Last week, beyond gorgeous images from Paris Haute Couture
Fashion Week have hit the web – making me more and more giddy each day.
Aside from the dashing dresses, unexpected designs (um, Jean
Paul Gaultier channeling the late Amy Winehouse?) something that caught my eye
from three events was BALLOONS!
At the launch of the Karl Collection for Net-a-Porter, models
carried black and white Karl balloons.
(source)
(source)
For the Meadham
Kirchhoff show, the designers created a candy shop, complete with pastel
balloon structures.
(source)
(source)
The French Magazine Grazia
passed out dog balloons outside of the shows (and how cute are the street
team’s outfits!?)
So if the French couture designers are making balloons
chic, does that mean that they will be less of a party decor faux pas now!?
It’s part in my nature and part of my job, but I really
love trendspotting. All of these massive lists come out and list what will be
fashion, food, etc. trends for the year.
I was doing some thinking about trends and here’s what
I’m seeing:
·
S’mores. This
gooey treat is still hot. You will
see s’mores stations at more parties and s’mores as favors at more weddings. Also
on the rise – Nutella. Oh and I have a super fun S’mores
·
PinCrafts:
People turning online pinning via Pinterest into real world crafts and cooking
will explode.
·
School.
More people are going back to school. It doesn’t matter the age or if the
person has a degree, people are sick of their careers and want a big change.
·
Moonshine
is “in.” FINALLY something hip that Appalachia has been doing for years! I’ll
never forget my first time with moonshine. Unmarked bottle from an old man
inside Mountaineer Field. I wouldn’t have had it any other way (Lynn Lai made
me do it, mom).
·
Oreos.
Did you know that Oreo is the number one cookie in the world? I found that
crazy! Anyways, I see people using more and more Oreo cookies in recipes. Same
with Rice Krispies.
·
Marryoke.
Yep. First it was the bridal party dance, then it was the surprise flash mob.
Now, according to the Washington
Post, it’s Marryoke. The wedding videographer captures people signing the
same song all night and mashes the video together. A lip dub if you will. I’m
waiting for the trend of weddings to stop becoming a performance to end ; )
·
Food
Trucks. Still popular.
·
Sandwich
Shops. We will continue to see gourmet chefs open up classy sandwich shops
(a la Grahamwich Chicago)
·
Batuka is
some form of exercise that is going to be the new Zumba.
Some fashion expert said this week that everything that
was old 20 years ago, is always new again. That fashion runs in a 20-year span.
If this holds true, we are currently channeling 1992.
Since the internets weren’t really around back then, I consulted
my friends at Wikipedia and in 1992 the fashions of the 1980’s were still
present – spandex pants, denim button down shirts, penny loafers and NEON.
Isn’t that crazy!? All things that are popular right now.
Chambray shirts, leggings (still), black leather jackets – even Keds are always
trying to make a comeback.
For fun, here is me around circa 1992. This was one of my
modeling days (um, my mom signed me up – I think everyone was picked). There is
so much about this look that is all wrong, yet probably right at the time. The
wind breaker, the stop watch hanging from the zipper, the two toned socks. And I
mean who cannot notice what the hair stylists did by thanking things to a whole
new level by doing a French braid around my head and injected neon jelly bracelets
around my head.
As a lover of all colors, if I had to pick one trend (vs.
the explosion that was on my body in ’92), I’d go with NEON. I love the bold
colors out. As Vogue calls it – a fashion rebellion. Times still suck and
rather than wear all black and be depressing, we are saying eff you – I’m going
to wear sequins and bright colors!
Without further rambling, here are my favorite neon items
out right now:
·
Blazer
via Gap – Kudos to Gap for its
partnership with Pantone. I may or may not own this whole collection by the end
of the season.
·
Shoes via J.
Crew
Will someone PLEASE wear the Jason Wu neon to the Oscars?
I’ll be waiting!!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
I'm Like the Ringleader, I Call the Shots
I’m still playing my little Word of the Day game as
inspiration on Pinterest and Tumblr. Yesterday, I had a fun word that produced
some great ideas. So great, I had to share here on my Mothership social
networking site.
The words was:
Here are some ideas that I discovered.
For parties, don’t just think about decorating the floor
and tables. Turn things upside down with these fun umbrellas hanging from
strings! (source)
Cute Circus party invitations that feature tickets and a
big tops! (source)
I’ve got this big thing going on right now with black and
white strips, so obvi I love this cotton candy display. (source)
And check out this cotton candy topped cupcake from Real
Simple.
Speaking of those stripes – how fun, chic, and playful is
this black and white striped tent!? (source)
The perfect Circus party favor? Animal crackers! (source)
I LOVE this wallet-friendly table top décor from Oriental
Trading. It’s a big top tent for your table! Not only does sit totally play
to the them, But it will cover your treats!
This blog is girly. I get it. It’s rather difficult to be
someone that you are not. And I, my friend, am not a man (although sometimes I
do think and talk like one).
But the other day, I was thinking of two words for a
party and I thought it could be a manly and fun theme – “Bourbon &
Bowties.”
While things are rarely original anymore, I did a quick
search and discovered people are already doing this for charity functions, but
let’s just roll with this party as best as Shot of Brandi* knows how – to
totally theme it out. This is how I would execute it.
And how crazy is this fate – I started writing this post
on a Sunday and on Monday, my new Wine Spectator came in the mail (yes, I’m a
subscriber lol) and it had bourbon as its cover story! FATE.
Décor
·
For me, I would recycle my handmade moustaches
and emergency bowties from my Oscar’s birthday party for this bash. Both were
super easy to make with some craft store specialties like foam paper, sticks,
ribbon, hot glue and pins.
·
Provide directions on how to tie the perfect bow
tie. You can put them in a cool frame like the one above.
·
For the invitation, there are a lot of bowtie
ones out there – but this is a popular baby boy shower theme. I say hijack the
template, but make it more man vs. baby.
·
Use bourbon barrels to decorate! You can use
them as tables or a base to a bar (see pics below).
·
Buy some airplane mini’s of each flavor and give
your guests their favorite brew as a favor! You can even print some fancy “Official
Bourbon Taster” certificate (or something more snazzy than that)
Drinks
·
Okay, this is the most important part of the
party. After all, you are basically staging a bourbon tasting here.
·
For the bourbon beginners, I’d say pick a
variety of brands (vs. variety of years). Let’s go with the six that are on the
Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
o Four
Roses
o Heaven
Hill
o Jim
Beam
o Makers
Mark
o Wild
Turkey
o Woodford
Reserve
·
Provide sheets for guests to grade the bourbons
on:
o Appearance
(color)
o Aroma
(swirl that glass)
o Entry
(swish it around in your mouth)
o Finish
(what happens after you swallow – and I hope it’s not puke)
Food
·
Here are some recipes for your fete:
Extras
·
Surprise your guests with awesome bourbon facts,
like:
o Bourbon
is America’s native spirit – it’s one of the only spirits actually invented in
the USA
o Rye
Whiskey came from Europe to the Americas, through Pennsylvania and then landed
in Kentucky where it was mastered.
o Each
bottle of Maker’s Mark is hand-dipped in red wax – no two bottles are exactly
alike
o Knob
Creek Bourbon is named after Abraham Lincoln’s hometown
o Jim
Beam isn’t named after the guy that invented the bourbon. His great, great grandfather
Jacob Beam actually created it in 1795! AND Jim Beam is still made with Jacob’s
recipe to this day!
·
You may notice on the bottles that there is a
difference between whisky, whiskey and bourbon. Here’s a cheat sheet:
o Whisky:
Scottish English, British English and Canadian English
o Whiskey:
Irish English and American English -
also made of at least 51% rye, malted rye, malted barley or wheat
o Bourbon
Whiskey: made from mash that consists of at least 51% corn
o There
is also Tennessee Whiskey – this is Jack Daniel’s, George Dickel, Collier &
McKeel and Benjamin Prichard’s. All of these are bottled in Tennessee.
·
Note that there are American brands that use the
Scottish spelling. When that happens, they were typically created by a Scottish
person!
P.S. – I know a lot of these facts because I worked with
bourbon brands for three years – including some of the ones listed above ; )
Oh and boys - I know what you are thinking. Still too girly. OH WELL!!! Ha.
Let’s play a game. I’m feeling a little uninspired with
party themes. Almost everything has been done (although I haven’t featured it –
I’ve seen it. Trust me). SO you want me to play out a theme? Email me. I’ll
create it!
(source)
So near the end of 2011, I decided that I needed to read the
newspaper more. I mean, my office gets four papers delivered and seriously no
one reads them. So being one of the elder people in our group, I decided to
take on the reading challenge. Let’s just say that recently, I’ve been failing.
However, I took a few with me on a
long car ride and pulled out a Wall Street Journal story about fundraising.
Specifically, all of the things that people try and sell you at work to help
support their kids. Did you know that $1.7 BILLION DOLLARS is spent in the U.S.
on products for school and youth ground fund-raising annually?
It got me thinking. A year back, Shot of Mom asked me if I had
any creative fundraising ideas. I sent her a few things that were actually on
this list. Their organization went with something pretty cool – a dip
fundraiser from Serendipity
just outside of Pittsburgh.
So if you are looking for a creative fundraiser or just a
regular idea, here were a few things on the list that I would totally consider
buying from the November 16th Wall Street Journal:
· Candles
· Cheese and cheese
spreads
· Coffee
· Cookies
· Cookie dough
· Greeting cards
· Holiday ornaments
· Magazine
subscriptions
· Meat snacks – editor’s
note – I may not buy this, but it sounds delicious lol.
· Plants and flowers
· Sauces
· Stationery
· Window & wall
decorations (could be cool if they are local sports or high school teams)
And don't forget that it's that time of the year and those little Girl Scouts are lurking with their cookie orders!
This afternoon I was over Sue’s and she kept telling me
about “Lil Beers.” I just wasn’t understanding this concept, so she had to
repeat it to me a number of times. So I thought, I’ll explain it all to you
today as part of Sunday’s with Sue.
Lil Beers apparently has nothing to do with Beer. It’s a
drink served in a short glass to resemble a little beer.
Drinks Mixer lists the recipe for Little Beer as follows:
·
1 oz of Licor 43 liqueur
·
Cream (although Sue thinks it's Baileys)
What is 43 liqueur you ask? Well I asked the same thing!
Licor 43 is a sweet, bright citrus, vanilla Spanish liqueur
with a combination of 43 ingredients including citrus and fruit juices, as well
as herbs, spices and vanilla. Yowyza.
This stuff dates back to the time of the Romans (even though its
Spanish? Maybe because its headquarters are in Spain).
So if you see this bottle or are feeling cozy with your bartender
– ask for one of these next time you are out and want to try something new. OR
if you are at the Bronze Hood in Robinson, PA, tell ‘em Sue told you to order
one!
(source)
In the December Issue of Martha Stewart Living, there was
an article titled “Making the Case,” that focused on eight budget-friendly
wines to buy for the holidays. A number of different blends were featured and
that got me thinking – what are some different varieties of wine to have on
hand that could please any guests taste?
The Martha story mentions the flowing types of wine for a
holiday stockpile:
·
White
·
Value house white
·
Value bubbly
·
Rose
·
Value house medium red
·
House rich red
·
Easy-drinking red
·
Organic red
Will Lyons wrote a November 2011 story for the Wall
Street Journal on starting your own wine cellar. Will suggests that a good
cellar will have three (or four pending on how you look at the story)
categories of wine:
1.
Wines for a variety of drinking occasions and
palates. These wines are to share with friends
2.
Wines for aging
3.
Wines for investment & to simply own
The wines for various drinking occasions should be light
and easy to thrown down. Buy Sauvignon Blanc, white Bordeaux, Pinot Grigio and
I say thrown in a Cab.
The batch of aging wines should include some
medium-strength wines that can paired with meats at dinner parties. These can
aging wines can be aged for five years or more with the goal of the wines to
improve with time. Think Bordeaux, Burgundy, Australian and New Zealand Syrahs
and Portuguese reds.
Finally, for investment wines, Lyons suggests high-end
Bordeaux (vintages from 2005, 2009 and 2010). He
says if you buy a few cases, you can always sell one – and it could pay off the
cost of the other two!
(Sources:
Martha Stewart Magazine – December 201,
Wall Street Journal – November 2011)
(source)
In the Strip District of Pittsburgh (it’s a strip of food
places – not strippers. Although, there is a strip club around there….humm)
Anyways, where was I?
In the Strip District of Pittsburgh, there is a spice
store called Penzey Spices.
I love me some store pamphlets, so I picked up one on my
way out of this store and boy was I amazed. The store’s newsletter is like a
spice bible. It provides so much background on a plethora of spices and how you
can use them in your cooking and baking. Here are some of the best tips I
learned…
·
Bay
Leaves: These are perfect for adding to a chicken, pork roast, turkey
or ham. Use 2-3 leaves and remove after serving.
·
Baking
Spice: Apparently this stuff adds flavor to hot cereals, pancake
batter, cake, brownies, muffins, pies and coffee cakes. Add up the spices in
the recipe and just use the same amount of Baking Spice.
·
Celery
Salt: Good for roast beef, pot roast, steaks on the grill or in a
meatloaf. I prefer this rimmed around a bloody mary!
·
Cayenne
Red Pepper Powder: This can be used in place of whole chili peppers in
a barbecue sauce and chilly.
·
Crushed
Red Peppers: I ate some of these tonight! I am obsessed with putting
these on pizza, but Penzey also suggests adding them to spaghetti, omelets and
beans.
·
Chili
Powder: Great for Mexican dishes.
·
Cloves:
A must for studding hams.
·
Cinnamon:
An essential spice – you can put this in everything you bake and even some
things that you drink – like hot chocolate! Cinnamon sticks are also great for
stirring hot drinks!
·
Garlic:
I won’t tell you what to use this for because it is gross. LOL.
·
Jerk
Pork Seasoning: Great for Jamaican-style pork chops or tenderloin on
the grill.
·
Mustard:
Traditionally used for pickling, canning and sausage making.
·
Black
Peppercorns: According to Penzey, if there is one spice that should be
in your kitchen, it should be pepper. It adds the greatest amount of flavor to
dishes!
·
Lemon-Pepper
Seasoning: Most commonly used to season fish.
·
Oregano:
Put this on baked chicken, pork and fish. It can also be added to a simple
salad dressing or marinade.
·
Paprika:
Adds a flavorful, colorful touch to meat, fish and poultry.
Some other spice tips:
·
Keep whole spices for four years and ground
spices for two.
·
Do NOT store your spices near a heat source – on
top of a fridge, stove, dishwasher, microwave or sink. Also keep your spices
out of direct sunlight.
Penzey’s also sells cool gift boxes, like:
·
Bakers Assortment: cinnamon, coco, baking spice,
vanilla
·
Original Mini: cinnamon, ground pepper, garlic
powder and flavor seasoning
·
Some Like it Hot: hot chili powder, spicy hot
curry powder and northwoods fire
·
Spicy Wedding Shower: Cajun seasoning, English
prime rib rub, lemon-pepper seasoning, garden salad seasoning and wedding
charms
(Source: Penzey Spices )
January 15th is a monumental day my readers.
Five years ago this week, I started this
little blog.
(vintage Shot of
Brandi header)
Reading back on my past posts, not a lot has changed. I
still love Sharpies. I still love
polar bears and cupcakes.
I guess a few things have changed – I learned how to add
hyperlinks to my blog posts, I moved cities, I now have more than 700 unique
readers (in total – not monthly)
So in the last five years, what were the top five Shot of
Brandi* posts? Here they are readers:
5. Poppin Bottles
– My first VLOG! I hear that the readers like the videos! I may need to add
more. I think they just like reader Lindsay!
4. Election Day:
2008 – the recap from attending the election night rally in Chicago
3. Happy
Hallow Brady Birth Steelers Rule Election – one of the more longer titles, I
think Brady has a little Shot of Brandi fan club that increases blog
readership! Maybe we can get him to become a contributor.
2. Push it Real
Good: This one is all thanks to Reader Lauren – one of my loyal readers
from the start. She posted a link to Shot of Brandi on Facebook and I got a ton
of new readers! THANKS LAUR!! And hi new readers!
I want to thank all of you for reading my blog, emailing
me ideas, sending me private emails about posts and pictures of crafts that I’ve
inspired you to make. I really do this as a hobby to capture things I like to
talk about and knowing that some of you look forward to my posts keeps me
going. So seriously – THANK YOU.
Here’s to five more (and many more after that) years!
The new hot social networking site right now is
Pinterest. I’ve mentioned this site here before, but I thought since most of
you have found my little secret by now, for those of you that haven’t, I’ll
tell you why you need to get on here fast.
What is Pinterest?
·
Let’s pretend that I have a corkboard or
pinboard in my office. I fill it with photos of recipes, fashion, party ideas,
etc.
·
Now imagine that you can take things from my
pinboard and put them on your own pin board.
·
Okay, not take that concept and put it all
online.
That’s basically Pinterest.
You create an account, create some boards and then start
pinning. You can pin your own photos, pin photos from the web (be sure you
provide a link to them) or repin other people’s pins.
This site is devilishly addicting to visual people like
me.
Why You Need to
Be Here:
·
This site has become my go to for blog pictures,
ideas, recipes and party ideas. You can search the top box for ideas and add
them to your own board so that you can come back to them.
·
Also, this has become the go to for a lot of my
friends that are wedding planning.
·
This is the hot buzz brand marketing word / site
right now, so expect to see a lot of your favorite brands popping up soon!
How Do You Get
Here:
·
Email me or leave your email address in the
comments and I’ll invite ya! I think the site is still running on an invite
only method. I didn’t have any friends on here when I joined, so I had to sign
in via Twitter and then wait a few days and some magic Pinterest gods approved
me. Thanks Pinterest gods!
(source)
2012 has been jam packed with new fashion news. Here are
some of the highlights.
·
In less than one month, the next
run.to.Target.now collection comes out – Jason Wu. I’ve mentioned this Lady O
fav here a number of times and now his collection will be available to those on
a budget. Preview the collection here.
I hope someone wears this
Wu to the Golden Globes.
· Speaking of Target, the company unveiled a new
design model called “The Shops at Target” which will offer in-store boutiques
for smaller shops around the U.S., such as sweets from The Candy Store – a San Francisco
company. (source)
· Fashion from the Critics Choice Awards via Wire Image.
I LOVE all the neon pink on the red carpet. I still remember Brooklyn Decker
doing the neon pink trend first at the 2011
Met Gala.
·
Spring 2012 wearable fashion trends from Glamor
Mag. LOVE seeing fashion rebel
against the recession by wearing bold colors and sparkles! Maybe a pink shorts
suit for Easter? #ballsy
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