Drink in Style

If you can't survive a day without caffeine, raise your hand! (raises hand too!) Seriously, a day never passes in our household without a cup of coffee (or two). It gets me started for the day and let's be honest, who can resist that delicious aroma of freshly brewed coffee? I'm sure my fellow bloggers will agree with me on this... coffee gives you that extra oomph when there just seems so many things to get done in a short amount of time. But one thing I like as much as coffee? Adorable mugs to drink them from! Below are some of my coveted mugs at the moment and the best part is that none of these cost more than $25:

Drybar Mornings Blow Mug / Gift Boutique Gold Dots Mug

Gift Boutique Put A Ring On It Mug / Gift Boutique Bride Mug

ban.do The Boss Ceramic Mug / ban.do Love Potion Ceramic Mug

ban.do But First Coffee Thermal Mug / ban.do I Am Very Busy Thermal Mug

Do you have a weakness for cute mugs, too? Is that even a question?

Wedding Planning: Update

Wedding planning is no joke. It can be stressful even with a wedding planning team to help me out (or it could simply be the process of closing out a housing deal that is adding to the stress). At the same time, it is a very exciting time in my life that the fiance and I cherish together. It seemed like only yesterday when I was cherishing the euphoria of our engagement during our trip to Malaysia. 

When we started to get down to the actual wedding planning process, one of the first things we wanted to figure out is the wedding theme and the venue. Our goal is to go for a wedding theme that was a cross between traditional and modern. If only we were a bit on the adventurous side, I would definitely try out any one of these unusual places to get married I found on AOL's Travel website while doing my wedding research... Or not. But if you would like to get some crazy inspiration, I suggest you look at these 10 weird and wonderful places to get married.

Pinterest is also a very helpful resource for gathering ideas and inspiration. In fact, I have my own board of wedding inspiration to get ideas from for our own wedding. 

Reception/Venue

In choosing our wedding reception venue, we had about 2-3 options. The main factors we considered in choosing the venue was the intimacy it offered to the reception, the overall ambiance and the ability to choose a customized menu. We had lots of ideas going on but one thing is for sure - we did not want to have a buffet style dinner for the wedding. We wanted plated in, fine dining type of meal for our guests. Aside from a fine dining meal, we wanted to choose the menu and pick the dishes that we want for our guests to enjoy. Therefore, hotel receptions were out of the question.

Without giving away too much detail, we opted for a reception venue that was a little bit tucked away from the outskirts of the city. It was intimate, romantic and slightly secluded but still accessible enough from the heart of the city (roughly 15-20 minutes from downtown). The location also offers a beautiful view, especially during night time.

Wedding Sneak Peek

I'll try not to share too much details yet as there is still a lot of planning to be done. But here are some ideas we are using as inspiration for the wedding...

Honeymoon

To be honest, with so many things to consider, we barely have time to even think about where we will be spending our honeymoon. Our main priority right now is to get all the wedding details ironed out and the house ready for moving in. My opinion about the honeymoon destination, though, is something non-traditional. I want to try out something unique and adventurous. Into the Blue sounds like a great option for that! There are several packages and activities to choose from depending on what type of adventure you like. It might be a great way to find out just how adventurous I am... So far, zip lining and SCUBA diving is as adventurous as I can get. Do you have recommendations?

Are you planning your own wedding too? Where do you get inspiration and/or ideas from?

 

Home Decor Inspiration: Open Floor

Planning an interior home decor is both exciting and exhausting. With a limited budget to work with, we wanted to be able to come up with a home design that is as close to our vision as possible but at the same time keep it within reasonable means. Pinterest has been exceptionally helpful when coming up with ideas and drawing inspiration from existing home designs, especially interior decor. Hence, I beg pardon in advance for anyone following me on Pinterest if I tend to overload on home decor images on my feed (sorry not sorry).

One floor plan design that we are currently looking into is the open floor design. We have a limited amount of space to work with; hence, an open floor design is a practical solution to save space. As it turns out, it provides a homey and cozy atmosphere within the home when done correctly. Below are some of the decor inspiration we have been looking at and are hoping to copy soon:

 

Oh, the glass doors and walls, wooden floor, and high ceiling... we can't wait to get the building process started!

Where do you get home decor inspiration for your own home?

 

Creative Manicure Ideas I Love

Good manicure can make or break an outfit. Call me high maintenance, but I always make sure that I have good nails to show off to an event or even during regular days. It is a finishing touch to any look. And yet, the right color or nail art can make your nails stand out. However, choosing a nail polish can be challenging at times as you feel the urge to go beyond the usual shades of reds or nudes. 

Hence, I've compiled a few manicure ideas that I am dying to try myself. If you, too, are in search of fun manicure ideas, I would like to share to you some of my finds (check the caption for links to the DIY tutorials):

DIY Velvet Manicure

DIY Acrylic Nails

Matte Neon Manicure

Simple Heart Manicure

Reverse French Manicure with Glitter

Multi-Colored Manicure

Are you loving any new nail/manicure trend? Pls share them, I'd love to check out! xo