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jumbo white chocolate chip cookies
no question – my favorite cookie ever is a white chocolate macadamia nut, but while it’s my favorite, the thing i like most about it is just the white chocolate chips. so i decided to forgo the nuts and just make this super rich, super buttery, super chocolately and super sized cookie because gideon is trying to gain weight for the wedding so why not eat 60 cookies?
i used my favorite cookie recipe, which has a crispy edge but really gooey inside (i mean… perfect cookie right?) and it’s also an EASY one.
jumbo white chocolate chip cookies
(adapted from all recipes)1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups white chocolate chipspreheat oven to 350 degrees F.
cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. dissolve baking soda in hot water. add to batter along with salt. stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. drop by extra large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.
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palm springs pt 3
well we’re back from palm springs once again! we had an amazing two days, with a ton of wedding tasks to do, but i spread everything out enough that we had plenty of time to actually chill and feel like we were on a much needed getaway.
our first day we stayed at the saguaro, it’s the hotel where we’re having all of our wedding guests stay because it’s less than five minutes from our venue. we’re also strongly considering hosting our sunday brunch at the hotel for everyone before they leave, so we had to test the place out! they took amazing care of us, we had a great room and a delicious chef’s tasting at their lovely restaurant tinto.
the next day, we rode their free bikes to one of our favorite palm springs breakfast diners, elmers. it’s kind of like a german dennys, they have these huge german pancakes loaded with lemon.
after a lot of outfit decision making (yes we didn’t plan very well ahead of time) we headed to the ace where we’d be staying for the night and taking our engagement photos. so we had 30 minutes to go quickly eat our favorite thing at king’s highway – the potted pig. it’s a jar of pork along with mustard, homemade pickles and soft pita. and it’s the best thing ever. i need to make this at home.
we then met up with our photographer, color me rad and walked around the hotel taking photos. at first it was really nerve-racking and embarrassing, but it ended up being pretty fun, i felt like a model for the day, which can’t really be bad. after the ace, we headed out to the windmills to take the rest of the photos, which i’ll be sharing in a couple weeks! what i can share is if you’re taking engagement pictures at the windmills, keep in mind it’s windy. like so much windier than you expect. so maybe put your hair up because mine was cray.
that night we had another amazing dinner at workshop kitchen + bar. we’ll be having our rehearsal dinner for family and wedding party at the restaurant, as well as welcome drinks for all of our guests afterwards. it was so fun to do all these tastings, not only did we get to pig out but we felt like VIPs and i realized how fun getting married is. well this part anyway.
i highly recommend the octopus carpaccio, the duck fat fries (maybe the best fries i’ve ever had), and the lemon tart with beet sorbet was fantastic.
after a meeting with a wedding florist, we had our last lunch at fisherman’s market & grill, which i believe is shanghai reds at night with a supposedly insane happy hour that i’ve never had. the baja fish tacos and the ahi poke were both amazing.
fortunately, with all the tastings and photo session and meetings, we managed to still squeeze in some pool time all three days. and i was very sad to go home.
if you’re ever planning on visiting palm springs for the first time, use the food tips from all my posts, but my biggest tip for the best trip to palm springs is to try to go during the week when the hotels are cheaper and the pools are emptier. i swear it is such a difference.
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off to palm springs
today we’re headed to palm springs until friday to get a couple wedding things checked off the list. we’re also getting our engagement photos taken on thursday, and we’re still unsure about outfits. and i have three huge pimples right now so if anyone has advice for getting rid of them in a day, please let me know! ugh.
while we’re going to be taking care of some meetings and food tastings and staying at two different hotels in two nights, we’re also going to have a few hours both days to hopefully chill and sit by the pool and make it an actual little trip.
so i’m taking off early this week but i’ll be back monday!
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diy drugstore candle makeover (with printable labels)
if you’re anything like me, there’s a huge difference between products with good packaging and products without it. there honestly might be a psychological reaction to good packaging, because i think a pretty candle just smells better. and that’s insane, i know.but seeing as how much you guys liked the diy pretty shampoo bottles, i think you are just like me!
chances are, you might have a couple tackier looking candles around your house. whether you just like the smell, or you got it as a gift, or you can’t imagine spending more than $15 on a candle — then pretty up your candles using the labels i’ve designed! also, today is earth day. and this post is totally about recycling. i planned that so well!
it was actually harder than i thought to find decent shaped / smelling candles in the drugstore. i ended up picking them all up from different stores to find a good variety (these are from target, walgreens, cvs & rite aid)
the labels say different ounces, just because i couldn’t figure out what minimal candle labels should say, and everything in french sounds fancy, therefore … bougie.
materials
full sheet label paper
an xacto
cutting board
t-square
pencil
washi tape
directions
01. remove the labels from your candles. if they’re being jerks, soak in warm water and/or use goo gone to remove residue.
02. print out the labels below. they don’t have any guides or borders because the shape and size of your candle can dictate how big or small your label can be. for instance, i decided on a small square shape for the small white candle. use your best judgment!
03. using your t-square, lightly mark the shape you want to cut on each label. make sure you cut as straight as you can.
04. once you have your labels cut out, use your washi tape as a guide to where you want to place your label. try to get the washi tape as straight as possible onto your candle, because it’s pretty hard to apply these on straight without a guide.
yay. you now have MUCH better looking candles without spending hundreds of dollars.
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wedding stuff : modern floral centerpieces
so this week i’m having a meeting about florals — like everything else in the budget, we’re not really sure how we can afford a normal floral budget. did you know how much wedding florals cost?! i’d like flowers on the tables and scattered around the property, but i’d also like to spend thousands of dollars on vacations over flowers.
i’m going into the meeting with low expectations for what we can accomplish with our tiny budget, but i’m still bringing lots of ideas.
01. we’ve talked about having vintage bottles scattered around the tables with various flowers and heights, a look that i love but i’m not 100% sure that’s what we should go with yet.
02. another idea i love but not sure i can afford it is wooden box planters. i could for sure DIY them, but then we’re left having to fill boxes with probably more flowers than other options.
03. simple pots stuffed with flowers and greens has such a modern feel and shape and i’m assuming all the greenery and filler keeps the prices down, right? is that even what is in this photo? i’m clearly no expert.
04. i am obsessed with the look of a crazy amount of simple terracotta pots filled with cacti and succulents. this would definitely work around the estate, but would this be pretty as centerpieces!?
05. now if i’m reaaaaally saving money, i could simplify the bottle idea and just have two or three little ones next to the water and wine and spread them out and call it a day. super super minimal.
06. i am just in love with a wild and organic bouquet like this – a couple of these spread out on the table and wowwww.
what’s your favorite look / idea? and if you have any tips for how to keep your floral budget down, please share!
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anthropologie event!
VERY VERY EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE that i’ll be hosting a diy workshop at anthropologie for mother’s day! i love the brand and store so much, and was beyond ecstatic when they asked me to host (i may have made a dozen “guess what!!!” phone calls).
we’ll be making scarves that you can keep for yourself or give to yo mama! so please come, i’d love for you to come!
if you live in southern california and you’d like to attend, make sure to RSVP as soon as you can!
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payday wishlist
friday came fast this week WHOA. i’m trying to go to this place tonight, but i never end up going to places that don’t reservations. but i’m going to attempt to! we’re also trying to pretty ourselves up because we’re doing our engagement photos next week! we’re both really bad at having our picture taken but apparently this is great practice for the big day. and i’m going to make these fantastic and easy cookies to share with you guys. hope you have a great weekend and for those of you celebrating, happy easter!
oh also — have you watched silicon valley on hbo? it might seem too nerdy for some people, but totally my new favorite show.
01. i really want to fill the apartment with plants. as soon as i’m actually focusing on the apartment i’m buying like 20 succulents and 20 airplants. and maybe this hanging planter.
02. sadly, i’ve lost my watch. maybe it’s somewhere in the apartment or in a jewelry travel case somewhere? or it’s been stolen. going to assume it’s been stolen. very sad. i guess i need a new one.
03. i cannot get enough of indigo and nude leather combos like this amazing tote. sooo pretty.
04. i’m sure you’ve seen herbivore botanical products everywhere because they’re designed so so well. our bathtub has been filled with stuff we want to sell for about 6 months now. after a trip to israel when i was 10 i was hooked on dead sea masks. and now i really want to take a bath with these salts.
05. the perfect simple leather sandals that you can wear at all times. i bought them last night in black, but i want them in brown too.
06. this beach towel makes me want to actually drive an hour to go the beach. it’s the best. -
diy leather handled cutting board
now that we’ve started using my stepdads tools for projects, all i want to do is wood projects. so sorry for them not being the simplest if you don’t have a saw, but don’t worry because next weeks project is BEYOND easy. to make your own cutting board, you essentially just need some wood and mineral oil. they say that certain types of wood are better for food, and others are more prone to bacteria — and i’m no expert, but i say just cover the thing in food safe mineral oil and you’re probably fine. but i live life on the edge clearly.
materials
a piece of wood
sand paper
* jigsaw
food safe mineral oil
coffee grounds for staining (optional)
leather
awl or leather punch
2 brass screws & 2 brass washers
drill* if you don’t have access to a saw, you can always make the board without the inwards cut and just do a rectangular board with a leather strap too!
01. measure and mark how you want to cut your board. using your saw, cut your board. duh.
02. sand like a maniac without rounding the edges. clean off all dust.
03. if you want to darken or richen the color of your wood, mix together some coffee grounds and water and apply with a cloth or paper towel. it works surprisingly well and you can do a couple of coats, but i actually wish i hadn’t stained mine because i now prefer the original color. but i’m also cray.
04. apply your mineral oil liberally and let dry. i believe you’re supposed to do another coat the next day to make it extra food safe.
05. to make your leather strap, cut a piece of leather to the size you’d like. once you have it centered in place, poke small holes through the leather into the wood to mark them. drill pilot holes into the wood. get your screws all the way into the holes to ensure your leather won’t spin around a ton.
06. put your leather strap in place, beneath the washers and screws.
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wedding stuff : the planning
so as i’ve complained a few times now (or more than a few) — you might know that the wedding planning is a lot more stressful than i anticipated. it’s not that it’s even hard work, it’s that i feel like with it coming up so soon – it’s hard to not have something i need to focus on almost at all times. this makes regular life and work and blogging really hard. but i decided to do a personal post on where we are in terms of the planning.
my mom decided we didn’t need a wedding planner and that i could do it and she would help, frankly we couldn’t afford one anyway, but i’ve done all the planning so far with the help of an old friend turned event designer and her partner of mein shatz. they’re helping me with all the design decisions and rentals and they’ll be coordinating on the day of. it helps so much just having someone to talk to and getting opinions on things. the absolute most stressful part of wedding planning is the budget. especially when you have zero experience budgeting a wedding. once i signed a couple contracts for a couple vendors – i realized i had already spent way too much of the budget. which i’ve found out is on the small side for the number of guests we have. my fault for having way too many relatives.
we’ve booked our photographer, color me rad and her photos are unique and stylish and she’s really sweet too.
we’ve booked our caterers, which was a hard decision for me to make, but ultimately, i decided i should just make a decision and little nelly was an easy choice. being decisive is not my strong suit, so it’s been a learning exercise for me to just choose.
we’ve booked our dj, smiles davis – which was an easy decision in terms of her, but i decided it was worth rearranging the budget and getting rid of a few things to have an amazing party.
we’ve also arranged our shuttle (a schoolbus!), our rehearsal dinner, sunday brunch and booked bartenders.
things we’ve had to sacrifice so far are : a calligrapher, a makeup artist (my maid of honor will be doing our makeup), a videographer (we’ve hired a coworker of my brothers to shoot), and possibly a photo booth — but i might spend my tax refund towards one.
we’re heading to palm springs in a week to meet with a florist, eat at the restaurants where our weekend events will be, and have our engagement photos taken! lots to do in two days.
we’re now trying to tackle rentals, which is way more expensive than my budgeting had anticipated. gideon and i always pictured using yeah rentals – but we’re just trying to figure out if that’s at all possible for us. we’re having these discussions about flatware that seem so important to me, but then i step back and think jeez. it’s just a wedding and no one will really notice if our flatware is gold or silver. if our budget was way larger, the planning would definitely be easier. not that i think it’s easy for anyone.
but i can’t help but think – all this for one day?
by the way – i sound a little bitter, but i’m not. planning has been fun, but i really am excited to get past the vendor stuff to the design fun stuff. which i should have already started by now. oh shit.
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passover printables : four questions place cards
happy passover! while i’ve never done a jewish holiday project or post, i’m attending my cousins seder this year and she asked me to make some special place cards for the occasion. well, i figured i must have two or three jewish readers, so why not share them?!
even though the four questions are usually for the kids – i thought they would make a fun theme for place settings. i’ve designed them so you can use them two different ways. you can cut out and keep them as is for placing on top of each plate, or you can fold them in half to create a more common style place card. there’s also a light grey box for writing your guests names.
download the PDF and print as many as guests you’ll be having onto standard 8.5 x 11″ card stock or any thick paper. these would look great on some colored paper too! carefully cut along the lines using an xacto.
enjoy and happy passover!
