Em kept it a secret all week until we go together. I am SO excited for her. It was a beautiful surprised weekend in Martha's Vineyard when George proposed at the top of a lighthouse {sigh, I know} and it was so sweet and special! I am so excited to hear about a year of planning for Emily and George. They are getting married in Martha's Vineyard next October and Em has mentioned a color palette of Eggplants, Browns, Hot Pinks, Oranges and maybe Grey. So it's Sunday and I'm dreaming of a soiree....her wedding! Here are some thoughts...

{image from Martha Weddings}

I think this purple bouquet over this monogrammed is well, beautiful!

{image from Shauna Younge Desserts}

Hello AMAZING purple and grey dessert table!

{image from Snippet & Ink}

I know she is getting married in Martha's Vineyard and not a wine vineyard, but I love the colors of plum in this inspiration board.

{inspiration board created by me!}

Ok Em this is ONLY a start. I can see George wearing fun converse and you rocking fabulous shoes under your dress. A wedding at the vineyard, purples, greys, fun fun fun. Pictures at the lighthouse. Lanterns hanging from the ceiling, photo boards of all of the wonderful memories you too have shared. Get inspired! I can't wait to hear all of your stories in the year ahead!

xoxo~Becca

SanDisk Sansa Fuze+

By Tim Gideon

Apple has enjoyed an undeniable stranglehold over the $100+ portable media player market for years now—it's pretty much been iPods and also-rans. The budget realm, however, has never been Apple's strong suit, and SanDisk and other manufacturers make players that outperform the iPod nano and iPod shuffle. The Sansa Fuze+, an update to 2008's Sansa Fuze ($130, ), comes in 4GB ($79), 8GB ($89), and 16GB ($119) flavors. One of the Fuze+'s key features: video playback. Apple eliminated video from its latest iPod nano, and it's not so much that SanDisk has made an amazing product here, it's that Apple has eliminated one. And the Fuze+, for relatively little cash, can step in and fill that void. Why buy an iPod shuffle ($49; 2GB, ) or a nano ($149; 8GB, ) when the Fuze+ can do so much more?

Design

Measuring 3.1 by 1.9 by 0.3-inches (HWD), no one is going to mistake the shiny, black plastic Fuze+ for an iPod nano, new or old. The device feels a bit bulky, and is more the size of a cell phone than what you might expect of a portable media player with modest functionality. A 2.4-inch, 320-by-240-pixel screen occupies the upper portion of the front panel; below it you'll find the touch-sensitive control pad consisting of a backward arrow, a Play/Pause button, and a four-way, cross-shaped controller, all painted on to the surface in silver to guide your fingers to the right spot. The Power button resides on the upper panel, Volume controls and a microSDHC slot on the left, a mini USB jack on the right, and the 3.5mm headphone jack is on the bottom panel. Some slightly-better-than-average earbuds—they offer some low-end response and fit securely, at least—and a USB computer sync cable are included with the player.

Performance

Generally, the touch pad below the Fuze+'s screen works well enough, but occasionally the pad doesn't respond and the swipe gestures make one yearn for a nanoesque multi-touch screen instead. The player's animated user interface behaves as if swipes on the control pad are actually occurring on the screen, and I often found myself tapping the screen, out of habit, to call up album artwork or make a song play. At this price point, though, it's hard to expect much more. Apple thinks you want a touch screen so badly you'll sacrifice video playback and pay more than you would for the Fuze+. My guess is most people would gladly ditch a tiny, limited multi-touch screen in favor of a display that plays video, and that's what the Fuze+ offers. The fact that SanDisk clearly spent some time making the user interface look handsome only helps the player's cause.

My greatest annoyance with the user interface is simple menu navigation. You swipe left to right to move to the next option, but for some reason, SanDisk thought you would like to reach the end of the menu and then swipe backwards several times in order to reach to the top again, instead of, say, swiping once and making the navigation of the menus never-ending, like a carousel. It's a mistake sure to get more annoying with repeated use, and one Apple would never make. From left to right, the menu options (each of which occupies the entire screen when you view it) are Music, Video, Photo, Radio, Podcast, Voice, Card (for accessing content on an external microSDHC card), and Settings.

SanDisk keeps things simple and, aside from the navigation annoyance, the results are quite user friendly. The music playback screen shows off album artwork in color and at a size that rivals the entire outer contour of the new square-shaped iPod nano. SanDisk also includes, amongst a bevy of presets, a custom EQ setting that you can tweak to your preference—something Apple has never included.

The Sansa Fuze+ supports MP3, WMA, Protected WMA, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, unprotected AAC, and Audible files for audio. For video, it natively plays H.264 and WMV files, and JPEG and BMP photo files are also supported. With the aid of Sansa media Converter software—available as a free download—other video and photo file types can be converted to play on the Fuze+.

Perhaps the nano lacks video because Apple didn't think it looked compelling on a small screen. The Fuze+ has a modest screen with modest resolution and the video-watching experience doesn't come close to what you get on, say, the iPod touch ($299; 32GB, ). But not everyone is looking for high-fidelity audio and HD video perfection on their morning commute or a business flight. Some people just want to be able to watch a TV show or movie on a small, inexpensive device they can throw in a bag without worrying about shattering its glass screen. SanDisk made the Fuze+ for this crowd (the same crowd the nano used to target), and both the video and photo experience the player offers will make less demanding customers happy. The default size for viewing photos is larger than the nano's entire screen. Are things a bit jagged and pixelated? Sure, but again—you can buy the 8GB Fuze+ for $90. That's well below the entry level nano price, which has no video and only limited photo support. The cheapest iPod that plays video is now the $229 8GB iPod touch, so suddenly $90 for lower-resolution but watchable video seems like a good deal, doesn't it?

The FM radio is easy to operate and includes recording, auto-scanning, and 40 programmable presets. The Voice recorder could sound better—there is some lag between what you say and what you hear, and the act of pausing or stopping a recording involves tapping the screen, which the microphone picks up. Recordings are stored on the second page of the Voice section. Regardless, it's a handy feature to have.

SanDisk rates the Fuze+ battery life at 24 hours for audio playback. Our own rundown test results will be posted here soon.

Clearly, the Sansa Fuze+ is not a masterpiece, or even close to one. It's not a sexy-looking device, and its video and photo capabilities are useful, but the screen isn't going to knock your socks off. Keeping all of this in mind, the pricing seems quite reasonable—two of the three models ring up for less than $100. Head-to-head with the iPod nano, the Fuze+ has a larger screen, can play video and display photos with better accuracy, and provides identical storage capacities at far lower cost.

For $10 more, our Editors' Choice for budget players, the Archos 3cam vision ($99; 8GB, ) offers a camera with video-capture capabilities. Also, the same-price Samsung YP-R0 ($99.99; 8GB, ) is generally a solid player and ships with far-better-than-average earphones. None of these devices is headed to the consumer electronics hall of fame, but simply put, the latest iPod nano isn't worth the money, and the Fuze+, Archos and Samsung players are.