I’ve always been a fan of a great at-home bar. I strongly believe it’s a must-learn life skill to mix up classic cocktails, and as an avid host, it’s important to provide an array...
Looking back on Easter as a child, I remember how excited I was to dig through my Easter basket. Full of chocolate bunnies, malt ball Easter eggs, Peeps, golden coins, and my favorite Cadbury...
Lets be honest, salads can be boring. So I’m always trying to think outside of the box to come up with salad recipes that I’ll thoroughly enjoy, but are beyond easy to make. Enter...
Lets be honest, salads can be boring. So I’m always trying to think outside of the box to come up with salad recipes that I’ll thoroughly enjoy, but are beyond easy to make. Enter...
This past weekend, chefs, sommeliers, and food lovers alike descended upon midtown Atlanta to celebrate what is and what’s to come in all that is Southern cuisine at Atlanta Food and Wine Festival. While I’ve always been an active participant, this year I had the opportunity to also style and design the Connoisseur Dinner Series.
I’ll let the gorgeous images speak for themselves, but with each intimate dinner, I wanted to keep things simple, personal and most importantly, let the star of the show–the wine and food–shine. For dinner in “the mountains” we welcomed guests to the Preserving Place with rich florals from Laura McCarty, wooden and gold planters filled with moss, and a long scrolling menu hung from the ceiling and hand lettered by Jenn Gietzen of Write On! Design. For “the coast” we set the longest table we could find poolside on the roof of 1065 Midtown. Driftwood, hand lettered stones, and Gertie Mae’s Floral Studio cool-toned florals set the mood. And when the sun set, and after a few glasses of wine were poured, I swear you could smell the salt water if you tried hard enough. Truly, MKR
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I, like most Creatives, find the need to constantly be changing it up. I don’t know if it’s the fact that we need actual change, or that we need to create the change, but regardless we need it. For me, one of those places were I need this change is in my decor. And while it’s too costly and time consuming to always be switching up paint, furniture, or kitchen cabinets (oh how I wish I could change my kitchen cabinets) one place I can always easily, and inexpensively, change are the accents that really make a house a home.
So with an itch for change I knew I had to scratch I headed to one of my favorite places to find one of my favorite designers, and a few good pieces. Nate Berkus for Targets’spring line does not disappoint. It’s chalked full of natural woods, bright whites, and boho inspired accents to mix and match. Each piece feels collected and has a light, relaxed airiness to it that just screams of California vibes.
I began with my favorite place to always change; my coffee table. I traded my faux python for Nate’s ceramic hand wrought white and blue tray (which would be an amazing serving piece as well), filled the etched ceramic pedestal bowl with snacks, cut some fresh eucalyptus for the textured glass vase, and finished it off with two decorative pyramids.
I had to snag Nate’s triangle throw since there are few things I love as much as a good blanket and this one is perfect for both my couch or an afternoon in the park. And the wood and resin inlay tray is my new go-to for schlepping coffee, water, more coffee, and any of my other morning necessities to and fro.
Lastly, in my office I finally corralled the overwhelming stack of magazines by placing them in Nate’s Hyacinth Water Basket, and continued the work on my #shelfie. I added a second etched ceramic pedestal bowl to store my wine corks (I loved it so much I had to have two), a fabulous little bird tea light, and the gold bird dish to display my shells and sea glass I’ve collected over numerous trips to the beach. I’ve also got my eye on this globe light which would make a welcome #shelfie or possible bar cart addition.
All in all I’d say by adding just a few new pieces the rooms received quite the breath of fresh California air. Now only if we could get that warm California weather! Truly, MKR
Each year I pick a word. That word is supposed to represent what I want for myself and 2015. And every year I have lived that word, like really lived it. Words have power, they have meaning, and picking my word of the year is something I have really started looking forward to.
I usually spend the first week of the new year looking through “the list” and writing down every word that stands out to me, take a day or two to mull them over, and choose whatever is speaking the strongest. However this year was different than the past two years. This year my word appeared to me in early fall. I didn’t know it was my going to be the word, but when I couldn’t get it out of my head I knew what 2015 would bring. Intention. To live, work, and love intentionally.
I’ve always, always, always said; “just because you could doesn’t always mean you should.” Words I haven’t been paying the utmost attention to. 2014 was the year of saying yes. The year to doing everything. To overbooking. To doing it because I could, not necessarily because I wanted to. To doing it well, but not always great. To never enough time, to 15 hour days, to sleepless nights, to building a book of business. And I don’t regret any of it. Not one single moment. I think when you build a business you have to do those things; stretch yourself thin, prove your merit, test your boundaries. But I’ve done that, and I’ve passed. So this year will be the year of intention. If I take on a project, if I say yes to anything, if I commit it will be because I’m in it 100%. It’ll be because it’s where WOM is going, because it represents our future. This my Loves will be hard. It’ll mean turning down projects that pay (which is never easy), stretching myself creatively to be better than WOM has ever been, and it’ll mean saying goodbye to things and arenas I’ve done a lot of, and enjoy, but just aren’t who we are anymore.
But it feels good, this whole being intentional thing. And what feels even better is that we are going to be walking the walk with a brand new look and feel. We’ll be re-launching this site, the Shop site, and launching the MKR styling site mid/late January. We’ve been working extremely hard with Cassie from Veda Houseand her team of coders and I cannot wait to reveal the final result. We’ll be offering new and different services under the WOM umbrella, announcing new collaborations, introducing Creative Contributors, and moving it all forward with a new mission statement. So stay tuned for that, but back to the word.
As I said above words have power. And because I believe so strongly in “the word” I’ve teamed up with my amazingly talented friend Jenn Gietzen for a little Write On Design-WOM Collaboration. You pick your word and we’ll (and by we’ll I mean Jenn) will paint it for you initials and all. She’ll actually hand letter each and every one as they are ordered! So frame it, stick it on your inspiration board, whatever you need to do to live your word just do it. I had Jenn letter all my words from the past three years and I’m going to frame each one and start collecting them. Someday I hope to have an entire wall of words and I’ll be able to point to a word, and know exactly what year around the sun it represented.
But wait, the fun doesn’t stop there! Along with “The Word” Jenn and I thought we’d bring a monthly quote into the mix as well. Everyone loves (and needs) a little inspiration right? And what better quote to start the new year off than with one from yours truly. It was something I said in a post I wrote last year, it was never an actual sentence that was supposed to be quoted. That was until it was quoted by the lovely ladies who I get to work with on a daily basis; “The unexpected is usually what brings the unbelievable. #dontstop” Like the word, Jenn will hand letter this quote to keep close and hopefully inspire you to always take the leap.
In conclusion; words have power, say yes to the unexpected, and happy 2015! Cheers! Truly, MKR
P.S. Both the Word and the Quote are limited edition and only available through January 31st so hurry hurry!
