Spring is in the air!

It's Spring!!! So you know what that means? This is the second most exciting time for fashion aside from the fall issue of Vogue. Time to pack away our puffy coats and clunky winter boots and make room for all of the beautiful pastel and vivid hues! Today I gladly spent the first day of my spring break neatly packing everything in my Spring clothes bin plus about 12 dresses (which is about 1/5 of the amount of dresses I won) in a suit case and drove back to my apartment to switch out all of my winter clothes. No longer do I have a closet of black, charcoal, brown and plum, it has been replaced with every color of the rainbow, including my steal of a purchase my Lilly Pulitzer Charity Print Shift Dress that my wonderful sorority sister Chelsey snagged for me at the employee discount price of $100, initially around $328.

My current spring fashion mission is to find a chic cross strap purse for spring/summer. See, while I love the over sized hobo bags and the sexy clutches, neither one are always conducive to a night at the bar. So these are the ones I have found so far:

Marc Jacobs


Anthropologie Bags
Empanada Mini Bags


Just Knot my Bag


Molten Folds Bag


Small & Mighty Bag


Woven Pendulum Sling Bag


I'm still on the search for more. Any suggestions?

Study or Redecorate?

So as of today I have completed: one senior thesis paper, one group project, one final. Still to come: two finals, one online group project. My group project that I completed already was voted by my entire class to be the best Hospitality Concept Presentation which I'm SOO proud of.

During this week I've spent countless hours in the library, and decided to finish the rest of the week in my living room studying just for a change of scenery. Well in doing so I've realized how much "guy style" has taken over my apartment. Granted I moved in with a guy who had already been living there with another guy, but you would never know a girl lived there now until you saw my Cosmo's and Sex and the City DVD.

I started to browse online for living rooms that Live Beautiful Recipes would deem acceptable and they all involve BOLD color options! How could you not be happy sitting in a room that was so alive with color?



The combination between this yellow colored sofa and the purple in the floor to ceiling French memo board backgroup is very cool, and they really bring out each other. Then the balance of the colors in the frame behind the couch make the room casual and upbeat.



The turquoise corner wall is such a statement and such a beautiful color, it reminds me of Carrie Bradshaws apartment at the end of the SATC movie.



Instead of using an expensive wall paper, I love that this room just adds accents of colors on the walls so it's not overpowering with the variety of colors there.





I LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of this really romantic and playful bench swing in the living room, because not only is it a reinvented sitting piece, but it acts as a divider between where the bedroom ends and the living room begins. Plus the graphic and colorful pattern on the seat cushion is so inviting.

Tomorrows well deserved Walnut Street shopping spree will probably inspire a fashion post. Ciao

Julie & Julia saves my sanity during finals :)

So with one final paper down and three final exams and a group assignment due I thought I would ease the stress with an appropriate Live Beautiful Recipes classic: Julia & Julia!



Unfortunately this is now making me hungry and all I have is the pasta salad with lemon vinagrette and capers in the fridge (hard life, lol). All I want right now is a some summer vegetable salad and iced green tea (both of which reccommended by Skinny Bitch) which is another Live Beautiful Recipes classic which I am currently in possession of and LOVING, minus their attempt to turn us all vegan. I'm sorry but meat and dairy are just too wonderful to let go of!


















Speaking of wonderful, my newest addiction in the entire world is currently Flowers Uncut which follows Paris's Four Seasons Hotels Visual Director Jeff Leatham as he takes over New York City with his stunning flower displays. My recent career path might have been inspired almost completely from watching this show. Tons of tv appropriate drama and setbacks always results with him transforming these locations into works of art. Follow this link to Tried and True Blog to see some of his displays!



Lastly, only because this has now turned into a list of way today has been so wonderfully unstressful during the week that I'm losing my sanity, small but awesome, Firefox has created these "themes" for their internet windows and Lilly Pulitzer has a theme. The best part is that they have a theme in my favorite dress pattern the Charity Shift Dress pattern which is made up of all the patterns from the Spring/Summer 2009 line.



Now after all of this I now want to go buy flowers, cook dinner and wear my Charity Shift dress while doing all these things. Instead I'll study for my Beverage Management, Contract Food Service Management, and Marketing finals, ew :(

First post

Welcome to my blog Live Beautiful Recipes!

I'm a huge fan of fashion, cooking, event planning, books, photography, and all things aesthetically pleasing. I try to surround myself with things that are beautiful and truly make me happy.

I'm studying to be an Event Planner, for specifically with Weddings, and currently considering going to grad school for interior design so I can work for an Event Design firm. Eclatante, Colin Cowie, Evantine, Fete are all Event Planners/Companies that I have found to be incredibly inspiring and would be grateful to work for either company. Stores like Anthropologie, JCrew, Lilly Pulitzer, Joan Shep have such beautiful visual displays in their stores that I've also taken note to. The restaurant scene in Philadelphia is very eclectic and growing to becoming more plentiful. We are home to world class chefs and restaurateurs such as: Stephen Starr: Buddakahn, Continental, Morimoto, El Vez, Cuba Libra, POD, Butcher and Singer, Stella, Jone; George Perrier: La Bec Fin; Jose Garces: Amada, Tinto, Distrito, Chifa, Mercat, Village Whiskey, Garces Trading Company; Marc Vetri: Vetri Restaurante, Osteria; and many more.

So I will periodically showcase some pictures, and reviews of places and things that I've seen that I think are recipes for living beautifully!