February Celebrations

The second month of the year is full of holidays, yet I do not get a single day off ;). Let’s see, there was President’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras and Chinese New Year! I celebrated 2/5 and here are the pics to prove it.

Valentine’s Day was a double date adventure this year. My coworker and I both bought groupons for Victorian high tea at Pittsburgh’s grand hotel, the Omni William Penn and treated our husbands to a fancy schmancy afternoon snack! This was our first course–teeny tiny sandwiches with a dab of pomegranate dressing in the shape of a heart. Artichoke, cheese spinach wrap, ham and mustard, salmon mousse 1/4 of a slice of cucumber. A mouse would’ve dined like a king but the 4 of us were looking forward to the 2nd course.   

Ah, here we are. Top tray had chocolate mousse cups, petite fruit tarts with creme (my fave out of all of them), basil and mint macarons. Second tray consisted of 4 tiny fruit kabobs that definitely left me wanting at least 4 more kabobs. Third layer had plain and blueberry scones. I was quite impressed with these because scones I’ve had practically anywhere are always too dry for me. These were crunchy, buttery and the light dusting of powdered sugar was perfect. 

Close-up of my favorite items! The spot of creme fraiche was delightful on my scone! Not really sure how one is supposed to eat creme fraiche, but that’s how I did it! I took my in laws to Golden Palace to celebrate Chinese New Year. One of the big hits that night was the Beijing duck served restaurant style. The duck was roasted and crispy, the fresh cucumbers were perfectly sliced, the pancakes were heated and the sauce was thick and sweet. Mmm…I’m a big duck fan so this takes the cake. They did not serve lamb or else that would have been the appropriate way to celebrate the year of the ram ;).

 

Royal Mani

 

My nails have not gotten lots of lovin’ lately with all my new home preoccupations. Both polishes are not new but they are enough that I have never tried this combination together before. The purple is a perfumed line from Revlon that does indeed smell rather pleasant when it’s dry! The gold ring finger polish is OPI’s matte texture one that unfortunately chips quite easily. It still creates such a lovely brushed gold look that I don’t mind its ephemeral nature. In no way is this mani a Valentine theme, but I would categorize it as a royal theme. As always, I skip the top coat because most of my polishes are such good quality that there’s a hardly a real need.

Display Ideas

Yup, that’s right. I’m using this bamboo 3-tier serving tea tray like a champ. This sucker helped free my pretty bottles of nail polish from their prisons of separate boxes, totes and packages. The display aspect is the best but I also like the easy access of choosing from all my colors without having to rummage around forever in a cramped box. The 3-size system also correspond perfectly to the small, medium, full size categorization of my bottles. I figure nail salons do this, why not at home too? Go for a boastful nail polish display too if you have the closet space or flat surface real restate for it!

 

I recently bought an all-out extravagant bouquet for my mom when she was visiting my new house because I knew it would delight her and also add that cheery vibe to a new house. Not that I didn’t know this from before but FLOWERS ARE EXPENSIVE. Oh my jibbers, they are such a perfect business if you ever just want to throw money at something frivolous. I’m not your average roses and flowers type of girl, (I would much rather enjoy gifts of makeup or food) so paying $110 for 25-something stems of live decor is over the top ridiculous to me. However, fresh flowers already have that reputation so all I can do is contribute to this industry. Anyways…the value aside, the presentation was beautiful. Plus, there were so many stems in the one vase that I had enough to pull some out to make a nice little dining room table centerpiece. I cut down the long stems, pruned some of the leaves, took a few filler stems and arranged them as such. The two small side vases have silk gerber daises (I am all about fake flowers that last!) and remnants of my Diamond Candle wax pieces. The leftover wax chunks that I could have thrown out are now everlasting scent blocks for a surprisingly strong fragrance! People leaning over to smell the real flowers will actually get a whiff of the scented soy wax and be impressed that they smell like apricot fig. It’s my little secret ;).