Liz & Jimmy Part I

Liz & Jimmy finally got some of their photos from the wedding! I wanted to share a select few with you I thought turned out nicely. These are from the ceremony at Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, MI and of the bridal party at Birmingham bar, Dick O' Dows between the ceremony and the reception.

The Mervak Family

I will share reception photos soon!

iz

Best & Closest

The good thing about summer is that a lot of your best and closest friends come to town. Alex is in town from Utah/London, Lindsay from North Dakota/Haiti and Erin from Chicago. All of their trips overlapped one day, so we decided to make dinner, drink wine, watch the Olympics and just be together. It was fantastic. I love these people and wish they lived here year round because they are some of my closest and best of friends.

Alex

Erin

Dinner- Salmon!

Jayme

Linz

                  London                                     DC                           Salt Lake City

These are hanging in Alex's parents kitchen and I just have to share them because I think they are fantastic. Alex and his two sisters, Laura and Lindsey, also good friends of mine, live in DC and London. As mentioned previously, Alex lives in Utah, Salt Lake City to be exact. So for Christmas this year, Alex did these paper cut outs of the grid lines of each of the cities they live. Brilliant.

Have a great weekend!

iz

             

Traverse City Film Fest.

Hey guys, I'm back from a few of my adventures I have scheduled for this summer! I can't thank Becky enough for guest blogging for me while I was gone, isn't she great!?

Last week Ceil, Bob and I travelled to Traverse City to attend a screening of Hit and Run at the Traverse City Film Festival, which is a fantastic thing for Michigan, started by the well known film maker and Michigan native, Michael Moore. It was so fun to not only see the finished product (which I think is fantastic) but to also have spent time with Kristen and to enjoy the beautiful city of Traverse!

Michael Moore doing the Q&A with Kristen Bell after the screening of Hit & Run.

The view from our hotel room where we ate breakfast.

Bob's middle name.

If you ever get a chance to go to Traverse City- GO!

I can't say enough wonderful things about the great lakes and their beauty. There is something really special about northern MI lake towns, they are filled with small businesses, little shops, and gems of restaurants. If you go to Traverse, you are only 20 minutes away from about 20 wineries with gorgeous views. If you don't believe me, listen to Mario Batali!

iz

Sunday Brunch

Hi y’all,

This is the last day that I’ll be hanging out with all of you. I know it’s only Tuesday, but I’m already dreaming of Sunday brunch. It’s one of my favorite parts of the weekend and it’s something I think Detroiters don’t do enough of. I lived in Milwaukee for 5 years, and I’m moving to D.C. next week- and both of those cities make brunch a main event of every single Sunday morning.

However, there is one place in the D that does brunch so well I literally dream about it, and I will miss it terribly when I’m gone. It’s The Hudson Café, located on Woodward just off Campus Martius. 

Everything I have ever had from there is amazing, but my personal favorites include the baja cali omelet, chicken pomodoro omelet, sweet potato fries, and chunky monkey pancakes.

The restaurant has a coffee shop area at the front, with a barista counter that sells both coffee and cupcakes!

So this weekend, go support a local Detroit business! Thanks for reading, it was great sharing my varied interests with you. 

-bex 

Wedding Attire

I'm sorry to say that no one's wedding outfits blew me away this weekend. But I'll still give you a few outfits that I think are great wedding options. But before I do, some rules regarding Wedding attire.

1. Do not wear white. Do not wear cream. Do not wear off white. Do not wear a very light pastel. Do not wear a partially white dress. Do not wear a white sweater. This is a rule I feel very strongly about. At a wedding and all other wedding related events, white is the color for the bride alone. It boils down to respect, and while some brides might not care, why chance it when it comes to her special day?

2. A cotton dress is not enough. There are very few moments in our casual society where dressing up happens anymore. What is a bigger event than a wedding? Seize the opportunity and do it up right! (note: if it is a casual wedding such as a backyard event, that's different. The invite will also likely give some indication of that).

3. If it's a day wedding and a night reception and you don't want to change, dress for the evening's venue- that will likely be how the bridal party dressed. For the day part if you feel uncomfortable, add a cardigan or a shawl.

4. Your every day purse should not be the bag you take to a wedding! Target has affordable bags that are more evening/event appropriate or go to the Coach Outlet (I've loved plugging the outlets while guest blogging) and buy a neutral wristlet. I could not believe my eyes at how many women brought their everyday cross body bags as their purses this weekend- I love mine too, but it is not the time for that!

Wedding season has seemed to become a way of life for me. I've been lucky enough that the 5 I've been to over the last couple years, I've been able to rewear dresses (better yet, it's been different groups of people each time). A couple basic cocktail attire dresses will never be a waste in your closet, so if you're looking for something that will carry you through multiple weddings (even in different seasons) that's a good bet.

I pulled together a few options on Polyvore. Here's what I came up with.

Can you tell by it's off center nature this was my first polyvore set ever? So forgive me, but here is a look that I think can take you anywhere. The little back dress is your BFF. This one has some silver detailing on the shoulders, which adds personality. Normally I don't like mixing metals, but I made an exception here, and went with black and gold accessories. Those heals?! I DIE. I'm obsessed with the gold stiletto and the best part is that it is super on trend. Great example of how you can make one LBD work season after season. The clutch is a little rocker, which I just thought was fun, and the Chanel earrings, well, a girl can dream. 

This look is all sex appeal (read: best not at a church wedding). Wear your hair down with some big curls.

This dress reminded me of a standard bridesmaid dress, so here's how you could make it your own for a different wedding (rewear!). A bold necklace, and keeping it all in the gold and nude family makes this simple but pulled together. Also, I think this dress if you swapped the sandals for flats could become a "tea party" afternoon wedding outfit, or add some heals and big hair and a different clutch and it could take on yet another vibe entirely. 

Happy Wedding Season! 

-bex 

Just do it.

Hi y'all, I'm blogging for Iz for the next few days while she's off on a few adventures (be sure she tells you about them, because they sound awesome.) I was the girl that brought you the story about a fun clothes swap a few months ago.

Today, I thought I would share some of my secrets to fueling my passion for health and wellness. I'm a newly converted health freak trying to keep my life as normal and unobnoxious as possible. My mentality is that I workout as a way to destress AND to allow me to drink beer and eat cake, pizza, nutella and ice cream without feeling (too) guilty. 

I believe it was Lauren Conrad (inspiration to us all to always choose Paris) that first gave me the idea that one of the keys to working out is having a cute workout wardrobe. Now, don't get me wrong, there are days where I'm rocking my hogwarts t-shirt (circa 1999) and target running shorts, but a good wardrobe is motivating in all parts of life, including getting your butt to the gym. 

Here are some pics of my current lusts for fall workout gear. I chose Nike gear for a couple of reasons- one, because I love shopping their sales rack at the outlet malls (double discount) and two because this outfit is inspired by the U.S. Olympic Qualifiers in running. 

All photos courtesy of Nike.com

I love grey, yellow and black together (very on trend right now- and workout gear is a great way to experiment with a new trend). I know if I had that sports bra I would be so excited to hit the gym after work, put it on and break a sweat (endorphins are not a myth). 

So catch a few minutes of the Olympics this weekend look at your pinterest exercise board or check out Extreme Makeover Weightloss Edition and then go out and break a sweat yourself. Remember, the only bad work out is the one that didn't happen! 

Have a fun couple days! I'll be back on Monday to recap some fabulous wedding guest looks I saw at the wedding I'm attending tonight. 

-bex 

Moonrise Kingdom

Have you seen Moonrise Kingdom? I realize I'm a bit late in the game, but this movie was fantastic. Bob and I went to see it with his brother Daveo last night and we all really enjoyed it. It's funny, visually captivating, the characters complex and the story is adorable. It feels like you're reading a children's book. Also, the costumes are so great, but I would expect nothing less of a Wes Anderson film.

I also loved how he gives credit to every single person involved in the film. Suzy, the female lead, loves to read and all of the books have these awesome covers- at the end of the film, the artist is given credit and is showcased. I just love that about his films.

Go see it!

And thank god for creative film makers like Wes Anderson.

iz