with love

Bethany's sister Stephanie sent me the cutest card a few weeks ago.


Turns out, Steph has these secret creative talents for making her very own stationary. She made the card AND the envelope she sent me. How cute is she?!

I loved it so very much that I thought these cutie lil cards would be the perfect way to for Les to ask her bridesmaids to be bridesmaids. We'd been throwing around different ideas for how she should ask her girls. She didn't have a lot of time, wanted to do something personal, something thoughtful and obviously something cute.

Sidenote: Perhaps this is another one of those "Texas things" but where we're from, how you ask your bridesmaids to be your bridesmaids is super important. You're asking your best friends to be a part of the biggest day of your life, importante!

Les loved the idea too! And thankfully Steph was happy to whip up some pretty purple cards with her new stamp just for the occasion. They turned out ohsoperfect! Don't you think?



I got my card in the mail on Valentine's Day. "Be Mine...on November 19th, 2011." Of course I knew she was going to ask me to be her Maid of Honor (my Christmas gifts read - To: MOH From: The Bride). True story. And let's be real, I don't fly to Texas for a long weekend after just spending 2 weeks there for just ANYONE. But it was still incredibly sweet to read what she wrote to me.

It was adorable. I might have cried. After I squealed at how cute it turned out. :)



Thank you, thank you to Steph for making such pretty cards for Lil Les! It made them even more special because they were handmade with love.

{Sorry I smudged the words on the cards. But hey, even thought it's a public blog, I gotta keep a few things private, right?}

oh no!

this is my plant.

i've successfully kept him alive for 2.5 years. this is something i am proud of. because my past with plants has been...slightly less than successful. so i have every intention of making it to 3 years.

he's usually so happy in my office, in his spot near the window. but this january winter has also been really rough on him. see? so wilty. so sad.


he has plenty of water. (see how green?!?)
he gets lots of sunlight.
he also gets arctic temperatures on the weekends and at night when the heat is off.
and steamy temperatures during the week when the heat radiates out of those vents by the window, raising the temperature to an uncomfortably awful 95 degrees.

now i'm no plant expert, but i do believe he is all kinds of thrown off by these drastic climate changes. and he is sad and wilty this winter.

i don't know exactly what i should do in this situation. but i do know that i will NOT kill this plant. i will NOT. he and i will make it to 3 full years together. and this is just a lil rough patch we're going through.

right?? right!

(i also have no plan for not killing him. open to suggestions for making him better.)

happy valentine's day! love, the 4th floor

this is what valentine's day looks like at my office...

right across the hall to be more exact.

this is co-worker ryan's office.

he decided last week that he was going to make himself a sparkly valentine's mailbox (see bottom right corner of door) so that friends could leave him valentine's. so when he came came in searching for supplies on friday morning, we naturally obliged.

between me and bethany, we had him covered with everything he needed for homemade valentine success --

• construction paper? check. (what? every crafty girl has supplies at her desk!)


• sparkles? left over from when we turned his office into a pretty pink palace? check.


• glue stick? scissors? check, check.


• scented markers make everything better? check!

here's how it turned out...



i can take credit for that pretty pink paper chain. but not for turning it into a heart. that was all bethany's brilliance.

his office door is now successfully covered in glitter, sparkles, creative notes and messages. all made by co-workers. with love.

important note: "ryan's pretty pink palace" signs are what happens when you take a full week vacay to california and post hourly photos to facebook. just sayin'.

bethany and i maaaaay have gotten each other veeeeery similar taylor swift valentine's. i mean, is anyone really surprised by this? nope. didn't think so.


and then there were valentine's flowers too. we have secret admirers. well. ok. not-so-secret admirers. in the form of another co-worker, who sits across the hall. he also delivered chocolate covered strawberries + a heart-shaped ring pops.


happy happy valentine's day!
love, the 4th floor.

Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

Confession: I read a lot of blogs.

Entertainment blogs, news blogs, friend blogs, nerdy blogs, design blogs, just-for-fun blogs.

Pioneer Woman is one of my favorite bloggers. She's known mostly for her amazing recipes (which you KNOW I don't ever try), but she's also an entertaining writer. With a witty bloggy voice and quite the "city girl to farm life" story.

Such the good story in fact that she wrote a book about it. It's called Black Heels to Tractor Wheels and I'm excited to read it!

Last week me and roommate Hannah went to see Pioneer Woman (aka Ree) at her book signing in Union Square. She's just as adorable in real life as she is when she's on the Today Show. And she speaks exactly like she writes in her blog. Or, shall I say she writes exactly how she speaks.

We wasted no time telling her that we were from Texas. And Hannah casually threw in that our apartment happened to be in this week's Time Out NY magazine. Well done friend!

Such the spontaneous and fun chilly Tuesday night in NYC!

super bowl sunday

highlights of watching the big game at bethany's --

LJ: (as we are making delicious treats for the game) so. who are we cheering for?
B: weeeell. my friend's husband used to play for green bay. so i guess the packers?
LJ: good enough for me.


this spinach artichoke dip. made by bethany with a lil assistance from paula deen. yum.



my favorite commercial: VW's the force.

we may or may not have grabbed the remote to rewatch. the lil boy who played darth vadar was on the today show with matt and meredith yesterday morning. his name is max. and he had no idea who darth vadar was when he got this part. he is adorable.

my favorite part: glee. more specifically, this performance of Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now."

and that was when we all started cheering...





and you know? this might have been my 2nd favorite commercial: glee + chevy.





happy super bowl 2011!

:)

Snowy Escape

Last Thursday’s SNOW DAY also happened to be the Thursday that I was scheduled to fly to Texas. I was concerned when LGA canceled all morning flights. But lucky for me, I made it out by 10pm or so. Whewww!

My way of handling the icky 4 weeks of winter we’ve had in NYC? Leave. Somewhere warmer. Somewhere where there is sunshine. Somewhere I don’t have to wear a puffy coat. Somewhere like…Texas.

Alright, I didn’t leave JUST to escape the cold. There were really important things to take care of in Texas. Important things in the form of Wedding Planning Weekend 2011 with my sister, The Bride. :)

Upon receiving a snowy park photo email from me, this email exchange happened --

From: LMJ
To: LJ
Subject: Re: Snow!!!

oh my gosh!! that is beautiful, yet problematic. : / mixed emotions.

From: LJ
To: LMJ
Subject: Re: Snow!!!

Bahaha, ohhhh Les, you've got jokes today! I'll be there. Don't worry.

Yes, I would have been a very sad girl if that silly Snow Day kept me from playing Maid of Honor with my sister. Very sad indeed.

But thankfully I made it. And it was sunny. And warm. And I didn't have to wear a coat. Or boots. I did wear sunglasses though. Oh it was such happy weekend!

Les kept me busy busy the whole time. No resting allowed. Dad says, "Are you going to be gone all day again?" Yes Daddy, we surely are. We got up early -- appointments to get to, people to talk with, ideas to discuss. We carried around notebooks and folders and threw ideas back and forth, Les was constantly saying "Ohhhh, yes! Write that down!"

My favorite part of the whole weekend was watching her try on dresses. We only went to a few shops. But I swear the girl tried on upwards of 30 different gowns. This is what happens when you go in with an open mind to all styles I guess.

And the thing is, Leslee is like a lil Barbie Doll. Nothing looks bad on her. It was like watching a life size Bride Barbie play dress up. She was just lovely in everything she put on! (yeah, that's only slightly annoying...)

She laughed hysterically when I made her try on a poofy cupcake gown. What? Totally worth trying! She laughed nervously when they put the veil in her hair. "When they put the veil on...I don't know...It just makes me feeeeeeel like a bride!" She giggled and lit up when she loved what she saw in the mirror. She was adorable.

We were ohsoproductive in our weekend-o-planning. I am proud of us.

Even so, I do wish we could spend every day talking wedding-y things and planning out the details. That's the fun part. The party! Sigh.

At least I was able to get away from this Northern snowiness for a few days. A snowy escape? Oh yes, that was worth it!

9A is famous

That's right. 9A (aka my apartment), is famous.
And roommate Hannah is a celebrity.
They've both been published.



I've told you about how incredibly talented my fellow Texan roommate Hannah is, right? I mentioned her HGTV show a few times? You've seen her cutie bloggy? And you saw her master plan / execution of our foyer stripes? She is quite fantastic.

And this week, she (and our apartment) are featured in Time Out New York magazine!

I had so much fun watching Hannah rearrange and freshen up our space for the photo shoot. She has such the knack for making things pretty and charming. Especially old things. I'm secretly hoping some of her design taste and creative ideas rub off on me. So far? I'm still waiting.

I love this apartment so much. Hannah, Lindsay Ann, Jamie and Emily were the original roommates about 2 and 1/2 years ago. I spent a lot of time at this apartment with them. And I'm really very happy to live here now. With such lovely girls and all this pretty.

Photographs by Susanna Blavarg

It's kind of great to live in such a big girl apartment...no, not apartment. Home. Yes, it's great to live in this big girl home.

This January

This January was the snowiest in the history of all January’s in New York. It started out as the snowiest I’ve experienced in my 5 New York winters. But it ended as the snowiest ever. Figures.

Here’s the thing about the snowiest of snowy January’s – ugh. Everyone in the city is dressed in the same uniform: puffy coats, hoods / hats, thickly wrapped scarves, gloves, umbrellas and snow / rain boots. It’s been literally impossible to wear much else. No one talks. They are too cold. Or annoyed by all the puffiness that makes it difficult to maneuver tight spaces such as subways.

If it wasn’t snowing, then melty slushy mess had accumulated at every intersection. If you weren’t wearing rain boots, good luck walking anywhere. Unless of course you’d like to get your leather boots all wet and yucky. Which I did several times this month. I underestimated the slushiness. Any day I didn’t wear my pink flowery Liberty of London rain boots, I instantly regretted the decision as I hit my first intersection.

As a result of this month, I have endless snowy pics on my iPhone. All different days. All different snow storms. They were weekly.






Last week, we got a record-setting 19 inches of snow on Wednesday. Thursday morning I woke up to gorgeous blue skies, massive heaps of powdery fresh snow on the streets and the office closed. The 2nd Snow Day of the year already. I had a lot of work to do and a presentation to give. Slightly annoying…but wait, what am I saying…SNOW DAY!

What exactly does one Texas transplant do on a Snow Day? Hmmm…tough one.

THIS! Naturally.

off to the park with Bethany and Susan

pink rain boots are more fun


we headed straight for the swings

where there maaaaay have been casualties

and snow angels!

1-2-3...GO!

bahaha...they are braver than me!

stuck

and she's up...

wait...nope!

snow up to the benches

and snow covering cars, that's a lotta snow

I think the happiness of this snowy day canceled out most of the dreary snowy sadness I had from the rest of the month.

Thanks for redeeming yourself January.