That is what I would like to do.

Eileen Ramsay via Sail World

Despite having this desire for quite some time, I haven’t made much progress. So today I turn to you, dear friends: Do you do a good job of drinking water throughout the day? If so, do you have any tips to share with me?

My main issue is that I drink lots and lots with meals, but am not the type to sip on plain water throughout the day. I probably would sip on lemonade, but I don’t really want to add that much sugar to my diet. The best suggestion I’ve heard so far is to add wedges of lemon and lime to a tumbler of water, but I’ve yet to try it.

Thoughts? Tips? Suggestions? All will be gratefully received!

I love finding new recipes on Pinterest, I really do. But pretty photos can be deceiving, and it’s often hard to tell if the caption “AMAZING RECIPE!!!” was added by my friend, whose taste I trust, or a pinner she re-pinned from six steps out, who might have terrible taste. Anyway, in case you’ve seen any of the photos below floating around your Pinterest lately and wondered if they were any good, I’m here to vouch for them.

These chocolate chunk pecan cookies in particular = AMAZING. Yes, amazing.

You can find the recipes for all nine of these tasty treats on this aptly-named Pinterest board (the recipes I haven’t tried yet go on this board).

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Yikes! I meant to post yesterday, but between my first wedding gown fitting (yahoo!) and an impromptu mother of the bride shopping trip on the way home (where we were very successful!), it slipped through the cracks. Never the less, here I am, and here are my ideas for personalizing a groom’s formal look :)

While a classic tuxedo leaves less room for personality than, say, a suit and tie combo, there are definitely still ways to make one your own.

John isn’t wearing a cummerbund, but for those who are, I like the idea of embroidering initials on the edge:

Embroidering initials and your wedding date on the inside jacket pocket – so sweet!

For groomsmen, you could tweak the inside-pocket-embroidery and leave clever messages like “rings go here” or “toast goes here.”

My favorite might be these embroidered, initialed cuffs – such a small detail, but it looks so sharp!

Which one would you pick? Also, does anyone have any suggestions for great embroidery resources in the Triangle? :)

Images from top to bottom: Studio222 via Southern Weddings, Lisa Poggi, A Bryan Photo via SW, Ali Harper via SW, and Maggie Harkov via SMP

I think I’ve mentioned before that John and his gents will be wearing tuxedos on the big day. Unlike some ladies, this required no arm-twisting on my part: a tuxedo was what he wanted to wear, so a tuxedo is what he shall wear. Yay!

Erin Hearts Court

We decided early on that we wanted to buy instead of rent a tuxedo for John for three main reasons:

1) Buying means you can tailor, which means a better fit.
2) We already know John needs to wear a tuxedo twice this summer, which means it begins to make more sense financially to buy instead of renting multiple times.
3) It can be hard to match a specific aesthetic when renting.

A Bryan Photo

We also decided fairly quickly that we didn’t want the gents to wear a vest (too prom) or a cummerbund (too annoying), but suspenders, instead. And a basic black (self-tied) bow tie, of course. The other specifics, like a shirt with a point collar, a two-button jacket, and a peak lapel, we chose based on this oh-so-stylish advice, and on examining the J.Crew tuxedo, which is out of our price range but undeniably handsome.

Charlotte Jenks Lewis

But where to find this stylish-but-reasonably-priced gem of a tuxedo? Happily, Marget’s fiance, Seth, had already done extensive research on this very topic, and pointed us in the direction of the Tommy Hilfiger tuxedos at Macy’s. He had purchased one for himself previously, and vouched for the quality and fit. On the day we cruised over to the Macy’s site to check things out, the tuxedo that caught our eye just so happened to be 66% off! With free shipping and free returns, we didn’t hesitate to snap one up in John’s size (after much confusion over measurements – fingers crossed it fits!). For those that are curious, we bought this jacket and these pants, and this shirt. We’re planning to pick up the bow tie, suspenders, and shoes at a later date. Macy’s runs sales ALL the time, so if you like the look of this guy, check back often!

Jen Huang (left) and Jose Villa

We’re still waiting for everything to arrive in the mail, but maybe John will let me snap a pic for you once the whole thing comes in! In the meantime, I’ve been collecting some fun ways for grooms to personalize their look, and I’ll be sharing those tomorrow.