Hi all and happy Sunday. But more importantly, Happy Mother’s Day to all of the amazing mamas! The mere fact you are still here after what this last year served you should grant you all the pampering this world has to offer. But however you choose to spend your day, know that we see you, think you are doing a kick ass job, and are sending all of our love. Now let’s link up!
This week’s home tour is a domino feature that SCREAMS cozy Farm vibes (ohhhh how we love a farmhouse!!). But seriously, if you like gingham, you’ll LOVE this. Textile and home goods designer, Heather Taylor took her Laurel Canyon home from mid-century to cozy and eclectic, and boy do we love it. The warmth! The wicker! The GINGHAM! This is just proving to us that this pattern is not just for swimsuits, guys.
From Emily: For Mother’s Day Brian is taking me back to the Auberge in Napa for a Mother’s Day retreat (we went a few years ago and LOVED I – it was the first time we had a trip where nothing was planned, we didn’t leave the resort grounds and barely talked to another soul because it’s so peaceful and spread out). It’s no kids, all relaxing with these super spacious rooms that you can spend all day in. We are going to feel it out but we’ve been fully vaccinated for a month and my shoulders are literally aching for a massage and their spa is incredible. The rooms feel like individual homes, there is a ton of outdoor dining and walking and feels really comfortable (if not luxurious) for our first hotel stay in a year. Napa here we come 🙂
As we were looking around though I found two new design-forward hotels in smaller historic gold mining towns an hour away from Sacramento that looked SO GOOD. While we haven’t stayed there yet (we will in November) for those of you in the area check out The Holbrooke and The National Exchange Hotel for a getaway (and some design inspiration).
From Ryann: My fiancé and I have this tradition where we have Italian Sunday dinners every Sunday and it’s always the highlight of my week. He is an incredible cook and makes everything from chicken cutlets to baked rigatoni to eggplant parm and it’s all FANTASTIC. Up until recently, my sole job was to drink wine and be his cheerleader in the kitchen, that is until I found this italian dressing recipe that I now make every Sunday to pair with an artichoke and roma tomato salad. The dressing is dairy-free but somehow so creamy (it must be the dijon mustard) and I can’t get enough of it. I am usually subpar in the kitchen, but now my salad game is F I R E all thanks to this recipe.
From Jess: I bought this cream bronzer/highlighter combo a few years ago and LOVED it. I was clearly heavy on the highlighter because it ran out faster than the bronzer. So once that side ran out I put it away… until a couple of weeks ago! I forgot how truly magical that creamy bronze color looked on my skin and that it makes me feel so glowy and happy. I have the Tropic Equinox which is described as a warm neutral prismatic bronze. That description my friends is exactly right. So if you are looking for a clean and vegan bronzer/highlighter combo, I give this one a million thumbs up. But also maybe take a second look at the makeup you already have because you might find something equally magical:)
From Mallory: I’m YEARS late to this party, but I officially bought my first Hydroflask and I finally understand the hype. I was really hesitant about them for so many years because I thought they were just too heavy and like $50 for a water bottle feels absurd. Also, I hated the clanking sound they made if someone would drop them. BUT I’ve been converted. I finally bought one, on a total whim at the Nordstrom ebar (lol) and BOY do I understand now. You can put ice in this bad boy and head down to the pool in 100-degree weather and this thing will not let it melt. It’s amazing. I also highly recommend getting this sippy lid because for some reason this lid makes me drink 1000x more water than I would without it. It’s like an adult sippy cup that keeps your drink cold or hot for days hahaha.
From Caitlin: By the time this post goes live, I anticipate that I will have watched all of season 3 of Shrill. Does anyone else love it as much as I do? Aidy Bryant is a joy, the rest of the cast is SO fun, and everyone is so well dressed all the time. I also feel like it reminds me a lot of my own friend group, which I love. Did anyone else binge it this weekend???
Also From Caitlin: Heads up that Anthro Day ends today! If you’ve been eyeing anything on the site, check and see if you can get a deal on it! (I, an overall addict, was super excited to scoop these long, lightweight lilac ones and I can’t wait to get them in the mail!)
Thanks so much everyone for taking a little bit of time out of their day to spend with us. We love you all and again HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!
Opening Image Credits: Photo by Kat Alves | Wallpaper by PHD Wallpapering | Design by dEsignEllipsis | Fools Gold Daughter, & Doug Washington Design | via National Exchange Hotel
Always love these round ups! Loled when I saw the name of the highlighter/bronze combo – kosås literally translates to cow sauce in swedish.
Ryann: Italian dressing isn’t Italian — it’s an American invention from the 1940s designed to make your salad taste like the then-American conception of Italian food. Nothing wrong with making, eating, and enjoying it, but maybe don’t classify it as culturally Italian when it is more correctly Italian-American or even just American. (Italian American food is a separate though obviously related cultural tradition that deserves to be separately recognized!)
Also, there are SO MANY amazing cookbooks if you are interested in getting a more authentic and nuanced view of Italian food traditions — Marcella Hazan’s cookbooks are a great starting place as is Autentico by Rolando Beramendi.
Oooh, I hope Emily & Brian have a lovely vaccinated escape!🧡
Jess’s link doesn’t work on my Samsung tablet?!
That house tour! Oh! So lovely! 🤗
For people that might feel ‘differently’ about Mother’s Day, here’s an article that “sees you”:
Mother’s Day is Complicated …
https://m.facebook.com/AnneLamott/posts/321351226020057
Love the house tour! All that plaid with a few floral prints combined with more modern furniture and light fixtures is perfect!
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, stepmoms, foster moms. . My heart goes out to everyone who lost a mom this last year. We all need a big love-day, most of us can’t do that in a $1,800 per night-min 2 night stay resort ;-(( but that’s ok, feeling loved is the biggest gift of all.
Love the dressing, makes every salad special.
Outing that you’ve researched the cost of Emily’s stay, but then adding a winky face does not make it cuter. I wish we’d get away from cutely shaming each other to just appreciate each other when someone’s willing to share her life, however different that may look than yours.
As a side note, I’m from Napa county and Auberge employed my mom’s friend, a massage therapist and single mom, for about 30 years. Anyone patronizing that place, which has been there forever and employeed locals for generations, is helping a community which has suffered through fires and a COVID bust.
Looked up this place because I would LOVE to stay there, it’s just beautiful, but was shocked by the price. I have been looking for a little getaway (like everyone else I would love to get away) but hotel prices have been sky-rocketing, a hotel I have been eying for forever increased their room rate from $300 per night to $995 per night. Just for een week-night. I understand when you can only have 25-50% occupancy it’s hard to make a business run with not raising your prices but that hotelroom now isn’t available anymore for most of us. I love to support local businesses, and I do so, but this is a problem we have to face for the near future. First we need to be healthy (and vaccinated) to be able to go to nice places, then second we need to have a lot of money. I wasn’t shaming anyone, like you wasn’t either.
I live in the Nevada City/Grass Valley area where the newly remodeled (and price-inflated/yuppified) Holbrooke and National hotels are – and we’d love to have folks visit, but please, PLEASE remember these two towns are small (as in SMALL) Sierra foothill mining towns with very little parking. And if you do come, during the week is preferable – as we’re already inundated by tourists from the Bay Area and Sacramento on the weekends.
Just a word to the wise. ;^D
Caitlin, I love Shrill so much that I ran an extra 15 minutes on the treadmill yesterday because I wanted to watch one more episode of the new season. That’s right people: Shrill is so good you’ll forget you are excercising.