October 24, 2013

easy dinners / fresh bruschetta

October 24, 2013/ Brittany Jarman

i was complaining to my mom yesterday that no food sounds good to me lately, so i don't ever feel like eating. she asked why i was complaining and i told her it was because i like eating food so much that it's disappointing when it isn't fun to me. being in this strange funk makes me want to cook the bare minimum (jarman's probably saying, 'what's new?'). tonight i whipped up some bruschetta and served it with breadsticks and called it good.

bruschetta is actually one of my favorite foods. i can eat those tomatoes like i'm getting paid to do so. it's also super easy to make, and you can serve it with almost anything. it is delicious on top of chicken, salad, pizza, toast and more. the key is to use good tomatoes- mine were organic from trader joe's and were amazing. i generally just approximate the ingredients and add until it tastes good- it's pretty hard to mess this up.

recipe for two: 2 tomatoes, cut + olive oil + balsamic vinegar + fresh garlic + basil (fresh or dried) + salt and pepper

served with trader joes garlic and herb pizza dough, made into breadsticks

October 17, 2013

entertaining / my tea party bridal shower

October 17, 2013/ Brittany Jarman

i probably had the cutest bridal shower in the world. i am so lucky to have such good friends who threw it for me (well, they are my mom's friends, but i can't count them as my own right?). kristi, cindy, and erin headed the whole thing up, but so many more people contributed and made it seriously amazing. also, thank you to haylan for taking these beautiful pictures, she is such a great photographer!

these ladies know me really well. they threw me a tea party themed shower, which included delicious desserts and tea sandwiches, gorgeous fresh flowers, and the greatest group gift ever. how cute are the macarones and meringues? and what about those little tiny pink cupcakes? i seriously loved all of it, and wish we could do it all over again!

in the entryway the ladies had an 'advice book', where i learned lots of tips on how to be married. they hung the most adorably crafted tissue garlands and wedding bells, had pictures of jarman and i, and audrey hepburn quotes! they also had jars with my 5 favorite cookies for guests to take home, which were absolutely delicious and the loveliest set up ever.

they also made a game where the ladies tried to figure out who knew me and jarman best. there were various statements made by us, and they had to choose the silhouette of who said it. the one that stumped everyone was 'my favorite movie is sixteen candles,' which is actually jarman's favorite movie!

for the group gift, the ladies got me everything i needed for our bedroom! they included bedding, curtains, artwork and a mirror, blue velvet ottomans, a throw blanket, a rug, my favorite pendant lamp from world market, and some bedside accessories. i was dying over everything, it was so exciting!

i know this was over a year and a half ago (jeeze, have i been married that long already??), but i am still so grateful to everyone who contributed! it was such a blast. and thank you so much kristi for hosting it in your gorgeous house!

October 02, 2013

entertaining / jossie's jasmine party

October 02, 2013/ Brittany Jarman

jossie literally planned her birthday party for an entire year. right after her party last year (which was barbie themed), joss decided that she wanted to have a jasmine party. when she told me that a year ago i laughed and assumed she would forget about it by the time her next birthday came around, but she made it happen. well really, angela made it happen. this was joss's sixth birthday party and it was awesome, i would have died to go to a party just like it when i was six!

joss obviously had to have a killer dress for her party. angela found this one on the chasing fireflies website, and it literally could not have been more perfect. she also had the headband made with gold feathers, and flower and a large purple jewel- just like jasmine's necklace!

angela decorated the front room with layered rugs, and hung exotic umbrellas (from here) and paper flowers from the ceiling. we made the paper flowers, copied from ones we saw at west elm- they were actually pretty easy, but used tons more paper that we expected. in the entryway she had the favors for the kids- rock candy lollipops and ribbon wands. she also had jewels for each of the kids.

angela went simple on the food since it was a post-lunch party. there were pretzel sticks, grapes and cheese cubes, and rolos. she went all out on the cake, and asked her lady to create jasmine's palace! the table was set with a station for the girls to make beaded bracelets while they ate their snacks.i love all of the little details like the drink labels and colorful ribbons, they help to tie everything together.

the girls were surprised by a special guest- princess jasmine actually came to the party! she sang to the kids and taught them how to be princesses- and she did not break character once! all-in-all the party was a hit, i just wish i could have had one like it when i was little (which is not to say that my winnie-the-pooh and hula parties were not awesome!).

September 25, 2013

entertaining / kori's wedding

September 25, 2013/ Brittany Jarman

my family specializes in weddings on a budget, and makes them look awesome every time. this wedding is another event that my aunt angela put on, and did a fabulous job at making the wedding look amazing, while saving money. the wedding was held at a reception hall, and was supposed to be on an outdoor rooftop, but the rain forced us to move it inside. for the tables, she had the chevron runners made, and also put together all of the flower arrangements. her husband crafted and stained the wooden boxes. the flower arrangements had lots of different roses, blue hydrangeas, berries, and twigs. they are probably my favorite centerpieces i have ever seen, i was happy to take one home after the wedding! she also had ribbons to hang from the chandeliers, which added a nice touch. the wedding cake was ombre blue with flowers that we placed on top. the food for the wedding was soft serve yogurt and italian sodas. i don't have great pictures of the food room, but it was super cute. she made signs and had an all glass serving area. she hung puff-ball garlands on the ceiling to make the room, which was somewhat detached, feel like a part of the wedding. here are the pictures that i took of the decorations, keep in mind i was not the official photographer, just practicing using my camera!

and now i'm going to include about a thousand pictures of all of my family. how cute are all of my cousins and sisters? and how good does jarman look with a beard? i can't wait until he can have one year round. i seriously love all of these pictures and miss my family every day!

September 18, 2013

entertaining / farah's first birthday

September 18, 2013/ Brittany Jarman

my aunt angela is a decorator, stylist, model, cook, mom, you name it- she does it all. she is an especially good entertainer. she always sends out the cutest invites, has the most delicious food, the perfect house, will always give a favor, and then writes thank you cards. (favors and thank you's are on my life long to do list, i can't seem to find a way to understand their importance). she also has the most adorable kids in the world. i have tried to steal her baby on multiple occasions. over the next few weeks i am going to share a few of angela's parties that she has thrown (we can count a wedding as a party right?).

first up is farah's first birthday. the theme was 'cutie pie', and the colors were pink red and blue. ang wanted the party to be kid and adult friendly, so she had a playroom for farah's baby friends, and pie for the adults. she made large pom pom decorations, a birthday sign, had some colorful balloons, and made all of the pies and cupcakes. whoever said cute parties had to be expensive was way off.

1. farah on her rocking elephant. 2. the house. 3. the pie area, how much do the roses and balloons add? 4,5,6. close ups of the pies- there were banana creme with carmel sauce, a creamy fruit pie with strawberries, a buttermilk pie, and a chocolate silk pie. 7. farah's cute pink ombre birthday cake. 8. the favor. simple and sweet.

1. the other side of the house. i love the way she made the colors pop, but in a subtle way. 2,3,4,5. the cupcakes. don't you love the dum-dums and gumballs on top? 6. farah loves herself a lollipop. 7. i was dying over her bloomers and sparkle shoes. 8. farah royal throne for the cake destruction. 9,10. close up of the cake and balloons. 11,12. more of farah on her elephant, she wasn't quite sure what she thought of it. why do i love the picture of her crying?

1,2,3,4. farah was supposed to destroy her cake, but like a lady she barely scratched the surface. she started with a lick. then she got scared by everyone's overwhelming gasp to how cute she is. once we cut a slice out she started getting in to it. 5. the aftermath of the cake. notice her outfit change? 6. more bloomers. i can't get enough. 7. farah's older sister joss. 8. all of angela's kids. have you seen a more darling bunch? 8. angela and farah. 9,10. once everyone left farah was much more jovial, she was loving the stairs. 11. inspecting her new pearl bracelet, an addition to her collection.

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