Can you believe this incredible weather we’ve been having?! I am overjoyed with excitement because today commences my birthday weekend and I can’t remember ever being able to sit outside with friends and enjoy cocktails under the sun (it is January after all).  This cocktail is super delicious and offers a fun spin on a classic favorite…I will definitely be mixing up some of these bad boys this weekend. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

~1 shot of vodka

~3/4 shot of peach schnapps

~Pomegranate juice

~Pineapple juice

*Add vodka, schnapps, and fill the rest of the glass with equal parts pomegranate and pineapple juice. Serve on the rocks.

-XOXO Melissa

I’m eating up this bold color, what i like to call “punchy red-orange.” Mixed with white, this color combo just feels like the incarnation of the swinging sixties.

Ummm… How awesome is this very modern, red-orange, dollhouse? I covet it so… And the most awesome sixty’s couch with the most perfect pillows ever? Add it to the covet list too.

Photography, from top, left to right:

I love an ethereal and frothy wedding gown… It just seems so comfortable and elegant. Add in a dash of color in the jewelry and you’ve got a modern wedding day style…

Don’t you just love how this dress moves and how the collar frames the face? Its so pretty and designed by the always lovely, Alina Pizzano. Would you wear a floaty dress paired with modern jewelry down the aisle?

I love this photo of a rainbow of bold colored shoes, they’re all too much fun.

This gorgeous wedding I did in September was featured on Grey Likes, last week… The theme was spanish with a strong color palette of orange and blue.

For the ceremony I had a simple arbor built. Then I draped it with alternating strips of orange and blue fabric.

For the bride’s bouquet I used a mix of locally grown dahlias in various shapes and sizes mixed with muscari, orange garden roses, tulips and calla lillies. For the grooms’ bout I used a calla lillie and wrapped in the same striped ribbon as the bride’s bouquet.

For seating cards, I placed a single clementine to hold the card down which acted as a paper weight and a fun snack for guests.

For the tables, I used La Tavola‘s fun retro linen in blue. I love the fun geometric pattern. And for even more pops of color I painted cement containers in two tones. The tall rectangular containers were painted a red and orange while the star shaped container was painted with cobalt blue and turquoise.

For guest tables, I used large wood boxes surrounded by white tile I painted. I simply taped a triangle on one side of the tile and then spray painted the exposed portion a pretty orange/red. I loved, loved the bold color palatte of this wedding, would you be so bold?

TGIF! I look forward to this post every week because it just reminds me that it’s Friday and I will be able to enjoy a delicious cocktail in the near future . This is a libation for all of you whiskey drinkers out there that is pretty darn tasty…Kelly was a big fan. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

~1 1/2 shots of your favorite whiskey

~Fresh lemon wedge

~Fresh mint leaves

~Heavy splash of homemade sweet n’ sour (directions below)

~Small splash of soda

*Muddle mint and lemon wedge (extract the oils from the rind). Add whiskey, sweet n’ sour, and splash of soda. Serve over ice.

Homemade sweet n’ sour

Ingredients:

~Equal parts simple syrup and lemon juice (bottled works great!) 

*Add ingredients together and refrigerate

-XOXO Melissa

So in love with these adorable “some blue” Badgley Mischka shoes!

It’s Friday and the perfect excuse to have a tasty cocktail after a hard week (who needs an excuse though…honestly). This brightly-colored treat is very simple and offers wonderful fruity flavors without having to buy or chop actual fruit. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

~ 1 shot of Peach flavored vodka

~ 1/2 shot of Peach Schnapps

~ Heavy splash of peach juice (I use the canned stuff)

~ Small splash of pineapple juice

~ Grenadine (for color)

~ Champagne

*Add vodka, peach schnapps, peach juice, pineapple juice, and grenadine and shake with ice. Serve in martini glass and top with a champagne float.

-XOXO Melissa

After our lovely tea we wandered around Granchester and stopped in to have a pint…

Then we took a short cab ride back to Cambridge proper where we watched people punt down the river Cam…

And for the last stop of the day, we visited one of my favorite English Gothic chapels… the amazing King’s College.

Loving these simply fabulous Loeffer Randall flats. So chic and practical too boot.

One of my favorite places in the world, is a little orchard that has been serving tea and scones to Cambridge students since 1897…

We sat under the trees eating scones with clotted cream and jam…  And the words by Rupert Brooke, who wrote about this idyllic spot, still hang in the air, “And is there honey still for tea?” (The Old Vicarage, Granchester).

Happy 2012 SB Chic readers! It’s hard to believe that we’re in the month of January with this unbelievable weather we’ve been having. Today I have a drink for you that is so easy and so incredibly delicious that you’ll try and think of any occasion to make it for guests. I mean…who doesn’t love a good ol’ root beer float?!

Ingredients:

~1 1/2 of vanilla vodka

~Vanilla bean ice cream

~Root beer (buy the good stuff…trust me, it makes a difference)

*Add vodka, ice cream, and top with the root beer — the vodka should naturally mix well if it is at the bottom of the glass. Stir with a spoon if needed. Enjoy!

-XOXO Melissa

Two days before my sister’s wedding, my husband and I, Kirsten, friend and photographer, and her friend, Anna, took a walk through the fields of Cambridge…

Along the way we captured this amazing dress from Anthropologie and frolicked in the fields on our way to tea at Granchester…

I studied abroad at Cambridge for the summer of 2003. Needless to say, it was so lovely to be back again…

PS. Check in on Monday for our tea in the orchard…

I love classic blue and white china. There’s just something so elegant and timeless about it.

Um, how awesome is this writer’s desk with three dimensional blue and white tile?

And of course, classic chinoiserie blue and white china adds an exotic element to this classic combo. Would you use blue and white tile in your home? Your wedding design?

Grey, modern, Valentino shoes, you say? Yes, please!