love is in the details

jacin over at lovely little details was kind enough to let me hijack her wonderful wedding blog.  check out my guest post {here} all about our upcoming fall 2011 nuptials!

party pictures

last night we enjoyed a delicious st. patty's day dinner over at my parents' house.  they host it every year, and the menu  is always outstanding!  (my mom's a great cook : )

here are some pictures from our irish celebration.

craig's plate

my plate.  see the soda bread with butter??!!

olive.  (don't worry, the headband only went on for the picture.)

"kids'" table

so, what did you do for st. patrick's day?


and, congratulations to ashley from breakfast at saks for winning the brand building giveaway!!!

irish soda bread

happy st. patrick's day! in honor of today and my irish heritage, i wanted to share my family's favorite recipe for irish soda bread. in my experience with soda bread, i've found it (often) to be very dry and crumbly (which i'm personally not crazy about). not so with this recipe. this   produces a cake-like bread that is so deliciously moist. and just perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack : )

best soda bread ever! (adapted from a silver palate recipe)

6 tablespoons sweet butter
3 cups flour
1½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 to 1¼ cups granulated sugar
1½ dried currents or raisins
1¾ cups buttermilk (or 1¾ cup milk with 2 tablespoons vinegar)
2 eggs, well beaten

1) smear 2 tablespoons of butter evenly in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet. line the buttered skillet with a circle of waxed paper. melt 2 more tablespoons butter in a separate pan and set aside.

2) preheat oven to 350 degrees

3) sift dry ingredients together. add currents or raisins to dry ingredients and toss well to coat.

4) whisk together buttermilk, eggs and melted butter. add to dry ingredients and mix just until blended.

5) spoon better into the prepared skillet and smooth top gently with a spatula. dot the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.
6) bake until golden brown and puffed, about 60 minutes. cool slightly, remove from skillet, and cool completely on a rack. or serve warm directly from the skillet. cut into wedges. smear with butter. enjoy!




credit [here]

 

only one more day to enter the brand building giveaway!  click [here] to enter : )

gettin' lucky : )

as a (50%) irish girl, i revel in the romanticism that accompanies st. patty’s day. each year, my parents host an authentic corned beef and cabbage (and soda bread and potatoes and roasted vegetables...) irish feast on the 17th of march. much of my extended family attends, and we celebrate our irish heritage with food (and drink).

credit [here]

yet, despite my irish roots, i don’t believe in luck in the mythical, haphazard, out-of-the-blue sense. in my version, real luck occurs when the right circumstances come along and you capitalize on them. but, had you not been thinking about, working on and wishing for a “lucky break”, then you wouldn’t necessarily have recognized it as “luck” when it does come along. i also like this version of luck because it gives you some control. i.e. if you’re diligently working towards an important goal, you’re much more likely to catch a lucky break…

yet, despite my somewhat business-minded view of luck, i do (kind of) believe in lucky charms. (i know, i’m a rubix cube of contradictions.) i have a beautiful vintage wishbone pin from my grandmother that i love and consider it a bit of a “lucky” charm. i’m not sure if it has magical powers or just sentimental value, but i love to wear it on special occasions.

credit [here]

well, before i confuse you (and myself) any further. here are some other notable thoughts on luck:

“i'm a great believer in luck, and i find the harder i work, the more i have of it.” –thomas jefferson

“luck is believing you’re lucky.” – tennessee williams

“luck has a peculiar habit of favoring those who don’t depend on it.” – unknown

“success is simply a matter of luck. ask any failure.” – earl wilson

“the day you decide to do it is your lucky day.” – japanese proverb

“what we call luck is the inner man externalized. we make things happen to us." – robertson davies

credit [here]

so…do you believe in luck? what is your lucky charm?
 
p.s. don't forget to enter the brand building giveaway [here].

wine o' the month: bully hill

bully hill

yesterday, craig and i went to 4 wine stores and called several more in search of a delicious wine we enjoyed over the weekend. we finally found it at the final store. (rewind to saturday) in walk michael & melissa (our wedding photographers) with a bottle of red wine called bully hill: love my goat. the bottle had a huge sketch of a semi-angry looking goat on it and was simply called red wine. hmmm. as a red wine drinking newbie, i am often wary of unfamiliar reds, but am always willing to try : ) upon first sip, it was love. with a hint of sweetness, this fruity red is so smooth - not dry on the palate at all. i often feel i can only truly enjoy reds with food, but (beware) this one drinks just fine on its own.

from my intro, you can tell it’s not the easiest to find. (it’s from a small vineyard in upstate new york.) but it’s definitely worth hunting around for…it’s only $8 bottle! we enjoyed it with homemade pizza on saturday and my dad’s meatloaf and potatoes on sunday. it went great with both : )

love my goat

small world moment: craig and i were telling my parents about the wine, and my mom let out a little gasp. she said that for their 2nd anniversary, she and my dad traveled to upstate ny and visited bully hill vineyards and met the owner. she then went into the depths of the pantry and pulled out an old (undrinkable) 1976 vintage from, yes, you guessed it, bully hill.

www.bullyhill.com

so, go forth and (find) love my goat!

don't forget to enter the giveaway!

brand building & giveaway

[before i forget...be sure to pop over to makeunder my life to check out my diy design your life post]

do any of you watch bethenny ever after (previously: bethenny getting married?) on bravo?  well, i almost hate to admit it, but i am strangely obsessed with that show.  a former "real housewife of nyc", bethenny frankel is a successful entrepreneur - she's written several books, has a "skinny girl" margarita line of products and also has the reality tv show.  busy lady.  (blatant teaser: keep reading...there's a giveaway : )

skinnygirl margarita

i think what has me utterly fascinated is how successfully bethenny (yes, we're on a first-name basis) has built her brand.  (and, let's face it, that's pretty much what the blogosphere is all about - building a brand, a persona, a voice.)  the cool thing about being your own brand is that it's completely self-defined.  you decide what you stand for, what you talk about and what you endorse.  you become a revered expert just by discussing/trying/doing things that you love or are interested in learning more about.  pretty cool.

credit {here}

as i've said before, that is what i'm working on here at lifestyle maven.  one step at a time.  i know it will take a while.  kim kardashian, martha stewart and bethenny frankel didn't become "brands" overnight.  it took time.  it took effort.  but, they also prove, it can be done. 

i read a great book called crush it! by gary vaynerchuk.  and it talks all about the steps involved in building a brand.  it's an awesome read, and i would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to make blogging (i.e. their brand) their full-time job (eventually).  his step-by-step guidance really gets your wheels turning, and his advice is completely applicable and gets you totally motivated : )

this could be yours!

i would like to send one lucky reader a copy of crush it!  trust me, if you love your blog and blogging, you will not be able to put this book down.  it tells you exactly how to turn your passion into a business/brand via social media. so cool!

so...are you ready to win?  here's how to bolster your odds : )

1 point - be a follower of lifestyle maven

1 point - follow lifestyle maven on twitter

1 point - like lifestyle maven on facebook

1 point - tweet about this giveaway

2 points - add the lifestyle maven button to your blog

please leave a separate comment for each entry.  (if you grab a button, please leave two comments.)

the winner will be chosen at random next friday, march 18th : )

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wise words

i've happened upon a lot of fabulous blogs lately that offer such powerful messages to women about self-acceptance.  i feel that, across the board, self-acceptance is something we all deal with at some point in our lives.  too often it feels like we're meant to "fight" against ourselves and our bodies to achieve perfection.  but true joy is in the act of letting go.  letting go of the idea of perfection.  letting go of negative self-talk.  when you release all the negativity, you create space in your life for beauty...true beauty.  the kind that shines from the inside out.

credit {here}

here are some of the lovely ladies whose words inspire me...

mastin @ the daily love
kerri @ your wishcake
ashlee @ where my heart resides


so, girls, whose words inspire you to live better?

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