I’ve been meaning to share a post on how to style a bar cart for over a year now. I kept taking pictures and would then delete them but I finally got my act together, stocked up and dusted off some bottles and can now share how we style our bar cart! There are thousands of bar carts out there. Vintage, glass, modern, whimsey, industrial. The list goes on and on.

Mikey and I have more modern/contemporary taste and I couldn’t find a bar cart that I liked for so long. I had my Mom searching the antique shops up in WI and stopping at every garage sale she could find. No luck. It was about a year and a half ago that I stumbled upon this cart at CB2 and fell in love. It was just what I had been looking for! The cart is a super reasonable price and even though it’s not technically a bar cart, we absolutely love it.

I also searched for letters to hang above our bar for about 6 months and finally found the combination of letters that I liked online. I love that the letters set the area apart from the rest of the room and add a bit of fun with the large yellow R. It’s funny how the adults who come over always comment on the bar cart right away!

Lets talk booze.

We always have a few different bottles and mixers on our cart as our “essentials,” if you will. They include vodka, whiskey and gin as well as vermouth, bitters and soda water. It seems that you can always make up a concoction as long as you have those basics.

Our favorite basics are:

Vodka: Kettle One, CH Distillery.

Gin: Few, Barrel Aged and Hendricks.

Sweet Vermouth: Tribuno, Gallo or whatever fun bottle we see when we need more.

Whiskey: Makers Mark, High West  (we typically always have a bottle of Makers and then Mikey keeps a nicer whiskey in his decanter).

We also stock:

Campari (for Negronis),

Bitters: Angostura, Fee Brothers, and Peychauds,

Absinthe,

Tequilla,

Cointreau,

White Rum.

Depending on the season we stock other liquiors like Bailey’s and Kahlua in the winter and a flavored vodka in the summer. We are not big rum fans but we will buy white rum for Mojitos in the summer as well as tequila for margaritas.

Mixers:

Ginger Beer (for Moscow Mules),

Soda Water, Tonic Water,

Diet Coke & 7up,

San Pellegrino Sparkling Fruit Beverage (so good mixed with Vodka),

Stiegl Radler (grapefruit beer, best with a shot of Gin or Vodka).

Wine and Champagne: We always try to keep a few bottles of wine for the occasional pop-in guest (and because we love to drink it as well). I suggest you offer/stock the following,

Champagne/Prosecco,

Pinot Grigio/Chardonnay, Malbec/Merlot/Bordeaux, Rosé.

Cordials/Port: We are not huge cordial drinkers; we do, however, love a good port. Mikey and I fell in love with port while on vacation in Jamaica. It’s a long story that involves friends we made from England and an expensive bottle that had to be finished before we all left for home…We keep one bottle for that random occasion and always feel fancy/nostalgic when we sip them from my Grandmas old cordial glasses.

Our Favorites: Tawny Port, Vintage Port, Ruby Port.

Drink Accessories. In the picture above, we have a tray that we keep some cocktail accessories on.

We got the silver tray from CB2 and the decanter is from Pottery Barn.

We have a container filled with cocktail accessories in the back (hard to see in the pictures) as well as a couple of shot glasses and a shaker. I don’t remember where we found our shaker but you can find them anywhere and for any price point! We have an ice bucket and a wine chiller. 

We got our ice bucket and chiller from Crate and Barrel 6 years ago but I like the links above from CB2. We love the shiny, stainless look but you can go for more vintage, leather or mixed metal looks as well, depending on what you like!

As far as glassware, we have the copper Moscow Mule mugs, some vintage, silver and glass cordial glasses we inherited from my Grandma (I’m obsessed) and then some gold, decorative glasses for cocktails. I don’t stock my champagne glasses and wine glasses on the cart because they get too dusty. We have a cabinet filled to the brim with pint glasses, wine glasses, champagne flutes, margarita & martini glasses…the list goes on. Mikey managed a bar once upon a time and the glassware he collected over the years…yeesh!

I hope you find this post helpful! We have had so much fun stocking and finding the perfect pieces for our bar cart! Do you have a specific bottle of booze, wine, etc. that you always keep stocked at your house? We love making new cocktails and trying new thing so please share your favorite recipes or brands with me!

I hope you all had a lovely Holiday weekend!

Cheers!!!!!      

Friday is here and l am loving a lot of things lately. I had a hard time deciding what to show you this week so I added a couple extras.

We have a busy weekend ahead and I need to get my booty in gear since we have guests arriving soon and our house is covered in cat hair.

So without further ado…

This falafel burger situation looks healthy and indulgent at the same time. That is a hard combo to come by! I would easily eat this and then want an order of chicken schwarma and a gyro to go…please and thank you.

These are cat earrings. Need I say more?

I love this neckline. I am always attracted to a hat look as well and I can’t believe I still don’t have a fun hat that I actually wear. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m going to get myself a hat like this to wear this summer!  Warning, Once you start searching for movie posters that have been re-designed you wont be able to stop. Each poster is better than the last and you’re going to want all of them. I especially love this Etsy shop if you’re in the market for some new art. And I obviously fell in love with this one because I don’t go through one week without quoting Clueless at least twice.  Love me some turquoise. Always have, always will. I’ll be the old lady covered in it, don’t worry. And why not start now?? This ring is absolutely perfect. I love a fun showpiece like this We are always looking for ways to jazz up our summer drinks or add a twist to an old favorite. This twist on a Moscow Mule mixes hibiscus grenadine with ginger beer and tequila. Twist my arm, I’ll have three.  And finally. Since you made it all the way to the last picture this week, I saved the best for last. This is going to be me in about 4 hours at the baseball park. Give me alllllllllllllll the hot dogs (and this fat cat).

It’s no secret that I love peanut butter. And we all know I love banana bread. I’ve only made about a thousand variations here on the blog…(links below) Amish Cinnamon Bread

Banana Bread with Cinnamon and Sugar Crumble

Butterscotch Banana Bread

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

Coconut Banana Bread

We can add Peanut Butter Banana Bread to the list now too! These muffins are pretty legendary. They are sweet like a cake but perhaps one of the best breakfast muffins I’ve ever tasted. They go so well with coffee it’s like they were made for one another. I warmed mine up a little and spread some homemade strawberry jelly on it. HOLY CRAP was it so good. I had to get these muffins out of my house and into someone elses belly as fast as possible. Peanut butter anything is always an addiction.   This week has flown by (thank goodness) and I am looking forward to the weekend (who doesn’t, though?).

We are already halfway through May (!?!?!?!) which seems so hard to believe. My brother and sis-in-law are headed down tomorrow and we are starting the weekend off right with a day at the ball park. Can’t wait to eat an entire foot-long hot dog, some peanuts and drink a few cold brew’s. My cousin is getting married Saturday so it will be a family filled weekend for sure! I can’t wait! I had the privilege of teaching yoga to a small group of friends before work this morning. I had SO MUCH fun teaching them and watching them learn. They all did such an amazing job and are excited to meet again next week. I am so happy to see my yoga community grow here at work and I can’t wait to watch them grow as yogi’s! A couple weeks ago when training ended I never thought I would actually be at a place where I had regular clients and was teaching yoga on a regular basis. I feel so blessed and overjoyed this week after teaching a private and small group session. And the fact that they liked it and all want to continue almost brings tears to my eyes. It is so incredible to know that I can bring joy to others through my yoga teaching. I know I sound like a straight up cheese-ball, but it is a dream come true.   Continue reading →

Spring has sprung in Chicago!!!

Which means my allergies are in full swing and I don’t even mind. Because it is sunny and warm and I’m pretty sure it smells like spring (hard to tell between the sneezes and wads of Kleenex).

I absolutely love living in a place with seasons. Just when you feel all hope is gone you spot that little green sprout or that budding tree and are given a sign that change is coming. I honestly don’t know if I could live in a place that didn’t have all 4 seasons. I just wish summer lasted for most of the year and winter lasted for 1 month…but I’ll take what I can get. IT’S SO NICE OUT!

What do you have planned for the weekend?

I’m hoping to cover a giant list of to-do’s that I’m going to start tackling today. Some spring cleaning is at the tip top of my list. We also are going to swap out our closet, ADIOS winter jackets, and spend some time cooking and baking. Its been way too long since I was last behind my camera and I can’t wait to share some tasty food with you! It’s so warm and I’m feeling inspired to make some ice cream like the beautiful picture below.  I have had one of those weeks where I am overwhelmed by the people and world around me. I busy myself so quickly and it drives me crazy at times. I am really trying to slow our summer down this year to enjoy friends and family as well as time with just Mikey. He has been so sweet to me during this yoga training and is literally the worlds greatest cheerleader. He took me out to dinner at this delicious restaurant, Solero, to celebrate last night and I couldn’t help but tear up as he talked about how proud he was of me for chasing my dream. I’m just amazed by his love and I want to spread some of that around to everyone.

I also have a best friend who has been in the hospital since last week. She is pregnant with twins and still has 3 months before we need to meet them. We went to visit her and I was inspired by her positive and happy attitude. I had been texting with her all week, telling her we love her and are praying for her and God completely honored our prayers. She was able to go home yesterday! What we thought was going to be months in the hospital ended up being a little less than a week! She’s still on bed rest at home, but the fact that she gets to relax in the comfort of her own home makes us all so happy!

It’s so easy to get caught up in the glamor that is social networking and blogging and begin to feel sorry for ourselves. Not skinny enough, not creative enough, not enough free time, too much free time…the list can go on forever. If I’ve learned anything on my yoga journey it is that we can’t control our future. The only thing we can shift is our perspective on life and live for right now. Life is a series of passing moments and they are gone just as fast as they appear so we have to make the most of them! Maybe for you that means stepping outside your comfort zone this weekend. Maybe you start a new project or put that to-do list to the side and focus on someone who needs some love.

That was zen-master Bethany speaking, she stops by from time to time 🙂

Speaking of feeling sorry for ourselves…I literally can’t find a romper that I like in this world/that fits. My butt has a really hard time staying inside these things/my long torso is disproportionate with most rompers and I get a majorrrrrr wedgie situation…it’s all just a big mess. So I’m going to keep feeling sorry for myself until I find one. And I reallllyyy want this one. from Flynn Skye 

Spring means fresh, green veggies. I love how light and fresh this pasta with pesto, peas and pine nuts looks. Get in my belly.  I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with others’ breakfast in bed pictures. I’m going to tell you something. Breakfast in bed at a hotel is great. You have room service and you don’t have to clean the crumbs up out of the sheets. I’m a VERY messy eater. I require a ton of napkins. I can’t handle a single crumb, grain of dirt or anything that is not soft, comfy sheets in my bed. If there is a speck of something I have to get up and swipe it out. So breakfast in bed sounds like a nightmare to me. Crumb city.

I do enjoy this lovely picture however. My version would be…me on my iPad, with a cup of coffee and a bagel on the couch…I think that’s my version of a perfect breakfast in bed.

Not to say I wouldn’t thoroughly enjoy the sentiment behind breakfast in bed…I just think I would rather have it in someone else’s bed…

I would love to live in this house. I think it’s my dream home. I say that a lot but this is really it (at least this week). A loft in the forest? Okay sure, sign me up.

Last and of course not least…yes, you can use essential oils on your pets. This website has all the details you need to know. Of course, check with your vet first. And let me know if you want to get set up with someone who sells doTERRA! I know a bunch of people through my yoga community that would love to teach you all about the magical wonders of oils! Even for your little furry friends!