elephantine

my new favorite smell...

(...besides fresh strawberries...is Miss Dior Chérie Eau de Toilette. It smells like prettiness in a bottle.)

beautiful photos...

(...make me happy, like these by katarina of grain and silk.)

happy (long) weekend

(Photo by the talented Bahar Özdemir.)

Thank you for all your kind words about the apple galette and our wedding invitations this week. I really do appreciate them. And what's this? A long weekend? I'll take it. Here's a few loved links for the weekend:

Shirt + necklace combos.

A fun mix of balloons.

Cute baby eggplants.

A simple desert wedding.

A magical place to live.

our wedding invitations...

I've always had my heart set on a wedding invitation with multiple parts to it. (I've also always had this fascination with things that contain several smaller things, like matryoshka dolls.) Our invitation is made up of three flat cards, printed on both sides: one is the actual invitation, another has important details and a detachable RSVP, and a third has a map & directions. Then there's the RSVP envelope and the mini calendar reminder for guests to put in their day planner or on their fridge.

Whew. Can I just say that I'm glad we have a small guest list?

I wanted the invitations to feel personal to the recipients. The whole "suite" is held together by a band that I reverse-printed each invitee's name on. When the band comes off, it reveals the "Love, R&S" on the first card.

On the back of the first card is the actual invitation. The fonts are Whitney and Cyclone.

The directions card is a smaller, purse-friendly size. Maps are not my favorite thing to design, but I'm happy with how it turned out. On the back are detailed directions.

The last card has the nitty-gritty details and the RSVP, which can be detached. It's hard to see here, but I lightly perforated the "detach here" line with a tracing wheel.

On the back, there's a quote from A.A. Milne, aka Winnie-the-Pooh's author ("Some people care too much. I think it's called love.") and then there's a few lines for guests to write a note to us, if they'd like to. As we're getting these cards back in the mail, it's definitely making them more special to receive.

And here's the miniature calender that I gave you guys a sneak peek of a couple weeks ago. It's meant as a reminder, but a similar design could easily be used for save-the-dates.

Ok, so we're not actually inviting David Bowie. (I wish!) I printed the mailing & return addresses directly onto the envelopes, added a little bit of gold washi tape, and used my favorite stamps. Et voilà!

a little red wedding...

(...over on Snippet & Ink. I love all the details.)

another year older...

Happy Birthday, Bodhi.

the apple galette

I've always liked the "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" saying. Maybe because I eat a lot of them. Usually, I just munch on apples plain and fresh. But sometimes it's fun to dress them up, too. And the best way to do this, if you ask me? An apple galette. If you've never heard of a galette, it's basically a freeform rustic tart. In other words, it comes out looking perfectly imperfect.

I adapted this recipe from Too Much Food, who adapted it from Smitten Kitchen, who adapted it from Alice Waters & Jacques Pepin of Chez Panisse. (I love how recipes are handed around and reshaped like that.) I made a couple changes and omitted the glaze. The glaze tasted nice, but I didn't think the extra work drastically enhanced the taste of the final dessert. Go ahead and try it from the original recipe if you like.

Enough blabbing! Let's get baking. Watch the video below or here on vimeo.

(music: Pull Yourself Together And Fall In Love With Me.)

The Apple Galette (serves 2 to 4, depending on how generous you're feeling)
adapted from Too Much Food

for the dough
1 cup flour (I used a 50/50 mix of white and wheat)

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

chilled water, as needed (I used about 6 tbsp)

for the filling
2 medium apples peeled, cored and sliced

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar (more or less depending on how tart your apples are)
turbinado sugar for topping (optional)

For the dough, sift flour in a large bowl. Mix in sugar and salt. Cut in butter, working quickly, to prevent it from completely melting. Continue until the biggest pieces of butter are roughly the size of large peas. Add chilled water a tablespoon at a time until the dough just holds together. Gather dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes.

When the dough is ready, roll out on a floured surface or on plastic wrap to a 14" circle about 1/8" thick. Transfer to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Preheat oven to 400°F.

For the filling, place apple slices in a bowl with melted butter and sugar. Toss to coat. Overlap the apples in a circle 2" from the edge of the dough. Continue spiraling inward until you've reached the center. Fold over the edges of the dough, and sprinkle dough edge with turbinado sugar if desired (I do this for added texture more than for sweetness).

Bake on middle rack of oven for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Rotate the galette every 15 minutes for an evenly baked crust. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

jelly shot test kitchen

(One of each, please! These cocktail jelly shots almost look too nice to eat.)

dog days

Max is visiting this week.

This is pretty much what he & Bodhi do all day. They stare at each other for a while, and sometimes they nap on the same dog bed, and sometimes they jump around or roll on the floor.

(Music is Gone So Long by Wonderful.)

between wind and water...

(...is the name of Hound's newest collection, and I'm smitten.)

everything in its right place

(I've long been a fan of Restless Things, especially Olivia's white gouache drawings...)

these brooches...

(...from biribis are quite awesome.)

some recent faves...

(...from twigs & honey, lightexture, my bohemian summer, and mirta.)

parchment beauties...

(...by ulrike hamm, found via the lovely upon a fold.)

new pretty knits...

(...from Maska.)

a sneak peek...

Mini calendar? Check. The smallest part of our wedding invitations is done. (And I found another excuse to use my favorite gold stripe washi tape.)

i want to wear...

(...everything from cardigan, after seeing chelsea's post.)

paper moons & happy friday

(Photos from here, here, here, and here.)

Have you ever seen these paper moon backdrops from the early 1900's? I think they're fantastic.

Happy friday.

my ombre hair

I paid a little visit to the hair salon today. I asked for an ombre effect, meaning that the bottom of my hair was lightened and blended up into my natural dark hair color. (Here's a bunch of lovely examples on Pinterest.) It's lighter than I've ever gone, which is kinda nerve-racking, but I like that it's more of a summer look. Have any of you changed your hair color lately?

mini bow ties...

(...for kids, from Buttered Toast. Too adorable!)

if you've been wondering...

I guess I haven't shared many wedding updates, have I?

Okay, my bad. But I did buy a dress that I love. (I should probably stop trying it on so much.)

To be honest, there isn't much else to show. Everything is still in progress, or in bits and pieces. Our invitations aren't quite ready yet. (I'll share them after they've been mailed.) This week I'm meeting with a florist to order bulk flowers. Next weekend we're hoping to buy wedding bands.

If I had any advice to give? Don't feel like you have to do something just because it's what you're "supposed" to do. Our guest list is barely over 35 people. We're having the ceremony and dinner at a nice restaurant. We don't have a traditional wedding party; we just have a maid of honor and a best man. We asked a relative to officiate the ceremony. We're not tossing a bouquet/garter, ordering a big wedding cake, or making a grand entrance. (Not that any of those things are bad, but it's just not us.)

There's only about two months left until the wedding. Not only will it be our wedding day, but it will also be our 9th anniversary of dating. Crazy, right? I was too impatient to wait until our 10th year ;)

on my wishlist...

(...loving this sea fan, this amethyst cluster, these pencils, and these organic napkins.)