A Flourishing Perspective

Au revoir!

2011-08-24T23:15:00.002-04:00

Darlings, we have a little announcement to make:

We're off to start our own personal blogs!

We shall be sister blogs, always sharing the little adventures we are constantly having with each other.

It's very exciting to have something fresh and new and personal to start from and we can hardly wait to get posting.

So, we hope that you'll follow us and enjoy the classy things we post.

Cheers!

♥♥♥

Forever yours,

-Erika&Rachel-

Erika's:
Copper & Whim
Rachel's:
Apricots+Silk

The lakeside dotted with colours of red, white, and blue.

2011-07-31T23:02:00.001-04:00

Our 4th of July weekend was completely lovely. We had the most wonderful of times with family and friends out on the boat all day swimming and sun-bathing, enjoying breathtaking sunsets, the fireworks, the delicious food and sweet ice cream, and one another's lovely company.

The days were long wearing your swimsuit the whole livelong day, taking spontaneous canoe rides, and swimming for hours on end in the blissful water and the nights were late lingering round the fire by the lakeshore with sparklers.

Happy Summer to all of you, dears! It is complete bliss, is it not?

xoxoxoxoxo

-Erika&Rachel-

Off for a holiday!

2011-07-16T13:42:00.002-04:00

Darlings, we're off for several days for a seaside holiday! We'll be back with pictures and lovely little snippets stories.

♥♥♥

We hope your Summer has been as sweet as ours and will continue to taste sweeter! We've been having the most perfect Summer having spontaneous, lovely, little adventures that we enjoy so very much.

So, cheers for now, darlings! We hope your weekend is completely wonderful.

And, before we close, Deathly Hallows was beyond perfect and all we hoped for and more. The tears streamed down our cheeks and the goosebumps were there throughout.

"You have your mother's eyes."

Perfection!

We'll tell you all about our brilliant night at the midnight screening when we get home!

xxxxxxxx,

-Erika&Rachel-

It's today♥

2011-07-14T19:18:00.003-04:00

We're leaving in an hour. The film will begin in four hours. We will surely die and cry our eyes out. Our hearts are all aflutter, our stomachs almost in a knot, and the tears are ready to pour. It will be beyond perfect.

After countless days of excitement and anticipation, we'll be watching it tonight.

Harry Potter is blissfully perfect in our eyes and we are ever thankful to Jo Kathleen Rowling for creating this wonder...it is beyond us♥♥♥

"No story lives unless someone wants to listen. The stories we love best do live in us forever. So whether you come back by page or by the big screen,

Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home."

"Magical."~"Unforgettable."~"Phenomenal."

It all ends 7.15.11

Cheers!

-Erika&Rachel-

xxxxxxxxxxx

♥♥♥

"Otherwise the bowl will remain empty...forever."♥

2011-07-06T00:37:00.002-04:00

10 days. TEN DAYS! It shall all end. We will be in the long line to view it at midnight, the amazingly epic WB will come glowing on the screen, our heart will nearly pound out of our chests, and the tears will stream as we view the perfect ending♥

Harry Potter is completely perfect and amazing and wonderful and we shall love it forever and always♥

Cheers, darlings!

xoxoxoxoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

And, this video. This video is perfect. It makes us utterly happy and we cry when we watch it♥ It's lovely.

Summer is perfect♥

2011-06-27T12:57:00.000-04:00

Just a few quick photos to give you a taste of what we've been up to lately. Our weeks have been extremely busy with grand things happening nearly everyday but it's been lovely. Although I do enjoy those leisurely days at home reading and painting outside, which thankfully happen a few times a week, just to my liking.

Fourth of July weekend is mere days away and what an exciting thought it is. Every year for as long as we can remember we spend the whole blissful weekend at our grandma's lake house with family and friends. It's always a lovely thing to look forward to and becomes a highlight of the year. Last year's was absolutely perfect with fantastic memories cherished from it, so we have high trust that this year's will be just as grand. ♥
What are you all doing over this grand holiday weekend?
Happy 4th of July to you all! We hope it is lovely for each of you with sunny days of swimming, sun bathing, dipping ones toes into the water, and late night bon-fires with s'mores.
xoxoxoxoxoxo,
-Erika&Rachel

Summer tastes heavenly

2011-06-17T18:44:00.002-04:00

Erika had her first official day of Summer holiday last week on Wednesday. So, my mum and I (Rachel) went and picked her up and drove home with the windows down, listening to Vampire Weekend...perfect for Summer♥

We got home and were fairly giddy with Summer excitement and skipped around my beautiful green property and peaceful woods with the wind blowing our hair all about.

We had three whole glorious days together and each one was relished. Late Wednesday evening we schemed the plan of preparing supper on Thursday. So, as the sun was setting orange on the horizon, we sat chatting happily and flipping through Barefoot Contessa and Martha Stewart cookbooks.

On Thursday my mum took us grocery shopping, which is a task Erika and I adore. There is something so pleasurable going from section to section picking the best produce and poultry.

The grand and exciting supper was quite a success on Thursday night-and very delicious, if if I do say so myself. With some help from my mum we prepared grilled asparagus with lemon butter, grilled chicken with white wine+fresh lemon juice+fresh parsley, and a heavenly salad with romaine lettuce+sliced pears+lemon and olive oil dressing+fresh Parmesan. We set the table with my great grandma's old blue and white transferware and lit candles among troves of shells from seaside holiday's past. That night at home was just my sister, mum and dad so we gathered round the table on the screened porch and enjoyed a lovely time. The birds sang beautifully and strains of The Rat Pack filled the air.

After doing up the dishes with Frank Sinatra serenading us from the living room, Erika, my sister, and I set off to the local outdoor ice cream shop that offers the most heavenly ice cream I've ever had and a strong sense of nostalgia. We had such a grand time talking and laughing and enjoying our ice cream-

I got Chocomania (a glorious chocolatey wonder as dark as cocoa beans), Mackinac Island Fudge, and Cake Batter (so delicious and sweet and creamy). And Erika got blackberry, Chocomania, and butter pecan.

Later that night we watched Marie Antoinette for the first ever time, and may I just say

it was utterly beautiful♥

The nights were spent up until 1 or 2 in the morning, or even later, enjoying the leisure of Summer and sitting on the breezy screened porch with the warm glow of the night lights and the stars shining beautifully.

Summer truly is wonderful! To Erika and I Summer is about as close as you can get to tasting heaven. The sunshine, the late nights, the days of freedom waiting for you, our grandma's beautiful lake to visit on spur-of-the-moment notions, random middle-of-the-week sleepovers, the ability to be able to enjoy the day outdoors until sundown, which, quite pleasantly isn't until 9:30, and how everything and all the times spent with everyone are somehow so much more happier and carefree♥

And, to quote F. Scott Fitzgerald,

"I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the Summer."

And also, on Wednesday night, to perfectly welcome Summer's arrival we watched Pride&Prejudice. Oh, how perfect this movie is. The sunshine, the shining happiness, the scenery, the beautiful characters (the whole time while we were watching it Erika and I kept commenting on how much we love Keira Knightley in this role...and everyone else, for that matter!), the breathtaking score, and just the general splendor.

Everything about it is perfect.

Cheers to Summer, my darlings! How have your days been? Beautiful, I sincerely hope♥

xoxoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

{written by Rachel}

♥♥♥

29 days. 29 days. 29 days. 29 days.

2011-06-15T12:46:00.001-04:00

29 days. 29 days. 29 days. 29 DAYS! AH! That's not even right! Our excitement is unsurpassable and we get chills just thinking about sitting in that theater at midnight when the WB comes on the screen...and it starts. It is, of course a very sad time too because after this it's all over and we're not even sure what to think about that. But, of course, it never will be over because we will continue to adore this series forever and ever♥

And, although we are very sad to see it end we know the film will be perfect...and riveting...and extremely emotional, and, beyond all else, utterly beautiful. It will be a wonderful ending.

"But, you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times. If one only remembers to turn on the light."

"Well, how was it?"

"Wet. I mean, she was sort of crying."

"That bad at it are you?"

"I'm sure Harry's kissing is more than satisfactory. Cho spends half her time crying these days."

"You'd think a bit of snogging would cheer her up."

"Don't you understand how she must be feeling? Well, obviously she's feeling sad about Cedric, and therefore confused about liking Harry, and guilty about kissing him. Conflicted because Umbridge is threatening to sack her mum from her job at the Ministry, and frightened because about failing her O.W.L.'s because she's so busy worrying about everything else."

"One person couldn't feel all that...they'd explode."

"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon."

"Before my eyes it started to sink, and just before it hit the bottom it turned into a wee fish. It was beautiful magic, wondrous to behold. The flower petal was from a lily. The day Francis disappeared was the day your mother..."

"Ron, out of the kitchen! We're all hungry!"

"Yeah, out of the kitchen, Ron!"

"Fred, George, feet of the table!"

"Feet off the table!"

"This is mental."

"Completely mental."

"The world's mental. Come on, we've got a horcrux to find."

"Merlin's beard, Harry!"

"Oh, sorry, sir, I should've announced myself. Cleared my throat. Coughed. You probably feared I was Professor Sprout!"

"Well, yes. What made you think that?"

"Oh, well, the general behavior, sir. The sneaking around, the jumping when you saw me. Are those tentacular leaves, sir? They're very valuable aren't they?"

"Ten galleons a leaf, to the right buyer! Not that I'm familiar with any such back alley transactions but one does hear rumors. My own interests are purely academic, of course..."

"Personally these plants used to always kind of freak me out....mm."

"Least I warned you about the dragons."

"Hagrid warned me about the dragons."

"No, no, no! Don't you remember I told Hermione that Seamus told him that Dean was told by Parvati that Hagrid was looking for you. But...Seamus never really told me anything so it was really me all along. Thought you'd...be alright...once you figured that out."

"Who could possibly figure that out? It's completely mental."

"Yeah...it is isn't it? I suppose I was a bit distraught."

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. It so happens that the phoenix whose tailfeather resides in your wand another feather...just one other. It is curious that you should be destined for this wand when its brother....gave you that scar."

"What's that he's drinking, do you suppose?"

"I dunno, but I don't think it's Pumpkin Juice."

"And here we all are, four years later!"

"We're all still a bunch of misfits."

"Yeah, I suppose. But least we have each other. And Harry of course. Soon to be the youngest Triwizard Champion that's ever been! Hooray!"

"My wand! Look at my wand!"

"Be thankful it's not your neck."

"This is mad! At this rate we'll be the only ones in our year without dates. Well...us and Neville."

"Yeah, but then again he could take himself."

"I've been thinking about something Dumbledore said to me. That even though we've got a fight ahead of us, we've got something that Voldemort doesn't have. Something worth fighting for."

It all ends in 29 days. Oh.my.lands. It will be incredible.

Harry Potter, and all those wonderful people affiliated with it, never ceases to make us fairly beam and be a topic that never gets old. The quotes never cease to be hilarious and brilliant. It never ceases to give us chills at certain points and make the tears sting our eyes. Never ceases to be fresh and new, when reading or watching them, and completely perfect and what we love best of all♥

There's just something about Harry Potter. Something indescribable that just pulls our heartstrings and makes us all warm and happy at any time. Watching the films or reading the books cheers us up when we are down, makes us feel better when we're ill, or enhances a regular blissful day.

It all ends in 29 DAYS!

Cheers, darlings!

xoxoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

A tiny little peek♥

2011-06-13T11:15:00.000-04:00

Together we had a delightfully magically wonderful few days together filled with painting in the sunshine, walks and swinging outdoors, visiting a nearby shining lake, preparing a delicious meal for the family with help from Martha Stewart's books, and staying up till all hours of the night chatting on the screened porch in the moonlight with Rachel's mum or watching Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley-the most perfect and beautiful film ever.

More to share with you later but for now, here are just a few little pictures for a sneak peek. The rest will be coming later this week!

Happy Monday, loves! Tell us how your weekend was and how Summer has been treating you?
xoxoxoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

Utter bliss♥

2011-06-02T23:52:00.000-04:00

The first of June has come and gone. What a completely magical little thought that June has arrived. June officially, in my eyes, starts Summer.

The landscapes are lush and full of beautiful green, the sunshine drenches warmth, the skies are as blue as a robin's egg, and the wind tousles my windblown hair.
Summer is utter bliss♥

Next Wednesday is Erika's first official day of Summer holiday and mine was last week. It has been simply heavenly. The freedom that Summer brings is perfect.
We are planning a grand two night sleepover from Wednesday to Friday filled with lots of wonderful picture taking, merry picnics in the bright sunshine, perhaps a little watercolouring, evenings on the porches chatting, stargazing late at night, and watching Pride and Prejudice which just happens to be one of our favourite movies-how perfect it is!
And a grand surprise for all of you:

Come July we may be having a grand holiday in

California

San Diego to be precise. We get chills just thinking about it. The thought of landing in L.A., riding with the windows down through the grand boulevards in Hollywood, whole days spent on the magnificent beach, and the tall palm trees everywhere just makes us fairly giddy. But, it might not happen, but one can hope!

The days are long and I enjoy my freedom in blissful joy. In the morning I leisurely water the vegetable garden and flowers my mum so beautifully planted, I watercolour in the bright afternoon sunshine attempting to capture my beautiful surroundings, I take lovely walks in my breathtakingly beautiful woods, I read of Hogwarts, Mitford, Paris, and Martha Stewart and Ina Garten's elegant entertaining until the sun sinks low over the horizon.

My mum has transformed our screened porch into a beautiful haven, as always, tucked between the green yard and lush woods. Last night we talked out there until half past ten in the evening of all things lovely, and it was perfectly wonderful! Summer has definitely arrived and I am ecstatic♥

Memorial Day was divine. We spent it at our Grandma's wonderfully beautiful, bright and airy, cosy and warm lake house with siding the colour of the water on a sunny day and bright white gingerbread trimming the many porches. Sunday night we sat in Grandma's cosy bedroom perusing the pages of a California atlas and reading the Hollywood issue of J. Crew. We later made popcorn and put it in the old bowls we used when we made popcorn even as kids before we watched old Disney movies. With the smell of it in the air, Erika and I watched the Devil Wears Prada in her warm, welcoming, and comfy living room and stayed up talking, like we always do, with the twinkling night lights on until half past two in the morning.

Monday we lingered in our pyjamas and talked of the past and things to come with our Grandma on the gazebo. Late in the afternoon all of the family came and we grilled a delicious feast, swam for the first time this year (which was delightful!) floating along with the rafts, and sat in the grass as our hair dried in the breeze chatting and munching on red, white, and blue Whale crackers.

And, of course, Chicago was absolutely thrilling! I just adore the city. This collage is a tiny little sneak peek but I have more pictures to come and little stories of my time there to share with you. It was lovely to be among the bustle of the city, the tall skyscrapers, the classy people, shopping in fantastic shops, and seeing Monet and Renoir's work in front of your eyes is spine-tingling.

And now, with just 41 days until it all ends, we want to share with you this perfect video that we keep watching over and over again. It is just so lovely and gives us chills♥ We love this cast so very much! They, and the films, and the books, and Jo Rowling, hold such a special place in our hearts.

It feels surreal that the final installment will be coming in just 41 little days...but it will be a wonderful ending and we look forward to enjoying Harry Potter all the more so with its coming and going.

Happy weekend to you, my lovelies! We may be off to the lake at some point which will be lovely. How have you been enjoying your Summer thus far?

xoxoxoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

{written by Rachel}

50 days, it seems like a dream♥

2011-05-25T23:04:00.000-04:00

Just fifty days! July 15th is coming so unbelievably fast. It will be such an incredibly bittersweet moment. I can imagine all the tears and smiles and wonderful chills that shall come along with this brilliant ending of a wonderful series. We talk about these films as old friends, and that's perfectly suiting. For many it's their childhood or, in the least, their children's childhood. That is what it is for us, some of the best days were spent playing with wands, nights warm and cosy in bed reading Harry Potter by candle light, late evenings watching the perfectly magical films, or hot Summer nights waiting in line to see the films at midnight with spine-tingling excitement. Although it won't truly end, because we will forever love and enjoy the story of the boy in the cupboard and we will continue to read the books and watch the films for years to come, holding them in a such a very special place in our hearts.

Have a perfectly wonderful day!

Cheers, darlings,

Rachel&Erika

{written by Erika}

P.S. My Birthday post shall come soon dears.♥ Sorry, for the hold up, but the ending of school is keeping me rather busy.

::Stripes and flowers and dappled sunlight to joyously welcome Summer::

2011-05-18T20:21:00.002-04:00

Summer is near. Blissful, practically-perfect-in-every-way, Summer. May has swiftly come and we are already nearly into June. June! That is the official start to Summer and I can hardly believe it's arrived--Summer is so wonderful it feels almost like a fantasy. I shall start my Summer holiday next week and Erika shall be starting in two weeks. The first day of her Summer holiday she shall come stay at my house and we shall watch blissful Pride and Prejudice, take grand pictures capturing the day, and sip smoothies.

The days have been bliss. My woods has blossomed with leaves, cool shadows, and warm patches of sunlight. I slowly walked through admiring the beauty. I stared up the long, vast trunks and up into the brown branches full of green leaves and the sun shined through in gorgeous splendor.

Some videos that shine with Summer. Keegan Gibbs, The Beach, is very divine. I've always fancied the thought of surfing in California and romping the beach with friends, still wet from the salty sea with your hair blowing dry in the wind. And, of course, my favourite video, Miss Dior Cherie. It completely captures blissful Summer in Paris-I cannot wait to be there someday biking through the streets, visiting Laduree and eating macaroons as I roam the streets and visit the grand Eiffel Tower.

We celebrated Erika's birthday with a grand party and I promise she shall be sharing pictures with you soon. Next week my sister and I are visiting Chicago for four whole wonderful days! It will be practically perfect. I have been dying to visit the city. I can't wait to be there among the tall buildings, the swarms of people forever walking along the sidewalks, and visiting the huge three-story H&M. We also plan to visit the Art Institute and I am so ecstatic! I'm currently working on a research paper on impressionists (but particularly my favourite ever artist, Renoir) and I have absolutely fallen in love with them and am nearly giddy at the prospect of seeing Monet's and Renoir's work in real life. AH!

Monday night my sister and I shared an Italian dinner with a friend and afterwards went shopping at the mall. We, of course, had to visit H&M where I discovered, much to my joy, an adorable striped French sweater (I am currently obsessed with all things French!) with elbow pads for....$15!! Hooray! It will be lovely in Chicago. Ah, Chicago~I am so every excited♥

Warm sunshine, sun-kissed skin, cool shadows, the rythmic waves bouncing your shining sailboat, biking through beautiful boulevards wearing breezy tops, cuffed shorts, and Oxfords, and the breathtaking seaside. What bliss! Summer is utterly blissful and I am fairly giddy that it has nearly arrived.

I am currently adoring blue&white and dreaming of a holiday along the east coast.

~♥~

Also, I'm planning to buy two prints for my bedroom.

Monet's, The Artist's House at Argenteuil

Renoir's, Bridge at Chatou.

Hope your days are beautiful, my darlings! How have you been celebrating Summer being just around the bend?

xoxoxoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

{Written by Rachel}

Just 57 little days until it all ends♥

::Splendid May delights::

2011-05-07T17:24:00.000-04:00

May has arrived and it feels almost like a fantasy. The birds sing blissfully, I sit in the sun and read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, my woods is an enchanting place with pale green foliage and leaves with the sunshine making it shimmer and glimmer, and the grass is a lush haven.

My dreams have been soaring lately and Paris is utterly on my mind. I call Paris "my city" because it is the city that just the thought of it never ceases to make my heart skip a beat. I dream almost daily of bright sunny mornings in Paris walking around street markets buying baguette's and speaking French, enjoying the blissful environment and people.

Erika and I were just discussing the other day, during one of our late night phone conversations, how we think it's almost surreal that Europe even exists because we dream of going there so passionately and idealistically.

Our hearts go all aflutter at just the thought of romping around Europe together someday--watercolouring in the Lake District where Beatrix Potter once sat, riding a gondola along the shores of Venice, and taking late night strolls with the stars shining and the Eiffel Tower gloriously shining right above us, just like in Ratatouille, where perhaps we would casually stop at a sidewalk cafe for a macaron.

Summer is wonderfully on my mind. I dream of warm evenings spent on the screen porch within the warm glow of lamplight, picnics in the bright afternoon sunshine reading and painting, and glorious weekends at mine and Erika's grandma's lake house with the sparkling water and after-dinner swims.

:: Merci beaucoup ::

I enjoy these days of blissful splendour as the leaves burst forth in glorious beauty and the forest floor becomes sprinkled, almost like fairy dust, with pale green foliage and flowers. I sit barefoot on the grass and read Sorcerer's Stone in the bright afternoon sunshine feeling perfectly content. It is bliss. I am ecstatic that as each week rolls by wonderful Summer is nearing.

Erika's seventeenth birthday is a week from today and we're going to spend her whole birthday weekend together. We're hosting a splendid picnic on Sunday, the 15th with friends. It will be outdoors with decorations of flowers and penants to hang from the trees, scrumptious food of cheese and baguettes, leisurely games of croquet, and Half-Blood Prince projected outside once nighttime falls.

How have you lovelies been? I hope the weather has been treating you well wherever you reside! Seize the day and enjoy the revealing of lady Spring♥

Currently feeling:

Homesick for Hogwarts. I am, however, perfectly happy to say that I have been there. Right there. At the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. And it was heaven.

It is 68 days until it all ends and the excitement and bittersweet feeling is mounting for Erika and I. On Wednesday, April 27th a trailer for Deathly Hallows part 2 was released and oh my lands, it blew our minds. You can watch it right

here

When we first watched it we got major chills, tears stung eyes, and hearts raced. It is incredible. Harry Potter is incredible. ♥

All my love to you, darlings! I hope your weekend is magical. Do tell me what you've been up to!

xoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

{written by Rachel}

♥The Royal Wedding♥

2011-05-03T17:38:00.001-04:00

As This Is Glamorous said, I am "still a little caught up in the romance of it all, the stolen glances and secret smiles, the horse-drawn carriages and chantilly lace, the balcony kisses and moments so breathtakingly lovely you can barely stand it." It was surely something I'll always remember from my teen years-seeing all the photos and videos from the perfect wedding day and pre-wedding, and the many covers of magazine with Kate and Will's faces on it.

It was perfectly elegant and ever so extravagant-but, rightly so! For what better way to make a princess feel like a princess? The beautiful draping wedding gown, and sparkling tiara beneath the dainty layers of chenille from her veil just took my breath away. The extravagance of the ceremony in Westminster Abbey was incredible. I adored the hats that all the women wore to the wedding, adding a very nice British touch.

And may I just say, I would have loved to have been in England on that day.

And on the subject of weddings, I thought I would share with you some of my dream wedding ideas-I have so many! My mum and I discuss weddings and my dream plans often which is such fun and I am always staying tuned to the most beautiful wedding blog Once Wed.

Being fifteen the subject is very exciting to me! My colours would be: peach, champagne, cream, rose, pale grapefruit, and a soft celery green for accents (like the foliage pictured at right). I love a very elegant wedding with lush flowers, draping tulle, twinkling lights, candles, and lovely wine glasses on the tables to sparkle. But nothing too fussy! My wedding has to be on a Friday evening with the ceremony outside at perhaps about five in the evening, in September ideally, and the reception being outside at my very own home with hundreds of lights strung and round tables beautifully decourated with chiavari chairs.

I dream of having a dessert reception. The food consisting of bread pudding, cheesecake, fruit tarts, a chocolate fountain to daintily dip strawberries and apples, fruit kabobs, lemon bars, delicious chocolate cookies, with beautiful loaves of baguette sitting out, a fine selection of cheeses and water crackers.

And of course there's the cake. I've told my mum that it's always a letdown to go to a wedding and have the cake be dry with frosting purely made out of. Personally I think your wedding cake should be one of the best cakes you've ever tasted. I adore this wedding cake on the right, with a beautifully coloured creamy frosting making swirls and the gorgeous peonies.

I dream of each layer being different. One layer being a raspberry cake with a jam filling, another perhaps being a heavenly chocolate and vanilla swirl, and another even being mocha. And all of this covered with a delicious almost mousse-like buttercream frosting.

I completely adore how unique weddings are now and how each one shines with the couple's own personal style. The prospect has always seemed exciting of planning the wedding and I've sort of vowed to myself not to get stressed over it when it might come around someday. I think that time of planning should be really fun for the bride and groom and also that time of being engaged and getting to know one another even better and creating that perfect day.

I am utterly swooning over this wedding gown-the sweeping layers of silk and gorgeous details is completely elegant and feminine. As I've mentioned before one of my dream gowns is BHLDN's Cascading Goddess gown and this dress pictured above very much reminds me of it. I am currently loving very feminine and elegant wedding gowns with beautiful layers and sleeves with nothing too overdone. I also adore this very simple wedding band-it's just perfect!

Dancing is an absolute must at my wedding. My guests must stay and party until one in the morning, in the least! I've told myself that I'm pretty sure the thing I'll be the most keen on finding is a perfect photographer. I suppose that's because I myself am an artist and photographer and will want the pictures to be just right capturing the joy and classiness of the day.

Before I close this little post, I will mention that both Erika and I think it would be incredibly brilliant to learn a swing dance for the bride and groom's first dance. It would be so fantastic at the reception and also quite delightful to learn beforehand. A song choice that would be perfect is Love by Nat King Cole like from The Parent Trap.

This photo utterly sums up what I dream of having my reception look like. Twinkling and warm glowing lights, elegant wine glasses and beautiful flowers on the tables, and all of it outside at dusk~so perfect~with Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, and Glenn Miller playing in the background, the sound of good conversation and laughter from the adults while looking so sophisticated sipping wine and champagne, and the kids running around blowing bubbles.

♥

So, lovelies, did any of you watch the Royal Wedding? What were your favourite parts and scrumptious details you liked most about it? Erika stayed home a few hours from school just to watch it! We are such kids of the 2000's, right?!

And please do share what your dream wedding ideas are!

♥

Another delightful Spring post come this week!

xoxoxoxoxo,

-Rachel

Birthday balloons, striped vintage umbrellas, and lovely surprises♥

2011-04-29T11:58:00.001-04:00

~My birthday was officially on Monday the 18th of April. The celebrations started on Friday the 15th and continued the whole weekend long. It was so delightful! On Friday, I made a delicious strawberry meringue topped with fluffy whipped cream and garnished with strawberries. We played hilarious rounds of Taboo, I opened gifts and received absolutely brilliant Spectrespcs from my sister and an adorable H&M gift card. And from Erika, much to my surprise when I opened the huge package, a window box filled with bulbs of tulips, daffodils, and petunias! The main event of the evening was watching Deathly Hallows: part 1, which came out that day, munching on popcorn, Erika and I talking throughout of our favourite scenes, how amazing it was the first time at midnight, our excitement for part 2, and love for Harry Potter.

~Sunday was quite delightful. The sun finally decided to peek out and family came over, including Erika's family of course because we're cousins! We munched on Chex Mix, talked and laughed of superfluous things, I received a a gorgeous boldly striped umbrella from my mum that fits two beneath it that I'd had my eye on at the local antique mall for nearly two months, and a special blue bow tie from Erika, just like Daniel Radcliffe wears in the broadway musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Later that night when all the guests had left my mum and I watched the British Jeeves and Wooster with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry as I painted and journaled. It was lovely having the prospect of the next day being your birthday and the plans we had!

Monday, the 18th. My birthday! I woke up in bed with my breezy white duvet enveloping me in cosiness, not quite feeling 15 years old. My mum and I got all ready and drove off to the local big city for a lunch of sushi in a classy restaurant, sipping ice lemon water, enjoying Clear Soup, and heavenly Maki rolls.

The whole day was simply divine and one of the best birthday's I've ever celebrated. My mum and I stopped in Target and admired the lovely embellished dresses, then popped in Barnes and Noble on our way to the mall admiring the adorable new Beatrix Potter collection, and then we were off to H&M. But on the way we were distracted by Banana Republic--how classy and sophisticated it looked! We had to stop in. I was admiring the beautiful clothing and the beautiful aesthetically pleasing way they set up the store, when my mum and I came across the sale corner. I was looking through, not really expecting to find anything, when I came across something rose-coloured and silk. I pulled it off of the rack and discovered a beautiful dress with fluttering sleeves and beautiful details. I looked at the price tag and found that it was: $30. Yes, $30! I couldn't believe it. I was so excited. We went straight to the dressing rooms and I tried it on, and as I pulled it over my head I knew it was perfect. The way it fluttered around when I twirled made me so happy. I went out and looked in the huge mirrors and knew that I had to get it.

I spent at least an hour and a half in H&M. It was ever so exciting grabbing anything that caught my eye and then trying it all on. H&M is such a brilliant store. Then we were off to Forever 21 which was bursting with Spring colours and prints.
At the end of the lovely shopping day I got two tops+one skirt, a pair of canvas Oxfords, a beautiful pink sparkly embellished headband to go with my dress, and a very classy pair of brown mottled round sunglasses (think Edith Head) all from H&M, plus two tops+one skirt from Forever 21.

When we arrived home I was ever so slightly giddy with general birthday excitement. I tried on my new clothes to see what all I could pair it with and showed it to my mum. I also tried on my perfect pink dress from Banana Republic, which I'm not going to fully reveal to you lovelies yet because in the next post with photos from Easter Erika and I shall share what our new dresses look like (she got one from H&M).

My mum and I shared a very sophisticated supper enjoying delicious leftovers from the restaurant Erika, mum and I went to on Saturday. We ate on the still decourated table with candles lit, mum sipping wine, and I sipping water from an elegant wine glass.

Later on into the night I watched Ratatouille with my mum and sister, which is such a beautiful film! I adore the animation and how it captures Paris in such a breathtaking way and the soundtrack is exceptionally lovely. My sister had picked up some "Eiffel Tower" brand brie for me and I topped it with leftover strawberry sauce from Friday night and freshly sliced apples-all sitting atop my great grandma's old blue transferware.

It had been a simply delightful birthday and everything I'd hoped it to be.
I am very excited for Erika's 17th birthday to come round on May 14th. Her and I are planning a wonderful outdoor picnic consisting of delicious food and a screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince projected outside with us all snuggled in blankets on the grass and the stars shining above us.

Easter post to come next week, my darlings! How has your Spring been?

xoxoxo,
-Rachel-

When I hear that wind and I think of spring...

2011-04-22T00:22:00.001-04:00

Hello darlings, I hope you have all been having wonderful weeks of spring flowers and beautiful sunshine! The weather has been so inspirational, even though it has been rainy, and I have been doing some spring cleaning and decorating. What have you lovelies done lately in honour of spring? I have been loving the breezy feel of rooms full with flowers and sheer curtains. Soon I am going to be painting my room a beautiful light yellow colour and I am so excited because I have been awaiting this day for ages.

Aren't those cats simply precious? I should be getting a cat for outdoors soon and it makes me so happy. I have never been a huge cat lover, but after seeing beautiful pictures of them, such as the one above, I have been aching to have one. Oh, and look at that precious house! Imagine living in a cute cottage like that, and having a wonderful secret garden in the back with daffodils and june lilies encompassing it! Ah, I simply adore flowers and I cannot not wait until my daffodils begin popping up!

Spring has also gotten me into the baking mood. I want to have a huge lovely picnic for my birthday, in May, and bake all sorts of goodies and make lemonade. Brie with pear preserves on fresh baked bread, chocolate cake topped with raspberry whipped cream, and a wonderful fruit salad. Have any of you baked something lovely lately? Easter is coming very soon and I hope to dye some eggs like this featured in the April issue of country living. Aren't they darling?

Speaking of Easter, I have purchased a beautiful twenty dollar dress from H&M and Rachel has purchased a gorgeous thirty dollar dress from Banana Republic. We are both very excited to wear them to church as well as our grandma's house afterwards. The fashion styles this spring have been breathtaking and I have been loving every minute of them! The light pinks and creams, the silk and sheer, they are all so lovely! Are any of you doing something special for the wonderful easter holiday?

If I was a boy at sea I would be swinging from a broken tree...

Here are a couple of pictures from a trip to lake Michigan a couple of weeks ago that I thought I would share with you. It was terribly windy that day and a bit cold by the lake, but it was still lovely to go to the seaside.

♥♥♥

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend celebrating our wonderful Saviour who died for our sins and then was raised from the dead!

Cheers,

XOXO

Erika&Rachel

(written by Erika)

p.s. here is the song that inspired this post, enjoy!

Right now...

2011-04-17T15:52:00.000-04:00

Currently enjoying my birthday weekend celebrating with family and friends, ate a delicious strawberry meringue, watched Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and visited a lovely restaurant along a lake with Erika and my mum.

♥

Birthday tomorrow, shopping and sushi with my mum, and in the evening I plan to eat brie with strawberries, chocolate mousse, and watch Ratatouille or Pride&Prejudice.

Hope your weekend is as divine as mine has been! More pictures soon my lovelies♥

xoxoxo,

~Rachel~

Full of splendor, birdsong, and beautiful sunshine!

2011-04-12T14:21:00.002-04:00

Hello my darlings! I do hope you've been enjoying this blissful Spring weather. This past Sunday we were very spoiled with wonderful 80 degree weather and lovely warm winds. Here! In the midwest! In April! It was completely divine. I wore my new thrifted floral shorts and blue and green shoes I'd worn all the time last Summer. Erika and her brother came over in the early evening and we had an absolutely completely splendid time!

We all sat out on my family's screened porch and sipped ice cold lemonade and enjoyed lovely conversation. It felt so much like Summer it was surreal! Erika and I of course took some photos to capture the glorious day. We sat out on my blanket beneath the vast ceiling of branches of the pine trees and talked for about an hour of all things nice while looking at my beautiful British decourating book that I adore called Comfortable Country.

The day was complete bliss. And when we came in the house as the sun was setting we ate a casual supper and listened to some fantastic big band music. Oh how I adore Spring! Just overnight our daffodils burst forth in glorious splendour and the floor of my forest is sprinkled with foliage of green and buds of flowers.

Next Monday, the 18th, is my 15th birthday and I am so very excited! I think birthdays are simply divine. This Friday I'm planning to have Erika, her brother, and a couple other friends over. We shall eat a scrumptious berry meringue gateau (which I'm planning to make), open gifts, perhaps dance to some groovy music, eat a delightful supper, and watch Deathly Hallows part 1 which is coming out on DVD that day! It will be so much fun and Erika and I are quite excited for the little celebration.

And, as everyone will stay the night, the next day, Saturday, my mum will take us girls to a local town right along the lake with a delightful park and a restaurant called the Boathouse that's directly next to the lake. We're also planning to stop by any quaint shop that catches our eye. This past Saturday night it was just my mum and I up late at night cosily watching The Young Victoria in my lovely living room. I sketched out a little still life of how I want the table to look Friday night with white pendants hanging, a Spring tablecloth, my cake, and lit candles all set up on a table out on the front porch.

On Monday, the day of my birthday it shall be mine and my mum's annual day out. We plan to go shopping, eat sushi for lunch, pop in at a Pampered Chef party at a friends house in the early evening, then come home, eat brie with fruit and some delicious chicken of sorts for supper, and that night watch Ratatouille and eat scrumptious chocolate mousse. I am so excited for the happy prospect of my birthday weekend!

~♥~

Today is absolutely glorious and I am off to go take a walk in my woods, paint, read, and enjoy the beautiful day. The birds are singing so beautifully it is complete bliss. The trees are budding and I cannot wait for the leaves to burst forth!

Happy Tuesday to you all, my darlings♥ How was your weekend?

xoxoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

{written by Rachel}

P.S.-Currently in love with Ruche's Spring lookbook that completely captures the beauty of Spring!

-It all ends in just 99 days-

2011-04-06T22:58:00.000-04:00

Well, I can honestly say I didn't think this moment would come this soon...and I kind of hate it. Wow. It is just 99 tiny little days until the end. Until the Final Battle. In 99 days we will be viewing the final installment to the most amazing and wonderful film and book franchise...ever. Feeling very bittersweet about it all. Definitely bittersweet. We completely know the movie will be perfect. Writing this I feel sad and am getting some chills and goosebumps thinking about that moment in the theatre when they show the "Nineteen Years Later" scene and then the screen will go black, we will yell our applause, and then it will be over. The wonderful films will be at an end, but we know in our hearts that we shall enjoy them forever and a day. The films and their perfect emotions, intensity, humor, beauty, always gorgeous and favourite ever soundtracks, and our adoration for those characters and the way the actors play them.

Harry Potter. Oh, Harry Potter....it is purely wonderful, our favourite thing ever, and will cheer us up any day of the year. I was listening to some songs from the soundtracks and felt lovely thinking about the movies and plus the fact that one song in particular (the beautiful first 25 seconds of this song) and had blissful memories from visiting the theme park in October (which, I promise you, I will post about soon...I've just wanted to have the right words to describe its heavenliness).

Our excitement is mounting, the film will come over sweet Summer and it will be perfect, we will adore it, tears will be shed throughout the incredible film, and then it will all end.

And now, in the words of the newest amazing poster, IT ALL ENDS 7.15.

Yes. It will be incredibly mind blowing. Harry Potter forever and ever and a day...wonderful♥

xoxoxoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

Spring Inspiration

2011-04-01T20:13:00.001-04:00

Hello there, my lovelies! Well here I am with another post which I promised would come seasonally when we did our first Winter Inspiration post.

It is the first of April, which not only means Happy April Fool's, more importantly Fred and George Weasley's birthday, but the first day of a blissful month that I always look forward to each year.

Not only is April my birthday month but it is a month of beautiful Spring sunshine, the blossoming of flowers, the first peek at lush green grass and times to frolic about and enjoy the day. Words almost cannot describe that joy that Spring brings, but the photo above and to the right really captures a Spring lighting and feel to me. I am adoring the bright afternoon shadows the appear in my beautiful living room, the sunsets I can enjoy, and the grass I can perch on as I read.

I mentioned in the last post how I wanted to make some changes to my bedroom. Well, the other day my dear mummy and I went to a lovely consignment/coffee shop (where I may be able to get a job this Summer!) and found a beautiful and elegant duvet cover that's white with lovely embellishments of lace. It looks so pretty and breezy! I can't wait to get pretty pale toile pillows to go with it and a luxurious white canopy which I shall buy with birthday money.

I received my brand new hot-off-the-press J. Crew catalogue the other day and was, as always, in love with everything inside.

My two current things on my wish list from J. Crew is the Gingham Sonoma Short, seen at right, along with the Cutler and Gross sunglasses. Pretty much, the glasses have the exact design that I love-the cute pointed edges-and if I was to buy glasses I would need them to also have the marble look.

I adore the breezy elegance that Spring brings-trees looking almost sprinkled with tiny green leaves and buds, opening your windows to let the birdsong breeze through, and embracing the pink, flowers, and breezy silk.

Once my mum takes me Spring clothes shopping I hope to have my wardrobe full of shirts like those pictured at left.

The other day I was looking at photos from weddings and decided to take my almost weekly visit to the newly launched line of all things unique and beautiful for your wedding, BHLDN. I was looking at the breathtaking wedding gowns and discovered my dream dress: the Cascading Goddess gown, pictured above. It is breathtaking-the sumptuous silk, flowing layers, and dainty, feminine and elegant cut.

~What I wore: Sunday Best~

Sunday was a completely and utterly a perfect day. I woke up to sunshine shining through my window and new that I had to pick a lovely Spring outfit for church to welcome the beauty of a Spring day. The morning light was perfect and I took several photos outside just before my family left for church capturing the beautiful morning sunshine. The birds were singing beautifully and it was so ideal!

♥

When we got home my mum had some delicious creamy chicken in the crock-pot and the house smelled scrumptious. I turned on some Glenn Miller, my mum steamed asparagus, and we sat around the table and enjoyed a classic "Sunday dinner." It was so lovely! And the day was absolutely glorious outside.

A couple of things on my wish list are:

Beast's Feast Tureen from Anthropologie. Tureen's are always my favourite! My mum has some old beautiful blue and white dishes that belonged to my great grandmother and my favourite piece of the set is the tureen.

Lately I've been thinking about beautiful Summer weekend trips, and I always see beautiful bags online and such. Right now my favourite one is the Summer Blossom Overnight bag from Cath Kidston. Her designs are so beautiful and Summery! Someday I'm just going to pluck up the courage and buy an epic bag.

~♥~

Erika is at my house now and we're planning to watercolour, make smoothies and popcorn and watch the new Ramona and Beezus.

Hope your weekend is magical! Happy Spring, darlings! And more importantly, happy first of April! April is purely wonderful. ♥

How are you celebrating Spring, darlings?

xoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

{written by Rachel}

Welcome, dear scrumptious Spring! ♥

2011-03-25T15:23:00.003-04:00

♥

Spring has officially arrived and brought with it sunny skies, marshmallow clouds, and beautiful breezes. The days have been spent taking leisurely walks outside, watercolour painting, and for me (Rachel) on the warmest days reading my new and beautiful Beatrix Potter's Art book outside beneath the trees. The air and the way the sun sits is completely and utterly like Spring--I simply adore it! I love Spring and the freshness it brings, a time to make clean starts.

As for me, I have lots of plans for my bedroom to freshen it up and make it more airy to welcome Spring and Summer. I plan to hang breezy silk white curtain panels on my window, buy some panes to give my windows a French look, get new white sheets and pretty pale flowered pillowcases and pillows for my bed, and buy a luxurious white canopy net for my bed which I've dreamt of doing since I was young.

We've spent our weekends together swinging on Erika's beautiful swing hanging from an old maple tree, sipping smoothies and eating salads while laying on a blanket on the soft grass, and reading lovely books. I've been so passionate about embracing Spring and everything that's celebrated about it! Especially embracing the pink, which is currently my favourite colour.

I plan to fetch some whipping cream, beat it until it forms soft peaks, and plop a few fresh strawberries in it for an afternoon treat. Erika and I plan to have a picnic outside soon (and hope to have them all throughout Spring and Summer) and I am planning to set up a whole huge beautiful table with tablecloths and fresh flowers and china. We are planning to make a beautiful cake and dainty snacks! Reading my mum's beautiful new Victoria magazine filled to the brim with Spring inspirations has very much ignited all of these ideas in me!

And also with Spring's arrival comes the need to update your wardrobe. Erika and I have yet to take immediate action but come April we will have to. Because you see we both literally have nothing in our Spring and Summer wardrobe because we've grown out of things both fit and style-wise. We first plan to go to Salvation Army to score some finds such as shorts, breezy button downs and belts and then we plan to head off to H&M and Forever 21 to get some more unique and must-have pieces. I did score a great piece at a consignment shop though. My mum and I went out after I'd been swooning over J.Crew's new Spring catalogue and what do I find for $7?!? Chino shorts from Gap just like J.Crew's! I'm so excited to wear them this Summer.

April 1st is just around the corner and we're so excited! Spring has come so swiftly and it's just simply wonderful, and with Spring's coming our excitement for Summer has arrived because it also is just around the corner. We cannot even express our love for Summer--it is pure bliss!

♥

Well, I'm off! I hope your days have been as magical as mine and Erika's. Erika, my sister, and I are all having a sleepover tonight and are going to see the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid tomorrow! What have you been doing to celebrate and welcome Spring's beautiful arrival?

~~♥~~

Before I leave, I must mention the arrival of the newest Deathly Hallows: Part 2 clip! It came on Thursday night airing on ABC Family and after watching it, getting major chills, and speed demon heart rates, I called Erika and we expressed our excitement to each other! We simply adore Harry Potter. Part 1 comes out on DVD April 15th and we plan to watch it together! ♥

You can watch the clip: here. AH! It's amazing♥ 112 DAYS! We can't believe it's coming so quickly!

Happy Spring, my lovelies! Hope your weekend is magical and filled with special memories!

Cheers!

xxx -Erika&Rachel xxx

{written by Rachel}

Cosy corners and sweet sundaes♥

2011-03-19T00:02:00.001-04:00

Late March has arrived and spring has come with it. I have been driving with windows down, listening to Discovery and Vampire Weekend.♥♥ Ah, this wonderful weather has made me ten times happier than usual and it has just been absolutely wonderful! I have been quite busy this past week, hence the lack of a post, but it had been a fun busy full of cherished memories! I am on Spring Break now and I can see that it is going to be grand and it will be a good week to enjoy the beautiful weather! (Rachel has some posts with lovely Spring photos to come this week.)

Several weekends ago Rachel and I got together at my house on a gloomy, rainy saturday and spent a lovely calm day together. It was raining, but that made it so much better because we were all cosy inside. We watercoloured nearly all day and talked of art, fashion, and travel. How perfectly magical would it be to travel to Egypt and ride camels through the curious desert, or take a gondola ride through a river in Venice?

We had a small lunch of tasty smoothies and delicious salads. Not to boast or anything, but Rachel and I have quite the knack for smoothies! Our salads were prepared in bright coloured yellow and turquoise bowls and garnished with raspberry vinigrette, walnuts, cranberries, and sprinkled with cheese.

Our creativity and inspiration came in a steady flow, as our paintbrushes swept across the page and filled it with colour. As we listened to the beautiful Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens we were inspired by the orchestra and sound of his calming voice.
The evening came to an end, but not before a trip to our dear Grandma's cosy cottage.

We made spring cards around our Grandma's classic oak table and planned a grand sleepover to be held over Spring Break. We sat on Grandma's comfy blue couch and watched old 70's Nancy Drew episodes just like old times. As it snowed outside we were snug in her warm, glowing house eating delicious sundaes. We admired the splendor of her cosy house and thought of how wonderful her lake cottage would be come summer.

~ ~ ♥ ~ ~

Hope your weekend is beautiful and you enjoy the wonderful weather to its fullest (Rachel and I are planning to have a photo shoot). Perhaps have a picnic outside or take a walk through the park. I will be enjoying my Spring Break to its fullest and hope to have lovely times that will be cherished.

Cheers!

Erika and Rachel Xx

(written by Erika)

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards

2011-03-06T17:31:00.003-05:00

A week ago were the 83rd Annual Academy Awards...also known as: the Oscars! We watched them sitting all cosy in Erika's living room and admiring the glamour of the evening in Los Angeles and commenting on beautiful dresses the actress's wore, good movies (some that we still want to see!), and fantastic actors and actresses of the year.

Favourite dress of the evening: the adorable Hailee Steinfeld. Both of us are currently in love with the style of dress with the tank top sleeves made of sheer silk, and the fabric coming up to the bust, making a very feminine fifties looking dress--preferrably in pink!

Loved how the amazing Christian Bale, with his brilliant talking voice and acting skills, won for best supporting actor and gave the most adorable speech, getting a bit teary-eyed towards the end.

Thought the theatre that held the Oscars was completely gorgeous. We love the glamour and classiness of Oscars night! We both would love to get into acting and have always fancied the thought of red carpets, dressed in glamorous designer dresses you've taken months to choose, and awards shows...but especially the Oscars!

And we certainly agreed that James Franco and Anne Hathaway did an adorable job hosting the show! Anne was so cute and excited, it made us laugh.

Loved looking at old photos from the 1954 Oscars when Audrey Hepburn won best actress! She was just way too adorable and sweet. Both of us talked about how we love how classy the Oscars have stayed and for how long they've been happening! It's just so brilliant.

We quite enjoyed viewing the glamorous evening, eating popcorn, making delicious smoothies (we both can make a pretty grand one!), munching on M&M's, and wishing Deathly Hallows had been nominated for more awards-hopefully more for part 2!

And lastly, if any of you were lucky enough to view this hilarious video that played at Oscars of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Toy Story 3, Social Network, and Twilight auto-tuned. So brilliant! The Harry Potter one is the best...because it was so shocking and so awesome that they did it to Harry Potter and the Twilight one is so funny!

Ah, Deathly Hallows♥ How brilliant and amazing you are! We can't wait to watch it once it comes out on DVD April 15th. We're planning to have a sleepover and watch it and perhaps a couple other Potter films. Ah! We can't handle how much we love Harry Potter, they're so brilliant. 131 days until part 2! We know it will blow our minds just like part 1. We are hoping and wishing that we'll be able to go to the premiere in New York City for part 2.

Hope you enjoyed the Oscars as much as us and had a generally lovely night. What award were you most excited about? Which actress did you think looked loveliest?

Another post to come this week, dears!

xoxoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

and what a night it was♥

2011-02-27T20:02:00.000-05:00

So here we are, as promised, sharing with you the photos and memories from Rachel's sister Hannah's 18th birthday party which happened last Friday! It was such a brilliant evening. A friend made the heavenly cake with a mousse-like frosting and chocolate curls, and the lovely decourating of the house was done by Rachel and her mum.

So many kids came, about 40 or so in all, and it was so tight in the house and so loud with talking and laughter! After playing a wild group game called Midnight Madness we cut the cake.

It was so tight in the kitchen and dining room you could hardly move! It was so much fun. We had delicious snacks and the fantastic homemade Chex Mix that's so delicious! Some of these pictures may make you reminisce of our New Year's Eve party post, which was an absolutely amazing party and basically the same people came to that as well.

The cake was distributed among the guests along with some delicious ice cream and goodness was it heavenly! The cake was so moist and perfectly chocolate, the icing like a heavenly mousse, and the chocolate curls just literally melting in your mouth!

We could not resist taking a picture of all the shoes! They were in such a jambled pile and there was so many of them! Parties at Rachel's house are just the best, we always have the best time with all the kids that come.

We had to get everyone to rally round for a group picture, which was quite a loud and hilarious event, it was hard to get everyone looking good but in the end a couple good ones came out!

You can spot Rachel in the bottom left hand corner with the pink top and blonde hair and as for Erika she is up one and over one to the right with the dark hair and bangs.

And then came the dancing! And golly what a grand time it was. All of our close friends are so much fun and we all know how to have a brilliant time.

[Note us right in the top right hand corner]

And I will admit we're pretty hilarious and cool dancers too!

It was so much fun! We listened to some Passion Pit and just generally groovy stuff! Aaron, Rachel's brother, made a great playlist for his iTouch.

[Again, note us in the top right hand corner {Erika, dark hair and bangs, and Rachel long blonde hair} both laughing at Rachel's quite humorous brother and friend!]

Rachel's mum was kind enough to take some photos-which is greatly appreciated! Because without them, we wouldn't have such lovely mementos from the grand and fun party.

The night was just generally brilliant and we love to see how wonderful of friends we've got.

The whole night through we hung out with each other and had such a grand time talking with each other brilliant friends, laughing, and dancing!

We can't wait to host another party! Hopefully we can do one soon. We plan to do a few with this great bunch of our friends come this Spring and Summer.

We're off to watch the sophisticated and glamorous Oscars at Erika's house! So excited. The Oscars are such fun. We would love to become an actor and work so hard in a film and be able to attend the lovely and fantastic Oscars, taking so much time to pick our glamorous dresses to wear.

The Red Carpet's airing right now! Everyone looks gorgeous. We're going to make smoothies and popcorn and sit back and enjoy the evening.

Happy Sunday, dearest loves!

xoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

love, love, love

2011-02-18T12:28:00.000-05:00

Hello, sweet darlings. Thought we should do a quick post for you to enjoy this weekend. Tonight is my (Rachel) sister's big 18th birthday party and Erika and I are so excited! It'll be so much fun and so many people are coming. We can't wait to party down and dance to Vampire Weekend and Passion Pit♥

I am currently loving this hair tutorial that the lovely Joanna posted from A CUP OF JO. I was so happy to find it because, like everyone else, I was swooning over J.Crew's gorgeous Spring lookbook and loved the girls hair in the photos. I actually wore my hair like this (using the tutorial) yesterday and today! :)

The lovely Carrie from Wish Wish Wish was lucky and blessed enough to be able to visit Italy last weekend. I completely fell in love with the photos she posted. It makes my heart swell and want to visit Italy, walk the beautiful old streets, feed the birds, and eat gelato wearing breezy tops and pink vintage shorts.

Also, Carrie's boyfriend posted this gorgeous video of their trip to Milan and I am in love with it! The song choice is perfect. Erika and I cannot wait to travel beautiful and wonderful Europe (just the name makes my heart swell!) together♥

The weather today is beautiful here in the midwest. The sky is as blue as a robin's egg, the sun is shining brilliantly, the wind is blowing, and I can actually see some grass and fields now that most of the snow has melted. It is beautiful...however, it is supposed to get cold again next week but I can enjoy the birdsong and look forward to Spring's coming next month, right? Right. :)

Also, I must share with you my happiest discovery. I'd seen the photo on the top right of this collage before on WeHeartIt and thought it was precious and saved it.

Well then last night I found more pictures from this on Tumblr blogs and I knew it had to be a commercial because people were saying things like, "She looks gorgeous in this commercial" so by then I was desperate to find this commercial because I loved the photos so much.

And then today was the day: I got on my Tumblr blog and found that someone else had reblogged this photo and said "Miss Dior Cherie!" and I knew, that HAD to be the commercial it was for. So, I looked it up on YouTube and found it.

And goodness, was I ever happy! I am completely in love with the video. The girl is absolutely adorable, the sunniness and cheeriness of the video shines, and it's in Paris♥ I am in love! I hope you enjoy this beautiful video as much as I do. :)

And now, I must share with you my current model love, and the one so many people are talking about, the gorgeous Sasha Pivovarova (even her name is beautiful!). I love her heart shaped face, adorable smile, and big blue eyes. I was so happy to have discovered her last month. She is definitely, by far, my current favourite model♥

I leave you with sweet thoughts of a bright and sunny house in Cornwall, walking through breathtaking and wonderful Central Park in the Summer, and roaming the streets of Italy♥

Can't wait to share the photos we take tonight with you all! Happy weekend wishes to you, sweets♥

xoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

"In December, drinking horchata."

2011-02-15T15:59:00.000-05:00

Hello, my lovelies. I hope your weekend was wonderful! Erika and I had a lovely one. On Saturday I (Rachel) spent the night at Erika's house and we ate fruit roll-ups, salads, and talked until two in the morning about all things brilliant! It was such fun. We love being cousins!

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and it was quite lovely.

I know Erika was passing out Valentine's at her school to some people in her class and as for me, when my sister got home from work at Starbucks she brought back some beautiful flowers for our mum and a wonderful bag of Dove dark chocolate squares for me--heavenly! So that was sweet♥

And the evening was spent hanging out with my family and my brother's girlfriend, sharing my chocolates, and watching Lost (we are currently watching it for the first time. Oh my lands, it is fantastic!).

I've lately found so many beautiful and inspirational photos and places online. I think it's because late at night, especially weekends, you're online, looking at your favourite blogs, and then poof! You've found a lovely website or photo. I find most pictures from We Heart It (Erika and I could be on there for hours...and somehow though we start out looking up something like 'pastry' we end up looking at 'harry potter'...♥), and also lately I have been finding them on Tumblr blogs that I follow.

Speaking of Tumblr, Erika and I have been wanting to officially share with you our own personal Tumblr's. Though they have been on here for a while (see sidebar) we wanted to officially announce it. We use them to post lovely photos we find (which happens ALL the time) instead of spamming up this more dainty, if you will, blog with four posts a day posting a picture.

So, here they are:

Erika's personal Tumblr-

A Ship Named Perciva l

And my (Rachel) personal Tumblr-

Tottenham Court Road

We do hope you enjoy! They are such fun to have. :)

And also, I've found a few lovely little links that I would love to share with you all. I got my first J. Crew catalogue in the mail at the beginning of the month (can't wait to get more!) and just got another one, The Hollywood Issue (which is amazing!) and discovered this beautiful gown. I would absolutely use it as my wedding dress! I love the taffeta and the gorgeous and unique ruffles at the bodice. Someday I'll have to plan my own wedding I hope and I can't wait. I just love looking at wedding gowns and especially wedding blogs!

Currently I am absolutely loving the Etsy shop, Clever Nettle. I just love some of the stuff she has there! Especially this Autumn skirt, this Weasley-ish sweater, and this adorable skirt perfect for Spring or Summer!

Erika and I are loving this Butterfly globe (we love globes and telescopes and maps!), I am loving this seventeen-year-old amazing photographer Mike Bailey Gates, this brilliant photostream on Flickr, and, of course, like everyone else, the Mulberry Alexa. Also, Mulberry's Spring/Summer campaign is gorgeous! Be sure to watch the show videos and the party video.

This Friday is my sister's 18th birthday and we're hosting a big party. About twenty to thirty kids are coming and it's going to be super fun. Erika and I are really excited and can't wait to take pictures throughout the night, and if they're any good we'll share them with you all! We are sure that we'll be dancing the night away. :)

This little collage is to share with you a few photos I took yesterday. Aren't the flowers just lovely? Oh and the chocolate was so yummy! And the day was beautiful! It was just a generally lovely Valentine's Day♥ What did you all do for this sweet holiday?

And now, before I close I must say something very, very exciting to Erika and I which is that, as of today, it is 150 days until Deathly Hallows part 2 is released!! AH!

We are oh so excited and can't believe it's coming so fast. Harry Potter is the best♥ We've both talked, several times, about how sad it's going to be when that movie ends--because then it's all over! But we know and trust the amazing filmmakers that it is going to be an incredibly amazing and wonderful end to this amazing, and best ever, film series! We were so excited that Harry Potter won the BAFTA of Outstanding Contribution to Cinema. :) This video made us smile. We love them all!

♥

I'm off to work on a watercolour painting and finish a letter to my dear great aunt who has cancer. Please be praying for her!

Have a lovely week, darlings. Thanks so much for the wonderful comments on our last post!

xoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

[Written by Rachel]

"The Yule Ball is first and foremost....a dance!"

2011-02-06T14:20:00.000-05:00

Welcome February! So glad you have come, but please don't stay too long because I am longing for cool spring days followed by warm summer ones.

Winter is beautiful and I (Erika) appreciate its beauty more than ever before, but for some reason I'm not content with these sparkling winter days. I am impatient I suppose, and to be honest I have been savoring every day left before summer comes, I don't want time to pass too fast. I still have things I want to do, but still I long for summer and I can't help wanting it to come quicker!

We recently had a blizzard where we live, and it was a beautiful sight to behold. We got nearly two feet and even more snow where the drifts are. The morning after the blizzard was as bright and sunny as could be, and the world looked beautiful covered in a blanket of sparkling dust! Therefore, I know that February wants us to enjoy winter, and is trying to make it more lovely for us. I recently have been very inspired, as Rachel said in the previous post, but for me its not just fashion, although that's a bit of it, it's oh so many things! I have many ideas as does Rachel, of creative things to do and ways to spend our time!

Several weeks ago we got together and decided it was high time to build a tent out of blankets like we used to do when we were little kids. This tent however, was big enough to fit three people, without fear of it falling over. It started out quite small, but as we were building, it grew! To make this night even better we watched our favourite Harry Potter film The Goblet of Fire!

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts Hoggy warty Hogwarts, teach us something please. Whether we be old and bald or young with scabby knees. Our heads could do with filling with some interesting stuff, for now they're bare and full of air, dead flies, and bits of fluff!"

It really is the best film, even with all the other ones being so great, it is the best! The script is fantastic, the acting is brilliant, the humor is also brilliant, we love the boarding school feel brought into it, and somehow we could watch it over and over again without ever getting tired of it! It is just such a great film, and the book is fantastic as well.

-"What's this rubbish?"-
-"What's this rubbish, he says."
-"This here is the secret to our success!"-
-"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"-
-"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauder's Map."-

-"We owe them so much."-

Our tent was a little magical safe haven, all aglow with warm light and pillows and blankets tossed cosily about. We had dreamed about things such as this late at night, but now all was coming true.

We dreamt of roaming the corridors of Hogwarts late at night, our wand tip ignited in light, and the Marauder's Map in hand. Going through secret passage ways unknown to Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris and traveling to Hogsmeade.

-"The house of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizarding world for nearly ten centuries. I will not have you, in one night, besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling, band of baboons!"

-"Try saying that five times fast. Babbling, bumbling, band of baboons."-

-"Babbling, bumbling band of baboons."

"In light of the recent events, the bonds of friendship made this year will be more important than ever. Remember that, and Cedric Diggory will not have died in vain. You remember that, and we'll celebrate a boy who was kind, and honest, and brave, and true. Right to the very end."

I hope this post finds you all well and now for some wonderful links!

Aren't these shoes absoluetly wonderful!? 1 and 2 Just imagine wearing these on a rainy day along with a jacket that has many pockets all over it and inside of those pockets are all sorts of magical objects such as, brass telescopes and compasses.

This picture is so beautiful!! I love the little bottles with memories contained in them!

These pencils are so beautiful and I love the idea of this sketchbook. Also, arent these bandaids adorable!?

Here are some lovely reads! Visit the lovely Carrie's blog if you haven't been yet. It is so beautiful and always inspiring! Please read Anne of Green Gables! I just finished reading it and it is the most lovely story. I purchased the other seven books in the Anne series because I loved it so much!

I have been loving the wonderful Honey Trees and hope to purchase their ep. Here is a fantasic video of theirs. Be sure to not only listen to it, but watch as well because it is very beautiful!

Best Wishes,

Erika&Rachel

XXXX

quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow♥

2011-01-30T21:38:00.001-05:00

My goodness, tomorrow is the last day of January! This month has been wonderful. It's stayed full of snow&beauty. I cannot recall ever loving January so much! For me, Rachel, I really established a personal style...well, more discovered I suppose and it's funny, I've grown to be more interested in clothes and fashion design just in this month. I always knew what I loved but now I've definitely figured out what I love&want to wear, what decor I like, and what I don't. And, I've been taking lots of artistic photos&keeping up sketching and watercolour painting.

We spend practically every weekend together! This past Friday we went to the mall, enjoyed coffee at Starbucks, magazines&books at Barnes and Noble, swooned over Banana Republic's beautiful clothing (we like J.Crew better, but there's not a big difference), and also went to H&M--an affordable version of J.Crew! ♥

On Friday, Rachel purchased this beautiful salmon top with puffed silk sleeves and layers (see above), and we both fell in love with some Oxford shoes at Forever 21. Erika just recently purchased four sale items from Urban Outfitters including the pants&cardigan she's wearing! How fantastic? Rachel's sketched out what she plans to buy for her wardrobe this Summer and we're both scheming of ways to earn money to buy clothes (being teens, we're broke! hahaha).

However, while dreaming of Spring&Summer clothes and the wonderful times&memories that time of year will bring, we are enjoying Winter. The cosiness of being inside, looking over Spring fashion magazines (Toast, J.Crew, Anthropologie), enjoying a cup of cocoa, warming by the fire&sketching, and taking such an abundance of times indoors to look at inspirational blogs such as:

Paper Tissue

{Wit+Delight}

Color Collective

We've lately both expanded our scope for photography a bit, if only slightly, but it's a working progress and we look forward to expanding and getting better at it as this year unfolds. I feel that self-taught photographers are more genuine than trained ones. However, we wouldn't mind going to university for a minor in photography someday.

And we know it's been a bit since Deathly Hallows part 1 was released (and blew our minds&was incredibly amazing) but Rachel has gradually bit by bit been working on a post with pictures from the midnight showing of it, we hope you don't mind that it's a bit late! Planning to post it in a couple weeks since we have some other posts to do. :) And in case you were wondering, the current countdown to part 2 is 173 days!!!!! AH! We can't even handle our excitement, but we also don't want it to come because then it'll be over♥♥ However our love&passion for Potter will never ever end!

We hope your month has been as magical and brilliant as ours! We wanted to thank those of you who commented on that last post for those sweet comments that absolutely made us smile&completely made our day. ♥ We always look forward to the comments you leave!

Now, some links to brighten the start of your week.

Irene Suchocki, a self-taught photographer (note: look at "fine art" section for beautiful photos).

Of course, we're swooning over Steven Alan's Spring Lookbook.

Absolutely in love with J.Crew's Hollywood photo shoot. All the pictures are so classy--they totally captured a sophisticated glamour still flickering in Hollywood.

If you love some inspiration, like we do, for a Spring/Summer wardrobe be sure to check out J.Crew's new Spring arrivals--prepare to love it all! :)

And lastly, a song to listen to that will surely make you smile:

Sufjan Steven's All Delighted People. If you're only going to listen to some of it, then definitely listen to 8:14-9:44. It is utterly beautiful&blissful...our hearts swoon when we hear it. The flutes and the orchestra! So gorgeous. :)

Cheers! ♥♥

xoxoxo-

Erika&Rachel

winter inspiration♥

2011-01-22T14:59:00.000-05:00

beautiful winter has arrived and brought with it beautiful snow, shimmering like diamonds. as each intricate snowflake falls we take notice in the beauty of God's creation. how fascinating and lovely snow is!

this post is the start of a seasonally annual post we shall do. once spring comes round we'll share with you more inspirational photos, clothing on our wish list, and some of our recent photography--all reflective of the season.

winter fashion is wonderful and we love layering and using glamorous textures and colours. however, we will admit that spring fashion has been on our mind since all the designers and stores have been releasing their spring/summer collections. we've sketched out our clothing wish lists for spring&summer and can't wait to start creating our spring/summer wardrobe once april comes round.

the snow is falling steadily outside the window and we're preparing for a winter photos shoot, our ideas swimming with picture ideas!

Warby Parker Miles glasses

so, we both absolutely positively want glasses however, we both have fantastic eyesight and are discouraged that we may never find the need to buy prescription glasses. last year rachel discovered warby parker--this sleek, awesome&fair-priced online glasses store. rachel's sister has glasses and was looking for new frames so she sent in to get the free trial of four pairs for five days. and then it happened, rachel tried on the Miles....and now has discovered "her" pair of glasses. once summer comes round we plan to buy fake glasses that resemble these, we feel that they are such a good accessory that we wouldn't be lame!

Pleasantly precocious top Tiered peterpan blouse

the pleasantly precocious top from modcloth is currently on erika's wish list for winter, the simplicity&daintiness is wonderful...peter pan collars essentially define daintiness! and as for rachel she is absolutely loving the tiered peterpan blouse from topshop. the layers are amazing and the dainty collar and brilliant colour are pretty fantastic!

Modcloth Blogroll dress

and both of us are completely swooning over this modcloth blogroll dress! it is absolutely adorable. we dream of wearing it with plain oxford shoes&adorable stockings. however, it is quite unfortunate that modcloth is sold out! ah, well, one can dream. :)

we spent last night together taking photos (see photo above and all below) for an hour, blogging, talking&laughing, and officially signing our harry potter film wizardry books, which we each received for Christmas, with rachel's hogwarts quill. it was brilliant!

rachel's room was oh so cosy with artistic trinkets everywhere, feathers and leaves lying about, and white Christmas lights draped over her shelf, shimmering with a glow.

we stayed up last night till nearly 4 in the morning talking and reminiscing of the amazing and absolutely blissful Summer last year, and the generally brilliant whole year. we read particular entries from one another's journals aloud loving hearing of the wonderful times we shared.

we cannot wait to see what this year holds for us, but trust that it will be wonderful! as far as this year has been going along it has been brilliant. good memories have been made (if only 22 days into this year), good pictures have been taken, and beautiful snow has stayed like an icing over a cake!

hope your weekend is magical, loves!♥

xoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

"couldn't get much better, do you wanna dance?"

2011-01-14T21:42:00.001-05:00

new year's eve! oh how glamorous and fun it is. erika came over about an hour before the party and we both went into my room to do our hair, make-up, get dressed in glamorous holiday attire, & spray on some new secret wonderland perfume! (a gift from our mum's) i love that the Christmas decorations are still up because Christmas lights give off the best lighting and everything, all the windows and bookshelves, is draped in beautiful garlands (or at least at my house!)

erika had bought her shimmering holiday shoes on black friday and i had bought mine that very day when my mum and i went shopping! i was so excited to wear them. and nothing says holiday party shoes like velvet bows:)

all of our friends started to arrive and it immediately got loud with talk&laughter. the island countertop was spilling with snacks, including shrimp cocktail, and bright desserts, set upon an antique Christmas tablecloth.

we gathered round in the living room at about eleven, cranked up some vampire weekend, played apples to apples, and mafia! our friend dan narrated which was hilarious and our other friend joey did the background music...which made us all pretty much die laughing.

one thing i absolutely had to do on this special night was take my first bite of my chocolate frog! though i went to the wonderful harry potter theme park in late october, the chocolate frog purchased at lovely honeydukes was still just as fresh. i had been waiting for a grand occasion to open it and new year's even seemed like the right night to me!

it was absolutely delicious! they have definitely succeeded in producing a delicious chocolate frog. which is as it should be since it's anticipated to be this fabulous&wonderful thing! it was exquisite, completely scrumptious and brought back blissful memories of my day at the wizarding world of harry potter.

soon it was 5 minutes until midnight. it was so surreal and everyone was blowing on these horn things, it was so loud! and oh so much fun. my mum filled the wine glasses with sparkling grape juice, ready for a toast once midnight came round. erika&i kept telling each other how amazing the changing into midnight is...it holds a complete new year ahead of you, that we are confident will be incredible...even better than last year (because that always happens!) which is hard to imagine.

i adore these two photos! i love how the one on the left shows us yelling the last ten seconds and then....then, oh golly it was epic....our friend joey surprised us right at midnight and ran down our living room stairs playing my dad's old trombone. it was epic and such a fantastic start to 2011!

essentially, this is one of my favourite photos of the night. it definitely captures the epicness of our friends! i love that joey is playing the trombone and erika and i are hugging like mad with those hilarious things in our mouths! and we reminded each other in the next few minutes while the excitement for the new year was still utterly present that this was the year for the end of harry potter! we can't believe it♥

um yes, as you can tell...us&our friends for sure know how to party and have a good time! after we'd blown on our little horns for about twenty minutes, my dad had shot the gun off outside with us all plugging our ears on the front porch and freezing, we came inside and had a lovely toast and then it was dance time...which would continue for about 2-3 more hours!

we danced to everything! my brother hooked up his itouch so essentially we had an unlimited amount of music. the roots, passion pit, the bird and the bee, skrillex, some funk, and a selection of other artists, it was brilliant. we were partying hard as you can see! erika&i had a grand time dancing and collaborating moves together and grooving down.

and this...this my loves shows how happy we look when we are dancing and listening to vampire weekend! it was brilliant. vampire weekend is our favourite.

the night was fantastic and better than ever! being surrounded by fantastic people we love definitely helped. and, again i say, we all know how to have a party!

i hope you had a wonderful new year's eve&that this year of 2011 holds the most magical of events for you.♥

as for us, we plan to take a summer art course, perhaps travel to new york city for the deathly hallows part 2 premiere (we so, so, so, so HOPE we can go!) and meet the amazing cast, save for new cameras, we plan to go together and visit the wizarding world of harry potter at the end of the year, see vampire weekend live when they tour and last and certainly not least, the release of harry potter and the deathly hallows. the end of an era, worldwide phenomenon, and the thing we practically love most!

with lots of love as always,

-Erika&Rachel

[And New Year's came at rapid speed]

2010-12-31T18:22:00.001-05:00

new year's eve! a wonderfully glamorous and fun holiday. i would love to write a huge long post talking of all the wonderful things that happened personally with us, and also with the world. but, i don't have the time as of right now because i must get dressed and done-up for our party at my house tonight!

i love the fact that everyone, everywhere will be partying tonight! we've got a playlist ready to dance until all hours to, friends coming over, and of course delicious hors d'oeuvres. so much has happened this year that i am so thankful for! God definitely, as He always does, poured blessing upon blessing on us this year. in retrospect, this year was incredible. we enjoyed the most blissful summer we'd ever been apart of-full of amazing memories and christopher nolan's inception! and don't even get me (rachel) started on this past autumn, not only did we share wonderful memories together and enjoy gorgeous weather but i actually went to hogwarts!

it was complete and utter bliss at the wizarding world of harry potter, words can't even describe how happy it makes me.

and then winter came, and we've enjoyed it so far! Christmas was lovely and we can't wait to share pictures and also pictures from tonight.

and, of course, you cannot forget our long and highly anticipated release of the first part of the end of an era, worldwide phenomenon, and our love, harry potter and the deathly hallows. it was absolutely mind-blowingly incredible. we adored it. we shall have pictures up at the start of the year from the harry potter theme park and the midnight showing of deathly hallows. :)

so, here's to you my loves, for being so amazing and always leaving the sweetest comments that truly keep this blog going! we hope your night is glamorous, fun, and brings you good cheer♥

erika has arrived and we're off to get ready for the party!

Happiest of New Year's wishes to you, darlings! ♥ How was your year?

xoxoxoxo,

Erika&Rachel

The Nutcracker Suite

2010-12-24T12:00:00.001-05:00

Christmas has come. Today is magical Christmas Eve! We're all snug in our homes with fires ablaze and ourselves adorned in holiday attire. Christmas is such a blessed holiday, celebrating the Birth of our Saviour. It's a time of love and joy and peace. Some very talented authors and poets have described this season beautifully so I'd like to share their quotes with you.

"Christmas...that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance--a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved."

Augusta E. Rundel

"Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart."

Washington Irving

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other."

Burton Hillis

"Christmas is the gentlest, loveliest festival of the revolving year--and yet, for all that, when it speaks, its voice has strong authority."

W.J. Cameron

"Time was with most of us, when Christmas Day, encircling all our limited world like a magic ring, left nothing out for us to miss or seek; bound together all our home enjoyments, affections, and hopes; grouped everything and everyone round the Christmas fire, and make the little picture shining in our bright young eyes, complete."

Charles Dickens

"Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given, when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes."

John Winmill Brown

"This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols. But the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift--the Christ."

Frank McKibben

We hope you have a wonderfully magical Christmas! Warmest wishes of the happiest Christmas to you and yours. ♥

Merry Christmas!

xoxo-

Erika&Rachel♥

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.' "

~Luke 2:8-14~

feeling a bit under the weather

2010-12-20T19:18:00.001-05:00

Hello dears,

Christmas is nearly here!. I have done nearly all of my Christmas shopping, I've baked my cookies, wrapped a few gifts, strung the lights on the tree, yet it seems like this season has come far to fast and to be honest I still feel like it's July. I hope you are all feeling well, Rachel and I have been under the weather the past couple of days. So, to boost our spirits, and yours in case you aren't feeling well, I have made a small list of cosy things to do to help you feel better.

Put on your cosiest socks or slippers and drink a nice big cup of hot chocolate.

Snuggle up in a chair and read your favourite book.

Watch your favourite movie.

And well, if that can't lift our spirits, I just don't know what will.

Love you all,

Happy Christmas!

Erika Xx

"and my friends, i've returned to wish you a happy Christmas!"

2010-12-10T16:51:00.000-05:00

i adore this time of year. and i've never fully realised how glamorous and beautiful winter is. beautiful because of the snow, glamorous because of the things you wear. i guess the holiday styles this year are what made me want to do this post. i'd never really realised until this year how glamorous winter clothing is! and this year's styles are wonderful. my style scope has expanded a bit i think.

i will just state that this outfit is screaming me! i love everything about it oh so much. the purple tights (i have some almost exactly like that which i'm wearing!), the beautiful silk skirt with dainty pleats, and the lovely silkish top with a dainty collar and cut to reveal the collar bone (which adds so much daintyness and lovelieness to an outfit, i think!) and just the right amount of sparkles and gems at the peter pan collar.

for clothes i'm in love with silver, nude, and a very pale pink right now, especially for this season. but you must add it with beautiful textures like silk, chiffon, shimmer, and sparkles. when we went shopping on black friday i picked out clothes to try on at forever 21 and when we looked at everything hanging on my hand before try-ons, we laughed because everything was a pale pink or grey, and all silks!

i just love the sparkle of winter--whether in a trimming of a dress or the warmth of Christmas lights. Christmas is truly a wonderful time of year. i love Christmas present shopping and having to rush into the warm stores to get out of the cold. and i love just being at home spending time with my family in our cosy home. and of course there's all the family Christmas gatherings which are always a joy that i'm looking forward to.

fresh blankets of snow are surrounding my family's cosy cottage. it's so sparkly and wonderful. and i love the feeling of being all warm in your house with the fire blazing, a cup of cocoa in one hand, and a Christmas magazine in the other.

i also love velvets in any clothing item-and pairing it with another piece that sparkles or shines is perfect. i'm so excited to pick my holiday outfits to wear to Christmas gatherings!

i was telling my mum a couple weeks ago how i lately have felt that i just don't want to wear a shirt and jeans--especially this glamorous and beautiful time of year-because i feel that you need to always be dressed up. erika and i have a little phrase, "always be dressed like you're ready for a photo shoot!" and i think it's very applicable. for instance, i'll just be about the house wearing a tulle skirt, tights, and a lovely holiday top and sweater!

my house is so cosy now that it's all decorated! we always go all out with Christmas decorations. garlands everywhere full of twinkling lights, and of course our big tree entwined with Christmas lights and adorned with beautiful ornaments my mum has collected over the years.

so now i close this post in hopes that you've been enjoying this Holy season as much as i have! :) erika and i have been having some snow photo shoots so we'll have to share some photos with you.

tonight my girl cousins (including of course erika!) and my grandma are coming over for our annual cookie bake and decorating. tonight we'll bake the sweet sugar cookies, watch white christmas (it's a tradition!), and tomorrow decorate the cookies all day! :)

have a wonderful weekend, loves! ♥

xoxo-

Rachel

{all photos via weheartit}

the cold air turned our cheeks rosy!♥

2010-12-03T00:40:00.000-05:00

thanksgiving! oh sweet thankgiving. :) i'll try to briefly sum it up:

wonderfully delicious dinner and sleepover at erika' house with my sister as well♥

singing Christmas carols to kick off the Christmas season (our favourite time of year!)

cosily gathering about the living room, lights off, projector up, watching mr. bean and ELF!! oh how we love elf with it's Christmas beauty and hilarity!

fantastic hobby lobby shopping, admiring the Christmas decorations!

our favourite ever, most fantastic store because it's european--H&M. wearing dresses we dreamt of wearing to some awards show for our acting, or perhaps new york fashion week:)

buying hats that make us reminisce faintly of the brilliant ronald weasley and visiting the awesome forever 21, that's so beautiful with all the fantastic winter clothes (rachel bought two wonderful holiday shirts!) and playing christmas music.

visiting a wonderful outdoor mall, all decked out for Christmas and playing Christmas music! oh the huge tree was mesmerizing!

then it was off to the lovely williams-sonoma. a wonderful cooking store full of lovely things!

like copper pots and british-looking cow creamers:)

visiting the department-store-ish von maur that makes us think of gimble's in new york city! i suppose this will have to do until our lifelong visit to the wonderful city of new york.

we loved looking at the elegant jewelery in the jewelery department. thinking of going to tiffany&co. in new york city!♥ oh how elegant and sophisticated would that be? i'd have to get dressed up to go in there!

admiring the enchanting tree as the cold air turned our cheeks rosy!

eating my first ever chocolate from this wonderful locally owned chocolate shop! best.chocolate.ever! but for 3 bucks a truffle it's a once in a while thing. ;)

but oh gracious was it worth it. i got a dark chocolate truffle and oh my lands it was the best chocolate i had ever had!

falling in love with the new secret wonderland scent at bath and body works♥ added to our Christmas lists most definitely!

and lastly the classic barnes and noble trip to end the day! we read magazines round tables about the lovely emma watson! oh how we love her♥♥

and to finish the day, STARBUCKS! :) what a wonderful thanksgiving and black friday♥

i come back to my home, welcomed by a waft of warm air, and find that my sweet mummy put up the tree and had the lights, beads, and ribbon on it! all ready to be decorated with beautiful ornaments♥ oh how lovely. i adore this time of year!

xoxo-

erika&rachel

p.s.-we have our deathly hallows midnight showing post coming up AND what do you think of our new christmasy layout??

Thanksgiving....and there's so much to be thankful for!

2010-11-25T00:55:00.000-05:00

well, here we are! it's november what, the 24th? and now thanksgiving, oh sweet thankgiving, the starting point of the holiday season, is only a day away! at rachel's home all is being decked out for Christmas...how magical it all looks! the tree has yet to be put up, but once it is, she shall share photos! Christmas music has been playing all the time! it's lovely. Christmastime gives us the best feeling in the world! it's such a wonderful time of year--truly the most wonderful time of year like the song says.

the photos marked with "~" below them are from halloween weekend--which was so much fun! neither of us have ever really done much for it, but this year we did. we carved pumpkins, dressed up as ghosts for trick-or-treating, went trick-or-treating with erika's little brothers and sisters (my cousins!) who were all dressed up in the cutest costumes. oh, and on the eve of halloween we had a bon-fire with other cousins, took a spooky walk about the woods, and all came in and watched "it's the great pumpkin charlie brown!" and my sister made cocoa for us all as we watched. :)

we're in such a Christmas spirit and cannot wait for it to come. december is one of the best months because the whole month long you're preparing, quite cosily if i might add, for the wonderful blessed Christmas! we will have loads of little posts coming your way once that month comes round.

now i'll close this post with well wishes for your thanksgiving! we're both so excited for it. it's always so much fun and a blessing of an opportunity to relax and enjoy good conversation and laughter with dear ones.

feasting the whole day long on homemade food prepared exquisitely by loved ones, up late playing games, talking, and just enjoying one another's company. then rise and shine in the morning at 6 AM for black friday shopping! we love black friday shopping--the hustle and bustle of it is so fun and everything is so christmasy, all the shops playing christmas music and decorated for christmas, we just love it! we'll be back after thanksgiving with loads of pictures to share with you!

happy thanksgiving, my loves! have a wonderful time with family and friends. :) let us know what was special about your thanksgiving!

xoxo-

Erika&Rachel

"Let them give thanks to the LORD for His unfailing love,

and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty

and fills the hungry with good things."

Psalm 107:21-22

"Let them give thanks to the LORD for His unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind. Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise Him in the council of the elders."

Psalm 107:31-32

our hearts are pounding out of our skin!

2010-11-18T17:25:00.000-05:00

tonight is the night we've been anticipating for nearly a year and a half. we are slightly in disbelief that it's actually here! it almost feels like we should be seeing another harry potter film, not the one that we get to see tonight with the epic scenes at the ministry, the wedding, the lovegood's house, malfoy manor, and the seven potters! it's just so amazing that after all the trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes stuff we've seen that we actually get to view it!

although, this is from both erika and rachel, rachel is the one writing because erika is on her way to my house with her brother! :) we're going to have delicious roast beef and mashed potatoes from me mum that she made, watch half-blood prince, make the deathly hallows mark on our hands, and at about nine o'clock---we're off! we cannot even handle our excitement! this film is going to be so amazingly epic!

have a wonderful night, my dears!

7 HOURS! *faints*

xoxo-

erika&rachel

the leaves are gone and the trees like silhouettes

2010-11-15T23:10:00.001-05:00

warm mugs of hot chocolate each night while watching the andy griffith show, and now that it is the week of deathly hallows i've been having a harry potter marathon.

the leaves are all gone now and have left the trees bare silhouettes against the blue skies.

i hope you've been having a wonderful autumn! watching the 2nd and 3rd harry potter film tomorrow night, 4th and 5th wednesday, and 6th on thursday with friends and erika and then: the midnight showing thursday night! ah! i cannot even handle my excitement...it's going to be so amazing.

halloween weekend photos and the wizarding world of harry potter photos up next week!

cheers!

xoxo-

rachel♥

current countdown: 10 days!!!!

2010-11-09T20:13:00.000-05:00

here you find us again still counting down to the release of the first part of the last installment of the worldwide phenomenon! it's so exciting because mugglenet has been posting new clips, behind-the-scenes, and trailers practically every other day so be prepared as we go about this post to see many links! :)

we cannot even believe that it's just ten days until deathly hallows! it completely feels like yesterday that we broke the 100 days point but that was all the way in august. november has come with great swiftness and it's weird to think about last fall when we thought it would take forever to get here, and now we're here! we're unbelievably excited we can't even stand it!

watching and reading interviews from the cast makes us oh so excited...everyone says it's going to be amazing and the best one yet. and watching all the clips and trailers and behind the scenes stuff makes us see just how intense it's going to be and how epic of a job the actors will do, and of course we the awesome producers david barron and david heyman and director david yates for making the film visually beautiful and writing such an epic script...and though we haven't seen it yet we have confidence that it will be just as epic as we dream!

now we shall share with you some new videos that have been released in the past couple of weeks that are all very epic.

one minute clip of ron and harry arguing

new tv spot featuring a bit more of kreacher

short clip of the duel at malfoy manor

tottenham court road cafe scene

seven potters extended

harry and ron at burrow

special feature talking about horcruxes

special feature talking about the deathly hallows

all short clips

~halloween weekend erika was at rachel's house and they released all of these short clips...they are all SO epic even if they are 30 seconds long. a few of our very favourites are below.

mind-blowing clip of ministry official chasing harry

~after erika and i watched this one we pretty much looked at each other in awe at how epic it was.

harry and hagrid riding through london

~we love when harry gets flipped upside down and how intense it is when his feet pound on that car.

bellatrix throwing her knife at dobby

~this one pretty much stunned us into silence as well! so intense and epic!

amazing clip at the ministry with dementors

~oh my lands....so amazing and super intense!

deathly hallows soundtrack

~and to get you even more excited for the film--short clips from the SOUNDTRACK! AH! it sounds perfect, we love the new composer and think he'll bring such a cool new feel to it. obliviate, the ministry of magic, and lovegood are exceptionally fine. :)

10 DAYS!!!!!!!!!! We cannot wait!!!!!!!! It shall be so amazing. We ordered our tickets for the midnight showing last night! Midnight Harry Potter showings are the best. :)

have a fantastic week!

xoxo-

erika&rachel

p.s.-pictures from our halloween weekend, and of course rachel's trip to the wizarding world of harry potter, up soon!

p.p.s.-sunday night was a new simpson's treehouse of horror and it had daniel radcliffe on it as a vampire...it was so funny! did any of you happen to see it too?

For your weekend enjoyment

2010-11-05T21:27:00.001-04:00

Hello my dears,

I hope you are all doing well. It has been getting colder and colder here and I have been adding layers to my outfits. Also, what a shock it snowed today! It was the most glorious thing. The snow was blustering all around, little flurries finding there way to the ground and melting instantly...it was bliss! Oh, and another great thing my dad built me my swing. It is hanging from my grand maple tree and it is wide enough for two people to swing on. I love it! Here are some beautiful things for your weekend enjoyment.

Aren't these lovely! I think they are absolutely gorgeous. I love the subtle watercolours and the intricate details. They were done by Illumino . Visit her shop and look at more because these are only a few prints that show her wonderful talent.

Oh my!!! As I'm watching Rick Steve's Europe late one night I came across this brilliant, for lack of a better word, town. It is called Hallstatt and is located in Austria. I dream of going there now and walking the streets into the market place. It is so quiet and peaceful and just so...dreamy! I don't even know how to explain, but I think I'm in love.

AHHHHH!!!! Deathly Hallows comes out in two weeks I am unbelievably excited! I can hardly stand it. Stay tuned for our ten days post harry potter fans...it should be pretty epic. I thought the picture above was pretty adorable. Hope you have a great weekend.

Well I'm off to watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and eat a bit of my chocolate frog and my Bertie bott's every flavoured beans (compliments of Rachel). A countdown has started for me and I must watch all the movies before Deathly Hallows is released.

Farewell,

Erika X

The apples hung above us like so many rose petals

2010-10-31T22:42:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we took an afternoon trip to the apple orchard....

It was our first time ever going to one and we were not disappointed in any way! It was just as we had imagined.

There were rows and rows of apples-- everything so green and lush. We just wanted to grab our favourite book and sit and read between the tall rows.

The apples hung high above us in clusters of colour. You'd bend down with the warm sun drenching your back with warmth and drop the hard, smooth apple into the brown wicker baskets.

Apple picking was such a pleasure! The apples were so easy to pluck from the branches so you filled your basket rather swiftly.

The orchard was split into sections of the different types of apples they grew--we picked gold and red delicious and they looked absolutely scrumptious!

It was the three of us (Erika, Rachel, and Emma) wandering along a couple of paths taking photos and picking apples--how lovely it all was!

The sunshine was so bright and warm that day, which was brilliant because we were able to occasionally get a sun flare in some photos.

Our baskets filled quite quickly and soon we were heading back towards the barn to pay for them...

Taking some pictures along the way of course...

We feel as if you shouldn't even go to the store anymore to buy apples (which sometimes may not even be yummy!) but instead go to an apple orchard--it's so much more pleasurable, and the apple's are absolutely to die for with their sweet taste and crunch.

It was such a wonderful afternoon! We hope to go back to an apple orchard possibly again this Autumn and if not, we look forward to another lovely trip next year!

Have a wonderful day, darling's! We do hope you enjoyed this little post. Cheers to Autumn!

xoxo-

Erika&Rachel

P.S.-Rachel will have photos from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (!!!!) up as soon as possible. :)

The evening sunshine gleamed across the golden fields

2010-10-26T17:38:00.000-04:00

Oh, beautiful autumn how lovely you are! I wish there were a much better word to describe you, but alas there is none. To say that you are beautiful must suffice.

Fall comes and goes like the blink of an eye. If you happen to fall asleep one night and wake up the next morning and find it gone, don't be alarmed because it's very easy to miss it's beauty. Luckily Rachel and I have been enjoying fall this year and have seen as leaves change into gorgeous shades of red, orange, and yellow.

As we talk about autumn let us acknowledge the beautiful golden fields that change along with the leaves. I dare say know one could paint such a masterpiece as God paints every year when fall comes round. Walking through the golden fields is thrilling and taking pictures makes it just that much better.

How I shall miss theses golden days of the year, the smell of pine cones and pumpkins, the beautiful breeze, the magic of it all, but as it has not completely fallen away yet, we shall soak up these last few weeks and enjoy them to their fullest.

Winter is an etching,

Spring a watercolour,

Summer an oil painting, and

Autumn a mosaic of them all.

-Stanley Horowitz-

I hope you wonderful readers have been enjoying yourselves too. If you have been too busy to step outside this wonderful season, please take a break and just for a few minutes go out an get some wonderful, fresh fall air!

I adore fall evenings! The sun gleaming about my yard looks like bliss. I wish I could catch the light up in a little jar and keep it with me, but seeing as that's out of the question I will just have to enjoy it while it's here.

Farewell to you all! Hope you have a wonderful week!

xoxo,

Erika&Rachel

Autumnal things!

2010-10-23T12:31:00.000-04:00

Hello, darlings. This is just a quick post...Erika has one coming next week and we also have TWO photo shoot posts prepared to post soon next week as well. However, I found that we needed a new post so here I am.

This month has flown by oh so fast it's hard to comprehend. This whole year for that matter! And I was happy to find that it wasn't just me feeling that way. I mentioned it to my older brother the other night and he said that he still feels like it could be July.

The leaves are changing and so many have fallen, the fields turned golden and are now harvested, and just around the corner is Halloween! I forgot just how much I adored Autumn. It's so magical. I love all of the seasons, each in their own way, and always look forward to their coming.

The air has become colder and I've been having to layer more, which I love. In some of the pictures the leaves may not look changed, but now so many have fallen and everything is golden. It's so true that Autumn comes with a blink of the eye! It was only about two weeks ago where everything was green.

Last Saturday Erika and I went thrifting for the first time at Salvation Army! It was so much fun and we each found a few things. But, you know, it's funny because whenever one of us finds something we both really like (while thrifting that is) we end up paying half and half and share it! We already have a cute sweater and hat that we got over the Summer (Oh, Summer....you are bliss and I miss you!) and share. So, now we've added to that collection a cream sweater (we think it looks as if one of the Weasley's would wear it) with brown, orange, and yellow (all pretty shades, mind!) designs across it. My mum said it looks like a skiing sweater. AND, the best for last: we found the most epic faded cranberry red velvet ankle boots that lace up. So adorable and just what we were looking for. So, yes, I get them for next week since I'm going to the theme park. :)

Speaking of the theme park, I AM GOING TO BE THERE IN FOUR DAYS! I am so excited. I can't even handle that it's already here! We're flying on Monday and it's my first time flying so I am so excited. I can't wait to share with you all of the fantastic photos and stories!

Oh, and before I end this I have to tell you all something! Erika and I are going to be trick-or-treating on Halloween night and we are so excited. And, we must share something: we have never been trick-or-treating before! I think maybe possibly when we were like 5 or 7 or something but not since then. And yes, I am fourteen and she is sixteen, which you may call getting a bit old for trick-or-treating, but not for us! But, what I wanted to tell you was what we're going to dress up as for Halloween and here it is: we got some white sheets from Salvation Army and are going to cut holes in them where our eyes are and are going to be ghosts! And, what's epic is we also bought the classic plastic $1 pumpkins with faces from Wal-Mart for our candy. We're so excited for the pictures!

And, what draws this post to a close is just this: my excitement for the theme park! Because, as you can all probably guess that's what's occupying my mind this weekend since we're leaving on Monday! I've made a list of all the things I need to pack and have already picked out my outfit for the flight. :) I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you when I get back from my trip Wednesday! I can't wait to share photos. :) It's going to be so epicly fun! AH! I can't believe I'm actually going, it's amazing.

Cheers!

xoxo-

Rachel

one month until absolutely amazingness and one week until pure magic!

2010-10-19T14:03:00.000-04:00

It is so unbelievable that in one measly month we will be sitting in a theater watching the first installment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Time has flown so fast this year...more than we can even handle...it feels like just yesterday was March and Rachel was online finding pictures of the Harry Potter cast and crew filming a few scenes in the woods--all horrible quality, mind you, but it got us so excited.

Then the film was such a mystery--we had no idea what would be kept in the film from the book and what would be chucked, not that we know now but you get a much bigger picture. But that's one thing that is so exciting about films--the anticipation, the excitement, and not knowing what the director will show you, what the actors will say, where the music will take you.

We get chills just thinking about this movie! The film shall be absolutely amazing and mind-blowingly epic. We know it will be different from the others, not how it's directed or anything but in a way that will be more intense, more emotional, more scary--which is as it should be.

Today is one month until the release of Deathly Hallows pt. 1, and again, we can't even handle how fast it has come! It literally feels like yesterday when we were thinking, "Oh my goodness! Deathly Hallows is nine months away! That's so long!" But, it's come so fast! Which is brilliant but also a bit sad thinking that we're just one step closer to the end of the films.

They just released LAST NIGHT eight new TV spots (trailers pretty much haha) that are absolutely amazing! There is LOADS more footage shown and it's all incredible. This movie shall blow our minds. WE CANNOT WAIT! You can watch the different ones here, here, here, here, here, here, and a personal favourite: here. They're all worth a watch, because of course they're all amazing, how could they not be? Our hearts just pound when we watch them! ONE MONTH! WAAAAH!

And, before we end this post Rachel has a little something to say:

It is just ONE WEEK until I will be standing in the cobbled street of Hogsmeade at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park! It will pure bliss...and looking at this picture makes me so happy because we'll be there at nighttime as well...which is fantastic. So, in my opinion today is a very good day--one month until Deathly Hallows and just one week until the theme park. Goodness, life is good!

Oh, and did I mention? My darling sister Hannah is paying for EVERYTHING! The flight, the tickets to the theme park, accommodations, everything. Though, I have to provide the money for the merchandise at the theme park but who ruddy cares! I'm going to the HARRY POTTER THEME PARK for Pete's sake! We shall be flying to Orlando on Monday, going to the theme park ALL day on Tuesday (which is amazing...lunch AND supper at The Three Broomsticks? And Honeydukes candy for dessert?! Yes please!) and then flying home on Wednesday.

So, yes, I AM SO EXCITED! I still can't comprehend that I'm actually going...it was such a shock in August and its come so quickly that I'm still in shock. I can't even handle that I'll be flying on a plane (for the first time), landing in Orlando, and then going to the theme park. I never expected to be going to the park so soon...it only opened in June! But, I am SO excited and my sister is the best. ♥

And yes, one month until Deathly Hallows and one WEEK until the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for Rachel!

Cheers! And have a wonderful day.

xoxo-

Erika&Rachel

"Hungry...I hope there's pudding."

2010-10-17T16:46:00.001-04:00

It was about 1:00AM Friday night a couple weeks ago. Erika and I had been on the internet for a couple of hours looking at blogs, Stumble Upon, We Heart It, etc. We both decided we were craving something sweet. After a few ideas, I (Rachel) decided pudding was in order. So, we got on the Taste of Home website, printed out a promising recipe, and got started.

We rushed about getting all the ingredients and turning on the stovetop, trying not to make a terrible amount of noise since my parents were asleep.

We put the sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan, added some milk, and transferred it to the stovetop and stirred. We both had to take turns stirring.

It was so fantastic to be cooking at 1:15 in the morning...and also quite pleasurable knowing in a matter of minutes you would get one of the very best desserts.

We added the chocolate chips into the saucepan and stirred....and stirred...and stirred. At first it looked kind of odd and I wasn't sure how I felt about this whole recipe...

But gradually as you stirred it became creamier and chocolatier...

And turned into rich chocolatey goodness!

We got out the "pudding cups" as I call them and each filled a cup. It looked so delicious my mouth was pretty much watering!

Then, with mugs of milk in hand, we headed down to my cosy living room and watched an old Nancy Drew short film from the mid-30's. :)

The pudding was absolutely delicious! I have to use the recipe again. Homemade pudding (well, homemade anything for that matter) is about a billion times better than the Jell-O brand! You can find the recipe we used here.

In closing, I shall say just this:

"You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say nothing I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It's such a comfort."

Julie and Julia, how I love you! ♥

Photo shoot post coming soon. :)

xoxo,

-Rachel

P.S.-I got a Tumblr page called Tottenham Court Road. The link is here. Let me know what you lovelies think! x x x

Zara, Zara, Zara!

2010-10-12T13:21:00.001-04:00

I've only just recently discovered Zara. I had seen it on several occasions on other blogs in instances like, oh the shirt I'm wearing is from Zara! But I never even bothered to look at more items from the shop. So, I finally did and absolutely fell in love! Everything is oh so European-esque which is wonderful for me! I shall share with you some pieces that I've discovered and fallen in love with. Enjoy!

I just love this checked wool skirt. It has a vintage-style to it and the colours are so fantastic.

This parka is so brilliant. I love coats that are bigger and long with lots of pockets, buttons, zippers, some cuffs, and yes, all that good stuff. I can just picture myself galavanting around the English countryside wearing this.

And, I absolutely fell in love with this dress! I love the colour, the length of the sleeves, the waistline, the buttons running down the front, the adorable collar, oh, and did I mention it's only $20?!

I love these shorts! High-waisted, pleated shorts are my favourite, then add a velvet to it?! Fantastic. I also love the sweater they have with it. Erika and I plan to go thrifting this weekend or the next and we hope to find awesome sweaters, high-waisted skirts or shorts, and some button down shirts...so this whole outfit very much inspires me for thrifting!

I think this top is so pretty. I love the material and the colour...they're both so lovely. And I'm a sucker for sleeves above the elbow or three quartered, so this top is wonderful in my eyes. And, the scoop cut is so elegant. I am very picky on where the neckline is cut, I love the collar bone to be showing because it adds such a feminine touch, so wide scoop necks or something like this are my favourite.

I just LOVE these trousers. This colour is pretty much my favourite ever for this Autumn fashion season. I've yet to buy something with it because I'm trying to save as much money as possible for the Harry Potter theme park at the end of the month so buying anything is out of the question (with the exception of a few thrifted things). However, as soon as I'm home I shall be purchasing a couple of new Autumn clothes.

So, I hope you've enjoyed this little post. Looking back at the things I shared you probably can tell that I love browns and oranges in Autumn. However, I love, love, love some bright colours like pictured in this darling photo above. :) I also love, to complement the browns and oranges, also wearing maroons, navy blues, and mustard yellows.

Now, tell me, what are some of your favourite Autumn picks?

Have a brilliant day!

xoxo-

Rachel

Breathtaking Beauty

2010-10-09T17:00:00.006-04:00

Darlings, just look at this breathtaking beauty. You won't be able to see it's wonder right here on the blog but if you click on it you will be able to. Erika is here staying the night at my house and we created an account on Stumble Upon. It's this awesome site where you add some of your interests and it searches the worldwide web for you and shows you things from the internet that you might like. Literally the moment this photo came on the screen we gasped. So, let's just say we "stumbled upon" the breathtaking photo above-which led to finding these others.

We are truly fascinated by the constellations.

All of them truly take our breath away. It is so incredible how amazingly God has created the universe. Last year Rachel did research in astronomy for school and it was amazing to see how perfectly the planets worked in their cycles.

Finding these breathtaking images has made us want to find out more about the constellations and heavens. We hope to find a great book on it with epic pictures so if any of you have any suggestions be sure to let us know. We also are adding this little beauty to the top of our Christmas wish lists. Wouldn't it be magical to have this on while you fall into a deep slumber?

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where the voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

Psalm 19:1-4a

Kisses and Hugs,

-Erika and Rachel ♥

Autumn Pumpkins

2010-10-08T14:20:00.001-04:00

Isn't this the cutest little child you have ever seen? Maybe it is just because he is my little brother, but I think he is absolutely adorable, he's just such a pumpkin!

I took pictures of him (by the way his name is Jonas) a couple of days ago and I thought "why have I never taken pictures of him before?" It turns out he is rather photogenic......of course in my opinion there is really no way that he couldn't look precious.

Jonas isn't a big hat person, but I managed to snap a shot of him.

He is always so curious about everything and it gets him into quite a lot of trouble. If we don't see him around it's time to go find him because who knows what trouble he is getting himself into.

It has been gorgeous out for the past couple of weeks. The breeze has been lovely, and just everything around looks so pretty with all the leaves changing colour.

I have been spending a lot of time outside reading, painting and enjoying the wonderful weather.

I hope you wonderful readers have been enjoying the weather as much as I have.

Have a brilliant day,

Erika X

Summer Reminiscence

2010-10-02T21:00:00.000-04:00

On Sunday August the 5th we set out on a holiday--a seaside holiday to be precise. The car packed like a sardine can with snacks, pillows, duffels, and extra bags for the ride (belonging to Erika and Rachel) filled with our journals, sketchbooks, and current book we were reading (Harry Potter, of course).

The five days we spent by the sea (Lake Huron) was magical, and pure bliss. We took lengthy walks along the shore, collecting seaglass as we went, and setting the camera down on timer occasionally....well a bit more than occasionally.

We saw a sailboat race during an outing and wished that one of those boat's could have belonged to us, we imagined wonderful things to call our sail boats.

We swam in the beautifully pure and blue water and, still wet from the swim, took pictures.

We watercoloured on a rocky cliff, read on the beach, and all of us kids practically lived off Animal Crackers, which is probably the best snack in the world. The first two days we had afternoon outings and always listened to the infamous Vampire Weekend-all the little kids singing along too-we have taught them well!

On an outing the first day we found swans in the water and dubbed them: Pat and Meryl.

One evening a fog came round that took our breath away--it was magical. At one point a barge was on the horizon blowing its horn. The sound and fog reminded us of an old British murder mystery film.

We took magical late night walks and looked out upon the stars. It was pitch black and all you could hear was the sound of rushing waves. Nighttime was a great time to just sit on the beach in silence, it has an eerie feel about it, but was brilliant all the same.

Ian (Erika's brother), Emma (Erika's sister), and us got to sleep in the loft above the garage. It was so fun to have it all to ourselves. At night we all took our turns taking showers, then would go back to the house across the sidewalk and hang out with everyone (one night we watched The Dark Knight and another night we painted adorable little tug boats), and then come back at about midnight and stay up for ages talking of all things brilliant.

The last night was grand--Aunt Linda and Uncle Corky (our hosts) treated all of us kids to ice cream from the shop down the road.

The whole week was full of wonderful memories. We have both agreed it was the main highlight of our practically perfect in every way Summer.

And many times all of us kids came down and fumbled around on the rocks trying to see how far we could go.

The week was magnificent, and oh so fun. It makes us miss Summer all the more than we do already. We end this little post in hopes of going on another seaside holiday next Summer. Summer is officially over, but it's always good to reminisce and hope for good times the rest of the year!

With lots of love,

Erika and Rachel ♥

XOXO